#I hate not having access to most of my stuff ugh

[rhonuscorner]

Tropes Tier Maker

Tagged by @ell-vellan Thank yoooouuu T-T

Not much to say, it's pretty self explanatory methinks. I think if I gotta pick an all time favorite trope it's Enemies To Lovers, without a doubt 👀 That one never fails to tickle my fancies. I'll never grow bored of writing that one T-T

I'm actually picky about AUs but I do really enjoy the challenge of adapting a canon character to a completely different setting and still keep them in character as much as possible, and coming up with a backstory for them that still hints back to their canon story. Little easter eggs if you will. Not every AU works or is enjoyable to write with every character though.

I'm currently in the process of writing the same canon character in three different AUS - Medieval AU, Wild West AU and College AU and it's 👌! Haven't had this much fun writing in a long time. These three characters share a lot of similarities (obviously) but they're also completely different from each other, I love it.

Also, angst and slow burn fics, hell yeah.

Most of what's on D I don't actually hate, I'm just extremely picky and/or peculiar about how those are written (either by myself or when I read fic).

Tagging @eternallygraceful @thereluctantinquisitor @chaitea09 @ourinquisitorialness and whoever else wants to, no pressure

[guinevereslancelot]

not me forgetting i switched shifts with a coworker and showing up an hour early for work ✌️😌

[no1ryomafan]

Yknow what really fucking peeves me but I see all the time in fandom that is probably semi controversial for saying this? When old fans feel the need to unnecessarily be fucking gatekeepy about someone getting into a series from its newer entry because “it sucks” “it ruined the series”.

I don’t mean to be this person because I know sometimes there can be a really awful iteration of something new but holy FUCK can you guys stop being such fucking babies about it. You are making people who like older parts of a series but doesn’t mind newer fans entering from the latest stuff all look bad-because guess what? Not all older fans hate the new thing!-it’s fucking embarrassing and I hate how I see this constantly no matter where the fuck I go unless I do happen to like something that hasn’t gotten shit in literal years. It’s fine to be disappointed but don’t take it out on newbies, you’re just making them not wanna try a series past what they’ve already seen.

It’s not welcoming, your just fucking toxic.

[vantedaes]

Not shy! 1/5 (Leon x F!Reader)

Author: @vantedaes Editor: @141s-chewtoy Pairing: Leon S Kennedy x fem reader! Word count: 2.350k Tags/Warnings: MDNI (+18) age gap, Banter, pining, romance, flirting, shy (introverted :p) reader, fluff, miscommunication, eventual smut, maybe slow burn? we'll see.

Summary:  1/5 When senior agent Leon Kennedy joined your unit the last thing you were expecting is for him to pay any attention to you let alone make you his partner, you, the outcast, shy, and officer rookie from the whole unit.

And it wouldn't be a problem if he didn't find pleasure in driving you crazy.

A/N: So here we at with my first fanfic in a long ass time (Also my first one in English be nice it's not my first language!) So i just wanted to make a wholesome banter with Death island Leon in mind! there will be eventual smut but later so buckle up to some old slow burn.

Thanks to my girl, the one, the only, the QUEEN: @141s-chewtoy for editing this nonsense and making it better and greater, ilysm bestie.

✩｡:•.───── ❁ ❁ ─────.•:｡✩✩｡:•.───── ❁ ❁ ─────.•:｡✩

When you first met Leon you thought he would never even grant a glance at you. 

As an officer researcher rookie, you were usually picked on and the spot of jokes from your whole department, it didn’t help you were the first woman to achieve that high-ranking position. It should mean you receive respect from others, right? Well apparently not, and you knew that it was partly your fault, you’ve always been introverted and also maybe kind of a pushover. 

So maybe being the target of jokes from the whole station and also having no other friends than the lunch lady —Sandy, god bless her heart, and her delicious croquettes—, was enough to make you invisible, and you were fine with that, mostly, it helped you not attract too much-unwanted attention which you hated but it also made you the odd one out that you also hated, but in the scale of things you’d rather be the quiet girl of the unit. 

Therefore you didn’t even make an effort to leave your office when everyone was running laps because the great senior agent Leon Kennedy was coming down the department.

You figured that he was another know-it-all dickhead, that would only come to you to shove your face in his big achievements and how he single handedly saved the president’s daughter and some many other stuff, cause yes you did peek at his file —What? you have access to it, you were the intel and researcher of the unit, and you had to—  Suuure, he was jaw-dropping gorgeous to say the very least but that was not the reason you sought shelter in your office, no, you just knew he had to be a fucking asshole like all the others you worked with. 

Of course, you couldn't hide forever, as much as you wanted to. Eventually, you had to face the man of the hour and oh boy you were nervous… you were so nervous that Sandy had to give you a pep talk for you to just do your job

“Girl I know he’s hotter than the Sahara desert but you can’t just miss out on your job! the guy’s been asking for the researcher for days now he thinks you’re a slacker.” 

“I’m not hiding because he’s hot! I’m just…scared he’s an egocentric idiot.” 

Sandy gave you the most ‘you think I believe an ounce of that?’ look she had ever given to you. 

“For sure honey and that’s why you have been eating in the kitchen and actively avoiding your work that you never do cause you practically breathe for this job.” 

Ugh, you hated how right she was and how much she knows you.

“Whatever.  It’s not because he’s hot, I’m just…busy with personal stuff.” 

Oh, the way she scoffed was nothing amicable. 

“Riiight, busy thirsting over the guy! I've seen the way you cling to his file, you ain’t fooling anybody and you’re sure as hell not fooling me so woman up and face him once and for all.” 

You sucked in a breath and shook your head. You knew she was mostly right, you just couldn’t avoid your work so you had to face him sooner than later… but it wasn’t because you were attracted, no, you just didn’t want to lose your time with the insufferable prick he surely was.  

It was an especially bad Friday morning when you sensed something off, could it be the fact that your coffee wasn't as warm as you usually prefer it? Or the way everyone was staring at you as you made your way to your office? Sure, you’d been coexisting with these idiots long enough to just ignore their shit but this morning they were drilling your head in with the intensity of their staring and whispering. 

You couldn't bring yourself to ask what the fuck the problem was but you soon regretted not doing so. 

Because at the other side of your private office was no other than agent Leon S. Kennedy sitting on your desk and examining your files in excruciating detail —making a total mess. You were frozen at your own door, your hand still on the handle and a part of you wanted to close the door and run away but, that wouldn't be so professional on your part and also he already had his cold blue eyes on you and, oh fuck you felt yourself trembling and clinging to your almond latte cause the pictures and the videos didn't do the  man justice… He was even hotter —and wider— in person. 

Regardless, you tried to maintain your calm and remain professional. This was your space of work and how dare he just intrude in your office! Sure you were avoiding convening with him and that was part of your job, but still! Wasn’t this a bit too much? And how did he even get into your office? You always closed it with a key, a key you and only you—oh, fucking Sandy! 

You could only snap out of your internal conflict when he called your name with that smokey-ass voice that made you weak on the knees. 

“I hope you don’t mind me barging in like this,”

Was he for real? Of fucking course you fucking minded but of course you couldn’t gather yourself to say or do anything but  just look blankly at him.

“It was the only way I could find time for us to meet since you kept avoiding me.” 

Fuck.  How did he realize that? And why did he look so amused by it? God, you knew he had to be a prick, and worst of all, and breathtaking prick.

Well, you ought to speak up for yourself because the silence was flooding the room and it wouldn’t help your case just to stay quiet and wait for him to leave. 

“Agent Kennedy, what a pleasant surprise,”  You uttered in a breathy tone, still without the strength to actually step inside. Leon raised an eyebrow and cocked a smile that just made you even more annoyed. 

Before he could even speak, you continued: “Sorry for the delay in our meeting, I’ve been busy with personal errands.” 

Ugh, at least you were good at being professional-ish.

Leon's eyes were full of something between total disbelief and something else you couldn’t really place.

Your heart almost crawled out of your chest when he approached you, so incredibly close to where you were standing as still as a damn statue. You could do nothing whatsoever as his huge physique came so fucking close to you and you almost felt like fainting when his arm reached behind you to just close the damn door. However, judging by the smug grin he had on his lips, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Your eyes were fixated on his huge chest and the veins on his neck, your nostrils absorbing the delicious scent of cologne and something citric… Dear god, this man was a danger walking.

You could only breathe again when he finally gave you personal space. 

“Sorry, don’t like the ogling eyes.” 

He said smoothly, returning to your messed-up desk. You were at a loss for words as you tried to regain some confidence to answer him. He had some nerve to keep meddling in your stuff and— wait, was he holding the file you had on him?

“Hey! Keep your nose out of my stuff!” 

Well, that was out of character for you, the way you snatched the folder out of his pretty hands like a toddler wanting their toy back. The coffee —that by this point was cold —in your other hand almost spilled on your carpeted floor.

You just tugged the file with your hand while he looked at you in surprise, clearing your throat and taking a step back. Now you probably needed to explain why you had a really specific file of him on your desk in the first place…

One that looked like it was thoroughly reviewed over and over again, and also had many pictures of him… 

At least the look in his eyes  —which were still full of amusement — prompted some explanation. 

 “What? I’m the researcher, I needed to know who you were before the meeting,”

As if anyone could believe that, he certainly didn’t, but god knows you were going to cling to your lie like it was the truest truth ever. 

“When they told me you were shy I wasn’t expecting this.” 

You scoffed and rolled your eyes, trying to move freely in your space around him. You carefully saved his file on your cabinet and just threw the fucking cold coffee in the trash, it was ruined anyway.

“Not shy, introverted.” You corrected, trying to get behind your desk. He looked at you still with a smug grin on his lips, he was enjoying making you nervous and annoyed. 

Before he could make another clever remark, you stopped him. 

“Listen Agent Kennedy, I would appreciate it if  in the future —”

“Call me Leon.” 

What? 

“I’m sorry?” 

“You have nothing to apologize for, please call me Leon.” 

Oh but wasn’t he just a fucking smooth operator.

“Listen, Leon,” Oh your patience was running thin, and it wasn’t helping that he kept looking at you with that smug grin and those huge arms  —like seriously, huge — crossed, just owning your personal space like it was nothing.

“Right now I don’t have any time for you, so I would appreciate it if in the future you don’t just break into my office.” 

Firm, professional, you felt proud of how you handled it. Cause right now you just really wanted to erase that smug expression from his face with a slap. Of course, he could be a real smoke show but he was just getting on your nerves with all his…all of him, really. 

Nevertheless, he continued to just sit on your desk giving zero fucks about how much you wanted him gone. Clearly he was having a great time making you uncomfortable and maybe a little flustered. It wasn't like you to yell or have a bad attitude towards anyone really, but you were having a hard time remaining cool in front of this smug man who kept meddling in your papers! 

"Do you mind?!" 

You said almost in a yell. Leon giggled, looking at you innocently. 

"I don't mind at all."  

You opened your mouth in disbelief,  he was just toying with you now. 

"Listen kitten— Can I call you kitten?"

"No, you may not!" 

Now you were sure you were red as a tomato.

"So, kitten, I understand your annoyance but I think we’re even, given your very specific investigation about me I could say that we both broke personal boundaries.”  

You were speechless, he was somehow right but clearly, you were not going to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. He was the one who broke into your office and he was the one who’s all in your personal space. How dare he compare your innocent file of everything you could find of him with this? Pfft, you did nothing wrong. 

“Now that we are somewhat acquainted, there should not be any problem with us working together.”  He leaned in and you felt your breath catch in your throat, “Closely, together.” 

What now? 

Leon kept staring at you, scanning your every reaction, almost savoring your internal struggles like he could read them completely. 

“Wh—What do you mean?” You asked in a tremulous voice.

Something in Leon’s eyes flickered as he bit his lower lip and almost suppressed a chuckle. 

“You know, because you’re the best researcher and the first line of intel it makes sense that we work alongside one another.” 

Ok, you were having an actual breakdown and it showed. What did he mean about that? Well, you knew what he meant but like what did he really mean? That you were going to have to see him every day? You could barely bear this unexpected intrusion and now he's telling you that you're going to be working partners? You didn’t do partners, you worked alone, you researched and informed the headquarters and that was it. 

Leon kept looking at you with his head slightly tilted to the side, clearly enjoying your reaction. You sucked in a breath, trying to collect yourself. 

“Is it really necessary?” 

And it was the only thing you thought to ask, you knew Leon was there to join your unit and it did make sense what he was saying but a part of you just wanted it to be a lie. You didn’t know how much you could bear having someone like him all over you at all times, the thought of it just made you…quiver. 

And no, it wasn’t because he was incredibly hot and unbelievably gorgeous, no, it wasn’t because his mere presence made your heart race and your insides burn and of course, it wasn’t because the sound of his voice and that stupid grin and the way he just called you kitten made your panties soaked in a fucking second. 

Fuck, you couldn’t be thinking of that when he was still right in front of you like a fucking predator smelling how aroused his little victim was…

Ok, you really needed to stop now.

Leon chuckled, “Don’t worry, I won’t bother you too much, kitten.” 

That fucking nickname again, your panties were as soaked as they could get. 

“Stop calling me that.” 

You tried to sound more serious than strangled but failed completely, Leon cracked another one of his fucking smirks and you felt the heat in your body increase, god, you weren’t sure if he annoyed you as much as he turned you on. 

God no, he just annoyed you, that’s all. 

“Why? It fits you perfectly, a shy kitten.” 

Oh god, you could kill him.

“I’m not shy. I’m introverted!” You exclaimed, feeling your face burning up, “And certainly not a kitten!” 

Sandy better fucking get her hands ready making you all the croquettes you wanted, she owes you one after this. 

[g00mbers]

• Chester x Reader (Fluff) 》

On behalf and request of someone!

- - - - - - - - -

You've decided to visit your Jester boyfriend , who fortunately had nothing to do but be funny on most of his shifts , which worked perfectly for him!.

You can't really remember when you fell for him , but in some way he fell for you too , and like hard , slipping on a banana peel type of falling. 

You finally arrived at your destination , You arrived with a basket of sweets of all sorts. It was kind of ironic to bring more sweets to a sweet kingdom but you'd thought it would make a nice touch of detail.

As you arrived the first person to welcome you was Mandy , she opened the door and to be honest , she fortunately seemed a bit more accessible and in a good mood , if you could tell , Chester hasn't played a prank on her ,yet.

"Hey Mandy!" You spoke , grabbing a bit more tightly the basket of sweets you had in hand. 

"Oh , Hey there! , Chester's been waiting for you All day!"

You tilted your head a bit in confusion 

"What do you mean?"

"He hasn't stopped talking about you , which I'm kinda thankful for that , since he has absolutely forgotten to play a prank on me today" She said proudly , placing her hand on her chest.

"Oh no I haven't!" Chester said as he grabbed a rope , and you automatically backed up , As chester pulled it , it motioned a Bucket on the top of the door , full of confetti and glitter , to fall in Mandy's Head 

"UGH! CHESTER how many times- These will be so hard to clean!!!" Mandy said in desperation as she got the bucket out and coughed glitter out

"WOOPS!" Chester giggled smoothly as he slides in the scene

"I'll kill you!" Mandy said glaring at him with pure hate

"Nuh uh! If you get the glitter and confetti fast enough then it'll be easier to get rid of~" He spoke in an "singing" kind of way 

Mandy groaned as she rapidly stormed off the room to clean her clothes

"Woah , it's the first time i have ever seen Mandy let you go so easily" You chuckled before looking back at him

"She doesn't usually attack me in front of customers" Chester shrugged in a cheery way

You could only giggle at his response , before realizing you were still holding your basket , and immediately offering it to him.

"Awww for me? You didn't have t-" Chester said as he Coed mockingly , and reached in for the basket.

 You immediately snapped shut the Picnic Basket before his hand touched it 

"Not now! , it's a surprise , silly!" You smirked 

"Ow you almost cut off my hand!" He said in an exaggerated and pained expression as he held his own hand

You could only laugh as you took his hand and began leading him

 "I hope your hand isn't hurt enough for this then" You said while still holding his hand

"Ready for the date of your life? I'll  make sure to tag you if I take pics!" Chester began to trot in place while slightly pulling you motioning you for a "let's go!" , he was clearly excited to see all the sweets you brought!.

After walking for a bit , you finally made it to a comfy spot , just down the tree where the shade hit perfectly , where you two placed the picnic down in the floor and began accommodating the blankets

 , food and stuff.

"Now we're all settled!" You chirped happily as you sat down , patting a place for him to sit besides you

"Alrighty , coming down!" He tried to sit down but seated in an uncomfortable motion, there were also some noises that sounded like wrapping papers...

"You got something there?" You asked  curiously.

"Well...You thought only my bells made noise? , because!" He said as he lifted up one of his pants leg a bit , dropping tons of candy that were hidden in Chester's pants

"...You had those there the entire time?" You pointed at the fallen candy as you looked confused

"I mean...not the entire day! But I stole a few from Mandy!" Chester picked up some candy from the blanket as he began unwrapping it and throwing them to his mouth

"But if i gotta be honest , we probably don't want to tell her!" He whispered before backing up , still eating the candy with a smug look on his face.

You then continued chuckling as you grabbed the candy and began unwrapping and eating one by one , until you finally spoke again

"Got any more surprises"? You leaned in closer to his face , as he flushed red for a second before looking to the side and playing it off as a laugh.

"Only one" He looked to the floor as he then pointed up , as you lifted your view up , you could see a mistletoe hanging on a tree branch. 

You looked up for some seconds , before realizing what was he talking about and you began speaking

...

"Chester it's nowhere near christma-" before you could continue speaking , Chester planted a soft kiss in your lips , You got completely caught off guard as he did this , but soon enough you warmed up to it and leaned in to kiss him back , but unfortunately , the kiss was soon cut short as he leaned back and smiled to himself proudly , meanwhile you looked absolutely flustered and confused , but happy.

"Oh by the way you got a little something  on your face" He said smugly , before getting up and wiping off the dust of the floor off his pants 

"Sorry for the short time! It's probably best if I come back before Mandy makes confetti out of me... But it was good to see you though!" He blew a kiss at you ,  before trotting off again , still giggling to himself

As you saw him go , you noticed that his lips were tinted in a weird blueish-color ...was he wearing something?. 

You immediately took your phone  and searched for the camera as you remembered the "You got a little something" comment

And then you saw yourself with the same lipstick color smeared in your face , and as you tried to wipe it out...the color didn't even move.

You just continued staring at him as you saw him go , your face still red and thinking about him and the whole situation , before realizing you just got both charmed and pranked on the same day.

Now you guess you'll have to walk all around Starr park looking like a clown... But it was still a part of your wonderfully funny Jester boyfriend. 

[xiyouyanyi]

Modern Era At Last: Spider Queen Special

My original idea for this AU starts with "Filling up the Celestial Realm", so we'll just say that S1 works more or less the same unless otherwise specified, and let the real diverging point start at the Spider Queen Special.

-Hell no, the trigram furnace isn't kept in the throne room, it is where it is in Tusita Heaven, Lao Tzu's place. And the place is quite empty and quiet when they aren't refining elixirs and the flames have been extinguished.

-Which means MK and Pigsy/Tang wouldn't be going to two different buildings, just two wings of the same building.

-It's also Lunar New Year, during which all the Kitchen Gods went back to submit their reports to the Celestial Host, so most of the officials and guards are gathered around the administrative halls.

-To celestials, it's more of a daily meeting, though. A.k.a. "Those last few hours where you are stuck in the office, desperately wishing you are somewhere else."

-Red Son has access to the place because PIF, as the former Grand Mistress of the Wind Bureau, keeps a backdoor key. The spider minions sneaked in by turning themselves tiny and latching onto the jet's wing before the formation activated.

-The gang landed in the Wind Bureau sky-harbor, right next to Lao Tzu's place, and immediately ran into Lady Hanzhi, known to Red Son as "Auntie Wind"——which, coincidentally, was not too far off from her most well-known title nowadays, Feng Po. 

"Please, that name makes me sound so old! Why not Sister Wind?"

-She acted like she always does: your overly helpful, enthusiastic, pushy aunt who seems to delight in embarrassing the youngsters, and immediately jumped to conclusions, asking Red Son if he was taking his cute dragon girlfriend on a date.

-Upon being met with an unambiguous "NO!" and some desperate attempts at backtracking ("We are just…not hating each other at the moment!") she chuckled, but was perceptive enough to understand they were in a bind, and immediately agreed to help out before Red Son even got the full story out.

-Naturally, that left Mei a little suspicious. "Uh, we are like, stealing your stuff? Ya' really don't have a problem with that?” 

-Hanzhi just laughed and was like, "You think I care about my job? Or want to be here? Even though Little Red's mother left me quite the mess to sort out, I'll take an old friend's kid over The Reasons We Are Here at any time of the year!"

-Which, to her surprise, failed to be assuring when she opened her Wind Sack and told Red Son and Mei to get inside.

"Okay, not to be mean or anything, but that's just…sus." "As suspicious as a bunch of mortals sneaking around in funny modern day robes? My, whenever I thought your fashion standards could not get any worse than these awful queues and melon hats…but ah, I'm rambling." "The point is, your friends are going into Tusita Heaven while the furnace is unlit. No one will be there, except for the new furnace-fanning boy and…That Lady." Hanzhi wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, the old witch with a broom. Pretty easy to fool, but remember, stay at least five Chi away from her, or your entire mission is a bust." "You two, however, are going into the Peach Garden. With actual guards and visitors, and one of my junior brothers as its new warden. You are not getting in, or out, without someone leading the way."

-Kui Mulang is still working as a furnace-fanning boy——he could have been done with it long ago, had he not intentionally fucked up during the Three Rhino Kings fight out of spite and got his sentence prolonged. When the place is not in use, he's put in a cangue and chained to a pillar in the storage room.

-When Pigsy and Tang entered the lab sector in search of the golden pill, he took the latter hostage through a combination of deception and the space-warping magic of stellar gods. 

"Now, hog, pick that vial of liquid off the shelf, and pour it on these chains," The Wood Wolf Star exposed his teeth in a feral grin, as he poked at Tang's back with the ethereal dagger,"very, very carefully. If you spill a single drop on me, my hand may just slip."

-Jiang Ziya's dead and deified ex-wife, Ma The Broom Star, makes an appearance as the cleaning lady on duty.

-She can passively curse people AND immortals with bad luck: not kill-your-entire-family, ruin-your-life level of bad luck like what the Taisui Star or the Dipper Mansion deities are capable of, but things like making people slip and fall on their butts, sneeze/burp at the most embarrassing time, arrive late to urgent meetings, etc.

(Also, firing comets out of her broomstick like a true witch.)

-MK, affected by her Aura of Inconveniences, fell right into the (unlit!) furnace while trying to sneak past her using the building's support beams. She heard the scream, but thought he was one of those bratty immortal acolytes and responded to his cries for help like the bitter old lady she was. 

"Serve you right for horsin' around, boy! Now sit in there and think about what you've done, till I'm done cleaning this place! Goodness gracious, I'm never so glad to have a daughter, not that my good-for-nothing ex-husband didn't try turning her against me, yeah, some Grand Master of Strategists you are, Jiang Ziya…"

-MK then committed the grave error of asking "Huh? Jiang Ziya? Who?" and was subjected to a long, incensed, caustic rant, most of which he tuned out for the sake of his own sanity.

-Meanwhile, at the Peach Garden: Hanzhi walked in without much of a problem, using the excuse that she is bringing her junior some tea right after getting dismissed from the meeting. Said junior is one of the 28 Lunar Mansions: Bi Yuewu of the White Tiger Mansion, a.k.a the Moon Crow Star.

-In ancient Chinese astrology, the Bi Star was seen as having power over rain, and the section of the sky it was in charge of housed the Tianyuan constellation, or "Heavenly Orchard". His Stellar Beast form, a one-legged crow, is based on Shang Yang: a mythical bird that would dance before every huge storm like a goofy weather forecast guy.

-He excels at controlling cloud formations, to the point he got "borrowed" by the Wind and Thunder Bureau more than some of the Water-aligned stars after deification. That did not translate to battle prowess, though, and he mostly relies on his formations to misdirect, trap and stall enemies for the rest of his team to handle.

-After Kui Mulang's sentencing, Star Lord Mao had taken over as the substitute leader of the White Tiger Mansion stars. As a fellow bird star and the anxious secretary to Zi Huohou's shy intern, Bi looked up to him, a lot. 

-Today happened to be his shift——one of the 28 Lunar Mansions is exempt from the daily meetings, to watch over their sector of the sky. Like most celestials, he was used to Hanzhi just walking around, finding people to chat the moment she was off-work, and wasn't surprised when she came out of the treasure storage room without her Wind Sack.

"Little Red, you've actually been here before, I trust you know where the kitchen is? Go there, grab a peach, get out, and please please please don't try to go into the garden proper if you can't find one. Just return to this room and wait, Auntie Hanzhi will handle it." As the shrill screech of a defensive formation triggering echoed through the pavilion, and Bi leaped out of his chair, Hanzhi could not help but sigh and thought, Of course these kids tried to go into the garden, why wouldn't they.

-Except they didn't try to go into the garden. It was the spiders, and a tiny immortal girl with an embroidered ball.

-Yep, it's Li Zhenying, Nezha's little sister, only mentioned once in JTTW! Here, she's a bit older and the holder of one of Nezha's magical weapons, the embroidered ball.

-In Zaju plays, this ball contains a shit ton of demons and evil spirits, subdued by Nezha and now working under his command, but that's not safe for kids so it just has a mouse inside now.

-Specifically, Lady Diyong, who's serving her prison sentence in there after her second capture and acts as Zhenying's unwitting hamster-slash-playmate. 

-The way the ball works: it can keep beings captive and enable the holder to use their powers, like a magical Pokeball. Once something is inside, it can only be released by the one who initially captures it.

-So Li Zhenying used Diyong's power to get under and past the defensive formation undetected, because…she's bored and wanted to practice some Cuju, and just happened to run into two very lost and frustrated spider demons.

-They decided to stalk Red Son and Mei together, in their mini-spider forms——it was the former who had the backdoor key, after all, and without that, they wouldn't be able to get back to the mortal realm safely after snatching up the three items.

-So they crawled into the Peach Garden and lay in wait. And waited. And waited. And no one came. Then, when they tried to leave, they couldn't, and kept circling back to the same place until a 12 year old popped out of the ground and yelled "Stop right there, bug people!"

-They laughed. They stopped laughing when one of them got sucked into the embroidered ball like a Pokemon. The sight of a huge, muscular spider guy desperately running away from a little girl was still pretty comedic, though.

-He didn't last for long. Diyong started screeching inside the ball because ewwwww, spider people, gross! She's not into that and she doesn't want them as her future neighbors! Get them out of here, at once! 

-Zhenying found her terror quite amusing, but ended up doing so because all the screaming was getting annoying. And that was what Hanzhi and Bi saw when they charged into the depth of the formation: Li Jing's youngest kid, swinging her toy around in a circle and sending two black dots flying into the sky.

-Hanzhi let out a silent Oh no at the sight. Bi let out a loud "You WHAT?!" as Li Zhenying explained her encounter with the spider people, and commented that pest control must be quite hard if all the bugs in here could grow into people. 

-Bi proceeded to have a nervous breakdown because I let a spider demon infestation happen right under my nose and trapped Devaraja Li's daughter inside my formations, oh fuck, oh fuck, I'm so dead.

-He was too busy curling up in a ball and rocking back and forth to notice Hanzhi slipping away, an immortal peach hidden in her sleeves, to retrieve Red Son and Mei. Back at Tusita Heaven, however, the rest of the gang weren't having a good time. 

-Ma had finished rambling about Jiang Ziya's great-great-however-many-times-great-grandson, the "Biggest Shame of Qi", and was about to narrate the start of their lineage's miserable downfall with a spiteful glee in her voice.

-MK asked her why she was so angry, which just made her more angry.

"Why am I so angry? Oh, I have no idea! Maybe it is because my bastard ex-husband wrote my name onto his oh-so-mystical-scroll and made sure I can't even DIE PROPERLY, boy! I raised his daughter after he divorced me and ran off to fight a war with his sorcerer friends, and this is how he repaid me——" "No, I mean, why are you so angry at people you've never met before? They are your kids and grandkids too, right?" "Exactly! I never got to meet them, and that's why they are a bunch of pathetic, dull-headed degenerates who got played like a fiddle by their own noble clans!" MK severely doubted that. "I never got to set them on the right path, grab them by 'em ears and scold them properly, match them up with good wives that weren't their own half-sister——for heaven's sake, that Duke Xiang, what was he even thinking?!" She paused. When she started speaking again, the indignance had drained away. "I never got to see any of them with me own two eyes, or speak to them, because I wasn't in their ancestral temple. I never got to meet any of them, and now they have been dead for thousands of years, and I…I couldn't even blame all of that on Jiang Ziya."

-For the first time since MK met her, the old woman fell silent. He was about to return to his own crisis of self-confidence when the entire furnace shook and violently toppled over, spilling him out onto the floor with a yelp.

"Go." She said, the tip of her broom still smoking, without sparing a single backward glance. "Scram back to your quarters, boy, before more of the Broom Star's bad luck rubbed off on you——"

-Then the lab's other wing exploded.

-Let's rewind back to the moment before this, when Kui Mulang was holding Tang hostage and threatening Pigsy into destroying his chains with a vial of corrosive chemicals. 

-With no other choice, he complied, and the moment the last chain came apart with a sizzle, Kui Mulang shattered the cangue via his Stellar Beast transformation——but not before trying to stick the dagger into Tang anyways and failing, due to his golden barrier triggering in a panic.

-Turns out, it was these magical chains that truly shackled him and his powers, and the cangue was just additional humiliation. 

"Ah, a thousand thanks to you," the beast's eyes narrowed into a slit, as it turned towards Tang, who was desperately trying to scramble away inside the golden bubble, "Golden Cicada. Now that you are a Bodhisattva, I bet your Body of Manifestation would taste even more divine."

-What ensued was a pure horror movie chase sequence, as the pair ran for their lives, toppling over shelves, throwing anything they could get their hands on at the Stellar Beast in the hope of slowing it down.

-The explosive reaction between two reagents did end up accomplishing that. Not hurting it permanently, but the big bang managed to draw Ma and MK's attention and stopped the former from asking too many questions.

-Turns out, being one of the 28 Lunar Mansions didn't actually protect you from the Broom Star's field of mundane bad luck.

-It wasn't enough to defeat Kui Mulang, and her comet attacks were doing no lasting damage, but he kept missing his targets by a tiny margin, or tripping and falling like a Looney Tunes character, or MK's staff just happened to knock a chunk of the ceiling loose and pin him down briefly…

-The problem was, her bad luck field worked on her allies too, and there were a lot of mutual misses and wacky fails, and the consequences were worse for MK than for their opponent.

-Red Son and Mei were on their way back with Hanzhi when they saw the commotion from afar; they basically dashed right into that one Community meme. 

-Hanzhi assessed the situation briefly, told them she'd deal with Kui Mulang, while they went and grabbed their mortal friends, as well as whatever they needed from the lab, fast. Then she stepped back and unleashed the full might of the Wind Sack.

-The giant AOE attack caught all three combatants, lifted them off the ground, and firmly slammed them into the nearest standing wall, allowing Red Son to grab a very disoriented MK and rush away in the chaos.

-The fight was still ongoing when the gang hurriedly dragged the furnace into their drone, activated Red Son's backdoor key, and blasted off into the mortal realm. It didn't last much longer after the Thunder Bureau reinforcements arrived, led by Heavenly Lord of the Nine Thunders, Wen Zhong.

-Wen Zhong was a loyal man of principle in life, even more so after his deification, when he was basically made the head of the Celestial Justice Department (Thunder Bureau isn't just in charge of weather, but also divine retribution and punishment.)

-He's what a lot of people think Erlang should act like: grim, serious, utterly dedicated to maintaining order and justice, and an absolute powerhouse (he also has a third eye, btw).

-Hanzhi knew she wouldn't be getting any leniency from her senior brother this time, so she didn't even try to argue when he ordered his Thunder Generals to detain everyone involved and take them away for questioning.

-Bi Yuewu was interrupted from his mental breakdown by Star Lord Mao, who, like the majority of officials, had just been released from their end-of-day meeting when the Thunder Bureau received an emergency message from Tusita Heaven and flew off in a hurry.

-Putting two and two together, he quickly guessed that their old squad leader had broken free, and went to gather the rest of the White Tiger Mansion stars for their own emergency meeting. Bi was the first person he seeked out, and the situation…didn't look all that great.

-But Rooster Man, being the good bro he was, listened patiently to Bi's story, and told him it wouldn't be a problem. He'd take Li Zhenying home to her brothers, let them come up with a cover story, while the spider problem…well, that was what his Stellar Beast form was for, wasn't it?

-A few miles below, two tiny spiders, still falling towards the mortal realm, suddenly heard a rooster's crowing and were struck by the worst headache they ever experienced.

[zeestarfishalien]

First | Previous | Next

Part 4: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

The pull returns as soon as Jason steps foot outside the cemetery gates. Something in him urges him to hurry.

It doesn’t make logical sense. It’s just a dead body in an unmarked grave. That’s certainly nothing new or surprising for Gotham. Jason is not about to let it slip through the cracks but right now he has other more time-sensitive things to get done.

He slips on a comm.

“Hey O, you there?”

Her response takes less than 3 seconds. [What is it, Jaybird?]

“I’ve got an unmarked grave in a back corner of the Gotham City Cemetery. It’s at least a couple years old.” He pauses on the street corner to glance back at the cemetery gates. For just a second he thinks he spots a set of glowing green eyes but it's gone in a blink.

[And?]

Bab's question pulls Jason back out of his head.

“And I want to get a look at the body and everything so that the cops don’t conveniently miss anything.”

[You know what B is gonna ask,] she warns.

He sighs and drags a free hand down his face. “I know and I don’t have a good reason for why I was there. Just…gut feeling I guess.”

[We can keep this from him for now, at least until we go digging,] she replies.

This is why she's Jason's favorite pseudo-sibling. She's good at keeping secrets from B. He doesn't even have to ask most of the time. She just understands how much of a nosy bastard Bruce can be and more importantly, she understands that some things need to come out in their own time.

"Har har, O. You're hilarious," he deadpans back.

[Of course I am. Someone had to inherit Alfred's impeccable sense of humor.]

"Oh please, you wish." Jason snorts. "I gotta get back to business. Catch you on the flip side."

[I'll set up an algorithm to try to run through and narrow down footage from around the cemetery, but you better bring me some donuts when you next come by. The good ones from that shop near your place outside Burnley,] she orders and hangs up before Jason can respond, leaving him smiling as he removes his comm.

He has a few crime-time things to work out but then he can focus on the unmarked grave.

Things are a mess in his crew right now. Things are just not going Jason’s way today. A seller got spooked and dumped the product in the harbor. Bill’s wife went into labor prematurely, so there went one of Jason’s best henchmen. What? He’s not a monster. He did catch one of the new guys selling to kids and had to deal with that. By the time he finishes up a plenty eventful patrol, he is exhausted and pretty much just collapses in a pile of goo on his bed. Not even the insistent tug can keep him up beyond a passing thought to try to find more information later today when he wakes up.

The opening chords of Holding Out for a Hero -but not the original Bonnie Tyler version, oh no, it's the version from Shrek the musical- greets Jason's newly conscious mind. There's only one person in Jason's life with enough access and the gall to change their ringtone in his phone to this specific song.

"Dickwad, what do you want?"

[Awe, someone's grouchy. Not happy to hear from your favorite brother?] Dick's whine almost gets a chuckle out of Jason, but he'll deny that to his dying undying? breath.

"Holding Out for a Hero? Really?" Dick's cackle is a deranged sounding thing, especially over the phone. "What warranted a call this early in the afternoon? If it were for the laughs you would've done it where you could see my face when my phone rang."

[Ugh,] Dick complains, [this is why I hate being in a family of detectives.]

"So says the detective."

[Fine, fine. I just got some intel on a group trying to move a new strain of speed. It's some extra nasty stuff and they're looking at Gotham, specifically Crime Alley. I figured I'd see if you want in on it.]

"I'm busy right now, dead body."

[Oh shoot. How fresh?]

"Dunno," Jason sighs. "I found an unmarked grave, definitely old enough for the ground to have settled."

[Oh, if it's that, can't it wait? Body won't go anywhere. Better yet, tip the cops and let them get the initial legwork done,] Dick says lightly. [You can take it after that.]

The tugging in his gut protests at the thought of leaving the body in that grave to the cops, or anyone really.

"Gut says no."

[Jaybird...]

"There's something more here. I need to be the one digging it up, even if I leave it to the cops later on," Jason insists.

[How much of a risk is there of someone finding it in the meantime?] Dick has dropped into his professional voice now and it's weird how reassuring that is, Dick taking him seriously on something that seems so illogical.

"Low. It's tucked back in the far corner of the cemetery, surrounded by trees," he replies.

[Jay...you hate the cemetery. You hate going within three whole blocks of the cemetery. What were you doing there?]

"I needed to check something and that led me to the grave," Jason states vaguely. "Don't ask me how. I'm not sure I even have the words to explain it, especially not over the phone. It feels important Dickie. Logically I know it's just a long dead body, probably bones, but The Black Dog was there for a reason."

[The black dog? What black dog?]

"I think it's an actual church grim, or I guess a barghest in this case since it's a cemetery and not a graveyard.” He can practically feel Dick’s questions bubbling to the surface in the silence between them. “Just, go do some research. Look up Church Grims. I’ve got work to do, plans to dig up the cemetery.”

[Jay, I really think you should wait on this,] Dick begins softly, [take a step back to look objectively.]

“With all due respect Dickerson, shove it up your ass." Jason takes a breath to release the unreasonable annoyance. His voice drops to a soft rumble. "You didn’t see Spooky, the way they looked at me.”

[Oh no…you’ve already named it? We’re doomed!] There’s a pause before, [if you want help with the grave, I’m willing to help dig it up.]

Jason sighs softly, a smile tugging at his lips. “Thanks Dickiebird. You take care out there. Don’t let that ass get shot, your rogues will cry.”

Dick scoffs but Jason hangs up before he can retort. Thus Jason begins his day, light pre-breakfast snack, warm-up workout, breakfast, the rest of his usual prep work for going out as Red Hood.

Jason swears, anytime he goes over with the intention to ask his information dealers about the unmarked grave, something comes up. None of the camera footage he's been sent to review so far has turned up anything. This whole week has been a bust and he's about ready to break out the shovel and go dig that grave up now. He knows it's illogical but he can barely sleep, the thought that he's missing something, that he needs to hurry hurry hurry, keeps him up and he's starting to feel like he's going insane. It's as he decides he going to return to the cemetery that his comm goes off. It's the emergency frequency, the emergency frequency specifically chosen for major Arkham breakouts. Fuck...

It takes the whole next week and a half for them to track down and re-lock up Gotham's worst offenders, even with Jason and Dick's help. Hell, Cass even flew in from Hong Kong. The chaos in the streets and destruction left in the wake of this event are taking even longer to resolve. What few hours rest Jason has been able to snag are plagued by dreams of Spooky and the unmarked grave. There's dreams of everything from the dog dissolving to someone trying to claw their way free of the grave. The latter one spooking Jason the most despite how his logic reminds him that such a thing is impossible. He and Babs have already ruled out the body being dumped recently. She checked the footage when Jason woke from the dream, of the victim being buried alive, for the first time and called her in his paranoid panic. They both understood that it was most likely the trauma, but she'd been kind enough to check just in case.

Jason wakes in a cold sweat to the sharp absence of that soul pull to the cemetery. It's very telling of how used to it he's grown that the absence of it nearly sends him into a state of panic. He's throwing on the closest clothes and nearly half-way out the door before he remembers that he should probably talk to someone. He races back for his phone and jabbing his finger at Alfred's contact before snagging his keys and throwing himself out the doors.

[Young Master Jason. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?]

"The pull is gone," Jason says with no preamble. Alfred is the only person he's gone into detail about the pull of the cemetery to. Even though he hasn't had a chance to speak with him about Spooky, Alfred will understand better than anyone. "Dickie there?"

[Yes, Young Master Richard is currently helping Young Master Damian with his animals out back. Shall I fetch him for you?]

"No, no, have him tell you about Spooky and the grave. You can call Babs in too. She's been helping me with trying to find more info." Jason checks his key chain for the keys to his main storage unit. He has a shovel there. "Also tell Dickie that I'll take him up on his offer to help me dig up a grave."

[Certainly Young Master Jason. Might we be keeping this event "on the down-low" so-to-speak as well?]

"Alfie, you're a godsend. Thank you."

SO! Good news and bad news. Bad news, I had to split this chapter so this is what you get. Good news, I've been on a massive writing spree so the next chapter is well over halfway done. This was honestly the best place to cut this chapter. I'll continue making each chapter it's own post now too, but I'll still link everything together. This chapter and most of the future chapters will probably be titled with lyrics from Momento Mori by Fish in a Birdcage bc it's insane how well that fits.

First | Previous | Next

[Tag List] @emergentpanda-blog @my-perfect-storybook-love @gunebugfic @thegatorsgoose @thewondersoflebanon @bobred18 @d4ydr34min9 @ver-444 @redafi @echoednonny @greenmuffinofdoom @mentalcarebear @fisticuffsatapplebees @vythika96 @writer-extraodinaire @meira-3919 @yjfk @oddlydrawnpuppets @crystalqueertea @lazy-bouqet @darkthunder1589 @mnemovoid @keimiwolf @aarinisreading @love-has-no-labels @terzatheunderscorerima @idkmrpianoman @mur-ururu @chip-thief @kawaiikenna @rangerhorsetug @treepainting @thatonegirl10 @demiourgias @spooky-fm @antagonisticly @fluffy23sblog @manglethemingle @kyrianclawraith @layyeschips @shepardking @asphyxia778 @ballzfrog @fluffen-spooky @drowningroane @deathsdaisy @malaayna @mistyaltair @potatoeofwisdom @heartsong18 @nixthenerd @icedbluesoul @the-church-grimm @overtherose @sara0055 @banishedthumbs @tired-yet-awaken @dannyphantomphan @nonbinary-disaster @depressed-bitchy-demon @8-29pm @addie-lover-of-stories @lifefilledwithstories @apointlessbox @skulld3mort-1fan @katgirl05 @spookytragedyshark @mandyne-1001 @ascetic-orange

[heartgold]

what are your gripes with umimanga? i personally really hate the whodunnit part of it, don't make me rant about the confession of the golden witch whole deal also, ugh. 😭

i have mixed feelings on it (particularly confessions) but it's less about the content itself and more about how it can be used as a replacement for engaging with the story? most things that are "revealed" in the manga aren't actually manga-exclusive or even difficult to reason out from the vn if you put in the work. i think the problem here is that the manga's release was meant to "end" umineko's production cycle and gift the longtime readers who reached the answers with the solution as ryukishi envisioned it. however it means readers can now choose to skip out on engaging with the text by themselves (the Entire point of the work) and go read confessions to get their Umineko Ending Explained immediately.

(basically: i understand ryukishi's intentions when releasing it. how well it worked in practice is debatable. on one hand i go insane over any crumbs of sayo's character and confessions still makes me ill to think about. i love her so much and she's relatable to a scary degree. on the other hand, having direct access to her suffering just like that without having to engage with her story feels so wrong. it feels like an absolute evisceration. it's particularly bad knowing anyone can just forego seeking her heart in the text and go straight for the guts like that...)

however i find it really silly when people try to argue that sayo's portrayal in confessions is "ooc" or contradicts the work when this is explicitly ryukishi's "this is what i had in mind while writing the culprit" answer. the problem is those people likely interpreted her character differently and ofc that's fine (umineko is very Word Of God Isn't The Only Truth), there are some things the manga revealed that i find less interesting than how i interpreted them personally so i stick with my own reading on those aspects! golden truth is a thing! but i've seen people claiming natsumi kei distorted ryukishi's vision or whatever and that's blatant cope lol. you can just not like it and do your own thing. your engagement and interpretation are important too.

i find the people who act like the manga is the "superior" version thanks to revealing things explicitly Very annoying though. it's clearly not the point. the manga just doesn't work as a replacement for the vn! i like to think of it as a bonus you should only look at once you're done with digesting the vn and have arrived to your own answers. umineko is ALL about experiencing and engaging with the text and seeking the answers between the lines bc you Care about the heart within it. i avoid referencing confessions in my posts whenever possible and instead point out to where certain things about sayo were heavily hinted at in the vn itself all along bc some people really think they're not there and the stuff from confessions came from nowhere. i've also seen people claim vn ep8 and manga ep8 as a whole have opposite stances which is SUPER silly, i think you just didnt understand what the vn was getting at or interpreted it differently. which is fine! the manga being more explicit about it definitely makes it easier to see the vision. but i find those vn vs manga arguments obnoxious bc they're intentionally doing different things and the manga is supplementary material.

[rosieblogstuff]

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

44 😲 in my main AO3 account. 2 others in my older account = 46!

I didn't realize I had that many things!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

270,883

3. What fandoms do you write for?

All 44 of those works in my main AO3 are MacGyver 2016. One is a crossover with The Rookie. The other two at Star Trek TOS and Star Wars fics.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Table + Flashlight + IEDs

Mac + (Wilderness + Training + Survival) + Jack

Lost Causes

Lake + Stick + Fever

4 Times the LAPD Didn’t Pull Jack Over + 1 Time They Did 

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I often respond to a chapter's comments when I post the next chapter of a longfic. And sometimes I just space on it and respond a year later when I notice I failed to respond.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh definitely my X-ray + Penny flashfic, Bad Penny. Most of the comments are variations on HOW DARE YOU!!!

There are a couple other flashfics with pretty ambiguous endings, too.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That's a hard one. Most of my fics have a happy or at least comforty ending. Maybe... uhh.... Electricity + Combustion ? which I literally labeled "whump with a fluffy ending". I also have two Jack Lives fics so that's always a happy situation at the end...

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't. A few weird comments but I mostly scratch my head and ignore them. Anybody who hates on my fics will be getting a very long and nasty reply, followed by their comment being deleted.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope, no smutty fanfics here. I did have a romance I posted for another fandom awhile back (and never finished), and I've written fade-to-black stuff in my orig fic novels.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Just one! My Macgyver 2016+The Rookie cops-vs-spies crossover, in which some LAPD officers keep coming across a black GTO involved in shenangains around LA: 4 Times the LAPD Didn’t Pull Jack Over + 1 Time They Did

It's probably the funniest thing I've ever written, and the ending is one of my very favorites. Also possibly the only gen fic ever posted in The Rookie fandom, although I don't look over there much.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes. Somebody stole all my completed fics from FF.net last year. There was a big Tumblr post about some site full of stolen fics, and sure enough, there mine were. I asked to have them remove, got not reply. I haven't posted anything to FF.net since then.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, but not for a long time. I used to frequently co-write fics in my first fandom.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I'm going to go with Washington State Ferry M/V Wenatchee. Who doesn't love a good ferry boat? It's an irconic style, fun if you're walking on, handy if you need to drive on, saves you hours of driving around Puget Sound by land. Also just a very nice-looking ship.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Ugh, wow. I have a couple dozen things I kinda like but might never finish. My favorite, and least likely because I've made the least progress on it, is a MacGyver fic about Patti having plotted out her revenge better, and tring to fuck over the team by having listed Jack as her replacement... which of course gives him access to high-level secrets like Oversight's identity. Much drama ensues.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Ramping a story up. Characters. Make a story fully story-shaped.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Endings. 😫

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Hmmm I don't think I've ever needed to. Like most things in writing, I'm not against it in theory, but it can be done well or badly.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Anne McCaffrey's Pern, back in the paper fanzine days. Prior to joining AO3 in like 2019, I had 0 fanfics posted on the internet but a few in zines listed on Ebay. 😂

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

This is IMPOSSIBLE to answer. I could answer it differently every day for the next couple weeks. Anything I already mentions plus a couple more!

[infiniteglitterfall]

Ugh I hate this.

So, a friend of mine I haven't talked to in ages, because they're always busy/traveling, posted something to Facebook that said:

It hit me very hard on a Jewish kind of level. I knew I was likely to be told I was derailing if I said so. But I kind of hoped I wouldn't be, just because the friend and I met in trans spaces something like 25 years ago and are both nonbinary.

What I ended up commenting was, "Ditto for Jews, IMHO. Ughhh, what a time to be alive."

What I hate about it is that my friend gave me the Jew version of the boilerplate response you'd give Aunt Nancy. List a fuckton of marginalized groups, add Palestinians here and in Palestine first, close with a line about how focusing on one group doesn't mean anything about the other groups but raising another group is intentionally redirecting.

adhdsskklllljsshjklfff I KNOW. And I know that you "had" to specifically add Palestinians in there to redirect away from antisemitism even while telling me I'm redirecting.

I wrote back,

I'm not trying to redirect. I'm saying yes, it's going to be fucking hell for us as trans people. And also, some of the specific things that are the most terrifying for me as a trans person are likewise going to be fucking hell for me as a Jew.

I fall into five of these categories (trans, poor, disabled, Jewish, have a reproductive system) but I'm fucking terrified of another Trump round on these two specifically.

I'm terrified of having to live through this man once again smacking the metaphorical button that turbo-charges everybody's latent belief that we're pedophiles, morally corrupting society, and/or inherently shady and deceitful and Bad.

I have been watching people cast both trans people and Jewish people that same way since Trump's first run.

I mean, yes, that's been the core of most cissexist and antisemitic tropes for a long, long time. But it's so incredibly open and accepted now.

Trump fucked over disabled poor people, and people with reproductive systems, in a LOT of ways. But I didn't also see a major increase in people publicly demonizing us, and politically weaponizing that demonization.

I'm sure that if he gets the chance, he'll once again defend crucial services, leave them unstaffed, and generally make them a lot harder for anyone to access. He'll tax the poor and waive everything for the rich. He'll strip funding for disabled student services of all sorts. It will be HORRIBLE.

It's just that, while that stuff may affect me personally, it doesn't feel personal to me in the same way that it feels personal when a lot of regular everyday people see people like me as sinister and disgusting.

(And yes, too many people are disgusted by poverty, mental illness, and disabilities of all sorts, and see disabilities, government aid, and any kind of accommodations as a sneaky cheating lie. Maybe I'm wrong, but IME it's become much rarer, instead of much more common; and it's not taken to a "you corrupt society" kind of level.)

Looking back at the original post, I feel like the real issue is that what I was saying WASN'T "Trump will be awful for these specific two groups," or even, "Trump will be awful for Jews, stop thinking about trans people(???????)"

It was specifically that I think most outsiders won't know why this is so scary unless (or even if) they're close friends with us.

And I think, on the left, that's far more true for Jews than for trans people.

I feel like my cis friends understand that Trump would be a nightmare for us. Maybe that's specific to my friends though, idk.

But it's clearer than ever to me that my goyish friends generally don't know the first thing about antisemitism.

Worse yet, the reason I haven't talked their ears off about it on Facebook is one specific close friend not only doesn't get it, but pushes back pretty hard against it. I could still post about it, I could even hide the post from her; it's just got me feeling intimidated and weird and defensive about how others might respond.

[nicomrade]

for the character ask game: miss fujiko!! 💃

one aspect about them i love I LOVE uhm everything about her. i like that shes like neutral to kids in both part 2 & fujikos lie like she doesnt like kids but shes not EVIL to them. i like that they made her not maternal but without making it like Evil and Bad shes just a woman .... oh actually i adore that in 1$ money wars they make her a stock gambler as in she buys & sells stocks but is fucking AWFUL at it and loses ALL HER MONEY in it like twice or 3 times in the movie. it just keeps happening. yes shes a businesswoman but whats MORE businesslike that losing all ur money in stocks LMFAO. perfectly in character

one aspect i wish more people understood about them i wishhh people understood everything about her more like 1. that she is equally part of the gang as goemon and that 2. she is a thief out of BOREDOM like lupin is. yes fujiko ALSO cares about treasures & money but that is to fill the void in her life... like #materialgirl. hows that so hard to understand that shes deeply unhappy and seeks fun (through heists and through hoarding Fun Expensive Stuff and through fake marriage schemes and through her flings with lupin and so on) COME ON!!! shes not money-hungry as in she wants to hoard and be a billionaire she just likes seeking it out cuz its fun AND SHES A GAMBLER re: the stocks thing but also re: her poker card motif re: the cicciolina episode and so on and so forth. shes at her heart a gambling addict, too. thrillseeker!!!!

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character uhm headcanons wise i simply cannot see her as anything but a rich kid who was cut off from the family fortune for whatever reason like fujiko to me has a very instinctual understanding of moneys worth and moneys power. as if shed grown up seeing her father wield it as a weapon. but for whatever reason (because an older brother herited the family fortune or ties were cut with her personally, or whatever else) she lost access to that money and had to get it on her own and OF COURSE shed get it through crime cause 1. better money to be made 2. faster this way + shed know about fraud from her dad doing it 3. ITS MORE FUN.. also fujiko mine is a fake name/new identity she named herself that. whether shes cis or trans she named herself that. and fujiko coming from money but not getting to use it pairs nicely with lupin being an heir like he too grew up with money but he always had access to it (and was taught how to steal anything he might want too) so money is worthless to him. its just funny paper he steals sometime. fujiko was cut off from it so shell take anything she can get

one character i love seeing them interact with FUJIKO AND JIGEN FRIENDSHIP IS EVERYTHING TO MEEEE they are best friends who hate each other. this is kinda hellish to me specifically to navigate in fandom cuz on one hand u get people who dont understand anything and think jigen & fujiko genuinely wish the other was dead (... presumably in some ultra-monogamous way to hog lupin ig? lmfao) and on the other hand u get people who ship them and think they have sex n its like ok i think theres some threesomes in there but uhm. just the two of em no that is untrue that never happened. sorry. i also love any fujiko & goemon interactions and uhm basically fujiko interacting with anyone ever cuz shes my everything but i think jigen fujiko friendship is my most special thing to see cuz its kinda rare...

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more what if rebecca and fujiko interacted more i swear to god they would have so much to talk about UGH the writing on rebecca really dropped past the halfway point of part 4 and ill forever be frustrated by this..... FUJIKO WAS DRESSED LIKE REBECCAS EX LIKE HELLOOOOO they are dating.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character i think fujiko & jigen go to casinos together sometime. sometime its coincidence and they just end up at the same poker tournament and sometime its on purpose and its teaming up to cheat at mahjong. do u understand my vision.. they are gambler buddies. also this is where id put my fujilup heacanons if i remembered any of them i just think they are in fucked up love <3 non traditional relationships WIN

[famousfilmsfan]

Canada recently allowed Fazbear animatronics access to the country to leave.

One of Bryans animatronics wanted to leave and not come back.

Border agent: Next!

Rockstar Bonnie enters giving the guy his papers and is…

Bonnie: Rejected why?

Border Agent: You’re missing an access permit, i can't let you in without one

Bonnie: When did you need an access permit?

Border Agent: Since this morning. So leave before i call security.

The next day

Border Agent: Next!

Bonnie gives him the papers

Bonnie: There, all proper stuff.

He was still rejected

Bonnie: Why?

Border Agent: Your serial numbers don't match.

Bonnie: It’s probably just a typo.

The agent points to a sign.

‘Typos arent a valid excuse’

Bonnie: Ugh.

The next next day.

Border Agent: Next! Oh hey Bon.

Bonnie: don't call me that. Now all papers are accounted for.

Border Agent: Okay. Reason for visit?

Bonnie: I’m moving here

Border Agent: It says here you’re visiting

Bonnie: I’m gonna stay here past my visa.

He regretted saying that.

The next next next day

Bonnie: I hate you.

Border Agent: Nice to see you again.

Bonnie; I brought everything. Everything is correct.

Border Agent: Okay. Now just stand still for a scan.

Bonnie: Scan?

Border Agent: Due to an incident i have to scan all animatronics with serial numbers ending in 96.

Bonnie: Is that necessary? Seems like profiling

Border Agent; a faulty part made him blow up.

Bonnie is scanned

The border agent looks at the scan and at bonnie.

Bonnie: It’s not mine.

He forgot he had the various guns he stole from Bryan on him.

He was detained by security.

A full on week after his first visit.

Border Agent: Oh they let you out of the detention center

Bonnie: This is why people think you’re cowards.

Border Agent; Whatever. Now let's see…

Bonnie: Do you get paid for everyone you reject?

Border Agent: no i get a bonus for every animatronic i process. And denied.

Bonnie: Why?!

Border Agent: Issuing city on your Fazbear ID is wrong

Bonnie: Who cares?

Border Agent: My boss. i get a citation if i do anything wrong

Bonnie: ugh!

The next day

Border Agent: It’s nice seeing you again. I only see most animatronics once

Bonnie: Let me in already.

Border Agent: Okay…uh your ID is expired…it also says you’re a freddy model. And this is clearly somebody else ID.

He showed Rockstar Freddys ID

Bonnie: crap Wrong one. Here.

Border Agent; Okay. Now where is your anti virus card?

Bonnie: My what?

Border Agent: Theres been an outbreak of the morris worm virus in the animatronic community we need to know all animatronic entering have the right antivirus to combat it.

Bonnie;….

Two weeks after his first visit.

Bonnie: Antivirus card, passport, Fazbear ID, access permit, the check stub from paying my owner back, my ID supplement, and my original receipt from when was bought! There!

Border Agent: Hmmmmmm *looks at Bonnie and at the papers* Okay then. Welcome to Canada.

He stamps the passport and Bonnie goes in.….then a citation gets delivered

Border Agent: What the?

Bonnie; *from beyond the gate* Issuing city was wrong! I win!

I've been playing way too much papers please lol.

[study-coffee-chicago]

Trifecta from Hell (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine)

A/N: I’m finally posting this here because I got my laptop back! And, it’s unedited because at the time I posted it on Wattpad, my laptop was still being fixed and I hate writing/editing on my phone.

Anyway, sorry it's taken me so long to update! I haven't been watching PD since Jay left, so I didn't really have any ideas for a bit!

But, I have some now and have an idea for a fluffy Thanksgiving and Christmas imagine, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks!

Anyway, please remember to reblog and comment!

Enjoy!

Today had been fine...at least it had been until you got out of work and were stopped by one of your coworkers practically screaming at you. And, this wasn't where you typically worked, they were just really short staffed, so you were constantly pulled over here. But, you didn't have access to things that their normal staff did��you worked in mental health, so the most important thing you needed access to were updates on clients...which you didn't since you weren't this places full time staff—and since you were here so much, they were starting to think of you as their normal staff.

But, without access to everything, mistakes were bound to be made and you were the one getting blamed.

And this was what you had ranted to Jay about on your way home.

You were still crying after you hung up the phone and knew you were on the verge of a panic attack. But, you were on the highway and you couldn't easily just pull over.

So, you used a coping skill that you hadn't used since middle school: you dug your fingernails into the skin on the inner part of your wrist. Hard.

You removed your right hand from your left wrist—your left hand still being the one holding the steering wheel during this—and put it wheel and once again drove with both hands. But, you kept crying. So, you continued the process until you were just short of making your wrist bleed.

***

When you got home, you told Jay about your wrist and assured him you hadn't cut yourself, just dug your nails into your skin. And then, well, you broke down.

"Everyone fucking leaves!" you yelled. "What's the point of being here anymore? All I do is work! I have no friends, except for like two, Emma texted and told me she didn't want to be friends anymore! Everyone fucking leaves, Jay! And—" Your voice cracked. "Maybe it's me! Maybe I'm the fucking problem! Maybe it would be better if I was dead!"

Jay stood up. "You know you don't mean that. And, all the stuff with Emma, something else had to have been going on. You just have to get out more, make some friends. The pandemic definitely hasn't helped because you didn't get a full college experience, but—"

"What's the point, Jay? If everyone just leaves, why am I wasting my fucking time? I don't wanna be here anymore!" you cried as hot tears rolled down your face.

Jay opened his arms. "C'mere."

"No." You turned. "I'm going to bed."

Hopefully I won't wake up you thought to yourself.

"Y/N—"

"I said I'm going to bed!" you yelled and grabbed your backpack and made your way to your room.

Then, you cried yourself to sleep.

***

That was how you found yourself sitting next to Jay in his truck as he drove to the district the next morning.

"I'm 22, Jay. Just let me stay home," you pleaded for the billionth time that morning.

"After yesterday, me and Will feel it's safer if you're not by yourself."

"C'mon, I'm not gonna kill myself," you told him.

"After yesterday, well, me and Will aren't so sure."

"I just wanna sleep."

"And you can," Jay told you. "On the couch in the break room."

"Ugh." You leaned your head back in your seat in frustration.

When you pulled into the district, you figured it was better for you to walk inside because right now, you wouldn't put it past Jay to physically force you out of the truck and carry you inside.

"Chuckles Jr," Trudy said from the desk as she put the phone back in her cradle when you and Jay entered. "What brings you here?"

"I'm here against my will," you told her and Jay just rolled his eyes.

"She's here because it's safer for her," Jay said.

At this, Trudy's eyes widened. "Safer how? What's going on Halstead? You know between me and your sergeant upstairs, we have eyes everywhere."

"It's nothing like that," Jay said, assuming Trudy meant that an old case or collar was coming back to bite him in the ass. "She's just got some personal stuff going on, so I brought her here to keep an eye on her." And with that, Jay started walking towards the stairs, and you started following, still sulking.

"Sensitive case, Halstead. Y/N can't be up there. Intelligence and yours truly only," Trudy said, causing Jay to turn and look at her and you to throw your head back in frustration.

"Sarge, can you watch her for the day?" Jay asked.

"She's an adult, Halstead. Can't she look after herself?" Trudy asked, throwing him some of her signature sass.

"Thank you!" you said and pointed a hand towards Trudy. Finally, someone was on your side. It was like a breath of fresh air after arguing with Jay all morning.

"Can I talk to you?" Jay asked Trudy. He looked around at all the officers milling about. "Privately?" She nodded and the two moved to the door of the office. Jay gave you a pointed look and nodded to the bench before him. "You move from this bench, I will put you on a psych hold."

You went and sat down on the bench and Jay heard you mutter something about how fear tactics don't help in these kinds of situations, but, for once, he figured it was best to ignore you.

***

Ten minutes later, Trudy and your brother came out of the office.

"C'mon, kiddo. I'm bringing you to 51. Figured it would be much more fun for you to hang out with them than to sit behind that desk with me all day."

"Lucky me," you replied sarcastically.

"Hey, watch the--"

"Halstead, go upstairs and do your job. I'll take it from here," Trudy said, effectively cutting him off.

"Don't do anything stupid, Y/N," he told you. You huffed and rolled your eyes and then he shook his and turned around and jogged upstairs and into Intelligence.

"Ever ridden in a patrol car?" Trudy asked. You shook your head. "Then today's your lucky day because me and you are gonna go grab the best on from the CPD lot and we might even stop for donuts, give you the full beat cop experience."

"Lucky me," you said sarcastically and shrugged.

Trudy just looked at you and pursed her lips, trying to figure out what had you so down.

***

"Listen kid," Trudy said when the two of you got back in the patrol car with a box of two dozen donuts and coffee for you and her. "I'm not giving you a donut until you tell me your side of the story. I've heard your brother's, but I wanna hear yours. What happened at work that made you feel this way?"

You sighed. "It's not just work. It's everything."

"Work was just the tip of the iceberg then, huh?"

"Yeah," you said feeling yourself get choked up. "It's just- everyone leaves, so what's the point of trying to make friends, you know?"

"Kid, when you're as old I am, I can tell you one thing, if people aren't meant to stay in your life, they won't. But, maybe try hanging out with Ritter and Gallo and Violet at 51. They're close to your age, right?"

"A few years older," you answered. "They'll probably just look at me like Jay's little sister like everyone in Intelligence does."

"Hey, you'll never know unless you try."

"I guess," you shrugged. "Can I have a donut now?"

***

When you walked into the firehouse, you appeared fine, maybe a little sad, but fine nonetheless.

But, when you saw the number of firefighters in the common room, you started to become hyper aware of your surroundings and your breath caught in your throat.

"Hey, mini Halstead!" Kelly exclaimed from where he was grabbing breakfast. "What brings you here? C'mon, come get some breakfast, kid!"

You just looked him and then quickly shook your head.

"Gotta go to the bathroom," you said quickly and then turned around and calmly walked out of the common room and then speed walked down the hallway and into the bathrooms.

You could do this...there weren't that many people...there were, what? Four on squad, two paramedics, which made six. Then there was Chief Boden which made seven. Then there was Stella, which made eight...then there was—

Fuck! Who were you kidding? This was way too many people! And Jay thought this was a good idea?

You rested your head against the bathroom stall that you had locked yourself in and then pulled out your phone and sent a text to Jay with shaking hands.

There's too many people here. I hate you

He responded within thirty seconds.

Love you, too. Just making sure you're safe.

If your phone was indestructible, you would've thrown it on the ground.

You pocketed your phone and leaned your head back on the stall door.

Fuck.

This was going to be a long day.

***

You didn't know how much time had passed, but it hadn't been a lot, probably only five or ten minutes, when you heard footsteps coming towards the stall you were currently standing in.

"Y/N? It's just me," you heard Stella say. "Trudy told me, Kelly, and Boden what's going on. Can you please come out?" You didn't. "Can you at least say something? So I know you're okay?"

You sighed as frustration bubbled up in your body. That's what they all wanted to know: that you were okay, that you were safe.

You flung the door open. "I'm okay! I'm alive, aren't I? That's all you guys want, isn't it? Just to make sure I'm alive even though I'm fucking miserable?!"

Stella quickly backtracked and slammed the door to the bathrooms closed and then stood in front of it, effectively blocking your path to get out of here.

"Hey, I know feelings are something you Halsteads have a hard time expressing--at least your brothers do--, but I know you're hiding something under all that anger, Y/N," Stella said gently but firmly.

"You- you do?" You definitely weren't expecting that.

"I do. Now, I'll stay here while you calm down, and then how about we go kick Kelly out of his office so that I can braid your hair? Does that sound okay?"

"Really?" you asked. "Don't you have Lieutenant stuff to do?"

Stella waved her hand. "That stuff can wait a few hours. Plus, I'm still waiting on my office to get finished, so I can always use that as an excuse if I need to. Now, take some deep breaths, splash some water on your face, and I am going to give you the best damn braids in the whole CFD."

***

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Stella asked when she was halfway through braiding your hair. The feeling of her fingers in your hair made you relax. It reminded you of when Erin used to do your hair for school picture day when you still didn't know your way around a straightener yet.

"I dunno," you answered truthfully.

"You don't know if you wanna tell me or you don't know what's going on?" Stella asked as she continued braiding.

"A little bit of both, I guess."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Doubt it. Unless you can make some friends for me appear out of thin air."

"You'd be surprised at what I can do, Y/N."

***

"Violet!" Stella yelled fifteen minutes later when she told you she needed to go dig some more hair ties out of her locker...which was a lie.

"Yeah?" Violet asked and looked up from where she and Brett were watching an episode of House Hunters: International on her phone.

"Do you and Brett mind making a supply run to Med or something in like half an hour? It's just that when I was braiding Y/N's hair, she said something about wanting more friends. And, I figured going on an ambulance ride with you two would be more friendly that taking her in one of the trucks, so—"

"We'll take her," Sylvie chimed in. "Maybe even stop for some food on the way back. Everyone needs a friend once in awhile."

"As long as the place has better coffee than here," Violet said.

"Thanks, you guys. You're the best."

Stella started to walk off to go finish your hair, when Gallo and Ritter turned around from where they were making sandwiches at the counter.

"Everything okay with Y/N? Anything we can do to help?" Ritter asked.

"I think she just needs some friends," Stella said.

"Well, lucky for her, me and Ritter are some of the friendliest people you know," Gallo chimed in, causing Ritter to roll his eyes.

"What he means is, we'll figure something out. We all know how it feels go be lonely sometimes."

"Just don't do anything too crazy," Stella warned. "I'm looking at you, Gallo."

Then, Stella left the common room and went to her locker to retrieve some more hair ties and then went back into Severide's office to finish braiding your hair.

***

"Want some coffee?" Gallo asked when you walked back into the common room after Stella braided your hair.

"Gallo, this stuff tastes like tar. Nobody likes this. Don't poison the poor girl!" Ritter exclaimed, which caused a ghost of a smile to appear on your lips. But, it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Well, lucky for her, we are going to grab some supplies from Med and she is just the person we want for a ride along," Violet said cheerfully.

"And we're stopping for food and coffee on the way back," Brett said. "61 is officially out of service for the next two hours."

"You really want me to go?" you asked. "Because I get carsick easily."

Brett waved her hand in dismissal. "We won't be turning on any lights and sirens...and we'll make Violet sit in the back."

"Rude!" Violet exclaimed. "But, let's get going. We're only out of service for a couple hours."

When you left the paramedics, Gallo turned to Ritter.

"I have the perfect idea," he said.

"Oh, no," Ritter groaned.

"What oh no? My ideas are great, thank you very much."

"Yeah? Says who?" Gallo said nothing. "My point exactly."

"Do you want to hear my idea or not?"

"Fine. What's your idea, Gallo?"

"Instead of going to Molly's tomorrow night, maybe you, me, and Violet can meet up at my apartment and drink and play some poker or something? And we can invite Y/N? I just know that when that guy jumped off that ledge when I thought I had a save, that I needed some friends. Sounds like she does, too."

Ritter smiled. "That's actually a great idea, Gallo."

***

A few hours later

It was around 7pm and everyone had gone out on a call. You were just sitting in the common room on the couch reading.

Then, you went to the bathroom and planned on coming straight back to the couch and your book, but your body had other plans.

You looked down and immediately relief washed over you.

You had gotten your period.

Sure, you had been diagnosed with depression and it was the beginning of winter in Chicago, which meant some seasonal depression sprinkled in there, but now you had a reason. An in-your-face reason that you were feeling this way: you had been PMS-ing.

You made your way out of the bathroom to grab a pad or tampon that you had thrown in your bag for emergencies and then went back in the bathroom and finished up.

When you came back out, you saw that 81 was back from the call.

"Pssst, Stella," you hissed.

She turned and walked over to you. "What's up?"

"Do you by any chance have some tampons?" you whispered.

"I do. Follow me."

***

Jay picked you up half an hour later.

"Have fun?" he asked.

"A bit," you answered. "Me and Sylvie and Violet went and got lunch and coffee. We went to this really good sandwich place."

Jay smiled. "Good. I'm glad you're doing better."

"Yeah, I got my period so it all makes sense now."

Jay had learned long ago that you did not care if he and Will knew you were on your period. And, while Jay was weirded out by it at first, he quickly realized that he couldn't be because he was the one responsible for buying you pads and tampons.

"Do we need to stop at the store?" Jay asked.

"No. But it all makes sense now! That's why I was depressed. Or it was the trifecta from hell."

"The what from hell?" Jay asked.

"Trifecta," you answered. "Clinical depression, seasonal depression, and PMS all at once."

Jay laughed. "Guess so."

"It helps when I have a reason for it. Don't know why, but it helps."

Jay nodded. "You're not too tired, are you?"

You shook your head. "No...why?"

Jay smiled. "You'll see."

"What is it?" you asked excitedly.

"You'll see when we get home."

"Jay," you whined. "C'mon! At least give me a hint!"

"You used to do this in school."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "What? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Exactly."

***

"So, what are we doing?" you asked as you got up to the door of your apartment. Jay knocked on the door. "It's your apartment! Why are you—"

"All set up in there?" Jay yelled.

"All set!" Hailey yelled back.

"All set with what?" you asked.

"You'll see when I open the door," Jay told you. "Patience, young grasshopper."

You rolled you eyes as Jay unlocked the door and followed him in.

Inside, the lights were dimmed and there were were four mugs on the bar and also four wine glasses next to a bottle of wine.

On the kitchen table was a spread of your favorite snacks including Oreos, Tim Tams, and Goldfish. There was also a tin of tamales with all the toppings with all the fixings and chips and homemade salsa from Mama Garcia's.

Then, in the living area, there were books stacked on the coffee table and blankets laid out on the couch and even a few pillows on the floor.

There was a pumpkin scented candle sitting on one of the end tables.

Finally, propped up against the TV, sat a mini white board reading Reading Day 2022.

You broke out into a giant smile. "How did you guys even come up with this?"

"Me and Will remembered you'd get so excited when you'd have that one reading day in March in elementary school when you'd just read and eat snacks all day, so we figured we'd recreate it," he answered.

"And we made the adult version," Will added. "Which is why there's wine...and I may or may not have put some Bailey's in the hot chocolate."

"Will!" Jay exclaimed.

Will put up his hands in a sign of surrender. "In my defense, I was unsupervised."

"Y/N, if you want hot chocolate without the alcohol, I'll make you some," Jay said.

"Nah, I think I'll take the spiked version," you answered.

"And, I brought over some books that were on your TBR that I grabbed from the library," Hailey added.

"Wait," you began as you furrowed your eyebrows, trying to put the pieces together. "I thought all three of you were at work?"

"I worked an eight hour shift instead of a twelve today," Will explained. "That was planned anyway since we're short staffed."

You nodded. "And, what about you two?" you asked and looked towards Jay and Hailey. "I thought you had a super sensitive case or something?"

"Turns out criminals are really stupid," Jay answered.

"We caught the guy at like three in the afternoon," Hailey explained. "And Voight said we could just do the paperwork tomorrow so Jay started thinking—"

"Oh no!" Will said dramatically and threw himself down on the couch. "He's gotta be so tired from thinking!"

Jay scrunched up his face and quickly flipped Will off, hoping that you wouldn't notice, but you had.

"Anyway," Hailey continued, annoying Will's antics even though everyone could see how she smiled when Will made that joke...she just didn't feel like laughing at her boyfriend. She figured three against one wasn't the fairest ratio. "Jay said he had this idea and told me about it, so I said I'd go on your TBR on Goodreads and try and find some books for you and that we'd need two cars so I could get the food while he picked you up."

"And then Jay called me and told me I was in charge of the alcohol," Will said.

Jay gave him a pointed look. "He really wasn't," Jay said. "He just put himself in charge of it."

You hadn't stopped smiling throughout the entire explanation of how this all came together. "Either way, thank you guys. So much."

"Pick a book and I'll grab you some food," Jay said.

"Everything on the tamales. Cheese, sour cream, sal—"

"I know what you like, Y/N. But, wine or the spiked hot chocolate?"

"I'll start with wine," you answered and the wandered over to go pick out on of the many books Hailey had brought over.

For the rest of the night, you, your brothers, and Hailey read books and ate good food and drank. The four of you also may or may not have built a blanket fort. And, you may or may not have cried when Violet texted you and asked if you wanted to meet up with her, Gallo, and Ritter tomorrow night and play poker. And, when you said you didn't know how, she said that they'd teach you.

This is what it felt like: to have people in your corner. And, even though Jay was being dramatic and overprotective when he made you go to 51 earlier to have people keep an eye on you, you knew it was just because he and Will cared about you so much that they couldn't bear to lose you.

And they wouldn't lose you. They had proven that they'd make damn sure of that.

A/N: Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote and comment!

taglist:  @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @911ls-tarlos @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88 @glitterquadricorn @luvreading67 @smoothdogsgirl @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff @actlikesummerr @lcothr523 @star-wars-lover

[erikahammerschmidt]

Angry rant about  - progressive discourse and infighting - evil people and corporations with too much power - how aforesaid discourse keeps blaming powerless ordinary people for what the evil giants do - and the various double and triple standards in how this blame gets handed around - (With extra anger toward Disney.)

Read at your own risk, or to be safe just don't. I'm venting.

I am baffled sometimes at how the dialogue around here is still keeping Disney in this separate ethical bubble from everyone else, not beholden to any of the same rules.

The same people who will say you are 100% irredeemable if you even read fanfiction of Harry Potter-- and who are even aware how much more money Disney contributes to homophobic and transphobic causes than JKR does-- won't bat an eyelash at people who have whole season passes to a Disney park.

Is it because Disney says the right words in public, makes some highly visible gestures of support, and does most of the harm behind the scenes without fanfare?

Is it because Disney is a corporation and not an individual -- the people aren't all bad-- and when you support Disney you're also supporting all those good marginalized people who just happen to work for Disney? ...who don't really have a choice, because Disney is the only gig with good enough jobs in their field, or the only one who'll hire them, because the diversity and accessibility of Disney's hiring practices contains some of their highly visible gestures of support (even though their overall practices screw the same people over big time)?

...and all that is also true of Raytheon and Lockheed, and the same progressive discourse around here says that working for them makes you irredeemable and worthy of immediate doxxing...

(...do Disney employees get away with what Raytheon and Lockheed employees don't because Disney's line of work doesn't do harm as bad as theirs? ...but then, why does Disney also get away with worse harm than JKR in the bigoted-corporate-lobbying department?)

I don't even fuckin know.

I mean, I personally try to have as little as possible interaction with ANY of the above entities. Including Disney equally.

I even somewhat hate myself for developing an interest in TRON, the past couple years-- even though I've come to accept that I only really like the 1982 movie, which I bought secondhand on DVD, and will not be paying Disney one cent for anything new they barf up in that franchise. (It'll suck anyway. Jared Leto? Ugh.)

It still puts me, ethically, on the same level as a Harry Potter fanfic reader or worse. 

And if that level is one of the deepest circles of hell, as discourse on here would have it... then I'm damned forever, aren't I?

Except I'm not, because Disney lives in its own ethical world, and stuff that's evil for anyone else to do is fine for Disney. 

I wrote a theology paper about that once. Except instead of Disney it was God. Says something about what we worship, I guess.

I don't even know what my own ethical beliefs are anymore. 

Closest I can come is despair. Sure, we mere mortals can do some tiny little things to minimize how much we support the big evil gods and devils. But anything we can do, or not do, is a drop in the bucket. Insignificant. As useless to demonize as it is to praise.

Voting all down the ballot in every election is also a drop in the bucket, individually. But, since it actually does something toward choosing people who just might have more power than a drop in the bucket.... it just might be the thing we can do that makes the most difference. 

Maybe just a little bit bigger drop in that bucket than how we scrape up a living, or what we buy or read or watch to make that living bearable.

I hope, anyway. Because I'll hope for whatever I can, in this fucked up world.

[auraboo]

20 questions writer meme

Tagged by @tehri

Oooh I haven’t talked fic in ages, this is gonna be fun. *cracks knuckles* Thanks for tagging me!

How many works do you have on AO3? 54.

What's your total AO3 word count? 556 587, apparently. Um… That’s a lot more than I thought, hang on I gotta lay down for a sec...

What fandoms do you write for? I’m currently not fic-active in any fandoms, but I used to write for Amnesia The Dark Descent (and occasional other Frictional Games stuff), FFXII, The Hobbit, and I’ve also done some Stardew Valley and Baldur’s Gate 3 stuff (during Early Access, mind, haven’t beaten the full game yet).

What are your top five fics by kudos? The Last Snowfall, And All Paths Will Lead Us Home, Ever After To The End Of His Days, Under Surveillance aaaand Count the Daylight Hours. one of these is not like the others lmao

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always! Well, unless it’s a single emoji or something, I usually can’t think of a way to reply that. I just like talking with readers and I feel like at least saying ’thank you’ is just polite.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oh man this is unfair, this is kind of my fandom niche and it’s hard to pick one. My archive is a gallery of angst, take a pick.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Depends on how you want to rank happiness, but I’d say The Fair Ones. (shockingly, happy endings aren’t only reserved to my OCs)

Do you get hate on fics? Nah.

Do you write smut? If so, what kinds? Oh boy do I ever. Mainly on my original stuff, though, as with most things (shocking). I’m more into romance than erotica, personally, so my stuff tends to be on the softer, more emotional side. They’re in love, your honour. As for what kind, I’m so vanilla it hurts. :’D I tried writing kinkier stuff in the Amnesia fandom but I’ve concluded it’s just not my thing. Learn to know thyself, writer.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Very rarely, I don’t usually enjoy them. The only ones I’m really into are Amnesia/Haunting Ground and Amnesia/Penumbra – I guess the overlap of different horror elements just works for me. Nothing particularly crazy to report in this regard, just the typical "character A is somehow in character B's world, shenanigans ensue" stuff.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don’t believe so, but I also haven’t gone looking.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yeah, someone’s still working on translating Count the Daylight Hours into Russian and I remember someone asking for permission to translate some of my ancient Hobbit fics.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope.

What's your all-time favourite ship? Ships come and go, but I think Kurogane/Fai, Usagi/Seiya and Squall/Rinoa are my most consistent ones that have stood the test of time. (I know, this is completely out of the left field considering I’ve only ever written a thing for one of these ships, but writing and shipping are two separate activities that sometimes overlap)

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Another vampire AU for Amnesia with the working title No Other God. I have so much lore written down and in my head, but unfortunately my interest in fandoms in general evaporated two years ago and it hasn’t shown any signs of coming back to that extent. I'm enjoying my time as a casual fan nowadays, pooping out a random fanart once a year.

What are your writing strengths? I’ve heard many times that I’m good at descriptions and conveying emotions.

What are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue, ugh, especially in any modern setting. I use so much outdated vocab and expressions that I can't use my own speech as a guide since I've gotten regular comments my whole life that I speak weirdly. :'DDD (for context, I was the stereotypical precocious kid who sounded like a grown-up at age seven, okay)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? If it serves a purpose and you know the language (or have a beta/someone who speaks it available), why not? Either way, people write and publish fic for free, so I don't think it matters - do what you enjoy, that's what fic is for.

First fandom you wrote for? Probably FF7 or Kingdom Hearts? Never published any, mind, this was stuff I scribbled into notebooks way back when.

Favourite fic you've written? Right now I wanna say The Alchemist’s Apprentice, my feverish contribution to the Daniel/Fiona excellency that maybe five people and a footstool ship. I like niche. Niche is good.

Not tagging anyone this time, do it if you want to!

[bitchy-peachy]

A little bit of my room at the physical therapy oncology room I was given. I won't take more pics yet cos I don't have permission and don't wanna overstep (but if the doc says its okay Im giving a tour for those interested in seeing a physical therapy hospital for cancer patients.)

All of the therapists are oncologists too which also impressed me. Like i talked to the head doctor that convinced me to come here and they're both physical therapists and oncologists that started the special physical therapy spa for people that have been paralyzed etc from bone cancers/tumors. Im exactly where I should be.)

So far my room is HUGE that I can easily use a wheelchair and walker without knocking into anything.

Bathroom is also huge so its a lot easier for me to do everything. I'm by myself and there's like 7 other patients so I took the risk and put stuff in the bathroom to have my hygiene products more accessible (although I don't mind sharing my stuff as long as I'm asked first tbh. If I get a roomie or anything. I helped my last roomie out so it was all good)

The only downside... is the food 😭. I think it's my diet though. I have pre diabetes cos when I was on steroids I was craving very sweet things so I was eating butterfingers, chocolate covered raisens AND nuts, bonbons, lollipops, tons of cookies well... I messed myself up that I gave myself pre-diabetes (be careful, you guys. I can't believe it was THAT easy to give myself pre-diabetes. Watch your health so you won't end with a shitty diet like me 😭)

I know they're trying to stabilize my blood sugar so I won't get full on diabetes (cos it can be stabilized. My aunt and grandpa were stabilized and are back to normal again)

But a flavorless, high fiber diet is really ugh. I'll have to suffer through it cos they know what's best and they're basing my diet on my blood work (they check EVERYTHING here. Glad I went to this hospital rather than the local one in my town. The hospital in my hometown is nowhere near this attentive to every detail and plus the social worker in my town hospital sympathized with and sneakily told me to come this hospital cos of its success rate. Heck a number of the staff are survivors themselves so I know there's a high success rate (and they call regularly to check on you so they keep track of you even if you're not hospitalized)

Anyways I waxed poetic enough. I will force myself to eat the bland food cos these people literally have helped me stand up and walk again and have shrunken most of my tumors and I'm so grateful for that although I really hated the steroids, some hold ups, i was ornery. I hate being that way but now after 2 weeks of being off the steroids and stabilizing I feel like such an epic bitch cos I was complaining for stuff that couldn't be helped.

I tend to be a looooooot more patient and laid back than that moody bitch I was displaying.

I worked for years in childcare. I got paid a lot for it too and while I was college I even had a waiting list cos some of the problematic kids only got along with me (I was good dealing with unruly hyperactive ones. Some kids i couldn't handle however, *cough* my younger brother *cough* cos i wasnt an absolute miracle worker but you get the point. By the times their parents picked them up the kids would be well fed and tired cos I wouldn't let up on entertaining them in physical activities like sports etc. Best thing for these kids is exhausting them with activities they like 🤣.

I know I rambled but what I'm saying is that these kids were children others didn't want to take on cos it would take A LOT of patience to deal with their attitudes and high energy levels and I was able to handle them and not get mad (probably cos I used to be an "unruly kid" myself and I know we can change and know what we needed to simmer down)

Those steroids... I know that I bitch a lot about them... I wasnt me AT ALL with those demonic pills. This IMPATIENCE, lack of comprehension skills, like my brain and temperament switched. I mean I'm sassy by nature (to other adults) but this went BEYOND that.

So if you're taking these types of meds... and you see those changes, don't worry cos that's not you and you know it. Once you're outta it you'll realize that. I'm actually terrified now that my mind has cleared and I apologized to some people but they said they've seen it happen to most saintly of people to not be upset (which makes me feel worse 😔)

Anyways dang i talked too much ahahahaha. Wanted to give a big update about this nice new location to help me out (still impressed. Glad i let the head doctor convince me to enter the program, lol) and I'm feeling like my old self every day little by little finally.