#(because then people like me do stupid stuff like this)

[mattrempeswife]

GAME MISCONDUCT

series: blue and blind hearts | part: 01 02 03 04 05 06

pair: quinn hughes x f!reader

genre: angst, slow burn, friends to lovers.

warnings: emotional angst, unrequited love, reader feeling like a second choice, mention of breakup, slow-burn tension, unresolved feelings, a soft but heavy confrontation.

summary: you try to move on, to create distance between your heart and the boy who’s unknowingly held it for years. but after his breakup with sophia, quinn finds himself unraveling and reaching for the only constant he’s ever had. the only person who’s always been there. you. but when he finally shows up at your door, you’re no longer sure whether you want to open your heart again or slam it shut for good.

fia’s notes: there’s no official taglist for this series, but if you’d like to be tagged just let me know!

You didn’t realize how quiet your apartment could feel until you came back from Vancouver.

The silence wasn’t just peaceful… it was hollow. Something was missing, and you hated that your brain automatically tried to fill the void with Quinn’s voice, his laugh, the sound of him opening your fridge like it was his own.

You hated even more that it had been over a week and he still hadn’t really reached out.

A simple, vague text ‘you okay?’ had arrived six days after you left, as if he were checking a box. You’d responded with a halfhearted, ‘yeah, just busy,’ and that was that.

But you weren’t busy.

You were avoiding.

Avoiding the ache in your chest that pulsed every time you remembered how Sophia looked at you like you were a threat. How Quinn didn’t notice. Or how maybe he did and just didn’t care.

You tried. God, you really tried not to care anymore.

But caring had become muscle memory. You didn’t know how to stop.

Quinn, meanwhile, was falling apart.

The media noticed first. Sloppy turnovers. Lazy shifts. Uncharacteristic mistakes. His skating still looked sharp, but his head wasn’t in the game. And when you’re the captain, people start to whisper.

His phone buzzed after practice one night.

Jack: What’s going on with you?

Quinn stared at the message. He didn’t respond.

What was he supposed to say? ‘I can’t think straight because I let the most important person in my life slip through my fingers and now I can’t breathe without wondering if she’s already forgetting me?’

Instead, he turned his phone face down and leaned back against the wall of his apartment, eyes closed, jaw clenched.

Sophia was gone. Her stuff too. She left three days ago, and it hadn’t sunk in until now. Until the silence started to sound like your voice instead of hers.

He didn’t remember the last time he felt this alone.

You got the text at 10:43 PM on a Wednesday.

Quinn: Can I call?

It wasn’t unusual for Quinn to call late. But something about this one made your stomach knot. You stared at the screen for a moment, then typed.

You: Everything okay?

His reply came fast. Almost too fast.

Quinn: No.

You didn’t even get to ask before the next message came in.

Quinn: Sophia and I broke up.

Your chest went still.

You read the text over and over, but it didn’t land. Didn’t feel real. This wasn’t how you wanted it to happen. You didn’t want to be the person he came crawling to because someone else decided to walk away first.

And yet, some small, stupid part of you still hoped.

Quinn: Can I come see you?

You didn’t answer.

Not that night.

Not the next day either.

But two days later, when you opened your front door and saw him standing there hoodie half-zipped, face tired, eyes softer than you remembered you knew it was too late to pretend.

You stepped aside silently.

He walked in without a word.

The tension filled the room before either of you said anything.

Quinn stood in the middle of your living room like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. You didn’t offer him a seat. You didn’t ask if he wanted something to drink.

You just… looked at him.

He looked smaller than usual. Not physically, but emotionally. Like the weight on his shoulders had finally started pressing down hard enough to show.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” he said quietly.

You swallowed.

“I didn’t think you’d come at all.”

He looked at you for a long moment.

“I should’ve come sooner.”

“You should’ve done a lot of things.”

The silence was sharp.

He nodded slowly. “I deserved that.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, trying not to fold under the way he was looking at you now like he was seeing you clearly for the first time. Like you weren’t just a safe place, but the place.

“She said I didn’t love her,” he said suddenly.

You blinked.

“Sophia?”

He nodded. “She said I loved someone else.”

You didn’t say anything.

“She said I looked at you like… like I couldn’t look away.”

Your throat tightened.

“And what did you say to that?”

“I didn’t deny it.”

A crack formed somewhere deep in your chest.

“I think I’ve always known,”

He said, taking a step toward you.

“That it was you. Even when I was with her. Even when you were smiling at me like I hung the moon and I was too fucking blind to see it.”

You let out a sharp breath. “Quinn, don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Don’t stand here and tell me you’ve always known. Don’t make this into some romantic realization just because your girlfriend left.”

“She didn’t leave because of you,” he argued.

“She left because you wanted me,” you shot back.

“Even if you didn’t know it yet.”

He didn’t respond.

You shook your head.

“You don’t get to show up and confess now that you’re lonely.”

“I’m not here because I’m lonely,”

He said, stepping closer.

“I’m here because I finally pulled my head out of my ass and realized what I’ve been doing to you. To us.”

“There is no ‘us,’ Quinn.”

His expression cracked. “There could be.”

You laughed, but it wasn’t kind.

“You think I didn’t spend years dreaming of that? Of this? Every time you made me feel like the only person in the room, only to go home to someone else? Every time I listened to you talk about your relationships like I didn’t already love you enough for both of us?”

Tears burned in your eyes, but you didn’t let them fall.

“You’re not allowed to make me your second choice after all this time.”

“I’m not,” he said, voice breaking.

“You’ve never been second. I just… I didn’t know how to face it. How to admit that the one person I can’t lose is you.”

You shook your head again, this time weaker.

“You don’t get to rewrite the past just because you’re ready now.”

He looked like he wanted to say something like there were a thousand apologies sitting on his tongue but none of them were enough. So he just stood there.

And you let the silence speak instead.

“I can’t be your rebound,” you whispered.

“You’re not.”

“I can’t be the girl you come to when things fall apart.”

“You’ve always been more than that.”

“I needed you to choose me,” you said, voice trembling.

“Before. When it mattered.”

His eyes filled with something you hadn’t seen in them before with regret, raw and real.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t see it sooner.”

You looked away. “I’m tired, Quinn.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know if I can do this again.”

He nodded, slowly. “I’ll wait. As long as it takes.”

You met his eyes again, and for the first time, he didn’t look like a boy with the world at his feet. He looked like a man who realized he could lose the only thing that ever felt like home.

You didn’t say yes.

But you didn’t ask him to leave, either.

And maybe, for now, that was enough.

[g1rld1ary]

let things go - ex!james potter x reader (kind of)

wc: 4455

summary: cleaning out your apartment so your boyfriend can move in, you come across a box of mementos and discover you're maybe not as over your ex as you thought | angst, swearing, problematic boyfriend (not james), lots of flashbacks, modern!magic!AU

me: this is maybe the angstiest fic i've ever written and i'm sorry that present james isnt in it, but i do have ideas for where his story could go, so if people like this i'm open to writing a second part! based off the song let things go from ordinary days!!

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You stared around your apartment, hands on your hips as you mentally prepared to make it your bitch. With Britney Spears’ Circus album playing and garbage bags at your disposal, you were sure you were ready.

You wondered how you could’ve ever considered the place not big enough for all your belongings, grimacing as you imagined the bomb-site it would soon become. But that’s why you were cleaning, right? For the greater good, because you deserve to live in a place not cluttered by trinkets and things stuffed in places they don’t belong. Or maybe because you’re boyfriend had decided he was moving in. Who could say, really?

You flung open a closet door, unimpressed at the mass of clothes seemingly defying physics to stay off the floor. My life has to be more than the sum of this… stuff you thought to yourself, turning your back on that. The closet was scaring you too much to start, you should pick something easier. You looked up at the bookshelf, teeming with novels you’d long since loved, and told yourself to grow up. Today was the day you started cleaning things out. Today was the day you’d start letting things go.

Hours later, you’d made a start and not much else. You stood in the centre of your bedroom, your whole entire history strewn across the floor. Fetched from a box deep in the back of your closet, a treasure trove of trinkets lay in front of you as you decided what you had to get rid of. Years-old planners, dog-eared postcards. Why was I even keeping these? You asked yourself, laughing at the ridiculous thought of you even holding onto frivolous mementos all these years.

But then you shot yourself in the foot. You almost saw it from an outside perspective, bending down, fingers dusting lightly over the various souvenirs until they curled around the planner, decorated with stickers and photos taped to the front. You recognised it immediately, the planner you had for seventh year.

Your stomach dropped as the memories smacked you in the face and you were on the floor before you knew it, furiously thumbing through the pages.

september 1st - first day of seventh year!

september 27th - hogsmeade date with james <3

october 5th - study with james 4pm

october 31st - halloween! common room party 8pm: make sure james’ costume is ready!!!!

november 23rd - sirius’ birthday party 8:30pm

december 25th - christmas at the potters! make sure gifts are here for effy and monty

january 1 - new years day!! to do: kiss jamie <3

february 14th - valentines day! date with james 7pm

april 9th - easter lunch with the potters

may 29th - graduate from hogwarts!! to do: start life with jamie

A year full of James; one of six knowing him in Hogwarts, one of four that you dated. Every other day had something involving James — help him with his essay, going to Hogsmeade with him, kiss him silly (god bless teenage hormones and being in love, why were you writing that in your academic planner?). Every new page and task brought back memory after memory of James and his dumb smile and your stupid dates and the whole relationship you thought would never end.

You snapped back into your real life, forcibly ignoring the water collecting at your lash line. You were fine, everything was fine. Your eyes strayed to a postcard, paper edges fraying and wearing thin from the amount of time you’d obviously spent re-reading and admiring it.

The design on the postcard was cute and kitschy, a vintage style beach picture with a sun lounger and palm tree. You remembered it instantly, receiving it in the post over the summer between your sixth and seventh year. You flipped it over with trembling hands, the familiar chicken scratch scrawl bringing a small smile to your face.

Hey lovie,

I am in Nice! We got in late last night and I’ve been exploring all day — remind me to show you the photos when I get back because it’s so beautiful here. We should come back here together next year.

Anyway, I’ve been walking around town and this older man asked if I fancied a shag — fancy that! I said no, thank you, I’m actually married, just to see how it felt (very good). I can’t wait to marry you when we’re older, gorgeous.

Mum and Dad are absolutely thrilled to be by the beach — I think they’ll be prunes by the time we get back to England! Will send you photos to laugh at in the next letter.

I love you!

James Potter (your future husband)

You sat for a minute, the postcard crumpling slightly from the tension between your fingers. Then, in a flash, you slammed the postcard down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling to stop yourself from crying.

You stashed the belongings back in the box, unwilling to look at them anymore but unable to throw them away. You just couldn’t get rid of all those memories. Still, you needed to clear out some room for Adam’s things, so you tentatively labelled the box ‘maybe’ to pretend you were considering getting rid of it all.

You exhaled emphatically, convincing yourself to think it over and throw it all out at the end of the day. Just after you did the rest of the room.

Things only got worse from there. You’d never thought of yourself as a hoarder of the past, but as soon as you were looking around your flat, you discovered decorative or sentimental items displayed on every surface, hidden in every drawer and cupboard. Birthday cards from years gone by, plastic souvenirs from monuments you’d travelled to, a pamphlet on Van Gogh from when your friend group went to France and wandered around the d’Orsay making fun of the paintings.

You shook your head, physically manifesting the negative thoughts leaving your head. You needed to clean all this shit out! You should’ve done it years ago.

But then you picked up a framed photo — the one that always seemed to fall face down whenever your boyfriend came around. It was your graduation photo, all your friends crammed in like sardines to fit in the shot. You were pressed into James’ side, his strong athlete’s arm wrapped snugly around you. Nothing else about the picture indicated you were a couple, which was how you rationalised keeping it up, but holding it now, you could feel all the memories rushing back to you like it had happened yesterday. The soft breeze, the smell of daisies from the grounds, your friends' beams, the feeling of James’ hands around you.

You could feel the sensation like it was current, but it all seemed like lifetimes ago. You’d seen James maybe once since your breakup, purely by accident, and it was like ripping your heart out all over again, like you were freshly eighteen and experiencing the first heartbreak of your life.

And to be honest, you could hardly remember the last time you’d even seen the rest of your friends. There was no picking sides, no ferocity or anger, but somewhere along the way, they’d faded from your life, much to your regret. Now, you spent most of your time with Adam. And Adam’s friends. Which was great.

Suddenly, you realised how much your life had changed. How much you’d changed. Adam didn’t even know you were a witch, for God’s sake!

Suddenly, the pictures weren’t just pictures, and souvenirs weren’t just hunks of plastic; they were proof that this life was yours — even if you hadn’t been living it for years. And you couldn’t let that go, you couldn’t dispose of the identity you’d just realised you’d lost. So back the trinkets went, returned to surfaces and shelves in pride of place. Small reminders that you were still who you always had been, even if you didn’t feel like it.

How did it happen? You’d torn up your apartment just to decide you couldn’t get rid of anything, painstakingly returning everything to its place.

Fuck! Adam. Adam still needed to move in —well, he still wanted to move in. So you still needed to find some room for his things. But surely he’d be fine? You could get creative, maybe move some of your mementos from out of the closet and into one of the cabinets in the hallway where Adam would never look, so you didn’t have to get rid of any of it. Or maybe some of your things could be stuffed into the spelled secret crevice where you kept your wand stashed whenever he came around.

You glanced at the clock on the wall. Adam would be over in fifteen minutes. Everything needed to go back in its place before he arrived, or all hell would break loose.

It was a known fact to you that Adam was jealous of James, even now. You’d met whilst the two of you were still dating, and Adam had, both before and after, always made comments about how you weren’t right for each other. It had irked you a bit whilst you and James were together, but then again, he was right, so… The point was, if Adam knew you were keeping all of these mementos that involved James, he’d flip.

Half an hour later, Adam arrived.

“Hey, Babe,” He unlocked the door with the key you’d given him free access to a few weeks ago, “Turn that shit off, it’s trashy.” He followed the statement with a kiss, which confused your senses. You nonetheless got up to switch off the music, changing it to an album you knew you could both enjoy, something he’d introduced you to.

“So did you clean out some of your stuff?” He fell onto the couch next to you, reaching to turn on the television. You watched him reach for the remote, sighing as you turned off the music.

“Uh, kind of,” You hesitated, searching for the right words, “I moved some things around. I’ll still have to do some work on it, but I’m sure we’ll have space!”

“Babe,” He groaned, putting an arm around the back of the couch, sitting just disconnected from your skin. “I’m moving in in a few weeks, we’ve gotta get this stuff ready. I know you’re a ‘feeler’, but it’s just stuff, you have to make compromises for me.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” You shifted in your seat, eyes glued to the television screen where Adam was clicking through programs, “It’s all just got sentimental value to me. It’s hard to get rid of any of it. But I’ll try, I promise.”

“What about I just do it? I’m sure I can put a bunch of papers and plastic snow globes in the bin.”

“No!” You said, too fast. “It’s okay, I’ll have another try and be stricter with myself. It’s just the first time I’ve looked at any of this stuff in a while. Memories, you know?”

“I get it, Babe, but we have new memories now. And we’ll make more. You don’t need a shitty hunk of plastic from eight years ago.” You made a noise of agreement, not wanting to get into any more detail about what the ‘hunks of plastic’ really were.

After the talks of moving in and cleaning out moved on, your night really was nice. Adam helped you cook some dinner, and you turned on a film he’d been talking about for a few weeks, but something still felt wrong.

You could tell Adam expected to stay over, a fair assumption, and was being touchy enough that you knew what he wanted. To your own dismay, your body was rejecting his advances, knee twitching when he laid his hand on it, subconsciously leaning away when he cuddled in or nuzzled into your neck. You didn’t want to, but everything felt wrong in the moment.

“Hey, um, I think I’m getting my period or something, my stomach feels really weird. Do you mind if we call it here?” It was a cheap shot, you knew, but also not necessarily a lie — your stomach was feeling queasy.

Adam looked at you for a minute, and you weren’t sure if his knitted brows were for concern, confusion or judgment. Probably all three.

“Sure, I guess. Do you need, like, a hot water bottle or something?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll take a painkiller and see if it gets worse. Thanks, though.”

You accompanied him to the door, apologising again softly as he pulled on his shoes.

“It’s fine, I’ll see you soon. Love you,” He said, crossing the boundary outside of your flat. You hummed in agreement, leaning up to press a kiss on his lips.

“Bye,” You murmured, shutting the door softly as he took off. You leant against the door, a sigh escaping you.

You suddenly felt like you were in a video game, anything from your life before Adam illuminating in a glow, calling your attention to them. You stumbled through the apartment, buzzing from photo to souvenir to memento in a haze of memories.

It all came to a head in your bedroom, a box half full of things that didn’t fit in other places still sitting in the middle of the room. You sank to your knees, unable to stop yourself from immersing yourself in the years of memories you were unlocking.

You felt like you were waking up from a dream, a whole reality fading in and out of existence, the pathways of your life splintering as you looked back on where they all diverged. At what point did you make the decision that put you on this specific path? Was it worth it?

You picked up a folded paper flower from out of the box, being taken back to the day you received it.

It was the winter of fourth year, just after the Christmas holidays. The grounds of Hogwarts were covered in a blanket of crisp snow, something that most students found beautiful and calming, but you thought it was isolating, suffocating.

“What’s up, grump?” James approached your spot in the bay window of the library, staring vacantly out at the pristine white grounds. You looked up in surprise, a small smile gracing your lips.

“Just putting off my charms essay, waiting for spring to come,” You sighed. This wasn’t a new problem; all of your friends were well aware of your aversion to winter, but it didn’t mean it ever got better.

“Right,” James laughed quietly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, “Well, I, uh, made this to help you feel better?” It came out as way more of a question than he obviously intended, causing a rosy blush on his cheeks as he revealed a paper folded flower from behind his back.

“Potter? What is this?” You asked in delight, reaching out with delicate fingers to cradle the flower in your hands.

“My mum taught me how to make them over the holidays. I thought it’d make you happy over the winter ‘cause they won’t die.” You beamed, looking up at James with bright eyes.

“That is so cute! Thank you, James.” You went to turn back to the window, thinking the conversation was over, when James cleared his throat awkwardly.

“This might be weird or whatever, so, like, don’t even worry, but would you maybe want to go to Hogsmeade with me next time?”

“Aren’t we all going together in a few weeks?” You asked casually, not fully catching on to what James meant.

“Um, yeah, but I meant just the two of us? Like a date?” James was looking anywhere but at you, a stark difference from his usual cocky, borderline obnoxious demeanour.

“Oh!” You broke out into a wide smile, nodding before you could even get the words out, “Yeah, I’d really like that!”

“Cool,” James replied, sporting his own dorky grin. “Awesome. Amazing! Can’t wait.”

“Yeah,” You agreed, a little awkward but excited nonetheless.

“Yeah.” You and James stared at each other for a moment, unsure of where to go from there. “I’ll see you at dinner then!” He waved quickly, practically leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

You watched him go, a smile still lingering on your lips. James Potter just asked you out on a date! Fancy that!

You and James had dated for the second half of fourth year, fifth through seventh year, and made it eight months after you graduated. That was a significant period of your life, pretty much all of your adolescent memories were inseparably associated with James. You put down the flower, carefully preserving it amongst the other items.

You felt a bit like a madwoman, throwing your things across the floor, jumping from memory to memory like you were a starving man coming across food for the first time.

Even the clip in your hair was a gift from him, coincidentally, the same night you met Adam for the first time.

“Here, lovie, got you a clip so you don’t have to have it in your eyes while you’re dancing.” James approached you from behind, offering you the claw clip before wrapping his arms around your middle, smoothly joining in the group’s conversation.

“Is that where you went?” You asked with a happy gasp, reaching around James to quickly put your hair up. You’d been complaining for the last hour since your group had started dancing as opposed to sitting and chatting, your outfit not quite prepared for the occasion.

“Prongs is so pussy-whipped he went to a chemist for a clip on a night out,” Sirius barked out a laugh to Remus, who just rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Forgive me for loving my beautiful girlfriend?” James asked with a spoonful of sass, placing a kiss on your cheek.

An hour later, you were dancing with the girls, carefree as you threw your arms around in the air. Lily nudged you at one point, gesturing just beyond where the boys were crowding near the bar to where another man was watching you. It wasn’t necessarily intimidating or threatening, but you were unused to attention after being so associated with your relationship for so many years. You accidentally made eye contact with him, sparing him a half smile, unsure of what the proper protocol was.

You’d long forgotten about the man once a Kesha song came on, getting lost in the music with your friends.

About an hour later, you were slowly making your way up to the bar for another drink when the man returned, approaching you with a charming smile.

“Hi, I’m Adam. You’re stunning,” He said, taking you aback with his directness.

“Oh, uh, hi. Nice to meet you,” You introduced yourself, strangely reserved.

“Are you here by yourself?” Adam asked, subtly shuffling closer. You leant back, shaking your head.

“No, I’m here with some friends. And that’s my boyfriend over there.” You pointed James out as he laughed at something Marlene said.

“That guy? No way.” Adam shook his head confidently, laughing in a way that had you a little confused. What was funny about that? When you voiced that thought, he tried to soften his statement, backpedalling a little in a way that amused you. “Sorry, it’s just… You are way out of his league. I mean that guy? He looks like every typical high school film jock who has muscles for brains. Like, does he have independent thought skills?” He said it like a joke, but you weren’t sure it was funny.

“James is really smart, actually. Always got top grades in school,” You replied, voice soft but determined.

“Oh, you guys went to school together? High school sweethearts?” Adam had totally changed his tune, maybe because he could see that you didn’t think insulting your boyfriend was entertaining. Still, you nodded brightly, choosing to believe the best in him.

“Yeah, we’ve been dating since I was fourteen! We’re going on four years.” You glowed with pride, eyes straying over to James, who was starting to notice where you were.

“So you’re fresh out of school, huh?” You nodded slowly, suddenly aware that he could be decades older than you. Well, maybe you were being a little dramatic.

“How old are you?” Adam was twenty-four, as he told you, which did surprise you slightly, though you tried not to let it show. In the real world, that’s not crazy, right? Maybe you were still adjusting to being out of Hogwarts.

“Hi, lovely, who are you talking to?” James approached you both, his hand snaking around your waist.

“This is Adam. We were just chatting.”

“Hey, mate.” They exchanged identical greetings, a strange tension growing.

“Your girlfriend’s just been raving about how great you are, mate. You’re a very lucky man.”

“I know,” James said, jaw tensing in a way that was equal parts concerning and sexy.

“Well, it was nice meeting you!” You chirped, pulling away to end the conversation now that James was beside you.

“Yeah, you too, honey. I hope we meet again soon.” You nodded after a slight pause, waving politely as James led you back to your comfort zone and your friends.

“Well, who knew little miss wifed-up still had it?” Remus laughed, giving you an impressed nod.

“Hey, I thought we all knew I was gorgeous,” You joked, tossing your hair dramatically, “But seriously, if I have it, I do not want it.”

It wasn’t until later that you’d met Adam again and struck up a friendship which eventually evolved into a relationship, beginning to bond right before the start of the demise of your and James’ relationship.

God, you felt like your world was beginning to crash down around you, memories you’d had locked away for years resurfacing the second you laid eyes on a corresponding memento.

Everything was too suffocating; you needed to get out. Stumbling around your room, you pulled on some outside clothes, lacing up your shoes as you hopped down the entryway.

Walking down the street, you immediately felt a bit calmer, the crisp air sending shocks through your system and bringing you back down to earth.

With a little more sense in your head, the reality of your feelings began to set in. Regardless of how satisfied you were with your current life, which was something you were simultaneously beginning to reconsider, you missed your old life. In particular, you missed your friends.

Though James was obviously a massive part of your life and dominated most of the souvenirs you’d held onto, you’d had the same friendship group for six years of school. They rounded out every memory, filled the time between classes at school, and helped shape you into who you’d become as you grew into adulthood.

And somehow, somewhere along the way, you’d lost contact with them. Obviously, you hadn’t caught up with James since the breakup (with the exception of the single most awkward interaction of your life) because you were so heartbroken and shattered, but you’d tried not to let it impact your friendships.

Sirius was the first to go, of course, just because he was so close to James, and the other boys followed not too long after, torn between the rift. The girls held on for a bit longer, and you would tentatively say you were still friends today, but the intervals between your catch-ups got longer and longer each time. No bitterness, at least on your part, but you were all busy leading different lives.

Suddenly, it clicked how long it really had been since you’d seen your friends, and how it had steadily declined ever since Adam. Maybe it was just because you were already emotionally distraught, but doubts began to creep in about Adam. The way he’d behaved even before your breakup, his refusal to hang out with your friends after, and insisting you hang out with his friends all the time despite them not really liking you. It felt like something was beginning to add up, but you weren’t sure how to finish the equation.

With shaking hands, you fished your phone out of your pocket, searching through your contacts for a number you hadn’t called in far too long.

“Hello?” The voice on the other side asked, gentle confusion evident.

“Lily?” You asked, voice wavering as relief washed over you at the familiarity.

“Are you okay? Is something wrong?” Lily asked immediately, the intricacies of your speech pattern coming back to her in an instant.

“Are you free to talk for a bit?”

“Um, yeah, of course! Remus is with me right now. Do you want to be on speaker? Or I can go into a different room.” You said it was fine, the desire to hear his voice overpowering in your heart.

“Hi, dove. Been a while,” He said softly, and you could see the expression he was making despite it being a voice call.

“Yeah, sorry,” You choked out, tears beginning to spill again. Without further ado, you began to spill everything. All of the conflicting thoughts and feelings that had stirred within you in the span of a single day. You told them about Adam rushing you to let him move in before you were maybe ready (you’d never said that out loud before), finding the box of memories you’d forgotten had even existed, and the deep, deep longing for the past you’d felt ever since.

When you were finally finished you’d cried out all the water left in your body, but you felt monumentally lighter, even if it was just because Lily and Remus at least knew how much you loved and missed them.

As you began to trail off, worries less prominent, your friends sat in silence on the other side of the line.

“Do you think I’m broken?” You asked, voice ragged from your monologue and the accompanying tears.

“I think,” Lily said, “You need to come over tonight.”

[inbabylontheywept]

so i was having fun going through your lore tag, reading stories. most of them I read out-loud, cause reading tumblr posts to my not-tumblr husband is how i show love. the gopher-boming one brought me to tears with laughter cause of the vivid imagery and as someone who also grew up in arizona I know exactly the kind of person your grandfather was to hate gophers and cactus with such a passion. after all, i had several family members like that too. It's also been pretty neat realizing you're the guy behind a bunch of other posts I'd loved. the raw eggs one, the zombie chili garlic mint coco, the shoe incident. this was like christmas, finally overcoming my dumbass inability to recall names and faces that extends to usernames and avies in a way that blessed me with knowing it was YOU that cut all those worms in half and cried in a tree about it as a six year old. this has been fucking awesome.

anyways i started getting into your more recent stories and having fun with those, because well my husband is in the air force. so telling him stuff like the soviet pigeons one just had him nodding along solemnly as he is quite aware of the bullshit that goes on in government buildings. especially classified ones. as I got into the fridge hording one that mentioned you working on MISSILES - he realized something. there was a gasp from my side, and when i looked over a sort of dawning horror? delight? possibly both. and he said "oh my god. i've probably fucking met that guy. they do tours of the bases. oh my god" and I suddenly remembered that oh yeah, there's only like four places in the country people like you and he can work on that job.

when i reminded him you were in Utah now with that "woman that gunned it into the curb as was foretold" story he closed his eyes slowly in again the sort of realizing-and-coming-to-grips-with-that way. like he was remembering the stupid shit I'd been reading him since last night and hyper-aware that he's shook your hand at least once. he said there's no way hes ever going to meet those groups of you guys again without wondering which of them is babs. he's going to start complimenting their shoelaces. he's going to be thinking about the butter duck sculpture every time. and then he went to get his hair cut since its been out of regs for like a week

im not going to describe my appearance more than my abundance of cowlicks i mentioned before but he's gonna know when he meets babs. its not subtle.

[chebyshevptera]

alright. can I just say how fucking ecstatic I am that , so far, Jay’s character arc has nothing to do with revenge? this was one of my biggest worries before the season came out. that they would make him so spiteful and obsessed with hurting ras and nya and anyone else who wronged him, simply because he needs revenge

but they didn’t do that. they didn’t revolve the beginning of his arc around other people, but instead around himself. he made inventions, new attire, a name for himself and his abilities … he never went after ras for his own desires, never targeted nya when he saw her, because he’s not focused on other people and what they’ve done to him. sure, he’s definitely still harboring some anger, but it’s not what he’s centered on. for five years, jay did things for other people. his job at the administration (and we now know that he wasn’t truly slacking on his job, he remembers EVERYONE and where he sent them to, i choose to believe that he was overworked trying to keep things organized), then working under ras and allowing him to control his life . jay hasn’t had this sense of freedom before, and we all know that freedom is important to jay, it always has been . he’s thriving and i think that’s fucking amazing

it kind of brings me back to what he said in season 2 of ninjago, where he talks about how he wants to get back into inventing now that the overlord has been defeated, but then he just never really gets to because he continues his duties as a ninja . well … now he’s not a ninja, he’s not bound to anyone, and he’s allowed to do stuff that he wants. stuff for himself

does he absolutely go after ras like a menace and keep getting himself into stupid situations? yes, but it’s not for revenge. he could be a little excited to prove himself to ras, that feels likely to me, but it’s not why he’s doing it. he’s trying to get his bag and i support that.

i love you so much , jay. here’s to hoping you get to invent again, here’s to hoping you’re as useful as ever, here’s to hoping you continue to be the ideas guy , and here’s to hoping you get to find yourself and aren’t pushed into into this box of what people believe you to be ever again

[perreqult]

THE ‘COUGAR TYPE’ ✶ will smith

summary: will shoots his shot with an older woman (fork found in kitchen)

word count: 1.6k

contains: drinking, swearing, cougars (me core), think that’s it

notes: written by a ‘cougar in progress’ ™. also this is unedited so don’t expect this to be good at ALL.

“Who are you staring at?” Macklin asks, searching around to find who Will’s gaze landed on. He spots you, sipping a coors light, leaning up against a wall with your friends.

“Oh God.” He mumbles, knowing exactly what Wills thinking. “Are you seriously going to go try and flirt with her?” Macklin teases, looking over to Will and laughing, placing his hand on Will’s shoulder. Will’s face flushes and pushing Macklin’s arm right off of him.

“Fuck off.” Will tells him, rolling his eyes. “You do know she’s probably just gonna tell you ‘No.’ as soon as you walk over there, right?” Macklin says, teasing him and placing his arm on him once more.

“You..You don’t know that!” He says, probably louder than he should’ve because a few people around them turn their heads for a moment.

“Okay. Sure, go shoot your shot.” Macklin jokes to him, lifting his hands up and sighs. “It’s gonna be really funny when she immediately turns you down.” Will continues to roll his eyes with every word out of Macklin’s mouth.

“Wait! I need to go get Ekky, he’ll be laughing his ass off.” He runs off, bringing his other teammate back to where Will is standing, pondering thoughts.

“Macklin, what?” Eklund says through slurred words, as Macklin clearly didn’t tell him the reason to be brought over here. “Will wants to go hit on this girl. He seriously thinks he’s got a chance.” He tell him through giggles.

“Ok, number one; don’t point at people, that’s rude, number two; who cares?” Eklund sighs out, lecturing Macklin like he’s his mother.

“Okay, but even you know he doesn’t have a chance!” He says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Who are we even talking out?” Eklund asks, looking around.

Macklin points over to you and Eklund just laughs. “Oh yeah, Macklin’s right.” He tells Will, patting him on the back.

“What?” Will practically jumps up, breaking his silence, “How do you know?” He asks, worry covering his face. “I met her a while ago, her sister does social media stuff for the team.” He says, answering his question.

“She’s older than you—” Eklund says, trying to continue but being cut off. “Okay? That doesn’t matter.” Will says defensively. “Yeah, I don’t think she’s the cougar type is all.” He replies, backing up and throwing his hands up. Macklin is having a ball as he’s laughing in the most obnoxious way he could.

“Okay I don’t really care what you guys say. Fuck off.” He sighs and pouts and pushes his drink into Macklin’s chest and makes his way over to you.

The last thing you remember is your friends making a stupid joke about some stupid movie that came out recently, disassociating from the conversation completely. You snap back into reality when you hear what sounds like a 17 year olds voice.

“Uh, hey.” Are the words that draw your attention as you look over. It’s a kid. Looks—what, 18? not this shit again. “Hey.” You give a dry response and you can see the light in his eyes practically disappear.

“Trash ass party, huh?” Hey jokes nervously, trying to save his terrible introduction. “Yeah, why are you here? You’re not dressed like a frat boy but you have the look of one.” You joke to him and jester to his outfit which isn’t the typical frat attire.

“Yeah I uhh.. I get that a lot.” He says, continuing your joke. Just by the way he acts you can tell he doesn’t get told that a lot, but he’s clearly trying to save your awkward conversation.

“So what’re you? 18? Or do you just look like a child?” You ask. He gets flustered and looks down like he’s embarrassed before he says anything. “Oh, no.. um I’m actually 20.” You seriously don’t believe him.

“Are you joking?” You laugh out. “What? No. I really am.” He sputters out, embarrassed. “Uh I have my license I’m not lying.” He tells you, fishing into his pocket and pulling out his wallet and license.

Sure enough, “WILLIAM SMITH— 3/17/2005– EYES: BLUE— HGT- 6’-0–”You’d stopped reading at that point, not caring all too much about his address.

“Your name is Will Smith?” You ask, looking up at him. “Yeah. More common of a name than you’d think.” He jokes with a nervous chuckle. He does seem genuine but you can’t help but laugh.

“That must be inconvenient.” You tease, giggling through your words. He blushes as he lets out a flustered laugh.

“Now that you’ve interrogated me about my age, think I could learn yours?” He asks, trying to be smooth but seeming like anything but that with his beet red face.

You tell him your age, name, where your from, basically everything that is included in a conversation. You do happen to notice—what look to be— his friends staring over at you.

“Those your friends?” You ask, gesturing your hand towards a brunette laughing his ass off and someone familiar— maybe you met him through your sister or something— laughing along with him.

Will whips his head back and you can’t tell he wants to rip his hair out when he sees them. “Oh.. um, yeah. They’re my friends but they act sorta weird sometimes— I’m sorry.” He says, embarrassed.

“Why don’t you bring ‘em over here? That brown haired one seems wasted. I’m dying to meet him.” You say, looking over at them both belly laughing.

“Oh, oh ok.” He tells you before darting off to go bring them over to where you’re standing. You can see him grumble something into the brunettes ear looking pretty serious.

“So um.. this is Macklin” He nudges the brunette one. “And this is Will but we just call him Ekky.” You chuckle. “Yeah, I know him. At least i think I do— ‘looks pretty familiar.”

There’s an awkward setting of silence before Macklin soon breaks it.

“So are you like a cougar or what?” Macklin asks you drunkenly, slurring it all together. Will gets even more red—if that were even possible— and elbows Macklin in the stomach. “Ekky” just laughs, spurring out some of the drink he was sipping on.

“Oh wow, that was bold.” You joke to him, acting fake surprised. He quickly replies, “Well are you?” He asks before taking another sip of his drink, probably his second or third by the way he’s acting.

“From time to time.” You answer, looking over to Will as you say it. Macklin and Eklund look like they’re trying to resist the urge to burst out into laughter when they see Will’s nervous expression.

“Macklin how about you.. go sit down or something?” He tells him, clearly just wanting him out of there. He looks like he’s about to protest but walks away slowly, rolling his eyes.

“I, will go watch him.” Eklund slurs out, pointing to Macklin, who’s stumbling around the room, confused and dazed.

“Yeah, when I said they were weird I wasn’t really lying.” Will tells you, looking back at them, Macklin waving goodbye to you.

“I mean they’re definitely funny.” You giggle out, waving back at Macklin before Eklund smacks his hand down and drags him to a couch.

“You’re pretty funny too, kid.” You point out before finishing your drink, reaching your arm around to discard it on the table behind you.

He practically explodes hearing this but try’s to keep his composure, he fails terribly, a flustered grin spreading across his face. “Cute, too” You continue, smiling at him.

Will intended to say something but the words were stuck in his throat. When he finally musters up something it’s something stupid, “Oh.. um, thanks.” He wants to die. A hot girl that thinks he’s funny just said he’s cute and that was all he could say? He squints his eyes out of embarrassment.

“This party’s lame. I’m heading home.” You say plainly, yawning, patting down your pants to make sure you had your phone.

“Oh.” He says, disappointed, trying to hide it but yet again, failing miserably.

“It’d be a little less lame if I left with your number.” You say, waiting for him to process what you just said. Just like you expected his eyes almost pop out of the sockets, and he fumbles with his pocket before pulling out his phone.

“Uh here.” He tells you as you two exchange phones, saving eachother’s contacts. “Um.. thanks.” He sputters out. He thinks that was even worse than his response to when you called him cute.

“I’ll see you around sometime, kid. Don’t let my number go to waste.” You tell him, bidding him goodbye as you walk out with your friends. He just waves, too nervous to say anything back.

“That was an all star level performance, Smitty. Didn’t know you had that in ya.” Eklund says, leaning over his shoulder behind him. “He barely even said anything!” Macklin replies, wrapping his arm around Will’s shoulder, teasing him.

“Shut up.” He just says, tired and heart still beating out of his chest, removing Macklin’s arms from his shoulder and gently shoving Ekland off of him.

12:17 PM — next day

Do you think you’d let a kid take you out on a date?

↳ is he a cute guy with blue eyes and blond curls? if so sign me up

[hyunjining]

(so sorry if any of this comes out as sarcastic/mean its not)

So like I've never been into kpop or celebrity stuff or anything (aka my blorbos are only fictional characters) but youve shown up on my dash a couple times recently and you seem like a chill person to ask so like- What's the like *vibe* with fandoms like these? Like whats the interesting part about these people to u thats enough to make a whole blog about them? Ive heard about people shipping them like theyre characters so it is that?? Is it the people themselves? Is it just the pretty factor? I'm assuming its not just the songs cuz ive seen a lot of fanfics n fandom stuff that are about the *people* instead n its made me really curious cuz i dont think I get it?

well, as someone who’s been in fandoms for real people for like 15 years at this point, i feel pretty qualified to answer this lol. the music is of course a big factor, at least for me. i wouldn’t closely follow anyone if i didn’t love their art. but i do love them as people too.

in the case of kpop, the industry puts a big emphasis on fan interaction and fanservice, and as a result there’s a lot of content that revolves solely around getting to know the idols (variety shows, vlogs) and forming a parasocial bond with them (fancalls, direct messaging, public forums that idols can comment on). which of course can be a bad thing, and kpop fans can get uniquely extreme about it, but my personal philosophy is always to treat artists as human beings and not assume that i know everything, because i obviously don’t.

anyway, with stray kids specifically, i really admire that they’re one of the few self-produced kpop groups and they all seem to have a genuine passion for making music and performing. they have a strong familial bond; they’re all very unique, strong personalities, and yet they come together so beautifully to pursue a common goal. the common goal being making really fucking good music that spans multiple genres.

they’re extremely funny and it’s a riot watching them bounce off each other. they’re literally all weird and insane in the best ways possible. they’re not perfect, they’ve messed up, but i think they’ve demonstrated that they have good hearts and they genuinely care about others. they try their best to make everyone feel welcome in their space, and they have a deep love and appreciation for their fans. and yes, they are outstandingly beautiful and just looking at them is gratifying in and of itself lmao.

in terms of shipping and fanfics, well. stray kids is a goldmine. lots of constant homoerotic tension between various pairings, which of course they play up in a fanservice way, but underlying all the messing around are very real bonds of love. and that’s all in addition to some very intentional and repeated queer-flagging from some members. but like generally they just love each other so much and it’s so palpable in everything they do that it’s just fun to explore the possibilities i guess. i can’t really speak for other idol groups, but that’s the deal with skz.

ultimately, i guess i would say the vibe of stanning idols is just… gushing over vlogs and ig posts and photoshoots and messages and getting really hyped about new music. but also worrying that they’ll fuck up because they’re human. and worrying about their wellbeing because the idol industry and fandoms can be absolutely brutal. and seeing a million fanwars a week about which group charts the best and sells out the most stadiums, but also about even stupider, more inconsequential things. but overall, if you curate your experience, it can be a lot of fun. i hope that answers your questions even a little bit lol, that kind of became me just raving about stray kids.

[lastofthewardens]

SPOILERS i'll probably be talking about mostly foggy but also some other things so read at your own risk

alright. i said i'd wait until the end of the season to be mean, but now the season is over, and i have no reason to care or be cautious anymore.

i'm the most livid about the foggy stuff so i'm going to start there.

last week, when they revealed vanessa ordered the hit, i was pretty hopeful. but i thought about what this episode could look like over the past week, and i decided my worst case scenario was if it was confirmed that vanessa specifically wanted foggy dead. if that happened, it was over, and i wasn't going to let them fuck with my emotions anymore. that was my line in the sand.

and so here we are. because vanessa ordered dex SPECIFICALLY to kill him.

i really don't think, after seeing that finale, that foggy is coming back. i already didn't after watching the way they chose to film his death scene, but against my better judgment, i let myself believe as the season went on, especially this past week, and i wish i had just kept the same energy the whole time now because this hurts way more.

but i'm also kind of glad i didn't because it makes me more angry too.

i've said it before, but they've been outright cruel in the way they've handled things with foggy. they've laughed about wrecking everything, they've done really weird interviews saying frankly really weird things, they've directly teased brubaker on social media..

the most cruel part though, to me at least, is adapting foggy's fake "death" from the brubaker comics without it being fake. filming the scene with similar or at least comparable shots, the matt hearing his heartbeat stuff, having it be an ordered hit, having matt think fisk was behind it only to reveal it was vanessa, having all the necessary characters and puzzle pieces around, using so much of that plot.. and then stopping short of having foggy be alive. THAT'S fucked up.

they have, i believe intentionally if i'm being honest, strung foggy fans along for most of this season. they had to know they were inviting brubaker theories, they had to know people would hope, speculate, wish for an adaptation of the secret life of foggy nelson. there's no way they didn't know exactly what they were doing when they chose these plot points.

i complained about the "maybe i didn't want to give you an excuse" line back when it happened because it doesn't make sense for foggy to be complaining about daredevil anymore given where the original show left off. and even after how stupid it already was, they somehow managed to make this line even worse too?

because karen told matt that foggy saw the true matt, light and dark, matt/daredevil/etc, and believed in him anyway. so what the fuck was that line of dialogue from episode 1 then? lmao. WHY did they have him say THAT, especially as his last words to matt EVER? i allowed myself to hope that if foggy was alive, that line would be out of context, that maybe he knew the red hook stuff was connected to fisk, and he was hiding it because of the deal matt made with fisk/not wanting matt to potentially accidentally break their truce. in that case, the dialogue could be referring to not wanting to give matt an excuse (to break the truce). but no, he had no idea about any of that, he thought it was a random truck robbery apparently and had no clue what he stumbled into lmao. great.

the only explanation i can think of is that they had foggy say that because it assisted the plot. they wanted matt to feel bad and just did it, and then by episode 9, they probably forgot because it made no sense to begin with. that's part of the problem this show has btw. so many lines of dialogue and other stuff is entirely dictated by the plot or wanting to sound cool or be quotable rather than anything that makes sense for the characters. i'm still not fucking over "my mistake was believing i was immune to the darkness". what a wildly bad misread of the character, just a horrible line of dialogue. i don't know if there's any basis for that in other materials that i haven't seen, but in the netflix show iteration of this character, matt knowing he's got darkness inside is half the plot, dude.

speaking of character assassination though. cole n*rth is probably going to go through some weird redemption plot next season i'm sure, but uh. wow. the things they've done with him have certainly been a choice.

and kirst*n mcd*ffie.. hoo boy. she's one of my top 5 favorite characters in the comics. i see the potential in her scenes, but they wasted her the whole time and barely gave her anything, and i'm annoyed as fuck about that too. i would've loved to see this actress play her alongside matt and foggy like in the comics (and being able to include karen could've been fun).

i also just want to say.. i'm a mattfoggy first and foremost, i'm sure anyone reading my posts can gather that, it's very obvious. but i'm also a fan of matt x karen, it's my second favorite ship after mattfoggy. and in a world where foggy wasn't dead, i'd be glad to see them work it out, but. watching them use foggy's death as a prop to make that happen makes me mad as fuck. foggy deserves better, i think foggy fans probably feel that way, but i think matt x karen also deserves better than that. and while i understand people do bond over these things, the way they did it here just felt weird to me. i've felt this way since "i refuse to believe a tragedy had to destroy everything", which is something the real matt would NEVER say about foggy nelson being dead. comics matt and even netflix matt would NEVER. and the scenes about it tonight only made me feel that more.

some of those scenes also gave me the impression they think they can just replace foggy with karen, which will never be okay. karen is her own person with her own personality and her own function in the narrative. neither of them can replace the other, that's not how it works.

like the scene where karen tells matt how foggy felt about him.. why her telling him that? it literally makes sense, i guess, but why? why not have a foggy hallucination at some point express those things? or even when he's 'dying' after taking the shot for fisk, he could've talked to foggy if he's really dead? or even a foggy who came back from being dead! because those words would've meant a lot more after a foggy is alive reveal! karen telling him that stuff couldn't possibly have the same impact as foggy saying it after "maybe i didn't want to give you an excuse". (a stupid line of dialogue, yes, but if they chose to roll with it anyway and try to explain it away). can you imagine after matt thinks foggy hated daredevil, he reluctantly picks up the mask against "foggy's wishes", only for foggy to eventually come back and tell him he knows him and believes in him?

i've said it before and i'll say it again, this show, EVEN THE NEW EPISODES BY THE NEW TEAM, is mostly just missed opportunities: the show.

also i clocked the clumsy attempt to explain how fisk got out of prison and it just made me laugh. 'oh there was fbi corruption so that's why my husband got acquitted' LMAO. what a weak explanation for a plot point that should've been adequately handled but whatever.

extra side note just for a bonus.. the slowmo in the fight with matt, frank, and the police in matt's apartment was horrible. no idea why they did that. it actively made the fight seem worse than it was lol.

and i'll say one more thing. there's a world in which foggy is like.. in actual witpro or something. like for example if there's a case being built against fisk that we don't know about yet, and he's stuck in real witpro until fisk and vanessa are dealt with. i hesitate to say that because i honestly do not think that's happening at all, but i have to acknowledge that it's at least a small chance. resuscitated in the ambulance unbeknownst to everyone, hidden away by actual law enforcement who aren't corrupt... idk, i guess it's possible, right?

but i seriously don't think you guys should get your hopes up at all. i don't want anyone to be sad or hopeless or anything like that. it's just that i think the only real possibility of foggy coming back now in the capacity he deserves is if people are angry.

because i don't think these showrunners (or half the people involved tbh, despite 'we care a lot' lmao) give a fuck about foggy at all. it's transparently clear they bring him up to inject easy emotion into scenes and that's it. i mean, come on, the avocados at law thing? don't get me wrong, in a world where foggy's not dead i'd eat that fanservice up, but they're purposely invoking these things for a reason. which doesn't have to be bad but reads as pretty shitty in the context of everything else they've done. they're doing it because it's easy to make you emotional that way. they don't have to write better dialogue that way. nostalgia bait indeed.

so i think if you're mad, you should use that, you should be open about this foggy stuff on social media and wherever else (don't be aggressive or hateful though; if you are, you'll just get blocked or ignored, and it's better if they hear you out). because if everyone sings their praises for these last two episodes, they'll think no one cares, and they need to know people are unhappy or they'll just carry on.

i don't know why they have elden in season 2, or what foggy's role will be, but let them hear you. even if they've started to backtrack on their own (press x to doubt), speaking up would only be good for foggy either way. they need to know fans do care and aren't happy with this.

[quartergremlin]

we've been getting a lot of ai art in the office this week and yknow. i've really been enjoying watching chief give these people the runaround (unintentionally).

Neither chief nor boss can identify ai art. But Chief is the first person people talk to and she does know what I need to turn art into shirts. So some idiot will swan in with their rabbit with three mouths or whatever and chief will be genuine to them. "wow! that looks so nice!".

But the file is a jpeg. and it needs to be a vector image. so she sends them back "this will need to be turned into a different file type - an adobe file or an svg." and the ai bro will go "I don't know how to do that." and Chief will say, "oh just message the artist you commissioned! They'll be able to convert it easily :)"

and then it will take them three days to come back with an extremely suspect svg file that im sure they just fed through a file converter that I still won't be able to use - only when they shared it. they made it non-downloadable. (The file was downloadable the first time, so they went out of their way to do this.)

I tell Chief I cant use it if i cant download it and send back "You'll need to send it again. The file is view only :(" and she is extremely nice but also firm. it needs to be a functional vector file.

and the ai bro doesn't want to admit that it wasn't made by a person and he can't do that. So he's stuck at step 1 and now needs to wait even longer because I (the entirety of the graphic design department) am out of the office for like three days. And usually when someone flubs their file types on finished art I just recreate it. For simple stuff. Logos. But I'm really not supposed to. I'm being nice when I hand-draw a tree for the Johnson's annual family reunion. I usually have the time for it.

I don't have the time or shits to hand-draw out an extremely detailed fully-colored illustration for someone who started out this interaction by spitting in my face.

and even if he figures it out and gets something passable past Chief he'll still have to pay the art fee for me to unfuck it so it can be printed! And because it's finished art I'm not supposed to change anything. So I won't be expending time to make it look better. I'll be slapping five buttons to convert the thing, separate it out, and send it back out the same way it came in. Looking like a stupid mans Rorschach test.

So Boss gets what he wants (I stop spending time on art that wasn't formatted correctly) I get what I want (don't have to work with ai art) and uh. Chief has to do more back-and-forth sorry chief.

And i dont even need to expend time and energy teaching the people i work with how to identify this stuff. Because I know that would be a nightmare all on its own.

[stellarblitz]

Hey I have yet more AZ headcanons for yall (I’m fresh off writing so I am Big Brain ™ about him lmao)

- his accent is… unplaceable. He speaks a lot of languages but he doesn’t sound native to any of them, probably most familiar to Kalosians but even then he sounds… archaic. Like an actor in a historical film

- he has two laughs: a soft chuckle or a full belly laugh where he has to sit down or else he’ll fall over. No in between (and it’s often a surprise which one is triggered)

- he is demisexual, but swings any which way romantically. However, you have to be especially flustered around him for him to get the hint that you’re attracted to him, otherwise he’s oblivious

- he has never been inside a car in his life and is, in fact, a little scared of them (“They come from nowhere at my height”). He takes the train though if necessary

- he used to bury things he wanted to keep but couldn’t carry under Geosenge Town but understandably… he’s moved basically all of that stuff to Hotel Z now

- he’s fascinated by movies. His theoretical Letterboxd is a wild ride because he’ll just take movie recommendations no questions asked, no synopsis needed. He um. Has only been let down once (hey punkass why did you recommend the splatter film to the sad old man)

- he has a garden in the back of Hotel Z with a bunch of exotic flowers (some thought originally extinct), he theorizes that Floette collected many of the seeds over the millennia and kept them safe somewhere (even he doesn’t know where)

- sometimes he will completely make up a bullshit story about his ancient past, but he’s not a very good liar because he’ll have a stupid smirk on his face as he tells you lmao

- he only gets the newspaper for the puzzles and throws the rest out (me too man me too……..) his fav is sudoku

- similar to the online footprint thing from my last post, he’s hesitant to do any sort of interviews, even if they’re audio only. He thinks people should get to know him by seeking him out themselves, not having their opinions filtered by canned questions

-that said, he will assist well-meaning historians who 1) know his deal in the first place and 2) are seeking a primary source on past events (again, w his journals, he’s got a lot written down)

- he’s vegetarian (he would be vegan, but you know the French and their cheese) he knows a lot of ancient vegetarian recipes too!

- he can sleep anywhere. And often does (his employees have to stay vigilant to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep behind the counter)

[blue-willow-tree]

Hi Willow! I haven’t sent you anons or interacted before I don’t think, but I was wondering if you could perhaps give me some advice please because you seem like a fairly reliable source for this sort of thing?

Basically, my girlfriend is really into kink stuff (I’m not particularly but I don’t know a lot about it) and she’s been encouraging me to try it. Anyway, a couple days ago she asked if she could degrade me during and I said okay because I guess I assumed it wouldn’t be that bad… it was. She was so mean, like heartbreakingly mean, I feel like such a baby because afterwards I literally cried and I tried to talk to her about it but she said that “you’re not supposed to talk about a scene afterwards because it’s not real.”

Basically, I just want to know if this is like a common thing for people who are into kink stuff to refuse to talk about it afterwards? I’ve heard of aftercare but she didn’t like hurt me or anything so I can understand why there was none of that but when I tried to talk about what she’d said she just said I was being stupid because I don’t know anything about kink like she does.

You don’t have to reply if you don’t want to, I just don’t want to talk to my friends about it because it’s humiliating and you seem to know a lot about this sort of thing

TLDR: is it normal for people to refuse to talk about what happened during, it didn’t feel right when she said that but I’m not sure

Oh love, there's quite a bit here that I feel I need to unpack, but I first want to say thank you for trusting me with this. I am in no way perfect, I won't have all the answers, but I promise to do my best here for you 🩷

1. Degradation should be properly discussed beforehand, and should not be taken to its full proportion when it's your first time exploring it.

Degradation is a kink that should be handled with care, trust, and a hint of formality. This is not a kink that you simply agree to and get thrown into the deep end with it. You are not a baby for how you felt afterward, you are human. This is a kink that your partner felt drawn to explore, and if she's somebody "really into kink stuff", she should know the guidelines of kinkplay along with the importance of discussions and trust. Prior to exploring a kink such as degradation, you should have been asked for your limits and boundaries regarding that kink. And since kinkplay is something new to you, perhaps you didn't even know what that kink entailed. I'm so sorry, love. Please know that if you're with somebody and they want to try out something new, it's incredibly important that you two discuss things prior to engaging in it. And with all of that being said, even if you didn't have many limits or boundaries with regards to degradation, it's still a kink that should be explored with baby steps.

2. Aftercare is necessary, no matter what.

Oh darling, whether or not there are marks left on your skin, you need aftercare. You need to be told how well you did, you need to be cleaned up and softly kissed in all the places that might ache, and you need to be cared for in any way that you need. This goes both ways. I'm so sorry that you didn't get this, love. Especially after exploring a kink for the first time, especially while feeling vulnerable and emotional after being mentally scarred, and especially after exploring degradation. If your partner wants to partake in kink, they need to take on the responsibility of everything that comes with it, and that includes aftercare. No matter what.

3. Yes, we absolutely talk about what happened during a scene.

Whether it's during aftercare or perhaps a few hours later, or even the next day, it's important to discuss the scene so that you and your partner can remain on the same level of understanding with regards to your likes and dislikes. She might have not meant every word she said during that scene, but that doesn't mean it wasn't all real. Some would say that it was all merely engaging in a fantasy, but that scene was real. All scenes are real. Her touch was real. The words spoken to you were real. The room around you was real. It wasn't all in your head. Everything was real. What happened hurt you, and you made it clear that it did, and that means it was essential for you to bring your thoughts and feelings up so that things can be better and healthier. That isn't something someone can avoid just because their partner didn't enjoy it as much as they thought it would. There needs to be a space filled with safety, openness, and ownership to ones mistakes.

Love, you and your partner have a lot to talk about, I won't sugarcoat that. What she did to you is something that cannot be reversed from your mind and it cannot be removed from the way you view that kink, a kink that can be guiding and wonderful when used correctly. You deserve apologies, and not just one. Kink is something that you are new to, and if your partner wishes to engage in scenes with you, they need to take on the responsibility, maturity, and research that comes with it. I hope that this is something she is willing to do so that your relationship, sex life, and trust with one another can thrive to be better and healthier. However, if she refuses to acknowledge her errors, if she refuses to do better and give you the things you need, that I feel the need to advise you to get out of that relationship as fast as you can. You deserve the best, and if someone is willing to hurt you, with full knowledge that they are doing so, that isn't the best. But as I said, I hope she's willing to do better for you 🩷

I know my answer might have some things you don't want to hear, and I apologize if I crossed a line at any point, but I've seen these things before and I've gone through some of them myself as well. Have a discussion, stand strong within your limits and boundaries, and see if this is something that you two can nurture and grow together in <3 I'm so proud of you for seeking out advice and help. I'm so incredibly proud of you.

[caas1]

My Aromantic & Asexual headcannons for stupid minecraft people (/aff) because what am I meant to do? Not project my sexuality onto my favorite characters??

anyways

Definite headcannons:

1)Etho is Asexual

2) Xisuma is lithosexual and lithoromantic (experiences attraction, but does not wish for it to be reciprocated)

3) Mumbo is Aroace

4) Shubble is Asexual ofc

5) Don’t remember why I decided this, but False is Demisexual (only develops feelings/attraction after creating a strong bond with someone) 👍 I think I saw other ppl w/ this headcannon and decided I liked it lol

Extra) Also Mumbo and Martyn and Scott and Cleo are my favorite Queer Platonic Relationships :D

Possible/thinking about/ones I like but don’t use myself headcannons:

1)Etho as sex-averse and romance-favorable demiromantic

2) I keep thinking about Doc as Aromantic but not completely sold on the idea

3) Used to headcannon Shubble as cupiosexual (Wanting a relationship, but not feeling attraction) before I realized romantic and sexual attraction were different things and so I could headcannon her as both a Lesbian and Asexual lol

4) Similar situation with Scar, used to headcannon him as Demisexual

5) The idea of Scar and Grian being aspec keeps coming back into my mind every so often and it’s so funny because they so aggressively give off those vibes sometimes, but also at other times I can’t see them as on the aro or ace spec either, so this is just a silly, “I like this concept”, type of thing

6) Etho being asexual and Bdubs being aromantic is also really funny to me, cuz like I ship them a lot and the idea of them not telling each other and just trying to awkwardly work around their own discomforts and preferences is really entertaining to me

7) TBH I could see Jimmy as somewhere on the asexual spectrum, but I would probably need more convincing

8) The Gempearl propaganda (mostly from Tubby…) and the aroace Pearl propaganda are constantly fighting each other in my brain. Honestly I think it would work to just make them a QPR

9) I also wouldn’t mind any aroace Xornoth stuff cuz I headcannon that he just really doesn’t like Joey back and wants to be left alone lol

10) I feel the Scott on the aromantic spectrum could also fit his character

11) I think at one point I also headcannoned Oli as aroace

12) Actually I could also see Joe Hills as aspec

13) Oh my gosh how could I almost forget about BigB?? That man is def aspec, at least in my opinion. Can never decide what I want to make him tho :^

Anyways that is definitely enough rambling, thx for reading this if you did lol

[teratomatica]

you always land on all fours

[romanceddawn]

Puzzleshipping: "You gave me your heart, you know..." [Insp.]

❕ Please do not repost to any other sites ❕

[tagarilaghost]

I SWEAR CELEBI'S THINGY IS COMING SOON BUT I REALLY WANTED TO POST THIS ALRIGHT

yeaah... future trio got me too...

and Darkrai is there too, because of course he is.

hey look i drew a cute Drifloon :D

...ignore the rest

whatever started at Darkrai doodles ended in brainrot of future trio + darkrai and I'm blaming @scribz-ag24 for this

[victusinveritas]

If you liked that, you might like this: TM 31-210: Improvised Munitions Handbook. For personal/historical reference use only

Used heavily in Vietnam and other brushfire wars (if I have the right manual) so if you're into that, check it out.

You've been warned here: do not blow your fingers off, and do not come to me if you've blown your fingers (or anything else, or anyone else's anything else) off and expect sympathy. This is a clear and present disclaimer. And also timer warning. Be fuckin' careful with timers--I lost a cousin (1st once removed, in Ireland) to a faulty timer in the 80s. Thankfully, I might add, because he only blew up himself, a friend, and their Lada if memory holds, no bystanders were harmed. So like try this stuff at home, but in a safe, non-wooded area of your home (forest/brush fires because of idiots blowing things up are a disgrace on people who like to blow things up everywhere, plus a real shitty thing to do, don't be that person/group of idiots), not if you live in a packed neighborhood where you're likely to get picked up for discharging something naughty within city limits, because you don't want or need those charges (or the accompanying "I play with explosives" mugshot, you know the one) on your record. Try to avoid being known as the Mad Bomber of Mulberry Street or wherever.

This shit isn't the Anarchist Cookbook, so don't be stupid, stupid.

[copia]

THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF GHOST ⛧ DAY ONE

first song you heard — Mary On A Cross

September 1969; Papa Nihil and the beginning of the Ghost Project take to the stage at the Whiskey a Go Go club in Los Angeles, under the watchful eye of Sister Imperator. Fifty-three years later, in Tampa, Florida, Papa Emeritus the Fourth performs Mary On A Cross, unaware that he is singing the story of his parents—and that of himself.