#I'll be camping on this blog though

[merigoldaround]

It definitely looks like it might be a while after the dragon fic that I'll post anything new. I have things and ideas in the works, but I've also tried to change up my routines and take better care of myself and that means I haven't been writing much. I love writing, but it can be quite depleting and challenging at times and I feel like I want to concentrate on other things more this summer. That doesn't mean I won't be writing here and there, it just means it's not my priority. I hope there will still be people interested in my works when I do have something new later on.

[piningpercussionist]

(ooc)

I want you all to know that if I had the energy for it. There are so many posts stored in my drafts I long to queue... but neglected to preemptively tag, despite knowing I am Like This....

Anyway, there is a slight chance the queue might run out tomorrow unless I can get more responses in there-- I am,, tired,,

[i-heart-yellowstone]

Kayce dutton x reader

Reader surprises kayce with lunch at his office

You're a Darn good Wife

Here's the first official request on the new All Yellowstone blog!!! 😁

Parking my red truck outside the Livestock department office I pushed the driver door open and closed after grabbing the lunch bag of burgers from the place down the street. Entering the building I stopped at the front desk seeing the familiar blonde sitting there named Amy. "What can I do for you, Mrs. Dutton?"

"Is my husband in his office by chance?" I asked her.

She shakes her head no with a half smile. "He's out with the sheriff right now. But he should be back before lunch is over."

"Alright. I'll wait in his office. But don't tell him I'm here." I told her, wanting it to be a surprise for when he comes back. She nodded in agreement, watching me head around the corner out of her line of sight.

Opening his office door, I sat down the bag on his desk, scanning my eyes over the disorderly pile of paperwork he had on it. Sitting out the sandwiches and fries before plopping down in the computer chair scrolling on my cell phone until I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. “Good afternoon, cowboy.” I chimed in seeing him walk inside the office with a bright smile on my face.

“Y/n, what are you doing here?” He dropped his jacket on the hook by the door, opening his arms for me.

I rushed forward flinging my arms around his neck chucking into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist kissing my hair clearly suprised I was there during lunch. “I thought I’d suprised you with lunch from that burger place you like near Bozeman. Considering we barely see each other with you working here and me working on your father’s land since half of the cowboys are up at the Summer Camp.”

“Well I’m certainly not gonna complain about any visit that involves you.” Kayce barely broke the hug gently holding me with his hands on my waist.

My arms stayed around his neck where I sent him a grin. “You better not like my visits. I did agree to marry you even when you told me you had a kid with your ex wife.”

“Hey, you love Tate.” Kayce gasped slightly offended.

I gave him a half smile tilting my head to the side reassuring what I had said minutes ago. “I’m just messing with you. I really do love Tate and treat him like he’s my own kid until we have our own of course.”

“You want to have kids with me.” Kayce’s face brightened at the words that had came out of my mouth.

I responded to my husband. “Of course. I told you on our fourth date that I wanted marriage and kids.”

“I was waiting to ask if we should start trying for a baby and now that I know that. I think we could start right now if you’re up for it.” He bends down on his knees quickly picking me up by my thighs and I wrap my arms around little tighter around hi neck even though he wouldn’t drop me.

I squealed when he carries me over to his desk and he slides some of the papers onto the floor without a real care in the world except me and him in that moment. “Kayce! What about the burgers?”

“Oh don’t worry we’ll be eating them when we’re done.” He smirked at me, moving his fingers down to the bottom of my shirt shrugging it upward and tossing it onto the floor with his own.

I scanned my eyes over his chest feeling my face turning red till I realized the door was still opened. “Wait a second. We have sex with the door wide open. I don’t think your coworkers would like that too much.”

“See we’ve got nothing to worry about. Especially when you’re a darn good wife who looks damn good to me right now.” Kayce ran slamming it closed and locking the door behind him before he rushed back over to me. He stands as close to me as he can possibly get cupping my face in his hands pressing his lips down onto mine.

Threading my fingers into the fabric of dark tan dress shirt seconds before I quickly began undoing the buttons on it and finally launched it across the office. “You better not waste those burgers. Dutton. Otherwise I will you regret your decisions later down the road.” I told before he gently pushed me down onto the desk and he sat the bag of food on the ground.

“Don’t you worry, baby. Once I get you pregnant you won’t be too worried about whether or not we wasted some burgers or not.” He smirked down at me, hovering above me till I wrapped my arms around his neck bringing him back down for another kiss.

He moved one hand over my hip and his other was holding his body up a little so not all of his weight was on top of me. “I’ll hold you to that promise, Kayce.” I broke the kiss where he smiled down at me, reconnecting our lips together and we let ourselves get lost in the other person.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[hollisxwrites]

Hi, can I please make a request? Reader (you can choose the godly parent) gets super protective of Percy after he gets in a physical fight with Clarisse.

fight for you

percy jackson x fem! child of apollo reader

word count: 1.3k

warnings: cannon typical violence, mention of a concussion, clarisse is kind of a bitch in this one! sorry, i love her, but it had to be done. overall, super fluffy though.

summary: percy gets in a fight with clarisse because he was insulting him, and worst of all, his girlfriend. when the fight gets harsh, his girlfriend steps in, and then takes care of him after the fight.

authors note: y'all, thank you so much for all the love on my most recent posts! i have reached over 1.5k likes and 55 followers! i only started this blog two weeks ago, so thank you! i have been blown away by all the kindness. i am also working through all of my request, so don't worry, i'll get to all of them very soon! xoxo - hollis.

A horrific smack was heard all around the Camp when suddenly, my boyfriend, the brave (and idiotic) Percy Jackson, sent his practice javelin hurling at one of the camp's best fighters, Clarisse La Rue. Percy was already agitated, I could tell. Clarisse had been taunting him all day long, telling him that he would never be as good of a fighter as her, and telling her that his dad would never support him the way Ares supported her. I kept telling Percy to stand down, to not let her words affect him, but they did. Every word was like a knife to his side, making his insecurities run rampage on his mind. So, when the javelin left his hand, I hate to say it, but I wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Clarisse got what was coming for her, honestly.  

Clarisse had started to insult me, and that’s when I knew it was over for her. Percy’s demeanor shifted from almost joking to serious in an instant. He always said that it was okay to insult him, but the second it came to me, he wouldn’t go down without a fight, which I guess was sweet, but it also put him at risk almost all the time. 

“Percy! Stand down, please!” I yelled at him from across the training field. “If you get hurt, I’m going to kill you.” 

Percy’s eyes burned with a fiery passion as he turned around to look at me. “I’m defending you, sunshine. I can handle myself.” 

I sighed and rubbed my hands on my temples. This boy would be the death of me. “Please be careful.” I whispered, more to myself than to him. 

I told myself I wouldn’t get involved, I told myself that I wouldn’t let myself fight his battles, but when Clarisse dropped her weapon and started to fight with her fist, I couldn’t let it slide anymore. I ran up and pushed Percy behind me, and right hooked Clarisse right in the jaw.  She stumbled back, gripping her jaw and scoffed. “Percy is so weak that you must fight his battles? That’s hilarious.” 

Percy moved to my side, his nose already bleeding and his left eye going to be black in the morning, but he was not going to let me get myself hurt for him. “No, he’s not, but I can’t let you insult him like that. Percy is brave, strong, and a better person than you but tenfold. He is everything you are not.” 

Her eyes twitched and she threw another punch not at me, but at Percy. I pushed her off him, and using my hand-to-hand combat skills, threw her to the ground. I laid one more good punch on her before Chiron and a couple of my siblings from Apollo came running at us.  

“Stop fighting!” Chiron yelled. “You all have dishes duties for a month! Miss.{reader}, please take Percy to the medics, and Clarisse, come to my office, immediately.”  

I nodded at Chiron, upset about the dishes duty, but happy I got to be the one to take care of Percy. I helped him up from his place on the ground. When Clarisse had hit him the last time, he had fallen to the floor hard on his back, possibly hitting his head. Usually, I did not get this involved in his fights, but I couldn’t stand to see him hurting for my sake. I let him drape his arms around my shoulder, as the last punch sent him on his back, and we slowly made our way to my cabin. There was no way that I was going to let some of my siblings take care of my boy, that was my job. Anger still coursed through my veins as I watched Percy’s eyebrows pinch in pain with each step. His head was probably pounding, and he defiantly had a couple of bruised ribs from the fall he took.  

When we reached my cabin, I helped him lay down on my bed that was oh-so familiar with. “Stay right here, I’m going to grab you some pain killers and an ice pack. Do not move.”  

“Yes ma’am.” He said, his sassiness still peeking through his voice despite him being injured.  

I ran as quickly as I could to the medical building and grabbed what I needed to heal my boy, and then ran back. I was gone for less than five minutes, but when I returned, Percy was already half asleep, head nestled into my pillows. “Hey, Perc, can you sit up a little for me?” I asked him, voice as soft as I could make it.  

He shuffled to sit up and smiled a sideways, semi-loopy smile at me. “What do you think is wrong, doc?” He said, voice a little horse. I was scared he might have had a concussion because of the way he was acting. 

“Let me ask you a couple of questions, then I’ll know. Is your mind foggy? Are you dizzy or nauseous?” I asked him. 

“Dizzy? Yes. Foggy mind? No. Nauseous...” He paused. “I don’t want to think about it.”  

I took that as yes for nauseous, thus confirming my thought that he had a concussion. “Okay, so I think you had a mild concussion, because you never blacked out, but you were awfully close. So, I’ll put an ice pack on your head, give you some pain killers, and you and I can just rest for the rest of the day, okay?” 

He tried his best to nod. “Okay, as long as you stay with me?”  

“Of course I’ll stay. There is no way I would leave you like this, especially because it was my fault that you are in this state.” I sighed and looked into his beautiful eyes. One of them was bruised a little bit, and so I placed a kiss to it, which is one of my healing gifts my father gave me. I can quite literally kiss it better. My lips lingered on his eye, and then I went to the other one, this his forehead, then his neck, his jaw, and finally, his ribs through his battered orange Camp shirt. His eyes closed and he hummed in appreciation.  

“I love you; you know that right? That’s why I fought for you.” He said, tone muddled with exhaustion.    

“I love you too, that’s why I fought for you.” I paused and my hands, finding his hair. “I didn’t do it because I thought you were weak or not good enough, I did it because I love you, and I don’t want anyone to hurt you, ever.”    

His eyes met mine, and they were filled with genuine love and adoration. “You’re perfect. I’m telling you. How did I deserve you?” 

I continued to clean him off, pulling his dirty shirt off him and wiping down any cuts or bruises with something my siblings and I developed. “How did I deserve you, the perfect, most handsome boy in the entire world?”  

He laughed and shook his head. “I love you.” 

“I love you, more than you’ll ever know.” I said, leaning down to press a quick kiss to his lips. 

He beckoned me to lay in bed with him after I finished cleaning him up. He pulled me with his dwindling strength, and then shifted so he was laying on my lap. I continued to play with his hair, and he soon drifted off to sleep. My boy may be one of the bravest campers, but he will always be nothing but sweet to me.        

[loudclan-clangen]

(I thought of something funny)

Whenever Owlstar comes back to camp from solo walks, there's just this giant banner at the entrance reading "Welcome Back, Cheater."

Slitsplash swears they didn't put it up, but appreciates whoever did it.

Meanwhile, Fiercestripe is smirking in the background. (She did it)

They’re throwing him a party!

(˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥) These asks all flow together so well I genuinely cannot tell if they are multiple people or just one person who is SO PISSED. Made my night to see these all come in at about 2am. If Owlstar has 100 haters im one of them, if Owlstar has 1 hater it's me, if Owlstar has no haters im dead.

I do! It was actually incredibly comical from my perspective because Eklutna showed up, did fuck all for 5 moons, got pregnant, then promptly died giving birth, to which i went "aw, that sucks" clicked on her kits, and SAW THAT THIER DAD WAS THE LEADER, SOMETHING THAT I DID NOT KNOW COULD HAPPEN. Eklutna didn't even have any romantic like for him, to my recollection, and Owlstar had like maybe a single tick for her? It was really just lucky rng I guess. Owl and Silt actually didn't break up in the game at all, in my original draft for the story, when i was just writing notes as i played, Siltsplash was a lot more... okay with it? Like they were pissed but their personality was a lot more demure so they didn't act on anything really. The exact quote from the draft was: "I won’t lie to you. I’m angry. Starclan, I’m more than angry, I’m furious. I have half the mind to tell you to leave and never come back.” They paused, seeing Owlstar deflate and taking some slight, bitter satisfaction in it before continuing, “But that wouldn’t be fair to those kits. They didn’t ask to be born, much less to you. They deserve to have a family, or as much of it as they are able to have, and starclan help me we’re in this together." It certainly fit with what I knew about them then, but given my ability to look forward and see future events, I decided that a break up made more sense.

Don't be sorry! I am not currently in artfight, I'm considering it but I wouldn't be able to be very active due to school, and I don't want to take another break from this blog so soon after my last, so it's not very high up on my list of priorities. I'm kinda casually working on refs for the more popular characters, so there's a chance I'll get those done and join a team, especially if it's something you guys want me to do. If that happens I'll be sure to let you guys know! I am now in art fight! I gave into peer pressure again. (In a good way).

I don't think even Silt knew. Siltsplash was OUT of it after their conversation with Owlstar, (see: the Eklutna hallucination), and they probably didn't even know where they were headed until they reached the nursery. But after setting eyes on the kits, Siltslpash knew that there was only one option. Yes, they "took the kids in the divorce" but truly they weren't thinking about revenge. They just saw kids who needed something that they could provide.

In terms of writing, though, since I have hundreds of moons of foresight, it was a total bait and switch. I needed to make sure that people had a reason to come back after the break and any comic with kittens in it usually gets a lot of attention, so it was a "marketing" decision to split up the moon the way that I did, in order to make sure that there wasn't too bad of a fall off in interaction for the blog.

In game Eklutna had an affair with Owlstar, died giving birth, and the "died giving birth" event overwrote the "reveal affair" event so technically, in game Owlstar didn't reveal the affair... ever? (Though I had written in my notes that he told Siltsplash who took them as their own). Story wise, Owlstar hadn't planned to tell anyone until the kits started asking about who their father was. Then he would tell them, and would probably reveal it to the clan when they earned their names and were able to become deputy. But, when Eklutna died all that went out the window. For all his faults, Owlstar is not a bad dad, and he would never leave his kits orphaned, even if it would get him in a lot of trouble to do so. He really does care for them, and he feels terrible about how much he's screwed up their lives so far.

He did bad, deitycrows, he did bad. He cheated on his mate and then his affair partner died in childbirth so he's not very popular rn, I've got to be honest.

I don't think it helps at all but, Owlstar did really genuinely like Eklutna! Now, was that because she never opposed him on anything and flattered him with adoring compliments at every opportunity? Possibly. But the "Starclan said" thing was honestly just more of an excuse for him. He woulda had an affair anyway, he just wouldn't have intentionally had kits with her.

:) Eklutna liked... the power that Owlstar held. She liked that he was chosen by Starclan to lead the clan, she liked that his kits are meant to inherit the position of leadership, and she liked that as the mother of his kits she would have a lot of control over both him and the leader after him. As far as his personality... he's kinda a clown but she could live with that.

To be frank: The order of inheritance is ABSOLUTELY FUCKED. If Eklutna had lived, it would be easy. She would take over as deputy until one of the kits was old enough to hold the position. But, since she's dead and Owlstar's only heirs are literal infants, as their adoptive parent Siltsplash is still the deputy for now. What happens when the kits reach adulthood is kinda up for debate. As Owlstar's closest descendant, Songkit should be deputy upon earning his warrior name, BUT Siltsplash is very much against that plan, and the kits might not want to go against their most attentive parent. So the very unhelpful answer is: We have to wait and see what the characters decide.

Thank you so much! I love to hear from first time viewers and see what you guys think of the characters! I'm glad that the dialogue worked so well and Eklutna definitely has Sol vibes! You look at both of them and go "in what world would this plan work the way you wanted it to???"

[flusteredfools]

Only three days for this poll instead of a week; I feel it should be plenty of time for those who want to have a say! This poll is to let me know which order I should write the fics in and I'll stick to this plan until all four are finished; with the exception of random drabbles and MerMay (cause sometimes I'm slow OTZ)

So please vote for which you want to read first! Info snippets & chibi art below!

Oh and maybe reblog so more people can see & vote too 👉👈

Faeful Hearts II

The continuation for Faeful Hearts (which you can read part one here!)

This part focuses on what comes after the Artisan Y/n's marriage to Sun and Moon; little halfling Fae babies, their romance route taken with Fae Leader Eclipse and a bit more about what's going on since William's imprisonment. You'll learn more about Eclipse's past as well as what he hopes is his future (spoiler alert: his future is you).

We Can Serve You Better II

The continuation for We Can Serve You Better, Than They Can (which you can read part one here - but please note it is NSFW)

Congratulations your Royal Highness, your curse is broken and you've found your true loves! It's time to start working on that 'happily ever after' you've always read about in fairytales. Just because you're no longer cursed to feel lust every night doesn't mean you don't still end up that way now that Sir Moon and Sir Sun are more forward with their affections. You have a encounter with the very Sorcerer who placed the curse on you in the first place, but this time she gives you a gift for finding your true love(s) and breaking her curse; a gift that is nothing short of a miracle, a bundle of joy, love and happiness that the three of you thought would never be possible.

Summer Daze

(You can read the summary here or browse snippets/teasers on my blog)

Summer loving happens so fast! Specially when you fall head over heels for your camp counselor coworkers who start off not wanting you to work with them at all. Slowly you prove your worth and start to think it's all is smooth rowing from there...until another counselor comes by and rocks the boat, making your summer dreams ripped at the seams.

Naga'na Let You Go

Poor little Flaminglet runt Y/n becomes abandoned and fed to the snakes; more specifically, Naga Snakelets at Fazco's MegaZoo. They try their best to run and hide from the young Nagas, though they unknowingly hide away in two Naga's favorite 'secret base'. The two friends had never seen or heard of a Harpy before, though you've certainly have heard of the terrifying beasts that are Nagas. The young snakelets are quite curious, wanting to know everything they possibly can about you; not seeming to understand that they're what's causing you to be so distressed... From childhood friends to cross species lovers? At least that's what the Naga's are hoping for.

[torturedtypewritersdept]

the sun + the sand - pt. six - the proposition

↳PAIRING: bff!rafe cameron x fem!reader

↳SUMMARY:you have a stalker, but your best friend rafe won't let anything happen to you, even if he has to come clean about how he really feels.

↳WARNINGS: mentions of stalking, blackmail, inappropriate behavior (not from rafe), protective!rafe, etc.

↳A/N: this is a repost from my old blog @illicitfixations + @lovelornanonymity. all of my works are being reposted to this one + the previous blog has been deactivated.

The aluminum of the boat you sat in swayed back and forth, the ebb and flow of the current beneath it creating a rocking pattern against your skin. It had always made you nauseous – being on the water. There was something about the unsteady, uncoordinated movement of the waves that reminded you how much you were like them, floating through life with no destination. You had always followed what everyone else was doing and when you were drowning, Rafe clung to you; he had always been the life vest protecting you amidst the water trying to permeate your lungs. The nausea was overwhelming as you listened to Pope spew facts he had learned at the science camp he had spent the first few weeks of his summer at; his obsession with becoming a coroner shining through as he led the conversation. You couldn’t quite wrap your mind around what was being said the same way John B’s arm draped around your shoulders, you should’ve been enjoying affection from a boy, especially one so sought after. But, you couldn’t because really, it all felt wrong. It always did when you spent time with this crowd. Though the blue and pink hues of the decorated cotton candy sky was a nice addition to your sunset boat ride, you still felt out of place. You knew you would no matter what. Even after John had practically begged you like a puppy to join the gang for this rendezvous, promising JJ would be nowhere in sight – it still felt odd and wrong to be there, to be amidst his friends, when all you could think about was Rafe. You were torn away from the thoughts that your brain was creating at the speed of light as your phone chimed. 

Unknown: you look so beautiful today. 

The screen read a sweet message and you wondered who it was from, it couldn’t be Rafe. If he was going to say something sweet, he wouldn’t text you from a private number. You quickly closed and locked your phone thinking it must be nothing more than a wrong number, even though the compliment gave you the resemblance of butterflies in your gut. 

Unknown: don’t ignore me. 

This time as your phone chimed, the message changed in tone and you decided to reply – a snarky, sarcastic comment for the person who remained anonymous was what you dished out. 

To unknown: It’s hard to reply when I don't know who I’m speaking to. 

As quickly as you had hit send, another message appeared in the queue. 

Unknown: watch your mouth or I'll gut you like a fish. 

You swallowed thickly at the words that littered your screen, unsure of who was behind them. You couldn’t think of anyone who would talk to you like that unless it was one of your boys playing a joke. But quickly pushed away the thought. Surely, they’d never speak to you that way even if they were kidding, or so you hoped. 

“Are you alright, y/n?” 

John B’s voice echoed against your ears as tears pricked your eyes and panic rose through your chest, the walls of your heart contracting simultaneously, you subconsciously recognized the tells of an anxiety attack creeping its way up your throat. John B’s lack of awareness, lack of knowing you the way Rafe did was just one more reason why you needed to be away from him. 

“R-rafe, take me to Rafe. Please.” 

You begged and he nodded though reluctant, wanting you to trust him and confide in him the same way that you did Rafe. He wanted you to be his peach, to regard him in your heart the same way you regarded the Cameron boy, though part of him knew it would never happen. Girls like you weren’t meant to end up with guys like him and even if you loved him in the same way he loved you, he knew Rafe Cameron would die before he ever let it happen. 

-

John B barely had time to get the hms pogue adjacent to the Cameron’s dock before you jumped off the ledge, clearing the width between the aluminum and the wood of the pier. You needed Rafe and you needed him now, it left no time for pleasantries and frankly, you didn’t care about the routledge boy enough to provide him with a false sense of comfort, a false sense that you were his when you weren’t. So, you did what you knew how to – you ran. Your feet padded against the wood of the dock as fast as they could, your breath uneven as you made it to the end and scoured the property for your person. He stood by Kelce and Topper at the pool, his tan skin stretched across broad shoulders, muscles contracting as he laughed and sipped from the red solo cup in his hand. You made your way toward him, almost knocking him over as you latched on to him like a child after losing their parents in the grocery store. 

“I know those arms, anywhere.” 

He chuckled against you, leaning into you as you hugged him from behind. You stilled against him, muscles retracting in relief as just his aura brought you an immeasurable amount of peace. His laughter stopped as he felt tiny drops hit the skin at the middle of his spine and before you could protest he turned around, taking you in. His blue orbs searched you for injury, it wasn’t like you to look so panicked, especially in public settings. This behavior was not like you in any sense and he couldn’t figure out for the life of him what was going on. So, he did what he did best. He picked you up, guiding your arms and legs around his neck and torso in a koala like hold and carried you to his bedroom, knowing that whatever was plaguing you couldn’t be shared in front of the other two stooges. As he entered the threshold of his bedroom, he placed you onto the blue satin sheets that you loved so much, the coolness against your skin was already soothing you as Rafe parted your knees and wedged his body between them, balancing on the balls of his feet. Your eyes remained focused on the tan skin of his chest, his pectoral muscles built to such a degree that it made him look like a c-cup. You smiled briefly at the thought. 

“Peach, baby, what’s going on?” 

He asked, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear and rubbing his thumb across the skin of your cheek. 

“I-, were you and the boys sending me weird texts earlier?” 

You stuttered as you asked, afraid of his answer being yes, but also afraid of it being no. You wanted so badly for it to be a practical joke and for you not to have a reason to be scared. 

“No, baby. Why would you ask that?” 

You didn’t respond, simply handing over the phone, placing it in his hands and watching as he took in the conversation. His eyes darted back and forth as read the contents of the screen, stopping only when he was finished. 

“Are you alright, sweetheart?” 

He questioned, remaining in his spot between your legs. 

“I’m fine – that’s the last thing I need to hear right now, Rafe.” 

He swallowed thickly before retorting. 

“Well, what do you need to hear? What am I supposed to say about this? About you showing up on my doorstep every time you’re in trouble?” 

His words stung – he knew they had, shit, they had felt like vomit expelling from him, the twist of his insides after he lurched over the toilet ever present. That’s what he felt as he watched your face contort in sadness. 

“I don’t know, tell me this is fake, that it’s a joke, that I don’t have a reason to be scared. I mean, this paired with all the other weird shit, it just, I don’t know, okay? Sorry – I’ll go. I just didn’t know what to do. But, hey – I’ll figure it out.” 

You said, swaying on your feet as you stood, preparing to walk away from the room of the boy you loved. Your brain didn’t process any of what he said in normal emotion, it only registered that he was sick of you and you were adding stress to him and that was the last thing you ever wanted to do. He pulled you in by your wrist, making your face collide with the muscles of his chest as he rubbed your hair away from your face and craned his neck to plant a kiss on your forehead. 

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean that the way it came out. I want to help you, okay? You are not going to navigate this by yourself, peach. I’d die if something happened to you. Now, I think I may have an idea.” 

You pulled your head away from his chest, meeting his eyes with question laced in yours. 

“What did you have in mind?” 

You asked, moving to sit on the bed again and Rafe followed your lead, plopping down parallel to you before turning to face you. 

“Well – it seems like all this stuff is related, that weirdo at your house and these texts. I’m worried someone is stalking you, sweetheart.” 

He said, blue eyes boring into yours and you had to fight the urge to laugh at him. 

“Stalking? Come on, Rafe – as if. I’m not special enough for someone to stalk me.” 

You muttered.

“Peach – yes you are. Just because you can’t see that, doesn’t mean it’s not possible, baby.” 

He replied, grabbing your hands in his. 

“Okay, so what’s your big idea? I mean what are we supposed to do? We don’t even know who it could be.”  

You stated matter-of-factly. 

“I think we should be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

He replied and you were shell-shocked, the question and confusion written on your face. 

“Huh? Like for real?” 

You asked. 

“I mean – I need to protect you and come on, it’s not so far off for us, is it? The idea of being your fake boyfriend for a while, I mean. No one will come near you if you’re with me, sweetheart and it just means more time with my Georgia peach.” 

He said, smiling from ear-to-ear. 

“How long are we supposed to keep this up?” 

You questioned. ‘Forever, I hope’ he thought as he stared into your sweet face. 

“As long as it takes.” 

He replied, pushing his thoughts down. 

“Okay, but we have to make it look real, Rafe. People will figure it out otherwise, we can’t just act like we usually do.” 

You said and he curled his eyebrow upward. 

“What do you propose, Peach?” 

He asked.

“I mean – we could kiss?” 

You said, almost in the form of a question and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to yours. You were shocked, mostly because it felt the way it was supposed to, the way you had always daydreamed about, electricity running from your mouth to the tips of your toes. You pulled away after a moment and looked at him. 

“Just practicing.” 

He said, a smirk lifting on one side of his mouth. You couldn’t help but smile and wished so badly that one day, this would all be real. 

as always, if you'd like to be added to my taglist, please let me know <3

taglist:

@maybankslover @inthelibrarybtw

[percyluvr]

Hiii,i love your blog and your writing sm and that’s why i wanted to be brava and make a request!If you like the idea,can you please write a Percy imagine were reader is the daughter of Thetis(the water nymph/goddess and mother of Achilles)and she is the one that helps Percy with his water powers?Like they bond over that and fall in love with each other?Thank you very much!🩵🩵

percy jackson x daughter of thetis!reader summary: percy meets a nereid; the rest is history wc: 2524 note: thank you so much for reading my works, i'm vv glad u love my blog & i hope i could do this request justice. i wasn't exactly sure if her kid would be a demigod or a nymph, so i thought because i haven't really seen any fics w a nymph!reader, i would get a lil creative w it! i do know that achilles was considered a demigod, but i figured maybe her female children would be nereids(?)

Percy had been claimed as a son of Poseidon about a month ago at this point, and he was desperately trying to understand his powers. When he was claimed, he assumed that it would be easy to harness the power of the sea, since, well, his dad was the literal God of the Sea. Unfortunately, it was not coming as naturally as he had hoped and assumed it would, and so he now found himself swimming in the sea near Camp Half-Blood, searching for someone or something to help him get a leash on his powers.

He tried contacting his dad, to no avail; now aimlessly swimming. The only thing that had truly come natural to him was the ability to breathe under water, which was helpful now, since he didn't have to keep coming up to the surface for breath and could now just focus on finding help.

It'd been about 2 hours of just what others would consider mind-numbing swimming, but Percy enjoyed it anyhow.

He eventually found himself face to face with a young girl whom he would consider one of, if not the most beautiful person he'd ever come across. Though he was a son of Poseidon, Percy swears that he found it increasingly difficult to breathe. The longer he looked at you, the more and more aware he was that he was underwater, and all he could think was 'I'm a son of Poseidon and I'm going to drown, and because somehow it can get more embarrassing than that, I'm going to drown in front of a beautiful girl and she's probably going to laugh and I'm never even going to get to know her name or hear her voice, which is probably the most heavenly thing anyone would ever get a chance to hear and-'

His thoughts are broken when he hears you speak, and somehow your voice sounds even more heavenly than he had assumed it would be.

"Hello, Perseus," you say, smiling, and Percy thinks that his heart might just burst into a million little pieces that will eventually drift out into the water surrounding the two of you.

"Hey, hi, um," he struggles to assemble his thoughts into a coherent sentence.

"Take your time, Perseus. You will not run out of breath, as I believe you thought you would just a few seconds ago," you speak, fighting the urge to giggle at the silly boy that has found his way to your home.

"Um, first, you can just call me Percy, if you want. Second, I know I won't, I was just, uh, distracted for a second. And third, I'm here because, embarrassingly enough, apparently the fact that I'm the son of Poseidon doesn't matter to this water, which will not do anything I want it to unless I'm in a life or death situation, which does happen to occur quite often, so really I'd probably be fine, but I would sort of like to be able to have the comfort of knowing that I can actually use these cool powers that every tells me I have," he rambles. "Sorry, that was kind of a lot," he concludes.

"Do not worry, I followed along quite easily, actually. Anyhow, if you require assistance with your endeavors, I am here to aide you. When I'm not busy helping your father at the castle, that is," you offer.

"Really? I mean I was hoping you would say that, but I wasn't sure you would. But yeah, I'll take you up on that, thanks," he flashes you a smile.

"Wonderful. Feel free to stop by or call my name into the water, and I'll hear it and come to you if I'm able."

"Right, uh, not to be rude, but uh, what's your name?"

"Ah, right, I forget how you demi-gods don't bother to learn the names of the Nereids anymore."

When you tell him your name, you believe you see his eyes glisten in adoration, unless, of course, you're making that all up in your head because the boy in front of you is way cuter than you had ever imagined when you had just heard his name being thrown around by the gossiping Nereids around the palace.

"Well, then, Percy, you should be on your way. I have things to be doing now."

"Right, bye then. Thanks for, y'know, offering to teach me pretty much everything," he says bashfully.

"Of course." He begins to swim away and all you are left with the ability to do is wave as he slowly gets farther and farther away.

𓂃 𓈒𓏸

It'd been not even a week since Percy had been, in his descriptions to his friends at camp, blessed by your presence, and though the two of you had barely become acquaintances, he found himself missing the sound of your voice and the odd, in his opinion, outdated way that you spoke.

This type of yearning for a person's presence is not the type of yearning he feels for his mother, Sally, and so, this feeling is quite new to Percy. Of course, as a teenage boy, he doesn't know how else to manage this intense feeling, so immediately he goes to the beach and calls your name into the water.

"Hello, Percy, I can't say I'm surprised that you're this eager to harness the power of the sea. I was also very invigorated when I first learned of what was possible once at one with the sea."

"Am I not already one with the sea? My dad is literally the God and King of the sea. And are you not also one with the sea from birth? Aren't Nereides water spirits or whatever?"

"Ah, Percy, you misunderstand. You are not born one with the sea, even as a Nereid. You must prove to the sea that you are not afraid of it, and that you will not take advantage of it. It may takes days, or weeks, but I suspect that you will do just fine."

"And how exactly am I supposed to prove that?"

"You will see," you said cryptically, and before Percy could object to this statement, you were gone, and he was staring out into the clear blue water of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Jeez, when someone offers to teach you, you would think they would actually teach you something and not just say some weird cryptic stuff and then disappear," he grumbles to no one in particular.

𓂃 𓈒𓏸

Of course, you were correct in your assumption that Percy would quickly prove to the sea that he could be trusted to harbor its power. He manages to form a ball of water the size of a fist before losing focus, leaving the water to splash back down and become one with the sea again.

However, he was not discouraged, and in his invigorated state, he calls out for you without even realizing it.

"Hello, Perseus. I see that I was correct," you said, a bit smugly, Percy must say.

"Yeah, yeah. Will you actually teach me now?"

"Indeed. I wanted to be sure that you were competent enough for my help, so I do apologize for how ominous my words were."

"You're all good. I do have a question though, and feel free to try to drown me if this is rude."

"Do proceed with your inquiry." At that, Percy nearly bursts out laughing at how much you sounded like an office e-mail from someone's annoyed boss, but managed to somehow keep composure.

"Uh, why do you talk like.. I don't know, so formal. Aren't you my age?"

"I do apologize. I do believe you are older than me, which may come as a surprise to you. But to answer your main question, I talk so 'formal' because that is simply how everyone at the palace speaks. I suppose we do not have much contact with anyone outside of the ocean, and so we have not picked up on all of the latest dialects and ways of speaking."

"Well, I guess that makes sense then, my bad."

"Do not worry."

"So, uh, do I get to learn more about 'harnessing the power of the ocean' or whatever now?"

"I suppose now would be as good a time as any."

"Cool, cool, where do we start?"

You lift your fist into the air, a large section of water rising into the air and forming into the shape of a large sea turtle, forming into different animals as you rotate your hand in the air.

"Are you able to do that? Even a basic animal shape would be fine, but if not, we must begin, well, at the beginning."

"Oh, man," he grumbled

𓂃 𓈒𓏸

It'd been a few months of you popping in a few days a week to assist Percy with his ambitions, and he was finally able to wield the power of the sea like he once hoped he would be able.

However, September was rapidly approaching and Percy would soon have to return to school, meaning he would not get to see you nearly as often, which certainly put a damper on what was already a terrible week leading up to the start of the wretched school year.

And so, he resolved that the two of you would talk every day until he had to leave. He didn't care that he had progressed past the point of needing your help anymore, he just wanted to be in your presence for however much longer possible.

It was nearly instinct at this point for Percy to call your name out into the sea, and he was not one to fight it.

"Good to see you, Percy. But as I'm sure you're fully aware, you do not need my tutoring anymore. Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, but I do believe that you've even surpassed me, and that doesn't come as a surprise," you praise.

"I don't know about that, but I am pretty cool now," he says jokingly.

You smile. "But uh, I didn't call you for practice, I just thought that, uh, that maybe we could just hang out, y'know? I mean you did help me a lot, so I figure why not give you some company outside of all those old people or whatever back at the palace," Percy admits.

"That doesn't sound horrible. You are quite interesting, I would like to get to know you more as well. And yes, I could use some time away from my fellow Nereids at the palace," you sheepishly say.

"That's what I thought. Hey, by the way, you never told me who your parents were. You know who my dad and mom are, but I don't know either of yours."

"Ah, my mother is a bit more obscure nowadays, as she's not one of the Goddesses that the Greeks traditionally worship as they do the Olympians. She is a water nymph, but also a Goddess, and unfortunately is no longer worshipped in the same proportion as she was in Ancient Greece," you sadly explain.

"Huh, that's pretty cool. I mean, not the part that she's not really worshipped anymore, but the part of her being a nymph and a Goddess. Um, anyways, do you ever talk to my dad?"

"Occasionally, your father will ask me to accompany him or to do various tasks. He is a kind man, I do like his presence, if that is what you were trying to get at."

"That's good. I've only talked to him a few times, but I figured he was a nice guy," Percy grins, "Do you ever get to talk to your mom?"

"Yes, my mother, Thetis, and I are quite close. She lives in the palace with me."

"Wow, I'll be honest, I'm kinda jealous. I mean, I think my dad is cool, and I know he's like a big shot Olympian and whatever, but I think it'd be nice if we could actually talk in person and bond or whatever," he admits.

"Yes, I understand. It must be hard, but for the majority of the year, you have your mother, yes? Or are you a year-round camper?"

"Yeah, you're right. I do have my mom for most of the year, so it's worth it. She's the best," he cheers up at the mention of his mother.

"I figured you would say that. She raised you well. You are much kinder than some of the campers here, but I suppose that is not their fault."

"Nah, it's not. It is what it is sometimes."

You nod, and the conversation flows smoothly on.

𓂃 𓈒𓏸

Today was the last day that Percy would be at camp, since his mother was picking him up later that day after lunch.

He decided that since he only had a few hours left at camp for the summer, he would spend them with the person he now considered one of his closest friends, even though he'd only really known you for a few months at this point.

When he called your name, you appeared almost instantly.

"Hey, Percy," you said, grinning.

"Switching up the greeting today?"

"I suppose since today was your last day here, I would start trying to speak like you and perhaps by the time you came back from school, I would speak more 'naturally,' as you put it."

"Huh, the way you talk doesn't actually bother me, y'know."

"That may be true, but I would like to learn to speak more modernly anyhow."

"If you want to, go for it. But uh, I thought maybe we could do that thing, it's called like, Iris messaging or something? With the drachmas? Then we could keep in touch while I'm at school, too," Percy says nervously.

"That does sound like a good idea. Now that we're friends, I think it would be optimal that we spoke frequently and updated each other on our lives. Good thinking."

He chuckled. "Good, good. I, uh, also wanted to say that... well, I think you're really pretty, and I thought maybe next summer, we could, uh, maybe go on a date or something. I don't know if you feel the same way, but if you do and you do want to, that would be pretty cool," he rambles, interrupted by the foreign feeling of your lips on his.

After a few moments, you detach your mouth from his. "Was that, uh, alright?" You quietly ask.

"Yeah, jeez, that was way better than alright. That was perfect," he says, a deep red adorning his cheeks.

"That is excellent to hear," you say, smiling wider than you'd ever in your life.

"Well, I need to go to lunch, and uh, then my mom is picking me up. I'll Iris message you as soon as I get home, okay? So make sure you're ready."

"See you tonight, Percy," you happily state, dissolving back into the water as quickly as you had appeared.

He stares into the beautiful clear water for a bit before he walks away, unaware that you had appeared again and were watching him walk away, a look of adoration decorating your features.

[stardust-poet]

Overworked.

°•~《☆》~•°

Pairing: Leo valdez x gn!reader

A/n: Sorry for not posting a fic in awhile, I got a huge wave of demotivation (I'm also running a jason grace rp blog ( @jason-the-kabob ) )

Warnings: nothing!

Enjoy!

°•~《☆》~•°

When you walked into bunker 9, all you saw was a mad house.

Empty soda cans littering the floor, screws, scrap metal, and tools. Anything you would find in a hephestus kids' hands was littered around Leo Valdez's workspace in Bunker 9.

"Leo?" You called out after not seeing him in his usual seat. The reason you came into bunker 9 was to find leo after he missed lunch for the 4th time this week.

"Over...over here!" You heard his familiar voice call out. He sounded tired, worn down, frantic even.

You frown as you walk over to the source of Leo's call, where you find him rummaging through scrap pieces of metal and other machinery while mumbling under his breath.

"Uh, Leo? ... I brought you food." You said, your concern increasing with every mumble that escaped his lips.

"Yeah, yeah... thank you, I'll eat it later." Leo mumbled like he was in a trance. You were 95% sure he was going to forget about it until he accidently knocks it over.

You set down the plate of food on a nearby work table and grabbed Leo's arm to steer his gaze towards you.

Leo turned to meet your eyes. You saw the bags under his own half-lidded eyes and the pure exhaustion in them.

You immediately knew he needed rest. No matter how much he'll say 'he's fine' and 'doesn't need it'. Leo Valdez will be taking a nap, even if you have to knock him out.

"Leo." You said, your tone serious and yet concerned. Leo hummed in response, his attention focused only on you. Or at least, his eyes were solely focused on you. His hands were fidgeting with a piece of scrap machinery and metal.

"You need rest. You haven't slept in awhile—and dont try lying and saying you fell asleep while you were working, that does not count, Leo Valdez." You told him, looking him dead in the eye to try and get you point across.

Leo huffed and started on a ramble. "But—but i have so much stuff to get done! The demigod-safe phones, i-i just need to tweak a few things and then i promise I'll—"

You grabbed his chin, your face inches from leos, putting him in enough temporary shock to get him to stop talking. You could feel his breath spreading over your face.

"Sleep." Was all you said.

Leo whined but gave in.

He sleepily stumbled over to his couch in the corner of bunker nine which was covered in both pillows and blankets, plopping down on his back with a loud 'mmph!'

Leo looked to you with pleading eyes, and you knew what was coming next. You wished you would've left as soon as he hit the couch.

Leo made these grabby-grabby hands towards you with a whine.

"Cuddleeeee." He whimpered.

"Leo, this is why there are rumors spreading around camp about us having an affair or something."

"I don't care. C'mere or I'm not sleeping."

"Your siblings will find us here. They'll–"

"C'mereeee."

Well, you weren't just gonna let him die of exhaustion.

With a dramatic groan, you walked over to Leo, who was laying comfortably with half-lidded eyes and waiting for you to join him.

You sighed deeply before plopping down onto Leo's chest and wrapping your arms around his torso.

Leo's embrace was rather... warm. It was comforting, like how a home should feel.

Leo wrapped his arms carefully around you, tracing circles around your back. You shivered at the soft, yet hot touch.

You're a little glad you didn't leave so soon.

This was nicer than you expected.

You carefully nuzzled up into Leo's neck, triggering a shiver out of him.

Gods, he was so warm. Why was he so comfy? It seems a little abnormal to feel this much like a home.

"Maybe," Leo spoke all of a sudden, though his voice was quiet and sleepy.

"Maybe this should happen more often." He whispered.

You took In his words, slowly memorizing the way he pronounced every word subconsciously.

"...maybe. though, you shouldn't be one step into the grave next time." You retorted back, a little... relived he was just as eager for other moments like this.

You had never been more peaceful.

Leo chuckled. "Alright, alright. I'll take better care of myself. For you, love." He whispered into your ear, his breath hot against you.

"You...you better." You mumbled, a little thrown of course by the petname. You snuggled into him further like it was the only thing keeping the both of you alive.

Leo only chuckled, but you knew the truth.

On the inside, he was estatic to have this with you again.

And maybe, just maybe, something more.

°•~《☆》~•°

Finally, I finished a little blurb :)

[heaptober]

Heaptober 2024!!!! :D

ID: the prompts list for heaptober 2024. The list is styled like the cover of magyk, gold on dark blue. The list reads:

Darkness

Eyes

Beetle day

Trapped

Siblings

Gold

Assassination

Candles

Trios

Fyre

Wizard tower

Curses

Fairy tale

Queen

AU day

Music

Do a prompt from last year

Childhood

Purple/green

Septimus day

Growing up

Families

Favourite character

Injury

Sick fic/art

Camp Heap

Do a prompt from the first year

Stars

Time travel

Vacation

Epilogue

End ID

Thank you to @chaos-has-theories for the image!!

Event stars October 3rd, ends November 2nd

As always, H*rry P*tter fans not welcome here. Fuck off

Rules under the cut:

Any kind of art is welcome and encouraged (except AI art), including drawing, writing, moodboards, music, animation, sculpture, photography, if you can make it septimus heap related and fit the prompt then you can do whatever you please!!

You can stick to the prompts as strictly or loosely as you want. They mean whatever you want them to mean :)

Please add image descriptions to anything with an image!! If you cannot write your own then dm me here or on @septimus-heap and I will do it for you

Tag all posts with "#heaptober" "#heaptober 2024" and "#septimus heap" and @ this blog! Sometimes posts don't show up in tags for whatever reason so if you @ me you can be sure I'll see it

Doing prompts out of order is totally fine!! Do whatever you want forever

Late posting is fine!!!! You can keep posting into December or next year if you want. It doesn't matter. Please @ me though

And as always, it's meant to be fun!!! There's no obligation to do every prompt and if you find yourself getting stressed feel free to take a break, quit, or if you really want to post then it's totally fine to post WIPs

[monamipencil]

⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆ my 2024 tumblr wrapped !

i was tagged by @hannieween in her post. this is such a good idea and thanks for tagging me v!

this was one hell of a year lol. and i've also written a lot this year though i lost some passion along the way. but i'm thankful for everyone who reads my work and leaves their thoughts or even just reblogs them. tysm!!

★ most popular and longest fic !

⟢ debauched — 2,472 notes and 4.5k+ words; ofc, it's the step bro fic. as the title suggests, it is absolute debauchery.

★ personal favorite !

⟢ venus in furs — honestly, one of my best works (tho it's pwp), and she deserved better 😔

★ first fic !

⟢ pussy drunk! wonwoo — it's from my prev blog! and also one of my most popular works lol.

★ last fic !

⟢ by his side — this jeonghan drabble i wrote for the secret santa event!

★ best reads !

in front of me — one, two by @wonustars

i fear i'll never read a better wonwoo fic than this. genuinely one of the best fics on this website and it's written by my lovely gf. pls check out her works!!

calendar killer by @miabebe

i love me a good thriller fic. and with joshua? fuck yes. when i tell you, i did not expect that ending at all. it will forever live in my heart. check out this banger by mia for a spooky read!

the curse by @hannieween

nothing more exciting than demon hunter jeonghan and a forbidden love trope. the angst hits in this one and i genuinely love it with all my heart. v also has other amazing works!!

liar, liar ! — one, two by @sanakiras

yes, i know. i read too many thriller fics. but this mingyu fic had me in such a chokehold. i did not expect this ending either and god do i love it so much. check out her works!

getting even by @gyuhao5

this was the catalyst for my seungkwan spiral and the bane of my existence. there are simply not enough seungkwan fics on here and mar rly satiated my need for this man. check it out!

pomegranates by @idyllic-ghost

where do i even begin? man, oh man, i love angst fics and for wonwoo? yes please. the forbidden love element was so good too and i loved the metaphors. this fic is for you if you like wonwoo and historical au.

troublemaker by @whipped-for-kpop-fics

i love gang aus with seungcheol. just 15k of goodness here. i have memorised this fic to the point, i can randomly quote anywhere, everywhere. and i have never laughed so much while reading a fic. chee is one of a kind truly.

heartbreak hotel by @saythenametotheworld

this broke my fucking heart. i read the first three installments and they were so fucking good. the characters had actual depth and were beautifully crafted. i love this so much, check it out!

camp seventeen by @miabebe

my most fav series on this platform. another fic i will quote randomly bcuz it was that good. it's ot13? and the first chapter is named dildo of dionysus? you got me sold. mia is an absolute genius and also evil for this. check out her works if you like greek mythology!

bend and break by @whipped-for-kpop-fics

i apologise for the tags chee but how can i miss out the seungcheol fic. man, sub seungcheol really does it for me. and i just loved their rivalry at the beginning. and i also love chee 😌

lowlifes by @milfgyuu

yes, i love seungcheol gang aus. thanks for asking. this was a banger and my god, the way i blushed and giggled while reading this story. i absolutely loved it!

dark @whipped-for-kpop-fics

i am so sorry for the tags, i just love you ok? now back to chee love train. this fic shocked me in such a way that i couldn't stop thinking about it. this was absolutely genius and i love monster fics. when i tell you, chee is one of the best writers in caratblr.

withering for you by @joonsytip

the bane of my existence. i started annotating because of this fic. enemies to lovers with cheol is my fav. and the way i randomly remember "welcome to hell, my wife" and start giggling is out of my control. sam should do control damage for this fic.

couple's therapy by @muntitled

this got me tweaking and twirling my hair. im a whore for lee jihoon through and through. mean dom! jihoon will be death of me. i read it on my prev blog and haven't stopped thinking about this since.

summary !

my most recurring members were — seungcheol (13 works), mingyu (13 works) and wonwoo (11 works) !

total works posted — 78 !

total words written — 82,476 !

i'm honestly surprised by this lol. and ofc, i wrote the most for these three. and im rly excited to post just as much next year and compare my progress! and we'll be starting off strong next year with when strawberries bloom. i hope you guys look forward to it! again, i'd like to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this year. i love you all <33

tags !

@vitaminkyeom @miabebe @wonustars @tomodachiii @shinysobi

@whipped-for-kpop-fics (im so sorry for the multiple tags hdbcfkharbik) @cxffecoupx @c-oupsie

[yetanotherhiddlestoner]

Summary ~ Daryl finds a journal on a supply run and reads it, what will happen when he sees the world through someone else's perspective?  Comment if you wish to be added to the Tagslist.

Words ~ 2400ish Warnings~ A time jump other than that none. Sorry for any mistakes!! (Gif not mine, all credits go to angelwings-crossbowstings)

The Entries Chapter 2.

8 months pass, and Daryl spends the months working in the Commonwealth, going between all the communities, helping them build more houses for the new survivors, going on supplies runs, hunting and expanding the map for areas that they have explored and cleaned out. The latest run took him 4 days by bike. Daryl always checked out the big supermarkets first, before hitting the smaller ones. 

Daryl reaches behind him and grab a single arrow, tapping it on the glass to attract anything inside, he waits for a few before entering the building, the smell of decay hitting him, but he ignores it, he quickly glances around before his eyes stop on a book, almost the same to the first one he found. He walks over to it, opening it to the first page, he notices your handwriting. 

Like a child guarding your diary from anyone who dares to read it, it reads. "The journal of Y/N Y/L/N. Keep out (Just kidding keep reading. It's fine)"

He places the journal into a basket as he searches the shelves for anything these days, he has been keeping an eye out for seeds to plant in the gardens, he found that those were one of things that many left behind in a hurry. He wonders how long it has been since you have been here. Were you the one who killed the walkers inside? 

That night he takes shelter in the office of the supermarket as the wind picks up outside and the rain pitter patters against the windows. Daryl was not wanting to risk getting caught in a horde in this weather. He sits with his back against the door, candles lighting up the small room. He opens the book, the paper crinkling as he flips through, looking at drawings, photos and small writings at the start. Entry update number ????? "It has been months since my last update, I just had to find the right book to keep writing, as if it matters though and if you found my old journal than you know what I am doing, you know my name and a bit of my story, I am wondering if you are enjoying it so far?. I know it is not an award-winning journalism but for the end of the world, you gotta take what life gives you, it's hard to write daily about the same thing that is why I try to write when big things happen, can you imagine how boring each entry would be if they were all the same? I am sure that if this was a blog you would be reading it (I joke trust me I would never write a blog)

I have come across some nice folks, I even have a group now, its small but we are doing ok, we are surviving, it is not living but it does the trick. I have learnt how to fight and hunt a little, Manny is teaching me how to track wildlife. They have a camp, it has high walls and rooms for us, it's safe enough. I can never trust anyone is 100% safe; I take my turns keeping guard and helping on supply runs. We are talking about moving to a bigger location, but we are yet to find it. We want to build crops and have animals to raise." Once again there are pictures some of before the end of the world, others from your camp. He notices the changes on your face, the way your face now tells a tale that you don't need a journal to read, a tale of survival. You glued a before and after on the page, before was you dressed up about to go out, makeup and hair done, handbags and high heels and now the after was jeans, combat boots, a t-shirt and jacket, you traded the handbag for a rifle and your hair is brushed back into a bun, he notices the scar that starts above your eye then under, wondering when that happened. If Daryl was being honest, he prefers the now you over the old you.

Entry 20 something~ "I can't remember that last entry of my old journal, so I'll start at 20 this time. My camp is on the move, we started getting more biters daily that we feared for our supplies, bullets mostly. Manny and Tim distracted them and moved them away while we loaded the cars with what we had and moved out, unfortunately we lost Tim. Biter got him on the way back to the meet up point, Manny had to put him down, I tried to comfort him, but it was hard.  I no longer feel sadness; it is like I have gotten used to losing people that tears don't form so easily these days. I try not to make too many attachments. I have had to learn to shut emotions off, some of the group hate that other get emotional over people's death, they view it as weak. I will miss Tim, but I can't mourn him, that is just the way it is now." Daryl blows the candles out and places the book next to him, as he lays in the darkness, trying to sleep. He understands where you are coming from. This new chapter isn't made for the ones who are constantly sad over losses, they are viewed as a liability. He can recall the two times he has shown weakness, the first when he found Carol and friends after the losing the prison, the second was the death of Beth. Growing up Daryl was used to being beaten by a parent and as child he learnt to shut down when you just want to break down, he always had Merle there but even his brother taught he that men shouldn't cry, it makes you weak and pathetic.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The days and weeks roll into one for Daryl, he continues reading you journal whenever he can, Carol catches him one day while he is meant to be working on his bike, reading an entry, detailing about your latest kill of a deer you had hunted yourself, how you tracked it and bought it back to the camp. "What's that you got Daryl?" She asks, he looks up at her. "Nothin'" Daryl responds gruffly, grabbing the book and shoving it into his bag. "Nah uh Dixon, you're reading something" The older woman says, smirking "Tell me is it a romance novel? Or a drama novel?" Carol jokes but stops when she takes note of Daryl's face. "It's nothin' like' 'hat" He tries to defend it. "Come on Daryl, tell me" Eventually Daryl gives in and explains what it is exactly. "So there some random girl out there leaving journals around and you just happen to keep finding em?" She asks flipping through the pages, going over them a little. "I find them intriguing ok" He shrugs, carol nods. "I am not judging Daryl, mind if I read the first one?" She asks, he nods and goes inside to retrieve it for her, passing it over to her. "Bring it back, ok?" Daryl asks. He is not too sure why he is protective of your journal, but he was. "I will Daryl don't worry" Carol walks away, her reading the pages already.

He pulls the book back out and continues reading. Entry 24 (I think) "First time eating deer and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was, the men skinned it and got the meat ready for dinner, we are going to try and use the fur for the winter, the kids need new clothing, warm clothing. We are lucky, the meat will feed us for a couple meals, our community is big enough that we won't waste it.  Biter- 60 Human- 6 Animal- 18

Entry 25 (I truly don't know, I have lost track of time)

"Can one truly lose humanity in this world? Can one only kill the dead and let the living free? Where does the line blur for good and bad these days? Where does the line between friend and enemy start? Who is to govern the right and wrong these days? I lay here wondering, so many thoughts go through my mind daily, what we lost from the old days. What are we trying to gain? Is there really a future for the generations that are being born now?"

Daryl wipes his dirty hands on the rag and shuts the book again. He puts it away and places his tools back on the shelves, heading inside to start having dinner.  Going to bed that night, he wonders if you were still out there. Somewhere.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were running, again, the groans of the undead behind you, but you couldn't stop. Your chest is burning with each breath you took, your legs starting to feel like jelly. You have no doubt blood running down your legs from the stick and branches that have stabbed you while you run but you can't stop, you have to keep running. Your friends scattered to the winds after a horde came through your community. You break through the trees to the road, a car comes speeding down the road, skidding to a stop in front of you, adrenaline that once flowed through you quickly gets replaced with exhaustion as you pass out, your backpack taking most of the fall as they hop out of the car, rushing over to you, the last thing you hear is a male's voice commanding them to load you carefully into the car. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Daryl's bike flies down the road, the wind whipping through his dirty hair, he doesn't care, getting out off the walls that keep them safe is something Daryl enjoys.  The truck behind him following him to the next location for scavenging, this destination is almost a 5-day drive one way, but everyone knew they needed to expand further out, so taking the truck for the items was the plan.  This run consisted of Daryl, Carol and Morgan. As night fall came, they used the truck as shelter for the night, Daryl's bike pushed against the side of the truck while Morgan and Carol sat in the back, talking. Daryl sat in the corner, leaning against the cold metal of the truck he used the torch to continue reading. Not really in the mood to socialize. Entry 26-

"I don't know how much longer I can fake happiness. I can't keep pretending like everything is going to be ok. I do it for the kids, they are so scared most days. I hear them crying to their mothers at night, afraid of the darkness, after of the biters. They will learn over time, they will need to learn how to fight to survive. Life wasn't meant to be like this though, not for them." Entry 27-

"Mother Nature gave us a lucky break, with the storm that hit last night, we were able to fill barrels of water, finally we have clean drinking water for the kids. It felt so nice to be able to wash all the dirt and grime off me in that rain, washed my hair, we were able to wash our clothes during the day as the rain hung around.

You never notice how much you truly take for granted till you don't have it. I miss having running water, hot showers, fast food my god I could down a hamburger right now. I miss being able to go out, have fun, go to the movies, even missing shampoo and conditioner. I miss my friends, miss being able to go outside my house without having to fight for my life daily. The rain gave us a chance to be happy, even if it was just for the short time.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You start to stir in the back of the car, you hear voices talking around you. Your eyes flutter open, and you try to sit up. "Woah be careful" A male voice says beside you. You look over at him. "Where am I?" You croak out, the man passes you a bottle of water. You quickly open it and chug it. "You are currently in our vehicle heading back our community, we almost hit you as you rushed out of the woods last night" "Who are you people?"  "My name's Aaron, Michonne and Maggie in the front seat." "I'm Y/N." "Where do you come from?" Michonne asks. "I had a small set up, but a horde of biters came out of no-where and we got spilt up" You explain sadly. "Biters? You mean the walkers?" Maggie says, looking at you quickly You grunt in pain,"Ain't they the same thing?"  "We need to ask you some questions if you don't mind. The first being how many walkers have you killed?" You try to think of how many you might be up to know "I would say around 120ish, I have lost track" "Next question. How many humans have you killed?"  "Ten" You answer.

"Why?" Maggie asks the last question. "The first couple of people, they were out to hurt me, they wanted not only my supplies but my body" You look away ashamed. "One was he didn't want to turn, but he had been bit so I had to put him down before he died. Each person after that I had to do what I needed to survive, to protect the ones within my small community."

They all look at each other, before Maggie focus is back on the road.

"I'm sorry did I say something wrong?" You question them. "No it's not that, you just said you had a small community, we just got a radio call while you were resting saying they found some straggles coming to the gate, we just wondering if perhaps they were some of you folk"

I look out the window to the trees passing us, should I be thankful that there might be some of us left? Aaron passes you back your backpack and smiles. "Why don't you get some rest, we not too far out from our community, we will have the doctor check you over, you have some nasty cuts on your legs, I assume from running" Aaron says, his eyes on the road while Maggie drives. You do just that, you close your eyes and let the sound of the car put you to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tagslist ~ @clairealeehelsing

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The conservative movement is cracking up

I'll be in Stratford, Ontario, appearing onstage with Vass Bednar as part of the CBC IDEAS Festival. I'm also doing an afternoon session for middle-schoolers at the Stratford Public Library.

Politics always requires coalitions. In parliamentary democracies, the coalitions are visible, when they come together to form the government. In a dictatorship, the coalitions are hidden to everyone except infighting princelings and courtiers (until a general or minister is executed, exiled or thrown in prison.)

In a two-party system, the coalitions are inside the parties – not quite as explicit as the coalition governments in a multiparty parliament, but not so opaque as the factions in a dictatorship. Sometimes, there are even explicit structures to formalize the coalition, like the Biden Administration's Unity Task Force, which parceled out key appointments among two important blocs within the party (the finance wing and the Sanders/Warren wing).

Conservative politics are also a coalition, of course. As an outsider, I confess that I am much less conversant with the internal power-struggles in the GOP and the conservative movement, though I'm trying to remedy that. Books like Nathan J Robinson's Responding to the Right present a great overview of various conservative belief-systems:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/14/nathan-robinson/#arguendo

And the Know Your Enemy podcast does an amazing job of diving deep into right-wing beliefs, especially when it comes to identifying fracture lines in the conservative establishment. A recent episode on the roots of contemporary right-wing antisemitism in the paleocon/neocon split was hugely informative and fascinating:

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-in-search-of-anti-semitism-with-john-ganz/

Political parties are weak institutions, liable to capture and hospitable to corruption. General elections aren't foolproof or impervious to fraud, but they're miles more robust than parties, whose own leadership selection processes and other key decisions can be made in the shadows, according to rules that can be changed on a whim:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

Which means that parties are brittle, weak vessels that we rely on to contain the volatile mixture of factions who might actually hate each other, sometimes even more than they hate the other party. Remember the defenestration of GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy? That:

https://apnews.com/article/mccarthy-gaetz-speaker-motion-to-vacate-congress-327e294a39f8de079ef5e4abfb1fa555

Even outsiders like me know that there's a deep fracture in the Republican Party, with Trumpists on one side and the "establishment" on the other side. Reading accounts of the 2016 GOP leadership race, I get the distinct impression that Trump's win was even more shocking to party insiders than it was to the rest of us.

Which makes sense. They thought they had the party under control, knew where its levers were and how to pull them. For us, Trump's win was a terrible mystery. For GOP power-brokers, it was a different kind of a nightmare, the kind where you discover that controls to the the car you're driving in high-speed traffic aren't connected to anything and you're not really the driver.

But as Trump's backers – another coalition – fall out among each other, it's becoming easier for the rest of us to understand what happened. Take FBI informant Peter Thiel's defection from the Trump camp:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/12/silicon-valley-billionaire-donors-presidential-candidates/

Thiel was the judas goat who led tech's reactionary billionaires into Trump's tent, blazing a trail and raising a fortune on the way. Thiel's support for Trump was superficially surprising. After all, Thiel is gay, and Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, openly swore war on queers of all kinds. Today, Thiel has rebuffed Trump's fundraising efforts and is reportedly on Trump's shit-list.

But as a Washington Post report – drawing heavily on gossiping anonymous insiders – explains. Thiel has never let homophobia blind him to the money and power he stands to gain by backing bigots:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/12/silicon-valley-billionaire-donors-presidential-candidates/

Thiel bankrolled Blake Masterson's Senate race, despite Masterson's promise to roll back marriage equality – and despite the fact that Masterton attended Thiel's wedding to another man.

According to the post, the Thiel faction's abandonment of Trump wasn't driven by culture war issues. Rather, they were fed up with Trump's chaotic, undisciplined governance strategy, which scuttled many opportunities to increase the wealth and power of America's oligarchs. Thiel insiders complained that Trump's "character traits sabotaged the policy changes" and decried Trump's habit of causing "turmoil and chaos…that would interfere with his agenda" rather than "executing relentlessly."

For Trump's base, the cruelty might be the point. But for his backers, the cruelty was the tactic, and the point was money, and the power it brings. When Trump seemed like he might use cruel tactics to achieve power, his backers went along for the ride. But when Trump made it clear that he would trade opportunities for power solely to indulge his cruelty, they bailed.

That's an important fracture line in the modern American conservative coalition, but it's not the only one.

Writing in the BIG newsletter, Matt Stoller and Lee Hepner describes the emerging conservative split over antitrust and monopoly:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/is-there-an-establishment-plan-to

Antitrust has been the centerpiece of the Biden Administration's most progressive political project. For the left wing of the Dems, blunting corporate power is seen as the necessary condition for rolling back the entire conservative program, which depends on oligarch-provided cash infusions, media campaigns, and thinktank respectability.

But elements of the right have also latched onto antitrust, for reasons of their own. Take the Catholic traditionalists who see weakening corporate power as a path to restoring a "traditional" household where a single breadwinner can support a family:

https://www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/when-capitalism-becomes-tyranny-with-sohrab-ahmari

There's another reason to support antitrust, of course – it's popular. There are large, bipartisan majorities opposed to monopoly and in favor of antitrust action:

https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Antitrust_Policy_poll_results.pdf

Two-thirds of Americans support anti-monopoly laws. 70% of Americans say monopolies are bad for the economy. The Biden administration is doing more on antitrust than any presidency since the Carter years, but 52% of Americans haven't heard about it:

https://www.ft.com/content/c17c35a3-e030-4e3b-9f49-c6bdf7d3da7f

There's a big opportunity latent in the facts of antitrust's popularity, and the Biden antitrust agenda's obscurity. So far, the Biden administration hasn't figured out how to seize that opportunity, but some Dems are trying to grab it. Take Montana Senator John Tester, a Democrat in a Trump-voting state, whose campaign has taken aim at the meat-packing monopolies that are screwing the state's ranchers.

The right wants in on this. At a Federalist Society black-tie event last week during the National Lawyer's Convention, Biden's top antitrust enforcers got a warm welcome. Jonathan Kanter, the DOJ's top antitrust cop, was praised onstage by Todd Zywicki, whom Stoller and Hepner call "a highly influential law professors," from George Mason Univeristy, a fortress of pro-corporate law and economics. Zywicki praised the DoJ and FTC's new antitrust guidelines – which have been endlessly damned in the WSJ and other conservative outlets – as a reasonable and necessary compromise:

https://fedsoc.org/events/national-press-club-event

Even Lina Khan – the bogeywoman of the WSJ editorial page – got a warm reception at her fireside chat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FwdAxOSznE

And the convention's hot Saturday ticket was "a debate between two conservatives over whether social media platforms had sufficient monopoly power that the state could regulate them as common carriers":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwoO7bZajXk

This is pretty amazing. And yet…lawmakers haven't gotten the memo. During markup for last week's appropriations bill, lawmakers inserted a flurry of anti-antitrust amendments into the must-pass legislation:

https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/fsgg-approps-bill-must-support-enforcers-not-kneecap-them/#

These amendments were just wild. Rep Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) introduced an amendment that would give companies carte blanche to stick you with unlimited junk fees, and allow corporations to take away their workers' rights to change jobs through noncompetes:

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/118th-congress/house-report/269

Another amendment would block the FTC from enforcing against "unfair methods of competition." Translation: the FTC couldn't punish companies like Amazon for using algorithms to hike prices, or for conspiring to raise insulin prices, or its predatory pricing aimed at killing small- and medium-sized grocers.

An amendment from Rep Kat Cammack (R-FL) would kill the FTC's "click to cancel" rule, which will force companies to let you cancel your subscriptions the same way you sign up for them – instead of making you wait on hold to beg a customer service rep to let you cancel.

Another one: "a provision to let auto dealers cheat customers with undisclosed added fees":

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-118hr4664rh/pdf/BILLS-118hr4664rh.pdf

Dems got in on the action, too. A bipartisan pair, Rep Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep Lou Correa (D-FL), unsuccessfully attempted to strip the Department of Transport of its powers to block mergers, which were most recently used to block the merger of Jetblue and Spirit:

https://www.congress.gov/amendment/118th-congress/house-amendment/640

And 206 Republicans voted to block the DoT from investigating airline price-gouging. As Stoller and Hepner point out, these reps serve constituents from low-population states that are especially vulnerable to this kind of extraction.

This morning, Jim Jordan hosted a Judiciary Committee meeting where he raked DOJ antitrust boss Jonathan Kanter over the coals, condemning the same merger guidelines that Zywicki praised to the Federalist Society:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7jxc8dp8erhe1q3wpndre/GOP-oversight-hearing-memo-11.13.23.pdf?rlkey=d54ur91ry3mc69bta5vhgg13z&dl=0

Jordan's prep memo reveals his plan to accuse Kanter of being an incompetent who keeps failing in his expensive bids to hold corporate power to account, and being an all-powerful government goon who's got a boot on the chest of American industry. Stoller and Hepner invoke the old Yiddish joke: "The food at this restaurant is terrible, and the portions are too small!"

Stoller and Hepner close by wondering what to make of this factional split in the American right. Is it that these members of the GOP Congressional caucus just haven't gotten the memo? Or is this a peek at what corporate lobbyists home to accomplish after the 2024 elections?

They suggest that both Democrats and Republican primary contesters in that race could do well by embracing antitrust, "Establishment Republicans want you to pay more for groceries, healthcare, and travel, and are perfectly fine letting monopoly corporations make decisions about your daily life."

I don't know if Republicans will take them up on it. The party's most important donors are pathologically loss-averse and unwilling to budge on even the smallest compromise. Even a faint whiff of state action against unlimited corporate power can provoke a blitz of frenzied scare-ads. In New York state, a proposal to ban noncompetes has triggered a seven-figure ad-buy from the state's Business Council:

https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/noncompete-campaign-raises-state-lobbying-18442769.php

It's hard to overstate how unhinged these ads are. Writing for The American Prospect, Terri Gerstein describes one: "a hammer smashes first an alarm clock, then a light bulb, with shards of glass flying everywhere. An ominous voice predicts imminent doom. Then, for good measure, a second alarm clock is shattered":

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-11-10-business-groups-reflexive-anti-worker-demagogy/

Banning noncompetes is good for workers, but it's also unambiguously good for business and the economy. They "reduce new firm entry, innovation by startups, and the ability of new firms to grow." 44% of small business owners report having been blocked from starting a new company because of a noncompete; 35% have been blocked from hiring the right person for a vacancy due to a noncompete. :

https://eig.org/noncompetes-research-brief/

As Gerstein writes, it's not unusual for the business lobby to lobby against things that are good for business – and lobby hard. The Chamber of Commerce has gone Hulk-mode on simple proposals to adapt workplaces for rising temperatures, acting as though permitting "rest, shade, water, and gradual acclimatization" on the jobsite will bring business to a halt. But actual businesses who've implemented these measures describe them as an easy lift that increases productivity.

The Chamber lobbies against things its members support – like paid sick days. The Chamber complains endlessly about the "patchwork" of state sick leave rules – but scuttles any attempt to harmonize these rules nationally, even though members who've implemented them call them "no big deal":

https://cepr.net/report/no-big-deal-the-impact-of-new-york-city-s-paid-sick-days-law-on-employers/

The Chamber's fight against American businesses is another one of those fracture lines in the conservative coalition. Working with far right dark money groups, they've worked in statehouses nationwide to roll back child labor laws:

https://www.epi.org/blog/florida-legislature-proposes-dangerous-roll-back-of-child-labor-protections-at-least-16-states-have-introduced-bills-putting-children-at-risk/

They also fight tooth-and-nail against minimum wage rises, despite 80% of their members supporting them:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/04/leaked-documents-show-strong-business-support-for-raising-the-minimum-wage/

The spectacle of Republicans in disarray is fascinating to watch and even a little exciting, giving me hope for real progressive gains. Of course, it would help if the Democratic coalition wasn't such a mess.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/14/when-youve-lost-the-fedsoc/#anti-buster-buster

Image: Jason Auch, modified https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antarctic_mountains,_pack_ice_and_ice_floes.jpg

CC BY 2.0

[sapphic-agent]

As anti BKDK & anti Bakugou, can I ask why you hate him and Aizawa so much (at least I get it why you dislike Endevour)? Yes, Bakugou was bad at first, but he grew as character. Now, he is one of the best anime/manga character ever. When he 'died', many anti Bakugou overjoyed, but he came back alive !!

Why do you thing Bakugou as a character is so popular (beloved by non shippers and shippers)?

Are you anti BKDK because you dislike mlm shipping?

Thanks for your blog, I don't like to say rude things just because of fandom and fictional characters, but can I ask why you dislike Bakugou so much when he changed so much? Like, his devotion to Midoriya is real and he truly is a hero.

(Hope you don't mind to have follower who is Bakugou fan and BKDK shipper)

I have made a lot of posts about why I hate Bakugou.

It's not because he's a bad person. A bad person can be a great character. Shigaraki is one of my favorite characters in the series. I have a lot of issues with Bakugou as a character, not a person.

A big issue is probably how everyone treats him, especially in comparison to other characters. Bakugou can be as callous and spiteful as he wants and so many characters trip over themselves to praise him. Aizawa (I'll get to him in a second), All Might, and the other teachers don't see fit to correct his behavior, even when he's been violent towards his other classmates (mainly Izuku). Worse, Aizawa outright favors him.

Bakugou punched Izuku during the Final Exam and refused to cooperate. What did Aizawa do? Nothing. He passed him even though he failed Sero, who sacrificed himself to save Mineta. He doesn't even scold Bakugou for this even though he scolded Uraraka and Aoyama during the Training Camps.

Monoma isn't even half as bad as Bakugou. At worst, he gives 1A a hard time occasionally. But 1A absolutely can't stand him. Bakugou's friends- Kirishima and Sero- are Monoma's biggest critics.

Then there's how the narrative bends over backwards to make Bakugou seem like a better person. And why I hate Aizawa is that most of the time it's through him. Bakugou is accused of going too hard on Uraraka? Aizawa scolds the crowd to blatantly tell us- the viewers- that they don't know what they're talking about and that Bakugou respects Uraraka as an opponent.

Which isn't even true. He a) blatantly told Uraraka that she should have given up and b) assumed her plan was Izuku's doing. Aizawa was dead wrong, even though he's supposed to be a way to tell us what's going on. And this isn't even the only time he does this, he also defended Bakugou's behavior to the journalists and said that he would work on improving it.

Except he didn't. But this was a way to, once again, shut down criticism of Bakugou. Everyone who criticizes Bakugou even a little is antagonized to make him look better than he is: the pros at the Sports Festival, the journalists, Monoma, etc.

Izuku is also forced to be a tool to make Bakugou's development look better. He was forced to validate Bakugou's insecurities during Deku vs Kacchan Part 1. We're told, by All Might, that Izuku doesn't hold Bakugou's behavior against him. Even Bakugou's apology was less about Izuku- his victim- and more about making Bakugou look better. Izuku, as one of my favorite characters, deserves better than that.

Also, to me, Bakugou's "change" isn't all that significant. He still does most of the things he did before, it was just changed to be more comedic. Bakugou didn't actually change, he got a character shift to make it easier to redeem him. How can I say he's changed when none of the other characters hold him accountable?

I hate Aizawa because he's a bad teacher and a hypocrite. He's constantly scolding and berating Izuku, but says almost nothing to Bakugou. Accuses All Might of favoritism when he had a whole protege on the side he was trying to get into the hero course. Constantly berates his class for their faults while doing nothing to make them better.

Again, during the Final Exam, he had five other students who failed. Students he could have easily worked with prior to that exam. But he was fine bending over backwards to make sure Bakugou passed. He's a bad teacher that the series tries to make out to be better than he is.

Also, I do NOT hate mlm shipping. Zolu is one of my favorite ships ever. I hate yaoi shippers who feel the need to bash female characters for getting in the way of their ship (or being shipped with a male character in Katara's case). It's blatant misogyny, just because it's gay doesn't mean it's not prejudiced. Uraraka gets treated terribly by BakuDeku shippers, or she's shipped with Tsu or Toga, tucked away in a background sapphic ship where she can't interfere. That's just as bad as bashing her because it's using a sapphic ship as a tool to prop a gay ship.

I don't hate mlm shipping. I hate how some of my favorite characters are treated because of it. There's also an issue with it fetishizing gay men for straight women, but that's another issue entirely.

My hatred for BakuDeku is actually separate from this. It's a ship built off of abuse. The abuse even persists in their platonic relationship, it would absolutely maintain in a romantic relationship. BakuDeku benefits Bakugou and only Bakugou, not Izuku.

I think Bakugou is so well liked because his gimmick of tough and edgy entices a lot of people. He had a lot of fans before he started to get redeemed. And now with his "great" character development, it justifies a lot of people's love for him.

[whatiwillsay]

🚨I'M PUTTING MY MONEY WHERE MY MOUTH IS🚨

I am pledging over 3000 dollars of my own money to help my friend Ahmed and I want you to join in the fight to help him too!

Ahmed is a 28-year-old man from Gaza and he's raising money to help his family escape the devastation of the war! I'm pledging about $3000 (specifically 2500 British Pounds because his fundraiser is in Pounds) of my own money to match donations this week up to that point. For every pound you give, I'll give one too. All the way up to 2500 pounds meaning we could raise 5000 in one week! That would be incredible! It'd be even better if we raised enough to hit his goal of 35,000 pounds.

Ahmed is a beautiful person and he used to live a joyful life. He worked in a hospital, loved spending time with his friends and family, and shared his adventures on social media. Now the hospital where he used to work has been blown up, his family home has been leveled, and where he used to make posts on social media celebrating life with his friends now he makes posts saying goodbye to them.

He remains hopeful and kind though, and as I've gotten to know him I have become more and more determined to help him evacuate from the terrible situation he's in. They're starving, the refugee camp they're staying in was bombed yesterday, and they're desperate to get out, especially the 10 young children they have with them including two, Sami and Bassam, who are under a year old.

A 5 Pound donation goes a long way in helping them reach their goal but since we're a Taylor Swift Blog, I do encourage people to give 13 Pounds if you can swing it, just for good luck!

Thanks in advance for your generosity guys I know we can rise up as a community and make the world a better place!

[reasonsforhope]

Heads up/warning that I'm going to start posting articles related to the Israel-Palestine War

I've worked really, really hard to keep my blog about positive news only, and that's going to continue - these posts will be only about good news related to the war.

Of which there really, really isn't much, so I don't know that there will be a lot of posts, but I will be posting articles about humanitarian aid reaching those who need it and actions that will prevent more lives from being taken.

I know that, no matter my position on the war, this is something that would be very controversial and make a lot of people upset, so I wanted to be explicit about my position on this - and my posting policy, which is not the same thing. I also wanted to give people a heads up because I know the war in general is really, really triggering for a lot of people right now, for a lot of different reasons. I'll be tagging all relevant posts, so if screening those out is something that you need to do, you can.

I have worked very hard to make this blog a space with only good news because I know how much it can matter to have just one place, if nowhere else, that you can count on to not give you emotional whiplash with horrible news. To know you have one place you can go where you are guaranteed not to see bad news that will send you into a tailspin. That's why I've had a policy of not including signal boosts or PSAs about tragedies, no matter what they are, on this blog. (I do post about some of that stuff, including the Israel-Palestine War, on my main blog, though. I consider this blog to be me trying to run a public service, basically, and so have specific policies for myself around that, including my editorial and fact-checking standards.)

I'm going to be honest, I was really, really hoping the war would end after a couple of weeks, which has historically not been uncommon for wars with/involving Israel.

But that's clearly not happening, and I can't keep not acknowledging what's happening on here, so, this post.

With that, I imagine people probably want to know my actual stance on the war, since that's what I'll be posting in accordance with.

So, here's the official stance of this blog:

Every time a civilian is killed, it is a tragedy; Every time a child is killed, it is a tragedy, no matter their nationality. I condemn all antisemitism and all Islamophobia.

I support all calls for a ceasefire, as well as demands that Israel immediately stop its repeated bombing of hospitals, ambulances, shelters (including UN shelters), and refugee camps.

There is no situation in which the repeated and/or intentional bombing of hospitals is justified.

There is no situation in which the repeated and/or intentional bombing of shelters or refugee camps is justified.

There is no situation in which the repeated and/or intentional bombing of ambulances is justified.

There is no situation in which the killing of children is justified. Yet more children have now been killed in Gaza than in all global conflict zones combined in each year since 2019.

There is no situation in which cutting off an entire country and/or territory's supply of food and water is justified.

Yes, this applies to every group involved in the war, including countries supplying either side, and any countries or non-state organizations who may yet join the fighting.

The initial Hamas attack on Israel was a tragedy. The continued Israeli bombardment and invasion of Palestine is also a tragedy.

Most of the things I post will be about aid reaching Palestinians or news about tangible, confirmed progress toward a ceasefire. I probably will not be posting good news posts about aid reaching Israel, unless it's explicitly and only humanitarian and/or barring drastic unforeseen changes in circumstance. This is because as of yesterday, November 7, the Palestinian death toll is over 10,000 to Israel's roughly 1,400 (only about 200 of whom have been killed in the past month, starting on October 8, aka outside of the initial attack by Hamas). At least 3,195 children have died in Gaza, 33 in the West Bank, and 29 in Israel.

The Palestinian death toll is nearly 8 times the Israeli death toll. The number of children killed is 110 times higher in Palestine than Israel. (Source for death toll here, ratios via calculator.) Every single one of those deaths is a tragedy - and there have been far, far too many tragedies this past month.

(On a related note, Israel stands very, very little chance of actually eliminating Hamas with this war. The US has attempted this same strategy and failed many times: the US failed to eliminate the communist/North Korean regime in the Korean War, which is technically still ongoing 70 years later; failed to eliminate the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War; failed to eliminate numerous groups of Iraqi insurgents in the Iraq War, which triggered Iraq's civil war; and failed to eliminate the Taliban in the Afghanistan War, even though that war lasted for literally 20 years. Afghanistan is once again under total Taliban control.)

The last thing we need is another 20 year war. The last thing we need is more civilian deaths. Bombing civilian settlements, as well as hospitals, shelters, and refugee camps are war crimes under international law, meaning that both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes.

It's time for the war crimes to stop.

Humanitarian aid reaching civilians is good news, and I will be posting accordingly.

Ceasefire now.