#like after seeing it in the media so much during her research shes like

[ego-meliorem-esse]

I present to you my years long obsession - female America.

This is not a Nyotalia version it's just a concept of "what if everything is the same but Alfred was born a girl". Like i see so much potential! In a world where all the odds are stacked against her, she despite it all gets to where she is today. Making good and bad decisions along the way.

A lil hc/backstory for my main girl:

• Given name (by dad Arthur) is Elizabeth Felicity Kirkland but during the revolution changes her last name to Jones. Her first name change happens in the 1820/1830s when she changes it to Alexandra, also dropping her second name. (I was young when I came across the name and it means "defender/protector of man" and I was /obessed/ so i just stick to it since she is a loser and just thinks it's a cool sounding name)

• She goes by Alex/Al and I think that's neat :)

• My girl is tall. Like 181 cm tall. Sender but with visible muscles. She does want a bigger behind but her Anglo-Saxon genetics say nah.

• As a child she spent more time in England due to her being a girl so I think even if Arthur was absent he didn't allow her to spend much time alone in the colonies. She resents that ofc

• Just like with Alfred, Alex is very fkn close to Matt even if she forgets to call him or check up on him for months at a time. Al: "Hey man I know I just called a while ago but how've you been? Matt: "you called me 5 months ago..."

• Works at NASA as a part time aeronaitical engeneer. Loves physics, hates chemistry (self projection im sorry)

• During the revolution she dressed up as a boy but the people she worked with knew she wasn't one. People went along with it anyway.

• Other than during the American revolution, she dressed in feminine presenting clothes up until the 1930s. After that it was trousers all the way!

• Alex was never a nurse during wartime but definitely did accountaint work in ww1 and later joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) where she stayed until 1943 when she joined her men fighting on the ground ( Conversion to Army status, Women's Army Corps - WAC). That's when she saw actual combat.

• Isn't fond of birds. Canaries are fine. Eagles are unsettling.

• Obsesses over a certan thing/hobby at a time up to a point where she perfects her skill. When she was about 14 (human years) it was the whole freedom and equality of man and all the politics regarding it. In the 1890s her obession was cars and motor vehicles. The 1910s brought a new obsession on womens rights. 1960s was space exploration where she devoted almost all her time researching and working for NASA, disregarding her goverment/state duties as a country. In the 1980s it was the internet. In 1990s she got really interested in the Balkan wars (self insert >:)) for whatever reason. Today her attention is mostly on social media and her attention span ia short af. Still really likes all things tech.

• Hasn't got many properties/real estate. Al does own a penthouse in Seaport, Boston and a late 17th and early 18th century colonial home in Newbury, Boston (that she needs to renovate asap). The only other real state she owns is in California, though modern and recently buit, it's not big nor does she spend much time there.

• Her personality is basicaly Alfred if he grew up as a woman and had to face opression based on sex and inequality that came with it. So still bubbly, extroverted, a social butterfly but also self-serving, idealistic, manipulative sprinkled in with sarcasm, cautiousness and craftiness. Same feckin sense of humour tho.

• In 1783, at the Treaty of Paris in Versailles both her and her father had to sign the document that started her independence (She herself had a human representitive 'cus of her age/sex bla bla but it was mostly formalities). At that signing Arthur gave her a flintlock pistol that he himself used in the 1640s. Not many words were exchanged, he just put it in her hand to keep. She still has it in her attic. Somewhere. She'd find it if she just takes the time to look for it I'm sure.

• In 1889 she straight up did her first war crime/murder of a fellow nation (if you don't count shooting her pops face off at Saratoga in 1777). After an altrication with Antonio that resulted in him insulting and slapping the girl for her audacity and mouthiness, she punched him straight in the jaw. A fight insued where she got ahold of his belt and straight up strangled him. Took her a while to process that and accept it. On the bright side Antonios scilence was heard around the world and while perplexed and insulted, older and influential (mostly male at that point) nations started to feel a glint of respect forming for the young startup.

• Al was given a family pocket watch by her father in the 90s (No more empire for Arthur so he sad :(((((( ) that was suppoaed to go to a firstborn son of a lord as an inheritance symbol. Everyone thought Jack would get it since Matt is techincally not Arthur's son. But even he would be expected to recieve it before Al. Then in an unexpected turn of events, while visiting her grumpy and nostalgeous empire-missing dad, Arthur pulled out the watch while eating stale kebabs in front of the telly and gave it to her casualy without as much as a word (The empire started with her, it shall end with her). She keeps it in her work desk drawer in a wooden box.

• Al and Zee have an interesting relationship. While being different in almost every aspect, there ia a mutual respect for eachother from eachother. While not really being able to see eye to eye, they are sisters in a certain roundabout and very fucked up way. Girls who learned that they are very much judged by their sex despite being daughters of a high ranking British lord. While aware that she will never be Alex/Elizabeth in her fathers eyes, Zee still gets treated as a treasure by her father. Much to Zee's annoyance.

• It's still Matt who's in Alex's shadow. Despite the dificulties she rises above and is the perfect child of an empire. Smart, intelligent, inquisitive, a fast learner and incredibly aware of the political and historical situation at all times. Even despite being a girl and less than a son in the eyes of a 17th/18th century society, she suceeds.

• Arthur wanted a son to come from his colonial endeavours, as all empires/nobility at the time did. And as all other empires at the time had. But ofc karma is a bitch and he's the only empire with an only child being a daughter. Though at first thougrly dissaponted, when he lays his eyes on his daughter for the first time, the only emotion he can feel is /joy/.

• Instead of sowing/knitting Al's education was very much focused on natural sciences, since that is where Arthur quickly realized she exels at. He swapped her Violin and General History of Music lessions with Astrophysics and The History of Astronomy. All in an attempt to stop her from making his ears bleed from the constant prattling about The Four Square Theorem or The Brachistocrone Curve. It only got worse, but his daughter was happy and content.

I have sooooo many more of these jfc i might do more later but for now this is all I can think of.

TLDR: Female America is great and has so much potential as a character hghhhhhhhh

#i needed yo get this out here eventually #its just so faacinatingghh #also no glasses us 1 i cant draw em for ahit and 2 ber sight is relatively good #she looks a bit like arthur but thats on purpose i think #oh welllllll #hetalia #hws america #aph america #nyo america #nyo!america #nyotalia #my art #myart #historical hetalia #alfred f jones

[project-sekai-facts]

What's ur fav piece of trivia for every* character?

(*or at least as much as you can recall off the top of ur head)

my favorite trivia for characters is usually just whatever i think is funniest so just keep that in mind. that's not always the case but you might see it become a pattern. oh the other thing is whatever is most soul-crushing so yeah.

Ichika - either the fact her name comes from how her parents met (because i think it's really sweet) or that she accidentally discovered miku when she was watching videos on her dad's tablet and opened a recording of a miku concert

Saki - she used to listen to the song Time Machine when she was in hospital (at Ichika's recommendation) to remind her of family and friends. It's the in-universe reason why she is featured on the cover. This is actually one of my favorite facts in the game overall.

Honami - she is surprisingly good at flirting

Shiho - not one I've posted before, but in Run! Sports Festival! she couldn't bring herself to throw any of the balls in the ball toss because they had cute animal designs on them

Minori - she once passed out because Haruka wished her happy birthday.

Haruka - she likes penguins because she thinks the way they waddle is cute and she likes how round a lot of penguin merch is

Airi - she followed all of Shizuku's campaigns and bought all the magazines she was featured in when she was still a member of Cheerful*Days. She insists it was just research.

Shizuku - either that she usually has a thermos of miso soup on her to eat after practice or archery club or that she isn't good at texting. i haven't posted either of these before

Kohane - again one I haven't posted yet, but her favorite photo she's taken of Count Pearl is one of Pearl eating mice. the rest of VBS are surprised that she isn't squeamish about that sort of thing (i dunno what they're talking about that sounds like a very cool photo).

An - the possible symbolism of the black stripe on her new school cardigan. hello to the person who submitted that i am still not over it.

Akito - in Cinema he's the only person to sing solo during the first two choruses, the others don't get solo parts in the chorus until the end of the song. i think about this one a lot actually

Toya - he can't swim

Tsukasa - he's the comedic relief and there's a lot of really random shit i know about him because of that, so my favorite fact about him is whatever will have the most impact in the moment if i were to mention it out of nowhere. for a less vague answer, this one although i consider it to be one of my worst posts

Emu - she's very good at replicating cartoon faces. i like this one because it raises a few questions about whether the L2Ds are still exaggerated or if she just looks like that and no one questions that she actually has a cartoon face. what if project sekai ends with them all becoming self-aware.

Nene - either the fact that she thinks the forest has good graphics or that she called rui's mom "auntie" when she was younger because i think it's cute.

Rui - i like a good reference and i appreciate that he sometimes references famous people and media.

Kanade - she's left handed. i also like that her family name was made up specifically to contrast with the rest of N25.

Mafuyu - either that it's shown one time that she can see ghosts and then it's never brought up or referenced again, or that the "mom's cooking" listed as her favorite food might refer to the bunny-shaped apple slices her mother would make for her when she was a kid. i also like the detail that her eyes being two-tone is because she inherited the eye colors of both her parents.

Ena - twitter user. also despite loving cheesecake, she doesn't like cheese. girl what the hell.

Mizuki - they started out editing by making AMVs for a magical girl anime they liked. Amia comes from the name of a character from that anime. also did you know they put ice cubes in noodles because of their sensitive tongue. ice cubes.

Bonus - some side character stuff I like

Kotaro's favorite food is strawberries but he doesn't like strawberry flavored things for whatever reason

Asahi and Sakurako's family names are Chinese mythology references

Tatsuya's hobbies are motorbiking and fishing. these are not things you expect to go together

Nagi hated tomatoes but she would eat them in front of An

Iori hates spicy food, whilst Mio's favorite food is super spicy ramen. Meanwhile Mio doesn't like cream, but Iori likes crepes (which usually have cream on them).

Souma started listening to foreign music after Arata left for America

gbr i forgot about the vocaloids for a second but before i call it a day i think it's incredibly funny that Len cannot reach the stools in crase cafe.

#asks #mod talks

[mar3ggiata]

professional help, c3. 'The conversation.'

simon riley x original character.

trigger warnings: violence, sexual assault, mentions of rape, trauma, sexual themes, swearing, italian, use of alcohol and drugs.

song to listen to when reading this: The Fruits, Paris Paloma.

abstract: Simon here, I saw Jude again, she's still going on about her theories, whatever. it's not even funny anymore and she has some weird secret I want to find out… still, she's a fucking menace to society. idk what's wrong with her probably got dropped on her head on purpose as a kid. don't blame the parents.

In the end, she did hear back from Price. An email. 'Scherzi!' She shouted out loud in her apartment. She sat down on the couch and Jinx hopped on with her, sniffing her laptop. An email from the captain, an invitation to a briefing. To discuss the situation. Tomorrow after your last session at 5pm. 'No vabbe, me fa parià…' she mumbled and wrote back that she would be there. They wanted her help on the situation, she had to come prepared. She was good, she did good. Look at her, who would have thought. She was in America all alone in her little apartment. She moved away when she was 18 and never turned back. She had worked in the most awful places with the most awful people to pay her studies. She hadn't been home in years, she had no friends, she was paying her bills, she had a car (she was still paying for it every month), she had her job and now higher ups were asking to speak to her about her take on a difficult mission! A life or death situation, she would solve the case and save the lives of millions of Americans. A fucking tidal wave. If my mom could see me now. She looked at her calendar on her laptop, she had sessions from 9 to 12 the following day, then from 3 to 5pm. Then the briefing, then ballet.

She did some research during the evening, she took the dog on a walk and then showered. She ended up smoking a little too much, she was nervous. She woke up early the following day. She stalked, or better, did research, on Arash's social media, along with his family's and friends' to gather any information that could help her. She looked up 'The Pilgrimage' author online, looked through his other publications. Not very famous writer. She kept thinking about the meeting all morning, she wanted to make a good impression and be useful to the captain. She was so nervous she nearly spaced out during therapy with a Sergeant with severe anxiety. She didn't eat lunch. When she knocked on Price's office door and heard him say to come in, she was a little surprised to see the captain wasn't alone.

Skull guy stood next to the desk in the middle of the office. He looked at her. He took very seriously the mask thing and skeleton theme, he had a black mask on, like the cotton Covid ones. Maybe he was just insecure. 'Jude thanks for coming on such a short notice' said the captain, signalling to sit down in front of him. 'This is Lieutenant Riley, Simon you met Jude.' She took a step in the direction of the Lieutenant, she wanted to shake his hand. 'Nice to meet you,' she said. He took her hand without making a sound, he just nodded slightly. His hands were cold. She sat down and so did Price. Simon was still standing. 'So, I wanted to update you on your patient. We spoke with him and three other soldiers about joining us to the next mission in Al-Jareena next week but he refused. Well…' he stopped, rubbing his beard in clear distress. 'He got up and came up to me saying his injury is not fully healed and he will not be able to be deployed. So I told him we needed him and he started to get nervous and left the room.' She listened without intervening. 'I know you have an appointment with him one day before we leave. I was wondering if you could maybe let me know if you find out something about this, he's required to leave with us, otherwise we'll have to report him. His doctors cleared him.' He showed her a piece of paper, sliding it across the table. It stated Arash's hand healed to full recovery. She read the statement before looking up at Price.

'Correct me if I'm wrong' she started. This wasn't gonna end well. 'He's supposed to leave the base and go on his little trip for one hour the day before you leave, the day before the mission, let's say to alert Khorram's men.' She quickly glanced up to the Lieutenant who was still standing silent with his arms crossed. He looked like he could crush her skull with a finger. She wasn't scared, she even found it kinda funny, his little costume. 'We could follow him. He could be updating the troops on your next movements and we could… catch him in the act' she said.

'Too risky.' It was Simon that spoke. He was British, his voice was deep. He had been debating on intervening in the meeting from the moment Price asked him to be present. He asked him cause he trusted him, and valued his opinion. Jude could have been informed and educated with her little theories and stories, but she didn't know how things worked in the army. This wasn't Cluedo. She had the same attitude when she walked in the room, maybe a bit less stiff. He took his time exploring her. Her pretty green eyes, her nose, her neck. She wore a blouse this time, with grey trousers. She still had those shiny high boots. She had her hair up, a blonde ponytail. He looked at her jaw. She had a mole on her cheek. He shook her hand, he could smell her deodorant. Her skin was warm, soft. It reminded him of untouched snow. He wanted to take her hand and look at it up close, hold it, feel her slender fingers and her pointy nails. He looked at her thighs pressed together when she was sitting. The curve of her hips. Her voice still sounded rough and serious. When he spoke to her she looked at him offended. 'Too risky' he had said. 'He would notice, he already suspects we're onto him.' He explained.

Hum…fuck you? 'Well if he's not guilty he will have no problem talking to you' she replied, still holding his gaze. She was brave. She was probably a few years younger than him, she had her little moment and now it was time to get back to reality. Yet, she still wouldn't listen. 'He doesn't have the doctors excuse anymore, he knows things are moving. You saw his m.o., he'll get out for an hour and…' she tried to convince him, she looked at Price for his approval, but he stopped her. 'Then we'll catch him when he comes back' Simon spoke without waiting for his captain. 'We can wait for your session and see if he says anything, or just force him into confessing.' Her lips formed a straight line. She didn't like his plan, maybe because it wasn't a plan, it was just sitting and waiting. He had dealt with much more complicated things than this, she could relax. 'You want to interrogate him and accuse him of what? Skipping his doctors appointments? You're wasting an opportunity to see where he's really headed when he sneaks off base', she quickly replied shaking her head in his direction. She had slightly turned her body towards him. 'You're the one who accused him first.'

'And I gave you proof, didn't I?'

He liked talking to her. Her voice still sounded weird, he couldn't pick up a particular accent. He understood she would't let it go.

'I think you're waisting an opportunity'

'I think you're thinking too much about it.'

I think I want to break your neck. She was mad now, he could see her, he could feel it. The air was cold around them again. She had the same expression as the first time he ever saw her a year back. She wasn't confident, or powerful. It was the look of rage. 'The nightmare that hunts you for the entire week' look. Fortunately, Price stopped them from discussing it further. 'Jude, do you think you can get him to talk about the mission? I will put down his name as one of the soldiers in the team, so he will know he's coming with us.' She was nervous at this point, but tried to keep her breathing stable. Could she get him to talk? She couldn't do it last week or the week before, he stopped listening. 'Yes, I will do my best.' She replied. 'Good, thanks. You'll let me know as soon as you finish, if everything goes to plan, we bring him with us and he complies to his duties, everyone is happy.' It wasn't going to go this way, she could feel it. They were making a mistake. 'If you feel like he's suspicious, you tell me and we'll keep him here and interrogate him, we'll see what's going on. Sorted?' He asked. She didn't respond for a few seconds, but nodded. I already proved to you he's fucking suspicious, what more do you want. They weren't listening.

She stood up and thanked the two for inviting her to the meeting, she assured them she would keep them updated. Her smile was fake, she still wanted to be polite even though she thought they were both fucking stupid. Ghost didn't feel guilty for going so hard on her, he looked at her leave while she was trying to hide her anger. He said what he really thought, that was what he had been trained to do. 'What's her deal?' he asked the captain on his way out. 'Jude?' the man looked up, then shook his head. 'She's a good counsellor. She has… she is a strong woman, I think she's good at what she does, I've always trusted her.' He said. You're lying. That's not enough, and it's not a fully honest answer. They were hiding something from him.

notes: translation: 'Scherzi!', you're joking! 'No vabbe, me fa parià' Naples dialect for having fun. I gave you an hint to where she's from <3

notes: are they making a mistake? also, what's the deal with Jude hu?? reblogs and replies are highly appreciated!

love, mare.

taglist:

@ummmmmwat @ghostlythots @sweetfemmefatal @natxpat @chavarriakeren647 @ravenmoore14 @farther-than-pleiades @internallyscreamings @hwromi @atoxicrat @cuti3maddi3 @deafeningkittenblaze @its-celeste @serene-hills @lexidoll12 @poohkie90 @lunatiquess

@warmedbythebody @katzykat @iristhemuse @azkza @keiraslayz @abbyandermine @jennyjencakes @dest-nai @corset-briefs @nutze-kekse @ilytsukiw @b3anspr0ut

@pondsblog @missyouzoe @fallenkitten @bigauthorrascalturkey @bethtay @angelynn-nicole @starluv @stargirlisworld @giyuuslittleslut @impossiblecupcakelight

@rkrivees-blog @ghosts-hoe @kam1snotverysmart @gauky76 @freyjaaasstuff @spicyspicyliving @scottpilgrimvsmyfists @courtney0-0 @shinchanboi @darling006 @my-therapist-hates-me

#cod mw2 #cod x reader #ghost cod #simon ghost riley #ghost fanfiction #ghost headcanons #simon ghost x reader #call of duty #cod fic #cod modern warfare #cod ghost #cod mwii #cod #call of duty modern warfare #modern warfare 2 #modern warfare #modern warefare ii #modern warefare 2 x reader #john price #captain price #price x reader #soap cod #john soap mactavish #soapghost #soap x reader #soap mw2 #soap art #ghoap #mw2 #gaz art

[teeth-cable]

Im the CSA victim from UniformedArtists blog and I agree with you 1000% dropping everything Vivziepop.

Like I only watch Helluva even after the shit she's done to see how far it would sink but jesus christ.

You know her just saying the counselor is 18-19 isn't fucking good enough because the show says a different thing.

Like before people bring up the argument counselors can be adults... Most TV shows in media actually have minor counselors and we know Vivziepop doesn't research shit about hell or actual royalty so why the fuck am I supposed to believe Adam or her researched counselor age ranges.

Also nobody should have a twitter to figure out if you did or didn't make a grooming subplot.

You know in Curse of Strahd there's a controversial character Gertruda who 50 (500) year old Strahd is implied to planning take as another bride because of where you find her and in the book it states she's recently a teenager. However as much as I hate this plot line due to trauma I understand why it was added because WOTC portrays Strahd as a piece of shit. Like his goal is to chase down the reincarnation of his brother's fiance throughout time until he catches her, makes her a vampire and possibly brainwash/assault her to make her love him. Strahd is meant to be a gross creep. I as a DM and many other age Gertruda up to 18 because we don't want a pedo plot line and it keeps the predatory nature of Strahd intact.

Barbie seems to be portrayed in a significantly more positive light and her grooming behavior is never called out as a bad thing. Like Moxxie should say something at god damn least since he has morals.

There are so many things wrong with the EP. What gets me is writing has multiple stages, first the person needs to come up with the EP pitch, get the directer or network's approval, finish the first draft, then revisit it for grammar mistakes and continuity, then revise it a few more times for a stronger script, and send it to the directer or network again to approve of filming the finish script and that's not even counting how long animation takes too. So during the process of writing to animating, did no one at SpindleHorse see how weird and problematic the script was? The camp for pre-teens is called, "IWannaKumMore"(Their logo being a cum splat), Millie and Moxxie's human backstories of being siblings then making out at the end was unnecessary because they could have just been good friends whose mothers sent them to the same camp, Moxxie this grown ass adult who pretending to be a pre-teen is acting sexual and wants the kids attention, Millie who everyone else thinks is a young boy is getting sent nudes from kids and adults, and Barbie saying how easy teenagers are to manipulate then flash her ass to a boy is implying she grooms kids.

To be clear, I don't have a problem when a dark comedy make these types of jokes as all as they portray the topics and groomers as bad and show they understand that. SpindleHorse did not, like you mentioned they portrayed Barbie in the positive light and Moxxie never calls out her behavior despite being the voice of reason. In fact the tone of the Barbie's scene was supposed to funny but not in a dark ironic way. I don't understand why the camp couldn't be for college students and the consolers are stated and look like actual adults. Everything about the canon camp is childish and filled with teenagers, it's very uncomfortable to see them in sexual situations. In America the youngest a camp counselor can be is 15 y/o but that changes from states to states so no body has a clue, also with the camp counselor having a pitch voice, Barbie referring to him as kid and teenager and him, not once trying to correct her about his actual age, I'm convinced he was kid but Viv had to age him up for damage control.

I'm sorry if this response is all over the place because I'm having trouble describing my thoughts but the writers are in their 30s, and they saw nothing wrong? The writing for HB has been going down for a while now and it was fun to see how the writing could get worse but never in my years of watching awful shows did the writing get so bad, the writers had to resort to terrible jokes about sexualizing teenagers, making an incest joke, and a minor getting groomed unironically. I can't support a person or company that are fine making content like that.

"Unhappy Teenagers" was the first time, I have watched a show and felt a sinking feeling in my gut so much so it still lingers even a day later. I never felt so sick from watching a show and I'm sorry writers and companies think making this type of content and jokes of your trauma and abused experience is okay to do.

#꧁rambles꧂ #➥asks #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critical #helluva critical #vivizepop criticism #vivziepop critical #spindlehorse critical #spindlehorse criticism

[lavender-rosa]

Kny Characters + Internet

Ok now THIS is the last one for now I promise

(modern au obv)

Tanjirou: He likes watching videos of people doing impressive skateboard tricks, video game speedruns, heartwarming videos named smt like "WATCH THIS TO HAVE YOUR FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED", unlikely animal friends, cats being silly, puppies running around, comedy sketches with high production value and whatever else 15 year old boys watch on Youtube (Minecraft??? Pokemon??? Among us??? Lego??? I don't actually know)

Nezuko: Has an (extremely popular) etsy shop where she sells her homemade jewelry, and uses bandcamp to follow her friends who upload their music on there (namely Makomo). She also sort of uses whatsapp like social media bc she’s just in so many groupchats, and is constantly updating her status bc she can never settle on which string of emojis it should be. Her Youtube history consists of DIY's, fashion, baking, travel vlogs that kind of thing.

Zenitsu: He is very precious about his phone, because it is where he will someday write the next great contemporary novel. At the present, it is mostly scattered across various notes in his notes app, and mostly in code so that Kaigaku or gramps won't understand even if they do read it. Kaigaku hacks into his phone a lot, a fact which he has resigned himself to, which is why all of his text conversations are incredibly boring, except for his messages with Nezuko, which are communicated almost entirely in an emoji secret language only they understand. His camera roll is exclusively screenshots of pdfs and pictures of other people's cats he's saved, as well as some of Jigoro's old man memes he sends in the whatsapp family groupchat (which is just Jigoro, him and Kaigaku who has it on mute and never opens it) which autodownload into his phone (he doesn't know how to change that setting). He sleeps with his phone under his pillow, and always has it in his pocket during the day, but somehow Kaigaku still manages to steal it at least once a month, and until he has to leave for college, he is just gonna have to live like that.

Inosuke: He has a phone, but he doesn't use it much because it is a hassle. His friends and family know only to text him when it's urgent, with the exception of Nezuko who texts him constantly and Tanjirou, who will call him whenever he feels like it. He had Nezuko change his settings so that everything he dictates comes out in all caps. He's sick of people informing him of this fact as if it is a glitch and not something he is doing on purpose. He does have a Twitter but he doesn't actually follow anyone just tweets whenever he feels like it (whenever he has a thought he feels needs documenting). He has amassed many followers due to his dril+cher tweetstyle, a fact which pisses off Zenitsu (someone who actually attempts to gain a following on Twitter) to no end.

Genya: Watches NPR Tiny Desks, KEXP live, lofi hip hop anime beats to study/relax to and best of Vine compilations. Anything on Youtube that isn't music or shortform comedy simply does not interest him.

Kanao: Loves the artful simplicity of those animated TED-Ed videos. They have led her down a lot of interesting research rabbitholes. She promises Nezuko she would stop sending them to Tanjirou though after he spent the entire month telling her about nothing but eel mating habits and lesser known facts about Genghis Khan.

Rest of characters under read more

Rengoku: He isn't technology illiterate per say, but he is way too cool to be addicted to his phone. He does use the popular social media apps on a semi-regular basis, just because he genuinely enjoys seeing what people are up to, but he is extremely healthy about it. His camera roll is filled with pictures of his friends, family and every animal he's ever seen and been lucky enough to snap a photo of. He also has one of those ecofriendly phone cases. He uses his phone to spontaneously call people when he is thinking about them, which all of his friends have just gotten used to despite the fact that his generation doesn't simply do that. From anyone else it would be annoying but from him it's adorably charming.

Giyuu: Exclusively uses Youtube to watch cute cat videos, otherwise he's terrified he will click on something that might potentially radicalize him, since he read somewhere that the algorithm was designed to do that, or worse, direct him to one of those content farm generated animations of Elsa getting a C section, which is apparently also a concern. Frankly, the internet scares him, and he tries to avoid it as much as possible.

Sanemi: Like Giyuu, he is also terrified that social media would be sure to bring out the worst in him, so he limits his social media use to Spotify, JSTOR and online chess, where a 12 year old boy from Turks and Caicos Islands always manages to beat him which pisses him off to no end. These are not actual social media platforms, his friends are sure to point out, but it’s the most social he’s willing to get, so it counts.

Shinobu: Her Youtube library is extremely eclectic. She can't stop clicking videos titled like "The most Destructive Pandemics and Epidemics in Human History" just to watch the entire thing and be like "why did I watch this? I knew all of that already" but ya know. She just had to make sure. Her personal favourite side of Youtube is the videos of chemical reactions, especially the ones that end in an explosion. The only apps she is actually addicted to is Sudoku and online chess, where she is secretely catfishing Sanemi by pretending to be a 12 year old boy from Turks and Caicos Islands who trounces him every time. Meanwhile whenever she plays against him in real life, she makes sure she always loses to him and to never employ any remotely similar strategies as her catfishsona. Sanemi never catches on.

Uzui: He loves his phone for one reason only: Spotify. The annual release of Spotify wrapped is like a holiday to him. He does not shut up about it for a whole month, which is as annoying as you would think it is. He uses Instagram sparingly but he does have a decent following there. His voice memos are littered with half-baked ideas for new songs that he wakes up in the middle of the night to record before the idea is lost forever. His camera roll is mostly selfies, selfies of him with his wives, his friends and videos of him skateboarding. He also has an ecofriendly phone case (it was a birthday gift from Kyojuro).

Iguro: He loves his phone because pretending to text gives him an excuse to avoid talking to people in public spaces or at parties. Whenever asked, will claim that he doesn’t use social media and never has. This is a lie. He’s had a Tumblr account since he was 13, and not a day goes by that he doesn’t scroll through his dashboard. He has an entire folder in his camera roll that is just videos of Sanemi and Giyuu getting into fights. He rewatches a couple before bed every night, it relaxes him.

Mitsuri: Her Youtube history is filled with baking videos, recipes, speedpaints and cute cats being cute. She has a lot of games in her phone, half of which are from her siblings. She's very lucky she knows how to jailbreak her phone, because they make a lot of in-game purchases without her permission. She also loves elaborate make-up tutorials that she would never even bother to attempt replicate (but she likes to think that maybe one day if she gets invited to the Met Gala she now has looks to choose from)

Muichirou: Occasionally enjoys listening to long ass video essays about obscure topics, but mostly he just listens to podcasts. He is also partial to this one video of a chainsaw revving on a 10 hour loop, and he plays it at just the right volume that his friends will be like "What's that awful noise?" To which he innocently responds "I don't hear anything" and they are like "Oh no, you must be able to hear it, it's so annoying..." to which Muichirou responds "Are you sure? It all sounds normal to me". He tries this on Yuichirou once, this leads them to get into a very violent brawl in which Muichirou's nose is nearly broken, so he decides to limit this particular gambit to the company of his friends only.

Gyomei: Only uses Youtube to listen to meditation playlists and isn't even aware that there are other types of videos on this platform. Ignorance is truly bliss.

Yushiro: He has a Wikipedia account and he is constantly updating articles when he’s bored. his favorite pasttime is adding [citation needed] because after all the research he’s contributed to the database, he’s earned the right to be a bitch. He goes on Reddit sometimes, but he doesn’t have an account. He’s scared of social media, and refuses to touch any of it with a ten foot pole.

Muzan: He is torn between hating Apple products and knowing that having the latest iPhone model is a necessary status symbol. Which is why he has both an iPhone AND a Blackberry. He has a huge gold iPhone with no case (and yet not a single scratch on it!) and one of those oldass Blackberries with the tiny little keyboard. It is sort of unclear what he needs both of these phones of, considering he is not a drug dealer, but he insists that both of his phones are as necessary to him as his two laptops (one for work and one for Reddit, naturally). Has a Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter that he rarely uses (because that platform’s really for sjws everyone knows that), and a Reddit account that he is obsessed with. He and Kagaya have actually got into death-threat-escalating level fights over politics on certain threads before, but unbeknownst to them, are actually very fond of each other on the Rick and Morty thread because they have all the same opinions. Neither of them seem to notice that their fandom friend has the same username as their sworn enemy who they once yelled at for two days straight. 

Kaigaku: Is a Soundcloud rapper. Sometimes, when company is around Zenitsu puts on Kaigaku's Soundcloud album as a test of endurance to see who breaks and has to turn it off first.

Daki: She has so many notifications blowing up her phone at any given time that she has just elected to ignore them throughout the day and then check on the people she actually cares about responding to before bed every night. She sees opening her phone as kind of a chore, and always has it on do not disturb mode, except for when she is being deliberately petty, at which point she'll turn it on as loud as possible because it makes her laugh when the people around her snap "Can you put that thing on silent ?" in unison. Her camera roll has soooooooo many selfies, but seeing as posting pictures of her face makes her money, can you blame her? She has a huge following on Instagram, but she wisely never checks her notifications or DM's because it's scary in there. Exclusively watches the goriest of true crime stories and callout videos, the messier and the more contrived, the better.

Gyokko: He follows 0 people on twitter but has approximately 43.7k followers. Most of them are convinced that his anonymous account actually belongs to some aging starlet because of the all-caps, eccentric nature of his syntax. He yells his tweets into his phone whenever he’s bored in his room, but when he says shit like “I DESERVE  AN EGOT” half his followers start trying to deduce which awards he already does have. they’re convinced he at least has a Tony.

Douma: To boost his platform he decides to go on a reality TV show. He pretends to be a vapid airhead, but is actually very subtly manipulating not only the other contestants, but also the crew. He walks out from this whole experience with double the Instagram followers (he already had a sizable amount to begin with) and a huge bag. He also runs a pyramid scheme because of course he does.

Kokushibou: He had a crappy old flip-phone given to him by his father for the longest time. By the time he gets a smartphone he has absolutely no desire to use social media, having seen the disastrous effects on other people's brains. He has one of those bulky phone cases that doubles as a swiss army knife and a wallet. All the apps in his phone are organized in groups. That said his notes app is a MESS. He's in a groupchat with Muzan and Nakime which mostly consists of articles he forwards him that he reads and respond thoroughly to or one of them texting "lunch?" and the other one sending a thumbs up emoji.

#kny #demon slayer #kimetsu gakuen #kimetsu no yaiba #tanjiro kamado #zenitsu agatsuma #inosuke hashibira #nezuko kamado #genya shinazugawa #kanao tsuyuri #kyojuro rengoku #gyomei himejima #uzui tengen #sanemi shinazugawa #muichiro tokito #giyuu tomioka #iguro obanai #mitsuri kanroji #shinobu kocho #muzan kibutsuji #kny headcanons #kokushibo #doma #daki #kaigaku #gyokko #yushiro kny #kny modern au

[smkkbert]

Time for a story - The Man under the Hood

“I still cannot believe we are doing this.”

Felicity opened an eye and turned her head just enough to not disturb the make-up artist, who was working on her face, but still enough to look at Oliver. He was sitting in a chair next to his, his face already ready for interview they would give in about five minutes.

“Because you don’t enjoy talking to the media or because you never thought that you would ever say on TV that you are the Green Arrow.”

Oliver considered his answer for a moment. “Both, I guess.”

When he had been younger, Felicity knew, his relationship to the media had been messy. As a white, rich boy he had been followed by paparazzi a lot, and they hadn’t always approached him in good moments. He had been drunk most of the time as he had been drunk most of his young adult life, so they hadn’t really caught him in a good light. He still felt like they saw a little bit of that man in him now which was why he disliked talking to the media most times, even when he was wearing a suit after he had invited them to come to his territory and he decided what he would talk about.

After his return from the island, not just the media but everyone really that had had a little too much interest in him had been a threat or a target. The last words echoed through her mind with Oliver’s voice as he had said those words during their first date back at that little Italian restaurant that had blown up while they had been there. It was why he had kept everyone at arm’s length and made sure nobody got to know his secret.

Nobody had been allowed to know his secret.

Then he had told John because he had needed to save him and he had seemed like a reliable person that he could trust.

Then Helena Bertinelli found out because she had been a lost soul like him, and they had thought that they were the only ones that could truly understand each other.

Then he had been left injured and bleeding after confronting his mother while he had been wearing the hood and suddenly found himself in the back of her car. Well, she had found him there, Felicity thought with a smile, and he had revealed himself to her and the rest was history.

Well, their history at least.

“It’s a good thing.”

Felicity looked at the small set where the interview would be filmed. Two leather armchairs were waiting for Oliver and her. On the opposite side of the small table, another armchair was waiting for woman anchor Marisol Marroquín. She had sent them some of her questions beforehand, but she had also made clear that the interview and especially their answers in it would decide about how she would continue with her interview.

Of course Felicity had did her research von Marisol Marroquín before she had agreed to do this interview. She was known to be a tough reporter, asking the right questions at the right time. She wasn’t going easy on the people she interviewed, but she wasn’t unfair. She accepted boundaries, and she didn’t just try to dig for gossip or whatever. She really wanted to inform people which had made Felicity know that she was the right person for this interview.

“I got a good feeling about this,” she told him once more and turned her head to smile at him, “I really do.”

Oliver smiled back at her, reached out his hand and squeezed her fingers. They held onto each other for a brief moment before they let go.

“We are ready,” one of the set people told them, “so we’d like you to take your seats, so we can check the lighting and the microphones before we start.”

Felicity had given quite some press conferences, she thought while five people from the set checked the microphones, the headlights and the camera positions. Nothing had been quite like this. It was a little much, nothing she could possibly see herself doing more than once.

Eventually, Marisol Marroquín joined them from her dressing room backstage. She looked incredible in her steel blue dress. It made her long, slim legs look fantastic. Her dark hair fell around her face in thick curls. Her full lips were painted in a bright red. Felicity wasn’t surprised that she was such a desired reporter for TV. She didn’t only do a great job, she also looked the part too.

“Are you ready?” she asked them with a smile when she sat down in her arm chair and crossed her legs. “Is there anything you need? Anything we need to talk about before we start?”

Felicity shot a look at Oliver, who looked back at her. He perked up his eyebrows, directing Marisol’s questions right back at her. Felicity shrugged her shoulders. They had talked about the most important issues beforehand, so there wasn’t much more she could possibly ask or say now.

“I think we are as ready as we can be,” Oliver replied.

“Great.” Marisol smiled at them and then turned to one of the people from set, nodding in their direction.

Three minutes later, the cameras started rolling.

“Three weeks ago, Starling City’s greatest secret was finally lifted,” she started directly, looking into the camera. “In a night of citywide fights against criminals, all of our heroes, formerly known as vigilantes, finally let us see the people behind these masks. In the center of this development is a well-known couple that is here with me now.”

She turned towards Oliver and Felicity now.

“Mr. and Mrs. Queen, why did you decide on giving this interview now?”

“After we were forced to reveal ourselves to the public, we were positively surprised about the support the city offered to us. We felt like we owed it to the people who decided to trust us to give that trust back. We want to let people in on the full story of how we came here and also be very transparent about where we are planning to go.”

“The city was in the dark about what we were doing and why we were doing it for a long time,” Felicity added to Oliver’s answer, “and that led a lot of people to doubt the vigilantes at the start. We want to make sure that there won’t be any doubts anymore.”

An almost natural conversation progressed. Marisol asked them how everything had started, so Oliver told her about the sinking of the Gambit and the revelations of his father. He told her about the list and his desire to right his father’s wrongs and how he had tried to find out what his parents had been planning on. He told her about how he had needed help and how he had used the skills of the blonde, babbly IT-girl at Queen Consolidated until he had eventually ended up bleeding in her car after he had interrogated his mother and she had shut him. That was when Felicity chimed in and told her how she had learned for sure what she had known already – that Oliver Queen was the Hood.

Oliver reached out his hand when Felicity said that, and she laced her fingers through his, squeezing his hand. Their love story had always been special. There had been a time that Felicity had wondered if some of that specialty had come from the fact that their love story had been a secret to most people. Since she had had children, she had known that their love was only more special when they could share it with others.

They told her about how the mission had changed, how the team had grown, how Oliver had turned from the Hood to the Arrow to the Green Arrow. They told her about Blood Rose and Ruben Midas, her many attempts as taking revenge and how that had led to Oliver outing himself as the Green Arrow, followed by the team revealing themselves too.

Marisol listened carefully and let them talk. She just asked some questions if Oliver and Felicity were about to forget that they were telling their story to strangers instead of sharing it with each other. She asked questions to fill in some blanks and redirect their focus.

“Looking back from where you are now, would you do anything differently?”

“A lot, I guess.” Oliver smiled regretfully. “I think if we could turn back time, I would try to do things differently from the start.”

“Like killing the people on the list?”

Felicity could feel Oliver’s fingers tightening around hers briefly. It was one thing to talk about the people he killed to her or to the team. Talking about them on national TV, knowing it would probably be broadcasted internationally and the kids as well as their friends would see it, was something entirely different. Fact was that the moment he had outed himself, people had known about it though. They just hadn’t heard why it had started that way or how much Oliver still suffered knowing what he had done.

“I guess it is my biggest regret,” Oliver said slowly, nodding his head. “I wanted to right my father’s wrongs and created my own wrongs along the way. My own trauma from everything that happened in the night of the storm and all those years after that made my blind to the trauma that I have caused. How couldn’t I regret that?”

He made a pause, and squeezed Felicity’s hand once more.

“I know that I don’t want to recreate that devil’s cycle though,” he added then, “so I don’t want my children to feel like they need to right my wrongs when I pass. I want to do it myself, so I am. I hope I am righting my wrongs.”

“Is that your new motivation?” Marisol asked. “To right your wrongs?”

“Partly maybe,” Oliver replied, “but it’s more than that.”

“Starling City is our home,” Felicity explained, feeling like Oliver could need a little break to refocus, “and our children’s home. We love this place, and we love the people here. We want to make this a safe place for good people, a place of fairness and chances. I think that plays a big role in why we are doing this.”

“Safety in vigilantism, fairness in rebuilding the Glades and chances in offering jobs and working charities,” Marisol concluded, “a busy life.”

“Indeed.” Oliver sighed, but he chuckled lightly as well. “It is worth it.”

Marisol, being indeed as good at her job as Felicity had predicter her to be, seemed to sense the need for a little lighter detour too. She certainly knew that it was easier to get the information she wanted if she didn’t press for too many too sensitive information too soon.

“Before the recording of this show, we have been to three of the local elementary schools and gathered questions that some of Starling City’s youngest have for you.”

Felicity was surprised. She hadn’t known about this, and she didn’t think that the show had ever done it before. It was kind of sweet though, and she really liked the idea. The kids were in her children’s age. These kids would grow up with the vigilantes protecting them.

Marisol grabbed for a small basket that had been placed behind her armchair. Dozens of letters were in there. She grabbed one, opened the envelope and read out what it said.

“Elena Kravicski, eight, asks what’s the worst injury that you ever got.”

“I was shot in the shoulder once,” Felicity replied immediately, “so I’d go with that.”

Oliver already opened his mouth to reply, but he fell silent instead. There were so many moments that he could name now, but they were all very intimate. Felicity doubted that he wanted to relive the worst of his injuries on TV.

“I was once bitten by a shark,” he replied eventually, “and although I am not sure that it’s the worst injury, I know it’s the craziest.”

“With everything you have told us today, how does a shark fit into that story?” Marisol asked and chuckled.

Oliver sighed. “That’s a long story.”

Marisol seemed to silently agree that there was no time and no reason to tell this story now. She turned to the next card in her hands.

“Zirui Ling, seven, asks how much you usually work out.”

These lighter questions were actually fun to go through, Felicity realized. Kids knew a lot of superheroes from TV. Their questions proved that they were trying to match their views of superheroes with the city’s own heroes. They asked about their kryptonite, about how they got their outfits, about their possible retirement and their advice for aspiring superheroes.

Felicity was sure that most of these questions could have come from their own kids if they hadn’t grown up knowing about their parents’ secret identities.

“One child, Cristóbal Suarez, eight, asks what makes you the best candidate for the job. He writes, Dear Mr. Queen, when you ran for mayor, you told us why you are the right person for the job. Why are you and your friends the right person for this job, too? A clever question.”

“Indeed,” Oliver replied, nodding his head. His thumb stroked over the back of Felicity’s hand absentmindedly. “I have to say I am not even sure that I am the best candidate. I think everyone who says they are probably prove that they are not. In this job you have to be very self-reflective because if you don’t, you will abuse the power you have eventually. You have to be sensitive with the information you are working with because if you don’t, you will break the trust the people you are trying to serve have in you. You have to put back your own thoughts and needs on the back sometimes because if you don’t, you don’t do what you promised to do.”

He made a long pause, nodding to himself. Felicity knew that he would never say that he was the best candidate for this position. She, on the other hand, could just say it. She knew he was the best heroes this city could have.

“You won’t hear me say that I am the best candidate for this job because it would be easy to say it, but I think it would be wrong. There are people out there that I am sure would do great in this job, some maybe even better than me if they had the same experience and the same skills. So I can promise that, if I ever find someone who could lead this team better than me, I will step down and make room for that person to take over.”

“So you would be open to applications for a spot on your team?”

“This team is based on deep trust as few people ever show themselves able to handle correctly,” Oliver replied, “so it was always hard to let someone new in. I know that some people will read about us or watch this show and think to themselves that they want to be part of this too, but being a hero is not as easy or as glamourous as it might seem.”

“People often forget that it takes a lot,” Felicity added with a nod of her head, “to do what we do. We have all gone through terrible experience. You do a lot of good and you earn a lot of gratitude, but you have to face a lot of losses, too. Sometimes, those sides aren’t balanced. It’s easy to forget that when you see pictures on the news of heroes jumping from roof to roof or whatever.”

“We have talked about some losses and traumatizing experience you and the rest of your team had to face,” Marisol responded to that, “but what you say, in your personal experience, what was the hardest and maybe least expected of the losses that you had to face? Or maybe even a recent one that you had to go through although your team has already been well-established for a while.”

Felicity felt that question forming into a thick rope and wrapping around her throat. It tied off her airways all of a sudden and made her heartbeat quicken.

She had known that a question like this would come, well, or at least she had expected it. The Queen Family had been a family that had been formed by losses as it was. With these new revelations about who they were, the number of losses they had faced in the last fifteen years had just increased even more.

They had indeed suffered a lot of losses. They had lost people. They had been through terrible things, gaining them visible and invisible scars. It should be hard to say which of these experiences had been the worst, but it wasn’t. At least for Felicity it wasn’t.

Oliver, who could feel her grief instantly and would know what loss she was thinking about even if she wasn’t sitting next to him, tightened his hold on Felicity’s hand. He was trying to comfort her, and in some way the way his hand squeezed hers did comfort her. At the same time, she was sure that they both knew that nothing could truly comfort either of them over the loss they had suffered recently.

“When we decided that Oliver had to reveal himself to save the city,” Felicity whispered, “we knew we were giving up on a lot. We knew that he might have to face a lifetime in prison. We knew that our family might have to hide from the villains that we have fought before and even knew ones. We knew that we might have to say goodbye to each other forever, so the kids and I could get to safe place or even just the kids could.”

The truth was that they had known that they had to make that decision, but little had they known what the consequences of that decision might be. They had had so many worries about what might happen. That Oliver had turned himself in could have meant that she would have been arrested too and that the kids would have lost both of their parents. It also could have meant that she and the kids would have been forced to go to same safe house, so nobody could hurt them.

Although Marisol was looking at Felicity intently, definitely looking like she wanted to push for more, but she stayed silent.

“At the time Oliver turned himself in, we were fostering the little girl that was abandoned outside of the Smoak & Queen Science Center. We fell in love with her instantly. It felt like there was a reason why she was placed right where we would find her.”

Oliver had felt that connection before her. He wouldn’t have suggested taking Mia in, not necessarily at least, but she had felt that he had fallen in love with her. Letting go of her after he had stayed with her at the hospital would have been impossible for him.

“The social worker that was responsible for her told Oliver that the little girl would have quite some troubles to find a family to take her in. Even in foster care, it wouldn’t be easy for her. The media had already taken interest in her, and her health issues might shy away possible adoptive parents too. That is how Oliver and I made the decision to take her in.”

She turned her head to look at Oliver briefly. She saw the same pain in his eyes that she felt in her heart. He smiled though, and she knew that he would still make the same decision again now. So would she.

“It was a difficult process, especially emotionally. Living with the fear that she might be taken away from us because her biological family would want her back or because we would be seen as unfit to take care of her was difficult.” Felicity took in a trembling breath. “We were afraid of getting our hearts broken when she would be taken away. And she was. In the process of-“

Felicity’s voice shook and then broke completely. She took in a trembling breath, but she felt her eyes filling with burning tears. She tried to look at the ceiling to will the tears to do anything but drop.

“If you need a break-“

“Mia is in good hands,” Felicity said instead, looking at Marisol again. She needed to get it off her chest. “She was placed in a new home, and I am sure that her foster parents love her very much and take good care of her. But she was part of our family. We miss her like crazy, and she will always be part of our hearts.”

A single tear slipped from her eye now, and Felicity wiped it away quickly.

“I would like to take a break now,” she said then, got up and left.

She needed some air.

#arrow #olicity #olicity fic #olicity fanfic

[aleksa-sims]

RL Story

Why does everything go wrong at the same time for me? I guess that negativity is contagious? 🫤

I just came home after spending most of the day at Sandra’s, to help her decorating her apartment. Shortly after I arrived, I saw Nico’s cell lying on the table in the living room. He forgot his phone this morning! Since I knew his PIN (The Number of his soccer-jersey shirt, plus once back/reserve.🤨 So sutpid! 🤦‍♀️) I thought I’d take a closer look at it. I checked his phone. Yeah, I know! I was spying on him. 🫤🤷‍♀️And omg, I got totally mad at Nico! I saw that a girl Patricia and another girl Bianca, constantly texted him. Especially on his social media. He never really texted or answered back, after he & I got back together, but the more I.... "researched", I noticed that Nico met that girl Patricia in Italy. THIS fucking summer!!!!!!!! And that Bianca was her sister. So... Nico was messing around with 2 sisters??!!😠Such an ass!! That's why he didn't want to talk about Daniel & me or ask me quuestions, when he came back home 3 weeks ago! Bcs he was hiding who he met in Italy. Jerk! I hated Nico that moment. He kept this shit from me. Somehow I didn’t trust Nico anymore. I mean, sure, we weren’t together this summer and I also slept with Daniel, but he knew about it!!!! Nico wanted me to go back to Daniel, to sort things out with him.

And that’s exactly why I wanted to stay with Daniel 10 weeks ago. I felt like Nico didn’t give a shit about me, like he used to (Philip). Of course, I confronted N. that day! I wanted to know, who that Patricia is and what went on between them? Why is she still texting him?

Nico: I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but we weren’t together. I also knew this thing was gonna make you feel insecure. That’s why I didn’t want to mention it. And honestly? Why do you even care what I did when we were apart? You were with Daniel! You married him and still are, damn it! Besides, I didn’t plan on seeing someone else or anything. I knew her sister. There was something between her and Philip once. And in Italy, I met that girl Patricia, her sister. She worked there during the summer in the hotel. That's all.

Me: What? Philip dated her sister???😲 Aghh... thats-... thats so gross what you and Philip do- or have done. You know damn well what I mean.... I thought with you all this shit was finally over. And I just don’t understand why you kept it from me? How am I supposed to trust you now, when you have to go abroad again?... Agh, you and your fucking soccer! 😩🤦‍♀️

Nico: Are you done?🤨 .... You're not fair!! But anyway. I don't wanna fight! We're so happy babe. ILY, so.... let's just forget this shit. You’re not well rn. You haven’t slept for 3 nights. Something seems to be bothering you. Maybe it would make more sense to talk about that.

Me: You wanna talk about me? Well!! Yk? I keep thinking about Daniel, N.! I just can’t forget him, I want him! 😈... I’ve seen him with someone else and since then, I feel like I'm crazy over him. And you’re no better than Daniel! You hurt me too! Just... fuck off, N.!

Nico: You say I hurt you because you’re mad at Daniel?... That doesn’t really feel good to me either, to hear how much you still want him!! 😠

Me: Then you know how I felt, when I found all those messages you got. Why is she still texting you?

Nico: She wanted to know if I was back in Italy. I told her I’d stay home, with my pregnant girlfriend. I asked her to stop texting me.

Me: I don’t want to talk anymore. I just get sick of imagining what you and Philip are doing and what you two did to me.😠

Nico: I'm getting tired of this!! Don’t overdo it! You force me to get mad.

Me: Shut up, Nico! 😩🤷‍♀️

Nico: Finally divorce Daniel! Either you calm down, or I’ll sort this out my way. If I do, you will do as I tell you! So tell me, babe? Should I take care of your probs again? To make you feel better?

Me: What are you going to do? Are you going to threaten Daniel? Just like you threatened Dominick back then?

Nico: I'm off! 🤦‍♂️😠

Yep. 🤷‍♀️😞

Previous/Next

#ts4 #sims 4 #sims 4 story #ts 4 story #rl story #myrlgameplay

[surely-galena]

Ask meme for...Kimberly Garner, Vincent Kim and/or Zangr Stewart please!

(Good luck with your presentation! You got this 🥳)

Hi exhausted-impact!!

These are GREAT choices, I feel like I would have more to say if I wasn't so tired but here goes anyway:

Kimberly Garner

First impression: I honestly don't remember much, but one thing that stood out was probably that Artem got his eyes from her! I love finding the resemblances of the NXX team members to their biological family.

What I think now: I like her! Although she's not a perfect mother by any means, I like that she's very casual with Artem. She definitely loves him and wants the best for him, even if she wasn't able to be with him as much as he might have wanted when he was young.

Favorite moment: I'll be honest here, canon and stuff I've read in fic kind of blend together when it comes to Kimberly, but one thing I remember from the game is from the 2023 LNY call. It's where Artem is like, "my mom told me off for not bringing you over for dinner :((" and although it's off screen, it's a fun little interaction. (Non-canon wise, I've written a fic where Kimberly comes over to Artem's place to celebrate his birthday, only to get stuffed into a Trojan horse type thing with the other NXX members to surprise him. Along a similar vein, there's a fic called once more around the sun (i revolve around you) by @samsspambox where Kimberly tries her best to be present for Artem's birthdays after Neil tells her off.)

Vincent Kim

First impression: oh Marius has an assistant! He seems young! Why is he wearing gloves? (<- probably my primary thoughts upon seeing Vincent)

What I think now: I think he's super underrated and underutilized!!! I think there is so much more to Vincent than just being Marius' PA, but the main story almost never goes into these things. I mean, you'd have to be a pretty special person if Marius is going to trust you with research or work for the NXX Investigation Team. I also feel like canon maintains this professional barrier between Marius and Vincent when I think that they should actually be friends outside of work. Because the trust is there, and also because Vincent has canonically walked into Marius trying to flirt with MC. So Vincent has seen things that other people in Marius' life probably wouldn't get to.

Favorite moment: When we learn that Vincent is actually into romance media. It's such a delightful detail to know because it means he's a normal guy, too!!

Zangr Stewart

First impression: ohh fourth wall break guy!!! :D he's so silly. surely he's a one-off guy and won't return later. (also in the Lost Gold event, I was one of those guilty of assuming the picture of Zangr from behind was just Artem. Their hairstyles are very similar from the back.)

What I think now: I'm so glad you asked about him because I love Zangr's character so much, I'm truly delighted every time he appears in an event. Ever since he showed up in Skadi, every time he's not in a major event, I'm a little disappointed he's not going to join in the hilarity.

Favorite moment: My favorite funny moment(s) is probably in the Skadi event when the game mechanic has you approach Zangr to debate him multiple times, because the idea of MC marching up to Zangr nearly every day during her time at Skadi is such a funny idea to me. No matter what, Zangr's not going to get rid of her, and she's not going to stop bumping into him, either. (Slight tangent to this is how I actually don't mind the idea of MC/Zangr as a ship, but with the caveat that it has to be only under very specific circumstances. Otherwise they're like hilarious nuisances that keep running into each other. "Oh no, it's the protagonist debate lady :|" "OHO, it's ZANGR once again >:D"). My favorite serious moment is probably during the Blizzardous Threads of Red event when Zangr has crucial information, but only reveals it when MC goes along with his line of reasoning instead of her usual "because of truth and justice" answer. I think it goes to show that conceptually, MC and Zangr have opposing mindsets and as stubborn as they are, neither of them are willing to give up their point of view for another reason. Which is completely fair, of course, but also incredibly fascinating to me.

Thank you for the ask!! And thank you for the well wishes, the presentation went wonderfully <3

#exhausted-impact #tears of themis #kimberly garner #vincent kim #zangr stewart #asks #ask meme

[i-am-still-bb]

Treat for 22/10:

One of them is a modern witch and an owner of a famous potions recipe blog. The other one is a bit of a fanboy / just trying not to get his eyebrows synged off…

A/N: Originally conceived as an AU of The World Next Door. That had me stuck though. So we have this. But it still has similar elements, age gap, instructor/student dynamic, etc.

—

Fili drummed his fingers on the walnut conference table. One. Finger. At. A. Time. Focusing on how there were pits in the wood and some scratches in the varnish beneath his fingertips.

“Do you have any ideas?”

The silence following the question stretched on a beat too long and Fili knew he was supposed to answer. “Can you rephrase the question?”

“Enrollment numbers are dropping.”

“I’d noticed.”

“We need better student engagement and retention. Do you have any ideas? You are the most junior member of staff.” That last part was a thinly veiled dig and threat.

Fili shrugged, brushing off the words, “We could try putting some stuff on social media, teasers, sneak peeks, behind the scenes stuff. Stories about how potions and other magic sometimes go awry.”

Frowns appeared on the tenured track professors’ faces as soon as the words “social media” had left his mouth. This is why he rarely spoke up during these things. He kept his head down, did his research, lectured, and quickly attended conferences and published. 

Alice, the other young faculty member, specializing in potions that assisted in the growing of plants, clapped her hands. “My students would love something like that,” she grinned. “And I think it would do them good to see us as human, to see that we also make mistakes and singe our eyebrows and armchairs off.”

The department head looked skeptical. “It is an ‘interesting’ idea,” Fili could hear the air quotes around the word. “I think one of you younger people should be in charge. And as Ms. Yu is already assisting the Archives in their project then it should be you, if you don’t mind.

Fili did mind. Very much in fact. 

“It shouldn’t take that much time, maybe an hour a week,” the Head continued. 

And that was how a decade later Fili found himself spending more time on social media (Instagram, TikTok, and the like) promoting the university more broadly and the potions department specifically. 

He had asked for an assistant and was denied. 

It was fun. 

Sometimes. 

But other times he was just answering basic questions, or telling people “NO! ABSOLUTELY DO NOT MIX THOSE THINGS TOGETHER!” and then hoping that they actually listened.

Most of the time he was typing up replies, proofreading, posting, recording response videos, without paying much attention to the usernames that came across his screen. Sometimes there was one that would strike him as particularly ridiculous or clever; he would screenshot it, crop it, and save it to a special folder on his computer. He did the same with responses that made him give up home for humanity. 

But then there was one user, K.O.A.K., who asked questions that often made Fili pause and wonder and sometimes his only response was “I don’t know” even after he did some research and some serious thinking. 

They had a video chain going back at least six months at this point. 

Fili’s videos were well-lit against a carefully chosen background from a tripod; all courtesy of a performing arts student who interned for him for a semester. Really, she had bullied him into letting her do an unpaid internship. She was a double major and she said that the content of his videos were fantastic, but everything else was tragic. 

So now part of Fili’s large office / workspace was permanently set up for filming videos.

K.O.A.K.’s videos were probably worse that Fili’s had started out as. He always held his phone which sometimes made Fili nauseous while the user tossed ingredients into a travel sized cauldron that sat on a stove that had a single burner and plugged into a wall outlet. The wooden table it sat on was scarred from mishaps and frequently littered with ingredients, snacks, dust, and the occasional iced coffee cup of varying fullness. 

K.O.A.K. never showed his face. 

His hands featured in nearly every video. Sometimes his bare feet (which Fili had scolded him for, “What if you spill [insert potion here]? Or it boils over?” K.O.A.K.’s only response had been laughter, and to show off a fairly impressive old scar on his shin from just that thing happening) appeared. 

Fili shared tricks for making a potion that temporarily improved hand dexterity. “Roast the willow root before cutting it into thin 1 inch strips.”

K.O.A.K.  responded with a video demonstrating the differences between his original potion, one following Fili’s tip, and then one where he had added some olive oil to the foil packet before roasting, and then had roughly minced the root. 

Fili amended his notes.

He toyed with the idea of sharing his phone number as they starting talking about more than just tips and tricks for potions. But decided against it. This account operated in an official capacity. And it was probably bad enough that he was carrying on personal conversations through it. 

But he did notice that the twinge of excitement he got when he saw a notification form K.O.A.K. was the same as the one he would get early on in a new relationship. He had more than a little bit of a crush. It was merely academic, or so he told himself. He did not often get to talk about potions with anyone else.

—

Direct Messages between You (Prof.Durin) and K.O.A.K.

You: Why don’t you have a degree in this? You’re better than some of my grad students.

IDK.

You: You should apply to Erebor’s program. 

I don’t think they’d take me. I never took those ridiculous tests.

You: I’ll get them waived.

… I may not have finished secondary school

You: I’ll see what I can do.

—

Fili dismissed the class early. The first day of a new semester was always short. Most of his students were out of their seats and out the door before Fili had finished wiping down the whiteboard. Except for one. He was standing by the lectern, backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Did you have a question?”

The student shook his head. “I just wanted to introduce myself.”

Fili consulted his attendance sheet for a moment, “It’s Killian Oaks, right? If you would prefer something else, I can certainly do that. I just don’t have a note from the college about anything like that for you.”

“It is. But that’s not how you’d know me.”

Fili frowned in thought, one hand splayed over his papers on the desk. There was the niggle in the back of his brain that told him he was missing something.”

“You’d know me as . . .”

--

Taglist: Everything: @silvermoon-scrolls Fili/Kili: @dubhlachen

#bb writes #fili/kili #fiki

[immemorymag]

Katerina Barvirova

My name is Katerina I grow up and studied the theory of interactive media  in Czech republic.

 some might say that I'm a passionate photographer, but there's much more to it.My interest in photography has its roots in my mother's influence. She was likely one of the first in our neighborhood to own a video camera, filming small movies with us that I eagerly watched back. And also that chunky photo album that I just could spend hours flipping throw. I fondly recall using our digital point-and-shoot camera during holidays, capturing my surroundings, brother, mum, classmates .. and sharing those moments with my and family friends. As a child, I cherished these experiences, especially during school trips, as having a camera with me provided a sense of purpose and belonging within the group. I haven't really thought about the importance of all of this in my photography journey during recently.

The biggest challenge is actually giving myself time to think about my photographs and the photographs I want to take, the stories I want to tell. I try to write down most of the ideas, narratives and impulses and come back to them, do a bit more research and finally shoot, see what is missing etc.

Returning to the topic of my mom, she continues to impact the way I frame shots and instinctively search for compelling geometry and expressions. In a good way, I often acknowledge her as my most significant critic. And I am experimenting a lot - street photography is brilliant thing to do and try on new things, angles, flashes etc …

I've learned that constantly being immersed in photography, whether for commercial work or personal projects, can be more draining than engaging in different types of jobs. Actively seeking out projects that truly resonate with my creative interests has made a significant difference. By stepping out of my photography bubble, I've found inspiration in exploring diverse experiences, meeting new people, and frequently stumbling upon compelling stories worth capturing. So, to maintain my creative flow, I prioritize diversity, listening to people's stories, and staying attuned to the world around me. Romanticizing it all.

There are a few shots that I believe will stay with me forever. They hold a certain intimacy and connection that strongly resonates in those moments, and it always comes rushing back when I revisit the photos. The first impactful one was a man offering to hold hands in the midst of a protesting crowd. Then, there's the shot of the Wall of Shame in Lima, followed by a touching moment a couple of days later in the ghetto, where a child played with a plastic spoon in a stream of fecals. The most recent one that caught me by surprise is a landscape from North Rona, a deserted island in the middle of the North Sea, which I happened to visit thanks to the Classina boat and its crew. It was mesmerizing to be in such a remote place, armed only with my camera for a couple of hours. On one hand, I felt a release from the usual pressures associated with landscapes and nature photography, as it's not a genre I'm very familiar with. On the other hand, I found myself somewhat intimidated by the nature, silence and the island. Usually, people and their play a significant role in my photography, and in that quiet landscape, I initially doubted my ability to capture it. After a while, though, that feeling eased, and started experimenting.

#photography #art collective #photomagazine #culture #art #female photographers #support female artists #documentary photography

[exy-shmexy]

What if one day, while he’s mindlessly scrolling through social media, Andrew ends up finding a random post from an organization that helps wild mustangs which have been rounded up by the government find someone to adopt them and offer them a forever home?

The next thing he knows, Andrew is sending an email to the organization.

He tells Neil during dinner the same evening. Neil asks to see the horse, and Andrew immediately shows him the photo. Neil frowns upon seeing it. He carefully reads everything that’s written in her description, and when he’s done, the only thing he asks Andrew is when they’ll go see her.

They go the next weekend. The mare is three states away from them so it’s a long drive. Andrew is practically vibrating from anticipation. He spent all of his free time learning about horses and how to care and handle them. When they arrive, someone immediately walks up to them. It’s a young woman in her early thirties who talks entirely too much. Andrew cuts her off by asking where the mare is. The woman closes her mouth to lead them to the enclosure. The chestnut mare is there, looking even smaller in real life than she did in the pictures. She’s sporting more bite marks too. Her coat looks dull, her mane and tail are completely tangled and instead of staying close to the rest of the herd, she stays in a corner on her own. She looks… defeated. While researching horses, Andrew read about potential health issues horses can have and why it’s important to have a vet come check on them before purchasing one but in that moment, Andrew doesn’t care. She could have three legs, one ear and no eye that he already knows he won’t be going back home without taking her with him. So he signs the adoption papers, pays the ridiculously low price she was attributed and gives instructions to have her transported to a small ranch a few hours away from where he and Neil live the same day. He pays an extra fee for that, but he doesn’t care. He needs to take this poor animal away from here.

That’s how the wild mustang finds herself, after long hours on the road, in a new place that looks nothing like the tall-fenced areas she had been forced into. There are other horses around alongside other animals, all of them rescues adopted by none other than Renee and Allison. They accepted to keep the wild mare in their sanctuary for as long as Andrew wants her there. Thankfully, the Exy season just ended so Andrew has plenty of time to hang around here, and plenty of time he knows he’s going to need.

The mare doesn’t let anyone approach here. From blank emptiness, her eyes have turned into frantic panic. She is lost. Afraid. Alone. Andrew spends the first few days giving her time and space to adjust to all the changes until she eventually settles down. He discusses a lot with Renee on how to best approach the situation, but she keeps repeating the best solution is patience.

Andrew arms himself with it.

The chestnut mare flees away from him every time he approaches. She is taller than him and he’s fully aware of how powerful a kick can be. So he stays on the other side of the fence for hours, slowly but surely letting the mare acclimate herself to his presence and come closer to him. It takes Andrew two weeks to be able to lay a finger against her nose. She bolts away immediately after, but then the next day she allows him to put his entire hand on her forehead. Three days later, he can finally take off the damn tag that’s been hanging around her neck this entire time.

It only goes uphill from here.

Time and patience are indeed the key.

Andrew never forces the mare to do anything. He lets her do her thing. She pulls on some weight, fills in on muscles and even lets him brush her after a few weeks. He knows she is smart. After she understands he means her no harm, their bond is sealed. Eventually she opens up to Neil too, but it is Andrew that she sees as the most trustworthy person so for a very long time he is the only one who can approach her to manipulate her and provide her for the care she needs. Andrew took a chance on a broken thing, one that was alone and afraid, that had given up hope after being misplaced so many times, and Andrew is not a fool. He knows many people would pretend she’s just an animal. But he knows that she understands. So he keeps on working every day to let their friendship bloom until eventually their bond is completely unbreakable for good.

#if you see a typo no you don’t it’s all an illusion #don’t ask me where that came from i have no idea #i can’t sleep and this is all my brain could think about #anyway #this was initially supposed to be about neil but i thought andrew made more sense for this because he would stay very calm and quiet #which is what horses need especially ones who come with a heavy past #mine was like that #not a wild mustang but a former race horse who had been so broken by life he only let me approach him #and he was the greatest buddy i could have hoped for #so yeah tadaaaa #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg #all for the game #aftg headcanon

[your-hands-in-mine]

My take on Tessa and ice dance is a little different. I think Tessa had within her from a young age a pretty strong ambition to be great. And she found Scott at that age and they both saw how they could work together to be great through ice dance. I think that ice dance was lucky to have her and if she hadn’t met Scott maybe she would have been great at ballet or something else. But despite her success as a skater, she actively separated her identity from skating and often didn’t really even seem to enjoy skating as much as the pursuit of their common goals.

But I think that once VM started to have a national profile and especially once they won in Vancouver, Tessa saw the possibilities of what her profile as an Olympic gold medalist could do to launch her post-skating career as an endorser or what we now know as influencers and that obviously grew exponentially after Pyeongchang. And you can see that from 2010 forward Tessa was building up a profile and making connections with Canadian celebrities and socialites that have been helpful in her post skating life. And at times it felt like she was almost waiting for the chance to launch her second act.

At the same time, Scott’s aspirations were closer to home. He came from a skating family, and he’s wanted to give back to his community. The kind of celebrity that Tessa pursued is anathema to him, and he feels most comfortable with people he’s known for a long time. And he has always seemed like someone who not only loves skating but really enjoys working with younger skaters — he always helped at skating schools when he had downtime when competing whereas the last place you would find Tessa in her free time is a skating rink. (The Lindt skating classes they did were work, not free time.)

I’m grateful that their partnership kept both of them competing and performing for so long. I doubt they would have lasted without each other. And I’m glad we still have Scott as a coach.

Hi!! 👋 Sorry for the late replay. First off, I want to put it out there that when I talk about Tessa not liking skating, I’m referring to everything pre-comeback. Tessa made it clear that she LOVED skating during the comeback, and thank god she got to experience that, if only for two years. Anyway. That’s interesting, in terms of Tessa thinking ahead to her life/career post skating, I never considered that the gears in her head would have been turning on that as far back as Vancouver. Thinking about it, I’d say maybe after 2012 worlds? At that point, Tessa realized that the sport was exhausting her. Even though they won worlds, she didn’t feel that thrill from the win that she thought she would. A year later she just wanted to quit.

Ultimately, they decided to stay in for Sochi. But yeah half way through the quad that, at the time, they thought was going to be their last, I’m sure Tessa was thinking ahead.

Your use of the word “influencer” to describe her is curious to me 😂 You’re definitely not the only one! But when I think of “influencers”, I think of people who produce regular content on either instagram or tiktok, build up a following through those videos, and then brands eventually start reaching out to them. They first become known because of their social media, not from any previous accomplishments or achievements like Tessa.

And as for making connections/networking, isn’t that just preparing for the future and acknowledging the fact that their skating career would end when they hit 30? And this just occurred to me, but I wonder if this especially dwelled on Tessa’s mind because they very nearly lost their career. Her leg pain was chronic. She knew more than many people that it all could feel and be so very fleeting.

“And at times it felt like she was almost waiting for the chance to launch her second act” is where I hesitate. I will say I only just got here 🫣 like this year, which is RARE I know!! So I’m not an expert on the subject. I just do my best to do my research and use my best judgement since I wasn’t actually there to witness it all unfold. If you mean she was waiting for it during the comeback era, I disagree. I don’t think there was any “waiting” going on. First of all, I think they had a very clear timeline. 2018 and they were done. And both were spending their energy focused as hell and soaking up every moment of their comeback. Whatever pursuits or thinking she did that involved her post career while they were in the midst of the comeback, it did not take away from their endeavor at the time.

If you mean she was waiting for it during the Sochi quad, in a way, they both were. Waiting for it to end, I mean. As I said, she (and he) were exhausted in every way. I would want it to end too. But the reason never was: “I want this to end so I can launch my second career and use my first career to back me up.”

And “anathema” is a bit of a strong word, no?💀 (had to look that one up). But I do agree that Scott finds comfort and familiarity in his “circle.” It’s true. They both run in quite different circles nowadays. And I don’t think either of them hold judgement against the other for that. They just recognize that that’s a significant difference in the type of people they are.

But as for Tessa not having chosen to involve herself in skating in her free time, I think that is part of her finding a separate identity from skating, as you mentioned in the beginning. Finding those boundaries was what was healthy for her. Because as much as she could find comfort in associating skating with Scott, the chronic pain it caused her, as well as all the toxicity she experienced from Canton, were very strong presences in her life too. Scott had a different relationship with skating. Besides loving it, a part of it is because men have different experiences with the sport. And pain-free people have different experiences with the sport. Scott is both of those things. (He experienced pain, but you get my meaning).

In the 22 years they gave us, VM showed us all the different things you could be on the ice: dancers, artists, athletes, performers, humans. They demonstrated loyalty to each other that could withstand the hardest of times. And they learned to support each other no matter what. Considering how long and how intensely they did all that, I sure hope they enjoyed their free time, however they chose to spend it. And I think they taught us plenty.

#virtuemoir #tessa and scott #why couldn’t i write #essays like this #in school #help 💀 #anon ask

[black-cat-charm]

Rise Of The Brave Tangled Dragons Horror Story

(!!THIS IS A FICTIONAL AU, NOTHING BELOW IS REAL OR TRUE!!)

(This au is meant to be similar to something like Abandoned By Disney and I want it to feel like one of those old "oh dark magic is spooky" stories. I hope to maybe write for this or make art for it so I wanna share it with y'all!:])

Rise Of The Brave Tangled Dragons had only been known as a myth for a while. Only a simple work in progress that started in 2012(while Dreamworks also worked on httyd 2) before being scrapped in 2014 because of creative differences and instead Dreamworks shared HTTYD 2.Though that's not the whole story.In 2013, Disney decided to work with Dreamworks after seeing how beloved the big four fandom was. Dreamworks agreed, though they demanded they have the most control and say in what happens since How To Train Your Dragons came out before Tangled. Disney agreed, and work began. The movie plot was simple. Jack Frost would find a magic portal that leads to each of the other worlds. He introduces his new friends to the modern world and needs their help defeating Pitch Black again. Heros save the day, blah blah. Though during production, so many things went wrong. Artists' tablets would shatter for no reason, lights would go out, and many writers would break their wrist, elbow, or multiple fingers. Dreamworks demanded the product be shut down, but Disney refused. A few clips got fully animated and accidentally released into the public. When workers became dying at their desks for unknown reasons, Disney shut the project down while Dreamworks demanded to know why this was happening. Disney wouldn't say, though they knew that messing with dark magic was the cause..In 2016, the released clips got reposted many many times. After it did, many people started dying or disappearing with little to no explanation. Each time the clips got reshared, there were more graves or missing posters in each background. The clips died down for a while..at least until 2023.The clips resurfaced and caused the same effects as before, though something was different. Instead of everyone dying or going missing, there were a few who fell into a trace. They would make edits or even fan art or the clips, each infected with the dark magic. People became insane from this magic, their brains pretty much rotting as they only did what "the characters said to". Many refused to do basic tasks unless ROTBTD is involved, causing them to die from starvation, dehydration, and lack of hygiene.A 19 year old girl who went by Dolores Garcia found many of her friends consumed by the media or missing. She never seemed to be affected by any of it though. None of the clips, the games, the fanart, nothing. She was thankful, of course. Alexis found herself desperately searching for answers to why this was happening. Though this caused her to sleep less, it caused her to get insomnia. She would see the characters from the corner of her eyes, hear their voices anytime the room was too quiet. These weren't the same characters she grew up with. This wasn't the kind Rapunzel, not the smart Hiccup, or the passionate Merida, it definitely wasn't the free spirited Jack Frost. No..these things..they're evil-. They taunt her every time she tries to sleep, she knows they're the reason she keeps getting hurt and why the people she loves keep disappearing. But this only fuels her fire. She demands to keep trying to solve this. She couldn't give up...now not...

The main character, Dolores;

She's 19, Filipino, and struggles with her hygiene after starting her research(causing her slightly yellow teeth and more unbrushed hair)

#rise of the brave tangled dragons #rise of the guardians #tangled #brave disney #how to train your dragon #hiccup haddock #jack frost #merida #rapunzel #horror #horror story #horror au

[sakebytheriver]

I keep writing Huntlow fanfiction.

Enjoy some human world fluff

Sometimes, he couldn't help the thoughts he had about Willow, okay? Just because he was raised in the palace didn't mean he didn't know what slang terms were, he'd read books about the etimology and origins of witch slang, so what if Luz had invaded the Isles with her new human slang, like "sick" and "crush", he knew what he felt towards Willow was nothing like how he felt for Gus so yeah, he'll admit what he feels is definifely what Luz would call a "crush", the thing is there was so much more stuff going on.

Sure after that first day of flyer derby when he was back in his room at the palace and was staring at her Penstagram profile he couldn't help but think about the romance books the palace librarians slipped in between his other books. Belos did his best to keep those kinds of books away from him, but the palace librarians were all old witches who would giggle everytime he came into the library and they'd slip some kind of banned book in between the stacks of his research. Some of them would be educational books about the changes a witch's body would go through during witch puberty and talked very scientifically about reproduction, but there were others that were less educational and more indulgent.

The first time he found one of those books his entire face and ears lit up so red, he felt like he had a fever. The librarians never slipped him the more explicit media he knew they kept hidden in their own secret stash, but the ones they did give him were enough to teach him about romance and dating, so when he was staring at the picture of Willow on her profile of her smiling while holding a bouquet of flowers she had apparently made herself and imagining what it would be like to have been the one to give her the flowers he knew he had a problem he'd probably have to address at some point.

But then he'd been in the emperor's mind, he'd run away from the castle, he'd found out he was something called a Grimwalker. Then he was living in the school she goes to and he was saving Gus from being branded with a coven sigil, but then he was knocked out and Willow defended him and she was touching him, but once again things were happening and he couldn't think about it yet. Then he'd saved Gus and the two of them had pulled him into this embrace and she was holding him in a way that pressed his nose directly into her hair and it smelled like flowers because of course it smelled like flowers. But then he had to tell the entire school about the Day of Unity and the fact that her hair smelled like flowers had to be tabled for the time being.

And in one instant he saw a different side to the sweet but tough flyer derby captain as he was staring at her try to rescue, well him, but technically Luz disguised as him whatever the situation never really made sense to him anytime he thought about it, but all he knew was the world moved in slow motion for those split seconds while Willow rose from the ground surrounded by giant vines she conjured rather violently from the ground, her eyes glowing bright green. Her power was aweinspiring, and it stole the breath right from his lungs to watch her fight like that, for him.

And maybe it made his stomach flutter a little to see her so frantic to get him back, but he also knows she would have done the exact same thing for Luz if she'd known the truth so he tried not to let himself think about it, but by the end of the Day of Unity they were all stuck in the human world and thinking about romance with Willow was nowhere near on the forefront of his mind. Yet after a few days stuck in the human realm turned into a few weeks it became a little harder to ignore the feelings he had for her especially since they were all living in the same house and his crush on Willow seemed to be the most obvious thing on the planet. Luz, Gus, and Amity were always whispering about it and sharing secret smiles anytime he blushed at her, so yeah he could tell he was going to have to deal with this crush a lot sooner than he thought.

Because now the five of them were out at something called a farmer's market and Luz, Amity, and Gus had somehow been able to convince Willow that the three of them had something very important to do in the opposite direction of the flower booth, but Hunter would be so very happy to go with her. He had to roll his eyes at how obvious their lying was, even if he was secretly grateful for the time alone with her.

"Okay, I only enough for one thing, the agave or this set of tiny succulents." She held both options in her hands, showing them to him.

He shrugged in response and reached into his pocket for the ten dollar bill they'd each been given by Noceda and offered it to her.

"Just take this and buy both." He said casually.

"Hunter!" Willow yelled, making him jump.

"What?" He looked around frantically.

"That's yours. We're going to find a booth after this for you to buy something for yourself." She explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We are?" Hunter asked. He knew Mrs. Noceda had given it to him so he could get something with it, but it just hadn't occurred to him that there would be anything here he would want.

"Yes, of course. I saw a booth full of old books a few stalls down. I remembered you were talking about how much time you spent in the library at the palace." Hunter couldn't believe what she was saying, she remembered something he'd said about himself. He must have been staring at her for a minute too long because her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and she turned away avoiding his eyes. "I mean- I just thought maybe you'd wanna read something, but I guess maybe you wouldn't want to read a human book. So in that case we could find a different booth or something- It was just an idea and I just- um."

"Yeah, you were right. I-I would like to look at the booth with the books." He said awkwardly putting the ten dollar bill back in his pocket.

When Willow looked up at him and grinned, he suddenly didn't care that he'd phrased that in possibly the most awkward way he could have.

"Great, now that that's settled help me pick which plants to buy." She held both of them up right in front of his face.

He couldn't help it he burst out into a full body laugh eyes closed and hunched over. When he looked up again he couldn't describe the way she was looking at him. He straightened up as she turned away from him to look at the plants in her hands.

"I think I'll go with the tiny succulents, because if Mrs. Noceda's gardening book is to believed the agave is going to grow way too big to keep in the house." She put down the potted plant and started making her way to the cashier with the succulents.

Hunter just watched her walk away looking at her from a distance he felt like he finally understood her. It had been weeks since they'd met and gotten stranded in another world since then he'd learned so much about her and she'd learned so much about him and all he wanted was to keep learning more about each other together. She smiled at the cashier and revealed the dimples in her cheeks, the sun glinted off the frames of her glasses, and as she talked some of her hair fell from the green headband she was using to hide the points of her ears, he wanted to be the one to brush it back in place instead he stood back and watched as she did it herself. As the cashier put her succulents into a bag she turned around to look for him and as her eyes met his, she smiled, and he couldn't help but smile back.

When she walked back to him, he held out his hand to take the bag from her, she stopped in front of him and looked a bit surprised, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.

"Oh, okay." She said before slipping her free hand into his, she smiled at him before she continued to walk out of the plant booth, completely unaware of the bright red blush covering Hunter's entire face.

"I actually- um yeah okay." He said before stopping himself realizing that he's actually holding hands with her.

Willow looked over her shoulder to smile at him, and he really couldn't believe how lucky he was right now. She stopped in front of the book booth and he didn't know what took over him, whether holding hands with her made him bold or if it was the fact he finally realized she had blushed almost as much as him when the other three had ditched them earlier, but he stopped right in front of her using his free hand to brush the hair that had once again fallen out of place away from her face. He couldn't help but feel proud about the way she looked up at him with wide eyes and an open-mouth, soft blush coating her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, Willow? Can I ask you something?" He said, letting his hand brush down her cheek. She nodded against his hand. "Is this a date?"

His question seemed to startle her out the shock his movement had put her in and she looked away from his eyes as her cheeks lit up almost as red as his do.

"Oh, well, I mean that wasn't my plan-I mean not that I had a plan or anything. It's not that I don't want this to be a date or-"

"Because I'd really like it if it was." Her eyes snapped up to see him smiling at her his cheeks just as red as hers. Her face softened as she looked at him, and she smiled before leaning up on her tippy toes to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Then it is." She said as she dropped down to the flats of her feet. As he was staring at her face on fire, she grabbed his shoulders and turned him towards the books piled up tables. "Now go pick a book. We only have a half hour until we have to meet the others at the food court."

She pushed him towards the books, and if anyone asked it was not to hide the goofy smile, she couldn't stop from spreading over her face. Willow ends up helping Hunter pick out a book about the history of magic and mythology in different earth cultures that he said was to help them research ways to get back to the Boiling Isles, but Willow could see the way his eyes lit up as he talked about the book and she knew he was actually really interested in reading it. They held hands and talked as they walked to the food court to meet the others. Luz gasps and squees at the sight of their intertwined hands, making Hunter roll his eyes, and Willow have to explain that yes, they had decided this was a date. Gus and Amity laugh as Luz screamed and wraped Willow in a crushing hug.

Hunter couldn't believe this is what his life had become, a moment like this sitting next to Willow holding her hand as the five of them eat food and watch as Luz explains something called a movie theater and how that was their next stop, Gus teasing the two couples about being so oblivious and dorky before getting together. He was glad they all got to experience it even if it was just one moment closer to when they'd have to find a way back to face the Collector. Willow squeezing his hand brought him back to the moment and getting lost in her smile instead, thoughts about the Boiling Isles could wait till tomorrow, today he was on a date with Willow Park and he couldn't be happier.

#ignore me #huntlow #fanfiction

[semper-legens]

28. A Haunting in the Arctic, by C.J. Cooke

Owned: No, library Page count: 368 My summary: 1901. Nicky, abandoned by her husband and grieving the loss of her daughter, is kidnapped onto the Ormen, her father's whaling ship. They think she owes her, and they're going to collect. 1973. The Ormen is a research vessel, drifting in Arctic waters. Only one of the dead is found, mutilated and alone. 2023. Urban explorer Dom is documenting the ship before it is sunk. She thought she was alone - until a trio of other explorers joined her. But there's something else here. Something angry. And it won't let any of them go... My rating: 2/5 My commentary:

Well, this was inevitable. If you know anything about my predilections, you'll know that I am absolutely fascinated by Bad Things Happening At Sea, survival situations including survival cannibalism, and in particular bad things going on during Arctic expeditions. So when a historical horror novel called A Haunting in the Arctic crosses my path, of course I have to read the darn thing. It's practically an obligation at this point. A split narrative, one woman investigating what went wrong on this whaling ship, one woman experiencing events as they happen…there's a lot that's appealing about the premise, and I had high hopes going in!

The key words there being 'going in'. Unfortunately, I found this book rather too bland for my tastes. See, the reason behind the split narrative is obvious from early on. Dom has dreams of being a selkie, and Nicky is called a selkie wife and is obviously physically transforming into a selkie…hmm, could these two perchance be linked? That Dom is Nicky is obvious from the start, but the book only reveals this at the very end. The idea of a ghost working through her trauma by haunting, in a way that inadvertently causes the deaths of others (the trio Dom meets are the ghosts of two of the research team and one man from the whaling ship) could be interesting. So too could be the idea of ghosts trapped in a loop, trying desperately to redeem their killer. But this is all just mentioned in passing, backstory to be uncovered in the climax.

And the 'mystery' here, aside from being obvious, is treated really clumsily. There are so many points when another character will say to Dom 'I know who you are!' or something like that, then conveniently be interrupted before they can spill all. It doesn't build suspense, it's just frustrating after a point. And when you've realised Dom's secret, it makes all the clumsy references to TikTok and social media that much clunkier - they're there seemingly to mislead the reader, as Nicky wouldn't know about the internet, obviously. Characters are not given full names so their reveal can be a surprise later, but the omission is glaring given parallels between present-day and past characters, to the point where it's not hard to work out who's who. Nicky and Dom's names are the most egregious - they're both short for Dominique, which is only brought out at the end.

Aside from that, though, I think the book's biggest problem is that Dom and Nicky are both really passive characters. And I feel bad for calling them that - this book is about trauma, and how trauma can shape you as a person - but the fact is that they just don't do anything. Nicky only makes one belated, half-hearted attempt to escape captivity. Dom mostly goes along with the others, there's nothing that she really does but decide to explore the ship. I know, I know, this sounds victim-blamey, but there's ways to write this sort of character in this sort of situation that doesn't stray into complete passivity. Nicky is helpless against the will of the men on the ship, but maybe if we saw more of her as a person beside her grief and pain then she might seem more whole? If Dom was actively making attempts to discover herself and change, unconscious as they may be, then she might appear more active? But no, they just don't do much until the time comes for the reveal, and that's disappointing. I can't tell you much about these characters other than the pain they went through. Their likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams…nothing.

And, look. I don't know much about whalers in the early 1900s. I'm pretty sure they weren't outfitted with cages that can be dragged behind the ship as a punishment, and that they weren't in the habit of cutting people's hands off? The myth of the selkie as portrayed in this book is also not much like any selkie-story I know. I don't want to say that the author did no research - on the contrary, her afterwords shows a lot of time researching - and there's something to be said for artistic licensce, but this seemed a wee bit egregious. Also, this is a minor thing, but Nicky's husband is away fighting because of the grief caused by their daughter's death. He's fighting in the Second Boer War. You know, where Britain invented the concentration camp. And it's mentioned that he's actively doing war crimes too! What a baffling thing to just bring up as background detail. Feel sorry for the man actively participating in starving, abusing, imprisoning, and murdering civilians! He lost a kid! And now he's burning farms, murdering prisoners of war, and forcing people into literal fucking concentration camps. But he's sad about it! Like, Jesus fucking Christ.

Next…like I said, I'm speedrunning. House of Night!

#A Haunting in the Arctic #CJ Cooke #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #2

[zmwrites]

Hi there buddy, my name is Athena. I'm coming to say hi, see how you're doing and this is a chance to ramble about your wips. Have any of your wips been influenced/inspired by podcasts or any other media?

hello Athena!! you keep spooking me with your url changes, and i end up looking like caveman spongebob trying to figure out who’s sending me asks

many of my wips have been inspired by media i’ve consumed! not podcasts, as i don’t listen to podcasts (i have tried but my brand of adhd makes me tune them out if i’m not sitting still and consciously listening to them), but from just about everything else!!

recently i was inspired to start two new wips by media. they’re both still at the “vague idea” stage but i’m hoping to develop them more.

1 - nightwood wip (which i keep trying to call the nightwell wip so i’ll probably rename it). inspired by my marathons of lockwood & co, the law according to lidia poet, and the night agent. (i 100% just smashed two of the inspiring titles together for the temporary wip name and i’m not even sorry.)

this one’s about a disaster twentysomething working as a barista by day and a bartender by night who is thrown into the world of demon hunting and shadowy government agencies when her brother is kidnapped and she’s the only witness. features a shitty dead dad whose misogyny is still fucking over his daughter, a woman willing to go to the end of the world (and beyond) to save her brother, a golden retriever-coded man trying to keep her alive while unraveling a web of corruption, secretive quasi-government agencies, and some fun demon fighting gadgets.

2 - plane crash wip. i don’t even have a better temporary title for it than that. this one came about bc i watched a few minutes of a horror movie on facebook (called flight 7500). i then went on a research deep dive into the flight it was based on (helios airways flight 522) and then other depressurization incidents, then other plane crashes caused by mechanical failures, then plane crashes caused by pilot error…. it was a real spiral. smash that fixation together with the ads for the new season of departure (never watched the show but i want to), leftover love for the night agent, and being reminded of my love for fringe, and i ended up with a new story concept!

it centres around a woman (currently a journalist, but this might change) who’s first on scene after a passenger jet crashes. air traffic control lost contact with the plane and it’s assumed to be a depressurization incident, but as she’s searching for survivors she realizes something is off—there’s no survivors, because there’s no bodies. a (suspicious) fire erupts during the investigation, destroying most of the evidence before it can be collected, and officials are quick to announce that it burned so hot that recovering bodies won’t be possible. our leading lady digs for answers—where did the passengers go? why is the government so quick to cover it up?—and quickly finds herself digging into secrets that were meant to stay buried.

as you can tell, i’m in my government conspiracy/cover-up story era 😌 i don’t have much experience writing contemporary or thriller-type things, so we’ll see how this goes!!

thank you for the ask and for the opportunity to ramble!!

#zoe replies