#just catching up

[datshitrandom]

Darren Criss | Believin’ Fan Meet & Concert in Paris, France | November 11, 2023 | 📷 ~ 🎥 by FR Conventions

#just catching up #again #dont mind me #darren criss #believin' fan meet #people conventions #what a dork #an adorable dork #dailymenedit #malestarsedit #mancandykings #dailymalesource #dailymen #mensource #popculturesource #my gifs #please do not repost

[justabooknerdposts]

Shopping

Prompt from Ao3: Would love to see a future fic of either Annabeth wedding dress shopping with Sally or Annabeth and Percy telling Sally they are having a baby!

*Again, still closed to prompts, just have this one and one more left to catch up on (last one will be up next week).  I loved this prompt and wanted to do both lol so here you go!*

SHOPPING, PART 1 OF 2:

Annabeth knew it was the right dress as soon as she put it on.  It was simple, but elegant, with a hint of Grecian style, while still being modern.  The skirt swept the ground and the fabric was light, perfect for catching the breeze at a beach wedding.  When she saw herself in the mirror, she smiled and teared up.  She could absolutely see herself saying “yes” to Percy in this dress.

“It looks like we might have a frontrunner,” the shop assistant suggested kindly.  She was an older woman in her fifties wearing a black dress, her gray hair piled elegantly on top of her head, and she’d told Annabeth earlier how much she enjoyed helping brides find their perfect dress.  “Should we show them?”

Annabeth nodded.  She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.  She was spending the last Saturday of her senior year of college Christmas break going wedding dress shopping, while she and Percy were in New York visiting his family for the holidays.  She couldn’t imagine dress shopping without Sally there to help.  And, luckily, a few of her friends had been able to make it to the appointment, too.  This was the fifth dress she’d tried on and the other four had received mixed reviews from her entourage of Piper, Hazel, Rachel, and Sally.  The toughest judge, though, was Estelle.  The almost-four-year-old had expressed some strong opinions about two of the previous dresses.  And while Annabeth wasn’t going to base her decision on anyone’s opinion but her own, it would make everything easier if everyone liked this one.

She shouldn’t have worried.  When she stepped out of the dressing room, she couldn’t help the smile on her face.  Shyly, she did a small turn, holding out the skirt, and asked, “What do you think?”

Piper started smiling immediately.  Hazel’s hands went to her cheeks, her eyes bright.  Rachel studied it critically for a moment, like she was examining a painting, then gave an approving nod. 

Estelle, perched on the couch between Hazel and Piper, clapped her hands and told Annabeth, “You look like a princess.”

The best reaction, though, was Sally’s.  Her eyes welled up, even as she smiled.  “Oh sweetheart.  You look absolutely beautiful.”

“Thanks, Sally.”  Annabeth gave her a hug.  “I think this is the one.”

“It’s for sure the one,” Piper agreed.  “We can see it on your face.”

Annabeth blushed and turned back to the mirror.  “I just—I can see myself standing beside Percy in this dress.”

“After he picks his jaw up off the sand,” Rachel said, which made everyone laugh.

“This is it,” Annabeth said, twisting slightly in front of the mirror to see the different angles.  “I’m getting this one.”

“Wonderful,” the assistant said.  “I’ll leave you all to talk for a minute while I put the order together.  Would you like to add our alterations package?  There’s a discount if you purchase it at the same time as the dress.”

“That won’t be necessary.”  A dark-haired woman with grey eyes, wearing jeans and a white blouse, stepped into the dressing area.

“Mom?” Annabeth’s stomach dropped.  She was torn between being happy at seeing her mother and being concerned about why, exactly, Athena was here.

“Hello, Annabeth.”  Athena stopped beside her, studying her daughter in the wedding dress as if it were a battle plan.  “You look lovely.”

“Th-thank you.  How did you know we were here?”

Athena raised an eyebrow.  “I was given to understand that it is traditional for the mother of the bride to attend wedding dress shopping.”

“Oh, of course.”  Annabeth exchanged glances with Piper and Hazel, who both looked alert as they watched this conversation.  “I just didn’t realize it was something you’d want to do.”

“It’s not something I would typically do,” Athena agreed, moving to stand beside Annabeth, her hands going to the dress, gently tugging and tucking it so that it fit more tightly at Annabeth’s waist, highlighting her figure.  “But I’m willing to make an exception for you.  And offer my services as a seamstress to make the alterations on your dress.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened.  “Seriously?”

Athena smiled thinly.  “Yes, seriously.  I am the goddess of weaving, after all.  I think I can manage this task.”

“Thank you.”  Annabeth was stunned.  She and her mother hadn’t always had an easy relationship.  And she knew Percy had never exactly been Athena’s favorite.  So to get her support in this way meant a lot.

As much as she appreciated her mother’s visit, though, Annabeth could definitely tell everything was more tense while the goddess was present.  Luckily, after taking Annabeth’s measurements by studying the sample dress, Athena nodded, gave Annabeth instructions on how to contact her to make the alterations once her dress arrived, then left as abruptly as she’d arrived.

Once they were back on the street, Annabeth walked beside Sally, Estelle holding both their hands, insisting that they swing her across the cracks in the sidewalk.

“Thanks for coming today, Sally,” Annabeth told her.

“Of course, Annabeth.”  Sally smiled at her as they swung Estelle again.  “I wouldn’t have missed it.”  Her voice turned more careful, though, as she said, “It was nice of your mother to come.”

Annabeth nodded.  “It was.”  She shot a smile at Sally.  “But I’m really glad you could be here, too.”

Sally’s eyes crinkled the way they did with a true, genuine smile and she reached over with her free hand to squeeze Annabeth’s arm before Estelle once again insisted that they swing her.

*

“How was dress shopping?” Percy asked Annabeth later, when it was just the two of them snuggled on the couch at his parents’ apartment, watching TV after everyone else had gone to bed.  “Did you get one?”

She nodded against his shoulder.  “But you can’t see it until the wedding.  It’s bad luck.”

“Do you actually believe that?”

Annabeth shrugged.  “I’m not risking it, Seaweed Brain.”

Percy chuckled and kissed the top of her head.  “You’re probably right, as usual.”  His arm tightened around her shoulders.  “I already know you’ll look beautiful, though.”

Annabeth hid her smile against his t-shirt.  Raising her head, she met his eyes, gorgeous as ever, and told him, quietly, “I can’t wait to marry you.”

Percy’s smile at her words made her melt.  “I can’t wait to marry you, either,” he said, leaning closer to kiss her.

Soon, in just a few months, she would walk down the aisle to him, wearing the dress she’d bought today.  Until then, it was enough to be cuddled close together on the couch like this.  Life was good.

SHOPPING,  PART 2 OF 2:

Sally was grateful to be inside the department store on this early spring afternoon, as it was gray and drizzly outside, the sky pressing close to the tops of the skyscrapers.  She was also happy to be at the store with her son and daughter-in-law, helping Percy find new clothes for an upcoming formal work event.  Annabeth had insisted that Sally accompany them.  “We’ll need a tiebreaker,” she’d told Sally on the phone the day before.  “Besides, nice clothes aren’t always Percy’s strong point.”

So Sally had happily agreed to join them.  They would be meeting Paul and Estelle afterwards for dinner.  Sally had dropped Estelle off at her dance class on the way here, and Paul would be picking her up on his way to dinner after work.

It didn’t take too long to find a nice button-down shirt and a pair of dark gray pants for Percy.  He’d initially wanted a blue shirt, of course, but Annabeth had insisted on a green one that complemented his eyes.  Sally hadn’t really done her job as tiebreaker, since she’d agreed that her son looked very handsome in both shirts, but Percy had eventually given in good-naturedly to his wife, especially after she agreed to wear a blue dress to the event.

“You’re my plus one,” he told her with a wink.  Annabeth playfully smacked his arm.

Sally smiled.  They were as cute now as they had been at sixteen.  And she was very happy that Annabeth was an official member of the family.  As they started walking across the department store, back towards the door (Sally thought, although she’d gotten a big turned around in the giant store), her phone buzzed.  She checked it, following the shopping bag swinging from Percy’s hand out of the corner of her eye.  When her son’s footsteps stopped, she stopped, too, still focused on Paul’s text saying they were on their way, his photo of Estelle in a dance pose, and her reply exclaiming about how adorable the photo was and letting him know they were on their way out of the store and would see them soon at the restaurant.

As she slipped her phone into her pocket and looked up, she realized that Percy and Annabeth were both watching her.  “Sorry.  Text from Paul.  They’re on their way to the restaurant.  Did you need something else here, honey?”

“I’m not sure.”  Percy glanced at Annabeth, the corner of his mouth quirking up.  “Do we need anything else here, baby?”

Sally was a bit surprised at the term of endearment, as Percy didn’t always use those for Annabeth in front of his mom, but they were also still pretty early in their marriage, so she figured maybe it was just a happy newlywed thing.

Annabeth crossed her arms, biting her lip, glancing at Sally before telling Percy, “I don’t know, baby, what do you think?”

Sally frowned, narrowing her eyes.  Clearly, something was up.  “What are you two—”  Suddenly, she realized where they were standing.  “Why are we in the baby department?”

Percy raised his eyebrows at his mom.  Annabeth was clearly trying to hide a smile.  Sally had a moment of confusion, glancing from her son and daughter-in-law to the racks of tiny, pastel-colored clothes.

And then she got it.

“Wait.  Are you—” Their giant grins were answer enough.  And then Sally started crying, right there in the department store. 

“Aw, Mom.”  Percy hugged her and Sally squeezed him back, hard.  “These are happy tears, right?”

“Of course they are!”  Sally sobbed, even though she was smiling as she kissed his cheek and released him to hug Annabeth.  “I’m so happy right now.”

Annabeth held on to Sally for an extra moment, and Sally squeezed her tighter.  “You’re going to do great, sweetheart,” she told her daughter-in-law softly, and Annabeth nodded against her shoulder.  They were both wiping tears off their cheeks when they broke apart.

“Well,” Sally clapped her hands, “while we’re here, I’m buying some outfits!  I’m guessing it’s too soon to know boy or girl?”

Annabeth nodded.  “I’m not due until September, so we’ve got a while still.  Thankfully.  It was…a bit of a surprise.”  She glanced at Percy with a smile.  “But we’re really happy about it.  Thrilled, actually.”

“Definitely,” Percy agreed, still grinning.  “And we decided not to find out what the baby’s going to be.  We’ll be happy either way, so it seems like it’d be a fun surprise.”

Annabeth made a face.  “It makes it hard to plan, but he persuaded me.”  She took Percy’s hand.  “We’ve had a lot of crummy surprises over the years, so it seems nice to have a good one to look forward to.”

“Absolutely,” Sally agreed.  She turned to critically examine the rows of tiny clothes in front of her.  “I’m sure I can find some cute onesies in here that will work for a boy or a girl.”

She did.  Ten minutes later, she was handing Percy a second bag to carry, this one holding half a dozen adorable little outfits.  Percy was still beaming as he took it from her.

“Feels real now,” he said, hefting the bag to show Annabeth.  “Our baby has clothes.”

Annabeth sniffled.  “That’s so sweet.  Thanks, Sally.”

Sally gave Annabeth a one-armed hug.  “You’re welcome, dear.  I’m just so happy for you both.” 

The three of them left the store, heading for dinner to share the good news.  Sally couldn’t keep a smile off her face.  Her son was going to be a dad.  She was going to be a grandma.  Above her, the clouds were breaking up, slivers of blue sky appearing through the gray.  It was a beautiful day.   

#pjo #fanfic #percy jackson #percabeth #writing #fanfiction #ff #stories #annabeth chase #request #closed to prompts #just catching up

[catboy-quackity]

THAT LAST SCENE WITH GL! RANBOO CRUCIFIED, THE CAMERA SLOWLY ZOOMING OUT, THE CALM MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND, THAT'S WHY HE WAS REPLAYING LITTLE NIGHTMARES, THAT JUST SCREAMS LITTLE NIGHTMARES HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!

#just catching up #genloss #i fuckin see you ranboo you sick fuck #you cannot reference my favorite game without me screaming about it #gamertag #?

[bayoubodycount]

"Buy new circuit, this one poodoo" has to be one of the best lines to come out of The Mandalorian🤣

Followed by "No squeezie"

#S3 The Mandalorian #Little guys with no filter are the best #The Anzellans #Just catching up #S3Ep1

[riverscuomohhh]

#i love his nose #what an amazing close-up #I’m just staring into his eyes #😵‍💫🫠🤤 #why #why indeed #rivers cuomo #tiktok #just catching up #blue light glasses

[lovetilltheam]

When you thought we peaked with the princess park line and then Louis hits you with All Along 👁👄👁

#i am unwell #Louis #Harry #princess park #all along #habits #one direction #just catching up #I heard the leaked songs and holy shiiiit #louis tomlinson

[dobsmoneylake]

GHOST ASSASSIN

#WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THIS??? #just catching up #also my life has finally calmed down a bit #so i'm back #spoilers

[hive-heart]

A classmate (and good friend) who is travelling abroad rn was like "are you free? I wanted to call you" and on the call I kept asking "what do you need? What can I help with?" But apparently he just wanted to catch up with me. Huh. We just talked a bit and then hung up.

#it was through a normal phone call too #this is too weird #i have to stress that we're still in classes and he usually relies on me to pass along whats going on around here #i fully thought I was going to like explain all the schoolwork we were doing #but noup #just catching up #so confusing to me

[taffywabbit]

they should invent a new type of "staying in bed for 2-3 hours after you wake up repeatedly opening and closing apps on your phone" where it makes you feel awesome and energized and emotionally fulfilled

#buny text #I'm fine i've just been staying up too late playing bg3 the past few nights #and then wanting to wake up before noon so my parents don't say anything rude to me so i end up getting less sleep to facilitate that #and it's catching up to me #i feel like this explanation maybe undermines my previous statement of 'I'm fine' a bit but I'm fine i promise #look at my lop posts boy

[bblrap]

seems funnybloggers are way less careful with exposing their cryptofascism when tradgirls are watching eh

#love thattttt #just catching up

[datshitrandom]

Darren Criss performs onstage during the Alzheimer's Association Imagine Benefit at Jazz at Lincoln Center | October 25, 2023 in New York City | 📸 by Dave Kotinsky and Patrick McMullan | 🎥 via Anton San Diego

#just catching up #don't mind me #darren criss #alzheimer's association #alzheimer's association imagine benefit #darren x emporio armani #mancandykings #dailymenedit #malestarsedit #dailymalesource #dailymen #mensource #dailymusicians #dailymusic #musicsourcedaily #musiciansedit #popculturesource #please do not repost

[herd-reject-arts]

So I'm leaving work and something darts in front of me, maybe 10ft away, too fast for me to see what it is. Peek around the tree blocking my path and I see this

Just like... a whole ass hawk. Dude's gotta be about 1.5ft tall. Massive fucking bird. And it's just staring me straight in my soul like this, even as I try to move ahead. It didn't budge. And there's only this path back to my car unless I want to walk on a busy highway. So I have the option of Death By Raptor or Death By Truck.

So I walk in the poison ivy filled patch off the sidewalk. Guy still isn't moving. Still staring me directly in the eyes. And I do this thing when animals are behaving strangely where I'll talk to them, so I'm just like, "Hey, man. I don't know you. You don't know me. This feels really threatening. I'm just trying to get to my car, dude. Can I get some space please? You're a big fucking bird. I see those claws. You could kill me right now, but I'd appreciate if you didn't, ok?"

It didn't move until I was about 2ft away. Again: I'm as far from it as I can be without walking into the street. It clearly wasn't going to budge. I walk past, thing flies up (silent, btw. Scary) and lands on a brick wall a little further ahead

Anyway. Weird guy. Nearly shit my pants when I noticed a bird big enough to carry off a fully grown cat was just... there, staring me in the face, unwilling to move away from me, a human, something it should see as a threat. I watched behind me the whole rest of the way to my car, just in case this bird decided to help me shed this mortal coil. 10/10 experience. Super cool guy.

#not vc sorry #bird #birds #aves #raptor #hawk #red shouldered hawk #i think. might be wrong on that id #accipitriformes #birds of prey #honestly a really cool guy so close up #I'm happy i wasn't attacked. i would not want to fight a guy that big. #talons on this bird were huge. big scary. #I've never heard of large predatory birds just landing in front of people like that so i don't know what gives #it didn't catch any food or anything. just landed near me then stared me down. #I don't know a lot about bird behavior so i tried to not look back at it but still. #it also didn't look injured. seemed like a healthy bird #if anyone has any idea why this thing would act the way it did I'd love to know

[dillyt]

Great news for uninsured adults in the USA who want a COVID-19 booster! It now appears that ALL CVS locations are now active participants in the Bridge Access Program. The Bridge Access Program gives out free Covid-19 vaccinations to 18+ adults who otherwise can't afford one, so if you have a CVS near you, please go get one! For others who don't have a CVS near them, please go to vaccines.gov, click on "Find Covid-19 vaccines", fill out which vaccines you prefer (you can mix different vaccines if you have to so i reccomend just marking all of them for the age groups you need), and when the next page loads mark the "Bridge Access Program Participant" option to see only locations that are Bridge Access Program participants. Hopefully, other places that aren't CVS will start participating soon, so just check back every so often to see if there are any updates. The CDC Bridge Access Program website also has more details on what locations will be participating, but only CVS is appearing as an active participant on the vaccines.gov location finder at the moment.

#covid19 #covid #coronavirus #vaccines #covid vaccine #bridge access program #CDC #signal boost #please share #coronavirus vaccine #covid19 vaccine #covid 19 vaccine #novavax #moderna #pfizer #also interesting side note but i havent been able to find any vaccine other than novavax near me #perhaps this is just a regional thing or maybe novavax is cheaper to make so those are the most common? #anyway thats why i made sure to tell people its okay to mix up because im going to have to bc i got moderna every other time lol #mayyybe other vaccines will become available in the future??? but ive had close family catch covid left and right so im not waiting #also does anyone know why the bridge program only bridges access to 18 or older individuals? #like i knew the gov didnt care about children but god damn lmao

[chipthekeeper]

Goddamn, Lando drove his fucking ass off today

#just catching up #enjoying it immensely

[inkskinned]

at some point it's just like. do they even fucking like the thing they're asking AI to make? "oh we'll just use AI for all the scripts" "we'll just use AI for art" "no worries AI can write this book" "oh, AI could easily design this"

like... it's so clear they've never stood in the middle of an art museum and felt like crying, looking at a piece that somehow cuts into your marrow even though the artist and you are separated by space and time. they've never looked at a poem - once, twice, three times - just because the words feel like a fired gun, something too-close, clanging behind your eyes. they've never gotten to the end of the movie and had to arrive, blinking, back into their body, laughing a little because they were holding their breath without realizing.

"oh AI can mimic style" "AI can mimic emotion" "AI can mimic you and your job is almost gone, kid."

... how do i explain to you - you can make AI that does a perfect job of imitating me. you could disseminate it through the entire world and make so much money, using my works and my ideas and my everything.

and i'd still keep writing.

i don't know there's a word for it. in high school, we become aware that the way we feel about our artform is a cliche - it's like breathing. over and over, artists all feel the same thing. "i write because i need to" and "my music is how i speak" and "i make art because it's either that or i stop existing." it is such a common experience, the violence and immediacy we mean behind it is like breathing to me - comes out like a useless understatement. it's a cliche because we all feel it, not because the experience isn't actually persistent. so many of us have this ... fluttering urgency behind our ribs.

i'm not doing it for the money. for a star on the ground in some city i've never visited. i am doing it because when i was seven i started taking notebooks with me on walks. i am doing it because in second grade i wrote a poem and stood up in front of my whole class to read it out while i shook with nerves. i am doing it because i spent high school scribbling all my feelings down. i am doing it for the 16 year old me and the 18 year old me and the today-me, how we can never put the pen down. you can take me down to a subatomic layer, eviscerate me - and never find the source of it; it is of me. when i was 19 i named this blog inkskinned because i was dramatic and lonely and it felt like the only thing that was actually permanently-true about me was that this is what is inside of me, that the words come up over everything, coat everything, bloom their little twilight arias into every nook and corner and alley

"we're gonna replace you". that is okay. you think that i am writing to fill a space. that someone said JOB OPENING: Writer Needed, and i wrote to answer. you think one raindrop replaces another, and i think they're both just falling. you think art has a place, that is simply arrives on walls when it is needed, that is only ever on demand, perfect, easily requested. you see "audience spending" and "marketability" and "multi-line merch opportunity"

and i see a kid drowning. i am writing to make her a boat. i am writing because what used to be a river raft has long become a fully-rigged ship. i am writing because you can fucking rip this out of my cold dead clammy hands and i will still come back as a ghost and i will still be penning poems about it.

it isn't even love. the word we use the most i think is "passion". devotion, obsession, necessity. my favorite little fact about the magic of artists - "abracadabra" means i create as i speak. we make because it sluices out of us. because we look down and our hands are somehow already busy. because it was the first thing we knew and it is our backbone and heartbreak and everything. because we have given up well-paying jobs and a "real life" and the approval of our parents. we create because - the cliche again. it's like breathing. we create because we must.

you create because you're greedy.

#every time someones like ''AI will replace u" im like. u will have to fucking KILL ME #there is no replacement here bc i am not filling a position. i am just writing #and the writing is what i need to be doing #writeblr #this probably doesn't make sense bc its sooo frustrating i rarely speak it the way i want to #edited for the typo wrote it and then was late to a meeting lol #i love u people who mention my typos genuinely bc i don't always catch them!!!! :) it is doing me a genuine favor!!! #my friend says i should tell you ''thank you beta editors'' but i don't know what that means #i made her promise it isn't a wolf fanfiction thing. so if it IS a wolf thing she is DEAD to me (just kidding i love her) #hey PS PS PS ??? if ur reading this thinking what it's saying is ''i am financially capable of losing this'' ur reading it wrong #i write for free. i always have. i have worked 5-7 jobs at once to make ends meet. #i did not grow up with access or money. i did not grow up with connections or like some kind of excuse #i grew up and worked my fucking ASS OFF. and i STILL!!! wrote!!! on the side!!! because i didn't know how not to!!! #i do not write for money!!!! i write because i fuckken NEED TO #i could be in the fucking desert i could be in the fuckken tundra i could be in total darkness #and i would still be writing pretentious angsty poetry about it #im not in any way saying it's a good thing. i'm not in any way implying that they're NOT tryna kill us #i'm saying. you could take away our jobs and we could go hungry and we could suffer #and from that suffering (if i know us) we'd still fuckin make art. #i would LOVE to be able to make money doing this! i never have been able to. but i don't NEED to. i will find a way to make my life work #even if it means being miserable #but i will not give up this thing. for the whole world.

[forestofsprites]

i'm such a friend lover. i genuinely believe that my friends are the coolest funniest loveliest most ridiculously joyous people out there! im biased as hell!! i think theyre all rad! and the universe just so happened to slip all these beloved people into my orbit! and vice versa!! wtf!

#hey guys . im so tired #i just spent a few hours catching up on a show with my beloved friend after months n months . and i feel healed #so healed #i love friends #i love you all #& i love teleparty for allowing these little moments of delight #goodnight :")))) sending little beams of warmth at us all #thoughts