#{{ We talked about it

[softquietsteadylove]

Hellooo dear!. I read the spicy one from @taran-chan that @oldtvserieslover requested.

I love the idea of thenamesh ghost hunter AU. So may I request a prompt for a second part of your story >Be Still, My Beating Heart<? Because it’s quite funny how the ghost are fond of Gil! Let it be funny, cute and a bit jealousy from Thena

"Are we really sure about this?"

Thena shook her head with a smile as she adjusted the equipment he himself had procured for this--their newest hunt location. "I'm sure it'll be fine if you don't have a panic attack."

Gil just looked over at her from where he was seated on the couch, where supposedly their ghost target of choice had passed away mysteriously some 200 years ago. He made it seem like she was miles and miles away from him. "Once you get the equipment set up you can come and sit with me, right?"

"Gil," she chided him. Gil was such a cut of muscle all his own, but every hunt made him curl up like a dog with its tail between its legs. "I have to see if we get anything."

"Fine," Gil sighed dramatically, tugging at the flannel over his shirt, "leave me to the spirits, I guess."

"I'm sure they'd love to get their hands on you," Thena rolled her eyes. If their hunts in this area had taught her anything, it was that he was apparently a real heartthrob to ghosts.

"Maybe there'll be some nice, old lady ghosts," Gil shrugged, still looking around them anxiously with the flashlight.

Thena examined the screen, picking up any possible signs of ghosts around them. "There's someone next to you."

"What?!"

Thena pressed her laughter into her palm, mostly for the sake of not missing anything when they were rewatching things later. "Don't scream, Gil--you'll scare them."

Gil squirmed, pressing himself into the corner of the old sofa.

"Hello," Thena greeted spectre, as she always did. "Can you tell us who's here?"

The frequency scanner barked at them a few times before spitting out, "Helen."

"Helen," Gil nodded, waving the flashlight around wildly in his nervousness (but careful not to shine it directly in Thena's eyes). "That's, uh, a pretty name."

Thena looked between the heat sensors and the light matrix and the ovilus, all set up and trained on Gil's position. She smiled at him, "Gil, you sure know how to make a lady blush."

"Stop it!" he whispered to her in a hiss, no doubt blushing himself from being teased about this again.

"Helen, do you fancy sitting down with my friend Gil, here?" Thena asked, and received a very excited spike in activity on their equipment. She reached for the ovilus, "can you tell us what you're doing here?"

Fun

"We are having fun," Thena laughed to herself while Gil waved at her to hurry up, squirming around on the couch as if he could see a ghost inching closer to him on the chaise. "Can you say 'Gil' for me?"

Hot

Thena snorted amidst her laughter. "These ghosts just can't get enough of you."

"Well, I guess they had some sympathy for me sitting here by myself."

"My poor Gilgamesh," Thena tilted her head and fluttered her lashes at him. "Say something to poor Helen. She came all this way."

"Uh, h-hey," Gil started, just as nervously as he always did. He held his hands on his lap, like a kid in trouble at school. "How's...the afterlife?"

"So romantic," Thena teased him again as she adjusted some settings on the equipment. "Oh."

"What?--oh-what?" Gil asked with a certain nervous edge to his voice, "Thena?"

"Helen is," Thena blinked, watching the stick-figure representation of Helen's energy sit itself right on Gil on the screen. "Helen is a little bit forward."

"What is she doing?"

"She's in your lap."

"Oh, th-that's okay, thank you," Gil leapt up, rushing back to the table with Thena and their equipment, bumping into it and rattling it loudly. "I'm, uh, not...interested?"

Fun

Inside

Hot

Thena frowned at the ovilus. She had never gotten 'inside' from the damned machine before. It was two syllables--doubly unlikely to be a mistake from another frequency. It seemed so deliberate. It seemed so...inappropriate. "Okay, Helen, take it easy."

Big

Thena shook the expensive piece of equipment in her hand, "you better be talking about how tall he is, Helen."

"Thena, what's going on?" Gil all but whimpered as he rounded the table and wrapped his arms around her for his own comfort.

They both looked at the screen, blushing at the next word to pop up on the screen. Gil sputtered, "th-this lady is wild."

Thena shut the ovilus off with a huff, "I'm not calling her a lady if she's going to ask about my boyfriend's co-"

Gil let out another loud yelp as their proximity sensor went off.

"Helen doesn't take well to rejection?" Thena guessed, watching as the sensor flashed and beeped loudly at them a few times. "Helen, he's a taken man. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be the other woman, even after your death."

"Thena, don't antagonise the ghost, please?" Gil held her tighter as she got up to move around the room.

"It's nothing personal, Helen," Thena frowned as she shut off their flashlights and examined the light matrix for any possible movement. The lack of light also encouraged Gil to hold her even tighter. "But you can't just come onto people like that nowadays. It's not very proper."

Gil's eyes were peeled open, focused on the lights and just waiting for something to appear in front of them (like in his nightmares). "Thena..."

"If you give me a sign that you're here we can talk like ladies about this," Thena called out to the dark and the net of green led dots projected around the room.

"No, we can't," Gil corrected Thena liberally about that, "I'm quite happy with her, Helen--sorry."

"Gil!"

"I don't want some dead lady to try and posses you--or me!"

"She was already in your lap earlier," Thena reminded him. She flinched.

"What?" Gil looked at her, wrapping up in his arms from behind.

"Did-" Thena paused, caught somewhere between flustered and unnerved. "Did you...whisper something in my ear?"

"Like what?"

"Anything!" Thena whispered back to him, tucking herself a little closer to his chest. And when Thena got nervous around the ghosts, it was time to go.

"No, I didn't whisper anything," Gil shook his head, already grabbing the equipment off the table and shoving it all in the satchel on Thena's hip. "Let's go--time to get the hell outta here."

"I mean it, Gil, she whispered in my ear," Thena mumbled as Gil did up the satchel clasp with clumsy fingers. "She whispered 'mine' directly in my ear."

"Nope, sorry Helen, I'm all hers, we're leaving now--okay, bye!" Gil rushed out all in one breath, picking up Thena and running out of the house full tilt.

He all but leapt from the front porch of the house, rushing right to the rent-a-car parked a few doors down from the creepy old place. He set Thena on the hood, leaning his head on her shoulder to catch his breath.

Thena tilted her head to rest against his, also breathing heavily. "That...that was..."

"Fucked up-"

"Incredible!"

Gil pulled his head up, dreading the hungry look in her eyes, "Thena, no."

"But she's totally haunting that place!" Thena shook Gil by the shoulder. "She addressed us directly! I don't even think it's a ghost--it might be a demon or something!"

"Nope!" Gil shook his head, "nope, nope, no--absolutely not."

"Well, you're not going back there, but-"

"No, Thena, you're not either," Gil held her chin and tipped it back to him. "Helen doesn't seem all that fond of you. And I'm not letting you waltz back in there alone."

"But the evidence-!"

"Thena," Gil leaned in closer, "look at me."

She was unable to do anything else.

"You're not going back in there," he said in a low - maybe kind of sexy - tone. "Did we or did we not tell Helen that you're mine?"

"Well," Thena blinked, feeling heat in her cheeks as Gil held her eyes with his, "a-actually, we told her that you're m-"

"So," he whispered, his breath hitting her lips before he pulled away, "get in the car. We already have plenty of great evidence, and we might have even picked up that last little whisper, too."

Thena blinked, sliding off the hood of the car and feeling the cold of the night air against her blushed cheeks. Maybe she should get more used to calling Gil her boyfriend on hunts, she thought.

[nick-close]

Meryl is so Autism and mysophobia coded y’all just don’t understand him

[kellm4n]

waystar events are routine, they are occupational hazards, tools to be used when logan needs to get his claws in, pull his resources. gerri is rather good at that, smooth talking one political figure or another, investors who don't understand the legal jargon she explains as if they're actually listening. gerri is all soft spoke facade under the watchful eye of company peers. she does well here, in this particular version of social chess. but it is, as all things with waystar royco are, exhausting.

company is found by the bar when she comes to refill signature drink. martini set on the soft napkin, imprinting a circle just over golden embroidery. this game is far more refreshing.

what are you insinuating ?

“ i'm not insinuating anything, doctor.” she argues with no small degree of faux innocence, if the general counsel were trying, she could play it off well, but the gleam in her eye gives her away. the barest hint of mischief lingering in her expression. knowing gaze falls on @consumare , a smile playing on the corners of her mouth as she brings the rim of her glass up to hide the smile.

“ i think i'm more . . . outwardly stating it, actually.”

[cordspaghetti]

really factual recounting with no embellishments whatsoever

[shrubsparrow]

It's in the eye of the beholder

[stemmmm]

bad youtube clickbait thumbnail that reads "I think I just had a therapy session with a DEMON???"

[beebfreeb]

Messaging people for the first time is so hard. What am I supposed to say? Like, "You seem really odd and your blog intrigues me. Do you want to have philosophical conversations or perhaps talk about fictional characters?" What! Whatever. I will just follow you back and stare at your blog with my big beautiful brown eyes.

[necromimetics]

can’t stop thinking about my friend’s cishet partner who said last night that he doesn’t think anyone is the same gender. god-tier take.

[dearausten]

not now sweetie, mommy is watching how the massive girlbossification of female characters has led to the belief that weak and vulnerable female characters are badly written characters because apparently every woman needs to be outspoken and witty and snarky and brave in order to be considered “complex” and have any value in a piece of media!!

[ered]

Here’s my take on the whole audio books vs. reading:

Oral tradition of storytelling predates written ones by millennias, and honestly, which one you like is just a personal preference.

The actual difference is

when listening, you have no idea how to write characters’ names

when reading, you have no idea how to pronounce characters’ names

hope this helps!

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

[ryan-sometimes]

It’s wild to me to see transvestigator conspiracy theories online that could be so easily explained by natural human variation. That woman has a deep voice? Yeah, sometimes they do. A woman has broad shoulders?? Maybe she plays rugby or hits the gym a fuckton. There’s a “bulge” in her tight pants?? Maybe her vulva is just fat. All the “markers” of trans woman that transvestigators use to harass any woman aren’t even things unique to trans women.

[eosofspades]

i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

[daftmooncretin]

spock’s room decor is actually fucking bonkers. The weapons??? the big red velvet curtain??? like ok phantom of the opera go crazy.

for reference jim’s room has some photos and a plant so we can surmise this is uniquely a spock being a dramatic weirdo thing

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."