#//the ones i have to turn the internet upside down for

[unclevladscorner]

Activism is more than marching in protests

One of the things I've found frustrating is that younger people seem to believe that physical marches are the only form of activism.

I want people to know that when you provide mutual aid; like food money or clothing donations, help preserve and distribute accurate information to help minority groups, write about your experience dealing with oppressive laws and measures, or volunteer to help people in some capacity, you are engaging in activism!

Activism is a very nebulous, multi faceted thing. Maybe what you do feels small, but it can help those around you. Don't feel discouraged because everything feels turned upside down. Every amount of pushback is neccessary to help protect vulnerable people.

I'm already seeing a lot of older trans people who consider their transitions finished retreating to the safety of being fully stealth. I'm choosing not to retire and stay visible, because I've always been a visible queer and pretending I'm not or never was isn't going to change anything for me. I've already lived through the worst people can throw at me, I know I can take it.

Its going to be tough, and many are going to choose to step out of visible positions out of self preservation. If you do, I only ask that you remain active in the background, helping where you feel comfortable without comprimising your health or safety.

Again, I'm asking people to get to know their communities offline. Know where its safe for you to go to be you. Get to know where you can safely get healthcare, mental or physical, and where you can go and are a welcome.

If we see queer content removed en masse from the Internet, you'll have to seek it out in the analog world. Oldies like me will keep making zines, books, and art for you to find. Methods of distribution may need to shift in order to make sure that our art survives.

It was Gay Liberation before it became Pride.

I don't know what to expect yet, but I plan to go on creating queer content regardless of what happens. I will continue to share resources and try to help when and where I can.

As long as we don't give into apathy, we can continue to fight for a better future.

[generalsmemories]

I want to clarify that I'm normally not able to spew things like my last rb cause my form of telling lore about someone goes more like

"He just suffered so badly man. But now he can do this while accepting, but man he suffered so much. Like did I tell you how strong he is while he suffered? Like wow why doesn't he hate the world-"

Like I tell one part and then you'll have to give me 2 hours before I come back and say more 💀

Like heck all I say with Jing Yuan is that I wish he retires without any other additional information 😭😭😭

[fairladybellaphram]

Ordered some letter beads online and I didn’t get a single M I’m gonna scream

They sent me 5 Zs and 9 Xs though

((((((((((:

[pseudophan]

i literally cannot begin to explain to post hiatus phannies how unprecedented the current energy is like i hate to be all “you don’t get it you had to be there” but like you actually literally did have to be there to fully understand why this is so batshit insane that they allude to their relationship MULTIPLE TIMES A VIDEO EVERY VIDEO like i still haven’t even wrapped my head around it

the thing is you can go back and watch every second of footage that exists of dan and phil on the internet and read everything they've ever posted and you'll be more or less caught up on the lore, but the one thing you can't experience through the archives is just how monumental any little crumb of "phan" content was back then. you can see the proof of it of course in our old posts, but living through it was something else. the way dan accidentally ("accidentally") used the gay couples emoji in a tweet once in 2014 and we did not shut up about it for YEARS. every time something like that happened we knew this would be a huge thing for a long time, cause who knows when the next one would be. but the funniest part was, the "next time" turned out to be sooner and sooner every time. i see some people speak as though dnp were all NO GAY EVER until 2017/2018 and then they were a little more open and then they came out but like omg no it wasn't a 0-100 kind of thing it was very much a slow build. a slowburn if you will. dan and phil, world's first slow burn couple who happened to somehow be together the entire time. there's a reason why while looking through old blog archives for @phandomheritage i find countless posts claiming 'this is the gayest phan year ever!' for every single year since 2014, cause that's really how it was! it looks silly now of course, graphs where the 'gay scale' is broken over things we wouldn't care about at allll these days, but it's actually so real they really did get progressively gayer and more open year by year and now..... what the fuck is going on now..... every video they say ten things that would turn my entire world upside down back then and it's just NORMAL. and it's. idk. how did we get here

[disneyprincemuke]

in the name of friendly racing * fem!driver

a simple race on their scooters flips the entire paddocks upside down

pairings: liam lawson x fem!driver, logan sargeant x fem!driver, mick schumacher x fem!driver, oscar piastri x fem!driver

notes: hello everyone i know i haven't posted a vr piece and it's all because i couldn't fully grasp the fact that femdriver and logan are not together in this universe but i took a break from them and yes i'm coping well, but no i will not stop tearing up about their love story k? anyway, i think this is MID compared to other crack fics i've written but i'm trying i promise

(series masterlist) | (📂 the rookie season)

she holds up the scooter in one hand, the other on her hip as she leans into the tablet in liam's hands. "what's the route again?"

"are you stupid?" logan asks.

"no, do you want to not join us?" she asks quickly, lifting her head to glare at the american across her. she darts her arm out and shoves logan back. "i'll disqualify you right here, right now. you wanna spend your afternoon in your driver's room like a loser like the rest of them?"

"he sent it to the group chat, how can you still not know the route?" logan scoffs, narrowing his eyes down into a glare.

"i'm just making sure!"

"relax," liam mutters, holding a hand up in an attempt to break up the fight that he's sure would happen if he doesn't interfere. "i'll disqualify you both."

"just tell me the route," mick sighs, shaking his head. he steps forward and tilts his head to try and get a look at the screen under the scorching sun above them. "no cheating, okay?"

logan huffs. "tell that to her."

she throws her head back and rolls her eyes. "god, logan!" she winds her arm back and darts an arm out to grab logan's sweatshirt. she bundles it up into her hands and tries to yank logan towards her.

"okay!" mick cries out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from logan. he carefully, finger by finger, removes her hand from grasping his sweatshirt and pushes her back. he then guides logan two steps away. "the race hasn't even started yet!"

oscar pops his head between the girl and liam. "are you sure you should be doing this?"

"of course," liam mutters, glancing at oscar. "why are you here? i thought you didn't want anything to do with us if we went through with this?"

"yeah, but i'm curious. so i know which places to avoid - i wouldn't want to get run over by road rager over here," he gestures to her and then at logan, "and mr. beating-(y/n)-is-my-life's-mission over there."

"she can't possibly be beating me at every single thing!" logan cries, throwing his arms in the air, and pointing over at her.

"sore loser!"

"okay, so we're starting here," liam points at where they're standing. "we start at williams."

"are you guys going to the pitlane?" oscar questions.

"no, are you crazy? do you want somebody to kill us?" mick scoffs. "i'd get my scooter rights taken away from me!"

"yeah," liam agrees with a nod. he throws oscar a judgemental stare, absolutely bewildered at the thought that they would be racing at the area where literal cars could be driving out. he looks back down at the ipad. "anyway."

"we zip between the racing homes," logan mutters, tracing the map of the paddocks that they'd pulled up from the internet. "and then we make a round around the interview table and the finish line is back here. don't forget to zip through the racing homes again."

"exactly," liam nods. "everyone aware of the rules?"

"you guys had the time to come up with rules?" oscar laughs. "seriously?"

"no shortcuts," mick says, turning his head to look at the younger girl. he grabs her wrist. "have you got your watch on so we can track the route everyone takes for the race?"

"yes. i'm a fair racer, above all," she scowls, retracting her arm from mick. "and we stop for everyone who calls us, yes? especially the fans."

"easy," logan nods, a smirk stretching his lips. "suddenly i'm kind of thankful nobody really likes me."

"what? don't say that," she grunts. "i like you. we like you."

"break it up, lovebirds. we are not friends, we're competitors," liam mutters. "you guys got the glasses (y/n) stole from seb's office?"

"i didn't steal them. we're borrowing them!" she rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "don't break them - seb doesn't know i took them from his office."

"oh, i'm pretty sure charles would have let you borrow his if you asked," oscar whispers. when she turns her head to glare at him, oscar lifts his arms up to surrender. "but, you know. what do i know?"

"well i'm not sponsored by rayban - my glasses aren't here yet. i get when everybody else gets them," she frowns. "and, i don't wanna bother charles. it's okay."

"so you snuck into seb's office instead."

"it's not sneaking in if the door was wide open," she laughs, rolling her eyes. "duh?"

"ah, is that why you needed me to keep a lookout in the hallway?" logan says.

"shut up. i'm going to beat you," she mutters, pointing at logan with a threatening finger.

"okay, so are we clear about the rules?" liam puts the ipad down and looks around. "we've literally tried to make it as foolproof as possible. there's no way you guys can find ways to cheat, right?" he turns to her. "right?"

"i don't know why you keep looking at me - i'm a fair racer! you should be asking mick if he's going to be honest about this one!"

"why me? isn't logan desperate to keep the paper mache cup that we made three nights ago?"

"in my defence, i still believe i should keep it even if i lose because i worked on it the entire night. all you fuckers did was play overcooked and scream at each other in mick's hotel room."

"okay, shut up and race," oscar mutters, flailing his arms in the air to dismiss their huddle. "are you guys ready? can i start the race for you?"

"for someone who doesn't want to be a part of this, you sure are pushy," she mutters, turning on her heel to hop onto her scooter. "are we ready? apple watches and rayban glasses on?"

she takes the sunglasses that have been resting on the collar of her blouse and puts it on. she turns to her left and points at logan. "i'm gonna crush you."

logan pushes the sunglasses up his nose, looking ahead and doesn't spare her another glance. "sure."

"okay, okay," oscar cheers, clapping his hands. he reaches into his back pocket and reveals a red handkerchief. "turned your scooters on? everybody got their smart watches and smart glasses on?"

"start the race, cunt!"

oscar's lip twitches. "anyway. be safe, you guys. we have a race this weekend."

"i don't," mick smiles. "stay safe, though."

"start the race before i do it myself, bitch!"

"liam, shut the fuck up!" she shrieks, stepping off her scooter momentarily to whack him on the arm.

"god!" liam screams, his arm darting out to whack her as a response. "the race is going to start and you're not going to-"

"go!" oscar shouts, waving the handkerchief into the air. he darts to the side to get out of their way with a giggle.

almost immediately, logan and mick have already pulled back their handles, darting away from the williams racing home. she shrieks and shoves liam, causing him to lose his balance slightly, hops onto her scooter and drives away.

"oh, liam!" a deep voice calls. "i've been looking for you everywhere!"

"fuck's sake," liam sighs, shaking his head as he turns to see christian walking up to him. but he smiles as he is approached by the team principal. "yeah, christian?"

up ahead, she frowns to herself as she watches mick and logan racing head to head. there's no way to catch up to them on these scooters - it's simply not like an f1 car. she can only bank on the fact that someone, somehow, will stop them to give her some sort of window to pass them.

with the little number of people in the paddocks on a wednesday for the weekend proves that they should have done this early in the afternoon on friday. there could have been more obstacles and distractions for them.

if only the boys had listened to her.

she shrieks when she sees george flagging mick down ahead of the alpine racing home, forcing mick to come to slow stop. she screeches loudly when she passes mick, her hair being blown back by the wind and speed she's going at.

"thanks, george!" she screams, momentarily waving at the brit as she passes the mercedes pair. she can see logan ahead of her, speeding and manoeuvring around the crowd flawlessly by the ferrari home.

surely, somebody will recognise him and pull him to a stop, right? if nobody does, she can only hope that alex is somewhere in the paddocks wondering where his rookie has gone.

the race, objectively, is going fine for her. logan was momentarily stopped by a williams engineer. she passes them screeching, also thanking the nameless woman and waving at logan smugly as she accelerates her scooter.

when she does that, her eyes widen when she sees mick also passing logan. she has no idea where liam has gone, or if christian has even let him go from their conversation at the back of the paddocks.

she does get stopped, once, by susie who stops her to ask her a question. it was a simple question that she easily had the answer to and susie let her off in seconds. she excitedly presses a kiss on the older woman's cheek and quickly accelerates away, shocked that mick is suddenly riding next to her.

behind them is logan trailing shortly, and liam's conversation with christian is actually short. so behind logan is liam, held back by a couple of seconds only.

it's just that christian had overheard them whispering earlier that day about their race and he had lurked by the williams racing home to mess with his driver.

she, unfortunately, does get stopped another time, by a fan that was being brought around for a tour of the paddocks ahead of the race weekend. she grumbled under her breath when the three boys passed her: mick mimicking her shrill screech, logan passing her with his fingers in an 'L' shape, then liam simply ignoring her.

the race is short. suddenly they're all at the final stretch, now circled back at the ferrari racing home as they aim to make it to the finish line where oscar sits in a plastic chair, hunched over as he texts his girlfriend.

she screeches when she sees mick come to a stop right by the aston martin home. it's then questionable when she sees logan stop, and then liam. and suddenly she's getting flagged down by liam.

she rolls her eyes and ignores them, clearly being sore losers that she is now destined to win their little race. she goes right past them, slowing down slightly since it seems that she is the only competitor left in the race.

"(y/n)!" she hears a familiar accent. her eyes widen as she looks back, seeing sebastian with his hands on his hips, surrounded by her friends with the guiltiest expressions on their faces.

it all happens very fast. she had all intentions to slow down and go back to where they were, but she hadn't seen the rock up ahead.

if only she'd been looking ahead.

the front wheel of her scooter is caught against the stone, sending both her and the vehicle flying forward. "fuck!" she screams, her arms stretching out to try and break the fall.

"oh, my god!"

"that's going to hurt."

"are you stupid?"

"are you okay?"

she stays in her spot for a couple of seconds as she tries to digest the events of what just happened to her. one second, she had been on her scooter, the next she's knelt on the ground with her hands planted into the ground.

then it hits her: all of the pain from her fall.

she removes her hands from the ground and blinks rapidly, allowing the blood to seep from her now wounded palms. she feels it in her knees, surely scraping her favourite pair of pants when she had skidded against the floor. one of sebastian's pair of raybans is strewn not too far from her on the ground.

her scooter is ahead of her, which oscar is now bent over and pushing it upright.

she looks up, meeting logan's eyes with a hand over his mouth.

"it's not funny!"

"it's a little funny," logan shrugs before he bends down to meet her. "are you okay?"

tears immediately well in her eyes. she stretches out her hands and shows logan her injured palms. "i hurt my hands!"

"we can see that." mick is the next to kneel next to her, taking her hands into his. he moves her hands about and tries to assess her wounds. "we should get you back to your room and treat these."

"where are my glasses, you fucking- seriously, (y/n)?" she hears sebastian mutter. she lifts her head and watches sebastian pick up the pair from the ground and turn to her. "seriously? a race on the scooter i had to beg to get you?"

"it was liam's idea!" she cries, wiping her eye on the sleeve of her blouse. "he challenged me!"

"it was premeditated!" liam screams in an attempt to defend himself. "she said we would race once you got her scooter approved!"

"shut the fuck up!" she screeches, reaching out to push liam. "i told you not to tell on me!"

"okay, enough fighting," oscar sighs. he bends over and is the only one to think that she should not let her wounds be against the dirty ground for too long. "come on, let's get you all patched up."

"but my knees!" she cries, sniffling as she looks down at her scraped jeans. there's a small hole on both of her knees, the edges seeped with blood and small matching wounds on either. "i can't-"

"enough crying, drama queen," logan mutters, already hunched over and tapping his shoulders. "i'll carry you back. stop crying."

taglist: @wcnorris @treehouse-mouse @laura-naruto-fan1998 @mindless-rock @vellicore @leilanixx @ironmaiden1313 @angsthology @cherry-piee @christianpulisic10 @elliegrey2803 @cashtons-wife @sadg3 @a10vely-yutazen @mellowarcadefun @glitterf1 @megatrilss1885 @peqch-pie @gentlyweeps-world @woozarts @inejismywife @meadhgbcavanagh @2bormaybenot @love4lando

[jalalandfamily]

Help jalal and my family 🚑🚨🇵🇸

To the warm hearted people remaining in this world who reads this my letter , and after suffering to be able to place this letter in your hands...

Hello my friend,

I am Jalal Ayyad, a Palestinian from Gaza, stuck in the Arab Republic of Egypt due to the war that followed the Gaza Strip.

There is my whole family in Gaza (My warm refuge that circumstances prevented us from) ..14 members , my mother, my brothers, my 4 sisters and their children , my 2 nephews and their mother . They are at risk at any time due to heavy bombing, and they also suffer from the difficulty of providing food and drink due to the scarcity of food resources resulting from the siege.

Even if these foodstuffs are available, they cannot buy them due to the extreme rise in prices. As you know, we have children as young as 4 years old, and it is natural for the child to have better care and protection from this terror, psychological pressure, and constant anxiety.

My family, who are now sheltering in a simple tent in the refugee camps in the centre of Gaza Strip , after they were displaced from our warm home, which was bombed and its traces and memories were erased from our neighborhood, Al-Shujaiya neighborhood in northern Gaza. After that, my family’s repeated displacements continued due to the horror and horrible events, from the north to the center, then to Khan Yunis, then to Rafah and now to the centre of Gaza Strip .. The areas of bombing and danger.. The forced displacement scenario is still ongoing, so where do people go ?!!! There is no safe place here that will protect my family and children from this horror.

Tim, my 5-year-old nephew, was so excited to go to school for the first time. He was eagerly waiting for this day, dreaming of playing with his friends and learning a lot of new things. But, as he was preparing for this important day, w:a,.r came and turned his life upside down.

Suddenly, everything changed. Tim can no longer go to school due to the difficult conditions left by the war. He found himself and his family living in an unsafe and turbulent environment...from a warm and safe home in the arms of his family and loved ones to a tent in the middle of this hot summer and the sounds of war that terrify him at night..

Despite this continues terror, Tim was exposed to the disease of jaundice, yellow eyes, laziness, sleeping a lot, loss of appetite and high body temperature..Because of the w.,a.r, there is difficulty in obtaining medicine, food, and drink for this disease. Despite all this, Tim remained determined to maintain his hope and courage despite the difficult circumstances he faces.

With your kind help, I hope that we will achieve Tim’s wish, which he dreams of so much.

I have been stuck in Egypt now for 9 months since the heinous war, amidst anxiety, fear, anticipation, and intense psychological pressure that no human being can bear. I lost my degree and my university was destroyed and turned into ashes. I have nothing I can do to save my family, relieve them, and pull them out of this horror. I do not even have a residence permit here nor a source of income that I can rely on.

I cannot get any news about my family to reassure my heart about them except only once a month and for a few minutes, interspersed with poor Internet connection, in light of the events whose scales change and increase in severity every minute.

I hope that every person who reads this message can influence my family's life and save them from this tragedy.

With your kind help, I will be able to provide them with food and drink expenses and meet their needs.

I am attaching for you some proof, represented by some pictures taken with a trembling heart of our neighborhood and our destroyed homes, which were taken at the beginning of the war, before the displacement and the entry of the occupation into it.

Thank you, dear reader, for reading my story and reaching this point. I hope you can help save my family from this tragedy. May God help all those affected, and I hope that no one will go through or experience this disastrous situation. Thank you all from depths of my heart .

Save my family from war, I have no hope but your help..

‏My family needs you, don't forget them

‏Donate and spread🙏🏻💔

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Oh my god thank you for tagging me I’m losing my mind

Does anyone have any athlete steddie fics or anything in the general vein? I’m not picky I just have a burning need for a steddie victory kiss that breaks the internet bc no one knew these two were an item, let alone madly in love enough to credit any and all success they’ve ever had to the other.

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Yes, yes, we love a bit of hero whump, though may I suggest if it is not too much.... some villain whump? 👀

-💜

Most of the time, the villain could deal with injuries perfectly. In fact, they'd been in med school for several years and had perfected stitching up nearly every inch of their own body. Usually, they wouldn't accept help under any circumstances.

Partly because it felt wrong to bother someone else with their troubles, partly because they were terrified of other people's (non-existing) skills. They couldn't risk it.

But they assumed being placed under house arrest with the hero watching them wasn't exactly usual.

It happened in the middle of a card game between the two of them. A week ago, they would have never agreed to such silly things but after a few days, they had realised there wasn't much to do. No internet connection. No smartphone, no TV. Just this house and a hyperactive hero that couldn't sit still.

Once a week they got to call their parents.

In the exact moment as they put another card onto the stack, the villain felt the stitches open one by one. At first, they simply denied it, made themselves think that it wasn't that bad. They were simply mistaken; it was surely just the usual pain and they were exaggerating.

But the pain increased and they could feel the wetness of the blood trickle down their back. A week ago, before the hero had captured them, they'd been in a pretty rough shape. A swollen face, several nasty bruises and this one stab wound that kept reopening. And stitching their own back? That was more than a little challenge. They hated it, they loathed it.

"I think I have to use the washroom," they said.

"Oh, really? Now that you're losing, huh?" The hero raised an eyebrow. They took these games a little too serious. "Do you seriously expect me to go easy on you because I am the hero? I've been playing this game for years. I have mastered it and I will destroy you, no matter what it takes. No matter what you try, I will-"

"Okay, you win, oh almighty hero." They threw their cards onto the table. It was getting worse. They didn't even know if they could stand up without tripping. Their vision blurred. Everything seemed to turn upside down.

"'Hey, that's not how this works," the hero said. "You can't just give up like that. I was supposed to defeat you."

"M-hm." The villain stood up and for a second, they really thought they would pass out. They took in a deep breath.

"Wait, are you okay?"

"Hm?" The villain didn't find the hero's eyes right away and they could feel their own body sway. God, they needed painkillers, rubbing alcohol, thread, needle... "Yeah, be right back."

They walked past the hero, always in search for something to hold onto but they didn't come very far.

"Oh my god." The hero sounded a little too concerned. The villain thought themselves to be quite a good actor and they weren't even swaying that much. "What the...?"

The hero was next to them in seconds, their hand on the villain's arm. They held onto them.

"What did you do...?"

"What? Nothing, I...oh fuck..." Involuntarily, they grabbed the hero a little too harshly when they felt the wound pulsating.

"Your entire shirt is drenched in blood!" The hero's gaze had hardened and a more concentrated look had replaced their playful smile.

"I got it, it's alright," the villain mumbled. They let go of the hero to drag themselves to the bathroom but the hero had other plans.

"Lay down on the couch," they said.

"You're not my boss," the villain argued. Sometimes, they hated themselves for their stubborness but being nursed by the hero sounded like a greater punishment than even house arrest. Being vulnerable around them, letting someone else take care of them...it sounded like actual hell.

"Please," the hero said. They took the villain's hand and the villain was so confused by this gentle approach that they almost forgot about the pain. They were sure no one else would ever beg to take care of them. When they remembered how violent their capture had been and how many heroes had punched them, they got goosebumps.

They would never tell anyone but they were having nightmares about their fights. Anxiety was eating them up. So, they were almost glad that the hero was observing them at their home.

"It's fine, really," the villain mumbled. "I got it."

"You are bleeding out. You're not fine. Sit down." More or less of their own volition, the villain eventually sat down on the couch. "I'll take your shirt off now, alright?"

The villain's hand was still in theirs.

"Okay," the villain agreed. Their breath hitched and they prepared themselves for the inevitable pain that would follow. However, the hero wasn't rough with them.

"Isn't that from last week?" the hero asked while they pulled the bloody shirt over the villain's head.

"Yeah."

"They gave me an entire protocol about your injuries. There wasn't anything about a stab wound. Just your ankle and your face."

The villain smiled tiredly. "Sounds about right."

It wasn't a big secret that the agency preferred to be silent on how exactly they caught their villains.

Against the villain's burning back, the hero's cold fingers felt heavenly. They put their palm against the villain's skin and pushed them a little forward to see the injury better.

"Did you stitch that yourself?"

"I tried, yeah."

"It looks pretty good," the hero said. "Just give me a second, I will grab everything."

The hero stood up and left for the bathroom.

And the villain sat there, perplexed. When had they ever allowed someone else to even touch them? When had they ever undressed in front of someone else?

What was happening? Were they really this desperate loser who needed comfort that bad?

The villain stared at their hands, their trembling hands. There was no way they could stitch any wound like this, not even if it was on their thigh.

It was more than frustrating, more than a little annoying.

"Is there anything else I should know about? Allergies maybe?" the hero asked. The villain turned around and was surprised to see the hero with all the things they would have grabbed too. There were even painkillers and a glass of water in their hand. The villain shook their head. "Alright. Take this."

All of it was a little...too good to be true. What the hero asked seemed reasonable and their actions were too. The villain swallowed the painkillers and watched as the hero sat on the couch. They pressed a clean towel against the villain's wound and despite their carefulness, the villain hissed.

"Your pain from one to ten? How bad is it?"

"I..." the villain realised they had never thought about it. Usually when they tended to their own wounds they were like a machine, following instructions they had burnt into their system a long time ago. It didn't matter if it burnt or hurt, as long as the wound was closed. But the hero was actually communicating, they were careful and gentle. "...maybe a three?"

"Are you sure?"

"Okay, it's a five." The hero seemed to be another person completely, their jokes and their cheery manner were long gone, yet they were friendly and soft. Apparently, this was the professional side of the hero.

"Do you think it was a clean knife? Your wound doesn't seem to be infected."

"It should have been. Heroes clean their knives regularly, don't they?" For a moment, the hero was quiet and the villain wasn't sure if they had said the wrong thing. They cleared their throat. "Uhm, I can also stitch the wound, if you..."

"No, it's okay. It looks pretty clean, so I'm not going to put any alcohol on it. Don't want to damage your tissue." Woah. The villain had never really cared about that. They'd just drench their wounds in alcohol to kill any infection causing thing, even if that damaged their tissue. "One more thing before I start stitching."

"Yeah?"

"Just out of curiosity. Do you know whom of my colleagues did this to you?"

The villain's stomach tingled. The hero was probably not asking out of pure curiosity.

[iemconfused]

some, definitely not all, of my favorite spider-verse bits/details (most if not all of these have been pointed out to me by other people or i’ve seen someplace on the internet, in the interest of giving credit where credit is due):

- “yeah, i think it’s a banksy”

- the foam party coffee shop opening in itsv, then in atsv miles & the spot go to foam party from the car wash bringing in a bunch of soapy foam with them

- miles not knowing what comic con is in both movies

- “sunflower” playing in different languages throughout the spider-verse in atsv

- mayday doing stuff for herself, sometimes with the web-shooter (taking her first chase selfie, hanging upside down & pointing out to gwen, pulling down her beanie (MIND YOU THIS CHILD IS AT MOST 7 MONTHS OLD))

- hobie calling gwen “gwendy” and miles “peter pan”

- how natural and realistic jeff and rio are as parents and as a couple in general

- miles in itsv and jeff in atsv going down the stairs instead of taking a big jump

- just the thinking ahead of ‘BAGEL!’ in itsv

- double meanings and doubling in general in atsv (miles “unless you bake two cakes”, chai tea, naan bread, miles 1610 and miles 42, pav “i can do both”, gwen “i was doing both”, etc)

- miles saying “i’m spider-man, i’m not grounded” when he goes to his room, but hesitating when gwen says “bummer. is spider-man grounded?”

- gwen trans colors :D

- [EDIT: this one isn’t true- it would’ve been cool for storytelling so i’m sad but it’s ok] miles and gwen having the conversation that they did at the williamsburg bank building, which (according to somebody on the internet) is where gwen fell in tasm2

- ALL of the variants in spider society <3

- mumbattan = mumbai + manhattan

- hobie turning different colors around different people

- when people get electrocuted, their nervous systems light up instead of their bones

- peter b taking care of himself before coming back to mj in itsv

- character designs reflecting their voice actors

there are so many more things, especially because it’s been a while since i’ve gone back through itsv. but i love the spider-verse so damn much. it’s wonderful and i have nothing but respect and awe for everyone involved in the creation of it

[riddles-n-games]

Sunburn

Pairing: Lyra and Grayson Summary: It's summertime in Texas and Lyra is at the Hawthorne House spending time with her new beau, Grayson Hawthorne. He loves to swim and she loves being outside by the pool with a book in hand but often disregards one important rule: applying sunscreen. Lucky for her, she has one very concerned boyfriend to remind her of this. Length: Moderate Story Type: One Shot

"Didn't I tell you to put sunscreen on?"

Lyra snapped out of her thoughts. Grayson was getting out of the pool and approaching her, sopping wet as she blinked against the glare of the sun. Sunglasses only could do so much.

“And didn’t I tell you to dye your hair so you don’t reflect the sun onto me every time you look my way, Goldilocks?”

He narrowed his eyes at the nickname but let a half smile slip. “Even more reason for you to apply it then.” She rolled her eyes. After retrieving his towel, he sat on the lounge chair across from her and started to towel dry his hair.

They were by the pool at the Hawthorne House, his home. Lyra had only been a handful of times and she still wasn’t sure what to make of it. The manor was stunning but it was unsettlingly huge; she dared not ever going through the maze of endless halls without Gray or any of his family to lead her.

Jameson was usually the best guide but Xander knew of the unconventional interesting spots. According to him, he got lost in the passageways during his grandfather’s Saturday games and sometimes gave up to explore the uncharted territory. It made her wary of him at first but soon after he became one of her most loyal and trusted friends. Interesting where life got her after the Grandest Game when Grayson Hawthorne turned it upside down.

Xander called it the Hawthorne Effect and the theory wasn’t exactly far fetched. Who better to testify than the Hawthorne heiress herself? Alongside her sister and best friend, they secured relationships with three of the Hawthorne brothers in a short interval. And now, the last single brother was Lyra's. Or stolen, as the internet put it; those fangirls were no joke. Lucky her. But Grayson was a dedicated boyfriend and he put those worries to rest with a fierceness that made her confident he was the one.

"What are you thinking about?" She blinked. She'd done it again; her thoughts got carried away and the Hawthornes were in the center of it all and- and it was just overthinking again, wasn't it? Lyra looked down and closed her book, sighing in exasperation before she sliding to the edge of her chair and taking his hand in hers. Grayson's eyebrows were furrowed with concern but he stayed quiet as he watched her trace his hand when she spoke up.

"I'm just... Just overthinking, I guess. Your family, your house, everything about you guys; it's a lot, ok? I know you know that and I'm not trying to put you down. Please don't take it to heart. It's just overwhelming to take in and sometimes I can't deal with my thoughts. But you don’t need to worry, I’m working on it and I believe I’m getting better.”

He smiled gently at her. “That’s fine. I know what it’s like, too. Not in the same way, of course, but there are times when being part of this family also overwhelm me. I just coped by hiding it and now I am unlearning that behaviour or trying at least. You could call it-”

“-Failing miserably?”

“Yes. But I’m only admitting that to you and even that’s risky because the walls here have ears.” He gave her a look that said you know who. She smiled knowingly and nodded. Xander. “So just know that if you ever bring it up, I will deny it in public.”

“Of course.” Lyra winked conspiratorially. He smiled back and brought up the hand entangled with hers to his lips, pressing a kiss to her wrist. Then he lowered their hands and brought his free one into her thick locks, threading through them slowly to get the tangles. She closed her eyes in contentment.

It was one of the challenges for her to deal with during the summer but her and Xander often did haircare together and Gray was all too happy to help brush through her hair with his fingers after. And he was also pretty darn good at giving scalp massages; she was truly gifted with a man of all professions.

"You still haven't put on sunscreen." She opened her eyes and gave him an exasperated look.

“I don’t burn that easy.”

“Maybe not but your nose does and skin cancer is a thing, so humor me.” Rolling her eyes, she settled herself closer to him and leaned forward on her hands as he took the sunblock and took a dollop of cream, smearing it across her cheeks and forehead. He took his sweet time massaging it into her skin and she was pretty sure he was just doing that on purpose to prove his point.

"You know I'm pretty sure you wiped it off with how thorough you're being."

"I'm doing it this way to make sure I feel the barrier form evenly on your face."

"Now you just sound like I do when I'm talking to my little brother."

"Well, now you know how I feel. And I'm pretty sure you also explained the importance of sunscreen to him when you're at the pool but he kept running away. Am I right?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Just for that, I'm going to add triple the amount on your arms. But I still haven't done your nose so I must take care of that before I move on."

"You know, I used to think you were intimidating and very closed off but the fact you're now being this cliché, I'm not sure I recognize Grayson Hawthorne anymore."

"Well, I'm a man who wears many hats."

"That sounded like a very Jameson thing to say." He raised a brow at that and she laughed.

"I'm going to ignore what you just said and let that insult be the one off. I was also going to say that it's all due to my therapist suggesting I put the mushy feelings-yes, that's how she put it-out on display."

"So you're implying I can totally make fun of you for it."

"When did I say that? Nobody gets away with such a thing. Not even Xander."

"Hmm, then what was that thing that him and Jameson were trying to tell me about an atonement night? Something about leather pants."

"Those two are going to die tonight, that's all you have to know."

"Aww, don't be like that. Now I have to know."

"Nope, not a word. That's been redacted from recorded history so it technically doesn't exist and never happened. You are most certainly not allowed to know anything more or less than that. I forbid it."

Her arched brows, wide eyes, and amused grin were very telling of her growing curiosity but Grayson wouldn't budge. He was tightlipped and refused to say anything more on the matter. "Stop trying. You're just making yourself look stupid and I don't want that for you. Now stay still so I can get your nose."

"Maybe that's exactly what I've been doing this whole time; distracting you so you can let go of the sunscreen obsession. Think it's now permanently in my skin." Her nose scrunched in disgust at the thought.

"Good, that way you'll be protected year round and I won't have to worry when I take you skiing at the lodge." In response, she stuck her tongue out but he didn't let that slide. He retaliated with a bigger dollop that he plopped on the bridge of her nose and with a light finger, started making lines all around as if he was going to do her makeup. Then, he started making horizontal stripes. "Are you making a grid? Is this tic tac toe on my nose but you have the advantage because I can't see?"

"Shh. I'm making art." She snorted but Grayson didn't lose focus. Instead, he just patted her cheek in consolation before fixing his grip on her jaw to make her stop fidgeting. With careful precision that made no sense to her, he rubbed in the sunscreen on her nose. "There we go."

Lyra shook her head and sighed. Her boyfriend was a piece of work, not that she minded all the time. Even he could be a dork sometimes and it was cute. Not that he needed to know.

"Oh wait, I forgot one more thing."

"What could you have forg-" Before she could finish, Grayson cupped her cheeks, leaning in and kissing the tip of her nose. She gasped in surprise and went still. He pulled away with a smug smirk. "Now it's all good."

Lyra gave him a long incredulous stare before looking away, finding the plants in the neighboring garden suddenly more interesting. "You're lucky I like you."

"I know you do, that's why you let me do this." He placed a finger on the side of her jaw and redirected her to face him before pulling her in for a kiss. Lyra's eyes widened but she quickly closed her eyes and cupped the back of his head, running her fingers through the semi dry locks. Grayson proceeded to deepen the kiss and slid his hands around her back and under her knees, lifting her from her spot on the chair and placed her on his lap.

She held tight to him and relaxed when he repositioned his arms around her lower back, his hand sliding up and down reassuringly. But soon after that, she had to break away for air and she placed her hands on his bare chest, breathing in hard. He wasn't much better and for a moment, only their shallow pants were the only noise aside from the distant roar of a lawnmower.

When their breathing slowed, Lyra smiled mischievously at Gray.

"So about those leather pants." He scowled. She laughed. His heart soared; maybe those mushy feelings weren't so bad after all.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

She Wasn't Sure She Believed Herself

Bleeding in Moonlight: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four |

CW: Werewolf whumpee, escaped whumpee with caretakers, referenced abuse, dehumanization by captors, and captivity

-

Anaya swayed lightly as she made her way up the steps. The front door to Vanessa’s house was painted the same deep shade of blue as the underside of the porch ceiling.

Between that and the fact that the porch was painted a flat and blinding white, Anaya felt a little like she was standing upside down in the ocean, a wave breaking beneath her and the depths of the ocean over her head. 

It was deeply disorienting.

Then again, maybe that was the sleep deprivation talking.

Every other house on the block was the same basic set of shades - gray house with black shutters, white house with gray shutters, pale yellow house with black shutters, another gray, a different white, light brown that was nearly beige, actual beige… Vanessa’s house, with all its dancing blues, had stood out like a beacon as soon as they turned onto the street. 

Eden was right behind her, one arm supporting Misae and his own eyes moving over the porch swing that moved gently in the wind. A small black cat sat on the swing, watching them with intense curiosity. Its tail flicked as it took in the sight of Misae. They’d managed to find an old hoodie of Eden’s and some of Anaya’s sweatpants for Misae to wear, and the boy looked absolutely swamped in the hoodie, hood pulled up to cover his face as much as he could and sleeves long enough to completely hide his hands. They couldn’t help his lack of shoes, but Anaya had managed to get some white socks on him and had decided to just hope for the best. He could limp, with support, and Eden had kept an arm around him, taking most of his weight as he slowly struggled up the steps. 

The boy’s face was white with pain, and his eyes kept dancing wildly trying to take in everything at once, but he stayed upright and he didn’t pass out again, so… Anaya called it a win.

“Why don’t you knock?” Anaya asked, nervously picking at her fingernails with her other hand, trying to calm her nerves. “You’re better at talking to people.”

“First off, that’s a gigantic lie. Secondly, she isn’t my friend,” Eden answered easily. This wasn’t the first time they’d had some version of a conversation like this one. She had the distinct sense that if he could, he would have shrugged. As it was, he was holding nearly all of Misae’s weight by now. “She’s your friend. You should knock.”

“I mean, I may have… I may have exaggerated how well I know her, a little bit?” Anaya found a bit of skin sticking out near her cuticle on her thumb and absently picked at it, staring down. “We just talk on the internet. I don’t even know exactly how old she is. I’ve never seen her face, and now I’m showing up with my boyfriend and a werewolf.”

“Hey. Look at me, baby.” She raised her eyes and found Eden smiling at her, weary but warm. She couldn’t help but smile back. “You’ve got a good sense for people, you always have. And you said she agreed to let us crash, right?”

“Yeah, she did. She said no problem, just…” Anaya looked over at Misae. “I might have not mentioned… him.”

The boy was staring at the cat now. The cat met his gaze with slitted pupils, ears slightly back, fur slightly raised. There was a flash of what might have been sharp teeth, the subtle whisper of a warning hiss.

Misae’s lips pulled back from his own teeth in tandem. 

Anaya stared with wide eyes as she realized his canine teeth were longer than they should be. When she looked down at his hands, she saw fingernails that stretched even as she looked at them, hardening into obvious claws even as his fingers started to thicken and turn blunt.

Was he... growing paws?

The cat turned and leaped gracefully up onto the railing and then down to the ground on the other side, disappearing in a flash around the side of the house. 

Anaya's eyes jumped back to Misae's face.

His lips were closed, and his hands had gone back to normal. Maybe she was imagining it?

“Maybe,” Eden suggested, tone irritatingly mild, “Maybe we all just stay calm and don’t bring the werewolf thing right off the bat.”

"... but did you just see-"

"Mmhmm. I know what I think I saw, anyway."

"You cannot possibly still not believe-"

“I didn’t say that I don’t believe it. Just, let’s not like fling that info around willy-nilly, Naya, yeah? And you, Misae, keep a hold on those teeth. We'll keep the wolf thing to ourselves for at least a little while. Besides, I flat out cannot drive anymore until we get some sleep. So…” Eden shifted a little and then gestured at the door. “Knock.”

Anaya took a deep breath, and turned around, stepping up to the door. Beneath her feet, a pale doormat read Welcome, witches and there was a sign hanging right at Anaya’s eye level: Live laugh lobotomize.

Right.

This was Vanessa. She had nothing to worry about.

Not that having nothing to worry about had ever once stopped Anaya from worrying. Camping had always been the only time she ever felt totally calm, and even that was a little ruined now. How many secret homes with hidden people kept like animals were there in the world, and she just didn't know about them?

The thought kept spinning circles when she tried not to think at all.

The door swung open just as Anaya's knuckles touched the door and she jerked her hand back in surprise. Behind her, Misae straightened a little, leaning against Eden while trying to look like he wasn’t hurt. His eyes kept shifting, as if he was trying to look everywhere all at once. 

God, they looked like such a mess. 

The wooden sign clacked as it swung forward and back, and Anaya’s first impression was of a pair of sparkling brown eyes. “I thought I heard voices,” Vanessa smiled. She was a tall, broad woman with a deep, melodic voice, totally unlike Anaya’s mental image of her. Her eyes matched her ponytail and she looked very much like every high school art teacher Anaya had ever imagined. Right down to the paint-splattered tunic and leggings. 

She took in the three of them in a moment, and then her smile widened and she stepped back and to the side. “Well, you’re clearly Anaya,” She continued. “It’s nice to see you in person for the first time. So, if you’re Anaya, then this must be the hottie boyfriend… Evan?”

“Eden,” Anaya corrected absently, still trying to connect this warm and soft woman standing before her with the acerbic, dryly sarcastic online voice she’d been chatting with for years. 

“Oh, right. Sorry, Eden.”

“That’s okay.” Eden shrugged, a shy smile playing around his lips, flushed a little still from hearing hottie probably. He was always weak to compliments. “Evan actually was on my shortlist for names, anyway, actually.”

“Oh, was it?” Vanessa’s eyebrow quirked up. “You’re not just saying that so I feel less like I just face planted into a mud puddle in public, are you?”

Oh, okay. Now that was the Vanessa that Anaya knew so well.

“Ha, no, it really was. But then I thought of Eden, and, well, I just… liked it better than all the others.”

“Well, I like Eden better, too. It fits - you’re clearly paradise on two legs.” Vanessa winked, and Eden turned tomato-red. Anaya felt herself nearly knocked over by a wave of something between her usual full-throated adoration of her awkward boyfriend's struggle to take a compliment and relief that things were going so well when she’d been so scared they wouldn’t. Vanessa laughed, her laugh as mellow as everything else about her appearance. “Seriously, though… come, come on in, all of you.”

Anaya’s pulse jackhammered in her throat and at her wrists as she stepped forward, moving from the sunset light outdoors into the darker house. The first thing she saw was a wall painted a beautiful deep evergreen, a wall of a dozen or so pieces of framed artwork that had every rainbow shade and probably a few colors Anaya had never even heard of. Side lamps were lit everywhere, and a ceiling fan turned lazily overhead. This looked like somebody's perfect cozy escape from the world.

Anaya wondered how it would feel, to have a home like this. Somewhere that you owned outright. She and Eden had always been renters, and half the time these days they lived out of Eden's car.

“So… there’s you two, and there’s also… who is this you have with you?” Vanessa asked, voice lilting just a little in curiosity. “A brother? Cousin? What’s your name, honey?”

Misae didn’t answer. His chin had lowered, even though his eyes were locked on Vanessa now, watching her every movement. 

Anaya cleared her throat. “This is… um, this is Misae. We… met him on the trip.”

“Oh, okay. I knew you were camping this weekend in Idaho, so… oh, that’s why you texted me for somewhere to stay? Because of meeting him?” 

“Yeah.” Anaya tried to keep her voice casual, unruffled. “He just needs a safe place, he, uh… He r-ran away from home.” It was close enough to true. Really it was true, she just… left out a few minor details. He was being hunted by a man with a gun and oh, hey, he also turns into a wolf. That’s not a problem, right? “I know I didn’t mention he was with us, and I'm so sorry. We will completely understand if you don’t want to deal with-”

“Hey, I didn’t say that.” Vanessa raised her hands, as though showing she was harmless. Or thought they were. “It’s definitely not a problem. I just wasn’t thinking about you needing more than bed. Seriously, it is no problem, I can blow up the air mattress for an extra bed.” 

“Okay, okay, thank you so much, Vanessa. We’ll just get settled, and if you could tell us where the shower is-“

“Oh, honey,” Vanessa interrupted. “Are you hurt?”

Anaya opened her mouth to reply, but realized Vanessa wasn't looking at her at all. Vanessa moved towards Misae, hands out.

To Anaya's horror, Misae recoiled, snarling with lips pulled back from his teeth, before he lost his balance, trying to catch himself and accidentally putting too much weight on his injured leg.

His knee buckled, and he went down hard, losing his balance with a high-pitched cry, somehow ending up turned around and falling right off the steps onto the stone path that led up to the porch.

He desperately grabbed at Eden's arm to try and catch himself and instead pulled Eden down with him.

Eden grunted when he landed hard on his left elbow, but he had the good luck of falling a little to the side and landing in the grass. Misae smacked down into concrete, catching himself with his hands but Anaya watched his ankle twist in the process.

His whine turned to whimpers, deeply canine. He hunched his shoulders and curled up, still snarling and making a sound somewhere between whimper and growl, and Anaya wondered if everything she hadn’t said about this strange boy was about to spill out anyway, whether she liked it or not.

When Vanessa took one more step forward, Misae snapped at her from where he lay, teeth clicking together sharply. His canines were growing again.

Anaya tried to think of an explanation - something logical that didn't involve breaking the news that at least one totally mythological creature had turned out to be absolutely real - but nothing came.

She only stared with her eyes and mouth both wide.

“Oh, shit,” Vanessa whispered. She didn't seem to have noticed Misae's teeth changing, and Anaya was hit with relief that cut as sharp as any knife. “Oh. I am so fucking sorry, I didn’t-... I didn’t mean-” She moved again, and Anaya caught her by one arm. Tears welled up in her eyes as she turned. “I swear, Anaya, I didn’t mean to scare him!”

“No, I know, he’s just… really jumpy about people who move too fast,” Anaya soothed, watching as Eden moved to Misae and murmured to him. The boy's expression gradually changed and he shook his head, eyes down and hair covering as much of his face as he could manage. At least he stopped making that face. Eden nodded, murmured something not quite audible in reply, and very slowly reached out. 

Misae sat back, holding his hands palms-up, letting Eden take them in his own hands to look them over. Blood welled where skin had been scraped away by catching himself when he fell.��

Misae looked up through the curtain of his messy hair, watching Eden's face. Anaya swallowed hard as she saw a spot of red where she knew the bandage was on Misae’s leg. Was that damn wound ever going to stop bleeding?

“He got used to getting hurt where he lived before,” Anaya said in a low voice, keeping her hand on Vanessa to keep her from potentially scaring the poor kid all over again. She told herself she wasn’t lying - those scars Misae was covered with, hidden thanks to Eden’s shirt and Anaya’s sweatpants, proved that pain had definitely been something Misae understood very well indeed. Maybe the only thing he seemed to understand. “It’s made him jumpy. Let’s, um, let’s go inside and then Eden and Misae can come in after us?”

Vanessa slowly nodded, reluctantly turning away. “Okay. I really am so sorry.”

“It’s totally fine,” Anaya said. She had no idea if it was fine or not. The words just came out automatically, an instinctive reply to try and soothe the unsettled air around them. “He’ll be okay. We’re just trying to get him far enough away that he feels safer.”

“Yeah. I can… I can see why.” Vanessa seemed to remember this was her house and straightened up a little. She shot one more hesitant glance over her shoulder, and then led Anaya through a small living room stuffed with too many hand-me-down couches draped in deep brick-red covers and throw pillows and blankets, into a small hallway with four doors. “So, we have… a linen closet, towels are in there-” She pointed at the first door. Then, across the hall, the bathroom with a tiny shower-bathtub, a toilet, and a sink and mirror. “My water heater isn’t great, but if your showers are fast they can be hot. Otherwise, you might have to settle for more or less warm. And here, right here-” She opened the last door on the left. “This is the guest bed. I’m sorry there isn’t more space-”

“It’s perfect,” Anaya said, forcing her voice to brighten up. Her mind wandered back to the boys outside. “We’ll get settled and get clean and then, if you don’t mind, we might just want to like… nap for a while.”

“Not a problem. I have some work to finish up, anyway.” Vanessa smiled, even as she still looked a little worried and guilty. “Any requests for supper? I’m afraid delivery in this neighborhood isn’t happening, but I’ve got some frozen pizzas and garlic bread, or I could make pasta and sauce, or… if anybody’s low carb, uh, I could run to the store for steak or something…”

Anaya thought of Misae’s thin face, wiry arms, knobby knees, the way his stomach pulled in too much, how he swam in clothes that shouldn't have been oversized. The way his eyes seemed to sink a little into his face. “Um… No, carbs are definitely a good idea. Pizzas?”

“Okay. I’ll get the oven preheating. You three just… you get settled. Let me know if there's anything you need or you can't find.” Vanessa disappeared back out the door and Anaya stepped further into the little room.

There was a side table with a little lamp and she switched it on, absently. It gave the little room, walls painted blue, a cozy glow. She dropped her backpack onto the fluffy oversized comforter - clearly made for a king-sized mattress but laid out over the queen-sized bed - and sat down, slowly leaning over with her hands over her face.

She was so tired.

At least Vanessa had been a lot less bothered by the sudden appearance of two disheveled adults and one teenager than Anaya had expected, but the last bit had clearly thrown that initial lack of bother away. Now they not only had a teenage runaway with them, he was visibly injured and he’d reacted to Vanessa attempting to touch him in a way that made it equally clear he hadn’t come from anywhere good. Plus, the noises he'd made, the way he snarled and snapped like an animal... If Vanessa got too curious, or decided to call the fucking cops... Anaya didn't know why exactly, but she knew that would end badly.

A throat cleared in the doorway and Anaya looked up. Eden stood there, smiling a little, Misae leaning against him again. The boy’s eyes darted around, never landing on any one place for long. He’d been limping before - now he was flat out hopping on one leg, using Eden to keep himself upright. His injured leg was pulled slightly up. 

“He’s okay,” Eden said, in a tone that said he was soothing them both. “Just a little scrape on the hands. I’ll get my kit from the car, we’ll get him a good shower and then I can bandage him up again.”

“Good.” Anaya breathed the word out. Even that felt like it took more energy than she really had left. She hadn’t realized how hard she was working to hold herself together until she didn’t really have to any longer. 

She wanted to sleep for a week.

Maybe a month.

But she’d settle for patting the bed next to her. “Misae, why don’t you just come over here and lay down for a minute with me, okay?”

Misae’s eyebrows briefly furrowed. He licked at his lips - something Anaya was realizing he did almost compulsively when nervous - and then slowly shook his head. “Not allowed,” He said, voice low. He sounded a little confused.

“What? Why? Because you’re bleeding?” 

Misae stared at her for a few long seconds, then shook his head again. “No. We're... not allowed on the furniture.”

Eden’s eyes closed, tightly, for just a second. Anaya watched a vague flush of anger move over his face and be just as quickly pressed down and done away with. She knew what she was seeing, though, and knew Eden would smile soft and sweet even as he turned that over and over in his mind all night long. The same way Anaya would.

Not allowed on the furniture because he's been treated like he’s a dog.

“Well, here you are allowed on the furniture, and I’m saying you should lay down on the bed and get the weight off that leg. Okay?” She patted the bed again. This time, Misae hesitantly nodded and let Eden support his slightly absurd little bunny-hops forward until they made it close enough for him to more collapse than lay down. Misae curled himself up as tightly as he could, arms tucked against his body and only his injured leg out straight, the other one curled with his knee nearly to his chest.

"Oh," He whispered, eyes wide.

Anaya blinked at the look of surprise on his face, and tilted her own head as she looked down at him, slipping a firm pillow beneath his head only for his eyes to widen even further. She fought back a faint smile, worried he might think she was mocking him. “What’s that look for?”

Misae swallowed, those strange golden-brown eyes shifting to meet hers. He returned her smile. “I didn’t know beds were so soft,” He explained. “I’ve never been in one.”

Anaya couldn’t think of a single thing she could possibly say to that.

Eden backed away from them. “I’ll go get our things from the car and then I’m just going to get right into the shower,” He said, voice tight and hard, and turned away, closing the door a little too hard behind him as he went. 

Misae winced when the door shut with a loud thunk, shifting until the top of his head just brushed against the side of Anaya’s leg. She let her hand drift down to run fingers through his hair like she had while Eden stitched him up in the car - oh god, that was less than twelve hours ago, somehow it felt like so much more time had passed than that - and the boy breathed out in something that seemed like pure pleasure, eyes fluttering shut. 

“He’s angry,” Misae said, voice low. Just above a whisper, a little hoarse. "At me."

“He's angry, but not at you," Anaya replied, shifting until her back was against the headboard, keeping her fingers sifting through soft strands. Her own eyes closed and she could feel her exhaustion weighing down every corner of her mind. “Definitely not at you. Just at… what it seems like life has been for you. It’s not going to be like that for you anymore, okay? We’ll figure out how to find some place better for you.”

Misae didn’t reply.

Anaya knew that he was silent, this time, not because he had nothing to say in response, but because he didn’t believe her. 

She wasn’t sure she believed herself.

-

@finder-of-rings @burtlederp @deluxewhump @scoundrelwithboba @shrimpwritings @yassifiedinformation @wildfaewhump @whatwhump @honeycollectswhump @tundra-tiger @dont-look-me-in-the-eye @there-will-always-be-blood

[danmeiconfession]

I interpret the ending of "Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System" (SVSSS) as more of a horror story. The protagonist is trapped in a lifelong relationship with Luo Binghe, who is so emotionally insecure that the relationship could potentially end in mutual destruction. Unlike the other main leads (MLs) in Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's (MXTX) works, where the foundations of their relationships are clear, Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (SQQ) have a much more precarious dynamic.

It's evident that Binghe is infatuated with SQQ, whether it be Shen Jiu or Shen Yuan, it doesn't seem to matter. I see the fact that MXTX concealed the identity behind the mask as a literal loose cannon – revealing it would have caused everything to fall apart. I don't ship Bingmei and Shen Yuan because their relationship is based on a facade. They are obsessed with an image, not the true person behind it. Claiming it's true love is laughable when they idolize and fall in love with a persona.

In reality, both Luo Binghe and Bingmei are in love with the crafted pretend image of the lofty immortal Shen Jiu created and his beauty. LBG is a stallion protagonist for a reason – he was mesmerized  with his Shen Jiu looks. Let's be for real, would Bingge would have spared a glance at Shen Yuan without SQQ's identity? The OG stallion not lacking in beauties? So what if Shen Yuan is funny and loves Binghe for who he is, he's not the only one?

It's almost as if Shen Yuan’s denial of reality, his jokes, and dissociation prevent him from confronting the truth. As an internet troll, ending up with Bingmei seems like a punishment. The system purposely chose someone who obsesses over their idol Binghe, the opposite of Jiu, who despises him purposely almost as if the original wasn't satisfied with the ending . Shen Yuan will love Bingmei wholeheartedly, just like fans love their idols regardless of their faults.

Yes, Shen Yuan made sacrifices and helped Bingmei, but no one would react calmly in his situation. Bingmei, the most bipolar character ever, would obviously lose it if he realized the truth. He thought he finally gained approval from the Shizun he worshipped.

I theorize As long as Shen Yuan has the face and voice, Bingmei would still accept him, even though his world turned upside down. Why? Cause he's delusional he'll accept anything of his Shizun regardless. I think if an identity reveal were to happen LBH is selfish enough if SY didn't have a Face Reveal to be the 'not my problem' type. SY personality (if you can really call it that since everything he shows to everyone is different than what be thinks/inner monologues) + SJ face and LBH could live happily in his own delusion. Just look at Bingge, he wanted the 'kind Shizun' because he believes it was an alternate SQQ not a completely different person. I mean who will believe with his 600 harem of 'Peerless Beauties' he would settle for SY true face? Oh no sir/ma'am, he wanted the 'kind Shizun' cause it has SQQ looks and thats the end of the story.

I don't see Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu as looking alike or being twins unlike the popular au or fanfics I've seen personally. Shen Yuan feels like a parasite who can't stand alone and just attaches himself to OGShen Jiu’s face, body and everything he worked for. I headcanon his looks as a normal dude, not a peerless beauty from a book.

Like? Why do people who read the book are so surface level with it as if the Male lead's feelings isn't complex enough about OG? I do believe he was charmed by OG, but SY's SQQ feed onto those pre-existing feelings that were already there in the first place.

Why do readers of "Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" (SVSSS) often take such a surface-level approach to the complexity of the male lead’s feelings toward the original Shen Qingqiu (OG SQQ)? I believe Luo Binghe was charmed by the original Shen Qingqiu (Shen Jiu), and Shen Yuan's version of SQQ merely fed into those pre-existing feelings that were already there in the first place. In fact, I'll go as far as to say he fell in love with Shen Jiu – an unpopular opinion, but one I stand by.

This isn’t about shipping them. It simply doesn’t make sense that Luo Binghe fell in love with Shen Yuan’s SQQ so easily unless the feelings were already there. This is why he spent his teenage years trying to gain Shen Qingqiu's acceptance and why he transitioned from worshipping the ground Shen Jiu walked on to absolutely hating him, despite not seeing him for years.

I don’t think his feelings toward Shen Jiu changed during his time in the abyss; rather, his perspective did. Binghe concluded that the only way to get Shen Jiu’s attention was to be cruel. No matter how strong or kind he became, Shen Jiu’s disdain for him was an undeniable fact within the canon. Binghe convinced himself that Shen Qingqiu was incapable of love and a terrible human being to cope with the constant rejection.

In the book, Binghe’s reaction to Shen Qingqiu’s grief over Yue Qingyuan’s death is telling. Despite going out of his way to kill the one person Shen Jiu loved most, Binghe is genuinely surprised by Shen Qingqiu’s sadness. When he sees how broken Shen Qingqiu is, he doesn’t mock or berate him as he thought he would. Instead, he walks away, uncomfortable because he has to confront the reality that SQQ is capable of love, just not for him.

When Binghe meets Shen Yuan’s SQQ, his worldview is further crushed. There exists a reality where SQQ adores him, but it’s not the same SQQ. He can't even win SQQ’s affection in competition with himself. I despise Binghe, but I feel for him because this must reinforce the idea that something is inherently wrong with him. This realization is so distressing that he starts crying, something he hasn’t done since he was 14. Both versions of Binghe are obsessed because that’s the only way they know how to love

To be clear, Luo Binghe isn't bitter about the abuse maybe it's a part of it but to me ; he's bitter because he was rejected. Had Shen Jiu accepted his love, Binghe wouldn't have gone to the extremes to destroy him and honestly respect to him for rather going through torture than to succumb to a genocidal murder maniac of a yandere.

.

[harrywavycurly]

How would Niall bring us up in an interview?😍

Hiii babes!!! Oh love this question, so I’m gonna go off of the bf Niall series I have going on to answer this! I did it as a conversation between Niall and an interviewer! I hope you enjoy💖

-find all thing Boyfriend Niall Horan here✨

A/N: Niall gets asked about a certain instagram post of yours that takes him on a spiral of how long has he actually been in love with you?✨

“So Niall before we let you go there’s just one thing that’s been eating at me…” “Oh? What’s that?” “Well…I noticed a certain caption of a photo of you on your…bestfriend’s instagram-” “why’d ya do the finger quotes when you said bestfriend? You don’t think she’s my bestfriend?” “I’m sure she is but..have you seen this photo?” “Let me see here…oh would you look at that?..she always gets the best shots of me doesn’t she? Now you’re saying the caption is what’s bothering you?” “Well read it to us and you tell us what it means.” “It says…oh god…it uh well it says…yup that’s my man right there…” “and that means?” “That means…I’m her man and…I’m right there with three beers in my hand and a smile on my face for those of you tuning in at home who can’t see this absolutely beautiful photo of me that my wonderful girlfriend posted…on the internet.” “So she is your girlfriend then?” “Yeah…has been for a few months now.” “But you two have known each other for a few years right?” “Uh yeah? I think like two years now…hit it off right away and pretty sure I fell in love with her the moment she called me an asshole like five minutes after we met…but that’s a story for another time.” “Wait wait wait…you’ve loved her since you met her but you’re only just now dating?” “I mean…I don’t mean I was really in love with her I just mean she kinda knocked me on my ass and turned my world upside down and like…yeah.” “It’s giving you’ve loved her this whole time Niall…” “god she’s gonna proper kick my ass now thanks to you…I mean yeah I guess I have always loved her? But I wasn’t ready to fall in love with her until recently because I just..I had shit to deal with and didn’t want to put her through that.” “So just being besties was fine for two years?” “Yeah because I just needed her in my life and I took what I could get.” “Did you two date other people during this time or no?” “Uh..well uhm-” “uh oh…did you date other people and she didn’t?” “She dated and I didn’t….her dating other people is what made me get my head outta my ass and tell her how I was feeling.” “We know that obviously went well.” “It ended up going well but like…I knew she felt the same way about me in the beginning when we first met…we had a conversation about it and that’s when I told her I’m not ready for anything close to a serious relationship and that’s why we decided to be friends…so I was terrified to tell her my feelings for her never went away they actually just got stronger because what if she didn’t feel anything for me anymore? I was proper panicking and then she just told me she felt the same way and that once again…I’m an asshole for making her wait so long but that she would’ve waited as long as I needed because she knows I’m it for her.” “Oh god…damn it Niall not you making me cry…that’s so sweet oh my god…” “sorry…I just..I could talk about her for ages and ages if I’m being honest…but yeah she’s my girlfriend and I uh I just love her even though she is the worst photographer in the world…and yes lover of mine since I know you’re listening…I mean it… the absolute worst.” “Thank you so much for jointing us today Niall! And thanks for telling us your love story…friends to lovers is my favorite trope.” “Thanks for having me…kinda felt like a therapy session towards the end there…gotta get all that sappy stuff off my chest…oh I’m an enemies to lovers kinda guy…I love good banter…but yeah thanks for having me and talk to you lovely lot later!”

Instagram Post Mentioned:

[danmei-confessions]

I interpret the ending of "Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" (SVSSS) as more of a horror story.

The protagonist is trapped in a lifelong relationship with Luo Binghe, who is so emotionally insecure that the relationship could potentially end in mutual destruction. Unlike the other main leads (MLS) in Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's (MXTX) works, where the foundations of their relationships are clear, Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (SQQ) have a much more precarious dynamic.

It's evident that Binghe is infatuated with SQQ, whether it be Shen Jiu or Shen Yuan, it doesn't seem to matter. I see the fact that MXTX concealed the identity behind the mask as a literal loose cannon revealing it would have caused everything to fall apart. I don't ship Bingmei and Shen Yuan because their relationship is based on a facade. They are obsessed with an image, not the true person behind it. Claiming it's true love is laughable when they idolize and fall in love with a persona.

In reality, both Luo Binghe and Bingmei are in love with the crafted pretend image of the lofty immortal Shen Jiu created and his beauty. LBG is a stallion protagonist for a reason - he was mesmerized with his Shen Jiu looks. Let's be for real, would Bingge would have spared a glance at Shen Yuan without SQQ's identity? The OG stallion is not lacking in beauties? So what if Shen Yuan is funny and loves Binghe for who he is? He's not the only one.

It's almost as if Shen Yuan's denial of reality, his jokes, and dissociation prevent him from confronting the truth. As an internet troll, ending up with Bingmei seems like a punishment. The system purposely chose someone who obsesses over their idol Binghe, the opposite of Jiu, who despises him purposely almost as if the original wasn't satisfied with the ending. Shen Yuan will love Bingmei wholeheartedly, just like fans love their idols regardless of their faults.

Yes, Shen Yuan made sacrifices and helped Bingmei, but no one would react calmly in his situation. Bingmei, the most bipolar character ever, would obviously lose it if he realized the truth. He thought he finally gained approval from the Shizun he worshipped.

I theorize as long as Shen Yuan has the face and voice, Bingmei would still accept him, even though his world turned upside down. Why? Cause he's delusional, he'll accept anything of his Shizun regardless. I think if an identity reveal were to happen, LBH is selfish enough if SY didn't have a Face Reveal to be the 'not my problem' type. SY personality (if you can really call it that since everything he shows to everyone is different than what be thinks/innermonologues) + SJ face and LBH could live happily in his own delusion.

Just look at Bingge. He wanted the 'kind Shizun' because he believes it was an alternate SQQ, not a completely different person. I mean, who will believe with his 600 harem of 'Peerless Beauties' he would settle for SY true face? Oh no, sir/ma'am, he wanted the 'kind Shizun' cause it has SQQ looks, and that's the end of the story.

I don't see Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu as looking alike or being twins, unlike the popular au or fanfics I've seen personally. Shen Yuan feels like a parasite who can't stand alone and just attaches himself to OGShen Jiu's face, body, and everything he worked for. I headcanon his looks as a normal dude, not a peerless beauty from a book.

Like? Why do people who read the book are so surface level with it as if the Male lead's feelings isn't complex enough about OG? I do believe he was charmed by OG, but SY's SQQ feed onto those pre-existing feelings that were already there in the first place.

Why do readers of "Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" (SVSSS) often take such a surface-level approach to the complexity of the male lead's feelings toward the original Shen Qingqiu (OG SQQ)? I believe Luo Binghe was charmed by the original Shen Qingqiu (Shen Jiu), and Shen Yuan's version of SQQ merely fed into those pre-existing feelings that were already there in the first place. In fact, I'll go as far as to say he fell in love with Shen Jiu - an unpopular opinion, but one I stand by.

This isn't about shipping them. It simply doesn't make sense that Luo Binghe fell in love with Shen Yuan's SQQ so easily unless the feelings were already there. This is why he spent his teenage years trying to gain Shen Qingqiu's acceptance and why he transitioned from worshipping the ground Shen Jiu walked on to absolutely hating him, despite not seeing him for years.

I don't think his feelings toward Shen Jiu changed during his time in the abyss; rather, his perspective did. Binghe concluded that the only way to get Shen Jiu's attention was to be cruel. No matter how strong or kind he became, Shen Jiu's disdain for him was an undeniable fact within the canon. Binghe convinced himself that Shen Qingqiu was incapable of love and a terrible human being to cope with the constant rejection.

In the book, Binghe's reaction to Shen Qingqiu's grief over Yue Qingyuan's death is telling. Despite going out of his way to kill the one person Shen Jiu loved most, Binghe is genuinely surprised by Shen Qingqiu's sadness. When he sees how broken Shen Qingqiu is, he doesn't mock or berate him as he thought he would. Instead, he walks away, uncomfortable, because he has to confront the reality that SQQ is capable of love, just not for him.

When Binghe meets Shen Yuan's SQQ, his worldview is further crushed. There exists a reality where SQQ adores him, but it's not the same SQQ. He can't even win SQQ's affection in competition with himself. I despise Binghe, but I feel for him because this must reinforce the idea that something is inherently wrong with him. This realization is so distressing that he starts crying, something he hasn't done since he was 14. Both versions of Binghe are obsessed because that's the only way they know how to love.

To be clear, Luo Binghe isn't bitter about the abuse. Well, maybe it's a part of it, but to me, he's bitter because he was rejected. Had Shen Jiu accepted his love, Binghe wouldn't have gone to the extremes to destroy him and honestly respect to him for rather going through torture than to succumb to a genocidal murder maniac of a yandere.

.

[foone]

So Warframe added a "Pom-2" Alternate 1999 computer (that's needed for weird void magic future science wizardry). Thoughts?

Only thing I have that's a sort of question mark is that I don't know of many setups that would have needed a 5 1/4" floppy in 99 (or why it has both the tower and the under monitor unit)

ugh. OKAY, so... the tower and desktop combination is just weird. I have, on one occasion, run a "server" that was two towers, and the original PC supported a DUAL-DESKTOP mode, but both types together? nonsense.

dual monitor was rare but possible in 1999 (win98 added native support), so I think the best interpretation here is that this is actually two computers. maybe the one on the left is missing the keyboard and mouse because it's being used as some kind of server for the other computer? I used a little case like that to run my first linux server, which was also acting as a router for my internal network.

The OS is weird. The icons above the menu-bar look like win98, the dialog box is windows 3.x, the menu-bar icons on the bottom are pure os X (although they remind me of like a web-TV kinda system, like hotkeys for email/internet/etc), but the greyscale is very classic mac system. Actually it kinda reminds me of C64's GEOS, but GEOS was very classic-mac.

Like most CRT-filters, they turned the scanlines up WAY TOO HIGH. No CRT I've ever seen looked that fucking terrible. The monitor buttons are a bit odd: You didn't get monitors with buttons on the front until long after they were all color... but maybe it's a color monitor that's showing a monochrome OS?

as for the floppies: yeah. There are multiple mistakes here.

5.25" in 1999 is just silly. If you still had 5.25" disk drives in 1999, you were intentionally doing some retrocomputing stuff. For reference, around 2001 my PC repair job would specifically ask me to copy data off 5.25" disks, because they didn't have any 5.25" drives anymore, and I was their only tech who did.

The other mistake is that they have THREE floppy drives. so the PC doesn't really support that, natively? You can do some tricks and make it work (The youtuber Tech Tangents did a video on how it could be done), but realistically two was the normal max.

The final mistake is that all the drive activity lights are on. Those are only supposed to be on while the drive is reading or writing... and I don't see any disks in those drives! Let alone a situation that would involve turning all three on at once (I don't think that's even possible on most floppy controllers!)

In fact, the main time you'd end up with the drive lights stuck on like that is when you've installed the drive cable upside down. That ends up with them getting stuck on and non-functional. So this computer looks, to me, like it was put together incorrectly and no one noticed.

I don't believe that font would be on a black & white retro computer. Nope. Too smooth and too big.

There's also a USB icon on that OS: I don't think there's ever been a monochrome OS that supported OS, and looking at that computer case I don't believe that it has USB. Maybe the tower would, but the desktop? no.

That keyboard is off a Gateway 2000 computer. Something like this:

[morganbritton132]

I adore Eddie falling asleep in front of the live stream and everything that follows

But now I’m also thinking of Steve one day seeing the live stream is still on but he has no idea how to turn it off so he has to ask Chat for help which he has to find first and it just turns into this hilarious quest of Chat trying to explain how to turn it off while Steve barely finds the chat to even read it

This is so painfully in line with this AU’s Steve and I love it so much. It’s perfect.

This time Steve is in the room when Eddie falls asleep, so he’s aware that there is a live-stream going on. He hasn’t been seen on camera, but the audience can hear him when he says, “You know what I’ve been craving?”

Followed by, “Benny’s Burgers. Isn’t that crazy?”

Followed by, “…Ed?”

Followed by, “Oh.”

Because Eddie’s eyes drifted shut ten minutes ago and they have yet to open. You can kinda hear movement and then Steve is wandering into the frame with his hands on his hips. He looks at the camera and frowns at it before he pokes Eddie in the arm, “Ed. Eddie, babe. You left the – the thing going.”

Eddie slumps over a little more and Steve sighs, running his hands through his hair. He doesn’t try to wake Eddie up anymore, just twists him around so he’s laying more comfortably. He throws a blanket over him and then wipes his hands of the whole situation. It is not his problem.

Except that makes him feel bad, so he comes back to the studio.

At first he just sits the phone facedown and leaves again, but he doesn’t like that either. What if Eddie talks in his sleep about the Upside Down (something that he has never done before), or has a bad nightmare, or farts and the whole internet hears it. Steve doesn’t want him to be embarrassed so, “It’s not rocket science, Harrington. Let’s figure this out.”

It might be rocket science.

For the audience at home, they get to experience Steve Harrington up close and personal because Steve is (1) not wearing his glasses and (2) cannot figure out how to end the stream. He keeps tapping at the screen, looking more and more annoyed as he does it, and then he stands up and walks out of the room.

Steve puts the phone on the coffee table in the living room, and then leaves again. After another five minutes, he comes back. The audience at home gets to watch this man mutter to himself as he places the phone in different rooms and then decides he doesn’t like it there and comes back for it (“The bathroom? Really, Harrington? What are you doing?”).

Frustrated with wasting the last hour of his life (much to the amusement of the people watching), Steve picks up the phone again and glares at it. He is sitting on the floor in the living room, squinting at the phone as he jabs at the screen again, “Tell me how to turn you off.”

Steve frowns, “Where’s the chatlog? I know there’s a – oh my god.”

“There was nothing wrong with AOL messenger!” Steve rants to the screen as he continues to poke at it. “I had AOL and I was happy. Everything was where it should be. Myspace was fine! I had a Myspace, but this – Oh! I got it. I got it! Hello. Can someone tell me how to turn this off?”

There are a lot of people in the chat. Most of them are excited that Steve is there and they’re gushing in the comments about how much they love him and appreciate him. Some people are asking questions about him. There are people begging him not to end the stream and others telling him to wake Eddie up.

There are even people who are genuinely trying to help him, but it’s all coming at Steve really fast. It’s sudden and overwhelming, and – “I’m too dyslexic for this.”

“I’ve got a brain like scrambled eggs, can – just one of you talk and tell me how to end this. Can you do that?” Steve asks, and everybody comments at once. “So, no. You can’t do that. Great.”

Steve rubs at his eyes and then does what he should’ve done in the first place and calls Dustin. He has his phone on speaker so the audience can hear when Dustin answers. Steve only says, “Help me.”

“With the stream or in general?”

“How do you –“ Steve stops, makes eye contact with the camera and then rolls his eyes. “Have I not suffered enough for you.”

“No.”

Steve has a look on his face like he’s about to remind Dustin that he was literally tortured in the name of scientific discovery but thinks better of it and says, “I’m telling Erica.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you how to end it.”

Dustin starts walking Steve through how to end the live stream but right before Steve hits the right button to end it all, both his phone and Eddie’s phone are knocked out his hands and you hear him yelp as he’s tackled over. The chat explodes and Dustin’s like, “Where’d you go? Steve?”

Then you hear the sound of a kiss and Eddie say, “I’ve missed you.”

There’s a smile in Steve’s voice when he says, “It’s been an hour.”

“Tell me about it.”

There’s the sound of another kiss and then, very loudly, Steve says, “Turn off your live-stream!”