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#in our house is 88°
crimeronan · 2 years
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the high tomorrow is supposed to be just 90F 🙏🙏🙏 please god it's been over 100F for a week & the heat has been making me ILL
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fandom · 1 year
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TV Shows
So much sci-fi and fantasy—almost like you’re looking for an escape. Weird!
Stranger Things +51
The Owl House +1
Our Flag Means Death
Arcane
House of the Dragon
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir -1
What We Do In The Shadows +39
Supernatural -7
The Witcher +9
Succession
Moon Knight
The Sandman
Heartstopper
Amphibia +6
Doctor Who +2
Obi-Wan Kenobi
KinnPorsche
9-1-1 +7
Hawkeye +52
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles +58
Good Omens -6
Euphoria +45
The Umbrella Academy +3
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Hannibal -13
Gravity Falls +5
Bridgerton -8
Interview with the Vampire
The Mandalorian -25
Danny Phantom -3
Avatar: The Last Airbender -22
Eurovision Song Contest -16
Loki -31
The Book of Boba Fett
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
Bad Buddy
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared
Supergirl -17
The Untamed -25
Killing Eve +48
Star Wars: The Clone Wars -9
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Breaking Bad
Steven Universe -20
Game Of Thrones +23
Merlin -13
South Park +37
Shadow and Bone -40
Baymax!
Better Call Saul
The Legend of Vox Machina
First Kill
The Boys
The Academy Awards
Ninjago
Riverdale -12
Teen Wolf -10
Derry Girls
Young Justice
Ted Lasso -21
Chucky
9-1-1: Lone Star -13
Druck -53
Young Royals -14
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine +9
Squid Game -44
Ms. Marvel
A League of Their Own
Lego Monkie Kid
Andor
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Criminal Minds -38
Gotham
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power -37
The Wheel Of Time
Cobra Kai -19
Black Sails +17
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series +1
Wandavision -73
Star Trek: The Original Series
Adventure Time -52
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
The Emmy Awards
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier -77
Community -13
Invader Zim -35
The Simpsons -14
Lucifer -48
Ghosts -23
Not Me
Love In The Air
Over The Garden Wall
Bee and PuppyCat
Legacies -13
Infinity Train -60
Abbott Elementary
The Flash
Columbo
Animaniacs -88
Peaky Blinders -18
The number in italics indicates how many spots a title moved up or down from the previous year. Bolded titles weren’t on the list last year.
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vaspider · 11 months
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When we moved to Oregon in 2019, we always planned eventually to move back "home" to Pennsylvania, the state where, before that, I'd spent all but a year of my life since we moved there in '88.
Today, I'm going to have a conversation with my partners. I think we just have to assume I -- we -- can't go home.
Maybe ever.
Pennsylvania itself is in a low-risk category within two years, but it could easily -- well I know it -- swing into red if the next election cycle breaks another way.
That's not the kind of place where you buy the house that you intend them to "take you out of toes first," as I joked with my wives when we last talked about our plans.
That's what these laws mean to people like me. They mean "the state you consider home might become actively hostile to you within the next 5 years, so you can't plan to buy a home there." They mean "you shouldn't even board a plane that has a likelihood of having a layover in Florida, and you're definitely not going to repeat your 2019 drive across the country, one of the best and worst experiences of your life and the most time you've gotten to spend with your brother in one week since you graduated from high school." They mean half the states in this country are actively hostile to you, legally speaking, in a way you thought was finally behind you.
Sometime soon, I'm going to call my mother and tell her that we're not planning on moving back.
I don't have a clever closing line for this. I'm just sad.
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Out of The Woods
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pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader
summary: You're back in Hawkins, and the memories keep on coming.
chapter warnings: mentions of grief, parental loss, motherhood, swearing, brief description of injury (bloody nose)
a/n: chapter one! the ball is officially rolling! I'm so excited for you all to read and get to know these characters. Enjoy!
chapter one: I've Got Sunshine || series masterlist
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Muscle memory is a funny thing.
The faded wheel of your ‘88 Ford Escort was being gripped so hard that your knuckles ached. You recalled shortcuts and one-ways with ease, moved through neighborhoods and back roads you hadn’t been down in nearly decade--seven years to be exact. They say home is where your heart is; if that was the case, Hawkins stopped being home a long time ago.
Still, part of you supposed it was normal.
Normal to remember this place so vividly, you could draw its map with your eyes closed. Normal to recall the smells and sounds and the stoplight that hasn’t worked properly since ‘79.
Normal to see the Plant, and Melvald’s—Joyce Byers’ car parked dutifully out front. You remembered everything, despite having tried to forget.
You never thought you'd be back here. After you got your diploma, after all the hell you'd been through--after what happened, you’d gone East. A scholarship earned you a full ride to Yale University.
Then life happened.
Maggie happened.
Once school was no longer an option, you looked for work. Doing job after job, sometimes three at a time to make the rent and keep food on the table for her.
As much as you tried to deny it, everything seemed like a sign from above that this place wasn’t meant to be. Rent went up, you’d been let go from your waitressing job, and then your car started to shit the bed.
Hey, when it rains it pours, am I right?
Then came the call that brought you back here to Hawkins in the first place.
Your Dad died.
Not that you’d ever been particularly close, especially not after your Mom died. You were just 14 at the time and it was hard. That's the age every girl needs her Mom, and without yours, you were left to navigate grief, high school, and becoming a good person all on your own.
Your Father was...an unfortunate side effect of her passing. Consumed by his own grief, you assumed. It turned into him not being able to stomach being around you. The fighting was constant, you could never do anything right in his eyes, and he could never replace your Mom in yours. You’d practically lived everywhere but home your entire high school career, and he was either working at the Plant, or too drunk to care.
That’s why when a lawyer called you up and told you you’d been left his house, you damn near fainted.
"You're sure you have the right person?" You asked, stretching the cord around your finger nervously.
The man repeated your name, date of birth, and 'relationship to the deceased'.
"The home has been paid off since, lemme see here," You heard the flip of a paper, "'Ah, '78. Taxes and such can be put into your name when you begin occupying the residence, but we do need a decision by--"
"I'll take it!" The words flew out of your mouth before your brain could stop you.
This was a sign, the last sign you needed. You took $300 out of your savings to fix your car, packed up everything that mattered, and the two of you started the 12 our road-trip home.
Now you were just two right turns away.
“Hey, Sunshine. You awake back there?” You ask, a smile in your tone.
Maggie stretched, adjusting the blanket on her lap. “I’m up, Mama.” She's smiling, clearly just beginning to wipe the sleep from her eyes. “Where are we?”
The question left your daughter’s mouth just as you turned into the driveway.
Slowly, you find the strength to put the car in park. Deep breaths, right? That's what you tell Mags to do when she's scared. So you take your own advice, and do one big deep breath. “Our new home.”
Maggie’s gasp startled you. “We get a whole house?”
You couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes, baby girl. A whole house, and guess what else?”
She clutched her worn, stuffed teddy bear tightly to her chest and watched you with bated breath.
“You get your own room!”
Your six-year-old squealed with delight, kicking her feet into the seat in front of her. “Mama I’m so excited! Can we go in? Please! Please!” She begged happily.
With shaking hands, you snatched the key from the ignition. “Absolutely.”
Maggie’s feet were taking her faster than the rest of her could follow. As she waited on the stoop of the familiar blue house, you bent down and lifted the 5th rock from the left that lined the path. The key was there, just as it always had been, though now it was aged with rust. You’d hidden it there after being unable to wake your Dad from his drunken stupor on more than one occasion.
The house—your house, was nothing grand, but the look on your daughter's face said otherwise.
“Mama, we get this whole place?”
You tussled her hair as she moved to wander the living room. “Sure do, baby girl.
The two of you had lived in a one bedroom for her entire life. In the six years since you'd had her, she’d never really had a space to call her own, and even though you’d given Maggie all you had, it killed you not to be able to give her what she deserved.
“So, I was thinking…Maggie?”
You walked the familiar hallway to find her in your old bedroom; it looked exactly like it did the day you left.
“Mama! Is this you?” She ran at you, holding an old Polaroid.
With tender hands, you grabbed it from her. “It sure is, Mags.”
Her smile grew as she spoke, “So pretty, Mama. Who’s the peoples with you?”
The grin on your face matched hers, “This right here? This is Robin, she’s the one who sends me all of those funny birthday cards.”
Robin didn’t know you were back, and you’re not exactly sure how to say, “Hey remember me? Your friend who disappeared? Well, I’m back for good and so is my daughter that you’ve never met.”
“Oh, who’s this boy?”
You chuckled, “That’s Steve. He’s a real cheese-ball, but you’d love him. I hope you get to meet him some day"
Maggie's giggles filled the room, and you could feel your cheeks aching from the size of your smile.
She deserves the world. I'm gonna make sure she gets it.
"Mama?"
You sit on the edge of your old desk, "Hm?"
"Who's this guy with the long hair?"
Your heart sank. Collapsing in on itself, and descending into your stomach. "That's uh, his...his name is Eddie."
Saying his name--speaking him into reality made you sick. It made your bones ache and your muscles twist with rage and grief.
Just then, your beautiful daughter, blissfully unaware and innocent, asks a follow up question.
"Is he your friend too, Mama?"
The lump in your throat was hard to swallow, but you do it for her. "He used to be." It's all you can manage.
She holds the photo in her little hand, analyzing the image with all of the brainpower her six year old mind could muster.
"His eyes kinda look like my eyes!"
7 little words, spoken in the sweetest, happiest tone, break you.
"They kinda do, don't they?" You ask, turning around to pretend to organize whatever random clutter you could find.
Maggie places the photo on the desk, and moved on to the next room.
"Wow, Mama! A bathtub! i can take bubble baths!" She echos off the tiles walls, and you crumble. Falling to you knees and silencing your sobs with you palm.
How are you gonna do this? How are you going to live here and avoid him? What will happen in he sees you? See's her?
Maggie is all that matters in this. Hawkins is big enough, right? Surely, you can avoid all of the old haunts you remember Eddie going too. Avoid the Hideout and Lover's Lake, and certainly avoid the Forest Hill's trailer park.
God, that place was your sanctuary for so long--both you and Eddie.
After every party, every fight with your Dad, you'd find comfort at the Munson home. Wayne demanding you stay as long as you wanted, and assuring you that this place is as much yours as it is Eddie's.
The trailer was where you cleaned Eddie up after every run in with Jason and the other douchebags at Hawkins High.
NOVEMBER 15th, 1985
Your fingertips turned crimson as you held the damp towel to Eddie’s nose. He winced the moment it made contact with the newly bruised flesh.
“Fucking…fuck.” Eddie barely managed to get it out.
You recoiled, but he protested. “Nope…no. Just, just get it over with.”
Slowly and as carefully as you could, you dabbed the blood from the already purple skin. “Jesus, Eds. You bruise like a peach.” It’s a small offer of a joke, a way to ease his pain and your guilt.
A hiss as you touch a particularly sensitive part on the bridge of his nose. “Sorry.” You’re the one wincing now.
“Still look tough though, right? Even if I got my ass kicked?” He smiled gently, a self-deprecating pull at the corner of his mouth.
The trailer was cold, it was just turning fall in Hawkins, and Wayne didn’t use the heat unless it was below freezing. A chill ran down your spine as your stomach flipped.
“You got a couple of good licks in, I just wish you didn’t—“
He cuts you off immediately. “It’s never a question, and you know that.”
A shaking sigh passes your lips as you turn your back to him. The warm water running from the sink rinses the blood out of the washcloth, and as swirls of red spin down the drain, you're fighting back tears. “Jason’s a prick who gets his rocks off watching people squirm. He knows I’m repulsed by him. He’s not worth it, Eddie.”
You hated seeing him like this because of you. Jason was being foul and vulgar and his typical jock-with-one-brain-cell self when he’d cornered you in the cafeteria.
Fortunately for you, he didn’t see Eddie walk in behind him.
Jason was describing exactly how he’d 'make you moan'—barf—when Eddie spun him around and decked him.
He was able to get three or four shots on him before the rest of Jason's caveman friends ganged up on Eddie, only stopping when Principal Higgins stepped in.
“He’s not, but you are. I don’t know how many times we gotta go over this, Bug. I’ll never let anyone hurt you--ever. Who cares if I get a little banged up in the process?”
Bug.
The nickname he's called you for the past 4 years. A way he shows you that it really is just you and him against the world.
"I care. You're all I've got Eddie Munson." You say it dramatically, in hope the seriousness of the moment wouldn't make things weird. Eddie's warm hand finds your cheek, the pad of his thumb swept over the soft skin.
"Forever, kid. You and me."
The memory made you shiver.
Get it together. You chastise yourself.
"Hey Mags?" You call, scrubbing the emotion from your face onto your palms.
She bounds down the hall, still in awe at the space. "Yeah, Mom? Did you know my room has a closet? I can fit all my toys inside!"
Your arms reach for her, and she jumps into your embrace instantly. After squeezing her, you pull back to take in the little person you'd made.
God, she really does look so much like him.
She's got your nose, and cheeks for sure. But those eyes? The smile? That's Eddie, through and through.
"You know I love you, right?" You kiss her forehead.
Maggie pushed your cheeks together, smushing you face in her palms. "I know, Mama. 'Nember what you always say?"
"What's that, Mags?" You ask, brushing the hair from her eyes.
"You and me, kid. Forever and ever."
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vintagegeekculture · 3 months
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RIP Tracy Tormé, Creator of the "Holodeck Malfunction Episode" and Sliders
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Tracy Tormé’s most enduring legacy in popular culture is that, while a writer on TNG’s tempestuous first and second seasons, he created the entire concept of the Holodeck Malfunction Episode.
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Yes, even people who suggest you skip TNG’s first couple seasons say that “The Big Goodbye” is one you don’t want to miss. And there was a very nice tribute to Tracy Torme in an episode of Picard, which had him as the author and creator of Dixon Hill… which he is, and deserves credit for this.
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I suppose I should mention I had a personal encounter with Tracy Tormé at a convention. The main thing I remember was that he looked absolutely terrified when someone asked him about what happened with “The Royale,” far and away TNG’s worst episode except the clip show, about the crew getting trapped on a hotel they can’t leave from a badly written book. To his great credit, he took responsibility for the episode not working and did not pass on the problems to the production crew.
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The most extraordinary thing about Tracy Torme is that he had a Forrest Gump like ability to appear in the background of scifi culture’s greatest moments.
Not only was he inside the TNG writers’ room in 1987-88, he was around during the production of Terminator with James Cameron. Tormé was the one who, hearing about the production of the film, squealed on it to Harlan Ellison, telling Ellison that it was based on his old Outer Limits episodes, with a visual based on his script for “Demon With a Glass Hand.” In other words, he was the Gavrilo Princip who got that entire conflict started, where two of the most proud personalities in scifi butted heads, James Cameron vs. Ellison. Cameron, to this day, insists that the film company gave Ellison money and a credit because it was easier to pay him off than to go through litigation (which rings true, frankly, for risk averse production companies), and to this day Cameron insists, with his absolutely expected big dick swagger, that Ellison is a “parasite” who received money for nothing, and if it had been up to him, he wouldn’t have given him a dime.
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It’s also worth mentioning that Torme also created the TV series Sliders.
Has anyone else noticed that Sliders is an incredibly right wing show? Seriously, watch it again if you haven’t seen it in years. If you haven’t watched this show since the 90s and you were a kid and all that went over your head, it’s kind of amazing how Limbaugh/Newt Gingrich era right-wing Sliders actually was. It made 24 look like Doonesbury. The targets of Sliders were 90s New Right satire: health care systems, infuriating hippies, the nanny state disallowing the public smoking of cigars, California weirdness, the drug culture, the USSR. Torme’s right wing views were less John Millius-style “blood alone moves the wheel of history” stuff, but more like that of a slobby regular joe in the 90s, Dennis Leary’s character in Demolition Man for instance, who mostly just wants to smoke cigars, ogle girls, and eat hamburgers without getting scolded by his wife. He was less “Passion of the Christ” and more “Animal House.”
I am not saying this as a negative, but merely a description. Contrary to popular belief, right wingers driven by bizarre sexual pathology and weird grudges produce amazing art, as Millius and John Swartzwelder show. A lot of Steven Universe fans love to say things like “all good art is about empathy and kindness” and I reject that notion. Good art can also be about reflecting things in the human experience like fear, trauma, cruelty, and paranoia.
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For that reason, it doesn’t surprise me that Tracy Torme’s best movie script was a horror film about a traumatic experience, Fire in the Sky. An ominous movie about a vanished ranch hand who was the victim of alien abduction, in the earned finale the film’s tension builds toward, our hero remembers the true cause of his missing time: an abduction by aliens, who’s motives are emotionless and incomprehensible, and who subject him to horrific vivisection that we see in excruciating detail. Travis Walton is treated not with sadism or cruelty, but with icy detachment, by alien superintellects that view him as no different than cattle, and are to him as we are to cattle. The most terrifying detail of the film is that the classic “gray alien” look turns out to be spacesuits, revealing a far more frightening appearance underneath.
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ofhouses · 8 months
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1076. Tadao Ando /// Ogura House /// Tempaku Ward, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan /// 1986-88
OfHouses presents: Japanese Architects, part II - Tadao Ando.   (Photos: © Shinkenchiku-sha. Source: ‘Jutakutokushu’ 11/1988; Francesco Dal Co, ‘Tadao Ando: complete works’, London: Phaidon Press, 2000.) — This project will be published in our upcoming book: Japanese Fields | OfHouses.
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neil-gaiman · 2 years
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The Sandman saved my Grandma's life.
Not so indirectly as you might think.
Yesterday, early in the afternoon, I came home after a three day's long trip with my friends. On the way to my hometown, my grandma called me to ask when am I going to visit her (we see each other everyday, so three days is kind of a record for us). I was a bit tired from the trip, so I told her I'd go to my house, refresh a bit and do a covid test (negative) before going over to hers. As I was unpacking, my phone (which had been without wifi all day) kindly reminded me that The Sandman came out on Netflix, so I shamefully called my grandma to cancel our evening under false pretenses, promising her I'd be over early the next morning.
Long story short, I manged to binge 7 episodes before falling asleep. The next morning I woke up disoriented, with the worst headache of my life.
I do another covid test, it comes out positive.
My grandma is an 88-year-old woman whom, despite her otherwise excellent health, has been a smoker for almost 70 years. My dad (her doctor), has always said the chances she'd survive covid are very low.
So, thank you, Mr. Sandman (I pass my regards to you), for saving my Grandma's life.
I will pass on your thanks to the whole Sandman team.
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celestialvoyeur · 4 months
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So, this time last year I was thinking about what I wanted to change in 2023.
The one thing I settled on was that I wanted to read more. I’ve always enjoyed reading but have had less time in recent years to do so, and even when I regained a bit more time to myself I was out of the habit of reaching for a book.
So I started off the year mostly listening to audio books when driving or doing things around the house and it rekindled my love of stories. I then started on e-books and would find myself reaching for my kindle or iPad during down time rather than turning on the TV.
In July I followed a random link on social media and suddenly I found myself on AO3 for the first time. I don’t even remember how it came about but suddenly I was reading my very first fan fic (‘The Promised Land’ by @gunstreet ) and learning that there was something called ‘slash fiction’ and a Star Trek sub-fandom based around the ‘Spirk’ relationship.
I’ve been a life long Trekkie, but discovering Spirk and fan fiction was like a missing piece clicking into place. Suddenly I was absolutely devouring stories, delighting in a whole new realm of Star Trek content.
Well…it changed EVERYTHING!
I did a massive TOS rewatch and for the first time ever I really, thoroughly enjoyed it, because it finally made SENSE when viewed through the lens of Spirk. I was raised in the era of TNG so I’ve never been massively fussed on TOS before. Now though I absolutely adore our boys and got so much more out of the episodes.
From there I kept exploring AO3 and finally found my way on to Tumblr and discovered this amazing community of likeminded individuals. Everyone has been so welcoming, supportive and kind, it’s been really lovely to start getting to know some of you.
As we close out 2023, the final count is as follows. I’ve read 65 novels, 88 novellas and 139 short stories. (28 of the novels were audio or e-books and everything else has been fan fiction I’ve read since July)
So I met my original goal of reading more, but as a wonderful bonus I found a new passion, a new community, discovered new talents (I’ve been loving creating my art) and have made some new friends.
Thank you so much to all of you for being part of this journey. Whether you’ve been liking and reblogging, commenting or chatting with me in DMs, I really appreciate you.
And a special thanks to all the lovely writers and artists creating ever more Spirk fan fics and art for me to enjoy.
Sending you all massive hugs and very best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2024. Xx
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codenamesazanka · 3 months
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In Chapter 88, when All Might confronts the League, Shigaraki makes yet another declaration to destroy:
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Viz translates it as "Justice this and peace that... All these vague things have kept a lid on our society's filthy underbelly... we're smashing through, through... And to do that, we're removing you from the picture, All Might."
The bolded ("kept a lid", "we're smashing through") is what's highlighted in red in the panel above. 'Futa' translates to lid/cover; 'bukkowasu' translates to destroy, a word that Shigaraki is fond of.
At this moment in time in the story, Shigaraki does not have his memories back yet. But he knows that he's dissatisfied with the world, that he and villains have been ignored and hidden away by society; and he seeks to destroy that cover.
In Chapter 281, with all his memories back, what Shigaraki seeks remains the same, though he's able to articulate it much clearer:
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Viz translates this speech as "For generations… you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect… and swept their pain under the rug."
It's correct, though a more literal translation would be: "The things you couldn't protect, you pretended not to see... put a lid over their pain."
And, of course, a few pages later, Shigaraki vows to destroy all of this - Heroes, the system they've built, the society it's housed in. It's still his goal, as he states in Chapter 379, when he broke out of AFO's control, and in Chapter 410, when he tells Deku he'll sink the entire country.
In latest Chapter 412, "destroying the lid" is brought up again, though this time by Deku, as he thinks back to exactly what Shigaraki was saying back in Jaku about Heroes ignoring pain of unsaved victims:
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Lit. translation: "That lid, until it's destroyed, I won't stop striking at it." The same words Shigaraki uses.
The scanlation has rendered it as "shredding the rug," which is correct and trying to match with the Viz translation, but I think that loses the slight nuance in this thread of "destroying the lid/cover" that can be traced all the way back to Chapter 88.
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It sounds a bit like Deku and Shigaraki are actually on the same page now? Getting rid of the cover that hides the failures of Hero Society is all well and good, but what would it entail? Shigaraki has decided it means getting rid of everything. Obviously that's bad. I wonder what Deku would propose instead.
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itsmythang · 5 months
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I figured as much when it was widely reported he has no bank accounts that can be found. That said right there he was dirty. Only mafia and drug kingpins do that ish. I'm sure others do it but people getting legit $$$$ hardly would ever go to the trouble of conducting all their business in cash.
VIA: Mary Trump
UNBELIEVABLE: The new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson received illegal money from at least one Russian oligarch. In 2018, Johnson received campaign contributions from “American Ethane,” a company that was 88% owned by three Russian nationals.
Johnson’s received at least three checks, each for $6100, from the company. The campaign says he returned the money after he was exposed. But he's still racking up favors for Russians. -Voted against the 2022 Ukraine Supplemental Appropriation. -Voted for Amendment 22 to HR 2670 which would have prohibited all security assistance for Ukraine.
If you agree my uncle is unfit to be in the White House or anywhere but prison, please support my mission to get these maniacs off our TVs. Sign up for my free newsletter to reserve your spot! Let’s do this. https://marytrump.substack.
Mary Trump
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brooooswriting · 6 months
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Prompt list
My first prompt list and I’m honestly not quite sure how this works. But send me a prompt and a character (you can find the characters I write for in my guidelines) :) I’m happy about request and recommendations
1. “I’m not stupid, who is s/he?
2. “I’m not flirting with anyone”
3. A: “We have a problem”
B: “no, you got a problem. I got you”
4. “If I could, I would kiss all your scars away”
5. “You’re so cute when you’re half asleep like this”
6. “I don’t want to think about what life would be like without you”
7. “Do you want to stay tonight?”
8. “I killed him and I’d gladly kill him again”
9. “Don’t panic, but I think there’s someone in our house”
10. “How bad is it?”
11. “Cmon, I’ll carry you”
12. “I can’t get up”
13. “I threw up”
14. “You’re burning love”
15. “I can protect myself”
16. “Don’t touch me! GET OFF”
17. “You look beautiful”
18. “You left me. I stayed, I waited”
19. “You have the most amazing eyes”
20. “How’d you this scar?”
21. “We have time”
22. “You can still use your legs, so don’t say that I was jealous again”
23. “If even one of them touches you again, I’ll make sure they aren’t able to ever again”
24. “I’m overreacting?”
25. “Don’t cover my bite marks, or I might just have to add more”
26. “Wow, you really thought you could trust me?”
27. “You belong to me”
28. “I dare you”
29. “You can’t restart life once you make a mistake”
30. “You should be with someone who values you”
31. “I do not like (x), I like you you idiot”
32. “(X) doesn’t understand what they’re missing”
33. “If I was your girlfriend, I’d …”
34. “Can you picture me and you together?”
35. “My grandma thinks we are dating”
36. “Can’t sleep again”
37. “It’s past midnight, why are you still up?”
38. “Let’s get you some sleeping pills”
39. “She’s not your property”
40. “There is us, there never was”
41. “Keep lying and I’m out”
42. “Is this all I was to you?”
43. “You thought this was real?”
44. “All they ever did was take advantage of you. Why can’t you see that?”
45. “Tell me a story”
46. “It’s time to move on”
47. “I’m gonna take a shower, you should join me. You know, save water”
48. “Calm down! You’re scaring me”
49. “I’m done trying to fix you”
50. “I see your face everywhere… don’t you understand that?”
51. “I wasn’t enough for you, you made that clear”
52. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake to. Go back to sleep my love”
53. “Can I borrow your hoodie?”
54. “It kills me to imagine you with somebody else”
55. “You don’t own me”
56. “Can you come and get me?”
57. “You’re freezing, let’s go inside. I don’t want you to catch a cold”
58. “I don’t want you to be disappointed”
59. “It’s cute, this thing you’re doing”
60. “You should eat something”
61. “Who did this to you?!”
62. “You look like you need a hug”
63. “I love you, but you need to shut up”
64. “They’re coming. Kiss me”
65. “I’m flirting with you”
66. “I’m just so tired all the time”
67. “Would you like to take a nap with me?”
68. “Can I braid your hair?”
69. “You’re not your past”
70. “That’s not what I meant and you know it”
71. “You can cry, there’s no shame in it”
72. “You don’t do that with me”
73. “You’re not making sense dear”
74. “You feel like home”
75. “Is s/he really just a friend?”
76. “I promise I am trying”
77. “I can fix it, I will fix it”
78. “I can’t breathe around you”
79. “Don’t give me space. That’s the last thing I want”
80. “If you were any less threatening, you’d be a dandelion”
81. “I just adore you”
82. “Did I do good?”
83. “Let’s run away then”
84. “You shouldn’t trust me”
85. “What if you get hurt?”
86. “I like to do it for the plot”
87. “You are ticklish, that’s so cute”
88. “Can you warm me? I’m freezing”
89. “If you steel the blanket I’m gonna put my cold feed on you”
90. “This is low, even for you”
91. “I promise it didn’t mean anything”
92. “How much cold medicine did you take?”
93. “Get behind me”
94. “Touch her one more time and I’m gonna kill you”
95. “I want a family… with you”
96. “You’re more than a one night stand”
97. “Say that one more time and I’ll whoop your ass”
98. “My family likes you more than they like me”
99. “Every day feels like a burden”
100. “I may be a hero but I’d end the world for you”
79 notes · View notes
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The Contestants Are Here!
Thank you for your patience, I'm now ready to announce our contestants for the Obscure Character Showdown! There are 300 characters, split up into 6 groups of 50.
Here's how the schedule will work: Day 1 is Group A Round 1 Part 1, Day 2 is Group A Round 1 Part 2, Day 3 is Group B Round 1 Part 1, Day 4 is Group B Round 1 Part 2, Day 5 is Group C Round 1 Part 1, and so on and so forth until we reach Group F Round 1 Part 2, and then the next day we'll fold back over for Group A Round 2. I'm splitting up the rounds because tumblr can interpret posting many polls at once as spamming, and each group contains 25 polls, so. 13 one day, 12 the next.
I expect to start polls by Wednesday, May 31, but I may be a little later than that. I'll keep you updated.
The polls will be tagged with 'obscurecharactershowdown,' 'obscure poll,' and their group letter and round number.
Under the cut is the groups and matchups. Thank you all for your submissions, and I'm sorry if your submission didn't get in! If it was a submission for your OC, a mythological figure, a Real Life Thing, an album character, a commercial character, etc, then you may not be out of the running yet. Be patient, I have something else I'm working out!
Please don't come into my inbox, replies, dms, etc, and tell me that a character I chose isn't actually obscure at all. No one's media experience is universal, and from my own experiences, I picked to the best of my ability.
GROUP A
Juan Salvo (El Eternauta) vs The Faceless One (Masters of the Universe)
Leila Vernon (The Magic Misfits) vs Malaya Walters (How to Be a Werewolf)
Rosalia Rossellini (Trauma Team) vs Hotwire (Transformers Universe)
The Blue Electric Angels (Matthew Swift book series) vs The Protagonist’s Mother (Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk)
Syksy (Farragone) vs Chaerin Eun (Surviving Romance)
Miyabi Hanakouji (Persona 2) vs Valier / Reinhardt (The Demon Prince Goes To The Academy)
Merim Felspar (Three of Hearts Podcast) vs Gracefeel (The Faraway Paladin)
Ragna the Bloodedge (Blazblue) vs Shigeru Watanabe (Sakana)
Tragedian (Pathologic) vs Shin Kazama (Area 88)
Morga Eirsdottir (Arcana) vs Shadow Joker (Kaitou Joker/Mysterious Joker)
Rose Red (Ghost Quartet) vs Jacopo Bearzatti (The House in Fata Morgana)
Teardrop (BFB) vs Catherine Winters (Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll)
Nin (Paranatural) vs Naarah (CatGhost)
Rose Hsu Jordan (The Joy Luck Club) vs Seijyu (Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru/Mashin Hero Wataru)
Itakura Akira (Talentless Nana) vs Daryl Zero (Zero Effect (1998))
Tarisa Manandal (Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse) vs Whisper (Golden Treasure: The Great Green)
Isaac Yaga (Thistlefoot) vs Raikou Shimizu (Nabari no Ou)
Kasane Fuchi (Kasane) vs Taïs (Aïnako)
Kozlov Leifvich Grebnev (Biomega) vs Rosa Ushiromiya (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
Bowie (Ginga Senpuu Braiger) vs Cyber 6 (Cybersix)
Kim Boksil (How to End an Unrequited Love) vs Zolophilia (Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss)
Kate (Shadow’s House) vs Michael Tutori (Wii Music)
The Guardian (Hyper Light Drifter) vs Salim Condo (La quete d'Ewilan books) 
The Queen of Hearts (Fool's Run by Patricia McKillip) vs Jyu Free (Dobutsu no Kuni/Animal Land)
Tom (Deltora Quest) vs The Player Square (Adventure (Atari))
GROUP B
Elliot Hemlock (Devil's Candy) vs Sulfus (Angel's Friends)
Togou Mimori/Washio Sumi (Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero & Washio Sumi is a Hero) vs Fengxi (Legend of Luo Xiaohei)
Shinozaki Yusuke (Shinozaki-kun no Mente Jijou) vs Yellow Tempest/Yellow Storm (Ending Makers)
Hiroki Dan (Brutal: Satsujin Kansatsukan no Kokuhaku) vs Tirsiak (Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion)
Tau-indi Bosoka (Seth Dickinson's Masquerade series) vs Sugar Peace (High Card)
Anima (Why Shouldn't a Detestable Demon Lord Fall in Love?!) vs Rinzen (Avatar Legends)
Walter Walzac (The Brave of Gold Goldran) vs Hoshi or “Star” (Arakawa Under the Bridge)
Lex (Cryptid Crush) vs Marshall (U.B.Funkeys)
Pappy van Poodle (Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball) vs Cockroach Boy (Nekra Psaria)
Denzil and Cuthbert (Count Duckula) vs Mama Fireplant (Super Mario World TV series)
Isaac (Awful Hospital) vs Naki Kokuriko (Ayakashi Akashi)
Tughril Mahmut (Shoukoku no Altair) vs Mark (Galactik Football)
Mistake Bradley (Home Sweet Home (1981)) vs Oopsy Bear (Care Bears (2007 series))
Yin Yu (Heaven Official's Blessing) vs Jinwoo Shim (New Recruit)
Xuanli (Lanxi Zhen) vs Tenna (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac / I Feel Sick)
Ssrin (Exordia) vs Kondou Seiichirou (Isekai no Sata wa Shachiku Shidai)
Hikaru (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) vs Dr. Albert Krueger (Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger)
Chris Wise (Anna and the Apocalypse) vs Chase Beckley (Elevator Hitch)
Cindy Caine (Halloween Horror Nights) vs Uncle Flipping Hades Terwilliger (The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, by Daniel Manus Pinkwatee)
Juliana Valverde (The Hazards of Love) vs Red Savarin (Solatorobo)
Bennett (Hello Charlotte) vs Ruan Nanzhu (Kaleidoscope of Death (死亡万花筒))
Eve (Serina: A Natural History of the World of Birds) vs Senri (+Anima)
Nero (The Boy Who Fell) vs Yee (Outlander Fantastic Princess)
Atl (Certain Dark Things) vs Sheila (Witch’s Heart)
Josh Rumbles (Celia's Journey - a series by Melissa Gunther) vs Queenie (BACK)
GROUP C
Bolt (Crypt of the Necrodancer) vs Mila (The Quest)
Iris (Drawn: The Painted Tower) vs Pearl Forrester (MST3K)
Queen Seles (Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Within) vs Vella (Velouria Beastender Tartine) (Broken Age)
Mr Morris Lessmore (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore) vs Garrett Miller (Extreme Ghostbusters)
Dr. Anna May (Scott the Woz) vs Ocoho (Radiant)
Bai Lang (My Tooth Your Love) vs Aleida Rosales (For All Mankind)
The Scorched Apostate (A Practical Guide to Evil) vs "Järnarmen" ("The Iron Arm") (Jönssonligan dyker upp igen (1986))
Aliya Elasra (Heaven’s Vault) vs Roc (Xenoblade 2)
Sawamura Tetsuo (Yuureitou) vs Kid Twilight (Story Thieves by James Riley)
Doris Frances Barbara (Blood & Syrup: A Vampire the Masquerade Podcast) vs Mikey McGil (The Skinjacker Trilogy) 
Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation (Ishura) vs Gu Nanyi (Rise of the Phoenixes)
Sawtooth Rivergrinder (Freefall) vs Katook (The Katurran Odyssey)
Kim Koizumi (Chroma Key) vs NIL (Hyperbolica video game)
Kathryn (Fixation) vs The Spider Core (The Lab - Core Slingshot) 
Satyarani (Raven: The Secret Temple) vs Alys Hunter (Prosiect Z/Itopia)
Bamba (Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger) vs Barago (From Far Away) 
Grunty (The World Well Lost by Theodore Sturgeon) vs Ink (Going Home)
Rook (Griftlands) vs Rambler (Happy Happy Clover)
Elisabet Grimurdottir (Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness) vs Felix Iskandar Escellun (Last Legacy)
Nancy Neil (Snowboard Kids) vs THE-MEASURE-CUTS (The Blackout Club) 
Nephis (Shadow Slave) vs Rina Shioi (Magical Girl Site)
"good" Tom (El Goonish Shive) vs Tomoe Tachibana (Trauma Team) 
Enik (Land of the Lost (1978)) vs Ernő Nemecsek (A Pál Utcai Fiúk (The Paul Street Boys)) 
Dee Kennedy (Dayshift at Freddy’s) vs Eamon Bailey (The Circle by Dave Eggers)
Bob Sparker (Electricopolis) vs Kirinda (Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger)
GROUP D
Todoroki Kakeru (Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter) vs Lelee (Cursed Ones DnD)
Engine (Gachiakuta) vs The Exsurgent Virus (Eclipse Phase)
Therese 'Tess' Dombegh (Tess of the Road) vs Heart (Moonlight Chicken)
Captain Grace (Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited) vs Gongyi Xiao (Scum Villain's Self Saving System) 
Es (Milgram) vs Fox (Mirrorworld series)
Kindersnatch (Prey and a Lamb) vs Copen Kamizono (Azure Striker Gunvolt)
Lady Bat (Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch) vs Pepper (Hello From Halo Head)
Marziale (NOISZ) vs Ulala (Space Channel 5)
Soloman (Soloman) vs Diggory Graves (Hello from the Hallowoods)
Matatagi Hayato (Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy) vs Phon (3 Will Be Free)
Riley (Nexomon) vs Hizame (Amatsuki (Takayama Shinobu))
Brutha (Discworld) vs Colt / Coltia (Monster Rancher 2)
Raven (Gravity Rush) vs Holy Joo (Oh! Holy (Webtoon))
Kit Devlin (Kitty Corner) vs Kusuriuri (the medicine seller) (Mononoke)
Dandelion Tuft-Flores (Soil That Binds Us) vs Tin (Triage The Series)
Sparky & Whoosh / ポチ & タマ (Pochi & Tama) (Ribbit King (Kero Kero King DX)) vs The Biologist (The Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer)
Silver (Oneshot) vs Allumi Niumbirch (Shaman King Flowers)
Kronoculus (Costume Quest 2) vs Raven (Raven (CBBC))
Gary (Faith the Unholy Trinity) vs Appare Sorano (Appare-Ranman!)
Roxis Rosenkrantz (Mana Khemia) vs Abby and Zara (Doctor Who / Graceless)
Shijima Tsukishima/Shimeji (Shimeji simulation) vs Sym (I Was A Teenage Exocolonist)
Oona Wong (Kiki Strike Series) vs Cynthia (Incryptid)
Felix Leiter (James Bond franchise) vs Jefferson (Death's Door) 
Gerald McBoing Boing (Gerald McBoing Boing (1950 short)) vs Gruftine (Die Schule Der Kleinen Vampire / The School for Little Vampires)
Nuch (Not Me The Series) vs Sad Ghost (Shattered Pixel Dungeon)
GROUP E
Percy Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel) vs Sarah Collins (Dark Shadows (1966-1971))
Grace Summers/Poppy (Blood for Poppies (An interactive novel)) vs Tangie (The Tangerine Bear)
Pleck Decksetter (Mission to Zyxx) vs Zaknafein Do'Urden (The Legend of Drizzt (Forgotten Realms))
Tusk (Shrine II) vs Richard Conway (Gunpoint)
Zinn (Monstress) vs Detective Victor Spooky (Deep Night Detective) 
Teddyco (Sanrio) vs Leonie Beaumort (Aviary Attorney)
Magda (Vapors) vs Yokoe Rei (School Zone Girls)
Mini Kapoor-Lopez (Pandava Quintet) vs Maki (Darker than Black)
Edward Manners (The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst) vs Reo Miyao (Bokutachi no Ikita Riyuu (Our Reason For Living))
Cian (Bear and Breakfast) vs Principal Shirley Oddwell (Oddport Academy)
Curse Bringer Angel (Baroque) vs Daniel da Silva (Think of England by KJ Charles)
S.T (Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton) vs The Cashier (Midnight Museum)
Inien (Thrilling Intent) vs Vola ('Pax' & 'Pax Journey Home' by Sara Pennypacker)
Seaweed (Gloomverse) vs Fangus Klot (Oddworld)
Osari Hikaru (B-Project) vs Stag Malinay (Krystar First Fragment)
Randy Rosebud (Maggie's Apartment) vs The Lacewing King (Honeycomb)
Akama (The Idiot (1951)) vs No Significant Harassment (Rain World) 
The Nigh Furies (Wen Yan, Mo Xiao, and Hai Die) (The Wolf) vs Libby Day (Dark Places)
Sally Swing (Betty Boop) vs A (Tomorrow Will Be Dying)
Puck Reverie (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) vs Conrad (The Castle of Otranto)
Monmouth (100 Cupboards series) vs Goo (Inanimate Insanity)
Shrimp (The Upturned) vs Suren Darga (DC Comics)
Kim Jinhyuk (Antique (2008)) vs Cecilia Sylvie (Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie)
Sullen the Magic Mirror (Barbie as Rapunzel CD-ROM) vs Bea (Brawl Stars)
Zachary Ezra Rawlins (The Starless Sea) vs Dash X (Eerie, Indiana)
GROUP F
Kiyoshirou Ushimitsu (As the Gods Will 2) vs Su Moting (God Troubles Me/Hanhua Riji)
Gabrielle (Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove) vs John Dough (John Dough and The Cherub)
Michiko Hada (Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly) vs Corrun Crosslight (Spell Check)
Moondance k'Treva (The Heralds of Valedmar books by Mercedes Lackey) vs Liv (Spooky Month)
Ibuki Momoi (Dai-Guard) vs Etcetera (Cats (musical)) 
Li Ching Lung (DNA Says Love You) vs Fumi-ba (Kamen Rider Ghost)
Uguisu Anko (Call of the Night) vs Corona Hoshino (Swans in Space (manga))
Frog (QuickSpot) vs Karl (All Hail King Julien)
Wolfman (Darkwood) vs Kenna De Poitiers (Reign)
Granger (NeverHome game series) vs Chopfyt (oz)
the Doctor/Doc (Boyfriend of the Dead) vs Gaap Goemon (Mairimashita! Iruma-kun)
Magnate Arabo (Stars in Shadow) vs The God of Hunting (A Herbivorous Dragon of 5000 Years Gets Unfairly Villainized)
Iroha Irohazaka (Cipher Academy) vs Mission-chan (Mission-chan no Daibouken)
Forest Friend (Gris) vs Chiitan (Astro Boy)
Simon (Ma vie de Courgette ("My Life as a Courgette")) vs Ellie (Monster Tale)
Melatonin Protagonist (Melatonin) vs Topsy (The Only Harmless Great Thing)
Harp (Star Guardians) vs Dadish (Dadish)
Turnip (Chicory: A Colorful Tale) vs Sha Sheng Shi ("Killing Stone") (Qing Ya Ji (Yin Yang Master))
Guillermo "Dixon" Alverez (Rebelde (2022)) vs Avery (Hellbound Guardian)
Agent (Penguinronpa) vs Sasana (Nekogami Yaoyorozu)
Uhh… these guys? (Rhythm Heaven Fever) vs Fernando Carvalho (Ordem Paranormal)
Mallory (Escam) vs Elle (Starcrash)
Miyauchi Rena (Blue Reflection: Second Light) vs Adelade (A A Prime by Moto Hagio)
Yamabiki (Starving Anonymous) vs Tiger of the Wind (Monster Rancher (1999))
The High Ki of Twi (the enchanted island of yew) vs Malkah (He, She, & It by Marge Piercy)
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countrymusiclover · 1 year
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Gemini Runaway
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"Being a twin of the Gemini Coven is a curse to never have children."
Raelyn Primrose Lane is on the run from her own family. She isn't trusting of anyone she comes in contact with all because she was forced to kill her twin sibling recently. Raelyn stumbles into the town of Mystic Falls and starts making friends. Alongside catching the eye of the original hybrid Klaus Mikaelson. Will Raelyn let Klaus in her heart or will her family manage to catch their traitor of a daughter
1 - Vow to never have Children
2 - Getting to know Him
3 - Original Vampires
4 - Blonde Friends
5 - A Hybrid's Offer
6 - Homecoming
7 - Abominations
8 - Date with an Original Hybrid
9 - Haunting Vengeance
10 - The Original Coffins
11 - Intense Family Reunion
12 - My First Friend
13 - The Mikaelson Ball
14 - Gemini Business
15 - Esther's Ritual
16 - You Only Live Once
17 - My Cousin Jo
18 - Tricky Witches Spells
19 - My Life Or Theirs
20 - One Last Hurrah
21 - The Ultimate Hunter
22 - Three Words Longed For
23 - The Bonds of Family
24 - The Sights of New Orleans
25 - A Dangerous Encounter
26 - A Coven’s Leader
27 - Dead or Alive
28 - The Miracle…Baby
29 - Sweet Vampire-Witch
30 - What's Wrong With Raelyn?
31 - Raelyn Let Loose
32 - Bringing Her Humanity Back
33 - Kol's Downfall
34 - Who Makes Him Human
35 - Finding the Cure
36 - Evening in the French Quarter
37 - A Harvest Ritual
38 - Davina - The Attic Witch
39 - Impatient Witches
40 - The Fate of Three Children
41 - Blood of Enemies
42 - Never Truly Gone
43 - A Magical Favor
44 - Papa Original and Confind Spaces
45 - Babies and a Ring
46 - Big Milestone and Mysterious Woman
47 - Proper Family Meeting
48 - Official Wedding Planner
49 - Uniting Friendships
50 - I Forever, I Do
51 - Our Secret Weapons
52 - Betrayal Can Come From Anywhere
53 - Dahlia's Offer
54 - Getting What They Deserve
55 - Vampires to a Witch Fight
56 - The Magical Border
57 - The Gemini Portland House
58 - Message For The Sire
59 - Red Head From His Past
60 - Sisterly Trio
61 - A Mikaelson Thanksgiving
62 - To Getting Rebekah Back
63 - Aurora's Revenge
64 - A Christmas Hex
65 - Vampire Camille
66 - Rescuing Klaus
67 - A Caring Vamp Sire
68 - King and Queen
69 - The Trial of Klaus Mikaelson
70 - Fighting the Magical Border
71 - Mikaelson’s before Gemini
72 - Kai's Message
73 - We're Screwed
74 - Gemini Fights and Supernatural Fates
75 - I Will Rescue You
76 - Moment of Peace
77 - The Horrific Merge
78 - Finally a Family Reunion
79 - A Long Awaited Evening
80 - One Day of Peace
81 - Gemini Downfall Wedding
82 - Finding the Heretics
83 - Heretics in Mystic Falls
84 - Meeting one of the Heretics
85 - Another Vampire Pregnancy
86 - Calling Us Home
87 - What's the Hollow
88 - Bloodline Deals
89 - The Last Remaining Gemini
90 - Parker/Lane Family Reunion
91 - A Family Dessert War
92 - Bye bye Hollow
93 - The End of Always and Forever
94 - Anything For Our Children- Flashback
95 - Running the School
96 - Family Troubles
97 - Unexpected Visitor
98 - The Family Falling Out
99 - Missing Coffins
100 - Not Little Girls Anymore
101 - Red Roses and Blood
102 - Owner of the Golden Coin
103 - A Rescuing Price
104 - Working through Changes
105 - Alina Mikaelson - Keener
106 - Changes under the Moon
107 - To Getting Elijah Back
108 - Like Father Like Daughters
109 - Always and Forever Lives On
---------- read part 100 to get the link to the next parts (you can only link 100 parts) 😢
Comments really appreciated ❤️
Tag list ask to be added @dragonixfrye @secretdreamlandmentality @ocappreciation @ocappreciationtag
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aronarchy · 4 months
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A letter to President Joe Biden from Poet Mosab Abu Toha
Mr. President of the United States, Merry Christmas to you and your family and loved ones.
Unlike previous years, this is the first time I’m not sending of receiving Christmas greetings and wishes.
I’m writing to you from Cairo, where I’m staying with my wife and three kids, the youngest of which, three years old, helped us get out of Gaza. Whereas everyone in the world is visiting their families and friends and exchanging kisses and hugs, I’m unable to contact my parents and siblings and their children, the youngest of whom is four months old. I cannot be sure whether my mother and father have food to eat and water to drink, whether they are breathing.
I was born 31 years ago in a refugee camp, just a few kilometers from where Jesus was born. People in the world are commemorating the birth of Jesus, while we are mourning the death of our families. Every day Israeli tanks retreat from certain areas, Gazans discover corpses, mostly of children decaying, in the streets and under the rubble of houses.
We have been asked repeatedly to evacuate our houses in the north and head to the south. Yesterday Israel bombed a neighborhood in Maghazi, in south Gaza, killing at least 88 people, mostly children.
My colleague Ismael and his parents, children and siblings evacuated their house in north Gaza and stayed in Nuseirat camp. Three weeks ago, only his wife and two of his sisters survived.
Children constitute around half of Gaza’s population. After each air strike and artillery shelling, children, along with their parents and siblings, lose their lives. They are buried under the rubble of their bedroom, which used to be their playrooms.
I’m trying to imagine the future of these children, who have witnessed at least four wars in the past nine years. Those children who were pulled amputated from under the rubble or lost members of their families. What will become of them? I’m sure that not even the smartest psychologist or psychiatrist can fathom a right answer.
I’m not asking you in this letter to impose a two-state solution, nor am I asking for the bringing back of the lives of children and their families.
I’m asking you as a power to impose a ceasefire as soon as you read my letter.
After the ceasefire, drones can stay in the sky. We don’t mind anyone watching us retrieve the bodies of our loved ones. We don’t mind the whole world watching us rebuild our houses and schools and plant our gardens.
May next Christmas come while Palestinians have their own airport and seaport, because it has been my dream, not only to see Gaza from a plane window and from a distant ship, but to also take my family and friends to Times Square on Christmas Day, to have lunch in Washington DC, and later to show them the elegant campus of Syracuse University, where we both studied. I also would love to welcome my international friends to Gaza, to take them to the strawberry farms in Beit Lahia, and to watch the sunset on the beach. For peace and for children and for humanity, let there be a ceasefire.
Yours Faithfully, Mosab Abu Toha
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simply-ivanka · 15 days
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Bloomberg Economics made headlines last week when it disclosed that a supercomputer programmed to run millions of simulations about the trajectory of our federal debt found that, in 88 percent of all scenarios, the debt becomes unsustainable. That these results seemed startling enough to produce headlines is probably news in itself—an indication that, despite soaring budget deficits, many people until now believed that our government debt is manageable. Who can blame them? After all, the supercomputer spit out these results just a week after Congress and the White House cemented a deal for a $7.3 trillion budget, with the deficit swelling to $1.8 trillion by 2025, the Congressional Budget Office estimated. If Congress doesn’t worry about our debt, why should the average citizen?
TRUMP 2024
WE KNOW THE DEMOCRATS WILL NOT STOP.
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sixofpomegranates · 1 year
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☠︎ Girlfriend ☠︎
Request: A Part 2 to "Tutor"
Pairing: Eddie Munson x Carver!Fem!Reader
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A/N: Ignore that Silence of the Lambs was published in '88.
CW: Smut, Fluff, Angst 18+| [y/n]'s Mother (Family Secrets/Misogyny/Rich Family/Unhappy Marriage/Unplanned Pregnancy) Mentions of Forced Date, Self-Deprecation, Feeling of not being good enough, Secret Relationship, Wayne being our #1 Dad, Smut~ Penetrative Sex (Unprotected, Creampie, Semi-Public)
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"Sooo... Girls' night has officially started," Robin announces as the Wheelers leave and reveals the whiskey she stole from her dad's liquor cabinet.
Steve looks up from the graduation cap Nancy makes him hold so she can glue down the white lace she wants on it. "Hey," he cries, hating that he technically is one of the girls.
Robin rolls her eye. "Girls' night with Steve," she corrects herself sarcastically.
Steve ignores the tone, simply giving a satisfied, "Thank you."
Both take a sip of whiskey, grimacing their faces, while I glue the last and final red rhinestone on the devil's skin, which lurks maniacally on Eddie's cap. He hasn't written his test yet, but as I told him, I am certain he'll graduate.
"Eddie will love that," Nancy tells me, and I grin.
"You think?" I ask, looking down at Mike's Hellfire Club shirt one last time to make sure I copied everything correctly. It looks good, the devil, full of red rhinestones, is surrounded by spikes on the edges and a silver '86 on the side, and the black tassel comes from his mouth like a hellish tongue.
Robin cackles, "Are you crazy? The graduation cap looks like it's straight from his brain."
"Because it kind of is," I laugh, taking a sip of the vile liquor that burns in my throat.
"So, you are a couple now?" Steve asks, still confused over the whole secretive concept Eddie and I have going on at the moment.
"Kind of," I reply, making him raise his eyebrows.
"What's a kind-of-couple?"
I sigh, annoyed over the last two weeks - the first two of our relationship - having been nothing but hide and seek, little notes in my locker, mixtapes delivered to me by Dustin, and staying as far away from each other as possible.
"We like each other a lot. We see and want a future together, but we'll have to wait until we graduate because my family believes the devil possesses him," I explain as casually as possible.
"Well, I wish that would be the strangest thing I've ever heard," Nancy mutters, empathetic. "Have you made up a plan for after graduation?"
I nod. "I'll move out, and I already have found a store I'm interested in renting."
"Where are you going to live? I can always ask my parents to let you stay with us," my best friend asks sweetly, but I decline.
"Thanks, Robin. But I think I'll buy a house a little outside of Hawkins, closer to the store."
Steve raises his brows, "You have that kind of money?"
"Yes, it's a generous trust fund. A small house is affordable," I explain as if mine and Steve's dad haven't been business partners for over a decade now.
"Especially since after the earthquake, the real estate prices dropped to an all-time low," Nancy jokes, taking a sip of soda to flush down the taste of whiskey.
"So, no better time to buy a house," Robin joins in. "Except if Vecna comes back and decides to continue his mandala of terror."
We share a look, knowing it's inevitable that it will happen at one point in time, yet I shrug. "Hey, I'm going to enjoy my life to the fullest until he returns."
Nancy's hand brushes over my shoulder, signing her support, then she shows us her finished cap.
As she puts it aside, Steve asks teasingly in his most girlish voice, "Are we now painting our toenails?"
"Who invited you?" Robin exclaims, annoyed but chuckling, and throws a pillow at him.
As they bicker, a very clear yelp from outside the bedroom catches my attention.
"What was that?" I ask Nancy, who answers suspiciously fast.
"That's Mike and the boys."
Another annoyed row of curses follows, making me state, "That sounded like Eddie." As nobody answers, I stare at the most guilty looking of them. "Nance."
"They help him study," she replies, and I feel my heart starting to beat faster.
"So, he's here, and you didn't tell me?" I ask.
Robin shrugs, "It's Girls' Night, and he asked us not to tell you."
I jump off the bed, graduation cap in my hand, and leave the room. Stopping by Mike's room, I watch them through the small gap they've left the door open.
"Last chance, Eddie," Dustin announces, standing before the chair my boyfriend sits on.
From a paper handed to him by Mike, he reads, "Antacids and antiallergic drugs interfere with the function of histamines but do not interfere with the function of each other. Explain."
Eddie's hair is wet and slicked back; Erica stands beside him, a water gun pointing in his direction.
"The-" he starts, but the armed girl soaks him in water. "What the fuck?"
"Erica, he was about to answer," Mike tells her, being quickly shut up by her.
"He was too slow."
"I hate you, little shits," he tells them, brushing his wet bangs from his face.
"Answer," Erica demands, the neon green gun pointed at his face again.
"They do not interfere with the functioning of each other because they work on different receptors in the body. Histamine stimulates the secretion of pepsin and hydrochloric acid in the stomach. The drug cimetidine was designed to prevent the interaction of histamine with the receptors present in the stomach wall. This results in the release of fewer amounts of acid. Antacid and antiallergic drugs work on different receptors."
"Mike?" Dustin asks, having him nod.
"He's right."
A triumphant laugh escapes Eddie, making my heart swell with love. I knew he could do it if he tried hard enough.
"Great, can we take a break?" he asks, hopeful, but Erica shakes her head.
"No."
"C'mon," he whines, and I decide to intervene.
"Hey," I greet them, knocking on the door. "Would you mind if I borrow Eddie for a while?"
My eyes meet his brown ones, and I can swear they sparkle as he realizes I am actually here. If his heart beats as fast from excitement as mine?
"Five minutes, else his dumbass brain resets itself," Erica allows, putting the water gun down.
Eddie uses the opportunity and bolts out of the room, past me, and down the stairs.
"What did he pay you?" I ask the kids.
Dustin grins excitedly. "He bought us the new Atari 7800."
I raise my eyebrows, "And you Super Soaker him for getting answers wrong?"
"Four minutes," Erica announces, and I quickly lift my hands in surrender.
"Kay." She has a bright future ahead of her, that bossy little girl.
I follow Eddie down the stairs, finding him on the porch, a cigarette in his mouth.
"I love kissing smokers," I announce jokingly, making him turn to me and pull me against his chest.
"Sorry, Sweetheart. They're really pushing me in there."
"I know, saw it," I giggle, running a hand through his wet curls.
Flicking the butt of his cigarette away, he cups my cheeks. "Jesus, I missed you," he announces before bringing our lips together. The taste of cigarettes is overpowered by his own, so I don't feel bothered by it as I melt into the kiss.
His hands wander to my waist as he deepens the kiss. "Eddie," I giggle, but he doesn't stop, instead moving down to my neck.
"Eddie," I breathe again, weakly. "I got something for you."
He instantly stops, curious puppy eyes staring me down. I reveal the graduation cap I had hidden behind my back, and he takes it, holding it to the porch light.
"That's... You made that for me?" He asks, baffled. I nod, having him truly touched. "You're that sure I'll graduate?"
As I nod, he pulls me into another kiss, this one being less lusting and more... More.
As he pulls away, he whispers against my lips, "I need to go back in. Still have a few notes I need to go over."
"If you need a break, Nancy, Robin, Steve, and I are having a Girls' Night," I offer, making him place a kiss on my forehead.
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," he tells me. "I'll see you when we graduate, but keep Dustin's walkie-talkie on just in case I'll get lonely and need to hear your voice."
We haven't used them yet, but Dustin — our number one supporter — has lent us his walkie-talkies. It's cute and a valuable thing to have since we can't exactly just call each other.
I follow Eddie inside, surprised by how determent he can be. "Eddie?" He stops on the stairs, looking down at me. "If given the choice, house or trailer?"
He chuckles, "Can't afford either."
As I give him a serious look since we both know I can afford both for us, he sighs, telling me smiling, "I'd follow you wherever your heart takes you."
And as if he knows it can't get any more romantic, he leaves me there before the moment is ruined, returning to his study circle of hell.
*****
Cursing, I slam the door behind me. This has to be a sick joke.
My father just announced that his old friend from college and his son are here for a visit. Directly followed by the boy's resume and the information that I will be going out with him for dinner next Tuesday.
Matt is a rich jock, of course, from an old money family and has a family line cleaner than the operating table of the nearby hospital.
He is also exactly what my family wants from me, and therefore, Dad didn't even give me a chance to say no.
No. He said this was an essential step for my future, and if we'd get along, there would stand nothing in the way of further arrangements.
I feel like cattle about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
I feel trapped in the current situation.
It knocks on the door, and although I – loud and clearly – say no, my mother comes in. She holds a silver foiled Pop-Tart – I know she hates when I eat them – as a peace offering in her perfectly manicured hands.
"Hun," she says, sitting beside me on the mattress. "Your dad didn't mean to upset you. He just really wants you to have a husband that can offer you something."
"I'm eighteen. I don't want to think about getting married just yet."
Mom nods, her eyes focused on the shiny foil in her hands. "I know you think this is ridiculous now, but your teenage years are over quicker than you think, and then you're expected to fit into society seamlessly. You have a family name and legacy to protect. It would help if you'd trust your father more. He knows what's best."
I sit up, feeling like she's messing with me, sounding like a broken record that always tells me what I, as a Carver, am expected to be and do. "I don't wanna go on a date with this guy, but Dad forces me to because he'll benefit from me being with a son of a wealthy friend. That isn't thinking about what's best for me, Mom."
After a few seconds of deafening silence, she looks up from the Pop-Tarts. "You're still seeing the Munson boy, aren't you?" she asks calmly, knowing.
I quickly shake my head. I didn't even dare to look at Eddie anymore, just out of fear we'd get caught. "N-No. Dad said I wasn't allowed to, so I dumped him."
I sound convincing. I trained myself to sound like that. The words are clean and painful to think about, but I am so convincing.
They always say that you can't lie to your mother. She's supposed to be the person knowing you best, having loved and raised you. I never thought my mom knew me enough to keep up with that saying... Yet, her eyes fill with shock and worry the second the lie leaves my mouth.
"[y/n]. Your father will be furious."
"About what?" I ask her. "You want me to call him? I bet you ten bucks he's at some stupid party or has another girl over right now."
I recall the fact that I know Eddie would pick up, that he doesn't like parties, and that he wouldn't cheat on me. I don't like having to sound so convincing. I am messing with my own mind doing it.
Mom sighs. "This might've fooled your father, young lady, but not me. You have to break things up with this boy. [y/n], I beg of you to be reasonable here. You know this family will never approve of him. They will disown you, shun you..."
I shrug. "So? There's worse than having to pass on Thanksgiving dinners with a family that thrived for generations of exploiting others and yet still acts as though they worked for their wealth."
"[y/n]," she sighs. "Sometimes it's about what's best for your family."
"So my family benefits from me being miserable? Sounds like a shitty family to me," I scoff.
"How do you think I would feel if your grandparents would announce your exclusion from the family? Do you think they would ever let me see you again? I wouldn't be able to go to your wedding or meet my grandchildren."
"Mom, this family isn't the mafia. We could still see each other..."
"We both know you're not stupid enough to actually believe this. Think of your Aunt Sweety."
My father's younger sister, Mary Louise Carver, mostly known as Sweety (a hint toward her sweet nature), met the love of her life when she was eighteen. The boy (born to immigrant parents) had come from a broken, financially unstable family and was working odd jobs to support himself.
Sweety decided to marry him, not caring about what our family said.
The scandal had shaken our entire family, I had only been five, but I still remember the Sunday night dinners ending in screaming and tears.
The Carver family line is as clean and purebred as could be. We have lives planned for us, expectations and traditions to fulfill that have come with us on the Mayflower... We're not allowed to pair with the common folk.
Disowned and shunned, my aunt carried on and married her boyfriend. The last time we heard from her, she'd moved overseas.
On family celebrations, we're not allowed to bring up her name; there are no pictures of her found anywhere in our houses; when an old family friend (unaware of the drama) asks about her, we pretend she's dead.
When it comes to the Carvers, Mary Louise doesn't exist.
God, fuck, we have an awful family. Even if I like to pretend that my family life wouldn't change by choosing Eddie, my mom's stressed-out face gives me a very needed but heavily unwanted reality check.
"If our family is as bad, why did you marry Dad?"
I know how Grandma treats Mom. She always makes sure to let her know that she isn't a Carver and isn't a welcomed person in our bloodline. I can't see how anyone would ever choose to be part of this family.
Love makes you do crazy things, but love isn't even in the top ten words I'd use to describe my parent's relationship.
My mother quickly shrugs off my question. "Different situations."
I cock my head, watching her focus painfully hard on the Pop-Tarts. "How so?"
She swallows harshly, forcing herself to smile. "As I told you before, bad boys have the ability to ruin your life."
My mother and I were never close. She genuinely tried but couldn't fully connect with me. And once I was older, we were simply too different.
The way she played the role of the happy, rich housewife, although she needed to take uppers every morning just so she could get out of bed, was common knowledge in our family.
When I was little, Jason spent enough time at our house that he'd even developed a system that was planned to prevent me from seeing her fight with my dad, pop her uppers, or have her breakdowns.
My mother isn't happy.
And the longer I think about it, her words, my age, a very clear image paints itself for me.
"Mom, were you–"
She nods, interrupting me. "Three months pregnant when I married your father? Yes."
"So you married him out of obligation."
Pressing her lips together, she says, "His family was very clear about what they thought of the idea of having a grandchild born out of wedlock. There weren't many options given to me, so I took the most beneficial one for all three of us."
Oh, do things now make sense. "You married Dad because of me."
"Oh, now don't look so sad, [y/n]," she smiles her fake smile; I assume this mask gives her comfort. "I have a beautiful life, and I wouldn't change it for anything. I have a hard-working husband providing for his family and a beautiful, intelligent daughter; I get to keep up the family's values, and I never have to worry about money..."
... And you take pills and cry to yourself every day. Having money doesn't sound like it's worth it.
"It's the '80s, Mom," I tell her carefully. "Money isn't everything, and I definitely don't care if you divorce Dad to start over or not. You'd still be my mom."
Shaking her head and wiping away an uncried tear, she shuts me out again. "[y/n], I am not going to take life advice from an eighteen-year-old child. I am in the place and life I created for myself, and I am very happy," she lectures me.
After handing me the Pop-Tart, her eyes become a little sifter again. "Please just go on this date with Matt and think about all the possibilities a marriage to him could offer you in comparison to marrying trailer trash. If not for yourself, do it for me."
Tired of the conversation, I nod. "Kay."
I wait until Mom's outside, lock the door behind her, and fetch one of the shoe cartons from under the bed. Opening it, I push away my old Metallica shirt and grab Dustin's walkie-talkie.
He gave it to me, saying that Eddie has the other and should we ever want to talk, we could do it over the walkie-talkies. Keeping up an appearance, Eddie agreed not to pick up the phone should I call or pretend not to want to speak to me.
"Eddie," I ask quietly, turning on some music. "Eddie, are you there?"
I wait shortly, having him answer happily, "Hey, Sweetheart. I thought I'd be the one caving in first. Is everything okay? Miss me?"
I decide to tell him about my date. I refuse to be as toxic as the rest of my family, yet, I dread his response. Eddie deserves better than having his girlfriend go out with somebody else. We haven't even had our first date yet.
"I- I need to tell you something you won't like," I say.
"Okay?" he answered, confused.
"I need you to know that it means nothing to me, and I solely do it because I can't get out of it, so please don't read anything into it, okay?"
Clearing his throat, Eddie becomes more serious. "Okay? You're getting me a little worried over here. What's wrong, Baby?"
Biting the bullet, I blurt out, "My dad makes me go on a date with the son of a friend of his."
I wait for an answer, but there is none.
"Eddie, are you still there?"
"Uh-huh," he answers coldly. "Why did you tell me that?"
I frown. "Because you're my boyfriend, and I didn't want to keep it from you and have it look like a bigger deal than it actually is."
"It's a gigantic deal, actually," he tells me, irritated.
"It's just dinner with some jock-"
I am interrupted by Eddie's hurt rambling, build-up anger I didn't know he held coming forward. "No. It's a fucking date you go on with some other dude while I – as your boyfriend – am not even allowed to look at you. That jock gets to take you out and be seen with you while I get nothing."
"Eddie–"
"Don't go," he says quicker than I can find calming words.
"What?" I ask, taken by surprise.
He repeats himself. "I don't want you to go."
"It's not exactly like I have a choice."
"Bullshit. You always have a choice. You're not a fucking piece of meat," Eddie scoffs.
It's something so basic, but I love him for believing that I truly have a choice.
"Eddie, I have to because my dad told me to. I am not interested in the guy, but it is what it is. After dinner, he'll drop me off at home, and that's it," I say, hearing him sigh emotionally.
His emotions are so delicate underneath all of his freak armor.
"I know this is all upsetting for you," I tell him. "But it is only until we graduate, and I'm out of here. The second I have my diploma, I promise I will make sure everyone in Hawkins knows I'm Eddie Munson's girlfriend. Gonna have it printed in the newspaper and on flyers. But I need you to trust me until then."
I really am not eager to meet this guy. I have all my horses set on Eddie, on us.
"It's not about trusting you..." he admits. "Just don't want you to see how much better you can do. What if that guy's some fucking prince charming, and you realize that's what you actually want, and I was just a phase of teenage rebellion?"
A giggle escapes me. "Eddie, you are not a phase. I wanted to be with you for years, and now that I got you're not getting rid of me again. I am not rethinking our plans—not even for a second."
"You sure?" he asks.
"Absolutely," I assure him.
He seems to think for a few seconds, and I just wish I could see his cheeky grin as he asks, "So forever?"
"I'd say till death do us part, but-"
He interrupts me with a burst of giddy energy. "Death can go fuck itself. I'll still hold your hand when I'm a freaking ghost rotting in my forever box. I'm actually thinking of getting a shared casket so we can rot together."
"Romantic," I giggle sarcastically, having him agree.
"Totally metal."
"Makes death metal get a whole new meaning, huh?"
We share a well-needed laugh.
"Gotta love that my girl makes jokes like that," Eddie chuckles.
"So I'm still your girlfriend?" I ask, glad that we're already acting healthier and more mature than my parents.
"You crazy? That was never up for debate," he assures me. "I'm as loyal as a dog. Unless you decide against it, we're forever."
"So, should I start writing [y/n] Munson on all my binders? I think I'm a little too old for that," I tease, still thinking of doing it anyway, feeling like a thirteen-year-old again.
"Lucky for you, I never grew out of that age; my options just got more advanced. I'm gonna ink it all over my body, permanently. Like a deal with the devil."
Having my name permanently marked on Eddie's body does sound nice...
"Hey, [y/n]?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna tell you something, but you're not allowed to reply to it over the walkie-talkie, okay? Wanna hear it in person for the first time."
For towing my brows, I agree. "Okay? What is it?"
"I love you. Can't even think of a day I didn't, which makes me kind of stupid but also stupidly lucky 'cause I never want there to be a day without that feeling."
He says it so casually, yet honestly. I am overwhelmed and want to answer him and tell him I love him too, but as he requested, I'll wait until I get to see him again.
"In other news," Eddie chuckles. "I just finished a new campaign for Hellfire. The guys will both love and hate me, and I can't wait to see where the journey will take them."
"Wanna tell me about it?"
"You actually wanna hear about it, or are you being nice 'cause I'm good in bed?" he jokes.
"So full of yourself," I snicker. "Now tell me."
I get comfortable on my bed and hear Eddie clearing his throat, starting to talk, "Okay. So I actually wrote some lore I made up; I'll have to tell you about first: Centuries ago, the old gods were still reigning over the human kinds..."
*****
You just got to appreciate the irony of having my father set up a date for me to prove I can do better than Eddie Munson, and it just hardening my decision to spend the rest of my days as the freak's girl.
"So, you're going to Yale?" I ask after the seventh time that Matt flirts with the poor waitress, gawking at her ass.
"Yeah," he answers, looking around bored. He looks me up and down. "Look, I'm gonna cut this short: Am I getting something tonight?"
I raise my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"Sex," he clarifies, poking his pasta – the one he sent back three times. "I mean, like, you're not my type, but like... If the night ends in the back of my car anyway, we can skip this shit dinner."
Yes, this "date" is a step back for women's rights.
"I don't think we will," I tell Matt, and he shrugs.
"Yeah, kinda thought you were a prude."
I just nod. Fuck that. At this point, I don't even care for anything other than this date being over. Let that guy think whatever he wants.
"Is there any place around here where I can go for a beer?" he asks me, pulling me from my thoughts.
"You're underaged," I tell him loudly as some people have heard his previous question and start talking. We all drink secretly every once in a while, but rich-guy here doesn't seem to care for making it a secret.
Matt sighs, annoyed. "Fuck me. You're a buzz kill, huh?"
I think for a second. It's Tuesday, and suddenly, I know the perfect way to end the night. "Actually, there is this place called The Hideout. They play rock and metal, all in all, a rougher crowd, and usually, they don't check IDs there. We can drive there; I'll lead the way."
Throwing a couple of dollar bills on the table, he stands up. "You sound eager," he notes, putting on his jacket as I do the same. "Your boyfriend's there, right?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," I quickly answer, running after him, toward his car.
Matt chuckles as we get in. "Bullshit. You're dad told my dad you were running around with a punk."
"Metalhead," I correct him quicker than I can stop myself, knowing that Eddie would lose it being confused with punks.
"Ha," Matt quips back.
"Fuck."
Driving out of the parking lot, he sighs. "So, that's why you don't wanna fuck. Has nothing to do with you being a prude or with my looks, huh?"
I internally cringe as he rests his hand on my thigh, but my tone stays friendly. "No, absolutely not," I say, making him smile smugly. "You're an absolute heartthrob; every girl would be happy to be with you.
"But the last time that Eddie – my boyfriend – found out a guy flirted with me..." I remove his hand from my leg, sighing. "Poor guy, they haven't found him since. All I know is that Eddie ate his liver with fava beans and Dad's nice chianti."
Matt sucks in a breath, "Shit, really?"
I blink at him innocently, "I have no reason to lie to you, now, do I?"
"That is absolutely terrifying. Do- Is there anything that I can do to help you?"
Never read "Silence of the Lambs" and realize that you're a little stupid...
"That is so sweet of you," I tell Matt, laying a hand on my heart, "but please only worry about yourself. This date is already more danger than I'd like you to be in."
He swallows nervously, nodding. "Okay."
"We have to go right after the next fire hydrant."
Fair to say, I think I terrified Matt enough to keep his hands to himself. I would even feel a little bad if he wouldn't have been an insufferable asshat.
The second we're at The Hideout, loud music fills my ears, and Eddie's obnoxiously loud voice makes my heart beat faster. We hurry inside, Matt quick to leave my side, no longer caring if we lose each other in the crowd.
Through all the shit Eddie went through with these false accusations, his story really provided Corroded Coffin with their shot. The knowledge of the lead singer and guitarist being accused of murder, and satanism, being called a freak for minor things like music and the love for fantasy games really resonated with outcasts throughout America.
He is one of them. His story and hardships could easily be theirs.
The crowd loves the band. The cheap, handmade merch – t-shirts and cassette tapes – is already sold out, The Hideout has a tapestry with their name nailed to one of the walls, right next to tons of different biker trinkets.
I make my way to the bar and get myself a beer. Grabbing a stool the second it becomes available, I just sit there and watch my boyfriend and his band perform.
Half an hour later, Eddie thanks the unholy amount of people cheering for them for coming. His eyes scan the crowd and land on me. Instantly his smile becomes wider, eyes glistening in the spotlights he deserves to stand in.
I stay seated until the fans got their chance to swamp the boys, and when Corroded Coffin starts dragging their things outside, I follow swiftly through the back exit.
The cold air bites my skin while I watch Eddie and Gareth lift the drums in the back of the van. When the instruments are gone and he wishes his friends goodbye, Eddie finally notices me. With one hand moving through his sweaty mane, he tries to fix his deliciously disheveled appearance as he approaches me.
"Hey, baby," he says so softly it is almost a whisper. "What are you doing here?"
His hands grab my waist as he tilts his head and lovingly pecks my lips.
"The jock needed a beer after I friendly declined his offer to fuck him on the backseat... and I just couldn't stop thinking of you."
Eddie nods, approving, a smug grin on his lips. "So, two birds with one stone."
"I also told him you're Hannibal Lecter, so he'd keep his hands to himself."
Kissing me again, Eddie nips at my jaw, making his way down to my neck. "I'm honored you believe I know how to cook, let alone have a doctor title."
I giggle, letting him spin us around and back me against the side of his van.
"Missed you," I mumble into the feeling of a hickey being placed right behind my ear.
"Missed you more," Eddie purrs, hands grabbing my flesh so harshly, I just know he's bruising it. "Mind if we take this further, Sweetheart? Need you."
He pulls himself away from me; arm stretched out above my head to keep him up, so he can look at me. I run my tongue over my bottom lip as I stare at his naked torso, only covered by his leather jacket.
My appreciation and unholy thoughts for my perfect boyfriend stop abruptly as I see the new ink decorating his skin. On his chest, right across the bloody demon head and the spider, there's my name.
I lift my hand, pulling the jacket away to get a better look at it. Yes, my name.
"Like it, sweet girl?" he asks genuinely, but with his boyish grin, already knowing my answer.
I carefully trace the tattoo with my fingertips; it's not fully healed yet.
"Eddie..." I whisper, the feeling of possessive lust and love bubbling over, "Fuck me."
He chuckles darkly, "Whatever you want, baby."
His lips crash down onto mine, this time not caring to be gentle. His tongue glides over my bottom lip, entering my mouth the second I moan as he cups me through my panties.
My nails dig into his leathered forearms as I pull myself closer, making sure to give him enough pressure as he grinds his clothed erection against my thigh while rubbing my clit through my underwear.
As Eddie pulls himself from me, a shaky breath escapes him. "Shit, okay." He looks around and then grins at me while opening his black jeans. "Nobody comes here, promise. It's the band exit."
I barely get to nod as his lips are on mine again in a heartbeat. He hoists up my left leg, and I wrap it around his waist, feeling him almost rip my panties as he moves them out of the way and enters me quickly and entirely.
We moan into each other's mouths, then giggle idiotically, yet greedily we begin moving against each other, rocking the van behind us as we fall into a harsh and deep rhythm.
The almost painful stretching makes me rest my head against the van. Only the moonlight makes it possible for me to see Eddie's face. I don't think I ever felt as much adoration for anyone before, and I surely know that nobody ever looked at me like Eddie does.
It's a mixture of deep, unconditional love and animalistic wanting.
It's frightening, yet safe.
It's familiar, yet new altogether.
I whimper loudly as Eddie hoists my leg even higher. Solely his grip on my leg and waist and the van behind me keep me from falling.
This new position not only makes my spine tingle from the adrenaline rush of practically hanging in the air but also allows Eddie's pelvis to grind against my clit.
Having to keep quiet while my body erupts with pleasure is horrible, but being caught in this position would be even worse.
Eddie clenches his jaw, looking down at me. "Fuck, I don't think I can last much longer," he grunts. "How close are you, Sweetheart?"
"So close," I moan, the sensation of approaching bliss having me chase it frantically, "so, so close. Please don't stop."
Keeping up with his harsh thrusts, the tip of his cock suddenly hits the perfect spot, the one that has me see stars, and I unexpectedly fall apart, coming with a loud, lewd moan as my legs start shaking.
I would worry about the fact that I was definitely heard, but Eddie clouds all of my senses and all of my judgment. He moans and groans, throwing his head back and exposing his from sweat glistening neck, and as he fills me with his cum, his fist hits the van behind me, curses leaving his mouth.
For the moments we need to collect ourselves after that, I don't care if we're getting caught or what it looks like... not like there is any way to misunderstand the position we're in.
Eddie leans close, kissing me sweetly. Hand on my back, he helps me stand on my own as he swiftly pulls out and tucks himself away.
"You are ethereal," he mumbles against my lips, accentuating every word of his with a kiss. "Perfect. Beautiful. Love you."
Leaning against the cold van, I hold onto Eddie's leather jacket, making sure he stays close. Thankfully, touch is one of his love languages, and he happily obliges.
"Did that idiot at least take you out for dinner? Did you eat something?"
I shake my head. "We ate at a restaurant, but I was too busy apologizing for his shitty behavior toward the waitress."
"Want me to take you for burger and fries? Gonna take you home after. Don't want you to get driven home by that jock when he's in there getting drunk."
"That sounds good."
He grins. "Good? Yeah, baby?"
I nod excitedly. "Very, very good."
Eddie kisses me again, taking my hand and walking me to the passenger seat, where he opens the door for me. As he joins me in the car, he starts it, turning the stereo down quickly.
"We can listen to music," I tell him as he leaves the parking lot of The Hideout, and his hand sneaks onto my thigh.
"Rather talk to you," he replies, squeezing my leg gently. "Thought you'd like to know that I told Uncle Wayne about us."
I look at him, surprised. "You did?"
He nods. "Hope that's okay," he says, almost embarrassed.
"Of course it is. I- I'm just- I like that you told him."
"You do?"
"Yes. He's... You're close," I say, sad that I can't tell my family about Eddie and how happy he makes me.
Eddie grins. "He's my dad. Like, not actually, 'cause he's my uncle, but he's my dad."
"I hope he likes me," I whisper nervously.
"Want me to tell you how it went?"
I nod, making him lick his lips before setting the scene and carrying me through the relationship he has with his uncle. How Wayne is glad he is happy, how he's concerned because I'm a Carver. How I, indeed, made a good first impression and an even better second one when I stood up against my drunk cousin.
Eddie certainly tends to overshare, the story is filled with snippets of his parents' relationship and how Wayne is Eddie's number-one supporter.
*****
Graduation. Finally.
I've never felt freer than today. After today, a new life is starting for me. I don't even mind the overpriced dress mom put me in.
As Jason and I take our diplomas – technically, the placeholders handed to us for the ceremony – we are surrounded by our family, taking dozens of overly professional photos.
I can excuse myself as I see Eddie standing in line for his diploma. Wearing his black robe and the graduation robe I made for him, he plays with his rings nervously.
Joining my friends and Eddie's uncle, I exclaim, "He made it?"
For surprise and 'safety' reasons, the Hellfire Club had left me in the dark until today. I hated every day since the test, but now seeing Eddie in his robe; I feel proud enough to forget the worry that he might hadn't made it.
That's my boy up there... – standing next to me, Wayne lays a hand on my shoulder – ...Well, our boy.
"I knew he could do it," Wayne tells me, taking out his camera and starting to take photos.
"Edward Munson."
As his name is loudly announced, we cheer and scream his name excitedly. A moment passes while Eddie takes his diploma, and I wonder if he is seriously going to flip our former principal the bird.
But instead, he looks at us, looks at me. And in a burst of his chaotic, uncontrollable energy, he jumps down the podium and runs up to me.
"I did it," he screams loudly, bumping against me and hugging me tightly.
"You did it," I reply, giggling.
"I feel so smart. I bet I could fight God."
Lifting a hand to his chest, I snicker warningly, "Now, don't be crazy."
He chuckles at his own silliness before kissing me, only pulling away when Wayne clears his throat.
"Son," he calls, Eddie quickly walking over to him.
"I did it," the metalhead tells his uncle, holding up his diploma.
Wayne nods. "Always knew you would make it. I'm so proud of you."
They hug, both men clearly not as tough as they present to be.
"Give me your camera," I tell Wayne, taking a photo of them... Two photos since Eddie insisted on going the devil horns and pulling a grimace in the first one.
In return, Wayne insists on taking a photo of his nephew and me. This one is adorable; I already know it as Eddie wraps his arms around my waist, hugging me sweetly from behind. It's like compensation for having missed out on prom.
I see my parents looking for me, their appearance as proper as always. Mine and my mother's gazes meet, her face turning into something terrified as she sees who I am standing next to.
"Come," I say, taking Eddie's hand and walking to my family, Wayne following behind us.
"Mom? Dad?" I say to ensure I have their attention. "Those are my boyfriend Eddie and his uncle Wayne."
My father plays it cool, stepping before my mom. "Mr. Munson. Edward," he greets them, shaking their hands.
Then his cold stare meets me. "If you'd excuse us for a moment?" he tells Eddie and Wayne without as much as to even look at them again, then he grabs my arm and pulls me aside.
"[y/n], is this a joke?" my father asks angrily. "These people-"
I finish his sentence for him, "Are my boyfriend and his uncle."
He huffs angrily, my mother staying quiet. "We talked about this."
"No. You talked, and I was supposed to stay quiet and do what you want," I retort. "I will not stay away from Eddie, and you both will have to get over it."
"You can do so much better-"
I interrupt my father, unsure if Eddie hears us or not, "Stop that. I am sorry you are unhappy with my choice, but I love Eddie, and I will not have you talk about him like that. I want you to make an effort to get to know him."
The angry vein on my father's forehead pops out. "[y/n], I will not have you turn our family's name into a joke," he growls, infuriated. "It is him or us."
"What?" I ask, baffled, my mother's eyes becoming wide with shock, yet she stays silent like the good little wife she is expected to be.
"If you choose this boy, your mother and I don't want to have anything to do with you," Dad repeats himself, Mom whispering his name but falling silent as he lifts his hand, forbidding her to speak.
He is protecting the family's reputation at all costs. Right, because this is all that was ever important to my father, our reputation.
"Wow, thank you for making this decision so easy for me, Dad," I tell him sarcastically, swallowing tears as I see some rolling down my mother's cheeks.
"[y/n]. Are you really going to choose trailer trash above your own parents? How dare you?" Guilt-tripping, all my father could ever do when I wanted to make my own decisions.
"No, how dare you?" I reply. "Treating yourself and my love for you like a bargaining chip to manipulate me... Eddie would never have the bar go that low and respects me and my decisions enough to not challenge them with the thread of leaving me."
"We'll revoke all your trust funds," he tries again, having the impression of me being as materialistic as himself.
"Mom and I had the money from the one set up for my graduation transferred to my bank account yesterday, but please, enjoy your life with the rest of the money. Maybe invest in therapy for Jason or yourself," I tell my father and walk away before tears start running down my cheeks.
Of course has our fight not gone overlooked. My family has been blessed with exceptionally loud voices. The Munson's are fast to walk after me, Wayne having a gentle yet firm grip on my arm.
"Hey, are you okay, kid?" he asks calmly, empathy in his eyes. The way he tilts his head already tells me this isn't the first time he has to calm an upset youth.
I nod, taking the tissue he hands me. "Uh-huh. I- I could use some help moving, though. I kinda just got disowned."
Eddie stands there, looking at me like a kicked puppy, while Wayne pulls me to his chest, firmly starting to rub my back. "It's alright, hun. Promise it's not that bad. We're gonna give them some time to cool off before we try talking to them again, and until then, you're part of the Munson clan. You're not alone, promise. We got you, kid."
It is no wonder that Eddie is as emotionally intelligent as he is. This type of gentle parenting is something that never was used for me. I feel awful, but Wayne's calm way of comforting me talks me off the edge.
"That's my fault," Eddie says, guilt filling his voice.
We look at him quickly, his uncle shaking his head. "Family can be tough, son. It's nobody's fault. Especially not yours or yours, hun," Wayne lectures us, now also having a tight grip on his nephew's shoulder.
"I should talk to them," Eddie insists. "I- Need to make sure they know I'm not that bad."
I shake my head, Wayne stepping back and letting us hug each other. "Eddie, no. No, it's okay. I knew they were going to react that way."
"I'm sorry," my boyfriend repeats.
"You did nothing wrong," I assure him.
Wayne touches my shoulder quickly, saying, "I see your mom, kiddo. I'm gonna go give her our address and phone number so you can talk when things have calmed, okay?" I nod, and he straightens his tie before making his way over to my mother.
The second we're alone, Eddie shoves a folded, green piece of crafting paper into my hands.
"Hey, that's your goal card," I say, surprised.
I open it, and the formerly empty card is filled with [y/n] Munson written into the middle of a heart on one side and the polaroid Wayne took of us while practicing guitar glued on the other side.
"I wanted to graduate for you, so I'm less of a burden to be with," Eddie explains.
"You're no burden," I tell him, making him shake his head.
"Yes, I am. Your family just kicked you out because you want to be with me. I have no money to my name and would be reliant on you. I just barely managed to graduate; having a bunch of freshmen help me study. I am a freak and a burden. And- And-"
"And I love you," I finish his sentence for him.
Eddie stops his self-deprecating rambling. "Huh?"
I smile at him softly. "You heard me. I love you, and you are no burden because love is unconditional. We'll use the money as if it would be a credit we got from the bank together, we build our own life and income with it, and I don't care how you managed to graduate because I know how hard you tried. Even if the rest of the town – including yourself – thinks you're bad and not good enough for me, I won't ever stop loving you or even for a second stop seeing your worth."
My boyfriend's bottom lip shivers as his grip on me tightens. I kiss him gently, hearing some shocked mumbles from nosey watchers and not caring one bit.
As we pull apart, Eddie smiles at me, and I feel the need to teasingly add, "And yes, you are a freak, but you're my freak, Eddie Munson."
"You mean it?"
"Absolutely."
"Thank you," he mumbles, kissing me again. As his lips leave mine, he whispers, "I love you too, Sweetheart."
Another kiss and more unhappy small-town minds noticing the love I share with the town's freak later, Robin makes us jump apart as she nonchalantly slaps our shoulders. "Hey, lovebirds. We're going to have a graduation party at Nancy's." She looks over to Wayne, who politely kept his distance while we were busy. "Family allowed."
"You just ruined their moment, dipshit," Steve says, pulling her away from us.
She shrugs. "They can cry and make out later. Right now, it's time to celebrate."
"You still ruined their moment," he insists, dragging his best friend away while shaking his head in our direction. "Do you see what I need to deal with on a daily basis?"
Robin elbows him in the ribs. "Shut up, dingus. You love me."
I ignore their bickering, looking at my boyfriend. "Do you wanna celebrate?"
He nods. "Yeah, Robin's right, actually. We can make out later and cry tomorrow when we get your stuff."
He places a kiss on my forehead, then enlaces our fingers.
"A house," he says suddenly, making look at him a little confused. "You asked me, trailer or house. My answer is house, and I want a white picket fence, a big living room for D&D adventures, and a guest bedroom for the freshmen to crash at when it's too late to drive home."
I can't help but smile. My metalhead is nothing more than a big softy dressed in leather and denim. "A white picket fence?"
He nods happily, informing me, "Always wanted one. Very heavy metal."
"Okay, crazy," I giggle. "House it is."
Remembering Eddie's uncle, who still stands there, giving us our private moments, I ask, "Have you told him?"
Eddie shakes his head, letting go of me and walking over to his uncle.
"Uncle Wayne?" he says nervously. "[y/n] and I want to move in together."
"Oh, that poor girl," he chuckles deeply.
"Is that okay for you?"
Wayne nods. "Of course it is, Eddie. And until you find something, you'll stay at the trailer with me."
"I'll still visit you all the time, and you can stay over as often as you want," Eddie assures his uncle again.
"Son, I already said it's okay."
"I just don't want you to think you'll be alone."
My heart swells at Eddie's sweet words, and so does Wayne's, as he lets out a loud sigh.
"Lord, you're a good man, Eddie. But I'm okay. I waited nine years to have the trailer to myself again," he assures his nephew, placing a hand on each of his shoulders. "We're family, boy. We're not going to stop being there for each other just because you're changing your address."
Eddie nods, trying to look away from his uncle as his eyes fill with tears, but Wayne follows his gaze, searching for his eyes. "I'm so proud of you. Always were," he tells him, pulling him into a hug.
As they put on their manly facades again, Wayne also adds, "And you better treat that girl well. Not every day one comes around and loves you that much."
Eddie nods quickly, wiping his teary eyes into the sleeve of his graduation robe.
Wayne keeps the boy close while looking at me and opening his other arm. "Now you come here, let me hug you too." I oblige, having my first family hug at the age of eighteen, with a found family that, through its brokenness, is so much more complete than mine ever was.
"If he ever treats you wrong, you'll tell me, okay?" the older man tells me, making me giggle. "I'm serious; you're family now."
I nod. "Okay, Wayne."
Wrapping an arm over my shoulder while we walk towards our friends, Wayne tells me, "You're taking his mattress with you when moving."
I quickly shake my head. "No chance. That thing needs to be burned."
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People that requested a part 2: @maystecc @englishmensbitch16 @ttsbaby01 @lucktwistedlady
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