#Godspeed to anyone who is going to see it live

[i-lost-my-last-blog]

It's finally coming and this is the vibe

[corroded-hellfire]

As You Wish - Eddie Munson x Reader, Part 9

Collaboration with the one and only Dr. @munson-blurbs 💛

Summary: Eddie's finally moving into a place of his own. It's fun and exciting but at the same time, it makes things more real for the boys.

Note: It is here! A happy As You Wish Wednesday to you all

Warnings: talk of divorce, Brittany

Words: 7.4k

[As You Wish masterlist]

Eddie usually hated his government name. He’s Eddie, not Edward; the latter too formal and a reminder of when he’d get reprimanded at school. 

But today, as the ballpoint pen glides over the paper, he’s never been happier to be Edward Munson. 

“All right,” the leasing manager chirps, procuring a key from her back pocket, “congratulations on your new apartment, Mr. Munson.”

“Thank you.” It’s bittersweet; his first place without Brittany, without his boys as permanent fixtures. But he no longer needs to couch surf or rely on anyone else. This is his place, and though it’s not quite the house he once lived in, it’s home. 

The Harrington household is in its usual state of controlled chaos when Eddie arrives. His sons are running around with Steve and Nancy’s three oldest kids on their front lawn, so engaged in a rousing game of freeze tag that they don’t even notice the car pulling up. 

You spot him right away, greeting him with an excited wave. One arm stays wrapped around Mia, who offers a big smile when she sees her favorite uncle. 

“Ryan! Luke! Dad’s here!”

The boys grumble, clearly upset about their game being cut short, and the Harringtons cheer triumphantly. 

“We won! We won!” Theo cheers. 

Luke shakes his head. “No, we’re just pausing until next time.”

“Nuh-uh! You guys forfeit, which means we win!”

You sigh. “We’ll call it a tie,” you decide, not waiting for a reply. Nancy comes out of the house to pay you, scooping up her youngest. 

“Did we avoid a fight?” She whispers to you. 

“Barely,” you confirm, tucking the bills into your front pocket. “I’m hoping to make our escape before it escalates.”

Nancy nods. “Godspeed.” She ushers Natalie, Theo, and Danny back into the house, bidding Eddie and his boys farewell, but not before Luke sticks his tongue in his friend’s direction. 

“Saw that,” Ryan mutters. So did you, but you lack the energy to reprimand the youngest Munson, so you act oblivious. 

This evening was the final celebration of your birthday week—the cherry on top that it seemed the boys wouldn’t let you go without: them treating you to a McDonald’s date. Ryan and Luke had both chipped in some pocket change they had in a piggy bank or hidden underneath a mattress. Though, you wouldn’t be surprised if Luke scrounged some of his from between couch cushions and between seats in his dad’s truck as well. 

With their donations appreciated, Eddie pocketed the money and told everyone to order whatever they wanted. That’s dangerous territory with the two rugrats around, but it’s a special occasion. 

The order in total managed to fit on four trays, which the guys said they had handled and would head off to find a table while you wait for the milkshakes at the counter.

As you rest your hip against the cool metal island that contains condiments and utensils, you hear familiar giggles coming from the tables around the corner. They bring an instant smile to your face. There’s a lot of turmoil going on in these kids’ lives right now, so the fact that they get to have these moments of peace and joy with their dad is very important. It’s part of the reason you told Eddie that it might be better to take Ryan and Luke shopping for their new rooms on his own. None of the three Munson men were having this, though. Every single one of them trusted your opinion far more than anyone with an XY chromosome in your little gang. 

“Milkshakes?”

The worker’s voice pulls you out of your head and you give her a polite smile as you pick the cardboard carrier up off the counter, holding two vanilla shakes for you and Ryan, a chocolate for Eddie, and a strawberry for Luke. You set off in the direction the previous laughter came from and just as you turn the corner are greeted by the sight of the back of your boyfriend’s head in all its curly glory. Thing One and Thing Two are on the other side of the table throwing fries at one another, trying to catch them in their mouths. 

“Come on, try me,” Eddie says, tilting his head back a bit. Ryan throws a fry first, but it bounces off his father’s cheek. Luke then throws a fry that is way too long and was never going to make it across the table. You watch in silence as the boys make a few more valiant attempts, Ryan able to sink one in eventually. The shakes are getting melty now though, so it’s time to barge in on their game.

When you walk over to the table and set the drink caddy down, you notice Eddie’s expression goes from playful to remorseful. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take your brain long to make the connection that this is something Brittany probably would’ve berated him for in the past—acting like a child and goofing around with the boys. It’s preposterous to even think of, really.

Instead of assuring Eddie with comforting words, you just slide onto the red vinyl booth next to him and nudge his arm with your elbow. 

“My turn.”

Juxtaposed with the fun dinner you just had is the quiet car ride back to Brittany’s house to drop the boys off. Seeing the two happy little moods dampened weighs on Eddie’s heart, so he tries to get them engaged in another fun topic.

“Are you guys excited to pick out stuff for your new rooms tomorrow?” he asks, grinning at them through the rear-view mirror.

“Do I get, like…a new bed?” Luke asks.

“Sure do,” Eddie says as he flips the blinker on to turn into his old neighborhood. “And whatever kind of sheets you want to put on it.”

“Can I get ones with Spider-Man? Or Batman? Or Spider-Man and Batman?”

Eddie chuckles. “We’ll see what they have.”

That seems to satisfy Luke, at least for the moment, which is all you need. Eddie takes a deep breath as he pulls up to Brittany’s house—his former house. That twinge of pain never seems to dissipate, even though the end of his marriage was inevitable, the loss still hurts. Ryan doesn’t give him much time to dwell on things, though.

“Can I get a PlayStation for my room?”

Eddie barks a laugh and rubs a hand over his eyes. Before he can open his mouth to say no, Luke has to add his own outlandish request.

“Can I get a dog?!”

Your boyfriend just looks at you, silently begging you to take over before his patience completely runs out.

As you unbuckle your seatbelt, you casually announce, “No additional living beings until further notice.”

Luke grumbles, but ultimately relents, climbing out of his booster seat and running up to the door where Brittany is waiting.

“Mom!” Ryan and Luke yell out in unison. The older boy’s enthusiastic grin falters a bit when he notices the fakeness in his mom’s smile, but the younger boy thankfully remains oblivious.

“We’re gonna pick out stuff for our new rooms tomorrow!” Luke chirps.

Brittany’s perfectly plucked brows pinch together in a mix of confusion and her usual perpetual annoyance. “Tomorrow?” she asks, her voice far from genuine. “I thought we would spend tomorrow together, guys.”

“Britt, you said tomorrow you had that work thing, remember?” Eddie reminds her, a smug smile on his face. They both know damn well she just wanted to get out of taking the boys to the toy store when Luke originally asked the other day. 

Brittany glares at Eddie but Luke shrugs and walks away.  

“Another time, Mom.” He says casually, and something inside you breaks. You can feel it in Eddie, too. Luke’s unbothered attitude is too natural, like he’s accustomed to his mother constantly breaking their plans. 

Speaking up will only incur the wrath of Brittany, so you stay silent, leaving Eddie to maneuver the rest of the awkward conversation. 

“See you guys tomorrow,” he calls out to his sons, giving a cordial wave to Brittany. She doesn’t return it, closing the door in your faces. 

Eddie turns to you. “That could have gone worse, I guess.”

You scoff. “Yeah, she could’ve turned into one of those Demogorgon things from your D&D campaigns.”

“Now that would be entertaining.” He takes your hand in his, his rings pressing against your fingers. 

The car ride home will almost certainly involve a discussion about the way the boys’ faces fell when they saw Brittany and how to undo the damage of her bailing on plans. But for now, you take the moment to relish the love between you and Eddie. 

“Look at that lamp! It looks like a jellyfish!”

It seems as if every other thing that Luke sees as the four of you walk up and down the aisles of the store catches his eye. If his new room incorporated all these new interesting finds of his, the small bedroom would look like the storage space of an eccentric car enthusiast who has an odd pension for nautical memorabilia. 

“I thought you wanted a Hot Wheels room,” Eddie says for what feels like the fortieth time.

“I do, that lamp just looks cool,” Luke says. “Hey! Can I get one of those rugs that looks like there are roads on it so I can drive my cars all around?”

“If we see one,” his dad tells him. 

Luke may only be five, but he already has expensive tastes. Ryan seems to be the opposite on this shopping trip—he doesn’t seem to know what he wants. None of the movie or character themed bed sets thrilled him, and there wasn’t a sport or activity he wanted highlighted. The only things the elder Munson brother had in the cart so far were a set of two black bookshelves to hang on the walls and a package of glow in the dark stars to stick to his ceiling. 

On the other hand, Luke had already collected Hot Wheels sheets, Hot Wheels curtains, a nightstand that looked like three tires stacked one on top of the other, a stuffed German Shepherd (since he can’t get a real dog, he said), a Scooby Doo calendar, and a set of four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle posters. The young boy had also tried to add an espresso machine to the cart, which was immediately halted by both you and Eddie.

“What in the world do you need an espresso machine for?” you had asked.

“For when I have guests,” Luke replied simply. 

“Oh, right,” Eddie said, raising his eyebrows. “Because I think that much caffeine is exactly what Mia Harrington needs.”

Luke scoffed and rolled his eyes as if his dad thought he was stupid. “Well, I wouldn’t give any to a baby.” 

You pinch the bridge of your nose between your thumb and forefinger, massaging gently. As grateful as you are that you have this opportunity to shop with Eddie and his boys, you can’t deny that your patience is swiftly draining.

“Luke, why are you pouting?” 

The voice doesn’t belong to you, Eddie, or even Ryan. No, this shrill, weasley voice could only belong to one person.

Brittany stands before you, a gaudy pocketbook tucked underneath her arm. Her lips curl into what you can only consider an attempted smile, though it still makes your insides curdle. 

“C’mere.” She motions to her youngest son, pulling him into a too-tight hug. You watch him squirm out of her grasp.

“Britt,” Eddie says through gritted teeth, “I thought you were busy today.”

Brittany shrugs nonchalantly, as though she hasn’t just completely derailed your afternoon. “Moved some things around.” She grins at Ryan and Luke. “What are we buying today?”

We. Like she was paying for any of it.

You swallow your frustration and shoot her an equally feigned smile. “Luke’s getting stuff for his Hot Wheels room, and Ryan still needs a reading lamp.”

“I wanted a race car bed, but Daddy said it was too ‘spensive. So, I’m gonna get Hot Wheels sheets instead,” Luke proudly announces.

Brittany furrows her brows in mock confusion. “But how can you have a Hot Wheels room with a regular bed?” She cocks her head, looking at Eddie. “I mean, you can’t splurge a little? I’m sure you have a guitar you could pawn.”

Eddie bites his lower lip so hard that you swear you see a speck of blood form. He’s holding himself back; being in public and in the presence of his kids keeps him from launching into an expletive-laden tirade.

“I’m not pawning a guitar for a bed he’s going to outgrow in a few years. Especially not when we came up with a good compromise.” His tone is terse, clipped.

Brittany rolls her eyes. “I’m sure the court will love to hear that,” she mutters under her breath, still loud enough for you and Eddie to hear. The boys, luckily, have dashed ahead. 

Your instinct is to bite back with a snarky comment about the court being much more interested in every important event she’s missed, but you restrain yourself. This isn’t your battle to fight, and any remark will just make Eddie’s life harder. Instead, you act as though she hadn’t said a word as you all catch up to the kids. 

Not one to be ignored, Brittany turns to her oldest son. “What about you, Ry? What did you pick out?” Her frown deepens when Ryan shows her the three items in the cart belonging to him. “That’s it? It’s like they forgot about you!”

“We didn’t—” you start, watching hurt seep into Ryan’s eyes, but Eddie quickly squeezes your hand. Don’t play into it. You know her comment stung him, too, and that it was even more difficult for him not to defend himself. 

There was no need for either of you to say anything, because Ryan is ultimately the one who speaks up. 

“I’m still deciding what I want. No one forgot about me—not like how you forgot about my holiday concert.”

Brittany’s cheeks go beet red, her jaw clenched. “You know what? I need to get going now, anyway.” She glares at Eddie. “Drop them off at my house when you’re done.” With that, she walks away. 

Your gaze immediately drops to Ryan, who just stands there as though shocked by his own comeback. “I…I didn’t mean to…” Tears well up in his eyes, and he blinks them back before they can stain his cheeks. “She just…”

Eddie puts one hand on his shoulder. He takes a deep breath, looking up, and you know he’s weighing his options. He can harp on Brittany’s insufficiencies, or he can do the right thing. Be a role model. 

“I know, bud. It’s hard. Especially when we’re angry.” He gives a soft smile. “You’ve got that Munson temper—quiet till it boils over. But you can apologize to Mom when you see her later.”

Ryan nods somberly. 

Eddie glances at you for help, and you carefully oblige. “That doesn’t mean that it’s okay for her to miss your concerts,” you say. “But you can talk about how it makes you feel before those emotions get to be too much.”

“Maybe we should go home,” Eddie says, but Ryan shakes his head. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Ryan swipes at his misty eyes. “I wanna pick out a bed. Maybe one that has the drawers underneath.”

You grin. “More storage space for books?”

Ryan nods, and Eddie grins. “Whose kid is this? Certainly too smart to be mine.”

You want to ask him what he kept stored in his bedroom drawers, but refrain at the last second. Perhaps some things are better left unknown. 

Just one aisle over, Ryan’s attention snags on a bed that has his eyes widening. 

“It has a desk, too!” he says, taking off towards the bed at the end of the aisle. 

“Whoa!” Luke echoes, following behind his big brother. 

You slip your hand into Eddie’s as he pushes the cart forward with the other hand. Even though the boys are preoccupied with the piece of furniture, you keep your voice low. 

“I’m so proud of how you handled that,” you tell your boyfriend. “I was ready to scoop Ryan into my arms and comfort him and tell him everything is okay, but you did the right thing.”

Eddie sighs and gives your hand a small shake. “Shit. When did I become a grown up?” With another, more dramatic sigh, Eddie shakes his head. “Gotta fix that.”

Before you can ask what he means, he leans over and licks up the side of your face, tongue flat and hot against your skin. You squeal, taken by surprise and duck your head down away from him. 

“You’re a child!” you say through a heavy bout of laughter. 

“Damn straight, baby.”

When you look up ahead, the boys are now watching you two, your squeal having gained their attention.

“You guys know that your dad is bonkers?” you ask with a playful smirk on your face. 

“Uh huh!” Luke declares proudly. “We’re the Goof Troop!”

“Oh, are we?” Eddie questions. He spins the cart out of his way, like a car doing donuts, and hoists Luke up, throwing him over his shoulder. “I think you’re the goofiest of the goofs.”

Luke laughs as his orange t-shirt rides up his back. You adjust it for him before leaving the two guys with the matching curls to their antics and join Ryan over by the bed.

“You like this one, huh?” You wrap an arm around the elder brother’s shoulders and give a gentle squeeze. 

Ryan nods. “I wanted a desk in my old room. I mean, the room at the old hou—uh, Mom’s house. But my room is too small for one. But this is perfect! I crawl up top, there’s my bed! I come back down, it’s a desk!”

His excitement is palpable, and you can’t help but lean in and press a kiss to the top of his head. God, you’d give this kid the world if you could. Luke too, of course. They’re both such great kids and it’s moments like these where you realize just how lucky you were to meet this family. 

Brittany’s abrupt departure, while welcome, also means that the boys will be accompanying you and Eddie while you pick out his furniture. Or, as Luke so aptly puts it, “the boring stuff.”

The youngest Munson lasts all of six minutes before he starts whining. Your patience has already worn thin from Brittany’s antics, and you have to take a deep breath before you respond. 

“Luke, we picked out your stuff, now it’s Daddy’s t—”

Tears well up in his eyes. “But I don’t wanna! I wanna go home!”

You and Eddie share a glance. Between your schedule and his, there are few opportunities for you to shop together. You’re trying to remember what days you’ll be free when you hear Ryan pipe up. 

“We should play The Price is Right!” He exclaims. “Y’know, that show we watch when we’re home sick? We can guess the price of Dad’s furniture and see who gets the closest.”

Luke ponders this for just a moment before nodding emphatically. You and Eddie exhale twin sighs of relief, and you make a mental note to thank Ryan later. 

The boys guess on everything from bed sheets to sofas, with Luke’s answers only getting more outlandish. There’s no way he thinks a TV stand costs $80 million…right?

Eddie chuckles as he watches his sons over his shoulder. They’re looking up at a chandelier, Ryan’s lips pursed, and Luke with his head tilted to the side like a confused puppy. Your boyfriend shakes his head in amusement as he faces forward again, pushing the now-heavy cart further down the aisle. 

“I kinda like that lamp,” Eddie says, taking a closer step to the display sets blinding you with their high wattage all aimed in your direction. “Oh shit, that’s nice, too. Babe, what do you think?”

Coming up beside him, you loop your arm through his and press a few kisses to his shoulder.

“Sweetheart, it’s your apartment,” you remind him. “You deserve to make this place your own.” Giving a soft shake of your head, you wrinkle up your nose in a way that Eddie finds adorable. “You don’t want your girlfriend playing interior decorator.”

Eddie raises his eyebrows and angles his head down to meet your eyes. “Am I allowed to ask for my girlfriend’s opinion?”

“Of course.”

“Okaaay,” Eddie says, playfully pulling you in front of him so he can wrap his arms around your middle and run the tips of his calloused fingers over the soft material of your pink shirt. “So, girlfriend, which of the two lamps do you like better?”

The one that first caught Eddie’s eyes was a simple, basic design, but who really needs more than that? The black, twisting metal that twines up to an off-white lampshade is elegant and something you can absolutely see being in Eddie’s new living room. The second lamp is a little more ostentatious, though it’s certainly pretty. The silver body of the lamp resembles an hourglass, rounded edges topped off with a round white lampshade. It’s nice, but not something you can see Eddie being really happy with.

“I like the first one,” you tell him.

“That’s the one I was leaning towards,” he says. Eddie presses a kiss to your cheek before unwinding his arms from around your body so he can grab two of the lamp boxes to add to the cart. “Come on, shortstops. Keep up.”

The boys trail at a small distance, calling out numbers and pointing at various objects on shelves they’ll never be able to correctly identify prices on. With one hand, Eddie pushes the cart forward, and he lays his other hand, large and warm, against the small of your back as you walk.

“Now, this next part in particular is what I really want your opinion on.” Eddie’s words are just above a whisper and the ghosting of his lips against the shell of your ear sends a chill down your spine. There’s no need for you to look, you already know your boyfriend is smirking at the reaction he has on you. 

You turn the corner with the cart and when you see the next aisle, your face feels warm. Of course this is what he wants your input on the most. The bedding department. 

“What exactly would you like my help with?” you ask, feigning as much innocence as you possibly can. 

The aisles of bed linens, bed frames, mattresses, and pillows seem to stretch out for a mile before you. You don’t see this ending without Eddie severely working you up. 

“Well,” Eddie says with a shrug, far too innocuous for the thoughts you know are running through his mind. “We found things for the boys’ rooms, but none for mine yet. And since I’m really hoping you’ll be spending a good amount of time in my bedroom, I’d like you to be comfortable there.”

“Sounds reasonable enough.” You don’t meet his eye, instead strolling closer to the mattresses, to get a better look at them.

“Oh, yes!” you hear Luke cheer as his black and blue sneakers squeak on the linoleum floor. “I’m gonna guess all the beds right!”

Ryan follows along behind his little brother, shaking his head. He looks at you and mouths no he’s not. A chuckle rumbles your chest as you watch the boys walk further down the aisle, inspecting a shelf of body pillows. 

“What kind of mattress do you prefer?” you ask Eddie. “Firm? Soft? Somewhere in the middle?”

“I—” he cuts himself off, brow wrinkling as he looks down at the scuffed white floor beneath his boots. “I don’t actually know.”

“No?” you ask, curiosity burning inside of you. He’ll explain if he wants to, but you’d never push. 

He shakes his head. “I had a hand-me-down mattress when I lived with Wayne. Brought that same mattress when Jeff and I got a tiny ass apartment on the edge of Hawkins. After that I moved in with Brittany and we just used the one she already had. We got a new mattress when we moved into the house, but Brittany went out and picked it out herself. I didn’t see it until I went to sleep on it that night. It’s the same one there now.”

“So that mattress has a few good memories then,” you tease, giving him a gentle smirk. “Let’s test out what you like then.” You take a seat at the foot of the bed on the nearest mattress and hold out your hand to Eddie. 

He parks the cart between two adjacent mattresses and climbs on the mattress next to you. The two of you situate yourselves as if you were going to go to bed, to sleep. 

“This feels…” Eddie shifts his position, adjusting his shoulders to make himself more comfortable. “It’s a little hard.”

“I think so, too,” you agree. “Onto the next.”

After testing half a dozen beds, you and Eddie have deduced that he likes softer mattresses, but not too soft. With one goal achieved, now it’s time to find the most comfortable of the semi-soft mattresses.

“Okay, this might be the best one we’ve laid on,” Eddie says after four attempts. “I really like this.”

“This is nice,” you concur. “One more test.”

Eddie turns his head to look at you in question, but it clicks soon enough as you cuddle up to his side and rest your head on his chest. It’s the exact position the two of you lay in quite frequently, and you have to make sure that this bed is accepting and supportive of that. 

“I mean, I can think of another test,” Eddie says as he wraps his arm around you. “But I don’t think they’d let us do that in the store.”

With a girlish giggle, you press a kiss to Eddie’s chest and push yourself into a seated position. 

“What’s your verdict?” you ask.

Dark chocolate eyes gaze up at the ceiling as Eddie adjusts his position on the bed once more. Then, he slips his eyes closed and rolls onto his side, which is his most common sleeping position.

“Yeah,” he says, opening his eyes. “I’m gonna go with this one.”

“And this one is…thirteen thousand dollars!” Luke calls as he and Ryan run over. Luke face plants on the bed and Ryan plops down next to his brother on his bottom. 

“He tried guessing the price of a lady’s dog,” Ryan says.

Luke lifts his head, blue eyes wide as he pulls his shoulders up towards his ears.

“She was carrying him in a little doggy bag! It looked like she was buying him!”

“This is the one you’re getting?” Ryan asks, ignoring his little brother completely. The older brother bounces slightly as he sits, testing out the springiness.

“Yep,” Eddie says as he pushes himself up from the bed. “Just have to get some sheets for it now. You two stay here and watch the cart, okay? We’re just gonna be right over there looking at the linens.”

“Okay,” Ryan says.

“Aye aye!” Luke gives his dad a salute before going to sit up near the pillows. 

Eddie laces his fingers with yours, tugging you over to where bedsheets lay wrapped in their plastic coverings. “Gonna need your help for this one, baby.”

“Eds,” you protest, “this apartment is for you and the boys. I don’t wanna—”

Your boyfriend leans in and silences you with a kiss. “While I appreciate that…you and I are gonna be the ones getting well-acquainted with these sheets. I wanna make sure you’ll be comfy laying on them…or kneeling on them.” His eyes twinkle mischievously. “Don’t want those pretty knees getting scratched up while you’re riding me.”

You shove him away playfully. “Behave,” you warn, thumbing through the linen options. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Eddie mumbles under his breath, though it’s hard to take that promise seriously when it’s followed by a pinch to your ass. 

Eddie grabs a set of dove gray sheets and a matching comforter from the shelf and turns to head back towards the boys. Before the two of you reach the end of the aisle though, your boyfriend stops short and looks to you with eyes wide as saucers.

“Can I get Star Wars sheets?”

As much as Eddie tries to hold in his laughter, a snort breaks though. You shake your head in bemusement as you pass him by and head towards the arguably more mature Munsons. 

“Okay, so.” Steve stands with his hands on his hips as he addresses his two oldest kids along with Eddie’s boys. “Any box marked with this word,” he points to where FRAGILE is written in black Sharpie, “is not for kids to carry.”

Luke furrows his brow. “Why not?”

Before Steve can answer, Theo speaks up. “Because it says the F-word,” he says matter-of-factly. 

“No, it does not!” Steve sputters. 

“There’s an F right there,” Luke points out. “See?”

Steve sighs. “Yes, that is an f-word, but it says ‘fragile,’ not—never mind.” He shakes his head. “Just don’t touch it.”

Across the room, Eddie grimaces as his uncle tries to lift a coffee table. “Old man,” Eddie calls out. “Put that down before you hurt yourself. My goal is to avoid the emergency room at all costs.”

Wayne shakes his head. “I’m not just gonna stand around while everyone else works,” he protests. 

Eddie runs his fingers through his hair, wincing when he snags them on a knot. 

“I didn’t wanna have to bring out the big guns…” He grins at Wayne’s puzzled expression before calling out to his sons. “Ryan! Luke! Grandpa wants to hear all about that cartoon you’re obsessed with.”

Luke bounds over with Ryan right behind him. “Okay, so there’s a cat and a dog, but they’re stuck together where their butts would be!” He cackles at this. 

“And Cat is scared all the time, but Dog is crazy,” Ryan chimes in. “And he’s always getting Cat into trouble.”

Eddie throws his uncle a wink, a silent I warned you, and slides his arm around your waist. 

“Thank God for shitty kids’ shows,” he murmurs. 

You roll your eyes. “Pretty sure I’ve caught you watching that ‘shitty kids’ show’ on more than one occasion. Even without the boys there.”

Pressing a smacking kiss to your temple, Eddie whirls around to see Lucas, Max, and Dustin struggling with the sofa. “That’ll stay our little secret,” he says before darting off to help them. 

A few hours later, once the moving van has been unloaded and furniture and boxes have been placed in their respective rooms, the whole group finds themselves in the living room. The youngest Munsons sit on the floor next to their Uncle Dustin. Wayne rests on the couch, sandwiched between Eddie and Steve. You, Lucas, and Max pull up some folding chairs. Each of you has a slice of pizza on a paper towel, since no one wanted to unpack the plates. 

Pressing on his knees, Eddie stands up. “Before we dig in, I’d just like to offer a toast.” He raises his beer bottle, and everyone does the same—root beer for the boys, of course. “To the best moving crew this town has ever seen. May we never have to do this again.”

Everyone nods in agreement, bottles clinking before the room goes quiet. The only noise is the sound of pizza being devoured. 

You look at Eddie, trading exhausted smiles. Today was long, but it was one huge step closer to your future together. No matter how strongly sleep beckoned you, you wouldn’t trade this for the world. 

Once all that remains of the pizzas are the few crusts left behind in the box, everyone starts to head out. Eddie makes sure to thank each of them again when they say their goodbyes. 

Wayne is the last one there besides you and the boys. The older man yanks his keys free from his back pocket and jingles them in his hand as he walks towards the front door.

“This is a nice place you got here, Ed.”

It doesn’t matter how old he is, hearing praise from Wayne still makes Eddie feel like a little boy making his father proud. He can’t help but smile as he shuffles over to his uncle.

“It is pretty nice, isn’t it?” Eddie looks around, taking in the dark green walls that he can’t wait to fill up with silly photos of the boys and pictures of your beautiful face to greet him every morning. A blank slate, his to do what he wants with.

“I’m proud of ya, son,” Wayne says, clapping Eddie on the shoulder. “You were dealt a rough hand but you’re making it through alright.”

“Doing my best,” Eddie admits with a shrug.

“That’s all anyone can,” Wayne says. “I’ll see you later, kid. Where my boys?”

As if waiting for their cue, both Luke and Ryan rush at Wayne, arms open and ready to receive their goodbye hugs.

“Bye, Grandpa!” Ryan says as he’s squeezed in the older man’s arms.

“Remember,” Luke says when it’s his turn to get hugged, “Catdog is on Nickelodeon, not Cartoon Network.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Wayne says with a hearty chuckle. Next, those wise blue-gray eyes are aimed your way and before you even realize it, you’re going in for a hug. 

Being hugged by Wayne is like cuddling up with a cherished childhood teddy bear after you’ve had a bad day. It feels safe, warm, and loving. It’s as obvious as Luke’s love for Hot Wheels where Eddie learned how to be a good father. Wayne might like to make people think he’s rough around the edges, but you’ve learned in a short time that he’s Mr. Softy when it comes to anything involving his family. But who can blame him when his family is Eddie, Luke, and Ryan?

“You take care, doll,” Wayne says, giving you a soft pat on the back before pulling away. “And let me know if any of these three get out of line.”

“Us?” Luke asks, voice an octave higher than usual as he gestures to himself. “Never!”

“Uh huh,” Wayne hums with a rumbling laugh. He ruffles the smallest boy’s curls before heading out the door. 

You, Eddie, and the boys leave a few minutes later—not without arguing with Luke about using the bathroom. Ryan and Luke climb into the backseat, and after double-checking that they’re securely buckled in, you slide into the passenger seat. 

Eddie shifts the gears from park to reverse, and you keep your hand atop his. The ride back to Brittany’s is fairly quiet, with no bickering from the brothers. Apparently, a long day of unpacking boxes and bothering their grandpa has worn them out. 

It isn’t until you’re a few blocks away from the house that Luke speaks up. 

“Dad, what’s for dinner tonight?”

Eddie keeps his eyes on the road as he answers. “You’re, uh, gonna have to ask Mom about that,” he says evenly. 

“Can you ask her not to make fish sticks? I hate those.”

A lump forms in Eddie’s throat. He thought the boys both understood what the living situation was going to be. Sometimes it’s easy to forget Luke is only five with the larger than life personality he has or that Ryan is only seven when Eddie’s pretty positive the kid is smarter than he is. Eddie silently prays that he won’t have to explain the separation time and time again because he doesn’t think he has the strength to repeatedly let his sons down. Because that’s what he’s doing, right? Breaking their little hearts by telling them things are changing whether they like it or not.

It seems like aspects of it they like—like you being around more and being their father’s girlfriend. But it’s hard for them to grasp that in order for that to happen, they have to have Mom live in one place and Daddy in another. Eddie’s sure that the three of them not all waking up in the same house everyday is killing him more than it is them.

“Luke, buddy,” Eddie starts. “I’m not eating dinner with you tonight. We’ll eat dinner together when you stay at my place.”

Ryan leans forward. “Is Mom gonna eat with us there, too?”

You catch the sadness in Eddie’s face. The two of you know that it isn’t healthy for the boys to grow up in a home with parents who don’t want to be together, but that doesn’t mean the divorce is easy. You give Eddie’s hand a small squeeze of support.

“Guys, Mom and I don’t live together anymore. She lives at the house, and I live at the apartment.”

“Oh.” Realization hits Ryan. “So…you and Mom are gonna be separate forever?”

Forever. Eddie had promised Brittany forever that day at the altar, and now they’d reached a much different definition of that word. 

It’s funny how the same word is so full of promise and excitement, blooming with life and warmth when he says it to you, but shriveled up and desiccated when presented by his sons in this context.

“Yeah. That’s what happens when people get divorced—they stop living together. But you will always have a home at Mom’s, and you’ll always have a home with me. They just won’t be the same home.”

There’s only silence as Luke and Ryan process the information. Neither you nor Eddie are used to them being so quiet; the million follow-up questions you’d anticipated never arise. 

The floodgates burst when Eddie pulls into Brittany’s driveway, before the seatbelts can even be unfastened. 

“I d-don’t wanna leave!” Luke cries, tugging his knees to his chest. “I don’t want Dad to live at the ‘partment!”

Your heart lurches. There’s nothing to say or do—he’s disappointed, and rightfully so. As much as you love Eddie, as glad as you are that he’s yours, you wish he and his sons didn’t have to deal with the pain of this divorce. 

Eddie helps Luke out of the car, then Ryan. The older boy is fighting back tears of his own. 

“I know this change is hard,” Eddie says to both kids, “but we’ll get used to it. I promise.”

Luke shakes his head, his curly mop of hair tangling. “No! I don’t wanna get used to it! I want you to live here again!”

“I know,” Eddie repeats, exhaling. “I wish I could make it easier.” He kisses each of his boys on the forehead and turns to you. 

Ryan and Luke follow his gaze. They look even younger, smaller somehow, when they’re sad. All you want is to protect them from all of the bad in the world. 

You open up your arms, enveloping them in a hug. “We’ll see you guys super soon, okay?”

It isn’t okay, and you’re sure Luke is about to tell you that. But then the front door swings open. 

“Good, you boys are home. Wait. What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Brittany looks from the heartbroken boys in your arms over to Eddie in question. She doesn’t give anyone a chance to reply before her eyes snap back to the boys and she demands, “What’s wrong? Luke?”

The five-year-old turns out of your arms and buries his face in his father’s t-shirt. His small sniffles and sobs are heart wrenching, and you find yourself holding onto Ryan a little tighter out of reflex. Ryan rests his head against your body. The feeling of his shoulders heaving dials up your instinct to comfort, so you card your fingers through the boy’s honey brown curls.

Eddie is doing his best to comfort Luke as well. One ringed hand rubs up and down Luke’s small back, while the other cups the back of the boy's head as he cries. The pain lashing through your heart is nearly unbearable—you can’t even begin to imagine how bad it is for Eddie. 

“He was a little confused about having two places to live now,” Eddie explains to Brittany. “He, uh, doesn’t want me living at the apartment.” 

Brittany, to your surprise, stays quiet. She simply nods her head and crosses her arms over her chest. 

“Do you want to go inside, Luke?” Ryan speaks up from your arms, standing up straight so he’s no longer leaning against you for support.

Still sniffling, Luke turns from Eddie’s torso and nods at his big brother, his left fist coming up to rub at his eye. 

Ryan nods and steps out of the circle of your arms to offer his little brother his hand. Luke grips it tightly, like it’s a lifeline and he’s scared Ryan is going to be the next one to live somewhere else. 

The two make their way into the house and the gazes of you three adults on the porch follow them until they’re out of sight. 

Letting out a pained sigh, Eddie rubs his hands over his face. He hardly gets those two seconds of reprieve because Brittany immediately snarls at him.

“So, you just explained it all to him without me? Without even telling me?”

The look you register on Eddie’s face first is shock, but it disappears after half a second, used to this insanity and savagery from his ex.

“What did you want me to do?” Eddie sounds exhausted. Mentally, now, in addition to physically from moving furniture all day. “He was upset, did you want me to have him hold on so I could have you come over to the apartment? Get into the car with us?” 

She probably wouldn’t have anyway, you say to yourself.

“Now I have to deal with him being upset,” Brittany complains.

You’re seeing red. The world is painted in crimsons and scarlets and it’s a good thing Eddie speaks up first, because something would’ve come out of your mouth that you would’ve ended up regretting later. 

“He’s your son,” Eddie argues, seething anger present in his voice as well. “That’s part of your job. You should want to comfort him when he’s upset.”

With one last roll of her eyes and a loud scoff, Brittany steps back into the house and slams the front door behind her. 

Eddie takes a few breaths before he lets out a pained chuckle and turns away from the house.

“I hate her so fucking much,” he says. 

Your boyfriend takes a deep breath and turns to you. The pain in his eyes steals the breath from your lungs. That agony morphs into a look you can’t interpret at first. No, it’s still pain, just a different kind. He speaks up before you can ask about it.

“This shit isn’t easy,” he says. The tone of his voice makes it click for you. Part of him thinks you’re going to walk away from all of this. Now that the emotions are raw on a different level, he thinks you’re going to change your mind about this. About him. 

But he’s crazier than Brittany is if he thinks you’re going to leave his side for even a moment.

“I know,” you answer him with a shrug of your shoulders. “But I’m not going anywhere, Eds. I’m here for you—all three of you.”

The plug is pulled on that pain and worry, and it all disappears down the drain to make room for the love and gratefulness that fills him up now. A small smile even curls one corner of his mouth up.

“Have I told you that I love you lately?” he asks.

“Not in the last…” you peer down at your watch before meeting his gaze once more, “hour or so. So, I think you’re due.”

Eddie steps forwards and presses a soft kiss to your forehead.

“I love you,” he whispers. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

His voice faltered slightly on the word “home,” but you don’t let him dwell on that. You slip your arm around his waist and start walking towards the car. “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Eddie says as the two of you step into the driveway, “I got that bottle of champagne I bought for your birthday that I left at the Harrington’s. Figured it could be used to celebrate the new place. But, shit, I think I’m going to need something a whole lot stronger than champagne when we get back.”

[zeroducks-2]

Idk if anyone is interested but in case someone is, yes, Barry reciprocates. Have my exhibits! With pictures!

.Exhibit A!

He keeps looking for Eobard subconsciously, can feel when he's there, his presence alone is able to trigger Barry's memories of past and future lives.

And look, Eobard was right there!

(panels from The Flash Vol.1: Lightning Strikes Twice)

.Exhibit B!

When he finds Eobard dead, Barry spends time with his body in the morgue struggling over how he died, what might have hurt him, observing that "whatever got him must have just slowed him down" (all the while softly whispering to and gently touching Eobard's body).

I can never not be insane over how tenderly he's caressing Eobard's forehead. Might I add that he spends just so much time in the morgue that he's late to his own birthday party. Might I also add that whatever Barry did in that morgue, it brings Eobard back to life.

This man literally told his nemesis "come back to me", and Eobard obediently did.

The last panel, that's Eobard's powers reactivating as he's revived, moments after Barry left.

(panels from The Flash Vol.4: Running Scared)

.Exhibit C!

When Godspeed starts killing people, including the woman Barry was dating, Barry is shocked but keeps being willing to forgive if August is willing to stand down. Barry gets beaten up and humiliated and still worries for August, trying to appeal to his rationality and compassion.

But then August makes the mistake to threaten to find Eobard (who at the moment is being tortured a prisoner in Iron Heights), and kill him in front of Barry's eyes. And if Barry has been rational and willing to stop fighting, after the umpteenth time August tries to get to Eobard he loses his entire shit, grabs August by his head and neck and is just about to kill him, in a scene which is a direct parallel to when Eobard forced him to break his neck.

That's apparently what Barry does when someone insists on threatening to kill the people he loves and make him watch. He doesn't kill August of course, but he gets close to it - the moment Barry lets him go August is unconscious for lack of air, he was being choked to death even without the neck breaking part. All because he had threatened to murder Eobard.

This is Barry breaking Eobard's neck to protect Fiona, Barry's fiancee at the time, after he's been incessantly threatened to be forced to watch as he kills her. He did not want to kill Eobard, he felt extremely guilty to the point that now, having killed him is one of his worst nightmares, but he was essentially forced to do it (why Eobard did this to make himself get killed is another interesting and unhinged story for another time). So as you can see, this is how Barry reacts when he gets threatened with the death of someone he loves.

And this also is Barry reacting to the threat of a speedster killing someone he loves.

I am in awe with the parallels drawn between these two panels. The same font and stile has been used for Barry's "Not again!" and "No!", and there is the same brutality coming from someone who 99% of the time tries everything but violence to solve any kind of situation. He's entirely out of his mind when he does this.

(panels from The Flash Vol.1: Lightning Strikes Twice)

IN CONCLUSION

Somehow, IDK HOW, Barry does reciprocate in some form. At least in Joshua Williamson's run he does.

...I actually have my theories on the how, which entail these two being each other's lodestone, being irremediably connected through time and space, and Barry having been loved&desired so much and so strongly for so long, both outwardly and through the natural connection of their powers, that at some point he just... started feeling back.

"But Thawne killed his mother!" LISTEN. I KNOW. I think Eo is as confused by this as you and I to be honest. And that's also something about Barry which is very fascinating imo: he will love in spite of everything.

Even if the other person doesn't understand it, even if it makes no sense, even if BY ALL MEANS HE SHOULDN'T, even if he hurts, he will still love and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Luckily for Eobard, because there is no one else in the omniverse that ever loved him, and likely ever will.

[maagicmushies]

I think I'm just gonna post my thoughts on every hxh's character's nen and how they aid their individual stories because it's really fun to talk about and these thoughts are constantly bouncing around my head.

killua's is probably the best execution and cleanest cut case of this. Nearly every character who sees Killua use his electricity based abilities instantly become heartbroken realizing what this means. This little boy is familiar enough with the sensation of electricity that he can just replicate it. It's an extension of his training as a Zoldyck assassin, but it's very possible that he was put through worse tests than anyone else in his family due to his incredible potential and right to the family name. Killua's story is about unlearning the toxic behaviors so deeply ingrained into the Zoldycks as a whole and while it is sad, this ability to control electricity is his first step onto that path. It takes something that was constantly used to hurt him and transforms it into something that serves him.

In my opinion, that alone would be good enough writing to justify the ability, but through Greed Island and the Chimera Ant arc it just gets more interesting. Killua gets to refine this electricity control into two more specific techniques, Shock Palm and Thunderbolt. You'd think "Oh, he's an assassin, so these are flashy kill moves like the Chidori from Naruto", but both have consistently shown to do nothing besides stun. Killua can't kill people with these, either because of low power output or because of a subconscious limiter born out of his desire to escape his family. Provided, Killua does still kill people in the Chimera Arc, but to do so he has to always rely on Zoldyck abilities. It's always his claws, the Yo-yo or any of his assassination techniques. To kill is to constantly go back to being a Zoldyck while using his electricity is outright defying their programming. The non-lethal aspect of these abilities also show how much Killua begins attaching his worth to Gon at this point in the story. In contrast to all the utility that a quick stun provides, Gon for most of the story can't do anything besides land killing blows. Killua has just as much potential as Gon, if not even more, he could have come up with something just as destructive, but chooses not to because both in HxH and in Killua's eyes, Gon is the main character and Killua is just happy to be a piece of Gon's story.

This move from being an obedient facet to the Zoldycks to an obedient facet of Gon's life isn't as healthy as it initially seems. Gon treats him much nicer (for now), but it doesn't solve the core issue that Killua doesn't any sense of self worth, he doesn't think he deserves to live for himself. As sad as it is, he can't overcome the trauma of his family without also overcoming this dependence on Gon and removing Illumi's needle is a necessary step in this. This is why I love Hunter x Hunter. Illumi's needle is magic. I mean it's nen, but nen is magic by another name. However, instead of just being a cool setpiece that facilitates well choreographed action, HxH's use of supernatural powers is so intertwined with the characters, often being blatantly metaphorical. When Killua removes Illumi's needle, he is literally forcing his brother's influence out of his brain and able to think for the first time without his family's judgement clouding any of his thoughts. You could have a scene like this in a show without any supernatural elements, but there's just something about the sudden tangibility of these mostly emotional moments that feels right.

The removal of Illumi's needle sets the stage for Killua's ultimate technique - Godspeed. Godspeed: Whirlwind is a big "fuck you" to Illumi's needle. Killua, who once ran away from Pitou, uses it to fearless stare down Youpi. Whereas Illumi's needle suppresses all of Killua's fighting spirit in the face of a stronger opponent, Whirlwind suppresses his inhibitions, allowing his body to move without the limits of the brain. It would be a perfect capstone to his story but we aren't done just yet. Godspeed: Speed of Lightning lets Killua take control of this newfound power of Godspeed and use it for... Whatever he wants to. We see it briefly at the end of the Chimera Ant arc, but it gets a ton of focus during the next arc where it is crucial to Killua escaping with his sister Alluka. It's only because of this journey he got to go on that he does something he should have done for a very long time, it lets him be to Alluka what Illumi should have been to him. At this point, Killua is self actualized, he know what he wants to do with his life. He doesn't want to just mindlessly drift along to Gon's whim, he wants to see the world and let his sister see it with him. That self actualization is Speed of Lightning, all of his power wielded selfishly for the first time in his life. He deserves it.

[twistedminutia]

Are there any ships from Twisted Wonderland you like or dislike?

So, I’ll confess here, I’m not much of a shipper in Twisted Wonderland. I’ve read a couple of ship fics I think are cute, but I’m not very deep into shipping myself. But! I do have some ships I think are cute or don’t go as hard for:

Like

- I think EpelDeuce (also known as AppleJuice) is really cute! I dunno, seeing Deuce help out Epel was really nice, and I think they’d be cute together. Give me delinquents supporting delinquents!

- Jamizul is a ship I like mostly bc I think it’s funny. But I also think Jamil deserves to have a partner who can be as scheming as he can and also gives him freedom to explore himself. Azul and Jamil going traveling together seems like it would be pretty nice for them!

- Silidia, I guess? This one’s not a strong ship for me, but I like the idea of Idia having a massive crush on Silver. Idk if this would work out long-term, they’re very different people with very different lives, but I think they’d make cute first relationships for each other.

-This one’s so unpopular I don’t think it even has a ship name, but Sebek and Jack is cute to me for some reason? I just like the idea of two tsunderes falling for each other. Both of them REFUSE to admit they’re crushing but they’re together all the time. They train together. Do people see my vision???

- RookVil, maybe? I like this one all right. Epel’s got two dads now, and both of them are going to lecture him about his skincare (Rook’s like the cool dad though so Epel can go play in the garden after lunch as long as Vil doesn’t find out).

- RidTrey (is that the name? Idk) is also kind of sweet to me. I’m not super into it, but I like the idea of Riddle being a powerful lawyer whose husband runs a little bakery and always slips sweets into his lunch.

Dislike

- Unfortunately, I really don’t like FloRid. I know a lot of people ship it, and I can see where they’re coming from, but ‘one half of the ship constantly bothers the other half who actively does not like it’ is not a ship dynamic that appeals to me personally. I can read Floyd as having a weird crush on Riddle, but I just can’t read Riddle reciprocating in any way.

- LeoVil is, again, a ship where I can see where people are coming from, but it doesn’t do anything for me because I’m not a personal fan of the dynamic. ‘Couple who argues all the time and probably gets off on being mean to each other’ is just not a dynamic I personally find interesting. But I DO see where people are coming from, I’m just over here like, Godspeed you crazy kids, canon is feeding you today.

- Any ships involving a student and Lilia. Yes, even the adults and Lilia. Sorry, but this man is 600 and has a son, my personal opinion is that is he all but physically incapable of seeing anyone around Silver’s age as anything more than a little baby. (And I kinda headcanon him as aroace anyway, so.)

- In a similar vein, shipping Malleus with any of the Diasomnia boys. Lilia, obviously, that’s his fucking dad, but I also feel like Silver and Sebek are kind of his brothers, in a sense? Silver moreso than Sebek, but I feel like Malleus watching them grow up kinda kills off the romance vibes there.

Also, as a bonus, a couple romance headcanons about some of the characters:

- Epel has a massive, unrealized crush on Leona for a while. He’s just like ‘wow, Leona’s so cool! And beautiful! This is a normal platonic thing I am experiencing!’ Vil recognizes the crush pretty quick and immediately gets pissed off. ‘Out of all the people on campus, you have to admire HIM?’

-Riddle’s never been on a date, and has old-fashioned ideas of romance. Part of this is because his mother expects him to marry into one of several selected families, so he’s never considered dating. Post-overblot, he’s open to the possibility of dating, but also kind of overwhelmed by it.

-Sebek has a bit of a hero-worship crush on Malleus. It’s completely unreciprocated and neither person involved actually realizes it’s a crush. (Lilia knows, but he’s not telling.)

[caelumsnuff]

Oh boy, aren't you just tired of those damn opinions in your fandom?

If you would like to stop seeing my opinions and those of others who don't think exactly like you, i have a great little tool to tell you about called "Blocking."

By blocking me or anyone else who posts opinions that oppose your own, you no longer have to see our posts and we are incapable of interacting with your blog via likes, reblogs, replies, messages, or asks (unless we operate on side blogs, that is). Unfortunately, blocking someone on tumblr never will prevent them from seeing your posts, so you will just have to live with that fact. (Telling other people to block you does nothing positive for you!)

Here, i'll teach you how using myself as an example;

Blocking on your main blog vs your side blog are two different tasks, but ill explain both.

If you are on your main blog, you will need to click on the blog of the person you are wanting to block. It should look something like this.

You're going to want to click on that small button with three horizontal dots, which will open a drop down menu that looks like this:

Just click the bright red block button at the bottom, confirm your choice, and you can peacefully go about your life.

Blocking someone from interacting with a side blog is slightly more complicated. You're going to need to be on a desktop to follow this tutorial.

On the left hand side of the screen, you should see a bunch of options like this

You're going to want to click the drop down menu for "Account".

It's going to look like this. Click on whatever side blog you wish to block this blog for.

There will be a menu on the right hand side of the screen like so. You are going to want to click the "Blog settings" button at the bottom of the menu.

From here, you are going to scroll all the way down to the bottom of your blog setting. You'll see a bunch of stuff, ignore them, they're irrelevant to blocking. You will want to click the pencil button beside the pixelated pfps of blogs you have blocked.

From here the list of blogs you have blocked will drop down and open like so

You'll want to type the name of the blog you wish to block in the box at the top, like this.

Simply click the block button

and ✨VOILA ✨! Blocked!

Now you never have to see those pesty Different Opinions™ ever again! Though it may be a good idea to remember the usernames of the people you block for this reason, in case in the future you mature enough to be capable of civil, critical discussion with people who don't agree with you. Or don't! That's no skin off either of our backs :)

This tool is also quite helpful when someone posts art, fanfics, head canons, or whatever else you may not like. In fact, it is encouraged that you use the block button instead of harassing others, making call out posts, defaming others, or letting something that frustrates you linger in your head!

You should always use the block button when you see something that is triggering to you or puts you in distress. This alongside using the filtering system that tumblr has can keep you much safer. You can do your own part to help others by remembering to never censor words you use on tumblr.com and instead typing the entire word with no euphemisms. This will prevent your post from winding up on the dash/search for someone who has those subjects/words/tags filtered out.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, and godspeed.

[bloody-fate]

tagged by @thechurchofsplatterdaysaints and tagging @phantom-kitten, @berserker-gene, @hellonursevenus, @soft-lunar-rose, @booger-sinclaire, and anyone else who would like to play!

Do you make your bed?

No, life's too short to worry about that or anyone who judges you for not!

Fave number?

probably 77 or 25, this last road trip for work made me realize I'm either an amateuer numerologist or maybe mildly OCD because I'd rather keep the stereo, cruise control, and AC at a number that "feels right" than something more practical

What’s your job?

Coast-to-Coast Construction Goon! In a lot of ways, it's my favorite job I've had so far, but being on the road for weeks can be excruciating. Every job is something new in a new place, so it's hard to get bored, but there's way worse things than being bored such as missing your cat.

Go back to school?

At this point, I don't know what I'd go back for. Def don't have the time or the money but cosmetology school may be cool. I got 3/4s of a journalism degree before seeing the going rate for a magazine editor being a $500 a month stipend and realizing I made that working stoned overnights at IHOP in a week, but! you don't need to go to school to learn something, you just need to go to get a degree and I definitely want to always be learning and growing and expanding my horizons. I believe that you start getting old when you stop being curious about the world.

Can you parallel park?

Oh yeah, spending the better part of your 20s delivering pizzas in Chicago will teach you lots of tricks.

Job you had that would surprise people?

Personal nurse, I guess? Did it through the state for a friend for a year while they were recovering from cancer. I guess it would be surprising only bc it's one of the few non-food or customer service gigs I've had.

Aliens real?

Statistically they have to be, but I don't think they built the pyramids or anything like that because we don't give them any good reasons to stick around and hang out. I believe everything in the world is magic and science is the process by which that magic becomes mundane and that aliens, cryptids, and other paranormal stuff is just stuff we don't have the tools to figure out yet.

Can you drive stick?

I get it in theory but never tried outside of Ridge Racer.

Guilty pleasure?

You're supposed to live life guilt free and seek pleasure in all things, hope this helps!

Tattoos?

Got a lot of em, one of my oldest friends from back home learned how to tattoo on me and is now a bigshot international tattoo playboy. Money was really tight for a few years and now my guy and I are too busy to coordinate an appointment, but I used to go at least once every month. Still got some pieces and spots I wanna cover. Last one I got was a beholder above my left hand!

Fave color?

Purple for so many reasons! It's my mom's favorite too and I love the smell of lavender, love seeing it in flowers and other natural things, love Prince and grape flavored anything!

Fave type of music?

Any and all, but punk has always had my heart and soul. Been going to punk shows since I was a wee babby and worked at multiple record stores, so I'm insufferable. The guitarist from Melt-Banana is probably one of the greatest living musical geniuses. Finally gave The Cramps a fair listen and I really dig them. Also this account believes Utada Hikaru is a living legend! Revisited Godspeed You, Black Emperor recently and I think they're one of the most important bands to ever live. Lately been digging Teengenerate, The Osees, Slowdive, Show Me The Body, and the new albums from JPEGMAFIA and Clairo! Send me your fall playlist and I'll send you mine!!

Do you like puzzles?

Not like putting pieces together picture puzzles, but I get a kick out of riddles and word puzzles. Had a coworker at the pizza place who knew a bunch off the top of his head and I got pretty good at figuring them out. Also sometimes my job feels like a less lethal version of a Silent Hill or Resident Evil puzzle so there's that.

Phobias?

Heights, flying, I have a reoccurring dream of driving up a really steep and narrow bridge that just ends before I can see over the top of the curve and I go over the edge, so I get real nervous and quiet when driving over them in real life in case the dream is prophetic.

Favorite childhood sport?

Skateboarding? not really a sport, but I have asthma what do you want from me? my friends in high school also had this game called Dodge the Bat we'd play whenever we were walking around the neighborhood where you'd take a metal bat and yell "DODGE THE BAT!" before throwing it at a group of our friends and everyone would just scatter. Even less of a sport.

Talk to yourself?

Constantly, though masking in public has helped a constant self-mumbler like myself look way saner lately.

Movies you adore?

So many! The Shape of Water is probably my all time fave and Guillermo Del Toro probably my favorite director. I have a list on my phone of Lucca Certified Horror Bangers. Most recent addition is Profondo Rosso (Deep Red for all you non-guidos out there) after watching it on @thechurchofsplatterdaysaints 's rec and being totally blown away! Must consume more Argento.

Coffee or Tea?

Coffee for the fuel, tea for the taste! Love an iced matcha from Dunkin, current favorite tea is Constant Comment but it changes all the time. I always make a lemon lift + constant comment iced tea in the morning in the once in a blue moon instance work is having me stay at a hotel that has both tea bags and a working ice machine.

1st thing you wanted to be when grew up?

Video game QA tester but really only because I thought it was the only job where you could get paid to play video games, but my years in the work force have shown me you can get paid to play video games at any job if you're sneaky enough.

[new-king-kasa-official-archived]

oh god this is gonna be my longest post yet. here we go

blog runner- @dreamblues

other rp blogs of mine connected to this one: @guardian-angel-minori, @umbra-kasa-official

tags:

ic: tsukasa

ooc: mun

ship: (insert ship here)

please ask if you need any triggers tagged

notes:

mlm leaning aroace-spec

audhd

uses he/she (girlboy <3)

rp blog masterlist

ok ok. the lore is under here. godspeed this is long

last edited: 11/29/2023

This Tsukasa has switched places with another version of himself as a result of an incident in which his previous powers were stolen after being abducted. He is now set to become a king if he is to ever go to his new universe. Down below is lore for his previous identity.

This is a blog for an au version of Tsukasa who was killed in an incident involving a time anomaly and was later revived by another timekeeper (WXS Miku)

In his universe, he was responsible for preventing time anomalies before they can interfere with events in the timeline. His revival was meant to correct a mistake before it could have a severe impact on the flow of time.

Timekeepers are capable of detecting objects or living beings that are at risk of triggering a time anomaly if left unchecked, and thus they're required to take care of them in any way they see fit until the time anomaly is successfully averted. In Tsukasa's case, she usually resorts to either picking up objects and putting them into a huge living space she shares with Miku or simply luring living beings away from the events playing at hand.

Timekeepers are also able to time travel to any point in time

Tsukasa is unable to make his presence known to anyone in his universe because of the risks that could come with revealing the existence of timekeepers to the world. There was an incident where he did, in fact, have to reveal himself to the public in order to stop a serious time anomaly, causing him to be forced to wipe everyone’s memory of him to make sure no one spreads the truth. This incident has left him deeply traumatized.

Since Timekeeper Tsukasa is... a unique case, she got transported into what I'm going to call ✨the pjsk rp verse✨ through different means. It was a mere accident on her part in which she tried to travel to the future, but instead sent herself into a whole other universe separate from hers. Because she's not in the one she's supposed to be from, her powers grow unstable and she's unable to return home until her powers completely stabilize. She also loses the ability to detect time anomalies, though she can't figure out a reason why. Right now, she's just a god who can't use her powers whatsoever.

Because of his circumstances, he never got the chance to meet Emu, Nene, and Rui. That means the only ones he knows from the main cast would have to be Ichika, Saki, Honami, Shiho, Shizuku, Toya, and maybe Airi (in the sense that he only knows about her through what Saki's said about her. Pretty sure it's canon Saki was a huge fan of Happy Happy Everyday)

He may end up confused by the existence of sekai at first, as this au wasn't built with sekai existing in mind

Because Miku is a timekeeper (and possibly other vs) in this au, the concept of virtual singers may not be present in Tsukasa’s universe, as they would exist in different forms

Will add more lore if I have to

Update: on 11/28/2023, there has been a recent discovery that Tsukasa can get prophetic visions through his dreams. Whether this is his powers manifesting once more in a different form or something else is currently unknown to everyone around her.

[eneiryu]

Ok so I saw you say you don’t like jealousy in your fics and you would go into it more if someone was curious. I am curious lol.

Let me preface this by saying that this is my own perspective, and not meant to be a judgement against anyone who likes to read or write jealousy. If that’s your thing, godspeed! We are live and let live ‘round these parts.

To me, jealousy feels like a symptom of a much bigger, more poisonous issue in a relationship.

For the person getting jealous, it suggests a couple of things to me. That that person doesn’t trust their partner(s): they worry that their partner(s) finds someone else funnier, or smarter, or prettier, or just generally enjoys spending time around that someone else more, and that as a result their partner(s) might not like them as much, or leave them, or something else terrifying like that. And so they may do one of two things (that I see, obviously there could be more): either stew quietly in their own insecurities, or project those insecurities outward, and either (a) make their partner(s) feel bad about having other friends, close relations, etc, or (b) demand that their partner(s) not have other friends, close relations, etc. And denying someone access to people who love them and enrich their lives? That seems very unkind to me. Either way—stewing or demanding sacrifices by their partner(s)—seems like a sign of an unhealthy relationship.

And for a person who is deliberately making their partner(s) jealous? Unless it’s done in a respectful way (their partner knows it’s a good-natured joke, etc.), that—again—just seems unkind to me, and not a sign of a healthy relationship.

The bottom line for me is, either you trust your partner(s) or you don’t. If you do, then there’s nothing to be jealous of: you know where you stand with your partner(s), you know you feel about them and they about you, and you want them to be as loved and happy as possible, including having as many friends and close relationships and people who are fond of them as can be found. Love and fondness and caring aren’t a pie in my perspective, where loving one person means there’s less love for others.

And if you don’t trust your partner(s), then, well. That’s the answer right there, to me.

[x-authorship-x]

Now I'm curious though, after anon's crossover ships list I wanna ask: what are YOURS crossover Shisui ships?

Hmmm I have quite the collection but let's just go with a handful that I actively think about (update: I got carried away as per usual)

Shisui/Fili (The Hobbit) Listen. Listen. I adore Fili, the Golden Prince, okay. He has too many knives (never too many) hidden in implausible places, he loves his brother more than even seeing the kingdom he could inherit, he has the BIGGEST baby blues on a grown man (dwarf). Idk how this happens, if Shisui is a reborn as a dwarf who can fucking breathe fire and shit, or if he's a man with these crazy powers or WHAT but it's gotta happen. Can you fucking imagine Susanoo versus Smaug??? EXACTLY. Fili is mischievous but responsible, he is devoted to his younger brother and to his duty, he's skilled and handsome and sweet and he absolutely should've lived and IF THIS ISNT RINGING BELLS FOR SHISUI IDK WHAT TO TELL YA Shisui Dragonslayer (or does he Mangekyou Smaug and get a pet dragon? Even fucking better) is Fili's crown husband I SAID WHAT I SAID

Shisui/Legolas (LotR): Shisui and Legolas jumping around trees and being painfully pretty whilst on an endless hunt? Sign me the FUCK UP

Shisui/Aragorn (LotR) can you see where this is going lol I'm not saying that Aragorn meets Shisui in the wild and they grow close because they're sensitive dark poetry boys with the weight of the world on their shoulders and Aragorn is crowned king and Shisui swears as his knight/court wizard and Aragorn accepts his oaths and holds his chin so tenderly and-

Shisui/Arwen (LotR) OKAY BUT LISTEN I MENTIONED THIS OFF HAND IN THE RED ALLY FIC AND THEN IT DUG IT'S CLAWS IN AND JUST IMAGINE THAT SHISUI IS A BLIND ISTARI AND ARWEN GLOWS WITH SO MUCH LIGHT IN HER SOUL THAT SHISUI CAN ALWAYS FIND HER 🥹 AND THEY RAISE ARAGORN TOGETHER LIKE HEY THATS MY DAD *BADASS BLIND ISTARI* AND MY MUM *THE EVENSTAR ABOUT TO GARROTE THE RING WRAITHS* AND EVERYONE IS LIKE WTF AND THEN SHISUI AND ARWEN ARE SO GENTLY SPOKEN AND CARING AND EVERYONE IS LIKE DAMN ARAGORN IS DEFFO THEIR SON THE KING IS HALF ELF AND HALF WIZARD AND ALL BABE

Shisui/Loki (MCU): we've been here before, run through my Loki tags

Shisui/Peter Parker (MCU): we've touched on this but just... The fluff, being badass and gravity defying and Peter needs more same age allies and also IMAGINE shisui being shown how to actually be a teenager

Thor/Shisui (MCU); see one of my Loki tagged posts about personalities BUT CMON Thor 'i committed atrocities and regret them' meeting Uchiha 'immoral-eyes' Shisui, they are both earnest and slightly misguided and also Loki wouldn't hate him and shisui would blend well with Thor's more straightforward personality, also they could both wear red like nice husbands

Shisui/Matt Murdock (Daredevil): I'm not gonna lie i just love this actor. The blind leading the blind. They are both devastatingly gorgeous and it's unfair. Matt is like "listen... I know I'm bleeding but i need you to stitch me up before you freak out" and Shisui is like "omg are you the one who snapped the legs of those twelve mobsters? Babe 🥺 we could've been doing this together" and Matt is like "....do you want to get married effective immediately" ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Shisui/Bucky (MCU) reconditioning? Reconditioning ❤️ hurt comfort out of time/world badassery all around

Shisui/Nezuko (Demon Slayer) LISTEN. LISTEN. nezuko. ❤️‍🔥👏 Thank you for coming to my TED talk

Shisui/Tanjiro (DS) AGAIN LISTEN TO ME..... Exactly. You've thought about it, you understand, the energy, the desperation, the resolve, the responsibility, the baby boys with hearts of gold and such agonizing faith. You're welcome

Shisui/Rengoku (DS) let me tell you something LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING-!!! FIRE. ARSON. GORGEOUS. PASSIONATE. A LITTLE UNHINGED WHEN THE ADRENALINE HITS. GODSPEED

Shisui/Dabi (Bnha) so shisui is definitely a villain. Why? He's not hurting anyone.... Except yes he has killed or driven insane every person to cross him. Whoops. Shinobi morality is iffy as fuck here ("shisui was a pacifist" make canon make sense on your own post pls👋) and I'm not saying that he's fleeing the hero commission and being slandered by the press but that's exactly what I'm saying. Dabi didn't hire him to kill endeavor. No, Natsuo did that. Dabi is just pissed that this bitch keeps popping up and stealing his jobs. Why does he have crazy eyes and green flames? Hasn't he ever heard of brand infringement? Right in front of Dabi's salad??

Shisui/Mirko (Bnha) IF YOU HAVENT THOUGHT ABOUT IT YOU HAVEN'T LIVED

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ideal scenario is that i like thinking about this like, essential short story adventure where winston and tuk hook up w/a couple [that bachelorette party] members, and as a foursome/quartet because they have these parallel stories of two pairs of friends who are like "sure i'd have sex with you if things aligned for that" and now are living that short story about expanding a dynamic & becoming closer friends for the end of it (of course billions only wrote winston as standing next to tuk next episode, instead of rian as he's often written to be standing with incl in a previous finale, to shove him out of the path of getting material and let taylor have confusing nonresolution w/rian based on this proximity and coincidence instead. but who can't say that that, And winston next not even trying to sit with tmc in the last finale appearance which at this point is probably for the best and instead again hanging out with tuk and then ben, isn't about having been closer for whatever all happened there in obtaining casual sex together)

and they can have perpendicular stories of also just having some nice chats and enjoying other interactions together such that maybe it's just fun for this one night of crossing paths, maybe anyone stays in touch at all, who even knows, if winston or tuk are dating anyone it's probably only going to come up again in how they were last dumped for being too much effort for how unepic they are, so godspeed to offscreen unmentioned dating. but just friendly acquaintanceship, or again this one-time spontaneously crossed paths night's acquaintanceship, is also a lot of fun. and why not imagine that winston "he's not allowed to not feel self-loathing or, by doing basic things like talking or initiating Or oppositng anything, Not operating as though he's too low in a social hierarchy here to be allowed thusly" type of material where his spontaneity, vivacity to bon vivantocity, self-assurance that is apparently arrogance/aggression to every who thinks he ought to be self-effacing instead, etc, is actually just a social success in other less wretched non-work situations, and his personality is taken as a contribution to the proceedings even before anyone takes up his proffered contribution of himself as a potential sexual partner. and lending confidence to tuk as like one person who won't, at any given time, go into hostile mode with him or even like take up the position of issuing this criticism, which is an inherently elevated (over tuk) one when it's a unilateral thing. such that tuk's personality can be a potential contribution as well. and winston and tuk's Friendship Developing Moments can be happening then, too, b/c Maybe they've hung out outside work on their own aleady, but also maybe they've never really been interacting with a larger group outside work, such that that group is less likely to include some people, or entirely people, who will suddenly go sicko mode on either or both of them. and then meanwhile, who knows anything abt this bachelorette party, could be already a cohesive friend group who all see each other all the time, or people who see each other more infrequently meeting up on this trip, or a mix; could be fun and chill or something so scheduled/demanding it's kind of like a work trip, or fluctuate....and of course zero info abt the individuals such that imagining anything abt them is entire OC territory, and i'm bad at that, or at coming up with stories, so not exactly a lot of details here from me but godspeed if two of them unlock another tier of friendship here b/c like parallel to winston and tuk, they're like hmm okay so we're mutually down re: potentially having a foursome here, and spending some time away from the larger group

(or of course the scenario that tuk and winston can also have that moment but just as putting "and/or: a threesome?" as an option, and that tips the scales for someone who might've otherwise felt more indecisive like "hmmmm casual convenient hookup, or spending more time out & about like this / whatever other activity...." but then is like oho Well, if it's a threesome, i'll seize that opportunity, sure....such that then maybe afterwards [winston and tuk hanging out together] happens sooner, if the third member feels more third wheel about things lol, since now they'd be the only two who already know each other. like ooh who knows, round n+1 in the aftermath just one on one (and/or i mean, maybe another thing the third party's still around for, re: further casual sex opportunities that don't just fall into your lap every day), and/or talk, watch tron together, go back out on the town even. where the conclusion of this truly is the essence of "it Is easy to imagine that winston and tuk are real Genuine Friends for the implicit further offscreen time spent together outside work / interactions between them here. and fun" and with that flair of "and give that a juxtaposed parallel in it being the same for a couple bachelorette attendees, why not, good for them"

[zoetropia]

Zoetropia’s Top 10 Albums of 2021

Honorable Mention

Cheekface - Emphatically No.: It seems like a vast majority of current music across all genres is pulling heavily from the emo scene of the early aughts, so it’s nice to have a band stop by with a snotty, too-clever-by-half, slacker ‘tude and a plethora of hooks that traces their roots back through They Might Be Giants to Devo. It’s probably too much in heavy doses, but it’s a solid palate cleanser.

Cool Ghouls - At George’s Zoo: A sunny slab of laid back, surf-soul inspired garage rock. It’s almost TOO Californian for this lifelong east coaster, but a record like this could turn someone who hasn’t even so much as touched a surfboard yearn for a wasted day in the waves. See you at the beach.

Sun June - Somewhere: A warm and generous indie soft rock record set apart by lead singer Laura Colwell’s clear and expressive vocals. Combine that with a solid, well-composed backing band that’s uninterested in being flashy and you have a record that’s just on the right side of easy-listening. Perfect for a warm, wistful summer night.

Remember Sports - Like A Stone: Power pop is a genre hanging by a thread, it seems (so much so that a new Alvvays record seems like a revolution), so I’m glad to have a solid entry to include on my year end list. We need more kids discovering early Superchunk records, come on!!!

Black Country, New Road - For the first time: A striking debut from a young band with clear musical chops trying to nail something down. If they do, look out... (spoiler: they will).

Kiwi jr. - Cooler Returns: A shimmering indie rock record with fun, hooky tunes and an infectiously laidback vibe. Perfect for a summer hangout.

Top Ten

10. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!: A new Godspeed record and you think I wasn’t going to put it on this list somewhere? "Cliffs Gaze” is up there with some of the best stuff they’ve put out and they continue to make music unlike anyone else for a time that desperately needs it. Our side has to win, indeed.

9. The Antlers - Green to Gold: The Antlers drifted away for 7 years, and with Peter Silberman developing tinnitus, recording a solo album, and Darby Cicci leaving the group, it looked doubtful they would ever be back. But they came, uh, gently rolling back with this collection of gorgeous songs that lushly ache for the beauty in the passage of time and the changes it brings. A lot of my favorite indie bands of my youth are dealing with similar subjects as we collectively get older, but this is one of the finest statements I’ve heard on the matter from that generation of artists yet.

8. Iceage - Seek Shelter: Took me a while to warm to Iceage (ha ha ha) despite the constant championing from the likes of Pitchfork, but they’ve really matured into an incredibly strong rock band that’s able to meld they’re scrappy beginnings with an eye toward more refined composition. This is a Big rock record in the best of ways, a record by a band that forgot that radio rock is dead and decided to keep pushing that sound forward anyway.

7. Quivers - Golden Doubt: Super catchy jangle pop, the whole band singing full throated in harmony? Sign me up. Melbourne has been at the forefront of the jangle pop revival and this is one of the best entries yet. It also helps that these guys seem like one of the nicest groups in existence. When I saw them live this year, their positivity and excitement for doing their thing in front of a receptive audience was infectious.

6. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature: A beautiful gift of a record. When I saw Cassandra Jenkins live this year, she said she recorded most of these songs not really intending to release them anywhere, as they seemed to her too personal and idiosyncratic to share. But I’m so glad she did. This is a intimate yet expansive record that is grounded in honesty and clear observation. It’s sad, yes, but it’s also so warm and hopeful. It’s a long hug from a close friend after a tough time. It’s being somewhere you feel safe so you can fall sleep. It’s something that finally understands. It’s over way too soon.

5. Nation of Language - A Way Forward: Modern new wave-y synth bands need a few things for me to really dig them: 1) understanding that the artifical sounds of synths and drum machines are not an excuse for remove but a way to enhance the emotional core of their music through counterpoint, 2) acknowledging that the core of synth pop is danceability (even if it has fallen out of fashion on actual dance floors), and 3) simple, catchy melodies. This band and record has all of these things in spades. This record has burrowed itself into my brain since coming out and hasn’t let go. It’s real good.

4. Wednesday - Twin Plagues: The shoegaze/alt-rock/country pipeline that I never knew I needed. Wrangling noise from a lap steel and angst from a tradition of music that pervades Appalachian mountains, Wednesday has got to be my favorite young band right now. It’s the good part of what happens when kids have access to every and all type of music at their fingertips and smush it all into something uniquely their own. And they’re already a force as a live act.

3. No-No Boy - 1975: It sounds like a better backstory than an actual record: an album that started out as a Ph.D. dissertation that traces the 20th century Asian American experience through music. It all falls apart if the songs aren’t good. But they are. Really good. And the stories the songs tell are never less than compelling and vital. A rare treasure of a record, one that is both important and a treat to listen to. If there’s one record one this list that I would recommend everyone who see this to listen to, it would be this one.

2. Julie Doiron - I Thought of You: This one was a true surprise to me. Julie Doiron, almost 50 at the time and after an almost decade off, made a solo record more lively, more youthful, and more energetic than artists half her age. She combines that with an expert thoughtfulness and ear toward composition that only experience can be bring. And that voice! Please don’t make us wait a decade for the next one, Julie.

1. Low - HEY WHAT: This album has taken on an unfortunately more significant air since the passing of Mimi Parker. And what a loss indeed. Mimi’s voice and accompaniment on percussion were... are... irreplaceable. It made this band who they were. It’s very rare that a band would still be releasing not just relevant material this far into their careers, but also still stretching, expanding, improving. That we won’t see where they would go together from here is a small tragedy, that such a great artist and wife and person is gone too soon is a great one.

[slugbutter]

welcome everybody

I am Muhammad Imad Abdel Latif Sharab

First, after an aggressive war on Gaza City and its revival, we were displaced from our 3-storey house in which I and my family of 3 members live.

My father's family consists of 8 members

My grandfather, may God have mercy on him, was martyred by occupation aircraft on 12/14/2023.

The one who was martyred while he was leaving the house to check on our house next to him, which could not be reached due to a brutal enemy who does not differentiate between anyone in death, went out to check on our house, which we were not in because of my displacement to Rafah, me, my father, and our families due to the intensity of the fighting in Khan Yunis, and after that A few days ago, our store in which my father and brothers work was bombed by occupation aircraft. He was working to gather his strength from it and meet the needs of our house, which no longer exists due to the bombing. We ask you to help and contribute, even if just a little, by donating to us so that we can compensate for a little of what we lost.

Many thanks to you 😢

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

If you do not understand the words well, because I am not very good at English, but I ask you to help me with money so that I can compensate for even a little of what I lost, and I am very grateful to you, my dears😢🥺😢🥺😢🥺🥺😢

i'm so incredibly sorry for what you & your family are going through right now, doctor shurrab. my sincerest condolences for the loss of your grandfather. i pray you all make it to egypt safely.

god bless & godspeed, brother. (and don't worry about your english! it's great.)

if anyone sees this post. please signal boost & donate if you can. the campaign was vetted by @90s-ghost. more about doctor shurrab's story can be found in his most recent post, as of today.

[bloodypeachblog]

Ok, I'm gonna be frank here.

I couldn't care less on what your gender, identity, religion, sexual orientation, or race is. As long as you're not an asshole and/or a creep, YOU ARE WELCOME HERE AND YOU ARE VALID.

I know there's some scary shit going down in the LGBT community right now, specifically in the trans community. While I do have an opinion on certain things, that does not give me the right to force people to follow my opinions, because they shouldn't. Do what you want in life. As long as you're not hurting anyone, you should be able to live life the way you want. We only got one of these, we might as well use it to our full advantage. You wanna change genders? Go for it. You wanna date multiple people? Godspeed. You wanna wear a saddle and be a horse? Wear that saddle and GO. BE. A. FUCKING. HORSE.

I've heard many horror stories from news media and other peoples' experiences with the LGBT community, and I'd like to say that the news media is utter trash and I'm not gonna say peoples' experiences are false. But while there is toxicity in the community, I'm not afraid to support it. Because I know there are good people in there. SANE people in there. People that see the toxicity as not a representation of themselves. People that just want to be themselves, live their lives in peace and not be judged for it. I will stand up for those people any day of the week. But I'm not gonna stand up for people who just want to see people hurt or spread hate. I never have, and I never will.

Look, just...be nice, ok? Be kind to everyone and let's enjoy some stuff like fanfiction, headcanons, characters/people we love, food recipes, good stories, cute animals, or awesome music. I want both my blogs to be a safe haven from everything bad right now. To help us escape our shitty reality. (I may reblog stuff that brings up reality, but only to acknowledge certain things and spread the word. But other than that, it's just memes, headcanons, fanfictions n shit). So please, let's all get along and have some fun.

And if you aren't gonna do that..get the fuck off of my blogs.

Now, I hope all of you have a great rest of your day.

[kisstheashes]

All this talk about weed made me want to ask. Do you have any resources on it? Or tumblr blogs? My friend hates it so much that they pretty much think anyone who smokes is disgusting and bad. Having even just vaped ONCE cause a spew of arguments because they asked me not to before. I’m not trying to convince them to smoke, but is there anyway to maybe… make them not be so negative to it? They legit see someone smoke weed and it will cause them to have a mental breakdown. I just want to inform them that it’s not THAT bad.

Honestly....not really. And if their aversion is really that bad, a few articles or scientific papers aren't going to convince them otherwise. When you're so totally convinced that a substance is that evil, there's really only one thing that could help. And that's time, and a very large amount of patience. This "slow conversion" if you want to put it that way is not something I'm good at doing with other people, because I am the one it generally happens to. I literally used to kind of be that person about weed, and now I'm a stoner, so. It's a character trait.

Like I'm sure I could say like...well you vaped once and you were still you, so shouldn't that help? But from what you said. Clearly it didn't. Maybe if you brought it up and said some shit like "but did you notice me change at all afterward?" or like... "Yeah, I felt different while I was high but I feel no addiction from it" or however you want to say "theres no lasting effects on your psyche". Though realistically this person could take years to start changing their mind, if they ever do, if you're a dear friend and they still reacted that way. I find that those people will dig in their heels until it either finally clicks one day, or it just. Never will. Bringing it up more often can help in that regard, but it can also break your relationship if they don't want to change. And they have to want to see other sides and be open to more interpretations of living.

If this person has done a 180 or even a 90° turn on other ideals and morals they've held, then you can safely assume they might do so here. But if they're like this with everything, the deck is stacked against you and I wish you godspeed on that quest.

And I also can't like. Be like. "Oh its not harmful at all" bc 1) theres always caveats and also 2) I would consider my ass addicted to it (or at least the reprieve it gives my mind) so like. -gestures-

Weed is a fantastic drug. It has a lot of medicinal properties but besides that its just a lot of fun and relaxing. It's not for everyone, and yeah the smell can kinda suck. There's something to both sides of it, I think, since. It's a drug. And even ibuprofen can kill you. (It almost killed me.)

And just a side note, trying to change people's minds on something by listing the medicinal uses or emergency cases just makes people carve out an exception for "those" people, and it keeps their base ideology the same.

[savingthrcw]

"Is that how long they last?... Whatever." She didn't bother correcting the number, who cared, it wasn't as if her math skills would impress him, but she did wonder if he had thrown in a random amount of time or he was boasting about knowing some biology.

She watched the different expressions on his face - he wasn't extremely open, but as someone who often was called out over having two expressions at most, stony and angry, she could recognize some flickers of surprise or the obvious fact that he was enjoying annoying her, the shithead. As long as he didn't get gross about it and her temper took over, though, it was just part of life, and messing with her over being kind or, probably, a loser since he was so ready to point out he had never heard of her, wasn't a big deal. Although she did wonder how long he had been stuck down there.

"Well, he ain't getting any unwanted publicity from me, that's what matters," she retorted, casually choosing the wrong pronoun to stay true to her word. Lee could be as open as she wanted, but she wouldn't give her name to anyone without permission.

And then he grabbed Pat, and her hand was already on her pistol, ignoring the minigun, which was slower and less accurate, in favor of quickly aiming it at his head, before Roy had even grabbed his weapon. Playing around and discussing things politely was all nice and fun until one of hers was threatened, and she'd rather let him see how fast she could be too than to risk it. But he let go of Pat just as fast, and she tipped her gun towards the ground slightly, still keeping it up, a move to show that she wasn't about to shoot him anymore unless he tried to shoot first. Fuck it if she wouldn't die for those two idiots, even knowing how deadly this ghoul was.

Consider this my advance, for dealin' with your Dom Pedro problem. Her eyebrows up, her interest piqued, and she thought whether fighting over pride was worth risking her life as much as protecting Pat had been. No, not over a weapon. Especially not over a weapon taken by someone who otherwise would be unarmed, she did say she'd let him go, couldn't begrudge him for wanting to be able to fight. She'd do the damn same thing.

"What did people use to say? Godspeed?" "Really?" Roy questioned her, but she ignored him. "Curious to see if you can actually take Dom Pedro down... Remember my offer," she lowered her weapon, considering the risk over. "But if you ever show up again to work together, I'll want a weapon back."

Later, she ignored their questions about why she had acted that way - what was she supposed to tell them? That she had been captured before and had stolen from people too? That she didn't want to risk their lives? She'd get herself stabbed before admitting the last one - and instead worked on tracking down the head, first finding out that a ghoul, surely the one they had met, had practically shot the entire town, then finding the beheaded scientist, then a lake with a dead gulper. The tracks got only more baffling from there, it looked like more people had been around the head in the first place, and she picked a random trail to follow. Or, more specifically, let Roy do it, since it was one of those skills that made him worth of being brought along, besides his lockpicking.

Sadly it meant that her very little drinkable water was starting to be below what she hoped to still have, even when mixing it with other drinks, and the Super Duper Mart they saw became a potential source of supplies. What was inside, however, turned out to be more baffling than the outside: open cages, a bunch of dead bodies, the cowboy ghoul in front of the tv. As she came closer, she also noticed vials and drugs, and that some of the bodies were ghouls. What the fuck? She was about to express that sentiment when she heard the voice from the tv, the familiar, heartbreaking voice she hadn't heard ever since her last holotape had broken. She walked around the tv to see her father's face on the monitor. Roy recognized the voice too and made Pat sign to wait, knowing that it made her unpredictable, but Janey could only sit clumsily on the first available surface, staring at the screen, her minigun dropping on her lap.

This changed things, she'd kill him on the spot for that tape, if he decided to take him away. It. That wasn't her dad. Well, it was, but he was recorded there, speaking-speaking with that voice and posing as a cowboy. She felt like she had gotten her brain zapped with electricity, because the accent, the damn accent was wrong and it had messed with her head, and her memory of her father went to hell every now and then thanks to her mother and she needed a refresher, but now that she had it, she was listening to her dad, was watching her dad wear that hat, act like a cowboy... Faster, faster than she had ever been before, Janey hit the back of his head with her minigun, which felt as light as a feather due to the adrenaline rushing through her veins. "What... Coop, what the fuck?" Roy asked incredulously, "Why? "That's my dad," Janey blurted out, and Roy gave her a what in an even higher voice, "That's-Get rope. I need to think." Did she? She could be having a nervous breakdown after all. Looking at the white powder on the table, she thought that maybe he had had the right idea, how people would even deal with so many emotions was a mystery to her.

"See, it is a boasting point: I lasted like at least ten generations of bloatflies."

Oh, she didn't actually know the exact lifecycle length of a bloatfly, did she? That made her response to his throwaway insult even funnier.

"Yeah, ten months is real impressive, swee'heart."

The Ghoul drawled back, voice thick with sarcastic amusement. From context, he could infer what the raider had probably been trying to convey - and sure, ten years in the raiding lifestyle was actually quite a feat. Most folks died, or came to their senses and switched career paths, well before then. The ones that stuck around this long and had lackeys, well. They'd usually stirred up enough chatter for him to have heard about them by now.

Maybe this one would have a name he'd recognise more than her face.

"We had a sniper. He got greedy and got his head blown off. Bloaty style."

He was actually a little surprised that she'd admit that to him. Granted, it didn't guarantee she had nobody out there covering her and her two lackeys - but after her little speech about how she was such a generous boss who invested in paying skilled people what they were worth, it was rather ironic that she'd just had to put one down for getting greedy. Clearly there had been a disagreement over how much the sniper's skills had been worth.

"Shame," he commented, with the mordant humour of someone who'd just seen all the cards in his opponent's hand and knew he could take the winning pot.

No sniper, no problem.

Another clear reaction at his pointed choice of words. Instead of bristling at his blatent button pressing, however, the raider averted her gaze. Oh, that was interesting.

"I'm in a "I wanna fuck with the Enclave today" kinda mood."

She was really keeping her manners on, wasn't she? That was sensible, even if it wasn't very sporting. The Ghoul magnanimously decided to let the subject go. After all, he had more important matters to focus on than needling this stranger for the sake of seeing her squirm. And by the look that just crossed her face, she was already off her game enough that she'd forgotten introduce herself.

"Right. I'm Coop."

The Ghoul's expression went abruptly, unsettlingly blank.

He barely registered the names of the two men as she finished off her side of introductions; a haze of static was setting in, bouncing the old nickname around in his mind, turning it over. Trying to discern whether this was some sort of sick joke. Trying to discern whether or not she knew.

There was no way she could know. She hadn't delivered it like a punchline; she hadn't paused to take in his reaction, or given any indication that she'd expected there to be one. It was just a stupid coincidence.

Then, one of the newly introduced raiders (Pat?) raised his hand and actually waved hello at him. That was nonplussing enough to pull The Ghoul back out of his head, and watch as Coop and her other buddy collectively cringed at the social faux pas.

"... he's our Brahmin, ignore him."

Ah, so he'd been right. That one was the weakest link. The one who carried the bags because he didn't shoot as good or think as fast.

If this went to shit, Pat was going to make a good meat shield.

"As for my friend, if I went around giving the names of people I work with and for, wouldn't be good publicity, would it?"

The Ghoul's eyes narrowed knowingly. So this friend was the real big fish - and probably the source of all these promised caps, given this raider was so reluctant to risk being cut out of the deal.

"Oh, I get the feelin' your friend's had plenty of publicity already," he remarked, low and shrewd. Certainly he'd put money on them being someone more familiar than these strangers.

"You, on the other hand... Maybe you oughtta hire a publicist, 'cause I've heard a marked lack o' chatter about you."

Maybe because she'd been a lackey herself for most of her career, and some big-name boss had been taking all the credit. Or maybe because she just hadn't really done shit outside of scavenge easy pickings and mug some small merchants, and that was why she'd survived so long in the first place.

"You'll hear more from me if you join us. If not, find the answers out there. You'll find me too, if you ever need caps."

For all her purported confidence in what she had to offer, this woman really did seem set on giving him an easy out. Was that big ol' minigun of hers out of bullets from her disagreement with her former sniper, or something?

The Ghoul's lips quirked.

"Well, I'll tell you what," he started, with offhanded cheer, as he stepped in close enough to clap a faux-friendly hand on Pat's shoulder.

"Y'all are some of the politest raiders to ever point a gun at me, an' I'll admit that tickles me a bit, so -"

With the deft speed of a viper, he made his move. His other hand firmly clamped down on Pat's elbow - using his newfound leverage point, The Ghoul sidestepped behind his quarry, and smoothly twisted the young raider's weapon arm up behind his back to divest him of his nice looking gun.

"- I'll take it under advisement," The Ghoul finished with that same affected equanimity, releasing Pat almost as quickly as he'd grabbed him with a patronising little pat to the head.

Nothing personal, bucko. Just how the game goes.

He retreated with his newly procured gun - how good it felt to be armed again at last - and kept it pointedly levelled at Coop, while he gauged the reaction to his little breach of niceties. Just in case she wasn't feeling so kindly any more now that he'd robbed one of her own, or so inclined to let him walk away.

"Consider this my advance, for dealin' with your Dom Pedro problem," he gave by way of simple explanation, and tipped his hat for good measure - a sardonic little thank you for what he knew he hadn't had permission to take.

And if you have any sense, you'll realise how lucky you are that this is all I'm charging you for the mistake of unleashing me for a recruitment pitch.

He'd have shot and looted the lot of them, but, well. They had technically done him a favour, and they hadn't tried to threaten or extort him yet.

If this Coop was serious about being willing to let him walk away, with the chance of future jobs still on the table and no grudges held, then he had a feeling it was probably more advantageous to not completely burn this particular bridge right now.

Either way, he was definitely about to find out who this weirdly polite old raider actually was - folks always showed their honest character when things started going wrong.

@savingthrcw