#stories are nice

[fishmongeringstudies]

#40092: woxer won’t stop texting me in all caps about its incredibly bad black friday sale and it’s starting to stress me out but i want new underwear eventually, just not right now, so i can’t unsubscribe yet

Do you remember those big red bags they gave us in freshman year? They had square bases reinforced with a layer of cardboard and fabric so we could put our takeout boxes inside and not worry about them sliding open. Everything was takeout-only that year. In the fall everyone sat in big circles on the grass outside and when I arrived in the spring I would take my food home in that big red bag, my hands shoved all the way down my pockets. It snowed hard that winter. I have photos on my old phone of Mertz field turned completely white, of pockets of water in the grass that had frozen over. The brick flooring of the patio behind Willets stayed frozen for so long, you had to pick up your feet when you walked on it or you’d fall over.

The Saturday of Thanksgiving break I looked up on my way to get dinner and saw a clear blue sky. It was cold that evening, three degrees Celcius and steadily falling. Maybe the cold had scared all the clouds away. The sky yawned wide across the domed world to the other side of campus, where it was slowly turning pink. The air was still.

When I got back I watched Dan and Phil from Youtube play a horror game about really liking golf in the first floor lounge and picked at my rice. I read the last four chapters of Kakukaku Shikajika and felt my eyes water like they did every year when I read Kakukaku Shikajika. I did a handstand.

Do you remember when campus was a ghost town without ghosts and you had gotten off at the wrong stop? Looking at Google Maps on your phone you thought to yourself, this must be the wrong place. You rubbed dust from your eyes.

From year to year to year I learned to associate quiet with nothingness. We’re the ones that got here when the fire was still burning, after all. It makes sense that we didn’t know how to be people to each other, let alone ourselves. Burning and freezing and burning and freezing in each other’s dingles in Willets with too much furniture and not enough of anything else.

That winter I spilled chicken pot pie in that old red bag and forgot to clean it up. By the time I found it by sheer smell alone it was molding hard and would cost too much effort to save. So I threw it away with all the other things I didn’t need anymore.

#a fish mongering study for you ( slinks back into the bogs) #i have to poop right now actually so i can’t write you guys a bunch of funky little tags #which i enjoy. because tumblr gives you all these options for how you want to be heard #but um. let’s see #every break since i started college has made me miserable bc of various associations with the covid years #but this break was GOOD motherfcukas #i dat down and read and saw so many stories #the grand budapest hotel. fire of love documentary INSANE. rereading jaywalkers by ao3 user batman. watched dan and phil’s horror week #and like it’s nice #stories are nice #i love love love hearing people talk about things that matter to them #you too #ok gotta shit now love you bye

[counting-stars-gayly]

I’m actually LOVING how Rick Riordan, and the other writers of the show, took his initial concept of a Percabeth rivalry fueled by that of their parents and kind of turned it on its head?

Now, instead of Annabeth being wary of Percy because he’s a son of Poseidon, he’s wary of her because she made a callous impression on him. They get off to a rocky start even before finding out who Percy’s father is, and when they finally do, Annabeth doesn’t care. Instead of them fighting because of who their parents are, they’re fighting over their own opposed worldviews.

Then, instead of them arguing over which of the gods is cooler and who was right in the story of Medusa, they realize that, just like Medusa, Annabeth is a victim of her mother and that, unlike Medusa, she is a far kinder and stronger person, unwilling to repeat the cycle of hurt. They realize that, like his father, Percy often acts without considering potential consequences and that, unlike his father, he is a far kinder and stronger person, willing to step up for someone he wronged and whom he cares about.

Instead of Percy and Annabeth’s rivalry being focused on that of their parents, it’s focused on who they are, themselves. But the path to friendship is still the same: a realization that they have each other’s backs, no matter what, because they’re not their parents after all.

#i kind of typed this in my essay voice because I knew it would be long so ignore that #also I don’t actually know which of the other writers are playing big parts in percabeth’s story so threats why I put a focus on Riordan #that’s* #aaaaanyhoo if I’m being honest I definitely prefer this version of percabeth #AND I like that Medusa said ‘‘we are not our parents until we choose to be. you three have chosen’’ implying that she thinks they’ve chosen #to be their parents only for Percy to reveal in the next episode that he’s chosen to be better than his father. #that was a really nice touch 👌👌👌 #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #pjo disney+ #percy jackson disney+ #percy jackson #annabeth chase #Percabeth #rick riordan #Medusa #pjo tv show #pjo tv series #pjo tv spoilers

[tiredofsatansbullshit]

WHAT DO I DO NOW??

#i had just opened a nice fic too #i just wanna read the silly little stories in my phone #ao3

[inkiedraws]

"LOL this flip-flop wearing loser thinks he's gonna kick my ass and destroy my whole kingdom in the span of an afternoon. What an idiot"

I didn't intend for this to be a full comic, which is why it just kinda ends. Sowwy

#one piece #monkey d luffy #donquixote doflamingo #trafalgar law #i've been too nice to dofy so im gonna draw him suffering #dofy feels insulted and takes out his annoyance on the ptsd victim #also really loving trebol being the manipulator and then being like “hey this kid is alright!” then becoming the manipulated himself #him turning into a weird enabling father figure without ever intending to is great #but oda intentionally made him so gross an unappealing bc HE KNOWS he can get away with it bc the story is so good #and i hate him for it #anyway dressrosa's a good arc

[canisalbus]

✦ Cockroach ✦

#own art #own characters #CanisAlbus #art #artists on tumblr #Vasco #Machete #comics #anthro #sighthound #dogs #canine #animals #modern au #immoral-majority #are you implying Vasco isn't a big hunky hero #I think he'd go for the pacifist route and just take it outside #you can't kill a bug by dropping it from a balcony I don't think that's possible #my comics are ~riveting~ #I guess it's just nice drawing them doing the most mundane things that serve no story purpose and have no punchline or anything #inconsequential slice of life stuff #dropping bugs from balconies #Machete is more afraid of horses than cockroaches

[foldingfittedsheets]

I worked retail for a long time and people really do treat you like shit sometimes. But between selling sex toys, mattresses, and jewelry I can say definitively I got treated worst selling mattresses.

All three of my jobs were in sales but selling sex toys we were allowed to put people in their place, and in jewelry people didn’t want to misbehave in a fancy setting. But people at the mattress store had no problem yelling at me, hitting on me, or insulting me to my face.

For a while I was managing my own store for the company. I ran a small location and had struggling employees placed with me for rehabilitation. If their numbers improved they could go back to bigger stores. If not, they got fired.

So this meant I was the manager of problem employees. At one point both of my people had a foot out the door. The company was going downhill and changed computer systems and they were fed up. Consequently, they made a ton of mistakes, because they just didn’t care about the job or learning the new systems.

I strolled into work on what was essentially my Monday to a shit show. Deliveries scheduled without product, wrong things on orders, poor expectations of the process, you name it. I spent the entire morning getting yelled at for mistakes that weren’t mine.

The final straw came when a man called furious that his moms bed for her nursing home had a delivery window he couldn’t accommodate. This wasn’t a huge disaster since we still had time to deliver it before she moved. I ran him through the options and he just kept screaming at me. Not for a solution but because I was there and he was frustrated.

My heart filled with malice and a cold fury. A calculating part of my brain had a realization in that moment that I could stay a punching bag or I could strike back.

I quavered my voice delicately, taking in a shaky, warbling breath like I was trying not to cry. “Sir,” I quivered through fake tears, “I don’t know what you want from me! I told you what I can do, I didn’t make this mistake I’m just trying to fix it!” My voice broke pitifully on the last syllables, sounding in all ways like a sweet innocent person being yelled at who’s just trying her best, really!

It was like I’d doused him with cold water. My emotional act was the realization that he was screaming at someone who was just doing their damn job, and he was being an asshole. He hastily made an excuse and hung up.

I had a third employee covering with me from another store that day who heard everything. When I hung up, I looked over to see them watching me with an awed expression. “Did… did you just pretend to cry?”

“I absolutely fucking did,” I said with feeling, “and I’d do it a thousand more times. If that’s what it takes for someone to realize they’re behaving like a fucking prick, they deserve it.” The employee looked at me like I was their hero.

The man called back, apologizing profusely, having magically arranged his schedule to accommodate delivery. He came in later that week with an apology Starbucks gift card. I was gracious in my acceptance.

I pulled it a few more times before leaving the company. I felt no shame in the ruse. If someone behaves so poorly that it’s plausible their behavior would drive someone to tears they deserve to feel absolutely wretched about it.

#ramblies #ffs foibles #story #retail #retail hell #I have had people over the years had qualms with the ruse #one person even told me it was so unprofessional #that I’d pretend to be in more distress was not nice of me. but getting yelled at is not nice and I’m in a position where I can’t yell back #and who would they complain to that I cried? would they go to corporate and say how unprofessional the lady cried when I screamed at her!

[dreamsuvivor]

I don’t think you all grasp the depth of the finale and the show as whole: Loki used to be a side chracter who was killed off several times and often used only as a comic relief, and now he’s one of the most important character in the whole mcu… His character arc is incredible, one of the best in the whole mcu.

And all some of you seems to care about is that your ship didn’t become canon. Are you kidding me?!

#and that’s why we can’t have nice things #and not to speak about the fact that those ships are based on delusions #loki #loki laufeyson #loki season 2 #loki spoilers #mcu loki #mcu #marvel #loki odinson #mobius #loki the god of mischief #loki now also the god of stories

[gravegrime]

Are Ỷ̸̢̢̖̺̞̠̩̰̟̗̘͎̤͌̋̌̄̑̔̋͗͐̐̕͜͠Ŏ̵̢̜̺̯̫̜̍U̷͎͔̤̩̥̫̺̱̞̞̩͉͂̽͛̑͗̐̐͐̍̊̂̋͛̊̕ ready to see the mind boggling mystery behind door number 1!?!

I am blown away by how endearing @gooseworx and Gltich Production's pilot for The Amazing Digital Circus was! You should check it out NOW!

#fan art #art #artists on tumblr #illustration #the amazing digital circus #pomni #caine #jax #ragatha #gangle #zooble #need more stories like this in my life #it's just super nice to have something real weird but with characters in it for once lol #grave etchings #kinger

[whatohitsonfirewelp]

You know what? I don’t WANT an awkward double date. I don’t WANT buck coming out and people having the ‘I know’ reaction or the ‘is it Eddie’ reaction.

You know what I do want?

I want Buck panicking over what to wear for the date. I want Buck flopping on his bed like very teenager after their first kiss all giggly and happy and touching his lips because he kissed a boy

I want Buck smiling every time he says Tommy’s name because maybe it isn’t forever and maybe he’s not even looking for forever anymore but he’s so happy and he’s so light and being with Tommy feels good

I want Tommy to keep calling him Evan, because before Buck was Buck he was Evan and Evan deserves to be happy to be treated so softly and lovingly and Evan deserves to be free.

I want Buck to be happy. To be happy and free and queer in the way we all deserve.

#the other things are nice I guess #buddie would be nice #but honestly I don’t care anymore #I just want to see a happy queer character in media #because we don’t even fully have that with hen and Karen #their journey wasn’t an easy one #and why can’t we get queer characters who have a soft loving kind story #whatoh back at it again #evan buckley #tommy kinard #eddie diaz #911 abc #give me a giddy buck who’s nervous and unsure but so excited #give me a Buck who’s awkward but so determined to make this work and to discover more about himself #give me a Tommy who is so soft with him so gentle so kind #because don’t we all deserve that love? doesn’t Evan Buckley deserve that love? #for once I don’t want the angst for him I just want him to be Happy and Free

[inkskinned]

yesterday while feverish i wrote about how boats can moor next to each other like pigeons, cooing with the gentle rap of water against their hull. you once said that that the way i see things - birds in the water, feathers in marina paint - was "childish and naive." you said i'd been misdiagnosed - "it can't all be adhd. you might be just kind of stupid and lazy."

i still do certain things like how you taught me - turn the pillow case inside out before putting it on. drive defensively. hate myself entirely.

the prompt for this poem is "mahler's fifth." i wish it wasn't, but mahler's fifth was our song. it ended up in my book. every person that knows your name has promised me they'll give you one swift rabbit punch, right to the face. dean read the book and showed up on my front porch, drenched in sweat from running the 8 miles at 4 in the morning. he was shaking. pacifist and gentle - he works with children - i'd never seen him furious. a punch isn't going to do it, he said, and then said i'm sorry. i had to come to see if you were okay.

mahler's fifth was mine first, like my girlhood. i like the way each movement piles onto the next movement, each instrument bleeding into the next. i like the horn version the best. before i met you, i danced to it on grass still-wet from sprinklers.

later you would tell me that the way you heard it was somehow better. you understood something in it that i couldn't quite wrap my fingers into. once, on our anniversary, you asked the classical music radio station to play it for us. we missed hearing it because we were fighting. one of the things people get wrong about abuse is that sometimes victims are, like, brutally aware of the stupidity of our situation. what do you mean that you thought i wasn't good enough for you? you? you're just... nothing.

sometimes people can pull the poetry out of your life. i watched my words become clothesline, and then thin out into kite twine. i watched you chew through every good syllable of me. so many good songs and places and moments were ruined. i am glad you didn't like most of my music - less to tie back to you.

but still mahler's fifth. the music swells, and i am 21 and throwing up in a bathroom on my birthday. a woman i will later refer to as lesbian jesus runs a cool hand down my back, her perfect pantsuit starch-pressed. she told me to leave you. she said - and this is true, and not an invention of rhyme or fantasy - i'm you from the future.

i am 22, and i got home from an award ceremony, and i remember you telling me - you act so proud of yourself when you're actually so fucking embarrassing. i took you to disney world. you took my virginity. i gave up visiting spain for a week with my family - i instead choose you, to spend the time just-cuddling. you called it "our fuck week." the music swells. it probably should have been a red flag that for about 3 years - i just gave up on crying. my grandfather died and you said nothing. my uncle died and you ghosted me for 3 weeks. you said i need to protect myself from your ongoing tragedy.

every so often i come back to the memory of one of our last afternoons in person. i had just told you that i wasn't going to law school, despite the free ride - i was going to join a creative writing program. master's in fine arts. i was going to finally do it - i was going to follow my dreams. this blog was already internet-famous. however reluctantly, i would occasionally refer to myself as a poet. i got into umass amherst's writing program for fiction authors. it is one of the the top 5 programs in the country.

wait are you seriously considering actually attending that? dumbfounded, you turned completely towards me in your seat. for the 3rd time in our relationship, you almost crashed the car. you actually want to be a writer?

the first time i went viral, it was for a poem i wrote about you:

he wants to say i love you but keeps it to goodnight because love will take some falling and she's afraid of heights.

every time i see that, i want to throw up. you weren't in love with me, you were in love with the control you had over me. a little truth though: i am afraid of heights. you caught a rabbitgirl and skinned her alive.

mahler's fifth still makes me sick.

give me that back. give me back music. give me back everything i had before you. give me back fearlessness. give me back bravery. give me back a scarless body.

give me back what you took from me.

#nosebleed club #sorry stephen not ur fault #just like. thinking #writeblr #spilled ink #warm up #every time nat is like - oh let me get that for u #im like .... this is a trick right like ur gonna be mean now bc u did something nice rn #so obviously if ur being nice now either u did something mean and im about to learn about it #or you're going to BE mean #or ur gonna hold this over my head forever and i'll never get a nice thing ever again? #and every time nat is like .... babe i just actually like u #lesbian jesus story is 100% real btw. she also told me not to be an event planner #literally changed the shape of my life

[egophiliac]

saw the event announcement and had to immediately drop everything and get back to my favorite pasttime (drawing Lilia). sure don't want me saving up my keys, huh, do you Twst?

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #lost in the book with stitch #just literal actual stitch is showing up now huh #not that i'm complaining mind you #that choice of ssrs though. i'm a little scared of what the story is there #stitch and lilia makes me go 'ha ha whoa okay everyone batten down the hatches it's about to get weird!' #stitch and floyd makes me go 'we have to leave. take nothing with us. we have to get out of here nOW' #sure it looks like charming ukelele duets and sunshine #but what happens AFTER that huh #(probably a nice refreshing beverage and some shuffleboard) #(but i'm not going to count on that)

[abalidoth]

god made me nonbinary for the same reason that a big ol bucket of undifferentiated Legos is always way more fun to a kid than a kit where you build some specific diorama of a media property

#yes i am kinda clowning on the 'grapes but not wine' quote #like i get that quote and it's a nice sentiment but it's not quite my story yanno? #also to be fair some of the specific kits are quite fun #i enjoyed building our Horizon Zero Dawn tallneck together #but that was largely bc of the quality time spent with emma

[nerdpoe]

Jason Todd sees something...super concerning.

It's Timmers, in the pouring fucking rain, no disguise, standing on a street corner.

And some sleaze in a nice car pulls up.

Jason watches in disbelief as Tim slinks over to the rolled down window and leans against the vehicle.

He holds out hope that it's just to plant a tracker, but then the back door opens and a dark hand reaches out to grab Tim by the collar of his shirt, tugging him into the vehicle.

And Tim is...laughing. He's laughing and allowing himself to be dragged into a strange vehicle. Jason's a ways away, so he can't hear it, but Tim has never been super comfortable with touch, so he knows it's fake.

And no. No no no. Whatever fucked up undercover bullshit this is can go down the fucking drain, and he will personally break Bruce's legs if he finds out that Bruce condoned this.

So he shoots out the tires, grapples down, grabs Tim, and gets him the fuck away from that situation.

Five buildings over he drops Tim on the roof and starts pacing.

"What the fuck. What the fuck. Did Bruce put you up to this? Tim what the fuck? Did they touch you? Do you need Leslie?"

There's no answer, and Jason finally faces Tim-that's not Tim.

That's not Tim, it's just someone that looks weirdly like him.

"...Tim? Bruce? Ohhhhhhhhhh my fucking ancients is Bruce Wayne Batman?!"

Jason can already feel the shitshow that's going to be rained down on him for this.

"Also thanks for the save, but that was by husband and wife picking me up. I'm really flattered, though. Seriously. You're a good guy, even if you do smell like sewage."

Jason smells like what?

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #story prompt #phanfic #jason accidentally ousts bruce's identity #by extension of ousting tims #because he said names while in costume #like a dumdum #danny is genuinely flattered #this strange smelly revenant is actually a nice guy #awwwww

[shorthaltsjester]

watching the sdcc panel and i am just very :) about how sweet their answers to “what are some of the micro moments from the game that have stuck with you the most over the years?” are. taliesin saying what the fuck is up with that which was the first like The Party Gets To Know Each Other moments of c3. travis saying asking his wife if he could kiss her in campaign. marisha going way back to the cannonball competition in campaign one. ashley choosing the beauyasha date but also just the silly goat noise matt made. liam adding onto that to compliment matt roleplaying grass so well and then saying his favourite moment was writing a story for laura and reading it to her as caleb for jester. and then matt saying that was his answer, and that his favourite moments of the game are when they find ways to give gifts to each other whether tangible or not. and sam saying his favourite moments have less to do with the story and is more so when he can just. see his friends across the table from him. when marisha perches and when laura and ashley are (badly) drawing dicks and liam saying he loves when sam sneezes and ashley tells him to stop it and just. yeah. they Are an extremely popular online powerhouse, but i’m so happy that they’re also friends building a world together out of gifts to and love for one another.

like i Am so enamoured with the characters and the world of exandria but the moments when you can feel the love that those people have for each other reach out from behind the stained glass of their performances (to steal a metaphor from brennan lee mulligan) are so extremely special and i am endlessly grateful that they decided to share their silly little home game with the world.

#it’s just the. laura and travis’ characters always being supportive of one another when they’re facing hardship #taliesin and marisha consistently making characters who challenge one another and still protect each other relentlessly #all of them being so fond of ashley’s characters always and literally seeing them light up in c1 episodes when ash got to join in person #sam and liam always making characters who offer one another reprieves into kindness that they don’t always get in the campaign setting #liam making orym after falling in love with keyleth as vax #marisha making laudna after matt’s storytelling with delilah and choosing vex as her body double #ashley using ‘i would like to rage’ and matt having kord ask her where she finds her strength #laura and matt always weaving these deeply complicated and emotional interactions between a daughter and a father #the gasps and yells and clapping when matt makes cool sound effects or reveals a map or breaks/ends on a cliff hanger #them ending both campaign 1 and 2 with ‘what a great/nice story’ and travis saying ‘let’s do it again!’ #and it’s like. yes yes i love the comics and i’m a fan of tlovm but . seeing this well produced thing that somehow mimics #the feeling i get sitting in my living room laughing with my roommates about my ranger’s giant rat failing to climb stairs #it’s very special it’s very sweet #critical role #sdcc 2023 #taliesin jaffe #travis willingham #marisha ray #ashley johnson #liam o’brien #matthew mercer #laura bailey #sam riegel #cr cast #critical role cast #my posts

[puppetmaster13u]

Who wants a prompt entirely in memes.

#dcxdp #dpxdc #prompts #danny fenton #klarion the witch boy #billy batson #would they be called chaos trio or feral trio lol #they're all realm denizens #lil baby godlings of chaos space and magic respectively #Danny and Billy are halfas but Klarion is a Neverborn #Fawcett just shrugs whenever they see Billy run around #He's that feral child they've seen ride a tiger before #Though it's nice he's got a friend even if they're all riding tigers now #Oh well #Danny: Why am I the youngest >:/ #Billy: Because you're tinier than us #Danny: Having an adult form is cheating #Klarion: You're baby tho #Klarion: Omg we should go play with the justice league babies! #Danny: Omg friends yes! #Billy with the gods chanting Do It in his ears: This surely cannot go wrong #Billy: Let's bring them all kitties too so they have friends to snuggle with after playing #They might have run into Jason on the way and omg it's another undead bby who is older than them #Which isn't fair but also omg he should join them in their playing #Jason seeing glowing eyes in the shadows after reading several horror stories: NopeNopeNopeNopeNope #memes #meme

[foldingfittedsheets]

In one misfortunate year I ended up getting into several car accidents. It cemented my general fear and anxiety in cars, because in each case I was either in the car but not driving or driving safely when suddenly something hit me.

One was my ex driving in an unfamiliar city and cutting someone off on accident that resulted in a sideswipe. Another was getting rear ended when I came to a required stop.

The last was when I had a green arrow at an intersection. I turned and was smashed into by someone running a red light, T-boning my little car.

Dazed and in shock I tottered out of the car to behold a crusty older man eating a donut step out of the offending vehicle. A fire truck arrived to block us off from traffic since my car could no longer move under its own power.

“Were you on your way home from work?” The firemen asked me.

I shook my head, struggling to focus on them, “No,” I said vaguely, “I was on my way home from volunteering at the animal shelter.”

In an instant they were closing ranks around me, glaring at the ambivalent donut man who would dare to hit a tiny frail angel who volunteered at the animal shelter. They asked if I needed to get anything out of my car. I did.

“It’s… uh. It’s a little weird though.”

They gestured for me to proceed. I grabbed a bag with snacks and books and filled it with things I couldn’t just leave in my car. Last out I pulled my cutlass.

“Is that a sword?!”

It was. They were instantly like giant puppy dogs, excited and delighted but trying to mind their manners. The bravest said, “Can we…?” I held out the sword. They whooped with delight, unsheathing and marveling at it.

“Why do you have that in your car?”

“I honestly don’t remember, it’s just a fun thing to have at a party now.”

“Is your wrist okay?”

My shock was wearing off and I realized I was cradling my wrist to my chest. “Oh.” I rummaged into my bag and pulled out a wrist brace.

“Wh….why do you already have that?” I was starting to confuse the firemen. I volunteered with cats, had a sword offhand, and kept a wrist brace in my car bag.

“Sometimes I try to hold books in a way that sprains my wrist? So I have this in my car just in case.”

They stared at me. Maybe, like my wife, they assumed it was for masturbation induced injuries. They handed my sword back as the tow truck arrived and thanked me for letting them play with it. They gave donut man one last glare and drove their big truck away.

#ramblies #ffs foibles #story #writing #I ended up not having a witness and there was no cameras so my insurance didn’t back me #I’m willing to bet any of those nice firemen would’ve lied for me if I’d thought to ask