#I really hope at least ONE of these stupid jobs I applied to ends up panning out

[ranger-kellyn]

ugh god I love getting to work and immediately dealing with passive-aggressive bullshit

[ladykailitha]

Never Hold Back Your Step... Part 10

Hello! Just a little morsel of this wonderful for you all. Next week should be me being back on this and the other WIPs full time and hopefully get them done. I'd say this one and Well Met By Moonlight are the closest to being done.

I never intended this one to get anywhere close to canon, but I was talked into going all the way to the end of season four, though it is seriously looking season 5 will get there before I finish book 3.

Not that anything in season five will change the trajectory of this story unless they bring Eddie back.

Anyway...the reason I'm even bringing it up is if you're hoping for a season three re-write, you aren't going to get one. Not really. I'm going to gloss over a lot of it except the end with Billy and the Mind Flayer.

In this chapter a wild, angry, Robin appears. And the shorts. Can't forget those.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

~

It really shouldn’t have been a surprise that Steve got offered the job at Scoops Ahoy. But of all the places he applied at and yes he applied at all of them, dad, only they offered him a position.

But he sucked it up and went to orientation. He sat there with roughly a half of dozen kids his age and tried not squirm in his seat as at least half of them glared daggers at him. The worst offender was a blonde girl with freckles and blue eyes who kept sneering at him.

The manager walked them through the employee handbook and took their information for tax purposes. And then the final nail in the coffin hit and Steve was mortally wounded.

The uniform.

Oh god, was the thing hideous. He was sure that he was going to be the laughing stock of all of Hawkins. The little shorts, the ridiculous red scarf and the stupid hat. If his dad wasn’t so insistent about the thing, he’d quit. He’d beg Mr. Jones back for his job at the rec center.

But as it was he had to take two sets of this terrible outfit with a pained smile and clenched jaw.

The only good thing he got out of this nightmare was that his mom let him buy new sneakers to go with the damn thing.

He stood in front of the mirror with a sickening sense of dread, he was going to have to find something to put in front of the shorts otherwise the things bordered on the obscene. It showed his package to unfortunate degree.

~

Steve’s first day of work was a nightmare and considering the past couple of years, that really was saying something.

He was scheduled to work with the blonde girl who was trying to bore daggers into him with her eyes.

Her name was Robin Buckley, she was about to enter her senior year of Hawkins High, and she rode her bike into work each day.

She looked at the white towel he had tucked into the front of his shorts with a raised eyebrow. “That isn’t part of the uniform, you know?” she sneered, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

He sighed. She reminded him of Mike. A chip on her shoulder and an axe to grind. “I’ve already cleared it with the manager,” he picked up the corner of it and waved it her direction. “It’s either the towel or an arrest for public indecency.”

Robin eyed the towel suspiciously. “And if I talk to Paul, he’ll tell me the same thing?”

He threw his arms in the air in exasperation. “Yes!”

She rolled her eyes and started pulling off the lids of the ice cream, so Steve took that as the matter being closed and got to work pulling the chairs off of the tables and tucking them in.

Once they got everything open, ready for business, and serving customers Steve realized he had another problem. One he didn’t know how to manage.

At all.

“Why didn’t you flirt with her?” Robin asked after a pretty blonde girl left with her double strawberry cone.

Steve blinked at her a moment before he realized what had happened. The girl had been batting her eyelashes and twirling her hair around a finger. She had been hitting on him hard and he hadn’t noticed.

Shit.

“Not my type,” he muttered, wiping down the counter even though it was already spotless. “I prefer brunettes.”

“Ew...” she hissed. “I didn’t want to know that.”

Steve rolled his eyes and just kept his mouth shut for the rest of their shift together.

~

Eddie couldn’t stop laughing. He was doubled over on the couch and just rolling with laughter.

“It’s not funny!” Steve protested. “This is dire. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Eddie wiped the tears from his eyes as he struggled to sit up. “I’m sorry, babe, but you have to admit that’s one hell of problem to have.”

Steve buried his head into hands with a groan. If it wasn’t him that was facing down this particular barrel, he’d be right beside Eddie laughing his ass off.

“Flirt badly.”

Steve raised his head to look at his boyfriend. “What?”

“Flirt badly,” Eddie repeated. “You know what works, so do the opposite of that.”

Steve scratched his face as he thought about it. That could work. “I can try. I just didn’t want you thinking that I was ashamed of you or that I was looking for someone else if I did that.”

Eddie pulled him in for a hug and kissed the top of his head. “And I appreciate that, sweetheart but you don’t have to worry about that from me. If there is anyone that understands what you’re going through, baby, it’s me.”

Steve let out a shuddering breath.

“Yeah, okay.”

He lifted his head and pressed a kiss to the underside of Eddie’s jaw. Eddie hummed happily.

“I’m going to have to come visit you so I can see you in those slutty little shorts.”

Steve groaned for a different reason. “Please don’t. And don’t tell any of our friends I work there, either. It’s bad enough that the kids are going to find out and mock me.”

Eddie lifted his chin a little higher so he could look him in the eyes. “There might be some light mocking, but it’s not going to be malicious or mean. You’re going to get enough of that from the kids.”

Steve let his eyelids flutter shut as he kissed him warm and tenderly. It was hard for him to let go the fact that he had real friends now, friends that wouldn’t mock or tease him just because they could.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Okay.”

Eddie got to his feet and helped Steve to his. “Come on, darlin’, let me cheer you up.”

Steve willingly follow him into his bedroom. He was just glad Uncle Wayne wasn’t home. He had learned the hard way there was no way that Steve could keep quiet when Eddie was making love to him.

Eddie kicked his door closed behind them and Steve let himself be taken care of.

~

Steve didn’t work with Robin all of the time, but when he did he wanted to pour melted ice cream over her head. She was a bitch and while Steve was a fan of that in general, she was being a bitch to him for no reason he could discern.

Then the first of the kids arrived. It was Mike and Lucas. Which normally isn’t a problem, but without the tempering aspects of Dustin and Will’s nature keeping them in check, the sass was out on display.

“Come on, Steve,” Mike was saying when he finally tuned back into their whining. “We spent all our money at the music shop and now we don’t have any money for the movie.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “And how is that my problem?”

“All the shops have a back hallway that link up to each other,” Lucas explained. “So you if let us through then we can slip into the theater and we can see the movie without paying.”

He was about to say no when Eddie walked in. So because he wanted to actually spend time with his boyfriend, he agreed to them out of his hair.

Plus he knew the movie they wanted to see and thought it would be fucking hilarious for them to have nightmares about it and then have to explain to their parents how they saw a movie they weren’t supposed to without giving up their source.

Mike’s in particular would bring him joy because he would absolutely narc on Steve but no one would believe him because of his strong dislike for him.

He came back from letting the kids through to see Eddie being served by Robin.

“I’ll take a double bowl,” he muttered. “Play-dough and bubble gum please.”

Steve had bit down on his tongue to keep from laughing when he saw how hard Robin was trying to keep the look of disgust off her face.

“Are you really going to eat that?” she asked, handing it over.

Steve patted her on the shoulder. “Yep, yep he is. I’m taking my break, but I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

She looked at the two of them in shock. “You two know each other?”

“Yep! Since before Christmas,” Eddie said grinning at her.

“He helped me out when I was puking in class from the concussion Hargrove gave me,” Steve added.

“Gross!” she sneered.

Steve and Eddie just shrugged her off and went to go sit at a booth.

“That stuff will give you cavities,” Steve said, leaning forward to peer into Eddie’s styrofoam cup.

Eddie threw back his head and laughed. “Like you wouldn’t live off the butterscotch one if you had a chance.”

He cocked his head to the side and then shrugged. “Fair.”

“I will say I’m feeling a little deceived at the moment,” Eddie said with a wink.

“Oh?”

Eddie took a big bite of his ice cream and shook his head fondly. “Those shorts aren’t as nearly as short as advertised.”

This time Steve threw his head back and laughed. “It’s not the length that makes the obscene, sunshine. It’s how tight they are.”

“If you say so, big boy,” Eddie huffed digging into his ice cream for another big bite. “So is the music shop here any good?”

Steve shook his head. “Not for a dyed in the wool metal fan such as yourself. Mike was complaining about how it was all pop and new age. And huge fucking country section.”

Eddie sneered around his spoon. “One day I will find good music in this town.”

“Maybe that’s the sign that you should get out of Ford,” Steve said. “After you graduate for Wayne of course.”

“It’s Dodge.”

Steve looked up to see Robin sneering at him again. “What is?”

“The saying,” she said leaning forward. “It’s get out of Dodge.”

“Why would it be dodge?” he asked with a frown of confusion.

“That’s the name of the frontier town that the saying is referring to,” Eddie said gently.

Steve mouthed ‘oh’ and then nodded. “Gotcha.”

Robin scoffed. “So you’ll take his word for it over mine?”

Eddie and Steve shared a glance.

“Yeah,” he said shaking his head slightly. “Because I know him?”

Robin’s head reared back in shock.

“He’s got you there, birdie,” Eddie said, finishing off the last of his ice cream.

She scoffed again and went into the back to ignore them both.

“I think that’s my cue to leave, darlin’,” Eddie cooed. “I’ll see you tonight, all right?”

Steve nodded. “My parents have left again, with ‘plans’ to return for the 4th of July, so just come on over.”

Eddie nodded back and gave Steve’s shoulder a squeeze as he threw out his cup, wiping his hands on a napkin.

Steve watched as he left, feeling as if Robin’s eyes were boring into the back of his head again.

It was going to be a long summer.

~

Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16

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[lokisprettygirl]

Utopia (Modern! Daemon Targaryen x female reader) (Non Canon AU) (18+)

Series Masterlist

Summary: Appointed as a sous chef for the ship Queen Utopia you befriend the charming Daemon Targaryen and quickly develop an unrequited crush on him, not really knowing that your lives are about to get tangled in more ways than one.

Warning: 18+, smut, sex, menstrual sex, unprotected sex.

Note : I'll try to keep this fic short as there's no sub plot but expect 4-5 chapters at least. This fic may not be what you think it is 👀

Deadly locks is not finished but I had to get this chapter out of my head

“Y/n.. Chef Dalton wants to see you..like right now” You let out a sigh of resignation as Emma chased after you, so eager to bring you to Chef Dalton. You were really hoping to find a moment of solitude in your room to rest.

“My shift is over Emma, I'll see him tomorrow” you said to her so she crossed ahead in front of you to glare at you.

“Are you trying to get fired?” Emma asked you so you crossed your arms in frustration.

“Yeah? And they'll find the new sous chef in the middle of the sea?” You asked her so she sighed and glared at you in disapproval “Look i really need to go to my room, and take a painkiller or my insides are going to churn out of my uterus because of this cramp” You yelled in frustration, as you were at the end of your rope. Your stomach was swirling in pain, and you felt like you were about to vomit.

As the door to room no. 143 opened up, you saw him. Him. Daemon Targaryen. The Bane of your existence, well not really, you had an unrequited crush on him but that wasn't really his fault.

“What's going on ladies?” his husky voice made you feel flushed so you looked away.

“Hey Daemon” Emma giggled at him and he winked at her.

“Darling, you heard her she's in pain..she looks awful –” your eyebrows scrunched as he said that.

“Thank you” you murmured so he chuckled in response.

“Tell Dalton she's not feeling well ..he will understand” Emma nodded and sighed before she walked away to speak with Dalton.

“Come here–” Daemon grabbed your arm and took you to his room so you groaned internally but obliged“Take this” he offered you a pill so you glared at him

“I'm not going to take some pill from a guy i have known for a month” you said to him so he chuckled.

“Ouchh love ..i thought we were becoming best of friends” he faked an offense so you took the pill and swallowed it “It's for my migraine attacks..very potent..you'll feel better soon”

“Thank you Daemon..I'll go lie down in my room” he nodded as you said that. You didn't want to be around him in such close proximity, especially in his room because you were afraid of doing something really stupid. As soon as you got into your room, you couldn't help but sigh in relief. You laid down, kicking your shoes off to the side in favor of pure bliss and comfort.

You had officially met Daemon, the lead singer and guitarist of his band The Dragonriders, on your first trip from London to NYC aboard the Queen Utopia ship .You had watched them perform before in the club you used to visit frequently with Emma, she was your old friend and she was also the one managing the band. She had insisted you apply for the job at Queen Utopia, the cruise ship was launched just a month prior and had taken only four trips from NYC to London until now.

You had no intention of crushing on the lead singer guitarist of the band but it happened.

His blonde hair and mischievous smirk was enough apparently. But he didn't feel the same way, you could tell, he was in love already with the lead singer of the band. They were together for years but as they embarked on this journey she broke up with him , however he was still hung up on her.

Every night after your shift ended, you made it a nightly ritual to watch them play at the entertainment center. You observed as Daemon, sang his heart out for her, with his eyes fixed only on her as he belted out every song.

Initially you didn't really notice him, sure he was strikingly good looking but in an unconventional way, he was the type of guy you'd have to have a conversation with in order to truly see his beauty.

“Beauty? A guy's beauty? Really y/n?”

As the pain medication kicked in, your cramp gradually subsided, which allowed you to finally relax. As you were finally drifting off to sleep, you heard a knock on your door and groaned again because you had to get up.

There was no one on the other side of the door. Instead, you found a gift basket outside your door containing a get-well soon card, chocolates, and other comforting snacks.

“Feel better soon. Daemon”

Why the fuck he had to be so nice?

Now that the cramp was gone you really wanted to go see his band play at the entertainment center. You took your time to shower and change into a comfortable outfit of jeans and a shirt. Besides, there wasn't much else to do on this ship anyways.

As you made your way to the venue, you spotted Criston and Aemond tweaking their equipments.

Criston Cole was the drummer in the band and Aemond was their bassist, Aemond was also Daemon's cousin.

Cole had been trying to hit on you since you all got here but of course your eyes were on somebody else, someone who wasn't really available.

As you made yourself comfortable at the bar, you observed Daemon and Lily engaged in a conversation, with her giggling at everything he was saying and he seemed so proud of himself for making her feel that way. It didn't take a genius to see why he was so in love with her, she was beautiful like an angel and she was exceptionally talented as well.

“You know you should just tell him that you want to bone him” Emma sat next to you so you glared at her.

“I don't want to bone him okay?”

“Then stop giving him the bedroom eyes”

You rolled your eyes as she said that.

“So what's their deal, like why did they break up?” You asked her sheepishly and she chuckled in response.

“I don't know..they had been together for years since they were kids..I guess she wanted to explore what else is out there ..she's a dreamer”

“Huhh?”

You leaned back in your bar stool as the sound of his guitar riff blasted in the air. It was the opening to I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic monkeys.

They occasionally played their original music but there weren't many of that so the band mostly opted to play cover songs

Secrets I have held in my heart

Are harder to hide than I thought

Maybe I just wanna be yours

I wanna be yours, I wanna be yours

“I'd cream my panties if someone looked at me like that while singing” Emma said as she sipped on her drink, you groaned internally as you watched Daemon and Lily eye fucking each other on the stage.

You had been groaning a lot these days and most of the time Daemon was the reason.

Once the show was over Lily and others ran up to you both.

“Great show guys” Emma immediately hopped off the stool to go hug them one by one,

“Thanks darling..I'm gonna go get a drink” Lily said as she excused herself from you two so you gave her a smile.

“Hey grumpy..i thought I wouldn't see you tonight” Daemon mumbled as he hugged you.

“Well I'm not here ..I'm just a ghost” you said to him and his eyes widened playfully.

“You know what helps with cramps?” He asked you so you looked at him curiously and waited for an answer..

“Sex”

“You're disgusting Targaryen”

“Just being honest..tried and tested”

“Ewww” he smiled but as he watched Lily having a conversation with a new hot passenger his smile faded. He was fuming with jealousy you could tell so you ordered a strong whisky and offered it to him.

“You know…this helps with that” you mumbled under your breath so he rolled his eyes but accepted the drink.

After several rounds of drinks, Emma suggested that you and everyone else should head to the club in order to celebrate the night. Emma's proposal was met with a general agreement from all the band members except you, “You guys should go ..I don't want to impose” you mumbled politely

“Ohh bollocks you're a part of the group now baby” Cole winked at you and it made you want to smack him for some reason.

“Grumpy” Daemon said under his breath so you sighed and eventually agreed, it was actually really nice to have people on the ship you could hangout with, otherwise it would have gotten really lonely really fast.

As you all reached the club Daemon asked you to dance with him.

“Look i know you want to make your girlfriend jealous n all but I'm not going to be that chick for you” you said to him while you were already hand in hand making your way to the floor.

“I just wished to dance”

“Sure you did”

As you both became more and more inebriated, your minds drifted into an altered state, allowing you to let loose and revel in the moment. You felt like you were on top of the world, filled with the type of carefree joy you haven't experienced in a long time. However every time his eyes lingered away from you and got stuck on Lily you noticed it and it hurt..

Later that night, as he walked you to the room he was quiet and he seemed upset as well because he had clearly seen Lily walking out of the club with that hot guy she had met before.

“It doesn't suit you” you said to him as you entered your room so he grabbed your arm and pulled you into his chest which immediately made your breath hitch in your chest.

“What doesn't suit me?” the smirk on his face was apparent as he questioned you.

“This whole heartbroken hung up guy look..you're a handsome man..hot ..sexy even..like extremely sexy and you can have anyone you want -”

He smiled as he looked at you, your entire being cringed at the cliche phrases you had used just now but as his fingers curled around your scalp you suddenly felt so shy and taken aback..this was going to be a mistake you knew that.

“You think I'm sexy?” He asked you so you nodded.

“Show me”

“What?”

“Show me how sexy do you think I am”

“Daemon you're drunk-”

“So are you”

“I know”

Without wasting a second further he leaned into you and kissed you and you wanted to stop him and push him away, not because you didn't want to do it but because you didn't want to be rebound fling. Despite your better judgment, you felt yourself succumb to his kiss and leaned into him to kiss him back feverishly..

“I'm on my periods “ you mumbled between the kiss so he chuckled.

“I don't care..I'll be gentle i promise..i know you want this darling..i see the way you look at me” His voice lowered to a seductive whisper as he laid you down on the bed and you propped yourself on the elbow to see him undress. Eyes blew out of the sockets as he took off his shirt, you knew he was muscular but you didn't expect him to be chiseled so perfectly.

Your mouth gaped as he lowered down his pants and he hurriedly unbuttoned your jeans to pull it off you ..

“Fuck I don't have the condom” he groaned as he looked down at you but the frown on his face disappeared as he leaned down to kiss you again.

“Are you on pills honey?” He asked you so you nodded like the desperate whore you were.

“Oh good girl ..you're a good girl” he whispered in your ear and your fingers clutched onto his biceps as he suddenly pushed his cock inside you, the wetness from your arousal as well as the unfortunate bleeding made it so slick and easier for him to thrust in and out of you

“Daemon–”

“Shhhh baby quiet..don't talk..”

The sound of his cock slipping in and out of you made your head spin even more and more, this was a mistake you knew that but you felt helpless, you had been lusting after him for a month so you took your chances in your inebriated state.

“Oh yeah..fuck..” he grunted and moaned and every little noise he made only somehow increased your arousal for him “Such a tight cunt ..oh precious lily I love you”

And there it was, the mumbling of her name that somehow made you feel sober for a moment ..

“It's y/n” you mumbled softly, almost on the verge of breaking into tears so he leaned down and kissed you again.

“I know? What's wrong?” He asked you so you looked at him for a moment but then you didn't say anything, you didn't want to ruin the moment. Instead of pushing him away like you should have done in the first place you kissed him instead.

“Keep going..fuck me please”

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, you remembered him stumbling his way into the bathroom to clean up and then he helped you do the same and then he puked his guts out in the sink which you had to clean up.

The next morning when you woke up he was not there in the room but you didn't have the time to worry about that or nurse the pounding headache you had because you really had to be in the kitchen. Your shift was going to start in five minutes. However as the hours passed you began to feel nervous about last night, you had a crush on him and he was in love with someone else, you really wanted to turn back the time and stop yourself somehow from fucking up this badly.

As soon as you had a moment of free time after your shift, you located Emma and inquired about the band's current whereabouts. Upon learning that they were rehearsing, you felt an immediate compulsion to make your way to the rehearsal room to speak with Daemon. You wanted to tell him that you weren't expecting anything from him, even though the truth couldn't have been farther from it.

“Hey” you said to Daemon as you knocked on the door of the rehearsal hall and they all passed a look at each other before Daemon excused himself and walked towards you, he grabbed your arm harshly and pulled you outside.

“What are you doing?” he let go of your arm as he spoke, he seemed upset.

“Calm down..I just wanted to talk” you chuckled to lighten up the moment but it didn't really work.

“About what?”

“Daemon”

“It was just sex..we are adults ..we were both drunk and we had sex..that's it..” he was talking to you as if you were five and didn't really understand the situation.

“I know I just–”

“Are you going to be a clinger now? Really? I like you y/n i do ..but only as a friend” his tone was offensive and that only infuriated you further.

“You're being a jerk, you know that?” he chuckled as you said that but then his jaw clenched.

“Really? Didn't seem to think so when you were moaning my name in bed like a whore?”

You slapped him on the cheek, his words were really hurtful not only because he was being mean but also because you actually liked him and you had never been spoken to this way before so it really bothered you.

“I thought we were friends -”

“We are and that's why I was hoping you won't create a scene”

“I just wanted to talk” you raised your voice so he glared at you.

“About what? We slept together..big deal”

“Okay now i know that..forget that i said anything” you turned around to leave and he didn't stop you or anything.

He didn't care at all.

Daemon huffed as he went back to the rehearsal room. What was he thinking last night? Well that was the problem he wasn't really thinking, Lily was talking on the phone while Cole came to him and looked at him suspiciously.

“What was that about?” He asked Daemon to which he responded with a sigh,

“I messed up..we fucked last night..I fucked y/n..don't tell Lily” Daemon said hurriedly

“Why not? She's not your girlfriend anymore” Cole asked, there was a look of amusement on his face.

"I can't afford for her to think I'm messing around. She'll realize what she's missing out on and come crawling back.”

“What about y/n?”

“What about her?” Cole looked at him so Daemon rolled his eyes “We are adults, we were drunk and had sex..big deal” he repeated the same words he had said to you even though the guilt had started to creep in already.

He wasn't a mean bloke, especially not with girls like you but he had been the biggest arse of the century just now.

“Does she feel the same way? she doesn't seem the type to sleep around either” Cole asked him curiously.

“I don't care”

“Cool..so I have my shot open here huh ?” Cole winked at him and Daemon's smile faded, now sure he didn't want to date you or even sleep with you again but then why did the thought of Cole having sex with you made him feel uneasy?

Memories of your body underneath him last night flashed through his mind throughout the day, the way you looked so beautiful and how you responded to his touch and – no he had to stop thinking. He was just feeling guilty for hurting your feelings or whatever, he had a sweet friend in you and he had ruined that now with his big mouth.

At night as they played again at the entertainment center, his eyes looked around for you but you weren't there and he felt even more horrible so once their set was finished he took the lift to the lower deck and made his way to the employee's quarters to go see you. With bated breaths he knocked on your door.

“What do you want?” You asked him as you glared at him.

“I'm sorry about this morning” his voice no longer held the hint of insulting arrogance as before but that doesn't mean you were ready to forgive him.

“Fine..you can go now”

“Y/n..can we just talk?”

“No i hate that..I hate talking and i definitely don't need a speech ..it was my fault too..i knew you were hung up on someone so I should have been more careful” your eyes teared up as you spoke, making your voice quiver and you despised the way your body has betrayed you just now by being so fucking weak.

“I like you y/n..as my friend and as my neighbor here”

“I just told you I hate the talk”

"I know, I know, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not just some total wanker who did this just to hurt you, yeah?” you crossed your arms as he said that.

“Okay I get that”

He nodded but he didn't know what else to say to you so he wished you a good night and decided to go to sleep himself as for some reason this thing between you two had really bothered him.

For several days, you successfully dodged any potential encounters with Daemon. Though you noticed him watching you from a distance whenever you guys bumped into each other in the mess hall or the entertainment center but you understood that it was nothing more than guilt and embarrassment on his part. You did your best to keep your distance but one night when you noticed that he wasn't performing with the band, your concerns grew.

“Hey lily..where's Daemon tonight?” You asked her as you met up with her at the bar so she gave you a smile as she turned away from the gentleman she was speaking with

“Ohh he had a headache so he's in his room”

“You mean the migraine?” you asked her so she chuckled.

“Yeah same difference”

You excused yourself as you wanted to check up on him now as any other neighbor would. He brought you a gift basket when you had cramps.

You were just being a good neighbour.

You made your way to his quarter and knocked incessantly but when he didn't open after a few knocks you decided to twist the knob and see it for yourself.

“Lily is that you?” You rolled your eyes as you heard his low and gravelly voice.

“No it's someone you don't want to see”

You neared the switch board to turn on the lights as you spoke.

“Don't turn on the lights please.. it hurts”

You sat down on the bed as he said that and then you huffed as you laid down next to him, albeit maintaining a proper distance from him..you didn't want to come across as a clinger.

You turned your head to look at him as your eyes have now adjusted to the dark, he was shirtless and had placed a cold towel on his face, that probably helped with the symptoms.

“Does my perfume bother you? I'll go if it's intense” you said to him so he reached for your arm, you were thankful for the darkness because you didn't want him to see how much he was affecting you.

“No stay…distract me”

“How?”

“Sing”

“I'm awful at singing”

“Try”

You sighed as he said that.

“No.. I'm not going to sing. You know sometimes I get this smell of wet wood around me even though it's not there and then I have this intense headache..is that a migraine?” You asked him so he pulled the towel away from his face to look at you.

“Could be”

You didn't say anything after that so he cleared his throat before he spoke again.

“Y/n”

‘mmm”

“I'm sorry”

“It's okay..it wasn't just you..i should have been careful and i should have known better” he chuckled as you said that

“Well I'm not sorry about the night ..I'm sorry about how i treated you the next morning”

You couldn't help but smile as he said that. Well at least he was feeling something.

“Well perhaps you're not a jerk after all”

“Thank you..that means alot to me”

“Why?”

“Because you're my friend and I have grown to really care about you y/n”

You went to sleep that night worrying about your blooming feelings for the man that you knew would never feel the same way about you.

You fell into a deep slumber that was only disrupted by the sudden chaos that erupted around you in the form of screams and the wailing of sirens. As you woke up the warning red light in the room was flashing continuously,

“Attention, this is the Captain speaking. Our ship is taking on water, and we need to abandon ship immediately. I repeat this is an emergency. We are experiencing a major breach in the hull, and our lifeboats and life preservers are ready to be deployed. Do not try to save your belongings. Your safety is your first priority. We repeat, this is an emergency”

A sense of excruciating fear washed over you as you heard the message on the speaker, your life was about to change forever.

"Abandon ship immediately”

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Note : Let me know if you want to be tagged

[steddieas-shegoes]

Headcanons: insecure Steve?????

He didn’t get into college.

It shouldn’t have come as a shock, but for some reason, he thought he’d get into at least one he applied to.

Looked like he’d be spending his summer trying to figure out a backup.

But for now, he was going to cry about it at Skull Rock.

His previous make out spot had turned into the spot he went to think, which mostly led to crying alone.

It was stupid, really.

Especially when he heard footsteps coming, sticks crunching under feet.

He quickly wiped at his eyes, keeping his face buried as much as he could in hopes the person would walk away.

“Oh. Sorry. Didn’t know someone would be here.”

Steve looked up at the voice.

He knew that voice, but this was the last place he expected to hear it.

Eddie Munson stared up at him from the ground, just as shocked to see him as he was.

“Why are you here?”

“Uh. Couldn’t meet at school today so figured I’d meet my customers here.”

“Other people are here?”

“They will be.” Eddie cleared his throat. “You okay man?”

Steve nodded, though he knew it probably didn’t look very convincing.

“You don’t seem okay.”

“Then why did you ask?”

Steve didn’t mean to snap at him. He had nothing personal against Eddie, not like so many of the jocks seemed to. He just wasn’t in the mood.

“Not everyday you see the King of Hawkins crying on Skull Rock. Figured it must be pretty serious.”

Steve hopped down, figured he could probably escape and cry in the privacy of his own home now. Maybe let himself think about all the ways he let everyone down on the drive there.

“Yeah, well. Not having a future is pretty serious.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t get into any colleges. Probably won’t live to see my next birthday when my dad finds out. Everyone I care about is smart and will leave. I’ll be here. Probably working dead end jobs forever.”

Eddie came closer to him.

Steve resisted backing up.

He was too tired to pretend he really cared about anything right now.

“You know, it’s not the end of the world to have one shitty thing happen. You’ve got lots of resources, man. You’ll figure something out.”

“Doubtful. My resources are my dad’s money, which will stop the second he finds out I’m an idiot and useless and couldn’t even get into a state school.”

Eddie’s forehead creased, mouth turning further into a frown.

“You don’t actually believe that you’re useless, do you?”

Steve shrugged.

“C’mon man. You’re not useless. Everyone has a purpose. Maybe you haven’t found yours yet, or maybe you don’t realize what it is, but it’s there.”

Steve remained silent as Eddie got closer.

“College isn’t for everyone. Maybe you have something better waiting to happen.”

Eddie gave him a comforting smile, and placed his hand on his shoulder for a moment.

“Yeah. Maybe. I guess.”

“There ya go! That’s kinda the spirit!”

Steve let out a small but genuine laugh.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, yeah, Harrington. Don’t make a habit of crying where I’m working, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

As Steve walked away, he couldn’t help but think about how easy it was for Eddie to make him feel better.

How he had no reason to help, but did.

[pascaloverx]

Sweet Love

Summary: You're an up-and-coming writer, congratulations. To protect your beloved job, you're willing to do anything. Even strike a deal with the devil, better known as your sister's neighbor. You and Dean Winchester don't really see eye to eye, but in a moment of desperation, you agree to collaborate with him for a greater good.

Author's Notes: Many characters do not belong to me but to the Supernatural Universe (2005-2020). I hope you enjoy the fanfic's story. The fanfic will contain strong language and future adult content.

chapter one chapter three

CHAPTER TWO

It's been two days since you made your agreement with Dean, and there's no sign of him. You even thought about going to him, but he always seems to be busy screwing someone. Literally. Yesterday, a beautiful man left his apartment, and you gave up on going to Dean's place because you swore it was Castiel. Well, to put it briefly, Castiel is Dean's great love story. At least, that's what you think. When you moved into your sister's apartment, Castiel lived with Dean. They seemed like quite the couple, even though officially they said they were having a "casual thing." But about a year ago, Castiel broke up with Dean. Rumors say Castiel wanted emotional commitment, and that's Dean's biggest nightmare. So when you saw a handsome man very similar to Castiel and wearing a trench coat like Castiel used to wear, you thought they had made amends. But in the end, it wasn't Castiel. This makes you sure that Dean is avoiding helping you. It could be because he's quite stupid when he wants to be, or because he didn't see any benefit in helping you.

You then decide to try writing the long-awaited smut, describing how the male protagonist's skin smells like men's deodorant and cheap moisturizer, and how the female protagonist is intrigued by the male protagonist's eyes. You try and try, but your protagonists don't seem to want a physical connection. If only your publisher would accept this. But you're just a few steps away from becoming permanently unemployed. So, wearing a somewhat revealing nightgown and your Stitch slippers, you practically run to Dean's apartment door. But you can't bring yourself to knock on his door; courage is lacking. Or perhaps you feel humiliated.  You turn around, thinking about what you'll have to do to apply for any other job. Or how it will be to move back in with your mother when you're already too old for it to seem like a viable option.

"Do you make a habit of standing in front of other people's apartments?" Dean Winchester asks, opening the door to his apartment. You turn around delicately as if caught off guard. The feeling of embarrassment washes over you.

"No, actually, it's something I exclusively do with you, sweetheart. Can you explain why you gave up on helping me?" You speak, feigning confidence. Dean looks you up and down.

"You're going to regret this, you know?" Dean says boastfully as I walk further and further out of his apartment, you noticing that he's in a bathrobe and him apparently noticing that you're in a nightgown.

"Dean, I'm not a little girl. You don't need to protect me. I just want you to help me. Do you understand this?" You get closer to him. Your face getting closer to his. You feel the strange need to kiss him.

"Sam thinks our partnership is a bad idea. According to him, I'm taking advantage of the fact that your sister is away to try to lead you down the wrong path." Dean tries to explain the reason why he hasn't helped you yet.

"Is he right?" You ask, smiling mischievously as you keep your eyes locked on Dean's. He looks at you, as if calculating what answer to give you. You presume he's undecided between lying or not. In reality, it means he wants to take advantage of you.

"Probably is. The problem is, everyone knows you and me, it's not gonna work out. Either you'll give up on me, or I'll mess everything up." He says, looking intensely at you, as you hold onto the edge of the robe he's wearing and bring your faces closer together.

"I didn't come here to play cat and mouse with you, Winchester. Now, tell me how to start a romantic story with a bit of sexual tension and forget your worries." You say, cutting straight to the point.

"What are we doing now. Analyzing each other halfway between our apartments. Casually wondering if it wouldn't be interesting to take off the few pieces of clothing we're wearing?" Dean's suggestion sounds good, but in your head it sounds like a warning. What you and he are doing is building sexual tension. Analyzing each other's bodies, observing details such as what they are wearing and moving closer and closer.

"Are you saying this is the method you're going to use to help me? Try to fuck me?" You say, moving away from him a little and coughing falsely. That was letting you embarrassed, in a good way.

"What better way than to practice with you? Write about what you're experiencing right now, about your filthiest thoughts about me, you, and the floor of my house. Maybe the shower, or the mattress?" Dean says, approaching you step by step, making you lose your breath. Your head lightly knocks on your door. Or rather at the door of your sister's apartment.

"What's the next step in your help?" You speak almost in a whisper next to Dean who is face to face with you. His fingers then lightly travel around your waist, holding you steady. He wants to tease you. 

"Imagine that your character is going to do exactly what I'm doing, seduction works like that. But something good about seduction is knowing when to do things. Now it would be easy to win you over but leaving you eager for more, it's much better. " Dean says, letting go of your waist and composing himself.

"You're more useful than you seem. I hope you know you're going to need more than that if you want to help me with this book." You say trying not to seem affected by him.

"Get ready, kitten. I know very well how to help you. Just try to take it to the professional. I don't know how to deal with people who are in love with me." Dean says smiling and you roll your eyes. How arrogant he is. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, idiot." You say, opening the door to your sister's apartment and closing it in Dean's face. You then run to get your computer and write down everything about what just happened.

[harlequinoccult]

thank you for explaining the caustic personality!! honestly Vulpine might as well have caustic as his main w apathetic tendencies instead, ig ill find out when the demo is updated XD both personality types fit him too well. honestly he's not that aggressive as a person, he's actually mostly quite polite, but he does have a tendency to stare. the ones who really get to see his aggressive side are the people he dislikes (Host better fucking prepare himself-)

well i figured i'd just finish what i started, and continue on my never-ending ramble. usually i like making Ariel an orphan, it's a bit of a callback to his roots and it fits him, but this time i think the second option i usually go for him fits best: single child of a single mother. she's the only family he has that he knows of, a very loving, religious and hard working lady who was shunned from the community for getting pregnant out of wedlock. the very first fights Ari would get into in his childhood were against kids who would say some unsavory shit abt his mom. having a mother who was blindly dedicated to the same church that constantly made her suffer for the mistake of having a kid without a husband also played a very big part into Ariel becoming an atheist and rebelling against the church in his teen years.

she was p absent as a parent, having to work p much the whole day to be able to support them both, but she tried her best the moments when she was present, and Ari recognizes that and loves her dearly. he started stealing things and got his first job quite young to try to help her pay the bills.

he got arrested when he was around 18 yo, probably getting caught on one of his "heists", trying to steal from the richer houses around, and he hasn't seen her since then. his time in prison was... bad. really fucking bad. the worst, lowest point of his life, in fact.

i have no idea how the legal system works in england and i have no desire to learn, but for what's worth he is caught trying to escape at least once, and spends 2 miserable years in there until he finally manages to leave.

did he actually complete his sentence? lol. lmao.

no. no he didn't. be it by a month, a year, a day, the important thing is he didn't.

is Ariel Fox even his real name? i doubt it. that would be stupid wouldn't it, illegally immigrating to a different country after escaping from prison and using your real ass name to do it, he's smarter than that.

fun fact abt Ari: he does not want to go back to prison. he'll kill himself before they have the chance to catch him.

on a... "unrelated" note, the reason why Carter managed to wrap such a tight leash on Ariel is bc he learned smth he shouldn't have and he's holding that little secret right over his head. im sure you can't possibly guess what he found out that would make Ariel put up w his shit the way he did-

so the fact that Ari ends up in this city (i forgor the name and i can't leave the askbox to check or ill lose everything i typed 😭) is honestly not rlly much of a surprise, nor is the fact that he's p much alone despite living there for years. he's always been a bit of an outcast, a loner, someone who avoids people on purpose. he hasn't seen his mom since he left england, but he looks her up every once in a while. debates whether he should call her. decides it's for the best that he doesn't.

he starts over. new life, new me, or whatever the hell people say. starts off already with shifty connections, he needs a fake identity and a fake birth certificate and a fake everything if he has any hope of passing by unscathed, after all. needs to lay low. not call too much attention. be a nobody. wait until things calm down a bit.

he stays at least a year living like that, settling in, subduing his accent until he can pass it off as having learned it from a family member or some other bullshit. applies for university. becomes just another american college student.

meets someone.

falls in love.

has them taken from him. has his entire life destroyed. again. needs to try to pick himself up. again. is struck with such crippling grief unlike anything he has ever felt before. it's almost as bad as the two worst years of his life.

almost.

he's never letting anything like that happen to him ever again.

anyway! as mentioned before, he was working on getting a doctorate when Carter came along, and he sort of had to drop out after that, to the dismay of his teachers. what was he getting a doctorate on? honestly p much anything would be in-character for Ariel, he's an everything nerd, from language to history to engineering to biology that man wants to know quite literally everything the world has to offer him. his infodumps are the most complete and varied possible, he's a walking talking encyclopedia.

he's an extremely paranoid person who overthinks everything including his own overthinking and really, if nothing else here's to hoping that OD can at least teach him to loosen up a bit-

he never enjoyed doing drugs very much, despite partaking in them quite often in his youth. he's way more likely to experience a bad trip than a good one, so he learned to stay away from them as much as possible, but alcohol and nicotine were a completely different story. he's still addicted to nicotine to this day, the one drug he allows himself to never let go. he was an alcoholic through a big chunk of his life, until someone did Very Bad Things to him when he was too drunk to be able to fight back. that experience just flipped a switch inside of him, it broke him badly enough to make him promise himself to never touch another drop of alcohol in his life, a promise he did very well by until Carter killed his beloved and he had the worst relapse of his life. he's back to being a straight edge now tho, its fine! its not fine

he has immense distaste for the cops of the city, but part of him is kinda grateful that they're so bad at their job or else he would be Fucked. he absolutely despised doing work for Carter, even after he became so numb to it all it made him want to tear his own heart out just to make sure it was still beating. i cannot stress enough how much he suffered inside at the start, part of the reason he started drinking again was to try to ignore how much all of it hurt. at least he could try to make sure Carter didn’t kill innocents. he couldn't really be sure every time, but he tried. he really did.

he probably tried killing Carter at least once. or thought abt it, at the very least. made plans. had it all figured out in his head, down to the last detail, how he would do it and get away with it. ngl, he was probably on the verge of putting it into action when Host sent him that email and just gave him the perfect chance to do it just like that-

as a killer, Vulpine is very much the stealthy type, hiding in the shadows, walking withouth making a sound. if its a group, he'll pick them off one by one, until someone notices and all hell breaks loose or until all of them are dead. if he's forced to kill someone he doesn't think deserves it, he's merciful. very quick, clean deaths, going straight for the vitals, almost painless. if it's someone he thinks deserves to suffer, however... well, he's always been curious to know what a human vivisection would look like.

truth is, he's a sadist. well, a sadomasochist really, but he gets off on making people suffer, and he hates it. he especially hates the fact that hurting the person he loves is such a tantalizing thought. marking them blue and black, covering them in red, it's not really his fault blood is such a beautiful thing, is it? and if his lover wants to do the same to him, well, he's more than happy to oblige. anything for his love. except bondage. getting tied up/held down is actually a pretty bad trigger for him, he hates it, no matter the context

ok well i think that's everything! thanks for indulging me!!

-🦊

The ask is somewhere around here, i know it, but with caustic mcs, Carter assumed they were all bark and no bite. Fitting, i think.

And, given everything, OD is a fitting match, they like learning and they are smart -in their own way- the drugs and partying is for themselves, they aren't the type to pressure people into drugs, in fact, they can and will tell you about the various side effects of any given drug because they think its legitimately interesting.

[skaruresonic]

... I never realized before how similar in headbashing stupidity "an immunitary disease is kept in remission by low gravity" and "Super Silver can rip away a virus that mutated people on a cellular level" are as cures for illnesses.

At least I know that the Metal Virus crap was because Flynn made it too OP and so he had to find a solution to the problem he created no matter what. Again, I reiterate that we did not need to know the nitty gritty of Maria's illness beyond "she was terminally ill and that's why Gerald was desperate to find a cure". It's not about "muh super saiyan hedgehog franchise", it's that a much more elegant solution 1) exists, and 2) did not need to be told (and 3) it directly goes against what shown in the games)

I'm still not convinced the low gravity thing wasn't all Flynn's doing, because

A.) Maekawa seemed to not be privy to it; he simply said if ST changed the original vision, that's their prerogative. A statement which doesn't really prove anything on its own. If he knew anything, he would have provided a less nonchalant answer,

and B.) it's the exact brand of nitpicky inanity Flynn employed in the comic. Characters spent aaaaaages agonizing over why they couldn't solve the metal virus through the usual channels, only for "tear the virus off like it's a second skin because the plot demands it" to be the solution.

Like, Eggman spent paragraphs explaining how the virus changes you at the cellular level. So what, pray tell, did Silver exactly do?

It's an asspull. Something that sounds good on the surface for all of two seconds before you apply a modicum of thought to it. And then you get told to shut up because you're thinking too hard.

Nah, man. I shouldn't have to do the writer's job because he's not thinking hard enough.

---

Again, I reiterate that we did not need to know the nitty gritty of Maria's illness beyond "she was terminally ill and that's why Gerald was desperate to find a cure". It's not about "muh super saiyan hedgehog franchise", it's that a much more elegant solution 1) exists, and 2) did not need to be told (and 3) it directly goes against what shown in the games)

"It doesn't have to be realistic, relax" is a weird hill to die on when SA2 is one of the few games that are grounded in reality, inasmuch a Sonic game can be grounded in reality. I could see that argument for, like, Mania, but SA2? Especially given the fact that Maria's illness is the reason Gerald created life, with all the existential implications attached? You're gonna treat it as the same tier as "What do rings do?"

I know I always harp on the "weapons of mass destruction" thing, but it can't be understated just how weirdly topical such a thing is for a game released in June 2001. You can apply this to other elements as well, such as the commercial bent and the focus on government conspiracies. It all converges to create an unreplicable atmosphere that is uniquely early aughts.

Y2K was a weird time for everyone; the world feared the end at the stroke of midnight on January 1st, and didn't quite understand how technology would play a part in shaping the future. In fact, Maekawa managed to convince ST to set their next adventure in space in order to celebrate the new millennium. SA2 is a time capsule of those cultural hopes and anxieties.

You cannot ignore that part when analyzing the game. You cannot ignore how art reflects reality in this case. Tails saying he caught the news of Sonic's arrest on "satellite TV" would be the modern equivalent of saying he caught it while watching YouTube. The words "weapon of mass destruction" leaving Shadow's mouth would be like if Infinite mentioned drone strikes in Forces.

Although subsequent games do allude to real-life every now and again, like ShTH and its one-off mentions of Japan and France - they're just that, tidbits. None are as deeply contemporaneous to their time as SA2. None have it as baked into their grain in the same manner as SA2.

...To say nothing of the usual "just because the games take place in a setting with supersonic hedgehogs doesn't render them unworthy of critical examination." Should go without saying.

also what the fuck, people are calling it "space AIDS." maybe choose a bigger fish to fry

[girderednerve]

list!!

okay i am heading into my last week at this job, which is also the last week of summer programming, so it is going to be busy & socially fraught (not excited about this!!). i have to make cookie dough and slime with children, and also get through my exit interview with my stupid boss who lied to my face & then impugned my professional integrity when i disagreed with him. HOWEVER this weekend has been pretty great: i made pizza with my partner, we went out to our CSA farm & picked cherry tomatoes & basil & tomatillos & late season blueberries, later we are going to make salsa & pesto & feast upon blueberry bounty. also we watched the gold medal men's basketball game, which was really fun. steph curry at it again, etc.

anyway here is a list of things i am thinking about doing with my pending unemployment, other than panicking about my future & feeling guilty for quitting my stupid job, and obviously applying for other, hopefully less stupid, jobs:

weaving! i got a second heddle & i am going to attempt simple 3x1 twill. i got yarn to make my partner a scarf & hopefully i will have managed it by fall, aka scarf szn. also i have to figure out what i'm doing with the baby blanket i am making for my friend: the fabric is off the loom but the two panels aren't quite identical, so i could either do a big hem (don't want to do this), do some surgery (nervous but probably best option), or wet finish it & then line it with some kind of cute fabric to hide its flaws (i'm considering a couple different spoonflower dragons?). feel free to weigh in if you have Thoughts™

sorting through our books for ones we no longer need & generally tidying up. i find this sort of thing very difficult but it will be good once it is done

drop spindle!! considering getting a cheap 3D printed turkish spindle & seeing if i like that, but also i got some dyed top so i'll be able to see what i'm doing when i try to figure out plying. my dream is to make reasonably cute textured handspun that i can weave into placemats and then mail to my mother

i'm gonna sign up for a class to learn how to do MARC records. i didn't take a dedicated cataloging class in grad school (not required in my program & offered relatively infrequently/at terrible times), just the required one about the general principles. i wanna know how the metadata works

looking at schools. nobody needs two advanced degrees but sometimes it turns out that i am nobody

baking projects! i want pavlova, which is in my opinion an objectively perfect dessert, and also it's coming up on apple season, which means mandatory galette

podfic. i have ideas but as always if you have a thing you want a recording of please feel free to ask

i owe at least one person a letter & i have a stash of fun stationery! i want to write LETTERS let me know if you want one & you might receive one in um. like. a calendar month. i'm a mess but letters are fun!

friend of mine is considering running an old gods of appalachia campaign and i could be annoying about it. i'm considering being soooo annoying about it, like have you ever heard of a better excuse to finish reading all of my appalachian labor history pdfs??

anyway i'm sure i'll end up doing maybe a third of this at best but it's good to have plans. i hope you also have time in your life to do things which are important to you! if you have hobbies you are up to please feel personally invited to tell me about them :)

[vintage-bentley]

The spoilers anon - it's exactly the starmaker Crowley / unnoticed nobody Aziraphale I wanted to talk about. To be fair, I've also only read spoilers by other people, so if that turns out to be wrong, I'll be the most overjoyed. This decision to include pre-fall Crowley was so stupid! How could Neilman look at his book, which is at it's core about two *equal* *nobodies*, and fuck it up so badly!!! Crowley isn't an important arch/angel, he's just some guy! So is Aziraphale! They are two cogs of the machine who were brave enough to rebel! That's the whole point!!!

Not to mention the slew of overpowered-Crowley-who-intimidates-Aziraphale-and-who-everyone-bows-down-to fanfics this is going to inspire 😒

I’m actually really really excited to see the pre-fall era. It’s a big part of any heaven/hell related story, and I’m excited to see a fleshed out backstory for the husbands.

However.

It would’ve been really easy to ham up the idea that Heaven works like any other job, and have Crowley be similar to a construction worker. As you said, just a cog in the machine. The universe is so huge and there’s so many stars and nebulas and whatnot, it makes sense that the angels working on them would just be like worker bees, probably overseen by higher angels (especially given the quote was “I HELPED build that one”). I was hoping that would be the case for Crowley, and that Aziraphale would have something similar, probably a job working on Eden. I love the idea of pre-fall Crowley being associated with above and pre-fall Aziraphale being associated with below, then they swap the associations because of Crowley falling.

This isn’t a relationship that should have a power imbalance, even if it’s not present any more. They’re supposed to be two sides of one coin, complete nobodies who got lucky enough to be sent up to Earth, and who ended up siding with Earth over their respective “sides”. I was hoping this concept would apply to their pre-fall backstory, as well. I don’t think Crowley’s going to canonically be an Archangel at least, but it does sound like he’s at least one rank higher than Aziraphale. I’m not a fan.

I also am hesitant to like the idea of them meeting before Eden. The wall scene was such a perfect meet-cute scenario, and I love the idea of Crowley meeting Aziraphale for the first time and falling in love with him damn near immediately. As well as the idea that when Aziraphale was so eager to go on about Eden at the airbase, it was because that’s the story of how he met Crowley his husband.

I don’t like the idea of a fork being thrown in that. The story was good how it was. My best-case scenario was a pre-fall scene where they walk by each other but don’t notice each other…there’s something poetic about it with the audience knowing these two passer-by’s are one day going to be the centre of each other’s lives. I think scenarios where they knew each other in Heaven should be left to fan fiction.

However…now that you bring up that certain genre of GO fanfic, I’m starting to wonder if, because this information is very much he-said-she-said, this is just fan interpretation. Like hypothetically let’s say fans saw episode 3 of season 1 early, and came back telling everyone they saw woman Crowley. We’d freak out, but then go watch it and see a very much male Crowley who just has long hair. So it’s possible that, just like it would be in that scenario, this is just fans seeing what they want to see, and believing it.

However I did hear something about Crowley requesting assistance from a lesser angel and that being Aziraphale. I’m taking it with a grain of salt, though.

[dztalon]

I was laid off last week. I've had some unsuccessful interviews and it's become clear that I'm over qualified for a lot, under qualified for what pays what I was making, and generally fucked.

When I got the news that I was being laid off, I really thought about ending it. The market is bad, no one in the world gives a shit, and I'm terrified that I'll be out on the street. I've applied to 82 jobs in a week. I've been rejected by 20.

I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope and there's nothing left for me. I did an interview today that made me truly feel stupid and like I was completely worthless in my profession.

What is the point? Why am I alive? Why am I continuing to try and find something? I feel like once my severance runs out I'm done. I don't know how to move on or get myself out of this.

I have people who count on me and who love me so I don't want to do anything bad. But it's hard when I wake up to rejection in my inbox and then spend all day applying and hoping that at least one might possibly say yes. If it even pays what I need.

People have helped refer me but I've been rejected even with that. I'm just a nobody cast off into the void and that's all I'll ever be.

[a-s-levynn]

15, 30, and 44 for the nosy anon questions! Hope you're having a good day ❤

🫶🏻 Thank you for indulging me to spend time on the train! It got long because 30 kinda turned into oversharey bitching at the end but i had to get it out while i was at it, sorry 😅

Under the cut: fav movie, what i hate about school/work and a random fact about anything.

15: Favorite movie

This is a two answer question depending on how we measure favourite. Do we see the emotional impact or which movie i've seen the most?

If the first, it's definitely Naked (1993, by Mike Leigh). I've only seen it 3 times but boy did it unlock something. I'm not sure what exactly but it had an effect. It's not an easy watchfor sure, but it definitely worth a shot if you are not the 'i only watch light-hearted comedies' type.

On the other hand the movie i've seen the most is either Drive or Blade Runner. Probably Blade Runner wins the numbers but not by much. I love cyberpunk as a genre and after my favourite novel this is what i love about the genre at the core.

30: What I hate the most about work/school

Now i have a bit of a perspective on both, let's talk both.

Mind you this is my perspective on the country i grew up and live, this is not a general opinion.

What i hated about school the most was the fact that we learned a lot of unnecessary things. We accumulate such a large amount of lexical/encyclopedical knowledge that offers next to nothing in a practical sense. And that is by how we measure knowledge. So in an academic sense i'm considered dumb because i can't pull out 50 historical dates out of my arse. Which i can found in any chronological works or somesuch. It's equivalent to saying a fish is stupid 'cause it cannot climb a tree like a cat. I always despised the fact that we never really learned anything with practical application. Like how to prepare an envelope for postage? How to read a proper map? How to fill out a check for bills. Fuckin' how the rules of the road works. And then uni is a whole another beast on it's own because there are no real seminars anymore and it is basically a self-teaching club in most cases.

With work, i find it inherently stupid that the younger you are the less off days you have. You hear from everywhere that 'go travel when you are still young' like no shit, i'd love to but i have 23 off days per year and 19 of them is fixed so that leaves me with 4 fucking days to use at my leasure. Otherwise i can on unpaid vacations but then i have no money and i'll get fired because i'm not working. Retirement age is so high at this point that i either not gonna live long enough or be in no condition to finally go see the world. I despise the 40 hours (5days, 8hours) work weeks. I know that's the standard. I knkw there are jobs that are worse (which is borders on inhuman in my eyes but that's an other can of worms) As someone who lives alone, 2 days of weekend is so fucking short. When am i supposed to do anything? One day taken up by the housework and the other is either for friends which leaves me with no resting time or i rest and ignore my friends. I know i know many fi d it enough but i'm neurodivergent. I have exectuive dysfunction. I have trouble sleeping so i'm constantly tired. I know it's a me problem but like.. i know a lot of people who are in the same shoes. (This also applies to school btw. It's fucking horrid that you are in there for at least 8 hours a day and you have addition homework and than extra curricular shit and then you are left there withouth time for friends basically.) This is the general qualms of my life regarding my work.

A more immediate one is the fact that i work at a religious organization's library and i'm not religious. I'm not straight and definitely left leaning. So i mostly just keep to myself and do my job. Which is at least appreciated but still the crap i hear sometimes is.. Let's just say i kinda have an existential crisis every three days just by overhearing conversations on the hallways. But it pays the bills better than any other alternative and i really needed to start to work after uni and there wasn't many options during covid. (Not that i make good money in general, i'm only managing to live comfortably because i live in my friend's smaller room and she doesn't ask market price for it. When i have to move out i have no idea what i'm gonna do..) Not that there is many options right now especially with all the crap happaning in the family.. But at least both my bosses are nice and nobody tried to convert me yet. That day would be the one when i hand in my resignation even if it makes me homless i think. But so far it's fine. But i'm definitely not making friends over there.

44: A random fact about anything

Uuhhh my favourite random fact is actually is pretty well known i think, but it never fails to amuse me that wombat poop is square. Look i'm a simple person with childbrain. I find these kinda stupid things fun and interesting just as much as deeper discussions and any kind of wonders and inventions and whatnot. So my random fact is wombat poop. It is square. 😌

[riahlynn101]

Whumptober Day Twenty-Nine: "What Happened to Me?"

Takes place in the FNAF movie universe.

May contain spoilers for the FNAF movie.

Trigger warnings: Child death, implied/referenced kidnapping and murder, blood, knifes, and major character death.

Part one of two. This one is from Mike's POV. Day 30 is from Garrett's.

((Work in progress)).

--

“C…O….M….E…..F…I….N…D…..M….E….”

Mike hangs up the phone, thoroughly confused by the entire interaction. First he gets a job application for the (supposedly) new and improved Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, and now someone is using a ‘Speak and Spell,” to harass him over the phone. 

He sighs, eyeing the application laying facedown on the dining room table. It would be stupid of him to go back. They were lucky to get out alive last time, and there’s no guarantee this time would be any better. 

His sister’s older now. Not by much, but he has faith that Abby isn’t going to follow any more animatronics to abandoned pizzerias. Probably. 

The job doesn’t sound bad, and they really need the money. But Mike can’t bring himself to go back. Knowing what he knows. Seeing what he’s seen. Even if they discommissed all the robots from the last location, who’s to say that the ghosts wouldn’t jump to this location. Or that Afton’s own spirit (God, Mike hopes that man isn’t a vengeful spirit. He has enough problems without adding the ghost of the serial killer who murdered his brother to the list) isn’t wreaking havoc. 

No matter what, Mike promises himself, he won’t take the job. It’s stupid, and he’s 99% sure he’ll nail the interview at the local diner. 

-x-x-x-

Let it be known that Mike did not, in fact, nail that interview at Sparky’s Diner. But it’s not his fault. The person interviewing him went on long tangents about random theories, and it kept tripping him up. How is he supposed to know why he applied for the job when Ness won’t stop interrupting him? 

He settles in his seat, at least this time upper management invested in a good quality chair. If Mike has to fear for his life, then he should be comfortable while doing it. 

The camera setup is much the same as last time, if not a little higher in quality. He flips through them, eyeing each of the robots to see if they’ve moved. Because, unlike last time, he doesn’t have the protection of a door. The whole setup feels weird. It’s too open.

At least the animatronics-all twelve of them-don’t seem as murderous as last time. They wander around the pizzeria, but none of them bother him, so Mike just lets them be. Besides that, all he has to worry about is remotely rewinding a music box of some sort. It connects to the prize corner, but he has no idea what its function is. The new owners gave him minimal instructions, but he really doesn’t want to find out what happens if he doesn’t keep it wound-up. 

He yawns, looking down at his watch. It’s barely one, which means he has a long night ahead of him. Mike should really look into renegotiating his hours, because this is ridiculous. 

He puts his head on the table, deciding to rest for a few minutes. It’s not like the animatronics are going to hurt him, and admittedly he hasn’t been sleeping the best lately. 

Mike closes his eyes. Calm washes over him. He sleeps. 

He dreams. 

Mike stands in the forest that has haunted his dreams for years on end. He searches for his parents and brother, but they aren’t there. The entire campsite is gone, save for a couple of indentations where the tents and picnic table once were. 

“Mike!” He hears his brother call, and Mike knows it’s him. Decades a part, and he can remember Garrett’s voice. It’s imprinted in his memory. “Mikey!”

Without thinking, he runs in the direction the voice came from. “Garrett!?” 

His brother pulls him into a hug. It feels surreal, like he’s not quite here. The pressure around his midsection and the warmth of his brother’s body heat feels real. But it can’t be, because Garrett’s….

Tears stream down his face, making his neck sticky. He sniffles, choosing-for a moment-to put his pride aside. Even if this isn’t real, Garrett is here, in front of him, alive and happy. 

“I…I’ve missed you,” he murmurs. 

Garett giggles. The sound relights something deep within Mike. A piece of his very soul. “Miss you too.”

He suddenly feels guilty. The memories of not keeping an eye on his brother come back in full force. It feels different than his usual guilt. That guilt is expressed internally, where no one besides a few lingering figures of his subconscious can bear witness. But here, with Garrett seemingly more alive than he’s been in decades, it’s harder. “And I’m sorry, I should have-”

His brother pulls away, brows furrowed. “Nope. Not here. Not today.”

And that makes sense. “Okay…yeah…sorry.”

[audhdwitch]

all of the fucking housing spells i've been casting

(a lot of these happened around the same time but i don't remember exactly which order any of this happened. remember: always write down your process when it's fresh in your mind. except for when you're going to be homeless in 3 weeks and don't have the spoons and are just trying to fucking make it)

using "equal opportunity" symbol as nexus point in most spells

lighting candles, burning lavender oil in common spaces and dedicating household chores to hestia

set up semi-permanent altar space in the cavern under my loft bed. dedicated an offering bowl to hestia, offered some trinkets including a key necklace that i started wearing out to showings.

get discriminated against a LOT at showings lmao. absolutely no one wants to house a group of visibly disabled and/or queer polycule of kids that look like they're college freshmen at the oldest.

asked each housemate to donate something to the offering bowl; burned lavender oil and did a tarot spread about our prospects. verdict: final stretch. almost there.

start trying to remember to dedicate a small offering tray of food to hestia whenever i have the spoons to make food for myself. got to have dinner/tea with hestia a couple of times. she makes me feel unmasked. i don't feel any pressure to make myself Look Presentable before her; she is most pleased with me when i am unmasked and feeling safe and comfortable in my own space.

start trying to build hestia playlist. having trouble finding the right vibe; am somewhat drawn to classical music that reminds me of summer camp.

set up temporary altar on dining room table when housemates cook and we get to have dinner together. burn candles and leave offering to invite hestia's presence

created name sigils for housemates with consent. can't decide on a sigil for myself; using my signature seems to work just fine.

started carving name sigils into side taper candles with nexus sigil on bottom. have done this multiple times; have had burned some candles "dry" and others dressed with either peppermint* (luck, prosperity, abundance) OR lavender oil (home, hestia)

started researching crystal grids + sacred geometry. math is hard.

A has a job lined up but it won't start for a while and they're trying to get a better one in the meantime. give up on applying to "equal opportunity" but still absolutely predatory property management company that will gladly take the fee for your application for properties that you won't qualify for, and that you shouldn't bother applying to anyway, and will keep taking your money as long as you're stupid enough to keep trying

established spell parameters. i was definitely the least specific about the time frame; i mostly had the non-specific "before the end of september" floating around in my head even though our lease ends on the 17th. i did consciously decide to not specify further, hoping that by relinquishing a stricter timeline we could perhaps exchange for snagging something within our budget.

took a walk down to the beach and drew sigils (A drew one that I didn't see, and i drew the nexus sigil + name sigils) in secluded areas of sand where the rising tide would wash it away under the light of the recent super blue moon. the ocean is bio-luminescent this time of year in our area; we stood and watched the electric waves crashing onto the shore as the tide crept up.

started gathering materials for crystal grid and research more correspondences. research is not really helping me much tbh; eventually i gave up looking up how-to's and started more going based off vibes. i know literally everyone says so but it really IS better to do things in a way that make sense for your brain. if it doesn't resonate with you, disregard it.

created name sigils for pets. sketched rough approximation of configuration and started experimenting with crystal positioning. got housemates to identify which areas they could use the most assistance in (finances, stress, focus, etc). including the pets really balances the whole thing out tbh.

A applied for a better paying job that it really wants. assigned crystals for financial stability/prosperity at their request.

spent literally hours painstakingly building the final version of crystal grid configuration in image editing software. could i have probably found something that would have fit the bill? probably. i didn't do that tho. i built the whole damn thing myself lol.

family spotify plan got cancelled. rip, can't afford premium myself until we have a fucking house.

brainstorming for spell jar to use as a "battery" in the center of the crystal grid. initially conceived it as a sweetening jar to make landlords

broke up with bf. having a weird time of it. it was the right decision but i feel so bad about it. also, now that i'm no longer worrying about my relationship, i have more time to worry about being homeless.

collected dandelion puff and started drying some leaves in my space

we visit some university resources about housing and ebt.

had A rubber duck for me/got A's opinion on crystal positioning/grid balancing. am somewhat concerned about the grid overdoing it bc this is definitely the most complicated spell i've done to date; some worry based on the fact that i've been using crystals for financial prosperity/stability for M in grid brainstorming and after we got back from uni resource center M got a call from the county saying their ebt was deducted for working more hours in the summer. honestly kind of a huge blow to them; they've been recovering from top surgery and haven't been able to work for almost a month, so this is going to cut our grocery budget quite a bit.

and also... A got the job!!! great news - we can start including its offer letter with hours/ in our packet.

i do some tarot readings abt my life trajectory. oof. i have disorganized attachment style and hella ptsd. additionally, it looks like it's time for a career change; i apply for a part-time position i got an email notification for the other day.

initially was considering burning tea lights on top of the spell jar to burn off excess energy and avoid it collapsing in on itself. if feels ready to implement.

spell jar giving me trouble. yes, sweetening landlords' perceptions of us would probably help. we have been applying to places and writing personal statements and building The Packet to hopefully appeal to them, but places get snatched up in seconds here so we mostly just need to get lucky and be in the right place at the right time. also, ants are a problem and i'm a little weary of using honey (i don't have a whole lot of ingredients at my disposal)

i do, however, have a lot of bee pollen. that might work. pollen is more associated with hard work than honey (which i associate more with reward) and we just need shit to finally pay off.

at a client's house and had a slow day on the craigslist rental listings grind and was trying to burn off extra nervousness by checking the complexes we'd signed up for email notifications for. lo and behold - a single unit available, fits all our criteria and they only require we make 2x rent (almost unheard of in our area). got in touch with my housemates to start trying to apply NOW bc the way their website works, it's literally first come first serve - the second an application is submitted, the listing is marked unavailable again until the applicant completes the approval process (at which point the listing will go back up on their website).

we managed to be on the apartment complex website in the 20 minutes between the listing going live and the time email notifications went out about its availability. A submitted their app first and we called first thing the next morning to confirm that they received it - they have. we're in the system.

okay. we all submitted on friday - too late to be approved same-day, but we'll hear back from them on monday. it's the waiting game now.

try to go home to finalize the crystal grid in a more formal ritual like i'd been planning. doesn't work out; i can do it at my client's house, though. it's not ideal and i think the grid would possibly be more effective if it were housed in the place we all currently live, but that's fine. i feel safe enough in the client's house (they are so kind to me, it's like sleeping over and grandma and grandpa's)

finally established crystal grid with emphases on luck, endurance, financial stability, and a minor glamour to make us more appealing to property managers. used "hard work paying off" spell jar as battery. i suspect the crystals on top of the spell jar don't hurt us but they do feel somewhat superfluous in the context of the grid. may donate them to hestia's bowl instead; the garnet was hers already. was initially going to burn candles dressed w peppermint oil but decided on lavender oil instead.

starting to feel like "liked songs" on shuffle is perfectly acceptable to dedicate to hestia; after all, she's most comfortable when i'm most comfortable.

i actually think i'm going to burn more carved and dressed candles to charge it; i feel the hematite balances out the grid enough that i'm not risking overloading. could also be feeling more balanced bc it's not at home feeding off all four of our energies, just mine? plus it feels good to do something while we wait.

please. please. please.

[flyawaydreamchaser]

Heyyyyyyyy

Aye yo. It’s me… after a really really long time… again :)

I really forget that I still have this account. I really only have a couple social media accounts that I even attempt to keep up on and this is definitely one that I don’t even try too. Which is crazy because tumblr was my whole life at one point.

Anywayyyyyyys, I wanted to do a little update, for the few of you that may see this and actually read it. A lot has changed even from the last time I posted. I literally had my whole world pulled out from underneath me at the beginning of 2021, I lost some more friends, hit the my literal lowest, graduated college at the peak of Covid and then entered myself into graduate school (which I’m about to graduate from in 5 months????), I have furbabies (🥲3 kitties to be exact), 8 TATTOOS ?!?, and as of this last year a lot of happiness.

To say the least I’ve been through the ringer and I’m finally starting to feel put together again, dare I say like my old self. I really never thought this version of me would ever come back, i lost a huge part of me giving myself to someone terrible for so long that I ended up feeling like a shell of a person. But I’m kind of thankful for it in a way. Thankful that because of something awful I’m now able to be the best version of myself and surrounded by the most amazing friends I could honestly ever ask for.

I never would have thought so much would happen after my last post on here but that’s just how life goes I guess. Now I’m on my way to turning 25 and applying for my first big kid job with a huge chance to move to an insanely bigger city. I think I might have found someone who really gets me as a person, super sweet, super cute. After all this depressing ass shit it’s about time things started to turn around and I’m honestly SO FUCKING PUMPED for where life is going next. Ha 13 year old me never would have thought I’d say something like that 😂 okay to save whoever you are reading this from more cringe and stupid words from me I’m gonna end this.

I hope the next time I post on here I can update you (and myself) with some even crazier cool shit. Hopefully that crazier cool shit doesn’t involve me having a child.

with peace and love,

Chelsey 💜

[yellowsugarwords]

omg since ur okay with writing hcs for himym can we get some hcs on ted comforting robin about how her dad used to treat her? i loved the show but i wish they took the shit she dealt with more seriously

awe my heart 🥺 here you go buddy!! I hope you like it :’)

All Robin was trying to do was apply for a graduate program.

She wanted to go to school.

Try and get a higher degree.

Maybe open her up to new job opportunities.

But she was caught in her tracks during her entrance interview.

“To be frank,” the man said,

Clearing his throat,

Setting down her paperwork on the desk in front of him.

“Your resume is fairly disappointing.”

Robin’s heart dropped into her stomach.

Disappointment.

The entire way home, she felt numb,

Her mind racing.

Every previous memory flooded in like a tsunami,

And she couldn’t get her mind off of it.

Her mind was latched.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to escape,

At least for the remainder of the day.

Her thoughts would plague her.

Finally, at home, she sat mindlessly,

A glass of red wine in her lap,

And a mindless, stupid reality show on her TV.

It blandly had her focus -

Images floating across the screen without much notice -

Until her phone rang.

Ted.

Crap.

She was in no state to talk, let alone explain.

But she sighed,

Took a swig of wine,

And clicked ‘accept’.

“Hey!” Robin said, attempting to seem enthusiastic.

There was silence on the other end.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

Robin sighed and fell into her couch,

Fighting back tears.

“Is it that obvious?”

“I just know you.”

Robin closed her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

She could feel the tears welling.

“It’s been a horrible day.”

She heard shuffling on the other end.

“Ted? What--”

“I’m on my way,”

“What?”

She could hear him grunt as he popped on his shoes.

He always did that.

“You clearly aren’t okay.” He said sternly.

Robin’s eyes widened, a tear finally escaping.

“I’m coming to make sure you aren’t alone.”

She felt speechless but managed out one word.

“Really?”

“Of course, I’ll be right there.” He said.

She could tell that he was out of breath,

Scuttling out the door.

Half an hour later, he was there.

He had a box of candy,

(Another) bottle of wine,

And a handful of flowers.

He seemed out of breath at the door,

Offering a meek smile.

She couldn’t believe he went through all of that trouble for her.

Robin burst into tears the moment the thought sank in.

Gently, Ted placed the bags on the coffee table,

Closed the front door,

And pulled her into his arms.

“Hey, hey,” he hushed,

Bringing her head onto his shoulders,

“Hey, it’s okay.”

Faintly, Robin sobbed.

“It’s my Dad,” she mumbled.

Ted’s shoulders sank.

“His words color everything I do.”

She sniffled.

“I hear him everywhere. No matter what I do.”

Ted guided her to the couch,

Easing her to sit down,

Refusing to push her away until she chose.

“He’s wrong. He’s always been wrong.” He assured,

Brushing his fingers through her hair,

Hoping to soothe her.

Robin’s breathing relaxed as she pulled away,

And Ted smiled.

“Don’t laugh at my puffy face,” she said,

Giggling faintly and brushing at her puffy eyes.

“That wasn’t what I was thinking,” he assured,

Brushing some of her hair away from her face.

He turned to him and gave a sad smile,

Before looking at the ground.

“I don’t deserve people like you.”

“You do,” he said softly, “he convinced you that you don’t.”

A final tear fell to the floor,

And Robin took a deep breath.

With a tender smile, Ted patted her shoulder.

“Want some more wine?”

Robin slowly smiled,

“And maybe some of that candy.”

Ted got to his feet with her glass, going to top it up.

Maybe Ted had a point.

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 💌☕️♡

[wenamedthedogkylo]

#only small addition I have is you *know* some of the outsourcing of captions is being transferred to specifically Uber-style gig jobs#In fact I do know - I briefly attempted one a few years back!#And hearing that this stuff tends to require special training#puts into perspective why it was taking me multiple hours to caption one episode of television

@saxoboneless hope you don't mind me building off your tags, but yes this is 10000000% part of the problem! And is sort of what I was talking about when I mentioned people starting up "shitty little slopshops of people who can prove a high WPM rate to type up captions for a pittance."

For a while both before and after my job at the captioning company, I was inundated with "transcription jobs" that were basically just "can you type above 90-120 words per minute? can you hear things? take our placement test to see if you could do transcription!" And all these "companies" wanted was for you to have a home computer that you could type fast on, maybe some headphones, and that’s it. Oh, and the rates? One of the worst I remember seeing was $0.10 per word. Best I can remember seeing was around $0.30 per word. Absolutely abysmal.

For reference, that last paragraph is exactly 100 words. And depending on what you're transcribing or captioning, it could easily take an hour or more to do that little even with a stenotype machine and training. But they weren't asking for that. They just want some schmuck who doesn't know about the barebones regulations for captions, who doesn't know how hard a job captioning/transcription really is, and who will accept pennies to do it cuz they don't know better. So if you ended up spending an hour transcribing that 100 words of text, that's between $10-30 for that one hour. And with these companies, that could be all you get for a whole week.

(And that's if they even hired you in the first place—I applied to several in desperation before I got that captioning scheduler job, and even with a WPM that ranged from 90-110 depending on the day, I never once got hired. Sometimes it was a bad day and I made too many mistakes, sometimes they didn't say why they weren't taking me on. It was a complete toss-up.)

So it's only natural that eventually studios, production companies, etc. would completely bypass even that shoddy level of effort and go straight to places like Fiverr and get unprofessional captions for even cheaper. Because hey, at least they're getting captions! That's the law, they don't have to be great captions, they just have to exist. Cuz who cares about DHoH people's money and enjoyment?

And the fact that anyone can just go to a gig site and hire someone to do shitty captions for pennies is absolutely something that needs to be legislated against! It's not something that should be acceptable when it comes to disabled people's basic needs! The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice (the latter is who oversees and enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act) NEED to make some strong changes to our national laws about the absolute bare minimum standards that should be met.

And while I think it's stupid that film/tv sound editing has gotten so bad that even people with perfect hearing and no auditory processing issues need captions now, the silver lining is that maybe now, more people will actually start taking these governing bodies to task about how garbage the standards and practices for captioning are and how much they need to be updated. They don't listen to actually disabled people, but maybe able-bodied and neurotypical people will be able to cause enough fuss to make them pay attention.

I, a hearing person who likes subtitles just as a preference, shouldn't have to read a subtitle that's obvious nonsense, go back a couple seconds, and listen again in order to figure out what's going on. An accessibility feature should not be the most half-assed part of a professionally made production. Scripted media has absolutely no excuse for not having subtitles or having subtitles that aren't perfectly verbatim. Professional captioning services should be ashamed of the shoddy work that they put out. Captions should be treated as a part of the production, just like filming, editing, audio balancing, etc - and anything that releases with missing or bad captions should be seen as unfinished