#I'm also considering becoming a train driver

[seonghwasblr]

I have another interview on Wednesday so like, keep me in your thoughts again 🤞

[fraux140]

Some König Headcanons and Hottakes

So I want to preface this by saying no hate to anyone. These are just some opinions that I think some people might disagree with which is totally fine. This is also a little bit of me pointing out some of his flaws. I love him though.

He is not a shy little uwu boy who would have a panic attack if a cutie looked at him a certain way. If he was so prone to panic attacks and his anxiety was that crippling then he wouldn't have been in the special forces and he wouldn't be in a PMC - which are highly selective.

Personally I don't fully believe that he was a colonel. The only hint we have gotten of that is a one of the 'Bad Brothers' loading screens which just says 'Colonel König' with no more context. Colonels aren't really active on the battle field and it is very unlikely you would see one in action. Officers ranked that highly are seen as too valuable to be 'wasted' in infantry combat.

Continuing from my last point, even a lot of majors and Lt Colonels aren't battle prone. Considering he would have had to have passed through those ranks to become a colonel means that he would have spent a lot of time behind a desk and commanding teams such as platoons and battalions. We don't know enough about him to say that he isn't a good leader, after all he is simply an operator with a few paragraphs of text as a background. However, his voice lines and little text we do get about him tells us he is not one to enjoy standing by and having others fight on his command. He would MUCH rather be in the brawl.

And I know that Alejandro is a colonel and very active duty, however we can assume that this is largely due to his ambition and personal attachment to his home, which he wants to protect from the cartel. I'm not saying a colonel doesn't fight, but it is exceedingly rare.

My last anti-colonel theory point - why would a colonel wear such DIY gear? I just want to say if you hc him as a colonel that is absolutely FINE, those are just reasons as to why I don't :/

Moving on, I believe him to be a sore loser. For example, he was deemed unfit to be a sniper, and so he wears a sniper hood and has that voiceline "And they said I couldn't be a sniper". Dress for the job you want, not the job you have ig?

I believe he wants to prove people wrong. Getting rejected as a sniper wounded his ego so A LOT. I hc him to be between 32-37 and if he joined jagkdo/KSK (old bio said he was German and in the KSK, newer ones said Austrian and JagKdo, now there's no mention of sf so idk??) while he was younger, say around 23-26, he's had a lot of time for that wound to heal and yet it hasn't. This man holds hella grudges.

Because of this, I think that a fear of failure might also contribute to his anxiety. If he was asked about being scared to fail he'd smirk and say there was no way. But deep down in his core it eats away at him.

This might also bleed into his social life. He's fearful of relationships and remains single for a long time. He'd rather not ask you out instead of having you reject him for trying. He'd have to REALLY like somebody and also have some reassurance or signs that they liked him out.

Cannot accept accountability for simple mistakes. He knocked your coffee mug over? You shouldn't have left it there. Hit you a little too hard in training? You should be stronger. You should have dodged it. Not his fault you're not as good as him.

Is a show off. If he is obviously better at something then you'll never hear the end of it. Better driver? Better fighter. Yeah, he's bragging about it. Again, his fear of not being good enough rears its ugly head. He deflects it on to those who are weaker - they could never be him.

Damn this was a list of negatives, but I love him in spite of all of his flaws. What kind of list should I make next? I should probably do one with some positive traits lmao.

Anyway, I don't mind at all if anyone disagrees with these this is just how I see him. Maybe one day I'll write a fic where he acknowledges his demons and starts to heal.

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

I just want to clarify that I've read your posts and your answers to questions and I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the situation, my reblog is only meant to bring more information into the dialogue and point out the racism and microaggressions taking place while using your animal conservation as a shield.

I realized once I posted my reblog it may seem like I am targeting you specifically I am not, as screenshotting the amount of discrimination I have been weeding through ever since this post has enraged me as someone from a "lesser developed country" myself.

I wish you well in your endeavors, and I'm sorry your well intended message is being hijacked by racists.

Hi thank you for reaching out! Looking back I would definitely have re-wrote that post and definitely do some more research before posting it.

I do see some really nice habitats there too and I know that there is a genuine care for the animals despite the questionable handling - I didn't want to imply that the reason for the poor handling was purely because of country, poor welfare happens regardless of country, even with animal welfare laws in place.

Sub cultures and cultures with the zoo itself are usually what I've found to be the most detrimental to welfare. When I was brought in to help improve welfare and training for marine mammals in two different facilities - one in the Pacific Islands and another in a "western" modern facility - both places had their own major issues with lack of education/up to date knowledge, relience on outdated practises and cliques that formed as a front against any attempt to change things.

This was quite surprising to me considering the company I worked for in the western facility definitely had the resources and the money but had simply gotten stagnant and stuck in the "this is how we always do it."

The facility in the Pacific stagnated because of the culture too - but lack of resources and consistent funding was a huge factor in attempting to improve things (I had to buy enrichment for the animals out of my own pocket so that was fun lol)

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the post was never suppoed to be implicating the fact that the zoo was in Thailand for the reason for poor handling.

And, you can see on my blog, I have been singing the praises of multiple facilities in Asia. I'm highly critical of any intense handling of exotic animals, especially in the US. When autonomy and the ability to leave the interaction is taken away for an animal, the interaction is more likely to become dangerous or cause stress to the animal.

But anyway I appreciate you letting me know your thoughts and I do not support any of the people leaving any sort of racist generalisation about South East Asia on that post. Especially because it is tourists coming in from western countries that are some of the biggest drivers for animal welfare issues in Thailand - such as the Tiger Temple.

If westerners were truly so "englightened" on animal welfare, there would be no profit gained from tourists participating in unethical animal experiences. But its not exactly shocking to see this, especially from Americans, who also actively participate in exploitation of exotic animals in their own country (the exotic pet trade is a nightmare there).

Anyway culture and people are complex and so are perceptions of animal welfare - thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

[heychucklenuts]

after I saw a headcanon about the mercs as Uber drivers; how about the mercs (plus ms. Pauling) but they are Airbnb hosts?

Miss Pauling and the Mercs as Air BNB Hosts

Coming from someone with a very limited idea of what an Airbnb host does, had to research a bit. I get the gist of it but still.

The very idea of this is frightening to me but in the best ways possible. I also like to think if they were put into this situation, it was a Mann Co. ordinance to say the company isn't as bad as people think it is, so there's more people coming to Teufort, and also to make the Mann Brothers even more money. (If that is even possible.) I also like to consider this something where they either fully understand what they're supposed to be doing or they completely wing it, no real in-betweens.

Miss Pauling

Probably one of the more responsible ones in terms of being a host, making sure to greet people staying and give them a little tour of the place, and overall just ensure they have a pleasant experience. She's very keen on keeping up with property maintenance, and once the people staying leave she'll do her rounds of the place to make sure there's no damage, or that nobody left anything behind. Maintenance is usually taken care of by Engie, and general house decoration is done by herself, or by Heavy since he can reach up higher. Pictures are done by Sniper since he has the best ability to capture the spirit of a place, and she makes sure they get paid for their help. But of course, she still has a job to carry out for The Administrator, so sometimes she'll use the Airbnb to trap people who need to be "taken care of", so to speak. Any bodies are disposed of appropriately, and blood and other gorey materials are promptly cleaned up, staging the scene to make it seem like they just canceled their reservations. Though, belongings of the missing individuals sometimes end up in thrift stores or antique shops.

Scout

He treats his time as a host more as him being a host for MTV Cribs, he doesn't understand that hosting means he has to take on more of a professional role. So, to a lot of people, Jeremy the Host is more like a party house owner than anything. He stocks up, he lets people drink, party, and he even gets involved in it quite a bit, leading to him skateboarding into a ditch in the middle of Teufort. This leads to issues when the parties get to be a bit too much though, leading to him either having to kick people out, or end up having to spend a good chunk of the money he made on repairing holes in the wall, or trying to figure out how to install a new toilet because the one he had magically disappeared. He gets scolded constantly for allowing such reckless things to happen, but his only rebuttal is "Hey, I'm makin' us money, ain't I? So quit worryin'." If people come just to stay there and not party, he awkwardly tries to make small talk, or something. Again, not understanding that it's people using the space for there own purposes, not something where the host is having a sleepover. But, he's just trying to make sure everyone is comfortable, even if he is obnoxiously awkward about it. The weirdest thing he does is stock the fridge with Bonk! in all kinds of flavors, and he'll also have at least one bucket of chicken in there, nice and cold for the guests.

Soldier

Probably the lowest rated experience within all the mercs because of his insistence of patriotism and MREs. He truly makes you feel like you're in army boot camp, having rules such as waking up at 5am (he says 0500 hours of course), doing exercise, training, and having rations for meals. Actually, he doesn't make you feel like you're in army boot camp, he just runs the Airbnb as one. And it's weird, because if he advertises it as an Airbnb, he get's horrible reviews. But if he advertises it as "Sergeant Doe's Boot Camp", he gets a lot more positive feedback from random people who decide to go visit. It almost becomes like an attraction for Teufort, and instead of being a tourist trap and labeled thusly, it's more of something painfully fun for people to go participate in. Of course while people think it's just fun and games, Soldier thinks it's just real life, no nonsense stuff. It also gives him an opportunity to fulfill his desire to want to be in this position, even if he's tried to be this way with the mercs. (As in, he's tried to be the sergeant of or leader of the mercenaries, not really to any avail.) People also go there for the added on mini-raccoon sanctuary, and the chance to be able to have raccoons wandering around the house. (Even if the contracts disclose there's a 72% chance of getting infected with rabies, people still go, and still pet the raccoons.) Plus if you get through an entire stay with Soldier, he will reward you with something. (Sometimes it's a bottle of water from Teufort, sometimes it's a rocket.)

Pyro

To Pyro, this meant new friends, and potentially a sleepover. And with Pyrovision, we know what they saw isn't what the guests saw. The place is decorated like Pyroland, or at least similarly to it. Very cutesy, almost like it was meant to be a place for families to stay. What scares people off is when they start to bring up fire, and also just how much fire-related paraphernalia is left out in the open. Blowtorches, matches, lighters, you name it. To some this is scary, to others its cool. And this seems like some of the only activity you find within the place, outside of the random Spy head they accidentally leave around who starts to insult you. Their presence as a host is either regarded as very sweet or very frightening, with very few in-betweens. They've gotten scolded a few times over for nearly burning the place down, but to them it's just adding more fun things to the place. To them, what they're doing is okay, and there's nothing wrong with it. In their view everyone is happy. The only saving grace with this is perhaps Engineer being by their side a lot, helping with the place, and undoing any damage they do. And also trying to get stuff in for the people staying there, such as a TV and other things to occupy themselves, and food that isn't just sweets and candies.

Demoman

Another one of the more popular hosts, namely due to the luxurious living conditions, and the only payment necessary to stay being alcohol. Buy him a pack of beer? You stay there for free. If you don't, you can just fork over enough money to pay for some alcohol. Given his insurmountable wealth, he provides one of the best experiences, even if he's found drunkenly wandering the halls of the place. Regardless of that, it's furnished, it's fancy, and you even get fancy foods to eat in the fridge, again, no charge. So if anyone is flocking to an Airbnb, it's the one he's a host of. He isn't demanding or anything along those lines, and if you choose to, he can (drunkenly) tell you about his family's history, and how he got to where he is. His presence makes the stay a bit more comforting, as it starts to feel like you have a friend you can talk to at any time you want. There really aren't any downsides to him, he's fair, and you get a cozy place to stay. Well, okay there's a couple downsides. You may have to deal with Eyelander's crap, and depending on the time of year you may have to bare witness to Demoman's eye coming to try and kill him. But 99% of the year you're golden to not have to deal with that.

Heavy

Heavy would be a polite host, probably would make a surplus of Sandviches, and has print-outs of the recipe for people to take home with them. He's kind and is willing to show people around, and introduce them to some of the books he's providing, his only rules are to make sure to be quiet after a certain point of time so that it's not noisy. He does enforce the noise cut off when it gets close to midnight, and is pretty strict about it too. "You are to go to sleep, not be rambunctious." Though he doesn't care if you stay up late, he just says that so you aren't disturbing other people. Like Sniper, Engineer, and Demoman, he is considered to be one of the favorites among the mercs being forced to host. He's considered to be fair and sweet amongst the people who are hosted, and a lot of them will recommend him to people who are thinking of staying in Teufort. He also randomly leaves out books about mini-gun care, and will sometimes talk to people about Sasha, correcting them when they think Sasha is some sort of significant other to him. As in thinking she is either a lover or possibly a child of his, which he has to clarify she is a gun, but he does say she has has her own thoughts and feelings. More in a joking sense, but he still loves to tell people about her.

Engineer

Definitely one of the favorite hosts. Sweet and kind man, makes the place he's in charge of look nice and cozy. Him and Sniper both would win for having the homiest places, and in Engie's case he's definitely have the vintage sense of style that has wood panel walls and such. It's cozy, and he tries to make sure all the spots in the house are cozy enough for the people staying, even going out of his way to maybe get some stuff to better suit people's comfort needs. He does regular maintenance, keeping up with the place every day on the dot. Any leaks, breaks, or cracks, they get fixed in minutes. Any complaints get answered, and he tries to assess the situation to the best of his abilities. And he tries to make small talk so long as the people he's hosting are cool with it, understanding some people wanna just be left alone. Funny enough he does keep in contact with some of the people he hosted after they leave, sometimes inviting them back for a little get together for free. Usually it's for a campfire or maybe a barbecue. He's definitely putting up the better front for the Mann Co. sponsored Airbnb's, and is one of the pillars ensuring the whole thing doesn't come crashing down.

Medic

The question is more why did anyone let this man be in charge of an Airbnb. To him this was the perfect opportunity to get free patients, which ends up making him the worst rated host. Reports of people waking up with multiple tongues, seeing in ultraviolet, and in some cases they wake feeling the need to breathe through water, rather than breathe pure oxygen. Countless instances of this have caused people to consider him frightening, and say that they never want to have him as a host or a doctor the rest of their lives. (To which he retorts, "Ha! As if you have control over that, Dummkopf!") He waits until people are asleep to be able to do these surgeries, and while sometimes they just happen in the bed, sometimes they are transported to his lab, especially if he needs special access to something, or if he needs a specific type of organ he doesn't carry on himself. The place is... not even fully normal, almost looking more like a doctor's office than anything. The rooms also aren't that appealing, looking more like medical rooms. Definitely not a fun place to stay, unless you're into that stuff, or you just really like medical horror. The only slightly nice thing is the flock of doves that randomly shows up... that is until you see Archimedes with blood on his feathers.

Sniper

He tries his best as a host. Tries to make the place look nice and homey, which he does a great job of. His aesthetic is one of rusticity and antiquated nature, so he'd probably make the Airbnb look a bit like his childhood home in Australia. As a host he's a bit quiet, not exactly keen on being around so many people (especially given his occupation), so he just gives the basic rules and says "make too big a mess and ya get to either clean it, or pay for it", which can be a bit threatening even if unintentional. He's one of the few mercs to make the place feel like a home, so it becomes very popular with older tourists, and people with kids, so it feels more like you're just staying at a grandparents house. He's not demanding, just wants you to respect the place and not break anything. (Especially since his mom's probably insisted on knitting a few tapestries for the place.) He himself is barely there, trying to focus on his normal day to day life without it somehow crashing with this weird attempt to not make Mann Co. look like a criminal organization. If he is there, it's usually for a little bit after people have gone to sleep/when he's waking up (so around 3am), and all he's really doing is making sure everything is in order, and maybe taking the time to do his laundry or take a shower. The people staying do know he does this, and he kinda brings it up beforehand. If they aren't comfy with it, he won't enter. But, he isn't there for long before he's back out the door, going to take on whatever jobs the day has.

Spy

Decadence behold this man as he is an Airbnb host. Quite similarly to Demoman he hosts in nothing more than luxury. More for himself, but, he provides it to others, albeit at a cost. See, this is his own abode, his own lounge. He does not want others to tamper with it, so he makes strict rules as to not go into certain areas. No going into the smoking room, the lounge, or a certain bedroom. Go in there, and you will either be kicked out or threatened. He does this for obvious reasons, he is a ladies man, after all, and he wouldn't want to end up disturbing the guests. ...Moreso he doesn't want them to disturb him. He doesn't even like having to be a host, finding it to be a waste of time. He tolerates it so that he may get paid, but that's about it. Despite being a man of mystery, he tends to loom throughout the place. He's wiped clean any proof of who he is as a person, but there's always a lingering fear he has forgotten something. A picture, a medical document, so on. That would be the end for him. Plus, he's particular about his things. So as much as he wants to try to trust anyone, he finds himself suspicious, and needing to make sure everything is in order by the end. If you decide to steal something of his, consider there to be a bounty on your head. His possessions are not cheap.

[hybeboyenthusisast]

Better Than You / psh

post dividers by @cafekitsune

"Why do you act like you're better than me?" "Because I am better than you."

pairing: park sunghoon x afab!reader

genre: ice skater au, rivals to lovers, car sex

rating: 18+

warnings: oral (m and f receiving, m and f giving), penetrative sex, unprotected sex, sunghoon is kinda an ass but it gets sorted, also hoon is pervy, marking, biting, public in private sex, car sex, their coach is the driver, both yn and Hoon are pervs, nicknames, innocence and corruption kink, degradation,cum eating, probably more that i cant think of (let me know if i need to add anything!)

permanent taglist (open): @junnmizz @ashxxgyu​ @igotkpoops​ @xiaoderrrr​ @alyssajavenss @mintxts @fanfangying1304 <3

wc: 4.7k (the longest I've written!)

if you like what you read, please consider leaving a comment and/or reblogging! it helps so much!

You stood up from your crouched position, your choreography for your next competition slowly being perfected the more you practiced it. Your coach cheered you on as the speakers cut out, the upbeat song coming to its end. You skated over to the exit to the ice rink, grinning at your coach as she applauded you wholeheartedly.

"You get better each time! It already looks so good," Coach Lee grinned at you, patting your back gently as you stepped off of the ice and back on the rink's normal flooring. You smiled, your chest puffing out a bit with pride after hearing your coach's compliments.

You could basically hear the eye roll Park Sunghoon did, or maybe it was just because of his very audible scoff. Your self-proclaimed rival on the ice, and the biggest pain in your ass. Despite having been training under the same coach for years, the two of you never could seem to get along.

You blamed it on him, though. He was stuck-up and snooty, and always made these little comments to undermine your progress and accomplishments. He must have thought he was perfect; maybe because you didn't point out his mistakes like he did to you. It was true that he had more experience, having trained for two years before you, but you had enough natural talent (as your coach said) that you were on the same skill level as Sunghoon within a single year.

"Hi, Hoonie." you cooed, knowing no matter what you said, it would piss the tall man off. Might as well have fun with it.

"Yn," he greeted you curtly, ushering you out of the way so he could have his turn on the ice. Your coach was used to your bickering, and had long given up on trying to make the two of you friends. "Move, damn it, you're so slow."

"I'm not slow! I just don't wanna move for you," you rolled your eyes at Sunghoon, leaning on the railing of the entrance in such a manner that kept your body blocking it entirely.

Sunghoon made a grumbling sound, perhaps he had even said something, but you weren't paying attention, and frankly, you didn't really care. "Yn sweetie, Sunghoon needs to practice today, too," Coach Lee gently coaxed you to ease up and move out of the way. She gave you a small smile and said her goodbyes before scurrying off to the bleachers, where she could get a proper view of Sunghoon while he practiced.

You slowly made your way to the bench where your stuff sat, grateful that today the ice rink was closed to the public. Nobody would be there to touch your stuff or steal anything, unless Sunghoon decided one day to become even more of an ass.

You sat down with a heavy sigh, your mind finally resting after being so caught up in the thoughts of your choreography. 'Okay, arms must be gentle, core must be tight- don't spin too fast.' 'You're a bird, flying, act like it.' You hadn't been able to just figure skate for fun in so long, but you had a serious training schedule and couldn't afford to play around and injure yourself.

No matter how much you disliked Sunghoon, you had to admit he had a good taste in music. His chosen song for his choreography for the next competition was actually one of your favorite songs, and you always found yourself humming along while he was practicing and you were getting ready to leave for the day. You hated to admit it, too, but he was very talented and moved so smoothly on the ice. You deeply admired his dedication and how good he has become over the years, but you would never tell him this.

Perhaps if he didn't spend nearly every moment making your life just a little bit more miserable, you would, but, alas. With the next competition rapidly approaching, you were dreading having to spend the 3 hour drive stuck in your coach's van with him. Most competitions the two of you participated in were more local, but as you were getting better and better, you began to compete in more popular events; which meant traveling.

Your coach always drove the pair of you to these farther away competitions, but it was never more than an hour, until now. Sunghoon always made those hour drives feel like hell, and you knew it would just be even worse with these longer drives. As if you weren't nervous enough before competitions, Sunghoon always managed to say something that made you doubt yourself; with an increased time frame to do this in, you were honestly very worried how he would affect your confidence and ability to perform.

You just had to ignore him.

Time flew by way too fast, and before you knew it, the day of the competition had arrived, and your coach was helping you load your gear into the back of the van. Sunghoon was already in the van, not bothering to help, of course. You would have refused his help, anyway. He'd probably find a way to break your skates or rip your costume.

"Are you nervous?" Your coach asked you, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. You shrugged, not wanting to be too obvious, but yes, you were very nervous. You didn't feel like you had practiced enough, and you could already hear Sunghoon telling you that and telling you that you'll do terribly.

"I can do this," you responded, trying to convince not only her, but yourself. Your lips quirked up in a smile, moving to the side of the van and opening the door. Sunghoon sat, leaning back and already comfortable. He didn't even spare you a glance as you sat down next to him.

"Good morning, Sunghoon," you cheerily grinned, hoping a faux happy mood would turn into a real one. Sunghoon merely grunted in response, too engrossed in playing a game on his phone.

With any luck, this car ride would be quiet, and his stupid game would keep him entertained.

He was entertained, but not by a game on his phone like he pretended. You were wearing a skirt that showed off your thighs, and his eyes kept drifting over to them. You were too busy staring out the window, listening to music, to even notice his constant glances. Your skin looked so soft, so plush, and he just wanted to spread your legs and bite into your sensitive flesh.

It wasn't always like this; he genuinely disliked you for three years, until one day.... he didn't. He didn't even know when it had happened, but one day he was wishing you would quit ice skating, and the next, he was captivated by you as you skated around on the ice. Your choreographies were never sexy or sensual by any means...but he found himself so turned on when he watched you.

You looked so innocent, so pure, skating around and using your body to tell a story of hope and longing. Your face was always so soft when you were skating, contrasting the hard expressions you always wore when you were around him. He wanted to see you smile at him for once, but he couldn't bring himself to be nice to you. Even though you were his junior, you were so talented and expressive, always doing an excellent job of getting the story behind your choreography across. He refused to believe you were just as good as him, if not better, and so he continued acting like he always had.

He was just waiting for the day you realized you wanted him too- and hoped you would make the first move. He had always been so mean to you, there was no way you'd take him seriously if he asked you on a date or made a move. So he watched you from afar, mostly. It was always exciting being in close proximity to you, even when you had a scowl on your face because of him, but he loved watching you skate. He had secretly recorded videos of you practicing, watching them late at night when he jerked himself off and called out your name.

Sunghoon had done that last night, actually, and this morning before his coach had picked him up. This was a very, very bad mistake. The goal was to get all his horniness and desire for you out of his system, so he wouldn't lose his mind or go feral upon spending so many hours sitting next to you in a moving vehicle where you couldn't escape.

But he kept thinking about how the van had one of those panels separating the driver and the passengers, which your coach always used to give you both your space to mentally prepare for the competitions (really, it was so she wouldn't hear the arguing). If he started touching himself right there in the van, his coach wouldn't know, and you might not even notice.

Oh god, he was such a pervert.

You were minding your own business, letting your mind wander as you zoned out, staring out the window as the van drove along. You nodded along to the beat of the music you were listening to, not giving any attention or care as to what Sunghoon was doing.

Until there was a lull between a song ending and a song starting, and you heard him moan. At first you had no idea what to make of it; maybe you were just hearing things? Maybe he was watching a movie and the characters were having sex, and it was so loud you could hear it through both your headphones and his? You unlocked your phone, pausing your music.

You still weren't sure what was happening, but you could definitely hear heavy panting and quiet groaning. What if he was sick, and you did nothing to help him? Maybe you shouldn't have cared, given how he treated you, but you did. You turned to face Sunghoon and your jaw dropped.

His eyes were closed, thankfully, so he couldn't see you as you stared at him. His pants were pushed down his thighs, his boxers with them, and his hard cock was in his hand. He was jerking off, right next to you.

Your thighs unconsciously rubbed together, searching for some friction as you found yourself getting wet, watching your rival masturbate. Any normal person would freak out, call the cops maybe, do something other than what you did. But of course, you being you, instead undid your seatbelt and sank to your knees in front of Sunghoon.

Your movements must have scared the crap out of Sunghoon, as his eyes flew open and he immediately went to pull his pants back on, his cheeks blushing a deep red. You placed your hands on top of his, stopping him from redressing. Your face was crimson, too, as you stared up at him from the floor of the van.

Sunghoon froze as he stared at you, watching; waiting to see what you were up to. His eyes fluttered shut and a groan left his plush lips as you took his cock in your hands and playfully licked his red mushroom tip. The salty taste of precum made you moan, setting Sunghoon off again with another groan. He threw his head back as you slowly began to suckle on his dick, your mouth opening to take more and more of him.

Your tongue ran along his veins, enjoying how he tried to keep from fucking up into your mouth. His hands wound through your hair, pulling you down on his cock, as far as you could go. You breathed through your nose, squeezing your thumb into your palm to calm your gag reflex. You gazed up at Sunghoon as your nose brushed against his pelvis, your hands on his thighs, his cock poking at the back of your throat.

He was going wild the second you started bobbing your head and sucking on him. Your eyes sparkled in the sunlight that came through the windows, staring up at him with the most innocent expression while you were doing something so dirty. He thought you looked so sexy, sinful and pure all at once.

You just thought he looked hot as hell, strands of his black hair falling over his eyes, but you could still clearly see how much he was enjoying this. His hands massaged your scalp, helping you as you bobbed up and down along his aching cock. He was resisting the urge to just let go and fuck your throat, but he was so scared to take control; he thought it was a miracle you were even sucking him off in the first place.

As your eyes connected with his as saliva escaped your lips, creating a wet mess, you gave him a slight nod; you knew what he wanted. He was still hesitant at first, eyes widening as he realized you had stopped you movements and were pushing on his hands in your hand, trying to get him to take over. Your mouth full of his cock, saliva getting everywhere, he wouldn't even mind if he had died and this was his heaven.

He gently thrusted up into your mouth, eyes watching you carefully as you gagged around his length. You showed no signs of wanting him to stop though, so he began thrusting more, and more. You were moaning around his cock, gagging every so often, tears streaming down your cheeks as he began fucking your throat roughly.

His hands were pulling on your hair; not pulling you off, but pulling to keep you under his control. He loved seeing you like this; totally at his mercy as he ruthlessly fucked up into your mouth. The messier you got with every thrust, the better you looked, and the closer he was to cumming. You were sure you were literally dripping onto your thighs, your panties soaked as you let your rival fuck your mouth.

"Shit-" Sunghoon panted, his voice deep. "You take my cock so well, hm? Fuck princess, I'm gonna cum. You gonna be a good girl and swallow it all?" He gently pinched your cheek, cooing at you as you looked up at him with wide eyes.

With sloppier thrusts, he did exactly what he had promised; soon he was cumming, holding your head still, your nose pressed against his pelvis as he came in ropey spurts down your throat and in your mouth. He was muttering praises to you, pushing your hair out of your face and wiping away your tears as he pulled his now-soft dick from your mouth.

Your jaw was aching so much, but you found even the pain was enjoyable; as long as he kept looking at you like this. You wanted to hear more praises from him, swallowing his load, using your fingers to wipe up any cum that had escaped. Opening your mouth, you sat up on your knees and poked your tongue out so he could see you really did swallow it all.

His hands were gently as he pulled you up, so you were sitting on his lap, his lips connecting with yours. You moaned at how soft his lips were, pressing yourself into him, trying to taste as much of him as you could. He moaned into your mouth as your tongues fought against each other for dominance, tasting the remnants of his salty release in your mouth. You didn't want to pull away from his addictive kiss, but you did need to breathe.

And thank god you did. It was when you pulled away for air, that you noticed the van was driving off the highway to pull into a rest stop.

Scrambling off of Sunghoon, you helped him pull up his pants. You would just die from embarrassment if your coach discovered what the two of you had just done in her van while she was driving it. You situated yourself back in your chair, wiping at your face to try to remove any remaining evidence of your sinning. Sunghoon was fixing himself as well, sending you a smirk as the two of you locked eyes.

"I'm not done with you."

"You are such an asshole, Sunghoon!" You yelled at him from across the room.

Hours later, you were at the competition location, trying to hype yourself up before your performance. Just like you predicted he would do, here he was, ruining it for you.

It had just been a 'casual comment' that 'didn't mean anything', but you were just so tired of hearing him say such negative things to you, especially after you let him fuck your throat earlier.

The two of you stood in one of the hallways leading to the changing rooms, arguing over how he spoke to you. You really thought that after your steamy interaction earlier in the van, he would treat you differently; but, no. He was the same asshole he always was.

He wasn't even responding to you anymore as you were yelling at him, just staring at you with a blank expression.

"Why do you act like you're better than me?" You asked him, crossing your arms across your chest, trying to look tougher than you really felt.

He smirked at you (this bitch...) and merely responded, "Because I am better than you."

You knew he though this, but actually hearing him say it felt like a knife to the heart. Turning away from him quickly, hoping he didn't see as tears began to well up in your eyes, you hurried down the hallway, desperate to get away from him. His smirk dropped as he watched you run away, his heart dropping along with it.

He had never seen you cry, never seen you run away. You always took his comments in stride, seemingly never letting his words affect you. He didn't even think before he ran after you, following you outside the building to the parking lot. His heart dropped even more as he spotted you sitting on the pavement, leaning against your coach's van. Your arms were wrapped around your knees, your face pressed into your legs. Your body was shaking; you were crying.

You were crying because of him. Despite all his pride, everything he felt that propelled him to act so nasty towards you, he never wanted to be the reason you were crying.

"Yn," he said your name softly, crouching down next to you. He frowned at the sound of your sniffles and heavy breathing, moving to sit next to you and wrap his arms around you. "I'm sorry. It's not true, I'm not better than you. I'm so sorry," he whispered to you, resting his head against yours.

At his words you lifted your head, swollen red eyes locking with his. "Why are so you mean to me, Sunghoon?"

What a damn good question. He hesitated before he answered, knowing he could no longer hide behind his pretend ego to hide his own insecurities.

Sunghoon sighed, giving your body a gentle squeeze. "I'm so jealous of you. You're so naturally talented, and so expressive on the ice. You started training after I did, and you caught up with me so fast. I guess it just made me feel insecure about my abilities."

"I never intentionally did anything to make you feel that way, but you have gone out of your way to make me feel like I'm a failure, that I can't succeed no matter how hard I try," you whispered, fresh tears falling down your red cheeks. Sunghoon moved to wipe them away, and you let him, your eyes holding his captive. "I have wanted to quit so many times, just because of you."

Sunghoon's eyes widened at your revelation, one hand cupping your cheek, pulling you into him. He rested his forehead against yours, whispering his apologies. "My behavior has been awful, and there is no excuse for it. You do not deserve to be treated the way I have treated you. I'm so sorry, yn, for not treating you with respect and with love."

"L-love?" You stuttered, pulling back in surprise.

Instead of responding, Sunghoon leaned forward and pressed his lips against yours so gently that you weren't sure he was kissing you at first. Maybe you should have pulled away and slapped him, but you couldn't bare to break apart from him. Your lips danced against his hungrily, wanting to be as close to him as possible.

Sunghoon's lips never left your own as he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you up so you were standing with him. He pressed you against the door of the van, one hand cupping the back of your neck to pull you into him, the other searching for the door handle. He held onto you to keep you from falling as he pulled the door open, sliding it along before nudging you inside.

As soon as the door was closed behind you, Sunghoon had you pinned on the backseat of the van, his weight pressing into you as you laid down. You tugged at his shirt, helping him take it off as he pulled from the kiss. He shivered as you ran your hands over his toned chest, pulling him in for another searing kiss.

Screw air, you just needed more of him. In between kisses, more and more clothing was removed, until the both of you were bare. Sunghoon's heated kisses traveled down your neck as he pinned your wrists above your head. His lips found one of your pebbled nipples, suckling on it and running his tongue over it, doing his best to pay attention to what made you moan the loudest.

Your hands wound in his hair, pressing him into your chest as he switched to suck at your other nipple, his other hand going to massage your breast. "Fuck, Sunghoon, I need more, please," you whined, rutting your hips upwards, trying to find any source of friction.

"I never imagined you would be this dirty," Sunghoon chuckled, pressing a kiss to your stomach and making his way down, leaving a trail of wet kisses and marks as he found his way between your thighs. "You always look so innocent when you're skating, so pure. I've thought about what it would be like to ruin you, but you're already a pretty dirty girl, hm?"

You moaned as Sunghoon held your thighs apart, leaning in to nudge his nose against your clit, inhaling your scent. He peppered kisses along the insides of your thighs, always getting so close to where you needed him the most, but always skipping right over it.

"Answer me, pretty. You're a dirty girl, aren't you?" Sunghoon's hot breath fanned against your dripping pussy, so close yet so far.

You nodded, your hands holding onto the seat underneath you for dear life. "Y-yes, Hoon! I'm a dirty girl!"

He smirked against your skin, "You're my dirty little angel."

Your hands flew to his hair as he pressed a kiss against your clit, two of his fingers swiping at your wet folds. You moaned out as they entered you, falling into a fast pace instantly. His tongue swirled around your clit, sucking every now and then, doing his best to coax an orgasm out of you. As your moans got louder and louder, he was groaning against you, rutting into the seat underneath him.

You tasted so sweet, he could just eat you forever. He would, actually, if you let him. The sounds he coaxed out of you were just as sweet, something he hoped he would get to hear over and over again for many years to come. Now that he had a taste of you, he wasn't letting you go.

"Hoon, baby, I'm gonna cum," you whimpered, grinding your hips into his face. Hearing your words, he doubled down on his efforts, quickly bringing you to your peak. He groaned against you as you came, his tongue dipping down to your folds to lap up every drop of your essence that you blessed him with. You were shaking, coming down from your high, just barely registering the sound of Sunghoon slurping your cum off of his fingers. "P-please, Hoon, fuck me," you whimpered.

He didn't need to be told twice. The two of you let out loud moans as he thrusted into you, your tight walls squeezing his thick cock so well. He was definitely the biggest person you had been with, and you were loving how well he stretched you out. His lips found yours, gentle as his thrusts turned to a brutal pace.

He was already so on edge from eating you out, he was worried he wouldn't be able to last long with how tight you were squeezing him. He was determined to get you to cum on his cock before he came, thrusts beginning to alternate between a fast and rough pace to a slow and gentle one.

You scrapped your nails down his back, so lost in the pleasure that he was giving you. You were still so sensitive from your first orgasm, and you found yourself getting much closer to your climax with how well Sunghoon was fucking you.

"Baby I'm not gonna last long if you keep squeezing me like this," Sunghoon grunted, hips snapping up into you, reveling in the way your body was starting to shake. His hands roamed the expanse of your body; fingers gliding along your soft skin, twirling your nipples in his fingers, holding you with a bruising grip.

You moaned as he bit down on your shoulder, easing the pain by licking it over and kissing it. He repeated this action up and down your shoulder, leaving a trail of marks everywhere his lips touched. With one bite on your collar bone and his fingers toying with your clit, you screamed as you came around Sunghoon so fast that you couldn't even warn him.

Your orgasm triggered his own, your walls clenching so tight around him that you were basically milking him. His seed painted your insides white, his hips thrusting into yours as he rode out both your high and his. He collapsed on top of you, careful not to put his full weight on you. The only sounds in the van were yours and his heavy breathing.

Your skin was sticky with sweat, making the two of you rub against each other in an almost uncomfortable manner, so Sunghoon pulled out and rolled off of you. He sat on the floor, gazing up at you as you whined at the loss of him inside of you. You were so tired, your body felt heavy, yet you also felt more energized than ever before.

You giggled as Sunghoon kissed your nose, moving to grab your discarded panties and using them to wipe up the cum that was dripping out of your spent pussy. He grinned cheekily at you as he found his jeans and stuffed your dirty panties in his pocket. "These are mine now."

You didn't even realize what you were saying before you said it; you didn't even think these words before they left your mouth. "I think I love you."

Sunghoon froze, hand stopped on its way to gather your clothes for you. He looked back at you, seeing the look of horror on your face as you realized what you said. "I think I love you too."

"Good luck, princess," Sunghoon grinned at you, his arms wrapped around your waist. It was almost your turn in the competition, and you weren't nervous at all.

You giggled as Sunghoon kissed your nose before placing a sweet kiss against your lips, squeezing your waist. "Thank you, Hoon."

"I don't know why you love me, but I am so glad that you do. I promise I will spend every day treating you the way you deserve," Sunghoon told you, his expression serious. He was determined to treat you like a princess from now on; after all, you had agreed to be his girlfriend.

You kissed your boyfriend sweetly as you broke from his grasp, stepping onto the ice. You locked eyes with your former rival, a smile gracing your lips as you got into position.



No matter the outcome of the competition, you were a winner.

[konigsblog]

COD characters (men or women is fine) w/ a reader who has an eating disorder? I’m not trying to romanticize it btw, I have an eating disorder and I kinda need comfort about it. Thank you! <3

(I also love ur writing!)

EACH EACH 141 MEMBER WOULD REACT TO AN EATING DISORDER...

WARNINGS: mentions of eating disorder and the symptoms. this is for comfort, and not to romanticize it. gn!reader. mentions of bmi being <18.5 to describe someone being underweight.

a/n; i mentioned different eating disorders for each character (excluding price) since i know that anorexia isn't the only eating disorder, and if anyone wants a different eating disorder to be talked about. THANK YOU ALSO!! i'm glad you're enjoying my posts, and i hope you manage to get better, or hopefully this comforts you. 🫶

eating disorder hotline - if you need someone to talk to. <3

༉‧₊˚. PRICE (no specific eating disorder mentioned)

i view price as a very fatherly type of man, something about him seems comforting. he'll encourage you into recovery, but won't force it apon you as he realises that could make it worse for your mental sake. of course he wants you physically healthy, but he has to think about your mental health and sudden body changes could affect you.

sitting in his car for some privacy, pulling you onto his lap while he sits in the drivers seat. his hands massage your scalp, covering the crown of your head with his large, calloused hand and pushing it into his warm chest. he worries for your sake and decides to keep you off missions to not put any stress on your body.

༉‧₊˚. SOAP (bulimia)

johnny knows you've been struggling with an eating disorder. how you excuse yourself to the bathroom 10 minutes after eating, chugging water. he also notices your jaw, how it's swollen, your lips puffy and how you seem more exhausted after standing up. john attempts to help you, he's not educated on eating disorders fully so he does some research to figure out the best way to help you.

it's through comfort. any foods that you feel comfortable with, he'll eat with you, even if it's something he hates. johnny's hearts breaks when he see's you getting anxious, the minutes passing and the opportunity to throw up slowly fading away as you begin digesting it. if you use exercise to substitute, he'd slowly decrease the hours. either by watching a movie with you or entertaining you with something, anything to keep you from overexercising yourself.

༉‧₊˚. GAZ (anorexia with a bmi less than 18.5)

he notices how you begin limiting your food intake. it starts off with removing a few pieces, before he see's you limiting more and more, explaining that you'd already ate, or felt too sick to finish your meal. he's worried, he knows that you're struggling, he can see how tired you are; your iron levels dropping, fainting and getting dizzy when you stand up, hair loss and weightloss.

or how your clothes look more baggy on your figure, and your bones becoming more visible. it scares him, and he's worried for your safety. eventually, he begins telling price who takes you off missions 'til you're well enough, he doesn't want you passing out on the field. gaz helps you with encouragement, comforting you whilst you eat something you'd considered a fear food. he'll do whatever it takes to help you, anything.

༉‧₊˚. SIMON (binge eating disorder)

simon worries when he see's you. your face swollen from overeating, and how you push yourself further during training and sparring to compensate for the calories you'd eaten. soon enough, he confronts you. his handa wandering through your hair as he asks the question. simon is pretty blunt, he's openly asking as he's scared incase you rupture your stomach.

he helps you with recovery, making sure you're eating enough and not too little as he realises that results in a binge. he works on your recovery before working on your health, talking to you every day about anything that's on your mind. he won't pressure you to lose weight, but will comfort you whenever you look in the mirror, seeing yourself and feeling insecure. simon doesn't want you overexercising or pushing yourself to compensate, but he makes sure that you get out that mindset whilst he helps your eating habits.

[play-now-my-lord]

all the arguing for AI art because other dweebs you respect have collectively decided it's a neat tool (and I'm not disputing that it is) is going to look really stupid in 10 years. capitalism uses new tools to further its own ends, and the ends of capitalism in the art and design space are "pay artists less", "arrogate the fruits of creative work to brand owners", and "homogenize as much as possible".

in ten years, if AI art isn't a flash in the pan or strangled in the crib (both seem increasingly unlikely), my conservative estimation on the results will be: - pro design pay rates will stagnate at their current levels in real dollars, losing out to inflation gradually until the sort of person who gets published in magazines or commissioned to design storefront art will not be able to pay rent alone even on a good month - freelance rates will, considered hourly, likely decline in real dollars between now and 2030, making work outside of highly specialized fields like furry erotica or technical illustration more or less uneconomical - at least temporarily, there will be a profound self-similarity in the visual language of new art, and cultural production in the 2020s and 2030s will come to be regarded as a nadir of artistic taste, think "magazine ads from the 1950s" and you won't be far off - bigoted decisions will continue to be fake-outsourced to machines, and AI art will become both a tool and driver for them. as a trivial example, every model i've played with has had way more trouble generating recognizable or consistent images of Black celebrities than non-Black ones; it's trivial to imagine this amplifying existing biases in stock photography or art even without any actively malicious intent on anyone's part, and you're kidding yourself if you think the market for commercial art isn't kinda racist already. also, just thinking about how the existing inadequacies in trans/queer representation will be amplified to funhouse mirror proportions makes my brain hurt - in all likelihood, the better-trained AI is to make art, the better-trained it will be to recognize art, which means we are approaching a point at which it will be both legally and technologically feasible for Disney et al to start suing/C&Ding children for fanart more or less automatically, making websites like Deviantart and Tumblr - and art aggregators more generally - difficult or punitive to run. i'm not confident that point is between now and 2033 but i'm confident it will happen within my lifetime

[marnz]

2023 review

an extremely long post re: thoughts on this year

2023 was an extremely weird and fun year of a lot of personal growth! Late last year I had to take leave from work due to some health issues originating from burn out, and going into this year I was extremely nervous about returning to work. I was also determined to do more events and activities this year, which was my ~covid resolution~. And this year turned out to be way different from anything I could have imagined! Not only was returning to work successful, I could quickly tell that the time I took off was instrumental to my health going forward. The skills and perspective shift I practiced and worked on quickly proved themselves to be really important and I felt much better in just about every situation with them on board. I don't want to pretend that this year wasn't difficult--it was, it was stressful and full of a lot of hard work and uncertainty because I did a lot of stuff I had never done before, and tried a lot of new things, and also tried to make some decisions regarding my future. But all of that growth led to some really good things, which I wanted to document.

Good things:

got my driver's license

started doing yoga, which has been great for stress relief. now at the point where I have started to do it independently instead of relying on a class

got back into knitting and knit my first sweater!

saw several shows this year! and I went to a lot of them with friends

befriended some people at work! I always find it challenging to make the leap from work-friend to friend, but turns out going to concerts with people makes that happen. This is also nice bc a lot of my local friends have moved away due to cost of living

made a lot of training progress with Piper. Walking her is so much easier & enjoyable now, and I think our relationship has gotten even better. This has been a multi year project.

read 63 books this year, 13 more than last year. Audiobooks have been a life saver, and reading didn't feel like a chore the way it did at the end of last year.

returned to work successfully, started working on cool projects at work, and have gotten some recognition for it!

went to europe! on a sort of delayed honeymoon

wrote a couple more short stories and worked on original long term fiction a bunch

spent more time kayaking! and more time outside in general, hiking, walking piper, running, etc

got elected VP of the union and became a shop steward, which has been both very rewarding and very challenging

set clear financial goals that I am making progress towards

started being able to eat eggs again! not sure how this happened but it's been a life saver. thank you, immune system.

survived getting covid 😩

started adderall and oh my god....a game changer.

got better at setting boundaries

next year, I would like to work on:

becoming a morning person! I used to be a morning person and then when I got really depressed I lost that power. I know it's possible for me if I take the right steps. I've already started working on it because i'm a masochist

running. I hear it's so good for stress relief and it is so common in my field, plus it is a more attainable form of outside time than hiking (requires driving long distances, waiting for weekend, etc) or kayaking (seasonal, requires buying kayaks, waiting for weekend). my psych also told me that apparently exercise helps stabilize mood and adhd! two things i could def benefit from. i started running today and uhh we'll see how it goes lol. also, i don't drink, i don't smoke, i don't use substances of any kind, give me that fucking runner's high

driving more. driver's license or no, driving still scares me! i want to get to the point where I feel comfortable driving long distances alone, such as being able to take someone to the airport if the train isn't running

continuing big projects at work. honestly I am still considering law school and these projects will give me the chance to think deeply about whether complex litigation is for me.

writing. to be honest, while I still think about my writing projects almost daily, writing just isn't a priority right now. And that's fine. I want to give myself some space and time. i would not have been able to say this a year ago...

using my phone less! something I've noticed is that my phone sometimes makes me feel pretty agitated or i feel overwhelmed by notifications? and that I am happier and able to focus better if my phone is in the other room. for example, when i take a bath I typically put my phone in another room and then i am able to read for hours. I would like to work on this.

continuing creative hobbies. such as knitting, doing more wood working, learning how to sew, etc. brain feel good...

moving & creating a home. we are moving early in the new year, which I am stressed about, but I'm also really excited because it will be a great new space and the location is really, really good. i want to work on making sure this place is as cozy and happy as possible, and also set it up so we can host guests so loved ones can come visit more easily

continuing to build a wardrobe i am happy with! I think I have written before that a lot of my work clothes make me feel like I'm wearing drag, and I'd like to fix that and also continue to knit myself customized pieces I love. like, a sweater vest to wear with a white button down, etc. gender wise i am just vibing but I like menswear more and I would like to continue exploring that

this year I have spent more time talking with my dad and my partner about the future, and while I am still considering law school everyone, including me, is worried about my health w/r/t that, let alone financial shit. my thoughts on this are...I need to have a solid stress management infrastructure in place to be a happy person, regardless of what I do in the future. Knitting & yoga & taking Piper on very long walks daily, plus having stuff to look forward to (shows), has really helped me this year, so I would like to continue exploring that.

as far as work...well I would like it to dictate my life less. right now I'm working from home (office is being remodeled) and I feel like the most boring person alive because I am just. home all the time. I do find work novel because last year I was doing high stress complex litigation and absolutely falling apart over it and this year I'm so chill while doing the same sort of thing. mainly because I have spent so many hours building stress management processes, working on perfectionism, getting perspective, and i've recovered from burn out. game fucking changer! my workload is way too high really high right now, which I don't love, and I keep being put in extremely challenging situations! but that's okay.

anyway. I don't want to misrepresent my life and claim it was exclusively wins this year...there were some really difficult months. December in particular has been so hard. but I'm really happy that I tried so much new stuff this year and I'm excited for 2024.

sending love to y'all! <3

[andiatas]

Russian princess's flirtation with Stellan Skarsgård: "Handsome"

Princess Olga struggles to make ends meet and dreams of appearing in "Big Brother". In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, she says she is disappointed that they do not pay for the interview but happy to get publicity in Sweden, which she hopes will reach Stellan Skarsgård.

- He is very handsome, she says.

Photo: Dagens Nyheter

Princess Olga, 74, is related to the Russian Tsarist Romanoff family, who were assassinated by Lenin's Bolsheviks in 1918. Her father was Andrei of Russia, grandson of Tsar Alexander III and nephew of Nicholas II, Russia's last Tsar.

Like most other surviving Romanoffs, her family fled Russia when the Revolution began in 1917, and the Russian Civil War raged. They managed to get to the Crimean Peninsula, where the family had a residence, and then, with the help of the British Navy, they managed to get to Great Britain.

Olga Romanoff grew up in Great Britain on the Provender House estate dating back to the 13th century and is more likely to be considered British than Russian. She has previously stated that she only knows three Russian words.

In an interview with Expressen in 2019, she talked about the tough growing-up years where well aware that large parts of her family had been murdered, she was teased for her background as a princess.

The family became poor

Her childhood, she says, is reminiscent of "Downton Abbey".

- I recognized my mother's way of speaking when I saw it. She was born in 1908, and she came from that era. When going to London in her Rolls-Royce, she used to call and ask them to send a driver down here by train. Then, when he had driven her back in the evening, he had to take the train up to London again.

She belonged to high society in Great Britain, and her mother pushed for her to marry according to status - preferably to Prince Charles. As you all know, it didn't turn out that way.

She did marry and had several children, but has been seperated for 30 years. In 2000, she moved back to Provender House to take over the management of the estate and got a bit of a shock.

- I always thought that I was very wealthy and that my mother had lots of money, she has previously said.

It turned out that the family was anything but wealthy. After her father died in 1981, her mother struggled to make ends meet. The consequence was that the goods almost fell into disrepair.

"Stellan Skarsgård, yes he is very handsome"

Extensive renovations have been required over the years and are still needed. Olga Romanoff's solution has been to open up and rent out parts of the house. But it has also been to [opening up/becoming public].

Through Romanoff's family ties to the British royal house, she has appeared in the television series "The Queen's Cousins", "Keeping up with the Aristocrats", "Celebrity Big Detox", and the documentary series "The Royal House of Windsor".

But when she applied for "Big Brother," she got the nob. She tells DN that her sights are set on "I'm a celebrity... get me out of here," which is described as a celebrity variant of "Robinson."

- You get to do funny things like eat kangaroo penises. Although they have certainly been sterilized. And they pay well. Nigel Farage is said to have received a million and a half pounds to participate.

She has her sights set on getting paid well. In the interview, she expresses her disappointment that DN does not pay her for the sit-down.

- But on the other hand, I get publicity in Sweden. Who knows, maybe I'll find a Swedish boyfriend. What is the name of the actor in "Mamma Mia"? Stellan Skarsgård, yes, he is very handsome.

Article by Johan Bratell for Expressen, published July 3, 2024, which is a summary of an interview (behind paywall) by Dagens Nyheter, also published July 3, 2024. Translation and editing for clarity is done by me.

[happyspookysteamer]

Edward's back story Pls

I'm still working out the kinks in the Story and I drew some pictures of Edward and the people that had a big influence on him in his life but to some it up... Edward comes from Barrow island in Barrow in Furness. He and his parents lived in a small flat in Ship Steet.

Edward's father worked at the steelworks and his mother worked in the house. Edward also has several siblings but they were not close except for his younger brother George Jr. Monika gave Edward the most stress as she was always getting Edward into trouble. Most of the time Edward was with his grandfather as his father was not very kind to him and his mother was distant towards him. He also went to school in Barrow Island but he often skipped school. His best friends were Margret and Nicolas, with whom he spent most of his time, from childhood to young adulthood. For a time during the First World War Edward was in the army. After that when he came home his friends were gone and his grandfather had died. Nicolas moved away for work and Margret had married and moved somewhere else too.

He left Barrow Island and joined the circus where he performed as a multi-talent in several shows including trapeze performances. His performing partner was a lady named Clarisse. Together they were considered the star performers and made a good team. They married after two years but the marriage broke down after one year because Clarisse was unfaithful and deceitful.

Edward left the circus and joined the railway at Barrow. He was mentored by a man called Edgar. He taught young Edward everything he needed to know about steam engines and the railway. He also taught him patience and honesty and Edward saw in him a father he didnt really have growing up. Edward was offered a job on the island of Sodor. With a little motivation from Edgar he accepted the offer and became a train driver on the North Western railway.

On Sodor, the best time of Edward's life had begun and he had found a real family there. He became a father figure to several young railwaymen, including Thomas. Edward also inspired his oldest, Cyrill, to become a train driver himself. He is also a good uncle to his niece, George Jr's daughter Faith. (Headcanon: Edward outlived his parents and his siblings out of spite)

[sullina]

"I wanna write a book, but all I have is this one really cool scene!"

Then build on top of the scene!

Ask questions!

What leads up to the scene? What needs to be established and what needs to have happened for the scene to happen?

If it's a confrontation of some kind, then there are two (or more) parties who are in conflict.

This doesn't have to be "good guys vs bad guys fight", it can also be "a truth is revealed that was unknown to one of the parties beforehand, which makes them hostile to the other party" Example: Character As goal is to save character B, because character B is hostage to character C, who is a shared enemy of A and new character D. A and D have come together to discuss plans on how to defeat C, but as the discussion keeps going, it becomes apparent that D wants to use B, the hostage, as a sacrifice to defeat C. Since As goal is to SAVE B, they cannot agree to that plan, thus making A and D enemies and leading to a confrontation.

Also useful to ask when you only have one scene in mind and nothing else is: what rules govern your world?

These can be social rules, like idk, if you're considered a criminal, but not dangerous enough for the ruling power to arrest you, you still won't be allowed into any reputable establishments like shops or gatherings in a non-public space (think like some noble inviting "everyone" into his home for a party or something, but because you're a criminal, the guards won't let you in, regardless of whether you're dangerous or not)

If your world involves magic, then how does magic work? Is it a tangible thing that can be handled in the form of like magic stones, or is it an abstract thing, the existence of which is only known due to the effects that can be observed? Like, there's no way to give "magic" itself a form like a magic gemstone, but if someone casts "fireball", the fireball that was summoned through magic can be observed. If magic can be given form/contained in something, that could make way for common people with no magic training to use magic tools, like a fantasy stand-in for electricity (like how just about everyone can use a stove, but you need specialists to make and fix one).

Is magic a natural thing in your world? Are humans the only ones who can use it, or can it also be used by animals? If it CAN be used by animals, that means it can be absorbed by living beings, including plants and also humans and any other fantasy races you might have.

The next question: is magic an everyday thing? And how much magic does the average person use? Is magic literally everywhere, or are there only a few places that have enough magic concentrated to have a significant effect on whatever is there? Is it known why only these places have a high magic concentration? If high magic places are rare, magic itself might be rare as well, leading to anything magic being rare and thus sold at expensive prices, so only the rich might have anything magic.

There's tons i could write about magic specifically, because I already have and really like the concept of magic, but I'm getting off track here.

The point is: if you have a scene, build onto it, or beneath it? Like, who are your characters? Why are they having this scene? What exactly are they doing and why? How does the scene start and end? What is accomplished afterwards because of this scene?

If you answer to every single question is "I don't know", that's fine, but if you wanna write something with this scene in mind, you need to start finding the answers to these questions. They don't need to be precise, you just need to get the gist of what is happening.

"Who are your characters?" Are they, within the context of the story, considered good? Bad? Are they on the same side or are they clashing? What is their relationship to one another?

Remember, YOU are the writer. You're in the drivers seat.

it's your decision where the story goes. That's the fun of writing after all^^

[master-of-the-railway]

Answering @septemberofgenders' ask in a new post bc I deleted the original ask on accident.

(under the cut bc I AM SO NORMAL ABT THIS AU)

The general idea is that Luz, King, Willow, and Hunter all somehow end up on Sodor. Gus, Amity, and Vee all stay in the boiling isles though. Another important note is that the "present day" events for the kids on Sodor takes place during the cgi series. Exactly when I'm not certain, but the current idea is maybe a year or two before the BWBA era would've started. I've also debated on pushing TMR to take place a little closer to the beginning of the cgi series for this au, maybe a few years prior to Hunter's arrival.

Luz and Willow both got there around the same time when they were just a few months old each. Luz ended up being adopted by Sir Topham Hatt as his daughter, and Willow became the adopted daughter of Jenny Packard. Neither of them remember anything from their birthplaces, and they actually have completely new names from their adoptive parents, I just haven't solidly decided on their new names yet. So for now I'll call them by their birth names until their new names get decided. Luz loves Sodor and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. She's fully aware that she is adopted but has no urge to seek out her birth family. Why would she need to? She's got everything she could want right here! She's grown up seeing the engines pretty much every morning, the engines' drivers and firemen think she's a good kid, and Luz considers the steam engines to be her family. She especially likes hanging out with Gordon and Thomas, they're likely her favorites out of the entire group. Willow sometimes wonders if her birth parents miss her but tries not to think about it too much. The construction crew considers her their baby sister and they love her to bits, she does have a crush on Hunter, though the two don't see each other that often due to the odd living situation he has. Luz and Willow are the BEST of friends and they go to the same school, Luz would stand up against kids who tried to bully Willow, and Willow would help Luz understand school assignments she struggled to grasp. They're always there for each other and they especially love hanging out during the summer.

Hunter ended up there at 6 years old, he hadn't become old enough for Belos to start doing major damage to him, so he was incredibly desperate to return back to the boiling isles and his "uncle". Mr. Conductor stumbled across the poor kid and when Hunter explained his situation, the kind man offered to look after him and help him find a way back to his home realm…that is until MC noticed that Hunter displayed obvious signs of having grown up in a less than fantastic household. So, MC gave up the search and convinced Hunter to come back to Shining Time with him. MC made sure he got the poor kid a licensed therapist and lots of love so that he might start to heal. Hunter now lives in his own special room at the Shining Time train station as MC’s younger brother. He remembered that he'd been training to be the Golden Guard, so he gave himself the label of the Golden Conductor as he was now training to be a magical conductor like his older brother. He has his own uniform and supply of gold dust, and he's one of the few who knows about Lady's existence. He's definitely a lot better off than canon Hunter was at his age. Hunter remembered his name just fine, so he's pretty much the only one of the crew who keeps his birth name (again, King, Willow, and Luz's new names are undecided).

King was transported there when he was just a year old. In this au, Eda had found him not long after he'd hatched, and she took him home to raise him as he'd reached out to her just as any baby witch would. Her poor heart just couldn't say no to the little guy. He was her whole world and she'd constantly brag to her friends about her adorable little "demon" son, whom she'd named King, and he made her life so much better. Which is why Eda became a shambled mess when King disappeared and she couldn't find him. She became a rough and closed off witch, doubling down on her criminal acts and hesitating less to attack coven members as she was confident they had taken King from her. Eventually she met with Raine again and the two became allied, slowly re-kindling their relationship…and then Darius crashed in and became the third member of the alliance! Raine and Darius are pretty much two of the only people that Eda trusts nowadays. She's a pretty closed off person and both of her partners (yes they are a polycule in this au, I am not immune okay-) worry about her a lot, but they do their best to help her out with the grief that she just can't seem to let go of. Eda's commonly referred to as "The Owl Witch", as the emperor didn't think "owl lady" was serious enough. She's not just a lady, she's a dangerous wild witch with a curse that turns her into a monster that only two people can control…but Belos has never seen the faces of her two assistants. They're always wearing masks to hide…

King, however, has a very happy and comfortable life on the island of Sodor. While he was a very strange and shocking surprise that Luz brought home one night, King became a welcomed addition to the Hatt family and was treated just as Luz had been: one of their own. He's much more comfortable wearing clothes as Eda had put him in onesies when she had him and the Hatt family kept it up, he's one distinguished little guy! He's pretty close with Topham's grandkids, seeing as they're closer in age than King is to his older sisters and brother, especially considering that Charles and Barbara are both adults and don't live with their parents anymore. He and Luz do know them though! They get along pretty well. *Important Note: King's horn wasn't broken in this au, he very much still has both horns with no damage to either of them.

Amity ended up being the one to find and comfort Gus back in the isles. He clung to her from then on out, and Amity became his protector against bullies. They train together and Gus is a lot less insecure about his illusion magic having Amity at his side, he's the only one that she's soft around, and she's constantly encouraging him to get better and showing him books to improve with. They're pretty inseparable, and the only reason Amity's parents don't disapprove is because Odalia had witnessed Gus' power firsthand once. The kid's got a lot of potential, it just needs to be trained.

[formulatrash]

What do you think of Juri Vips being with RLL at Long Beach? Is it likely that he will get a seat there? I don't know if you even know IndyCar stuffs but I don't know who else to ask 👉👈

I'm undecided of what I should think about him then again he did some sensitivity training and at least he apologised what other people Armstrong or Danny Ric never did. Do you think he should get another shot? You don't have to answer if you're not comfortable was just wondering.

the answer to this is: I don’t know. which makes me lean to the idea he shouldn’t. 

(to my knowledge Daniel actually did apologise, incidentally - I definitely remember it at the time; it wasn’t a stellar apology but it did happen)

with Jüri: a lot of what happened was not about him. Red Bull’s frantic response was not really about a junior driver doing something racist, it was about the fact they were increasingly getting a reputation as a racist team. the speed they acted about Vips was definitely accelerated by someone in Austria having realised there was a marketing consequence to the way the team had become associated with racist fan behaviour. 

that isn’t in any way to defend Vips or say that he shouldn’t have faced consequences: it was absolutely right he did. just that the consequences he faced weren’t particularly about him or what he did so much as they were face-saving for Red Bull to break its association to him. which means that, in addressing what he did or what it means to him, they weren’t necessarily very effective because that was never what it was about.

so a sensitivity course was a way of RB saying ‘we distance ourselves from this, this isn’t our institutional culture even though it is widely documented in the Hamilton commission report that in fact this is endemic to Formula 1′ rather than being something genuinely intended for educating Vips. 

he may have been undertaking more reflection and education since. he hasn’t spoken about it if he has but knowing how to speak publicly in a way that is useful rather than performative about that kind of thing is also not a hugely widely-available skill in motorsport and shutting the fuck up might be better, all things considered.

so the reason I don’t know is: I don’t believe the original consequences Vips faced were intended to teach him anything and I don’t know if he has learned anything since. 

even if he had: motorsport careers end all the time, prematurely. people run out of money and opportunities all the time. there’s always the call of becoming a hanger-on or a team manager or a driver coach (and those are the ones that stay in the industry) just the same cigarette-paper-width away as a barrier you either avoid or cause €180k damage into. 

so there’s no ‘fair’ about whether he comes back or not. it’s an unfair sport. being publicly racist is a better reason to end your career than a lot of the people I’m interviewing for my book who just ran out of ways to carry on. 

is he a good driver? yes, when he doesn’t lose his temper. even before he decided to drop racial slurs he’d been sabotaging his own results by making mistakes when he was in the lead and screwing up under pressure. whether that was the F1 seat being closer than before (I think he likely would’ve got the AlphaTauri seat this year if this hadn’t all happened) or the pressure of running simulator work and FP1s for F1 and then stepping back to the F2 car or the fact Hitech is a pretty aggro team or what, I don’t know. it wouldn’t excuse him being racist whatever it was - plenty of drivers have difficult seasons; Pourchaire’s last year in F2 was pretty mentally brutal but it wouldn’t get him out of dropping slurs. 

and an 11th place finish in F2 doesn’t at least showcase a generational talent, if there happens to be one in him. 

other people - well, person - disgraced for racism in F2 have found a home in IndyCar. Santino Ferrucci seems to have some sort bullet-proof cheque book that means he can come back from anything. I don’t think Vips is anything like as shitty a human being as Ferrucci (who terrorised his Formula 2 team mate with racial abuse, tried to run a Trump-supporting livery and then claimed he can’t be racist because he’s Italian before receiving a year-long PR tour from the IndyCar promoters)

the difference between Vips and Ferrucci - and also Vips and Armstrong, in terms of racers who’ve come out of F2 without stonking results and are looking for an IndyCar seat - is that he doesn’t have any funding. it was why he didn’t go to F2 a few years ago and had a sort of ambling junior career around anywhere Red Bull could find somewhere bargain bucket enough. so I don’t know that he’ll be outbidding anyone for an RLL seat, especially since his name isn’t going to be catnip to sponsors. I know he’s done some testing and is probably gunning for more, a way to impress enough to get seen. 

unfortunately - and I’m not saying this is right, it isn’t - the way that motorsport seats get allocated isn’t fair. it’s not about talent and it’s not about potential and sometimes it’s not even about money. I don’t call the shots on where Vips sits in that decision-making knot and I can’t read the minds of the people that do but there is a regular tendency for people to feel like they need to give white, cishet, male athletes another chance when they’ve faced any kind of consequences for something they’ve done that isn’t afforded to other people.

[falloutnewvegastransedmygender]

Log 11.09.81 21:19: Well, been a massive fucking day. Bypassed the Securitrons at the entrance to the Strip, mostly because I could. Victor was waiting on the other side. Mr. House is evidently still alive, I has brushed it off as a tall tale. Really THE Mr. House!

It turns out that the platinum chip I was carrying is basically a hyper advanced holotape. Needs to be read using special drivers, which only exist in a few places from what I gathered. The Securitrons, already deadly robots, are now upgraded to Mk. II. I had long wondered why they had such excessive shoulders. Turns out they are loaded with explosive weaponry.

Using evidence I've gathered along the trail I convinced Benny's number two to help me put. Ambushed him in his room. Tried to slip away the snake. Ended up becoming a shootout, old Tesla Six finished him off. Turns out he'd been bugging Mr. House's secure channels with a Securitron of his own.

Spoke with a Followers doctor and bugged Mr. House myself actually. Just getting info on his medical technology. Unfortunately that did not get us very far. Oh well it was worth a shot. Also spoke to a NCR official and recieved an official pardon for the whole Crimson Caravan thing. Ambassador Crocker wanted me to come speak to the Boomers up at Nellis AFB. Wants them to use their munitions against Legion. Sounded like a deal to me.

Oh and Legion approached me too. I killed that son of a bitch. "Ceasar has pardoned you." You don't get to back down just because I'm cozying up closer to Mr. House. Gonna be his protégé from the sound of it! Got my own place in the Lucky 38 too. Seriously nice place, I think Victor has been reporting back to House on my exploits.

I needed to go to Nellis anyway and search for that last patrol. Made through the artillery but no sign of the Paladins. Evidently we're the first that's been there in decades. Used my medical training to patch up some of their injured. Evidently some giant ants have setup shop in their generator room. Gonna make my own assault on it tomorrow. Loyal, the second in command as far as I can tell gave me a device, helped him tune the frequencies. Should kill every last ant in the nest. Gonna repair the solar arrays while I'm over there too.

What else what else. Oh right. Also going to be helping out an artist by taking some pictures. Agoraphobia makes it impossible for him to travel and Mr. House's orders are sapping his creativity. Always glad to helpa friend of Doc Mitchell's. Also sold off some Vault Suits for a nice price to a pretty blonde named Sarah in the Vault 21 Motel. A very good deal considering how little most want to give me for them. Anyway we're sleeping at Nellis for now. I have had a fucking long ass day.

[galesgremlingrotto]

As a mechanic in training I'm not just saying it cause I don't wanna do more electrical work but there are so many rants I could go on about why there should not be touch screens or screens with excess information while driving in cars.

There's a conversation about single point of failure. Look up the electrical failings of Teslas.

There's the obvious conversation about safety mentioned in the original post. Cars are 1 to 4 ton boxes of metal using hundreds of explosions a second to move that kill thousands of people every year because people aren't paying attention. Vehicle safety is 95% in the driver's hands. Vehicle safety systems help but we put way too much faith in technology that'll never be able to perfectly replicate human brains. Learn to drive safely. Pay attention while you drive. Don't drive and/or stop driving if you become hindered in any way. (Extreme emotion, exhaustion, substances or alcohol.)

Reference my comment on a single point of failure but also consider more electrical is more chances for things to break and cause more expenses towards the owner or more opportunities for electrical fires. I'm not saying we should remove electrical, that's literally impossible, but we also shouldn't try to condense it beyond reasonable amounts. Too little and too much are two sides on the same bad coin.

Overall yes I 100% agree there's no reason for these kinds of touch screens to be in cars, and I think that anyone who causes an accident while using one should be charged with distracted/reckless driving, be forced to purchase a different car without a touchscreen, and have limitations put on their license.

Maybe that's harsh but I think in America we're WAY too lenient about idiots in cars. Yearly car safety checks, repeated license testing as people age, and more severe punishments for people who cause accidents with their stupidity should be requirements in the states and they're simply not which is horrific in a country as reliant on cars as we are.

another car opinion is that they shouldn't have touch screens

[emmycorcoran]

i wish i could unrecall how we almost had it all -> penemmy

TAGGING: @pennysylvester @emmycorcoran

LOCATION: PSU parking lot

SUMMARY: After awkwardly realizing that Penny is following her on social media again, and even more awkwardly calling her out via text, Emmy awkwardly runs into Penny crying in her car. It's... you guessed it, awkward.

PENNY

There was a reason Penny needed to be consistently moving, consistently busy, and this was exactly it. If she paused for even ten minutes, she had to think, and if she had to think, she had to acknowledge her life and what it had become, which is how she wound up seated in the driver's seat of her car with her phone in her lap and her head in her hands, ten minutes after reading a text from her husband. It was a simple text: will be home late, but the guilt that came along with her relief had grown too much, as had the realization that she was never going to truly be happy, because this was the life she'd chosen and Penny hated that.

Squeezing her teary eyes shut, she leaned her head back against the headrest, hands now gripping the steering wheel despite the car being off and stationary. Penny took a few deep, shaky breaths, willing herself to calm down. "Pull it together," she muttered to herself through gritted teeth. The staff parking lot was largely vacated by now, so she released one hand from the wheel and used it to push open the door some, letting a little fresh air into the vehicle.

EMMY

Emmy had spent the better part of the afternoon sawing away at the cello, wondering why on earth she had opted to play when one of her hands was starting to act up. She didn't want to panic over it, but panicking was so easy. She also didn't want to text Andy about it, because she'd already texted them about some kind of weird ailment that day, so Emmy decided to just pack it in. She had almost reached her car when she nearly tripped over an open car door. "Oh-- I'm so--"

But Emmy stopped dead as she realized it was Penny in the driver's seat, and Penny who looked very upset about something or other. Emmy's eyes flew open as she realized who it was and how she was clearly feeling, but it was like a train wreck she couldn't look away from. Not that Penny was the train wreck, but Emmy was done for no matter what when it was something regarding her, and there was no possible way she could walk away from that car without saying something.

Gently, Emmy crouched beside the open door, her mouth in an awkward, thin line as her eyes opened widely in a bit of a grimace. "Um, Penny? Are you okay?"

PENNY

Penny was usually so good at keeping up appearances. She barely even cried behind closed doors, never mind in public, but apparently that one simple text had been too much, and she'd accidentally let her usually solid facade slip. Too caught up in her emotions, she hadn't even considered anybody seeing her, let alone the person who actually did.

"Oh." Penny sniffed, immediately straightening. "Em, hey. Yeah, I was just—" Too flustered to even think of an excuse, even more so because of all people, it just had to be Emmy, someone she actually had been happy with, crouching beside her, Penny easily folded. She slumped, croaking out a soft, sad sounding, "No. No, I'm not okay." She shook her head, her teary eyes on Emmy.

EMMY

Emmy wasn’t totally sure how to handle this situation. It was one thing for Penny to be working at the same school as her. Really, that was fine. But it was wholly another for her to see just how upset Penny was— for whatever reason— and not know why or how to make it better. Emmy, despite her years of therapy, was not someone who was great in a crisis. And she could parrot all of those buzzwords back, but at the end of the day, it was really difficult for her to feel like she was doing anything that could genuinely help.

“What’s going on?” Emmy asked, frowning. God, she felt so unbelievably stupid. She had no idea how on earth she was supposed to react to Penny crying. “Are… are you sick?” What an idiot.

PENNY

It certainly wasn't that she viewed Emmy as weak, but Penny had always tried to be strong for Emmy. She knew the struggles Emmy faced, and she'd always hated adding to them. Being the one who needed comforting was weird for her, so Penny swallowed down a few deep breaths, then shook her head. "No, I'm not sick." She brushed the salty tears from her cheeks. "I'm just...stressed," was the word she landed on, and decided it wasn't totally a lie. "Life's just stressful, you know?" Despite herself, she gave Emmy a sad smile, her very presence bringing a certain sense of calm. Emmy had always had that power; it was incredible it still remained all these years later. "But I'm okay. Or I will be okay, I promise." She moved her eyes to her hands on the wheel. "Do you have your car?" She asked. "I mean, do you need a ride or anything?"

EMMY

God, Penny might as well have asked Emmy to start reciting War and Peace from backwards to forwards, but in Romanian. "Life-- yes," Emmy agreed, nodding her head as she swallowed, trying to buy herself some time to come up with something intelligent to say. "Life can be very cruel. I'm sorry you're so stressed." Can I do anything to help? The question died in her throat, because that wasn't really her job anymore, was it? "Uh-- no. I'm still not really driving. It's been-- a lot. I'm just waiting for Izzy to be done with classes, so I was heading over to the library..." Emmy raised and lowered one shoulder, but it couldn't stop her next few sentences. She wished she could stop the floodgates, but they'd opened. "You should be happy. Not stressed."

PENNY

Emmy was right, life could be cruel. But Penny’s wasn’t, or it shouldn’t have been. She had the picture perfect, cookie cutter life: a loving husband, a nice house, a dog, a picket fence, all she needed now were the 2.5 children and she was doing everything right. And yet here she was, hating everything about that. She should be grateful, so she needed to snap out of this now. “I should, you’re right,” she said with a false smile. “And I am. It’s just…one of those days, I guess.” While her voice still sounded croaky, her tears had stopped—both helped and hindered by Emmy, whose presence was, again, calming, but also heartbreaking, because…well. She’d once been Penny’s happiness, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever really stopped. “Do you want to wait for Izzy, or can I drive you home?”

EMMY

Emmy nodded. She knew this was not how she wanted to spend her afternoon, but she felt bad that Penny was struggling so much. It wasn’t that she no longer cared for the blonde, but more that their lives had been changed for the worse. They weren’t a unit anymore. And frankly, Emmy felt like she was an inconvenience— a part of Penny’s grueling schedule that didn’t need to exist. And so they didn’t. “No, that’s okay. You can go ahead, I’ll wait for Izzy. I’m sure you have a lot of things to do today. I don’t want to be a bother. But I’m glad you’re okay, and you deserve to have good and happy things.”

PENNY

It shouldn't have made Penny's heart sink, Emmy rejecting her ride home. They'd had nothing to do with each other for the last ten years, so what was one more day? Regardless, she nodded. "Okay, as long as you're sure." She refrained from telling her she had nothing to do, and that she was basically just going to drive around and stay out of the house as long as possible. It didn't matter anyway; Emmy didn't want to be in her company, and Penny couldn't blame her. "Thanks, Em." She flashed her a small, grateful smile. "You do, too."