#‘wooo !!!! i can do creative things when i get home!!!!’

[onepieceshifters]

strawhats playing minecraft

hey remy here

i was in the mood for some silly strawhat hcs so here you go!!

luffy

- he loves loves loves playing minecraft!! he was probably the one who begged franky to make the server for them. he most likely saw usopp playing it and wanted the whole crew to be in on it.

- his favorite thing to do is run around doing various things with his friends whether it's exploring, building, killing mobs, or whatever sounds fun! he also demanded they all share a town together where they live.

- he has had franky and usopp build him multiple ships in the game and now hes begging franky to make them in real life too because they’re just that cool.

- robin and usopp also made him a mob farm so that he could run around with zoro and kill monsters whenever he wanted to. 

- he keeps taming and collecting animals and demanding that “THEYRE PART OF THE CREW.” there is now a forbidden chunk that crashes your game whenever you walk onto it because luffy put so many damn animals on it. it is downright concerning.

- he had franky create a food mod just so sanji could cook him all of his favorite meals within the game. everytime he wants something new he literally just asks franky to add it.

- he’s in debt to nami, in real life and in the game. he owes her so many emeralds and diamonds and gold blocks. everytime he sees her gamertag appear he downright books it away as fast as possible.

- also, he loves exploding stuff, but franky has a STRICT rule that he can only do that on their creative server.

- he exploded something he wasn’t supposed to.

- (he really likes the explosions)

zoro

- technically he has a home in town with the rest of the crew, but its been months since he’s seen it.

- literally.

- zoro doesn’t play minecraft a lot but when he does it’s only because luffy asked him to get online. seriously, if he sees luffy isn’t on the server, he doesn’t see the point in playing.

- he has a very nomadic playing style, but not on purpose. every time he makes a small hut, usually in the side of the mountain or in the ground, he loses it. so he ends up making another one.

- sanji used to prank him by covering his huts in dirt so zoro wouldn’t be able to find them but he quickly realized zoro would get lost even WITHOUT interference.

- he used to try and return to town whenever he got lost, but nami would demand payment for directions home, and none of the other strawhats wanted to be put on zoro retrieval duty. so now he’s 100k blocks away on a whole different continent creating a new civilization, apparently.

- when he does find other people, it’s always luffy he plays with! luffy likes to explore with him and hunt down mobs, and they fight a lot of bosses together like the ender dragon and the wither. they’re always asking robin to respawn the bosses just so they can go against it for multiple rounds.

- overall, his biggest complaint about the game is: he cant use 3 swords at a time. 

- (and he’s in debt to nami)

nami

- as you may have noticed everyone is in debt to her.

- she acts like the banker from monopoly. she has, literally, so much gold and diamonds and emeralds and lapis and redstone and basically anything you can mine in game, she has it.

- she doesn’t actually mine, she has the boys do it for her. and then she collects the spoils and tells them their payment for labor is the joy of teamwork. wooo

- her house is a massive mansion that sanji and usopp built for her. its literally one of the biggest builds in game. it takes up like 15 chunks- and thats not even considering the height???

- her proudest creation is probably her ongoing map room, she loves mapping out the world. 

- like seriously her map is impressive. she has to keep expanding this massive underground chamber just to make room for the whole thing. but she loves it so much!!

- she will help out everyone else occasionally because for some reason she has a lot of building materials laying around!! also will give out armor and weapons if you ask very VERY politely and promise her your freedom for the next seven years, or something like that.

- also pls pls pls protect her from mobs bc if she sees a creeper outside her mansion she'll literally scream.

- endermen are her worst nightmare and if one makes its way into her house she literally has a panic room thats 2 blocks tall with water in the ground.

- usopp and chopper have also visited this panic room.

- she lets robin hang out at her house and they share resources :) which is likely why nami has so much random supplies!

usopp

- he loves hanging out with franky and building with him so so so much. him and franky work together to build all of luffy's requests along with anything else the crew could want in the world!

- he taught brook how to do noteblock redstone so the musician could make as much music as he wanted!

- (also taught brook how a computer works)

- (“no, no, use your keyboard- it has the letters on it- there you go! now WASD makes you move…”)

- usopp loves to brag to chopper about how many times he’s beaten the ender dragon and fought the wither.

- truth is, he’s never beaten the ender dragon OR the wither in survival mode, but chopper doesn’t need to know that!

- when they play mini games he’s always the one staying behind and fighting enemies with a bow instead of attacking with a sword. he’s gotten weirdly good at sniping in bed wars.

- he’s actually made skins for all of the crew members, he’s good at pixel art and likes designing whatever skins they want!! his own skin is sogeking and sometimes during online minigames he takes on the persona and starts bragging to opponents-

- he was actually the first one to play minecraft and got the rest of the crew into it.

- probably unironically listens to the minecraft parodies with chopper and knows every lyric and thinks that they are modern poetry.

- he’s also decent with redstone!! franky’s like, way better than him, but he’s better than the average player.

- other than that he basically acts like a 12 year old fascinated with video games. he owns one of those foam diamond swords in real life. he reads the books as if they were holy texts. he probably has one of those zip up creeper hoodies.

sanji

- he kept trying to prank zoro when they first started playing, but zoro wasn’t that fun to prank, so he got bored and started seeing what else he could do instead of devoting all his time to ruining zoro’s life.

- overall he isn’t much of a video game type man but he didn’t want to feel left out when the rest of the crew was playing so he gets on if someone else is. 

- he’s gotten roped in to helping nami and robin so much that its basically all he does on the game at this point. when hes not getting banned from public servers for profanity or helping luffy collect supplies for enough food to survive a famine, hes likely in some hole digging ores for nami or killing mobs for their loot for robin.

- also!! he’s basically the food supplier of the whole crew. no matter where you are on the map, he will literally manifest beside you with a stack of steak, throw it at you, and then disappear. no one knows how he finds you or how he knows when you run out of food. he’s basically a cryptid.

- he’s banned from most minigame servers because he kept getting mad when he lost and swearing at his opponents.

- his skin is most likely an eboy. whether its one of the 2012 minecraft “cool boy” skins or a modern minecraft eboy.

- he’s gotten cat fished

- so

- many

- times

chopper

- chopper’s fascinated by minecraft! he loves playing and he’s so amazed by everything he sees. he likes to go online and look at really cool minecraft builds and daydream about being able to do that himself.

- he likes to randomly shadow members of the crew and be utterly fascinated by everything they do. franky’s massive builds, nami’s map, zoro’s fighting, brook’s music, luffy’s animal collection. he thinks its all so cool (even though he could do without the mass culling of animals)

- his skin is probably steve or alex until usopp literally begs chopper to let him make one. after that, choppers skin has to be really badass or awesome. something like a really buff superhero. it looks kind of stupid, but chopper LOVES it

- chopper likes having pets in the game but not to luffy's level of excitement. he has a few dogs and cats that are all individually named and they stay in his house most of the time except for when he decides to have a dog follow him!!

- speaking of, his house is probably a small cabin or something. aka… a box made out of wood planks. he also really likes planting flowers and basically has his own version of stampy’s love garden.

- he really likes playing on servers but he gets griefed / pranked a lot, which then the entire crew gets to gang up and raise hell, which is always fun. 

- basically he’s a little gullible but NO ONE will take advantage of that.

- hes a big sweetheart basically.

robin

- she doesn’t play a lot but if she does it’s to indulge the boys

- for some reason she always has a bunch of mob loot on her???? bones, rotten flesh, gun powder, ender pearls, wither skulls-

- it’s probably all the mob farms she’s built for luffy

- she’s the one who has a bunch of weird minecraft theories and probably - came up with the ‘abandoned civilization’ theory first. she likes to terrorize usopp and chopper with conspiracies about the villagers and laughs ominously whenever they come across a village.

- she really likes endermen and probably suggested the panic room idea for namis house when nami expressed her utter terror.

- franky has made a lot of builds for robin. like… so so many

- unfortunately she drew the line at a massive pixel art of her face, but hey, you can’t say he didn’t try!

- her favorite randomly generated structure is the stronghold that you find the end portal in. she loves exploring it and wishes she could find something similar in real life, the books, the treasure, the menacing portal that leads to the end dimension… thats like her whole aesthetic

- also wanted to make a base in the nether but was unfortunately stopped </3

- instead she builds in caves and probably made her own dungeon

- forgot about the game after 3 months, when usopp brought it up again she laughed and thats the last time she ever thought about it

franky

- why. is he. so good. at minecraft

- he’s the one who runs the server because he’s the only one who could understand the process easily.

- probably has a whole separate computer JUST for the server

- that he put together himself. he built that computer

- (its kind of funny to see his tiny hands on the keyboard and mouse, with him hunched over to see the monitor)

- (actually, scratch that, he’d have a massive wall monitor-)

- usopp told him about the game and he caught on so fast. he makes massive builds, and is a freak when it comes to redstone. he’s also an expert at modding and would literally make any mods or addons the crew asked for in like. 3 seconds flat

- mumbo jumbo would tremble at the redstone skill this man possesses. he could create a supercomputer within minecraft without even batting an eye. 

- the computer he plays on is unnecessarily massive, runs faster than you can imagine, and he refers to it only as “The Minecraft Computer”

- usopp has created a monster

- he’s infamous within the minecraft community. people spread rumors that hes the real creator of the game. famous players dream of him and weep. notch himself has become aware of the existence of super franky

- becomes an urban legend

- when he stops playing, new players refuse to even believe such a minecraft god existed

- alas, he has become a permanent aspect of minecraft lore

- kind of like herobrine?!

brook

- brook barely knows how a computer even works

- usopp and franky had to teach him how to game and he literally said, and i quote, “back in my day-”

- it took him a while to catch on but he got it eventually! after usopp taught him how noteblocks work and that he could make music, he is fr bangin out the tunes

- any request you could possibly have? he can recreate the song on noteblocks easily. he can’t quite build, he doesn’t understand mining, mobs perplex him to no end. but noteblocks? for some reason thats his area of expertise.

- usopp started posting his minecraft covers on youtube and they’re famous now. 

- he kins the skeleton from minecraft

- once he discovered music discs in game he freaked, that was a massive break through for him

- its basically an unspoken server requirement that you must have music playing in your house 24/7 now because brook is a WHORE for the minecraft soundtrack

bonus: ace

- arsonist.

- sets everything on fire.

- loves to watch the world BURN.

- he’s been IP banned from the strawhats server so many times but he keeps finding his way around the ban

- please god have mercy i’m begging y

- *maniacal cackling as he terrorizes the strawhats*

- 🐀

[peppersonironi]

Duke Thomas VS The "Good Child" Stereotype Chapter Three

Wooo! Chapter Two (not including the prologue) is up now for my @dukethomasbigbang fic! Today's art is by @a-sketchy-character and you can find the glorious piece HERE

thx again to my betas @queerbutstillhere & @theycallme-ook

Today has a special thanks to @batgirls-appreciation who dropped out as a beta, but this chapter couldn't exist without her!

Summary:

Duke pursed his lips, not quite sure why Cass had come down to the basement, only to look into his soul, shrug, and leave. But that didn’t matter right now. As Bruce would say, “The mission comes first.”

Read on Ao3

Duke frowned down at his empty pad of paper, trying to brainstorm. It had been a mere twelve hours since the failed Rick Roll (though, the Rick Roll itself wasn’t a fail. Duke would be daydreaming about the chaos for years to come), and the day shift bat was itching for a way to make up for it.

Alas, the creative juices were not flowing that day. Duke had tried everything - taking a walk, training, meditation, writer’s sprint, and even resorting to watching prank compilations on YouTube. But nothing worked. So, he found himself watching the target Bat - Bruce - in his “natural habitat.”

Also known as the living room, mid lecture.

“But I don’t know what I did!” Tim pleaded desperately, trying to convey to Bruce his confusion.

Bruce shook his head. “No, you do, Tim. Dick told me you all will appeal to my affection to get out of the consequences for your actions -” wow, Duke remembered Dick using that exact tactic just yesterday, and it worked - “So I will not allow you to shirk the punishment.”

Tim groaned. “This is tyranny! I’m an emancipated minor, I don’t need to deal with this.”

“Actually, yes you do. You will be doing chores for Alfred for the next two weeks, and you aren’t allowed to run off to Mount Justice.”

“Then at least tell me what I did wrong!” Tim cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Bruce rubbed his temples, then glanced briefly at Duke.

“You know what you did, and how it affected those around you. And you’re grounded because of it. No room for arguments. Now go work on the sprinklers, Alfred has mentioned they’ve been finicky.”

Tim scoffed and stalked out, soon after followed by Bruce.

Duke considered relocating as well - he couldn’t very well observe Bruce if said wild furry wasn’t present. But something about that conversation that sent a light shiver up Duke’s spine, some small spark of inspiration.

An idea began to form in his mind, and Duke smiled slowly.

*****

“For all Bruce’s waxing poetic on the merits of high tech stuff, this pipe organization is seriously ancient,” Duke muttered under his breath as he glanced from the blueprints he had secured to the mess of pipes and spigots and nozzles in front of him.

Though to be fair, this wasn’t the Batcave. Duke was in the basement of Wayne Manor - yes, he was just as surprised to find they actually had one of those that wasn’t dedicated to the dark and mystique training of Gotham’s Protectors. And impromptu Mario Kart challenges, because as Tim had once told Duke “We all know that’s the real reason Bruce got a giant computer setup.”

Duke cursed softly under his breath when he dropped a wrench that began to clang around in the messy cage of metal. He set the blueprints aside atop the gallons of paint he had chosen, and reached around and down to get the wrench. When he came back up, he found himself face to face with his sister Cassandra.

Oh shit, Duke thought, as he tried to figure out how to cover for what he was doing in the plumbing of the Manor.

Cass squinted at him and, not for the first time, Duke felt like he was an onion trapped beneath her gaze, slowly being peeled back layer by layer till the young woman before him knew every little detail about him. Every thought or plan he ever had.

Duke began to sweat, unable to keep his panic under wraps. Cass was scarier than Bruce, that was just a fact.

Cass tilted her head a fraction of an inch, and Duke thought he was a dead man. But, much to his relief and confusion, Cass shrugged and turned. She walked lightheartedly out of the basement and to the stairs, whistling tunelessly as she went.

Duke pursed his lips, not quite sure why Cass had come down to the basement, only to look into his soul, shrug, and leave.

But that didn’t matter right now. As Bruce would say, “The mission comes first.”

*****

As all members of the Wayne family knew, the Library was one of the best places, period. Aside from the living room which was always a mess of pillows, bean bags, inflatable dinosaurs, spare semi-automatic weaponry and knives, the Library was the most personal room in the expansive home that was the Manor. Sure, it was cleaner and home to fewer surprise nerf gun fights, but It still had an air of warmth about it. It was the place that they would go to to rest after a difficult patrol. Where you could find Jason reading some book in a corner, Tim busy with WE work at the large table, Damian trying to teach Alfred the Cat and Titus to read picture books, Cass and Steph trying to be subtle about making out (though to be fair that was only half the time, other times Cass was working on reading with Steph helpfully giving her guidance). Dick would always be trying to decide what to read and but he would never actually succeed, Bruce would sit in his tall armchair in the corner overlooking every small detail of his children with a not-quick-smile-but-pretty-darn-close on his face.

Duke himself also had his own spot that he would work on writing poetry, or just surf Tumblr. It was a window seat at the far side of the library which was technically big enough for three people, but Duke had a strict policy that it was his and his alone and no he totally wasn’t bullied by Cass that one time to snuggle. Why on Earth would you ever consider such a thing?

It was in this spot now that Duke was situated, though he was not alone. Titus - yes, Damian’s dog - was draped across his lap. Now, Duke didn’t mean to steal his little brother’s pets, but it just happened. Titus was in need of snuggles or belly rubs when Damian was away with Jon or on patrol at night, and Duke just happened to be the only one that said canine could bully into granting him.

Thankfully, like all bats were, Duke was a multi-tasker. He wasn’t put off by having to scratch a dog behind the ears whilst simultaneously checking the twelve blinking dots on his laptop screen that represented his family members.

Duke stared intensely at the diagram of the Manor as all the dots slowed down and finally stayed in their predetermined positions. Huh, Tim was right. Stalking family members did pay off!

The dots suddenly stopped blinking, and Duke snapped out of his self congratulations. It was go time . He switched windows, then quickly pulled out his phone and pressed a button.

There were several screams that echoed throughout the ancient halls, those screams spoke of terror and surprise, and passed along the message that something was very, very wrong in the world. The status quo had been broken, and there was no returning from this.

Duke smirked down at his computer, where a dozen different squares displayed camera footage of the real time happenings of the Manor. Said footage was showing several members of Duke’s family drenched in paint. The same paint that Duke had meticulously divided and poured into the ceiling sprinkling system that the Manor had for some totally-not-plot-related reason. The same paint which had been primed and ready to be sprayed out of the spigots coating each bat with the perfectly calculated, even layer.

The paint had just finished being deployed, and yet several people were for some reason trying to fight it off like it was an attacker. Duke noticed that the swinging of bo staffs, AK-47’s and katanas were altogether unsuccessful. Honestly, the people who were standing completely still in shock, or who were trying to shake off the paint were having much better luck.

But then everyone finally realised that they weren’t being sprayed anymore, and a collective sigh spread out across the Manor. The onslaught was done, and they could finally gather together and grab the pitchforks to hunt down the responsible party.

It was then that the glitter was deployed.

The chaos immediately multiplied tenfold, and the screams sounded up again. The air was filled with the sparkly dust that was way too thin to swat away. (No, Duke totally didn’t spend extra time researching to find the world’s finest glitter)

Duke was outright laughing at this point, so hard that he almost fell off the window seat. Titus barked suddenly, and Duke sobered enough to get back upright and watch the finishing up of the chaos. He had to admit, this felt wonderful. If he had to describe his current state of thrill in two words, he would have admitted that he felt altogether too close to the Hellmo Meme.

Unfortunately, Duke was not Stephanie, and ran out of glitter eventually. The vents stopped blasting the film of fairy dust, and the bats were given a reprieve.

Though the break was short lived, as just then, Bruce’s loud bellow sounded throughout the giant house.

“ALL OF YOU GET IN HERE!”

Duke chuckled as he scooched Titus over and set his laptop to the side so he could get up. This was all working perfectly! He’d arrive at Bruce's interrogation completely free from all paint or glitter, which would immediately prove his guilt. And if that didn’t work, then he supposed he could outright confess. But that wasn’t the point of this. The point was for Bruce to come to the conclusion on his own.

He walked down the hall, completely carefree. So happy and confident in his own abilities that he never even noticed that Cassandra’s paint or glitter didn’t go off. That she wasn’t even present where the tracker he had subtly placed on her earlier that day said she was.

*****

Duke hummed to himself as he skipped along the carpet, past the antique vases and random finger paintings, past the drawing rooms and bathrooms, and towards Bruce. All was quiet.

Though that began to trouble Duke, as he got closer to one of the rooms which was very special. It was where Cass had been situated, playing with Selina’s cat Isis, for the past hour. Now, Cassandra was quiet, sure. But not that quiet. And besides, wouldn’t the cat be screeching right about now? Cass didn’t seem like the person to give a nerve hit to an animal just because it was being loud ( cough Jason cough ).

He slowly entered the room and looked around, but was surprised to find it completely empty. Not just of girl and cat, but of paint and glitter too.

“You were mistaken.”

Duke whirled around to find Cass sitting in an armchair, wrapped in shadows, and stroking Isis in a manner not altogether different from that of an Evil Mastermind™.

“Uh…” Duke replied, “about what?”

Cass smirked, and Duke felt a shiver run up his spine. “Actions have consequences. ”

Duke frowned. Wait, what? He glanced around again, trying to figure out what Cass meant. On a surface level he understood, but there was something about the way Cass was eyeing him that told him something else was up.

The only thing he could find that was out of the ordinary, however, was the camera he had placed just yesterday. Huh, now that he thought about it, he was at just the right angle to see it. Which meant he was in direct view of the camera itself. Pretty darn to close to where he had been planning Cass would stand, actually.

Then a faint spitting noise came from above him.

Oh.

*****

Duke trudged forlornly into the room where the rest of the bats - except Cassandra, who had disappeared after the glitter had deployed onto Duke - had gathered. He was one of the last to arrive, muttering curses under his breath, so all eyes were on him as he opened the door and joined them.

Though that also meant that Duke could see them. He had to admit, that as disappointed as he was, it was still hard to keep a grin from spreading across his face. Boy, he had done a great job with color coordination, hadn’t he?

Bruce was front and center, covered in a dark gray paint which had the sheen of yellow glitter. Dick had black paint completely covering him (much more than Duke planned. Did Dick roll in the stuff?) along with blue glitter. Jason had both red paint and glitter on him. Tim had started off with a lighter colored paint - this time red - and then the look was finished by black glitter. Damian looked like a small Christmas tree in his green paint and red glitter. Harper had blue paint then covered in purple glitter, both of which were the exact shades of her hair. Duke wasn’t a monster ; he knew how to match colors.

The cousins - both honorary and actually - had also been present. Bette had been appropriately targeted with a flaming orange and gold combination. Kate had black paint and, instead of red, Duke had picked a rainbow glitter for her. From the slight glint in her eye, Duke supposed he had chosen correctly. Jean-Paul had been doused in yellow paint and red glitter, and he honestly looked like a very large and human shaped version of his sword. Luke was covered in silver paint and an electric blue glitter.

Bruce, however, didn’t give Duke a second glance, covered in yellow paint and black glitter (which had been meant for Cass, but honestly, it fit Duke quite well), though he was.

“Good, now we just have to wait for Steph,” Tim remarked, rolling his eyes.

Duke frowned. “What about Cass? She’s here too.”

Everyone gave Duke a weird look. “Uh, no she isn’t. She’s been hanging out with Selina and Babs all weekend.”

“Then your intel is wrong,” Duke countered. “She was just here! I planned on her being here!”

The silence in the room was palpable. Before, where there had been bickering and accusations, the quiet had taken over. Everyone stared at Duke with suspicion in their eyes.

Finally, Duke thought, sighing in relief.

Bruce opened his mouth about to question Duke’s statement when the doors to the room banged open.

“What’s up, Bitches? The Waffle Queen has arrived and looks as fabulous as ever!”

Duke stared, completely amazed that she actually seemed to like the purple on purple combo Duke had picked for her. Oh, yeah, now that he thought about it made perfect sense that Steph was the only one to like this.

“Wow, whoever did this really got my colors right!" Steph continued as she waltzed in and posed in front of everyone, her hip cocked and arm thrown up dramatically.

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, and he began to growl at her. “This is not funny.”

Steph pouted. “What do you mean? I sure think it is!”

Oh boy, she didn’t notice she was digging her own grave, did she? From the looks of the other bats, they shared Duke’s sentiment.

“Stephanie Brown, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Stephanie smirked. “Yup! I look way better than you, you old fur- hey wait! Are you blaming me ?!”

Bruce glared even harder, and Stephanie started to protest, claiming that she was but an innocent victim of these pain-filled proceedings! It was not her fault! Nor was it her fault that she happened to get colors that she liked better than everyone else.

Bruce refused to hear what she said, and told her to go get changed. “You will be cleaning up this whole mess, and no patrolling until it’s done.”

Bruce turned and stalked out, and Steph was left speechless - for once - in the hall. She backed away, seeing the angry stares from the others. The only one who didn’t seem mad at her, was Duke himself. He opened his eyes wide, conveying pity. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed silently.

Instead of being reassuring, however, Steph squinted in suspicion. Oh shit, that probably hadn’t been the best move.

Just moments after Steph left, Jason threw up his hands. “Okay, who wants to have a water gun fight to clean off?”

There were several cheers of assent, but Duke quickly made his own escape at that time. He honestly wasn’t in the mood to get splashed in the face with water. Now was not the time for fun, as the failed prank still hung over him.

Now was the time for plotting.

*****

“Okay, but why on earth do you have a fully functioning sprinkler system in every room?”

“Yeah, Bruce, even for you that’s paranoid! What caused you to think that was necessary?”

“You.”

[lateknightsimmer]

Sims Tag Game

Rules:

Pick a sim of your choice

Tell us about them

Tag someone else (if you want to!)

I was tagged by @lilyshadowwriter to do the Sims Tag Game. Aww, haha, my first little thing I’ve been tagged in since I started paying attention to my Tumblr again. Thanks! You’re a sweetie. I’ll tag @freckled-pixels because I ♥ wuv her. LOL.

I’m choosing my Generation 3 heir from Echoes of Eternity, the current generation I’m writing.

Name: Armand Decimus Hunt

When is your sim’s birthday? Mimicking LilyShadow here, I’m a bad Sim Mom. I have a super nerdy reference sheet of everyone’s ages, from Generation 1 - Generation 3 (both main and supporting characters, yes like I said I’m super nerdy), but I didn’t give them any specific birthdays. I do know that as of the most recent chapter, Armand is 22.

What is your sim’s zodiac sign? *has to go in game to look it up* *pretty sure I just randomized it* *so if Armand’s personality that I wrote has nothing to do with his zodiac sign, that’s fucking why* ----  VIRGO.

Marital Status: Single.

Does your sim have any nicknames? No. I have bad RL experiences with nicknames, so I tend to not nickname my Sims either. Unless it’s like an obvious shortening that’s something like Maximus (my legacy founder), and he gets called Max. But no nicknames like he has a quirk, so he gets a nickname. None of that shit. LOL. Armand’s name is two syllables and calling him “Arm” or “And” just sounds stupid. LOL.

Do they have a job? Armand just graduated from college, and he is still looking for a job.

Where does your sim live? Armand lives in this three story split level house in Twinbrook, Louisiana.

Who does your sim live with? Armand lives with his best friend, Remy, a Louisiana native.

What environment did your sim grow up in? Armand had a neglectful, spiteful mother, and a kind, loving father. They couldn’t have been more polar opposite from each other. Literal environment wise, Armand grew up in Silicon Shores, California.

What is your sim’s favorite food? *goes in game again to look because doesn’t know* *again probably randomized* *shitty Sim Mom, knows it* --- GRILLED SALMON. Armand is damn fancy.

What is your sim’s favorite drink? Alcohol - Armand likes screwdrivers, they’re pretty simple yet delicious. Non-Alcohol - Armand likes 2% milk.

If they have one, what is your sim’s favorite color? *goes in game again* *doesn’t know* *you know the drill now* --- LIME.

Is your sim introverted or extroverted? Introverted.

What is your sims favorite woohoo position? Armand enjoys being on top of the girl he’s woohoo-ing with so he can see her reactions. He wants his partner to have ultimate pleasure, and the girl’s face often reflects whether the pleasure is there or not.

Is your sim a pet person? No. Armand is often lost in thought in his head, he’s self-aware, but he has a lot of things to think about. He doesn’t really want to put his mind in a place where he might accidently neglect a pet just because he’s spacing off about something.

Does your sim have a best friend? Yes, Armand’s best friend is also his roommate, Remy.

What is / was your sim’s favorite school subject? Art class, anything that has to do with painting, drawing, or sketching.

Are they planning to go or have they already been to college? Armand just graduated from college. He’s been done for about a month.

Does your sim have a favorite TV show? Armand likes Penn & Teller’s Fool Us. It’s a magic show where Penn & Teller try to guess how a magician does his trick. They also give magicians whose tricks they cannot guess a chance to perform at their venue in Las Vegas. This is Armand’s favorite show because it reminds him of his father (a magician), whom he loves and adores dearly.

Does your sim like books? Armand has mixed feelings about books. On one hand, they remind him of his terrible mother, but it’s not like he won’t touch the things. The memories suck, but he did read his textbooks when he needed to for college. However, he wouldn’t turn to books for fun.

What is your sim’s personal style? Armand has a bit of a rock star style, he has some shirts that are ripped in just the right places, and he’s not afraid to wear something that looks a little messy. Armand’s family has a dark hot pink hair gene, started from his great-grandfather, Alexander Hunt, which makes Armand not shy away from bright colors in his outfits.

Is your sim religious? Not really. Patrick (Armand’s father) raised Armand with good values, but they weren’t tied to religious ideals. Although some of them might have similar ideals, like treat others with kindness and respect, it wasn’t religion that was the driving force behind it.

What kind of music does your sim listen to? Armand likes when he plays the guitar, although he hasn’t written anything himself, he does like what he plays. He also likes pop music, like the song Ghost by Ella Henderson.

What is your sim’s favorite type of weather? Armand likes California weather, sunshine, a light breeze, 70s for the high, 40s for the low. He doesn’t like a lot of humidity, he’s finding out as he lives in Louisiana for now. LOL.

Does your sim have a dream job? Armand would love to paint and be a famous artist, selling his art to high end galleries. He just wants to let his creativity out and be paid for it. LOL.

Does your sim have any siblings? No. Armand’s parents didn’t get along very well after he was born, so they never came together long enough to make or want to make any siblings for their son.

Does your sim get along with their family? Yes and no. Armand’s always gotten along with his father, grandfather, and grandmother. He never got along with his mother, who is now deceased. He does get along with his new step-mother.

What is your sims favorite hobby? Armand loves to sing and play his guitar.

What does your sim look for in a romantic partner? For now, Armand has just been playing the field, he’s slept with a few women without searching too hard for romance. All he knows is he doesn’t want anyone who remotely resembles his crazy dead mother. 

What is a flaw your sim has? Armand has a traumatic past so he has a bad habit of getting into cycles where his brain makes him think he hates himself and that he’s worthless. He knows at this point that none of that is true, and he’s working on it.

Does your sim have a greatest achievement? Armand is still young and he has his whole life ahead of him, but he would probably say his greatest achievement for now, is that he was able to overcome the bad memories that he associated with his childhood home. He recently visited his parents’ home for Thanksgiving break and he was able to feel happy while being in that house, which is something he’d never been able to do until now.

If they have one, what is your sim’s greatest regret? Armand’s mom died young, and their relationship had always been super shitty. His regret is that he couldn’t patch things up with her (if that was even possible) while she was alive.

Wooo! Thanks for tagging me! ♥ This was great fun.

[pascalpanic]

WOOO HOOO congrats on your follower milestone!! THAT'S SO DOPE <3 and you deserve it!! you're wonderful and your content is wonderful and I'm so happy for you <3

if possible, I was hoping for a ship request?? physically, I'm 5'7", and I have brown hair and really dark brown eyes. I also wear a lot of darker colors, like black, grey, and blue, just because I like how it looks and it makes pairing clothes pretty easy.

personality wise, I'm an isfp and a taurus (if you take astrology into consideration, I just do it because it's ✨ fun ✨). my hobbies are mainly just creative things that I can do to express myself, so I really enjoy writing and acting for those reasons. in addition to this, I LOVE listening to music from my favorite artists, but I'll honestly listen to anything as long as it sounds good and I like the lyrics. I also love enjoy watching good shows and movies in my free time. I like eating good food but I don't like cooking it very much, so that's a bit of a problem. I was born in the midwest and as a result, I've always wanted to get out of my home state and travel around the world, and I really hope I'll be able to do that soon. one last random thing - I'm a big animal person and throughout the pandemic, my dog has literally been my best friend.

I've been told that i'm sort of intimidating when people first meet me. even though I find that hard to believe, I think it's because I'm a pretty passionate person, especially when it comes to social issues that I really care about, and I'm very vocal when it comes to these things. I know that I have scared some people off because I'm very opinionated and I can have a hard time biting my tongue in certain situations. however, after someone has known me for a little bit, they'll realize that I'm a very sweet and affectionate person.

I'm currently a student who is working towards a computer science degree, and though I like this career path, I don't think it will be what I'm going to end up doing for the rest of my life. for example, I've been considering getting a law degree and what sort of impact that could make on my life. in a perfect world, I'd be able to make a stable career out of my writing while simultaneously doing the things I love but unfortunately, that's not an option right now. maybe someday, though.

anyway this turned out REALLY long I'm sorry about that 😭 thank you for doing this hun I really appreciate it

you’re literally me okay thanks wow...

I would ship you with Javier Peña!

Your intimidating appearance is what draws Javi in to you. He loves a little chase, a little mystery, and he admires that about you. He’s a stubborn man, so the two of you may be prone to little fights here and there, but overall he loves how passionate and strong-headed you are. Javier could never be with some delicate little thing who isn’t willing to stand up.

Javi doesn’t really have a music taste either; he just likes random stuff that he finds as long as it sounds good, so he appreciates that about you. He loves your hobbies and thinks the whole self-expression thing is really dope. He doesn’t do it, but he supports it. He’s always down to cook for you (he’s surprisingly good at it) or just order some takeout so neither of you have to bother cooking.

Your dog is Javier’s second favorite being on earth after you. He loves a good pup and gives them all of the love and scratches and belly rubs. He snuggles with them at night, but he loves to play with them when they’re at their most energetic in the day. He’s good at the rough play dogs love, but it’s never anything too harsh. He isn’t a big traveler, being that he’s always traveling for work and is never home, but you’ll certainly get the chance to get out of the country with him!

it’s a party! come submit a request UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT, CST, and I’ll ship you with a Pedro character!

[ne-fe-li-bata]

Aye yo CORPSE!  ...

Dead ass;

You can't convince me that Corspe was/is/does ; 

in no particular order..

• Deserve to be held ( I would smother him with my chest and hold him tighter than he has ever been held) & protected from this world

• Pyro! Mans loves🔥🔥🔥 - mostly his fav elemental  (Leo is a fire sign); “WOOO... now that’s a fire!”

•  Loves knives/weapons- has a collection (quite a nifty 1, ay thank-a-you) & even knows how to use butterfly knives/ tackle combat.

      Has a collection of weapons (brass knuckle, daggers, swords, knives,etc.)

•  Highly interested in combat/training. Most likely has training in some sort of combat. Loves any form of physical combat < UFC,MMA, Boxing, any type of martial arts>

•  Absolute proper gentlemen / clearly has the utmost charm/cunning

      I.e holds the door open & will slap yo ass on the way in, moves you away from street side when walking, pulls chairs, defends your honor, etc.

• Takes A . L . O . T  to truly capture his attention- but once you have it ..%100

•  With his person; protective/obsessives/ possessive/ sensual/ affectionate .

              < mine is mine. me no share -like absolutely not at all>

             “ You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down for ya“

• RP'er on DeviantArt/chats had his own OC. (also prob had his fav person to RP with) 

         <prob even talked to them in MSN or private chat>

•  Watched mostly nothing by anime/cartoons (nick/CN) as a kid & also mostly watched certain shows/movies as a kid well into his teens

         (could recite quotes/scenes as second nature)

•  Not a major musical theatre type of kid. But musical movies/shows was 1 of his favs- but still highly interested/ in love with theatre/musicals/preforming arts none the less.

-EYES DON’T LIE

•’staring problem’ he’d just stare at you -deep in his head (both good & bad) you’d have to bring him back to you ..”babe- eh, come *snap*back to me. What’s on your mind my love?’

•  Genuinely a really warm person- but only to certain people, but comes across cold & distance 

•  Grew up in the internet & knows the way around the 'business' & 'faceless' YouTubers/celebrities

•  His teens/ late adolescents consisted & grew up on YouTube O.G videos/ video game commentary/content;

  Cry.. <Cry was a huge part of my life & still hold a special place in my heart. Corspe just like I was most likely devastated with the shit that went down> 

Jack

Nova

Sp00n

Jontron

Smosh

Nigahiga

Shane

Jenna

Hanna Hart

Phil/Dan

KevJumba

Ray William Johnson

Pewds

Machinima

EMT

ERB

Wassabi Prod.

VlogBros, 

-etc

• Has an oral fixating (lovebites indefinitely <like dead ass ya’ll be chillan/ out & he’d attack you> & just needs something in his mouth always)

• Fidgety af, always need to be playing with something in his hands/playing with 

•  Is a goddamn absolute certified freak--but also super soft bean boi. (can't stress how this boi needs& deserves to be protected)

• Constant hand/arm touching/stroking for comfort.

• Daddy{papi} / Mommy(mamá) . Master . Sir  kink - hard control kinks- but highly sub. 

hard(er) kinks

• Lovebites = M I N E 

obvs fishnets/ crossbody straps/ lingerie

lace

collars/ restraints 

toys

     •RP

degrading/praising

sub/dom switch

showing/proving your actually/completely & utterly his/ he’s completely & utterly yours..

& of course you know it's go time when 1 - if not both of you has kitty ears on. 

over stim 

*no touchy/ don’t let me go*

“look at what I’ve done to you”

“you kno only I can do this to you”

“look how greedy you are for me”

“look at the mess you’ve made because of me’ 

“cum on my face”/’cum for me”

“who do you belong to” / “you belong to me & only me”

100% all black clothing 🖤

*that once we get home / I swear I’ll deal with you right here, right now* look 

primal play  “when you run from me, it only makes me want you more” “you know imma find you kitten”

pet names (beast< i feel like you call this man “ (a) beast”-he about to lose his absolute fucking mind> , “oh Corpse/______, you absolute fuckin’ beast- my God” kitten, babyboy/girl, baby(e), bae, my love, lover boy, my darling, slut, needy little bitch, cum slut, lil’ whore, master/mistress, king/queen”

“only yours” “just ______” “ no-one but _____” “only____” “only you” 

‘I’ll keep you so no one can find you or bother us’

“that’s my girl” / “that's my boy”

“would you like to/ I saw----”

“look at me” “don’t look away from me”

GROWLING / talking through clenched jaw

not breaking eye contact 

     • his name & ‘Corspe’ being cried out 

“cry out my name for me baby. know who you belong to”

video/sexing/teasing 

breeding kink

voyeurism

abrasions

aftercare af 

impact play 

24/7

edging 

accidental stim; “holy fuck- I’m so turned on by you rn”

rope bondage 

begging 

worships 

•  But also soft kinks; 

MEME SENDING

head on lap/chest

naps

playing with hair 

matching outfits

voice messages 

always touching (somehow)

no space between bodies

picture taking together/ just of you

body rubs, head rubs

massages

competition 

play fighting

“this reminded me of you”

“I remember you said” “I know you...”

“you know I love you”

“I can tell by your eyes”

“ugh- I swear to shit imma marry you 1 day”

“nothing really made sense until you”

“do you wanna watch”/ “WAIT!? YOU HAVEN’T SEEN?!”

“damn- you really do love/like me, eh?”/ “you are SO fucking mine”

“that’s my girl”/ “that's my boy”

pet names/ “MY_______” “YOURS”

long stares

dates- stay at home dates are his fav, as your attention/focus is just on him 

choker/necklace/ jewelry (that 1 of you bought- NOT LIKE HIGH PRICE TAG, but like seen it & was like ‘omg ____ would so wear...’) 

cuddles with movies /anime watching time

just being in the same room/on call- even in silence 

* emojis*- just some sort of communication 

inside jokes/ puns/dark humor

seeing 1 another with kids

future kink (family, travel, etc)

playing video games 

dancing/ singing with 1 another

Sitting on the ground, wrapped around his leg when he streams/edits

Nerf gun fights 

Watching him record (tracks/editing/streaming)

•  Loves- loves surprises <like dead ass would set up a surprise date/ do a scavenger hunt for you/ surprise you with your fav thing>

•  Loyalty is everything & his best attribute (& pride) 

• The music that he make is from the soul/heart. He pit everything has has/what he has left into his art

•  No one has seen the real him - a side he truly hides

•  He's both book & street smart

           Taught himself through YouTube/Reedit/online 

•  Fav actors; Jim Carrey/Robbin Williams/Will Smith (?)

•  Man’s straight up dangerous. we only know like a  quarter of him & people fall at his feet. ( h e . i s . n o t . t o . b e. F U C K E D . w i t h) 

•  Hates silence 

         ( constantly needs background noise)  <also can't fight me on this babyboi cuddles pillows/blankets for night-night time>

•  People don't understand the pain he is in every day, unless they have fibromyalgia/GERD/high functioning (sever social)anxiety/depression/ agoraphobia 

(my mom suffers with fibro/depression <I myself have GERD/ sever social amenity/depression>& I wouldn't wish those illness on my worse enemy...)

• Over all pain has changed him

• Has dealt with self harm since a young age- most likely 9- 11 yrs old. (as someone else who’s suffered with SH for years- when you become so numb it 1 of the only ways to feel some sort of anything/makes you feel like you’re alive)

• Addiction (drugs/people/things)

•  Wrote & read a lot of fanfiction

        (most likely his main source of reading in pre/teenage years)

• Is a hopeless romantic but has his guard way up

•  Obsessed with Japan / Studio Ghibli

• Doesn't think he deserves any of the recognition/ fame he's gotten--but definitely deserves it all as he's creative & inspirational as fuck. Also he’s worked so hard for it & had put himself through so much

    Contrary is highly appreciative of those that are supporting

• Doesn't do it for the fame but for the fact he know how he's gotten people through hard time (just like those on the internet got him through)

• Was a scene boy that vibe’d of myspace/ listens to a lot of  ‘scene’ pop-punk, emo/ scene band shit (band?)

•  Also is/was a major tumblr boy

•  Would be a phenomenal father

•   His love language: physical touch & words of affirmation 

• He would flinch at touch movement but would melt in your hands

• Face caresses would trigger anxiety/ tears.. but once he’s calmed/comfortable would burry his face in your touch. neck & chest

•  Still caught up in daydreams

•  A part of him is still never satisfied even if it’s exactly to the pin point detail of what he wanted  

•  Has at least 40/50(ish) songs he hasn't released

•  Mommy & daddy issues (not saying his home life was really- really  fucked - but non the less- it certainly wasn't the best).. Also wants to protect/provide for his family (especially his sister) & was prob closer to a grandparent/aunt/uncle)

•  Definitely prefers to be by himself, as every time people come around, it's like;‘"this is why I'm okay (ish)with being alone" 

• lost an important person to him due to O.D/ suicided..

•  Also most likely to of heard his "friends" shit talking 'Corpse' or something correlated with him

•  His pride is his biggest sin (next to lust)

•  Has single-handedly defined a huge part of 2020 ( in the best way)

•  Went through a fighting stage where he was ready to fuck anyone up on a drop of a dime (middle/'high school'/street fights- possibly even under ground)

          but also a stage where he cut absolutely everyone off for a solid couple years

•  Most likely obsessed with 1 of 3 creatures; lion, dragon, wolf ( 5ish- possibly bear/fox)

•  Dinosaur obsessed 

• Internet & video games raised him

• He raised himself

Quick to adapt to surroundings/situations.

•  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was his shit ( I CAN SO SEE YOUNG BABYBOI RUNNIN AROUND THE HOUSE IN A POWER RANGER SUIT) "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME MOTHER FUCKER"

              fav ranger- green 

•  Has up until next year planned out & is working on the next 'version of corpse' ( PR, vids, music, etc)

•  Also med/high key this man was most likely in a physcward (more than once) ..

•  This man deserves more than he'll ever give himself recognition for & knows in the back of his mind--people will hate just to hate

•  Rose is his fav flower  🌹

•⛈️🌧️. >🌞.  Loves storms/ rain & prefers them over sunny days

•  Loves the moon/stars/space (?) < observatorium dates = fuckin mint>

• Pixar/Disney lover

        <still believes- deep down in happy ever after ... but thorough an twisted yet not so twisted- simple(??), dedicated process(?)>

•  Fav Pixar movie.. either Wall.E or Toy Story 

    •  Pixar > Disney

         •  But fav Disney movie- Beauty & the Beast (?)

• Most likely had a Jackass obsession's (doing dumb hoodshit)

•  Fall is his fav season (?)

•  Horror/ thriller movies/shows over everything (obvs)

•   Had an escape place in town where he’d hide from the world- that absolutely no one knew about. 

•  Was really into graffiti/ street art 

•  Arested as a youth - but charges dropped- or was still considered a mirror (either fighting/ possession/ trespassing/ vandalisms)

• Arrested on heavier charges (also same as above - but not tried as an minor)

•  also-ALSO ... thou he feels like he owes people something. HE DOESN’T OWE ANYTHING TO A N Y O N E . His mental & well being is the most important.

•  On a side & major note. You can't deny that this man single handily is a (in my opinion) the 2nd biggest “C” that define 2020.

•  Was most likely really into skateboarding/BMX

• Late night drives/impulsive road trips & playlist/ sitting at lookouts, just in silence & touching 1 another. 

• Clingy af-.. but could also be distance & cold af- especially on high pain days. stormy brain days. PTSD episodes.

• Slow dancing/ dancing around the apartments. with or without music.

• Rocking out with each other- screaming lyrics in each other face.

• “hey baby- how you feelin” 

         *grunting* *shuffles over & lays on chest* 

• Huge comforts for 1 another;

      Especially when going out, being wrapped around him for comfort & reassurance. Even being at home alone together- panic attacks are shit, PTSD episodes are even more shit. helping each other with bathing & caring

     When he’d be hiding from his reflection- or stares just a little too long. Going up behind him & worship him (vise versa)

• He’d be your biggest hypeman/ #1 fan (vise versa)

• Would LOVE you wearing his clothes/jewelry & would love to wear you things.

Was probably engaged to his ex (that's why he gets offt when people mention "corpse wife"

There'd be days where he'd be so distance & cold.. & tell you to leave but wouldn't let you.

He'd sit in the bathroom with you when you shower/have a bath.

As he doesn't sleep most night. He'd be up just watching you sleep & caressing you.

Lil spoon > big spoon.

<more to be added>

I love you... genuinely . turly.  madly. deeply.

[sunmoonandeddie]

What is you’re favorite thing about Aura?

Wooo boy. I’m still a little tipsy but not drunk.

1. How down to clown she is. It doesn’t matter what kind of a day I’m having, she always gets me laughing, even if it’s at the stupidest things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just lost my shit cackling because of her.

2. How protective she is. Listen, I had to deal with a shitty landlord like two months or so ago that made me feel uncomfortable and unsafe in my own home, and the second I told her about it, she was offering to call my landlord from across the world to get him to get shit done. She’s also lost her mind several times just from me telling her how doctors/professors/friends/bosses/exes have treated me. I’ve never had someone care like that, and I’ve cried SEVERAL times because I feel so lucky to have her in my life.

3. When it gets down to it, I know she has my back. She’s loyal to those who she loves, and I consider myself extremely lucky to be one of those people. But she’s not blindly loyal. I know that if I’m fucking up or making a bad decision, she’s not afraid to be like, “Hannah, stop being a dumbass.” I also know I can do the same with her and it doesn’t make it awkward or anything. And also, it doesn’t matter if life gets busy and stressful and we don’t get to talk for a while. The second we’re able to text or calls it’s right back to normal.

4. How fucking creative she is. Like, guys. I’ve gotten to listen to so many ideas that she hasn’t actually turned into a fic and FUCK. She’s so fucking talented and inspires me to be a better writer everyday.

5. The fact that we can talk about deep things as well as the fandom and joking stuff. One night, we deadass spent an hour talking about the Australian military vs the American military and how the American military literally preys on poor high schoolers who have no idea what they wanna do with their life but can’t afford college.

6. The fact that she’s literally an old woman inside a 24 year old’s body. She has her own sense of style and isn’t afraid to show it off. Of all the people I’ve met in my life, she’s the least afraid to be herself.

7. Dat booty though.

8. Also the fact that she’s 5’10” and could crush me with her thighs without breaking a sweat. Like, come on. That’s hot.

@brooklyn-boy

[alastair-made-me-undo-it]

I pestered Wren into watching Bandersnatch just so that I could vomit headcanons about a particular scene onto them.

This starts out as stuff I was sending to Wren and THEN IT TURNS INTO FIC, WOOO

Bandersnatch spoilers, drug use, not-too-healthy headspace, questionable consent but, like, lovingly, tragic ending absolutely no one could’ve possibly seen coming.

HEADCANON: COLIN’S GAME WAS DRIVING HIM CRAZY TOO. HE WAS ALL LUCID FOR LIKE A HOT SECOND AND WAS LIKE "IMMA HELP THIS TWINKY NEW PROGRAMMER" AND THEN IT TURNS OUT HE WAS ACTUALLY NOT ABLE TO DO THAT CURRENTLY, WHOOPS

"I'll be fine, I've got mix tapes and drugs and a hot woman to stroke my fevered brow, I have my madness under control, I can help Stefan." NO COLIN I DON'T THINK THAT'S GONNA WORK

You notice how Colin is giving him things the whole way through? Music, tapes, drugs, cryptic advice? HE FUCKIN' KNOWS. He's like "Here, these things help me balance. You're gonna need 'em."

Genuinely, it seemed like they were on the right track there. Everything is bright and beautiful and Stefan's body feels really nice, and Colin's body LOOKS really nice, and then he's encouraging Stefan to touch, and touching him back, and fuck choices, fuck deadlines, this is enough. Right here, right now, this is enough.

And what a considerate lover Colin was determined to be, right? Creatives need hallucinogens, everyone knows that, but your first time can be a little rough so he'll make sure Stefan smokes a little weed first, play him some nice music, let him loose to marvel at the paintings, open the door for a nice, soft breeze, show him the view of the city lights after dark, and maybe they'll fuck like that, facing the open door, let the stars in the sky and the stars on the ground dazzle Stefan's beautifully tortured mind while Colin takes care of him. 

And Colin genuinely, definitely...gives a shit. He doesn’t really do “love,” he doesn’t do “friends,” but sharing space with someone who’s just like you, letting most of your communication go unspoken but the words you do speak carrying incredible weight and significance is...it’s a rare find for people like them. And Stefan hasn’t been at this long, hasn’t learned all the ways that music and drugs and sex can make your mind not hurt so much, or at least make it hurt nice. He deserves to know, like Colin would’ve liked to have known, and God knows his head hurts right now, all the things he’s seeing in his dreams, the ground screaming at him whenever he’s higher than the second story, promising him safety and release and replays- 

And if it’s that bad for him, when he’s been on this ride more times than he can count, then just think how Stefan mus be feeling. Colin can help him, he’s pretty sure. Help him more than just a significant word or a song recommendation. He can do for Stefan what Kitty did for him, can pass it on, in a way. 

He’s gonna do it right. He’s determined to do it right. Stefan deserves someone who will get it right, not only the actions but the follow-through. He’ll hold Stefan until the sun rises. They won’t talk about it, but he’ll be there. He’ll offer Stefan a shower, and maybe, if he’s lucky, Stefan will invite him in. They’ll dress in Colin’s clothes, scent of his hand-rolled cigarettes hovering around Stefan like protection, like Colin’s hand has never left his shoulder. He’ll drive him home. Maybe have a brief, firm word with his dad. Let the man know that there are other people in this world who are just like his son, that Stefan isn’t broken, that he’s just not the type of person you meet in line at the supermarket. It’s not the man’s fault he doesn’t recognize what he’s never seen, but all the same, he needs to know that Stefan is not wrong, he simply is. 

Colin will tell him. And Colin will call him, later, and ask him to pass the phone to his son, if Stefan’s not too busy. And he’ll say, “How’re things in the hole, Stef?” And maybe Stefan will make the obvious joke about which hole Colin is referring to, or, if he doesn’t, Colin would be more than happy to do the honors. He’s sure Stefan would have good news for him. There is never not good news after you’ve stopped banging your head against a task and climbed out of it instead, especially not when someone was there to take your hand and help you clamber down. But he’ll let Stefan know that his door is always open, that this doesn’t have to be a one-time thing, and that maybe it can even be reciprocal. Maybe when Nozedyve is hammering away at him, reaching out of the monitor to claw at him, encouraging him to give in and jump, maybe he can give Stefan a call. Maybe Stefan can be the one to hold him, to soothe him, starting with his stiff neck and shoulders and then working farther down, taking all his control away like the weight of the world lifting off his shoulders. Stefan can plug in his joystick and take charge of Colin’s hardware, he’d like that, he thinks they’d both like that. 

But not tonight, because tonight is all about Stefan. Colin needs, so badly, to be the one who’s taken care of, but Stefan needs it more. He can give him that. He has the energy to give. And if he ever wants Stefan to play this game with him, he needs to run the tutorial first. 

He’s gonna do it right. He’s so careful to do it right. He can hold it together for Stefan, long enough to take him by the hand and show him how to balance. They can take care of each other. He’s gonna do it right.

Until it all goes very, very wrong.

[tatumbutinblogform-blog]

Sample Blogs!

1. What is something vexing that you're currently wrestling with?

My first (of many) MIT dilemmas

Ah yes. MIT. The place that provides students SO MANY things to do (not just plain or boring things, things I love!). The ~things~ I’m referring to are all of the majors, minors, activities, clubs, seminars, learning communities... You get the point. Though I am still a smol, not-yet-exposed-to-the-real-MIT prefrosh, I get the sense that it’s hard not to want to do everything. MIT is amazing in that it does a phenomenal job of picking diverse, passionate, motivated students; these students avidly seek out challenges and, from what I’ve seen amongst my prefrosh kin™, are ready to do literally everything at MIT.

But of course, that’s not possible. Although many wish they could quadruple major, time limitations exist, other obligations exist, you need SLEEP, and thus it’s likely not going to happen. I recently encountered one of my first dilemmas with regards to MIT (let’s just acknowledge that I’m not even there yet!) so buckle up!

Although I think I know what I plan on majoring in (course 20?!), deciding on my HASS concentration (preemptive, of course, as I am currently attempting to plan my academic journey here at MIT on FireRoad) has proven to be a challenge.

Obviously, I love math and science; but my academic interests also include non-STEM subjects like literally anything art history (actually history in general…) and Mandarin Chinese. I had the chance to explore these two subjects in high school-- taking an AP Art History course junior year (and consequently falling in love) and Mandarin Chinese sophomore through senior year. I knew I needed to continue these in college, as they really added a must-needed balance to my years in high school.

I vividly remember basically being in <3 love <3 when I saw the art pieces printed in my AP booklet during the test, mostly because the print quality was so nice! I was definitely not expecting to spend time ogling over some art pieces I studied all year during the most important test for the class, but there I was. I am still so incredibly fascinated by art history; I love learning why an artist decided to create their pieces, why the pieces were important during the time period, and omg how pretty! 

I also discovered the wonder that is learning a new language! Most students took a required foreign language during their time in high school, as did I, but I never expected to thoroughly enjoy Mandarin so much. Although I never had exposure to the language growing up (as judging from my appearance, I am most definitely caucasian and our family only speaks English. but fun fact I’m ¼ Japanese!), I definitely had a great time learning about the intricate language and culture. And at this point, I virtually only speak at the elementary-level, so there is still so much 中文 (Chinese) to learn!

So this is my first MIT dilemma-- do I want to do my HASS Concentration in the History of Architecture, Art and Design, or in Chinese Studies? Learn cool history things, or (hopefully) become bilingual? ahhhh!!!

After a lot of thinking, planning, playing around with FireRoad, I think I’ve come to the decision of choosing the art history route. I am most definitely not dead-set on it, but just to give myself some peace of mind. It came down to which one I really enjoy studying! While I love learning Mandarin, my passion for art history ultimately prevailed. But stay tuned for any changes!

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2. What happened Tuesday?

Solace in the Summertime My First Tuesday of July!

For many people, it’s usually a rarity to see the sunrise every morning (and in a perfect world, I’d be “many people”). I’m unfortunately woken up each morning by my 5:40am alarm-- I mean, I love my daily routine, but I just wish my day started a bit later. After getting everything situated, aka my breakfast, clothes, backpack, and bike loaded into the car (more on that later), I’m off to rowing practice!

Today's workout includes some hard pieces¹ on the erg², where I eventually totaled 16,000 meters rowed for the day. After stretching and foam-rolling, I did some strength training and wooo I’m done!

Just kidding! I brought my bike to ride today (thanks to mom for dropping me off this morning :D ) because the weather is wonderful in Southern California and I love the scenic route home. So, I embark on the 40 minute-ish ride-- slightly longer because my legs are dead, and hills are no joke-- and think about what I’m going to do for the rest of my day! With only 47 days (insert surprised Pikachu) until I leave for MIT, my time left to spend at home is quite limited. So many things to do!

It’s only 10:52 in the morning, but I’m hungry so I snack on some blueberries. I absolutely love blueberries!!! I wrote a sonnet on my love for blueberries once (my teacher told us to be creative, it’s just what came to mind!), so clearly, the love is real. So sweet! So pigmented!

After my blueberry escapade, I decided to read a bit. I didn’t have much time throughout the school year to read for leisure, so I’m just cherishing the time now! I just started the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin (aka Game of Thrones in book form before it became a TV show). After reading for a while, I eat lunch, chill a bit, and write in my new planner that I got as one of my graduation gifts.

A few hours later, it’s dinner time! I make a delicious salad for dinner (I make one literally every night ~ friendly reminder to get your veggies in!) and get prepare for a meeting I have in the evening. The meeting is for a nonprofit I help run, called STEMChats, and we’re having our weekly leadership team call that will last a few hours (it’s a busy time for us!).

Sparing some minor events that occurred through the day, this is what I did on my first Tuesday in July! The day was pretty uneventful for me, mostly because I’ve done a similar routine most days of my summer so far. But I hope you enjoyed Tatum’s Tuesday!

A “piece” is basically rowing lingo for the workout. Most are either by time or distance (meters).

We <3 erging! Ergs are the indoor rowing machines used for on-land workouts and such (most rowers don’t actually like them because hard workouts = pain).

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3. What is your current obsession?

Jeopardy! Joy An Evening Tradition 

If you ask me to hang out any given day between 7pm to 7:30pm, chances are I’ll say no. I’ve been watching the fast-paced classic trivia show Jeopardy! for over 11 years with the company of my mom. Though I didn’t get many answers right in my early years, I now get enough correct clues each night to tally ‘em up (sorry for the unintentional flex). So, when I hear the ever-so-memorable theme song each night when the clock strikes 7, I instantly grab my small chalkboard, chalk, and a nice glass of water because it’s time for some Jeopardy!. 

Now, I’m not sure you’d call it an obsession. For me, it’s a hobby. Surprising yourself by remembering very niche details on events, names, and just utterly random topics? Count me in! Now I know at MIT we had (have? idk?) a ~celebrity~ in our midst: Lily Chin, Jeopardy! College Champion. I remember watching the tournament a few years back, greatly looking up to the contestants who just knew so much! I never ever thought that I’d be going to the same institution, let alone writing this blog. Maybe one day I’ll be on Jeopardy! (currently waiting for the next college student try-out!!!) and I’ll fulfill my life-long dream! Or maybe I won’t! But I’ll still continue to watch the show and reminisce on all the great memories watching it with family (but show no remorse for all the missed opportunities for hangouts with friends. sorry y’all <3) (let’s play a game called “how many times can you mention ‘Jeopardy!’ in one blog post”!)

[ahmuteun]

All :)

welp, my computer decided to crap out on me while i was working on this last night so i get to restart it o yay :-)

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most?

according to my itunes library, four of the songs are songs my friend wrote and the other two are hyorin and kisum’s fruity and john mayer’s new light and i fucking love that song

2: If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

idk someone who can pay off my debt and tuition lmao

3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.

i’m too lazy to get up im sorry lol

4: What do you think about most?

it depends, currently its probably me ripping off the band aid and what the fall out for that is gonna be like 

also boys are stupid

5: What does your latest text message from someone else say?

“oh right LOL ya i got it hehe”

6: Do you sleep with or without clothes on?

with, but i never sleep with pants on

7: What’s your strangest talent?

uummmm i can stand on my toes, does that count?

8: Girls… (finish the sentence); Boys… (finish the sentence)

girls, yes lol

boys, are fucking dumb 

9: Ever had a poem or song written about you?

not to my knowledge 

10: When is the last time you played the air guitar?

idk i dont do it a lot if ever

11: Do you have any strange phobias?

no not really i think

12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?

when i was a kid i did lmao

13: What’s your religion?

christianity 

14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?

walking to/ from campus or downtown

15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

it depends on the situation and how i look lol

16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?

idk probably shinee cause theyve been my favorite for a while but im not sure anymore

17: What was the last lie you told?

“my bus was late” lol

18: Do you believe in karma?

to some extent i do 

19: What does your URL mean?

it’s dumb and i need to change it but idk what i would change it to

20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?

im trying to think of these through jen’s perspective because she’s one of the people who knows me best 

weakness: caring/ doing things for others even if it’s at my own expense. but i have so many weaknesses it’s so hard to just choose one

strength: probably that i care about people lmao it’s a double edged sword

21: Who is your celebrity crush?

idk i dont really have one

22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping?

yeah, regrettably 

23: How do you vent your anger?

by ranting with my mates and possibly getting drunk LOL

24: Do you have a collection of anything?

nah

25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

it depends on who i’m talking to but if it’s someone im comfortable with/ i look decent i’ll video chat but i dont really mind either 

26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become?

umm i mean for the most part i guess im okay

27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?

hate: metal scraping against metal

love: the sound of my mates’ laughter

28: What’s your biggest “what if”?

currently it’s “what if ripping off the band aid goes horribly wrong??” aaaaahhhhhhh fuck

29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

yes and yes

30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.

nothing for both

31: Smell the air. What do you smell?

nothing 

32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to?

the under 21 club we went to during senior week comes to mind

33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast?

i love both but i’ll say east because i’ve been more shaped by the east

34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?

idk man, gd?? 

35: To you, what is the meaning of life?

i dont fuckin know man 

36: Define Art.

idk look it up on google

37: Do you believe in luck?

eeehhhh to some extent i guess so 

38: What’s the weather like right now?

hot, humid, and rainy

39: What time is it?

3:11pm

40: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?

yes and i’ve only ever been in fender benders so nah

41: What was the last book you read?

the simpsons and their mathematical secrets lol

42: Do you like the smell of gasoline?

no gross

43: Do you have any nicknames?

way too many lmao

44: What was the last film you saw?

that isnt a tv show? the scooby doo movie lmao 

45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?

spraining my foot or cracking my head open lol

46: Have you ever caught a butterfly?

maybe when i was younger

47: Do you have any obsessions right now?

BROOKLYN 99 I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHOW

48: What’s your sexual orientation?

bi wooo

49: Ever had a rumour spread about you?

probably

50: Do you believe in magic?

no

51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?

uuhhh no not really 

52: What is your astrological sign?

gemini

53: Do you save money or spend it?

i want to save it but ive been spending way too much lately, help

54: What’s the last thing you purchased?

ummmm pho i think? wait no it was boba

55: Love or lust?

lust lol 

56: In a relationship?

naahhh

57: How many relationships have you had?

eehhh none

58: Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

nope

59: Where were you yesterday?

work and my apartment lol

60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

yep 

61: Are you wearing socks right now?

yep

62: What’s your favourite animal?

my doggie

63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?

i dont have one lmao

64: Where is your best friend?

one is back home in maryland and the other is visiting family in california

65: Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.

idk i dont have any

66: What is your heritage?

korean

67: What were you doing last night at 12AM?

trying to fall asleep and failing

68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?

i dont think he has one

69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off?

everyone has

70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?

idk i hate myself too much to not say no lmao

71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?

if my boss doesnt understand that i was saving a dogs life then i dont want to work for them

72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid?

a) i tell the people i love and care about and let everyone else find out by word of mouth 

b) i dunno, spend time with the people i love and care about and give them lots of good memories to remember me by

c) yes but who wouldnt be?

73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love.

trust because i dont believe that you can have love, platonic or not, without trust 

or maybe thats just my trust issues talking idk lmao

74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

idk but if im in a shit mood no song can change that 

75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?

no thanks

76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?

idk im the worst person to ask 

77: How can I win your heart?

my heart is unattainable because it doesnt exist lol

78: Can insanity bring on more creativity?

i mean sure i guess?? 

79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?

probably choosing my uni because i’ve made such amazing friends and met people who have impacted who i am as a person way more than i could ever imagine and im just so happy right now 

80: What size shoes do you wear?

6.5 heels but 7 for everything else

81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

idk man 

82: What is your favourite word?

i dont have one 

83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.

my friend’s tattoos of hearts on her arm, they look so cool and i love them

84: What is a saying you say a lot?

“let me live” “i hate you” “mate” idk theres a lot

85: What’s the last song you listened to?

truth is by jay park

86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours?

blue, yellow, and green

87: What is your current desktop picture?

it’s so cute i love it 

88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?

no one cause im not that mean 

89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

who i’ve been with and crap like that 

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?

it would probably scare me and i would leave 

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?

super speed probably, you could do so much plus i would never be late to anything again AND i would be doing cardio, win win

92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?

i dont think i would ever want to do that so i’ll pass

93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

i wouldnt because every experience has helped shaped me into who i am today 

94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?

oh man i would have to think about this cause i dont have a person off the top of my head that comes to mind 

bm from kard maybe?? idfk 

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

korea or japan 

or maybe australia

96: Do you have any relatives in jail?

not to my knowledge 

97: Have you ever thrown up in the car?

yep :-) whoops

i mean it was in a trashcan and i was trashed so

98: Ever been on a plane?

yep

99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?

pls venmo me cause im broke :D

thanks for asking!

[queenzufufu]

Youngsters (14/?)

Summary: For the kids at The Rooster Teeth care home, life hasn’t always been easy. They’ve come from broken homes, broken families. They’ve escaped with broken bones and broken spirits. But at least now they have a second chance to be happy with a real family.

Well… that’s easier said than done when your family includes a hyperactive midget, an overeager wrestling fanatic and a boy who just can’t go a day without punching something… or someone.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 AO3

“Truly a modern miracle.” - Barbara

“Go! Go! Go!”

Geoff pushed his legs harder, feeling the burn in his calves and the unpleasant taste of saliva forming in the back of his mouth.

“Come on!”

His heart pounded. And his lungs were ready to burst. But he was close. He was oh so close. Just a little bit further, a little bit more. He was almost there…

Faster, faster, faster -

“Wooo!”

God damn it.

Instead of coming to a graceful stop, Geoff continued sprinting. He’d built up too much momentum - his legs carried on moving, even though it was all over. A tree became his crash pad, as he hurtled towards it, thrusting out an arm around the rough, gnarled bark.

Now eventually still, his feet wasted no time sinking heavily into the fresh snow, disappearing until it was up to his shins. It was still freezing outside but he might as well have been in the Mediterranean at that moment, the way his shirt was sticking to him with sweat. Who’d have thought? Running in the snow was fucking hard.

“Aww, Geoff, you got beaten by Bruce,” came a mocking little voice.

Geoff aimed his best glare at the taunting ten-year-old. It had no effect. Adam was too busy dancing around Bruce - him and Elyse, looking like two little gnomes, their cheeks rosy, heads covered in brightly colored bobble hats.

The eldest took a moment to regain his breath, inhaling and exhaling deeply, before straightening up and pretending to be unbothered by the results of their little impromptu race.

“Yeah, well he looks like a stick, and his hair is neater, more aerodynamic,” he grumbled, crossing his arms and attempting to lean back in a nonchalant manner against the tree.

Unfortunately, he missed.

Shit! He quickly scrambled at the tree trunk to prevent himself from falling butt-first into the snow drift. Luckily for him, the other three were still enraptured with Bruce’s celebrations to notice his pitiful attempts to regain his balance.

“Bruce isn’t like a stick,” Adam was still cheering, tugging on the skinny teen’s arm. “Bruce has got muscles!”

“Yeah, yeah, show off your muscles, Bruce!” Elyse chorused, trying to jump along with Adam onto Bruce’s back.

Bruce was taking the playfulness with a good nature, as he always did, but Geoff didn’t miss the slight wince that crossed the younger teen’s face every time one of the little ones attempted to climb him. And Bruce being Bruce wasn’t likely to say anything anytime soon, so pushing his grumblings about losing aside, Geoff stepped back into big brother mode.

“Alright, alright leave him be,” he said, marching over through the snow. “You two aren’t that little, y’know.” He grabbed them by the back of their necks and pulled them towards him, allowing Bruce room to breathe.

Elyse and Adam were both extra hyper that day, the results of being cooped up inside for so long, and Geoff could only be grateful James wasn’t with them as well because those three together… he shuddered at the thought. Those three were like the three musketeers recently, a dangerous concoction of creativeness and mischievousness. Geoff was also pretty sure James had been teaching the younger two the delicate art of the “puppy face”, which only made them that more deadly.

Fortunately, he could just about trust himself to keep control of Elyse and Adam. Just. And that was why he’d offered to watch over them while Burnie did more important adult stuff in the city. The two both had contact with their families that day - the first in a while due to the Christmas celebrations.

Normally, Geoff would have believed Burnie totally comfortable with taking the two with him but, well, let’s say recent events were starting to drain the man. Geoff didn’t blame him one bit. A job like his… shit, he couldn’t imagine anything more stressful. He might have no idea what he wanted to do with his life yet, but one thing he knew for sure. There is no chance in hell I am ever going to work with kids. I’m already a big brother for ten, I don’t need any more, thank you very much.

So anyway, Geoff and Bruce were going into to town - or rather, Geoff was going and was dragging Bruce with him - and he’d offered to watch over the youngsters while Burnie did his thing. They were good as gold, really. Better than Geoff had been at their age.

He’d released his grip on them but they’d done as they’d been told and refrained from jumping on Bruce, resorting to jumping up and down beside him. “Geoff’s just jealous cause he’s not stronger than all of us,” Adam was continuing to taunt, his eyes wide and bright as he looked up at Geoff, expectant.

Oh, well that was a challenge if he’s ever heard one.

“Oh really? I’m not as strong as you?” Geoff grinned menacingly, crunching slowly forward through the snow.

Adam watched him get closer, excitement spread across his face. He shook his head with a big smile. “No.”

That was it. With a battle cry, Geoff launched forward, grabbing the ten-year-old and hoisting him into his arms, making sure he had his legs and arms tightly secured.

“You’re right, this is really hard. I’m going to have to put you down soon, I’m sooo weak,” he acted out a stagger, jostling the boy in his arms. “Oh no! A strong gust of wind is blowing me over to the lake!”

Adam wriggled in his hold, one escaping arm reaching out to Elyse and Bruce. “Save me!” he cried out through his laughter. Elyse scampered after them and grabbed onto him, trying to pull Adam back. Bruce just followed behind, a small knowing smirk on his face.

For his part, Geoff carried on with his Oscar-worthy performance, standing by the edge of the water and swaying some more for effect. “Oh no, my poor, little, weak baby arms can’t hold you much longer.”

Even if he was serious and did drop the kid, the most harm it would do was make him wet and grumpy. The lake had frozen over solid a few weeks ago but it was mostly thawed out by now, only a thin layer at the very edge. A host of ducks had settled in the center, and Geoff hoped he wouldn’t have a repeat of two years ago. Those stupid little motherfuckers, gone and sat too long on the ice, hadn’t they? Sat so long that they’d frozen themselves stuck. And so, of course, he’d had no choice but to go out and rescue them. That mission had taken a whole day and he’d been paying back Jack for two weeks after dragging the boy into helping him.

There was no way he could have left them though. Not the ducks.

Ducks and chickens. As sad as it may sound, there was a time when ducks and chickens had pretty much been his only friends.

Growing up in rural Alabama, getting “homeschooled” by their creepy neighbor, having no kids his own age around, he hadn’t exactly been spoilt for choice.

Burnie had picked up on it quickly, because of course he had - noticing that a reliable way to get a young Geoff out of one of his funks was to take him down to the closest park to go and feed the ducks. It’d been Geoff, Burnie, and then a load of parents with their toddler aged children. Geoff hadn’t cared - he just remembered being in awe of the fact that, for the first time in his life, there was someone who wanted to do something for him.

Anyway, presently Adam seemed pretty certain that ducks or no ducks, he did not want to be dunked in icy cold water.

“No, Geoff! No, no!” the boy continued to beg, although he was running out of breath from already laughing and shouting so much.

Geoff still didn’t have what he wanted, though. Kid’s gonna have to learn somehow.

“I’m sorry, Adam. I just can’t carry on,” he wailed, like it was his last dying breath, beginning to buckle his knees.

“Yes you can, Geoff! You’re strong! You’re really strong!”

Geoff bit back grin. Now I’ve got him where I want him.

He continued to lower the boy closer to the ice, maintaining his pained expression. “I don’t think I am…” he said, voice hoarse.

“You are! You are!” Adam was now positively clinging onto him, laughing in his face.

“Yeah, you are, Geoff!” Elyse joined in, still desperately trying to bring her friend back to safety. “You’re the strongest person ever in the whole of the universe,”

“Ever? So that includes Brucie?”

Adam nodded furiously. “Yeah! You’re way stronger than him. Than everyone in the whole universe!”

“Well then…”

With one swift motion, he easily swung the ten-year-old around, back onto firm ground, a not unjustified feeling of pride in his chest. The two immediately screamed and ran off together in case they were attacked again, but Geoff had already done his fair share of physical exertion that day and let them be.

When he glanced back, Bruce was stood with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes rolled as Geoff met his gaze but the smirk was still there, obviously both uncaring and unsurprised at Geoff’s little routine to make sure he was still top dog.

Geoff smirked back, corner of his mouth tilting up cockily, an expression that read “well, what did you expect?”.

The moment was cut short by Elyse and Adam running up to him again, latching onto an arm each.

“Geoff! Geoff! Can we go on those hamster ball thingies, please?” They were eagerly pointing at what had caught their eye, a way down near the closed park cafe.

Although the majority of the lake was still covered in ice, the guys who ran the floating orb activity thing had managed to smash a small area near their little pier, obviously hoping to cash in early with all the other main attractions still closed.

Geoff had been on one of those when he was younger. Had seen Michael throw up in one too, a scene that made it into his top three of most disgusting things he’d ever seen in his life.

He smiled apologetically at them. “Nah, it’s too expensive, guys. And anyway, you’ll be having fun with your brothers and sisters later.”

That elicited two very different reactions. Elyse let out a small sigh but she smiled ruefully, content with Geoff’s judgment. Adam, however, did not.

“No, I won’t,” he muttered, mood flipping in an instant, so quick he reminded Geoff for a second of James.

“No?” Geoff peered down at the boy, who stood defiantly, head lowered and brown fringe peeking out of his hat and flopping over his eyes. “Why won’t you, Adam?”

The boy fidgeted with the sleeves of his jacket for a moment, mouth pursed tight while he struggled with his thoughts.

“Cause it’s not the same,” he admitted. “He don’t feel like my brother as much anymore. Don’t think he’d even mind if he missed out on seeing me. He’s more happy being with his new family than being with me - and he don’t even really like seeing mom anymore.”

Ah, it was what he suspected. Only the other day he’d been talking to Trevor about how Adam had been mentioning more and more recently that he wished he could live closer to his little brother.

It was something Geoff could understand, but not quite relate to. Sure, he’d been through bad shit back in his day; knew what it was like to be hurt and uncared for, still carried the damned scars to prove it. And yet… and yet, he’d never known what it was like to fear for others. Never had to think about protecting others before protecting himself. Every choice he’d made back then, they had all been made for him. Geoff, himself, he had been his number one priority - no fucks given to anyone or their mother.

How much pressure, he wondered, had it been on the young boy? Deciding to put his mother and brother first when he was still so young. It had certainly affected him in a way that made him, at times, a very serious boy - warm and giving to his friends, but extremely cautious around new people.

Learned how two-faced people could be when he was young. Too young.

“He’ll remember what you did for him,” he assured Adam as best he could. “How you protected him, looked after him. Maybe he doesn’t quite know how to express that gratitude right now, but when  - as he gets older, he’ll let you know just how awesome his big brother is. Nothing’s gonna change that, Adam, you’ll always be his big brother.”

Adam shrank in on himself then, all the pent-up frustration leaving him in one wistful sigh. “I wish he lived with us,” he whispered, the pure longing in his voice upsetting to hear.

“And I bet he’d love it if you lived with him,” Geoff said, reaching out a gentle hand to fix the bobble hat that had slipped down on one side. “But you’re with each other in the only way you can be, right now.”

The brown eyes shut for a moment, and a tiny frown appeared on Adam’s forehead. “Am I complaining too much?” he asked.

Geoff’s lips twitched. Another thing with Adam was that he worried more than most about how he came across to others. On one hand, the kid always spoke his mind and did what he thought was right, on the other, he second-guessed himself often, always hyper-aware of his actions and what people might think of them. Both he and Jack had problems with that.

“No. No, you’re not,” he assured Adam again. “Don’t you ever think of it like that.”

Adam’s eyes gazed up at him - old eyes - Geoff had seen many a pair of eyes like those in his day.

“Anyway, Adam, you said you’d see if you can introduce me to your brother, so you have to go so we can team up against you and annoy you.”

Geoff turned to grin at Elyse. She really was a little ray of sunshine - always so positive and friendly to the other kids. At that moment she had come up to Adam, wrapping her smaller arms around his shoulders.

Adam twisted his head until he could see her and slowly smiled back, small but genuine.

“Seems like you’ve got no choice,” Geoff said to him.

The matter seemed settled for the time being. Adam seemed to be less stressed now anyway. It wasn’t the first time he’d had anxiety before going to contact and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

Geoff looked at him, at the two of them, him and Elyse. There was a funny, fizzing eagerness he felt in the pit of his stomach, and he knew he just couldn’t help himself.

“You get five minutes. I’m not paying for more.”

At first, the two were at a loss as he grabbed the notes out of his pocket and held them out to them. Then, in unison, their eyes wandered back to the floating orbs, to each other, and before Geoff knew it, they were squealing in excitement, snatching the money from his hands with cries of thanks and charging as fast as possible to their treat.

Geoff watched them run off, feeling both pleased, amused, and slightly annoyed at himself. Sensing Bruce’s judging look on his back didn’t do anything to help the matter. “Don’t tell me I spoil them too much,” he said, turning around.

Bruce just gave a shrug and a funny little smile. “I didn’t say –”

“Adults say that you shouldn’t give in to kids, bribe them, whatever. What do they know? How much happiness would they have experienced before living with us, huh? I just want them to feel happy as much as they can.”

Geoff was unsure why he’d burst out with that, but Bruce took it with a grain of salt. “You’re a big softie.”

“I am that too,” Geoff said, and shrugged, one side of his mouth pulling up into a crooked grin. “I’m not gonna argue with you on that one.”

Bruce nodded smiling, but other than that didn’t add any more to the conversation. He’d been quiet that day, but that wasn’t all that unusual. Boy reminded Geoff of himself in that way, could either swing one way or the other. A complete extrovert or introvert depending on the time. Jack was usually the one to bring the loudest side of him out, although anyone who played or sang the right song could get the teen hyped up.

Geoff had fond memories, of the two of them being around Elyse and Adam’s age, dancing around the kitchen - the room a good deal smaller back then - on the tables and chairs, listening to the radio until Gus eventually told them to calm down before they hurt themselves.

Why don’t we do that now? Why must adults, and teens, be expected to be so… so un-childish all the time? Where was the harm in simply playing?

“Talking about big softies, they didn’t hurt you did they?” he checked, remembering the look he’d seen on Bruce’s face earlier. “When they were climbing all over you.”

Bruce shook his head. “No, they weigh like half a pound each.”

Geoff chuckled. T’was true. All the little ones were kind of skinny motherfuckers, it almost seemed impossible when he thought about it, seeing as they consumed all the food that was bought for them at an alarming rate. They were growing kids, he supposed. But there was also a lot of catching up to be done. Some of the kids might be considered “tall” amongst the other kids in the home, but compared to other kids their age, they were usually on the smaller side of the spectrum. Years of neglect had left them a few steps behind in life, and not all of it was neglect.

Jeremy and Elyse, for example, they’d technically been fed enough, just not the right stuff. From what they’d gathered, Jeremy’s diet had consisted mainly of cheese and crackers or McDonald’s as a treat. While Elyse had been raised on some sort of “edenic diet”, he thought it was called. Super healthy and good for the planet and all that, but not the best for little kids unless you did your research and did it right.

So, as Ryan so often called it in his very politically correct manner, they were living in Midget Mansion.

“Just thought you looked in pain at one moment…” Bruce just brushed his concern away with a shrug. He didn’t seem bothered - probably just Geoff being over paranoid again. With so much going on at the moment, he was more concerned than ever with the happiness of his younger siblings.

He started walking in the direction of Elyse and Adam, hearing from the crunching footsteps that Bruce was following. “Heard you’ve been making waves on the airwaves, well, near them anyway. How long will it be before I hear you on there?” he asked.

At that, Bruce smiled, scratching the back of his head bashfully. “I dunno… maybe not until next year.”

They chatted about school for a bit, seeing as it was something they were going to have to return to very soon. At one point Bruce brought up how the president of the club had taken a shining to him, asking Bruce to stay late or come in during lunch to help him with prepping the shows. Geoff’s face lit up at the name when he heard it - a good friend of his, they no longer saw each other as much as they liked, but still, she was a solid girl.

“Teri,” Geoff mused fondly. “That girl’s freaking funny,” he said, recalling a time the girl had put up their whole class up for sale on Craigslist, including the teacher.

realized he was actually laughing out loud as he caught Bruce’s eye again, the younger giving him a strange look. “Mmm,” Bruce hummed, letting Geoff’s strange giggle fit slide. “She’s been more than good to me.”

Geoff’s laughter cut out. There was something in that sentence sounded odd. Something that Geoff couldn’t work out as he studied the boy. They’d stopped walking now - waiting by the lake’s edge for the entertainment to commence. Bruce’s gaze had dropped from his to the snowy ground, one booted foot skimming lightly across the surface in front of him, sending up tiny flurries of settled snowflakes.

Geoff felt his big brother spidey-senses tingling, and in fact, he sensed his earlier intuition had been right. There was something up. But he had no clue if it was something good or bad or just plain embarrassing… the closer his little brothers got to adulthood the harder he found it to judge. All the childlike telltales blurred by the adolescent maturity.

“Bruce is there –”

“What are you getting Jack for his birthday?”

Geoff blinked. The interruption had been so sudden he wasn’t sure if Bruce even realized he’d interrupted.

What perfect timing…

However, it wasn’t exactly strange, mentioning Jack’s birthday. Shit, that was coming up soon, wasn’t it? Too many damn kids, Geoff once again grumbled to himself. At this rate, I’ll be broke before I even start college!

They switched the conversation for a while, until Adam was shouting at them to watch and two giant hamsters were being pushed out onto the lake.

The two were absolutely ecstatic, and Geoff had to admit, it was rather amusing to watch. He made sure to film it all on his phone - all the laughter, every time one of them fell with a bouncy thud, or when one of them got caught in a running cycle, little legs racing on the spot before they face-planted forward - the carers would want to see this when they got back. And he wanted to keep the memory for himself.

By the time they’d finished, they were both red-faced and out of breath.

“That was awesome!” Adam bellowed, returning to them with glee.

“You should have a go!” Elyse insisted.

Honestly he’d considered it, but both rules and practicality stood in his way. “I don’t think I’d fit,” he told them. “Anyway, we need to get going, we’re meeting Burnie in ten minutes, you don’t wanna anger papa bear, do you?”

He’d talk find time to investigate Bruce later. Right now, his main challenge was going to be getting the two back to Burnie on time - although, let’s face it, they were definitely going to be late, and then he was going to have to try and explain exactly why they were late.

Either way, Geoff thought, I’m always the one who ends up in the shit. It’s my fucking luck for being the big brother.

––––

Barbara never considered herself someone particularly intuitive. People always said, go with your intuition, you know what’s best deep down. But honestly, she couldn’t recall a single time when she’d made a decision based on her intuition purely. Everything in her life had happened for a reason, and that reason was because she made it happen. There was no invisible thread leading her along, or some unseeing hand guiding her way.

She’d gone to college because, one, her dad would have killed her if she didn’t, two, because that’s where all her friends were going, and three, because she wanted the education. More education meant more opportunities. And for someone who didn’t have a fucking clue what they wanted to do with their life, she figured she could do with all the open doors possible.

She’d majored in creative writing but minored in media. When that was all over with she’d taken a job as an intern, managing social media for a local business. She’d been offered a job with the same company once her initial contract had ended, and she had accepted it.

She’d found herself working at Rooster Teeth because she needed a change. Don’t get her wrong, she’d loved the media side of things. It was always a fun, creative process. But one day she just stopped what she was doing, stopped and stared around her, really taking everything in.

And she envisioned herself staying there, in that same room, doing the same job until she could retire and collect her social security. And she’d asked herself a question.

Is this where she wanted to grow old?

She’d handed in her notice a week later.

Turns out she’d made a good impression during her time there.

Turns out her boss knew a guy.

Turns out that guy had been Matt, the son of a guy who’d built up a company specializing in child services. Turns out Matt had gotten a job at one of their newest care homes for some friend of his when they were basically kids themselves. Turns out that friend was Burnie. And it turns out that he’s looking for some fresh talent.

Looking back, Barbara often wonders how crazy she was at the time making the split-second decision she did.

The pay she’d been on was great, and choosing to head down a completely different career path meant starting from scratch, going through a whole new course of learning. And God, that training had been grueling, working in detention centers, seeing kids so young acting like they had nothing left to live for… She respected the hell out of anyone who tried to make a difference there, but that wasn’t for her, and she was glad she got out of there when she was done.

When she’d eventually started working full time at Rooster Teeth, it felt like every step she’d made in life had all been leading up to there, and it was only now that she’d reached that destination, that she could look back and pinpoint exactly which choices she’d made had lead her to where she was.

Her choices. Her decisions.

Not intuition… just a well-judged gamble.

Going out those doors then… why had she done that?

It was raining, hard. It was getting dark, quickly. She was intending to go and put some of the kids' clothes in to wash. There had been absolutely no reason for her to go outside.

But she had, because…

“Treyc’s? What you still doing here?” she asked, spotting the man sitting under the wooden decking, on top of some breeze blocks that had been left there since the last building work. He was supposed to have gone home an hour or so ago. Had a trip planned from forever ago with some of his old buddies.

What the hell?

It was unnerving, seeing her friend and colleague sat there, barely illuminated by the outside light, barely visible through the gaps in the planks. Barbara kept her voice calm as she quickly walked down the steps to crouch down and get a better look. “It’s your night off, isn’t it? Thought you needed to pack everything.”

As if he’d only just heard her, the man jumped. “Hey! Scared me there, yeah - I mean it is…” he trailed off - and he looked around, like a man waking from sleep, and laughed lightly as if he was only now realizing the ridiculousness of his situation. “Shit,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m sorry.”

Then the smile on his face disintegrated, and all of a sudden it looked like he was trying his best not to cry.

“Hey,” Barbara crawled over, sitting down beside her friend. Her protectiveness was warming, and she couldn’t help the way her own eyes stung, seeing Trevor so distressed. “What’s the matter? Who do I need to knock out?”

Trevor glanced up at her, and managed a little smile.

“I uh… I just feel like I shouldn’t be taking time off at a time like this. With all the stress you guys are under and the recent stuff with the kids. Just seems wrong that I’ll be going off to have fun without any of you.”

“We all need time off now and then. And you’ve, what? Had this trip planned for how long? Six months? When was the last time you had a break? And don’t say you have weekends off, I know you’re here just as much, you just don’t sleep here.” She reached out, a hand on his shoulder. “You need to make sure you leave time for yourself too.”

“I know, I know. It’s just… I…”

“The incident with Michael and Lawrence hit you hard.” As the words left her mouth she saw his face crumble, barely holding back the tears now. “Oh, Trevor, c’mere,” she said, pulling him into a wet and soggy hug, feeling him shake underneath her.

With the way Trevor spoke and acted, Barbara often found herself forgetting just how young he was. He’d worked there longer than any other of the junior carers, but out the permanent staff, he was the youngest.

He looked young now, like one of the kids; his hair flat against his forehead, raindrops dripping off his eyelashes and down his face, looking up at Barbara with those soulful brown eyes of his.

He sniffed loudly, turning away. “I’m sorry. It’s stupid.”

“Naw, you’re just making me feel bad that I don’t have as big a heart as you,” Barbara teased gently. “But seriously, Treyco, you’re the best of us, you know that. You’re unbelievable with the way you connect with the kids and the staff and any lovable idiot interns we get in.”

“I’m no Burnie.”

“And he’s no you,” she said, unsure what that had to do with anything. “Burnie might be one of the best, but you are… you’re one of a kind.”

Trevor flushed at her praise, and even more so when he met her gaze and realized she wasn’t joking. Still, he played it off as best he could.

“One of a kind?” he echoed. “No, no… I’m not one of a kind. One who’s been through it maybe, one who can - on occasion - look them in the eye and tell them, honestly, that I know what they’re going through, one who they might find it slightly easier to trust at the start when adults represent everything bad in their lives.”

He paused, expression vacant for a moment, as if reliving another time and place.

“I’m nothing special,” he said, a hollow sound. “And moments like the other day highlight how this fucking job can get to you and reminds me that, out of everyone here, it always seems like I’m the one who handles it the worst.”

“You don’t…”

“Course I do,” he said, firm but not angry. Merely acceptance. “I’m the one who’s sat under the terrace in the pouring rain.”

Barbara took a deep breath in, nose flaring as her grip on Trevor’s shoulder tightened.

“Stop it, you fucking idiot,” she said flatly, and Trevor’s eyebrows shot up. “Stop beating yourself up over it. Maybe we fucked up somewhere down the road, maybe we could’ve seen it coming, maybe this was bound to happen at some point, maybe we’ve bitten off more than we can chew.”

“But –”

“But we as a team, as a family, what is it that you’re always telling us to do?” she continued. “To deal with the shit as it comes. And you take shit better than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

As she finished, Trevor, head half-bowed, rain still cascading down his hair, could only turn and stare at her. There was a very awkward pause before he nodded.

“Trevor Collins: Master Shit Taker…” he said, rather uncertainly, before smiling. “Doesn’t have as great a ring to it as I hoped.”

Barbara had to hold back a snort; at least his sense of humor was still intact. “There’s the smile I love.”

Trevor snorted at that.

“You’re right. I know you’re right. You just gotta keep on keeping on. If there was anything my experience taught me as a kid, it was that,” he said, and Barbara’s eyes softened again.

“And don’t dwell on all the bad stuff,” she insisted. “There’s always a silver lining. It can be so easy to get caught up in the stuff that’s gone wrong, but there’s so much good that I see here, every day. So much good. So much life.”

“I did finally get Jeremy to stop swallowing his toothpaste.”

“See? There you go!” she exclaimed. “Truly a modern miracle. You’re doing the Lord’s work.”

Trevor chuckled again, although his smile still didn’t quite reach his eyes, didn’t quite drive away the shadows still lurking there.

Barbara frowned, and the asked: “How many years have you worked here now, Trevor?”

“Uh… seven,” he replied, taken off guard by the question. “Yeah, just over seven years. Fuck.”

“And in those seven years how many times have you been the voice of reason to all the guys?”

“You tell me,” Trevor replied, and Barbara flung an arm over his shoulder.

“Every day,” she said. “Every day I’m reminded why I chose this job rather than following my dad into programming or my mom into nursing. Every day I’m reminded why I pushed through those grueling work experience days at the detention center. Every day I think I learn more and more about how to be a good carer for these kids. And every day there you are, with some comment or insight that changes my perspective all over again. And it’s frustrating, that you’re that good and you don’t even know it.”

Trevor was staring at her, and Barbara released his shoulders to squeeze his hand.

“Me, Peake, Matt, Gus too,” she added, softer now. “We can hopefully be good enough to keep the engine in this place running. Help keep things running smoothly. But you and Burnie? You guys can actually make a difference. You’re the real game changers. Maybe start taking a little credit for yourself. What d’you think?”

“I think…” Trevor whispered, before letting out a shaky breath, smiling at her with an emotion that wasn’t quite sadness, wasn’t quite happiness. “I think you’ve built me up to be someone I’m not.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“I’m serious, Barbara.”

“You think?” she asked.

Trevor just stared back, still looking mostly perplexed, tilting his head to the side like the kids often did when they were confused. Barbara could only smile back at him, and slung an arm over his shoulders, tugging him close. Trevor didn’t pull away, happy enough to hug her back. The tip of his nose was cold where it brushed against Barbara’s cheek, but a warm fondness swelled up in her chest as she ruffled the man’s hair before giving him a light shove. “C’mon, get your ass out of here before you make yourself sick.”

She’d had enough of being soaked for one night, and crouch-walked out of the space, watching to make sure Trevor followed. Once they were back inside, she grabbed a towel from the kitchen, flinging it over the other’s head.

“You’re soaked,” she said, and Trevor pulled a face as he removed the towel from his face.

“You’re soaked too,” he muttered.

For once, she didn’t rise to the bait, instead murmuring: “Take care of yourself, Treyc’s.

Trevor nodded, shyly turning away and drying himself off.

There was a more comfortable silence as they made themselves look something half human rather than two drowned rats, and when that was done, Barbara wasted no time in making sure Trevor had his priorities sorted, ordering him to make a run for his car.

“And I don’t want to see or hear from you until you get back. For a few days, I want to forget you even exist.”

The man allowed her to push him along, albeit extremely amused. “Bit harsh –”

“Nope, no, starting from now - I’ve decided you no longer exist,” she said pushing him towards the door and opening it for him. “Go on. Out, out,” she flapped her hands at him. He glanced back at her, possibly about to argue, but then she saw him give in, a grin flashing across his face as she practically bundled him outside.

She shut the door straight after him, although she cracked it slightly open again after. Just to make sure he was being a good boy and doing as he was told.

Sure enough, after a minute or so, the small car was driving off, taillights disappearing around the corner.

She sighed, happy with the way things had ended up.

She loved Trevor - loved everybody she worked with - but that guy… there was always that little special something about him. And God, she hated the times she saw him get like that, though rare.

And she’d meant every single word of what she’d said to him.

And she knew that Trevor could spend days wondering what had gone wrong and what he had done wrong, and that was okay, he needed his time to process things.

And she also knew that she wasn’t like that, and maybe that was a fault of hers, but honestly, things seemed to have worked out for her so far. Because you could wonder what you did wrong all you liked, the fact was nothing was going to change unless you moved on, learning from that experience and carrying on with life.

Call it fate, intuition, God’s will, whatever. The fact was it was up to you what you made of your time on this Earth. Or at least she was in a lucky enough position where she did have that freedom. With that said, she was more than happy to not ask too many questions about what’s, why’s and how’s.

What that made her, Barbara had no answer, but it didn’t concern her. Sometimes the greatest and most important things in life weren’t there to be simply broken down into understandable segments and answers.

Sometimes life was just crazy and wonderful and scary and weird, and if you spent too much time worrying about everything trying to figure it all out for yourself you’d never be able to simply be and let it be.

Life was life. Sometimes it sucked. Sometimes it didn’t. Even a kid could understand that.

Speaking of kids…

Stopped Jeremy from swallowing his toothpaste, huh? Well I never… Maybe he’ll even go to bed on time tonight…

She shook her head, ridding the ridiculous thought. No. Now that was a known fact, some things in life were just never meant to be.

[junker-town]

A brief overview of this year’s 30 ‘Bachelor’ contestants, including the ‘most sports’

ABC

Pilot Pete is ready to take to the skies (California) to find forever love.

The biggest time of year is here, and it’s time to get amped: it’s the NFL Playoffs premiere of The Bachelor! Tonight, Peter Weber — better known in the franchise as “Pilot Pete” — takes off on his journey to find his future co-pilot (I refuse to apologize for my aviation puns) among 30 women who are competing for his heart.

Before we get to the most interesting tidbits of the ladies’ cast bios, let’s go over a few things to make sure you’re up to date.

Q: Why is SB Nation, a sports site, covering The Bachelor?

A: Because it’s sports! There’s competition! Drama! Intrigue! Also, if it has a fantasy league, it’s sports.

Q: So who is Pilot Pete?

A: Pete, our titular Bachelor, is a good-looking pilot who made it to the final three in the last season of The Bachelorette before Hannah sent him home. It was a big upset when you consider that she kept Jed, the creep with a guitar and a girlfriend back home.

Q: Why do they keep mentioning windmills?

A: Wooo boy I’m setting the over/under of windmill references on night one at about ... four (that’s a deep cut for the real fans out there). Last season, Pete reportedly rocked Hannah’s world (sex ... they had sex) during their overnight date in a windmill.

That’s it. That’s the joke.

Q: So who are the ladies?

A: GLAD YOU ASKED. You can check out all 30 bios here, but let’s get to some of the highlights before the premiere tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Most popular job — flight attendant

Three (THREE!) of the women joining the party are flight attendants, which is super fun and creative because Peter is a Pilot. Do you get it? It’s funny see. They all fly. At least give me a female fighter pilot in there to mix it up or something.

Eunice, Jade and Megan are our trio of flight attendants. My girl Megan is a third-generation flight attendant. She is my pick to either show up in her uniform or make some sort of risqué joke about putting your seat and tray table in their upright positions.

Keep an eye on Jade, who is extremely afraid of heights despite spending her days at 30,000-plus feet.

ABC

Jade is ready to serve Pilot Pete some mini pretzels.

Most represented state — Texas

Five ladies hail from the Lone Star State: Alayah, Avonlea, Deandra, Jasmine and Savannah. I hope they go on a group date and he makes them compete for the crown of “most Texas,” although the actual Miss Texas 2019 (Alayah) is part of this group. I don’t trust her, though, because she says her spirit animal is the “Texas Longhorn.”

Wouldn’t the REAL Miss Texas know his name is Bevo?! Where are you really from, Alayah?

ABC

WHAT AREN’T YOU TELLING US, ALAYAH?

Sportsiest bio — Madison

Let’s head straight to the bio:

She shoots! SHE SCORES! That is something Madison is used to hearing. This Alabama cutie not only helped lead her high school basketball team to four state championships, she was also once named state MVP thanks to her unstoppable jump shot. She credits a lot of her success to her dad who coached her and always encouraged her to dream big. While basketball has always been her first love, she knows that it can’t give her everything she needs, and at 23, Madison is more than ready to find her forever.

My first takeaway is The Bachelor needs some sports savvy people on their intern staff, but that’s a battle for another day. Later in her bio it says that she, “would rather rock a cool pair of Jordans than any heel” so you know she’s like the coolest chick ever — amirite?

Most confusing job title — Kelsey, professional clothier

Maybe I’m just sheltered or uncultured, but I’m not sure what a professional clothier is. Are there levels of clothier that you must attain before being dubbed a “professional” clothier? Google was no help, either:

So, Kelsey professionally deals in clothes? Is this a fancy way of being an Instagram influencer? Previously, she won the title of Miss Iowa in 2017, leading to this gem in her bio: “Coming from the pageant world, Kelsey is an old pro at competing with other women, but don’t get it twisted, she’s not looking for drama.”

This means she 100 percent will have a mortal enemy in the house.

Most likely to unfairly be called a cougar — Natasha

The gorgeous Natasha has the audacity to be — gasp! — 31! This, naturally, will lead to one of the plethora of 23-year-olds calling her old or a cougar. Pilot Peter is reportedly 28 years old, so Natasha is by no means too old for him, but half of the ladies are 25 or younger, including two 22-year-olds.

Natasha wanting to create something called “Disco Yoga” certainly doesn’t help things, but she’s a bad ass party planner in New York City, so I’m a fan.

Most wide-ranging bio — Katrina

Whew we’ve got a lot to unpack here:

Feels pressure to get married because her younger siblings are, or about to be, engaged

Mentions biological clock ticking

A pro sports dancer from Chicago (her IG indicates she’s with the Bulls)

Has a hairless cat named Jasmine

SHE DRESSED LIKE HER HAIRLESS CAT FOR HALLOWEEN

View this post on Instagram

Happy Halloween from a Sphynx Cat and a Chiefs Cheerleader. ❤️ . #sphynx #sphynxkitten #sphynxofinstagram #ellenratemycat

A post shared by Katrina Badowski (@kbadowski) on Oct 31, 2017 at 7:35pm PDT

This is going to be a turbulent season, y’all. Let’s fly.

[antiquedinoboy-blog]

Im done and tired

I hate me so bad why can’t I just fucking die for once and all, I hate this so much I just want to rip off my skin as much as I can I hate it and I hate me for being born.

This was the opposite from all I wanted to go for, I said I didn’t want to be old and look at my teenage years and hate me but I can’t take it, I really fucking hate everything I am. I hate this body, I hate all the medical stuff I went and gotta go through and I wish I was just a normal dude playing fucking football and not having to stay in bed in recovery every two fucking weeks cause my genes decided to be a piece of shit the moment I was birthed into this fucking world.

And I wish I had friends, I know long distance friendships are important and I don’t mean any of the people I consider friends here to feel like I’m neglecting your importance, you mean a lot. Really.

But I wish I could go out more, I wish I could hang out with a couple of guys and just go weird ass shit, I wish when I got surgery there was a group of dudes waiting outside for me or entering the room to check if I was okay and entertain me or record me while I was high as fuck.

I wish I didn’t spend 24/7 connected to this goddamn phone cause it’s the only source of reassurance I got, and it’s the only source of friends I got, sure I wish y’all lived here but that’s not reality, nor my boyfriend lives here. And it fucking sucks. I don’t want to be a zombie attached but if I’m not talking then I’m not talking to anyone and I’m not getting creative and I really don’t feel like checking in a mental hospital rn. But I would be in a worse place. I have issues entering new places and groups but fuck I’m good at it, I just don’t feel comfortable in my skin to go out and introduce myself. And my voice, god I really envy the fucking mermaid.

I just wish I was a normal dude, that I didn’t have to keep fighting a lawsuit over a fucking error doctors did when I was born, I wish they just were like “wooo it’s a boy and he’s healthy and he has a thyroid ok go home” and that at the following ages of ten to still now I gotta go show doctors I’m okay, and the fact I can’t change my name until that’s over cause “they aren’t fighting for Elliot” but no, my dad doesn’t want to give this thing up. Then this...fucking surgery when all I wanted to do was fucking play hockey to be active and have friends, but no, fucking genetics comes and says “hey you got this like weird thing at the end of your spine and you gotta get it taken out” so I go, and it doesn’t recover well, gotta spend 2 years not doing shit of sports, then again a second time to see if it gets better and it’s over, but no it goes even worse this time. And now again and I swear to god I want it to be over cause it hurts, it feels weird and it’s enough already to hate myself that I gotta do this and wear a fucking sorta diaper sheet so I don’t bleed out. It’s probably the only reason I’m fucking top cause I can’t imagine anyone looking at my ass after all this.

I wish it was all over, I wish I could just be a normal kid, a normal guy, a normal gay guy, I wish my body was fucking functional and fine, and I wish I didn’t have to ask everytime if I’m manly enough or good enough.

Im tired, and I’m tired of waiting, and I’m tired of looking in the mirror and hating everything I see. I’m tired of laying around and having to rest. I’m tired.

I want my life to be normal and okay and all of this to be over, I wanna be a man and just end this. I hate it. I can’t just pray this away. I gotta keep going cause I promised my amazing boyfriend I wouldn’t relapse again but god it’s hard. Andnits hard to look down and seeing what I got to deal with.

I don’t want to trigger someone so I’m just going to stop, but this repeats again and I’m so tired and done.

And if tumblr keeps existing by the time I’m 25 or more, I’m sorry past Elliot, and I’m sorry I hated everything so bad, hopefully things get better and are better but I’m real sorry my dude, your teenage years fucking suck.

[travelerwithacause-blog]

The Culture of Kindness

Hello you beautiful humans and thank you for being rad enough to take the time to read my posts. I know that they’re nothing professional or marvelous, but I enjoy writing them. As it turns out, this is a fun, and semi-creative way for me to recall the “adventures” I’m having here.

As most of you know I have been volun-working at Missionvale Care Centre since July 3rd. Now let me tell you, I have loved every moment of my time here, but it is NOT what I had expected it to be. Upon my arrival at Missionvale I had all sorts of ideas and plans for what I wanted to do. Turns out those things are not the things that are needed at Missionvale. So I have abandoned any thoughts of doing things focused on nutrition or gardening; instead I have switched modes and focused on helping the Health Promotion Team with the things that they are doing. For example, they wanted to teach the young girls about their periods. So I helped! Definitely not something I ever thought I would help with, but I did! I actually ended up drawing a poster-size uterus for their class, and I am proud to say that it was laminated!!! It was quite entertaining attempting to draw such a large uterus and learning the names of everything in Afrikaans…kind of.

For those of you that are not so fortunate as to have experienced South African culture, I will tell you know it is truly wonderful, it is also quite relaxed and not always the most organized. That last word organized that’s where I begin to struggle. For any of you that know me and know how I like to work, you’ll know that I like things to be organized and planned out. That’s just not how things work here. It’s more like hurry up and wait to do something that’ll you will be told only moments before you do it. I will confess, I hated this when I first arrived and there are days that I struggle with it still, nevertheless it is teaching me and I am learning. What’s that saying that so many older adults have told me most of my life…patience is a virtue…yeah, I’m learning just how true that is. I feel though, that even if it makes me go slightly crazy, that it is good for me. It is something that I’m hoping to bring home with me. If only I could bring the relaxed pace as well; American’s seriously do need to learn how to slow down and just enjoy what they do and enjoy the life that they are living. So much of life passes us by without us even realizing it, it’s a real shame.

I feel very fortunate to be volun-working at Missionvale Care Centre. Waking up at 6:30 every morning and going in to cut loaves of bread in half may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but that’s just the start of the day. All good things come in time after a little bit of hard work. The good things that often times follow the 6:30 A.M. alarm are the smiling faces, the jokes, and the family in this community that I am obtaining. To be able to go into a place that just seven and half weeks ago was really quite unfamiliar to me and see faces that I know, friends that speak languages so different from my own and yet are patient with me as we work together to have conversations….the feeling cannot be put into words. This really is something that one must experience for one’s self in order to truly understand. Seeing familiar faces, that pick you out of all the volunteers just because the two of you have been working on words and sayings in Afrikaans and know that we must practice each day, oh man, my heart swells with love. Seeing the same kids at the end of the day, every day and becoming a human jungle gym and having seven amateur hairstylists all at once-it’s just perfect. I’m telling you guys, if you haven’t done something like this in your lifetime, you should really give it a shot. It doesn’t have to be for three months, a month even is great. You’ll make lifetime friends in a world so different from your own, it makes me mean a whole heck of a lot more! I pinky promise.

 Another rather important piece of South African culture is rugby. On August 19th I had the opportunity to attend my very first international rugby match, South Africa vs. Argentina. It was in the stadium here in Port Elizabeth that was built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. I’m pretty sure there were somewhere around 40,000 people at this match. It was PACKED! The vibes were so great throughout the whole match; watching the Springboks (S.A.) win 37-15, wooo, it was great. The rugby fans are about as good at the actual sport as well! South Africans in general, at least from my experience, are very kind people in general. Then bond together over a love a rugby and you basically have BFF status with everyone. One example of a South African rugby fan’s kindness can be described through a short story. I was able to take a good friend of mine with me to the match, afterwards we had a drink at a rad little place and then went on over to a restaurant called Flava. My friend happens to be best friends with a couple of the waitresses at this restaurant, so despite it being closed when we got there, we were still allowed to sit at a table and order wine and desserts. There was a table a three older men sitting at the table next to us, they had clearly been to the match and two of the three had enjoyed a few drinks. The oldest gentleman, and most sober, started chatting with us, asking about the match and all sorts of nice things. After a bit as our lovely waitress took our orders for our desserts, he decided that we needed a dessert platter for the two of us to share. He spoke to the chef himself and had it all arranged for us. At the end of the night when it came time for us to pay we found out that we only had to pay for our wine, the lovely gentleman had paid for our dessert platter and never said a word about it! It really was the cherry on top of a perfect evening.

Ahck! I nearly forgot to tell all of you about the Kasi Hop! The Kasi Hop was the evening before the rugby match. Back home there are often pub crawls or bar crawls. These are pretty normal and are usually for one thing or another; fundraisers, company bonding, shits and giggles, etc. The Kasi Hop is a “shabeen crawl”! A shabeen is the name for a bar in a township. *Quick history lesson: townships are the areas that black people were forced to move to during apartheid. People were forced to build shacks/homes out of whatever supplies they could find. Many blacks still live in the townships to this day.* Now, normally a white person wouldn’t be in a shabeen as it probably wouldn’t be terribly safe. Have no fear, the Kasi Hop is a very safe way for us young international (and mostly white) kids to experience the shabeens! A lovely lady named Joy organizes the Kasi Hop and hosts the group at her home where her and her parents provide a nice, South African dinner before going into the township of New Brighton to the shabeens. She has rules such as, no bags, cell phones, or cameras leave her house. She does this so that no one loses anything too important while in the townships, personally I think it’s smart and kind of her. We visited three different shabeens; the first two were quite similar, the third was very modern and yet it was nearly empty. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe it was more expensive, who knows. Our last stop was back to the first shabeen we went to, it was a little odd at first, but ended up being nice because we recognized some of the faces. We did manage to get the full shabeen experience when we went back though. These two guys started fighting and naturally a crowd gathered around them, then all of the sudden everyone back up and Joy’s brother came over to myself and another girl and told us that we had to back up “right now”. Not being able to see what exactly was going on, we were a bit confused. We finally got one of the people around us to tell us what was going on…as it turns out, one of the two guys in the fight pulled out a gun! It was a bit crazy. Not for a second did I find the situation scary, the locals didn’t really give me the chance to be scared. They protected all of us as if we were their own family. They knew that we were visitors and apparently that meant that we were going to receive extra protection. I’m not going to lie, it was incredible to see. All of these people, total strangers to us, putting us before themselves and not thinking twice about it. I mean, how often does that happen, how often do you or I think ‘that if something bad is going to happen, I’m going to protect the person next to me first?’-it was so amazing. It goes back to how kind the culture is here.

  Well folks, that’s it for now. Thanks for sticking with me on this journey. Each of you are amazing and I love you.

  Ubuntu.

[seethingballofhatred]

Ok ok ok hear me out here guys

I hate going to school.. not in the whole "uhg school is so boring" way, in the "i feel so much more productive at home" way. Now i do online classes in a school environment... And so far its been great and i feel accomplished again (its been great for my confidence since i almost dropped out wooo). Now. Because of this, i end up staying home alot more than i should... Because when im at school, it feels like i could be doing so much more at home. This drives me crazy honestly. I know that i do more AT school but i hate going. Every day im on auto pilot during the school day, not getting enough sleep, depression setting in and basically me going nuts. But when im at home, im happy, creative, i draw so much more (mostly because i cant draw at the school thing i go to kuse im expected to do my classes all morning). And in general, i can just do whatever i want to do... Now of course theres a reason im writing all of this...i kinda forgot what it was... But oh well... My dad cant stand this and thinks that im going to drop out if this keeps going on... And honestly im to stuborn to drop out... I dont care how far behind i could be, ill keep going. I know that i should be doing all of my classes at home because then ill ACCTUALLY do them... But i cant because theres to many distractions at home. But my school drives me nuts because i only have one thing to do that isn't fulfilling enough... . Basically i just dont know what to do because uhg...

[katrinadizzle-blog]

History Challenge for The Sims 3 Preparations :3

I’m officially gearing up to play the #historychallenge! I’ve decided I’m going to post lists of all the custom content finds I have found for this, by category, as soon as I get all the content showing up in my game (more on that later). For now, though, I’ve decided on the order I’m going to play in! Edited from the actual history challenge, but the same concept. :) From the Stone Age down are just general ideas, not flushed out, because the story hasn’t happened yet. :) 95% of my information comes from Wikipedia.

The Stone Age!

I plan to do a Flinstones-flavored cavemen game :) They’ll be concerned with survival and hunting/gathering and making babies :3 These sims will be nomadic and have two different lots, one for summer and one for winter (I plan to give them 3 seasons of winter, with only one season of summer). There’s also going to be a shaman in game (might make him a witch life state, but I also kind of wanted to play with werewolves here too, so Idk), as in my research these communities were often heavily concerned with religions involving animal worship. I might include some sort of bard--not sure yet. I have to leave some room in the household for the baby sims! xD

The Bronze Age!

I’m going to play a Greek civilization. Generally, they’re going to be concerned with developing knowledge, like logic, astronomy (aliens?!) and of course, reading and writing.

The Iron Age!

--Early-Middle: The Celtic Peoples! Concerned with tools and weapons?

--Late: Vikings! Concerned with ships and exploring! Island Paradise is going to come in handy here :) Also, might have some affiliations with mermaids.

The Middle Ages!

This is when I’m going to bust out my awesome castles and medieval furniture cc I’ve been hoarding (: Also, sadly, when my sims become dumb. ):

The Renaissance!

Fancy dresses CC! Creative skills will be emphasized here :)

The Old West!

Survival will be a big theme here too. Might have some civil rights issues played in here, but unsure.

The Industrial Age!

This is PROBABLY going to be my favorite age, because I love the CRAP OUT of the Victorian Age. Steam Punk style is going to be used heavily here, and I might use Aurora Skies here. Might do some sort of Frankenstein theme here, not sure :) Maybe I will play some women’s rights issues here? Unsure.

The Roaring 20s!

Excessiveness! Indulgence! Mixology is going to be awesome here. And Dancing. And woohoo. Somehow, I’m going to transition this into the Great Depression and have my sims be super poor and frugal toward the end.

The 50s!

When people are all WOOO MURICA and try to join the military due to that, and build skills based on that. Also, home skills improve here a lot because gender roles. Civil rights might be played here again. Unsure.

The Present Day!

No idea. Technology-driven? Gay rights? Unsure.

The Future!

Fancy future tech!!

I’m hesitant to play the issues not directly related to me or my culture due to appropriation issues, but I guess this kind of challenge does kind of lend itself to that. But, I’m going to try to be as accurate as possible--though, with my own twists! I’ll definitely be researching these cultures before playing them and try to include that in there, that way I can gain some empathy and hopefully share the things I’ve learned. That being said, I’m always open to corrections, so let me know if I mess up terribly and I’ll try to fix it :)