#Idk how buses work and they scare me

[that-tall-queer-bassist]

Sometimes being an adult is choosing to not engage in someones bid for attention.

And sometimes its realizing you actually need to learn how to use the bus.

[reneesghostinthelivingroom]

Bro. Broooo. Bro. Gimme top!janis x Switch!reader with dom/sub dynamics, with Janis calling reader her pet + Secretly making out at a halloween party that Aaron threw. Bonus points if they flrt in public but never make out in punlic so there are rumours abt them pls plspls pls i need i i am OBSESSED with janis as a top pls

Closet Hookups

|| Janis Imi'ike x nonbinary!reader

|| Warnings; drunk reader and Janis, make out session, use of the word "pet", swearing, slightly in the future

|| Summary; there were rumours about Janis and reader being a thing, after getting caught at a Halloween party those rumours are confirmed.

Requests open!

Started; September 13th

Finished; September 14th

~~~

The bell ring, signalling the end of your classes for the day. With a heavy sigh you made your way down the halls and to your locker. Which was next to your girlfriend's. Janis.

You twisted around the numbers on your lock until it reached your combination and pulled it open, taking out the stuff you needed. Instrument, art supplies and a rolled up work in progress science project. Leave it to grade 10 to give you a stupid amount of projects.

Just as you were about to close your locker; you felt an arm wrap around your midriff and shuddered, instinctively tensing only to hear Janis' voice whisper against your ear. "Just me, babe."

You relaxed and looked back at her, kissing her cheek," maybe a bit of a warning, yeah?"

She laughed and gave you a playful nudge," did I scare ya?"

"No you d-"

"Boo!" Janis said suddenly, which made you flinch and she laughed again. Giving you a quick kiss," Yes I did." You rolled your eyes, unamused by her antics.

"Anyway, ya coming to the Halloween party? Aaron and Cady are throwing one tonight." She asked as she followed you down the hall towards the buses.

"Asking me to be your plus one, Imi'ike?" You teased, she only grinned and wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

"Maybe I am, depends on if you say yes."

"Then, yes."

"Tits." Janis smiled at you, making you roll your eyes as she gave your cheek a kiss before waving goodbye. You waved back and boarded your bus.

When you got home from school, you took out your costume. Making sure you had all your accessories before putting it on. You had decided to go as a slutty Vampire, which made you feel a little more exposed than what you were used to but you felt good.

Half way through doing your makeup you received a text from Janis, so you grabbed your phone and opened it.

Babygirl; heyy! need a ride in? i can pick you up at seven

You smiled at her offer and texted back, knowing Janis had only just recently gotten her full license.

You; as much as i love you, idk if i trust your driving skills yet

Babygirl; 😦 ive never been more offended

You; lmaoo im sorry baby, besides i can walk. cady's literally like ten houses down from me

Babygirl; fine 😔

You laughed a little at her dramatic reactions and set your phone down, finishing up the rest of your look and doing a once over to make sure everything was picture perfect. Then you had a mini photoshoot in front of your body mirror because of course. Gotta get those gram pics.

Soon enough, it was seven. So you headed on down to Cady's house, getting there around the same time as Janis and Damian. You noticed that Damian seemed to be a little spooked as you walked over.

"We survived. Oh my God, sweet grass." He said as he laid down across the grass, you raised an eyebrow and Janis rolled her eyes.

"He's being fucking dramatic. Ignore him." Janis stated, Damian gasped and looked her.

"Nuh huh, girl your driving nearly killed us. I don't know how they passed you on that test." Damian replied, sitting up.

You burst out laughing, covering your hand with your mouth," Man I'm glad I didn't go with y'all."

"Oh, whatever." Janis huffed and headed inside, the two of you following after.

The three of you met up with Cady, Aaron and the others (being the plastics). All of you became friends over the summer after last years insanity. Everyone, including yourselves, were surprised by that.

"Oh my Gosh, you guys made it!!" Cady ran over and gave Janis a hug, you gave an awkward smile and wave.

"We nearly didn't because of someone." Damian looked and pointed at Janis, who gave his arm a light slap.

"Cut it out, Damian."

Cady and Aaron laughed at that.

"Is she that bad?" Aaron asked.

"Worse." Damian nodded.

"Oh my god, I'm not listening to this. You, come." Janis grabbed you by your arm and dragged you to the kitchen, you easily followed.

There she got a drink for the both of you and handed you yours before taking a drink of her own.

The night went on pretty smoothly, you and Janis getting more and more drunk with each cup. By the time you both hit your fifth drink you were stumbling over each other and giggling as Janis brought you into the closet.

"Shh,' You whispered through quiet laughs," they'll hear us."

Janis chuckled and gave you a soft kiss, pulling you closer to her as she worked to get your blazer and button up off.

She broke the kiss, the usual dominant look back in her eyes as she scanned your body with a smirk," you're the one giggling. If they catch us it will be your fault."

"Heyy," You pouted, both of you were talking in slurred speeches. The alcohol hitting the both of you hard. You a little more so than Janis.

Janis covered her hand over your mouth," Quiet, pet~" She whispered in a sultry tone. You huffed and took her hand off your mouth, placing your own hand to the back of her neck and pulling her in for a bruising kiss.

Meanwhile, everyone else was wondering where the two of you had gotten to. Before you disappeared Gretchen had been keeping an eye on you and Janis, considering how drunk the two of you were. She was the first to notice your absence.

"Hey, has anyone seen Y/N or Janis? I've been looking for them but haven't found either," Gretchen said as she regrouped with the others.

Regina raised an eyebrow and smirked," How funny would it be if they were off making out?"

"Regina." Cady rolled her eyes and pushed through the group, scanning the bunches of dancing people for any sign of you or Janis.

"I'll check upstairs, knowing Y/n and their alcohol tolerance they're probably in the bathroom and janis got dragged along" Damian said, walking off in that direction.

Cady nodded and headed off to the halls, looking around. She passed the closet and heard something get knocked over, then voices. Which sounded like yours and Janis'. She paused and took a few steps back until she was in front of the door. Maybe Regina was right...

She knocked then opened the door, finding the two of you trying to separate from your tangled mess. You had reached for your shirt and completely fallen over top a mop bucket while Janis was laughing her ass off at your clumsiness.

Cady gasped and blushed deeply. Yup, Regina was definitely right. "I'm sorry- we were just- oh God-"

Janis looked at Cady," give us a minute." She closed the door, leaving Cady stunned in the hall as Damian came over to her.

"I found them.." Cady mumbled, Damian looked at the closet and gasped.

"No," He said in a dramatized tone.

A few moments later you and Janis stumbled out, back in your outfits. Some of your buttons were messed up and Janis' hair was out of place. You both had sheepish grins on your faces as you looked at your friend group. Who had all come over by now.

"Called it," Regina said, holding her hand out to Aaron who rolled his eyes and handed her a $10. "Thank you very much." Regina smirked and pocketed the bill.

"We're dating," You announced.

Damian nodded, "You know, I figured."

"Wow, rumours were right." Gretchen said.

Karen was the most surprised out of everyone, she really had no idea whereas everyone else had at least some idea," oh my Gosh. Congrats!!!"

You and janis looked at each other with a soft look in your eyes. You were glad they finally knew, it felt wrong keeping it from them.

[screamingfromuz]

This is a bit of a ramble, sorry, but it’s been in my head for a while and I just needed to put it out

Both my parents, and my grandparents, grew up in Israel. My parents were born in the late sixties and moved countries in 1998, so they went through quite a bit, and my mum sometimes talks to me about what it was like to live in the conflict. One story that’s always stuck out to me was that once there was a missile warning, but they weren’t able to go to the shelters because this time it was suspected that there would be some sort of toxic gas involved, and it could get into the shelters. So my mum and dad had to stay in their homes, with the rest of their families, and the only protection they had was putting wet towels under the cracks in the doors and windows. At this point my parents were in their early twenties. Everyone was scared out of their minds. My mum was absolutely terrified, she knew that there was a good chance they could die in this. My parents stayed on the phone the entire time, trying to comfort each other

Luckily, it was a false alarm. There wasn’t any gas, and my parents are fine. But this story never fails to make me cry

I think one of the best ways to pull people away from extremism when they’re still in the ‘soft radicalised’ phase is to share personal stories. It’s a huge problem, the dehumanisation of both Israelis and Palestinians. People’s lives, and deaths, are reported through such a cold, detached view. Usually it’s just numbers and statistics. But almost everyone who’s lived in either Israel or Gaza have had experiences like my parents, and everyone has felt those core feelings that they have. And it’s so important to talk about this kind of stuff, to share personal experiences, because it humanises people. It forces these dumbass extremists to confront the fact that these are real people suffering, and that it’s not a fucking video game where there’s the Bad Guys and the Good Guys

I don’t think this would work on those who’ve been fully radicalised, they’re too far gone, and honestly they’d probably be happy to hear personal stories about the ‘wrong side’ suffering. But still, I think this kind of stuff can and does pull people back into reality. Idk, I just wanted to get this out there because I’ve been thinking about it lately

I still remember when it was mandatory to hold government issued gas masks. One of my earliest memories is my kindergarten teacher showing us pictures that explain how to put them on.

for a few years my bedroom was in the safe room. It was fun because I didn't need to get out of bed if there was a missile.

about a decade ago, due to a mechanical problem, a bus in Jerusalem exploded. People immediately went into "call and confirm mode".

the buses I would take back home from school wold have cracked windows due to people stoning them.

I was 10 minutes away from at least two stabbing.

in school we had an earthquake drill, fire drill, armed attacker drill and missile drills.

those are just the things on the top of my head

[boragekiss]

for real how am i going to juggle full-time school and my job and just day-to-day living when i hvae to rely fully on other peoples generosity and schedules because the buses might be down for like half a year. even rn when i dont have school and have really chill work i have barely been able to get myself out of bed or make myself cook/eat . i have so little i can offer people who inconvenience themselves for my sake like i rely so much on my own charisma for that sort of help and i really feel like my luck is running out. ive already had two breakdowns at work and i feel like i can see my coworkers opinions of me diminishing and idk im scared ill lose my job in the future if i cant get it togehter. i dont know how to get myself together 😭 what normally gets me together has not been working. i know i just have to make it through a little longer and ill feel stronger but im so weak spirited and these urges to just end it all or totally crash & burn my life come on so suddenly and strongly i have to keep very still to prevent myself fr om doing anything bad. but soon i wont even have the time to sit still. man.

where r the step by step instrcuctions on how 2 get thru life and ur responsibilities and relationships when u hit emotional rock bottom like twice a week . litearlly idk how im going to do school and work at the same time like this. im so scareddddd of everyhintg its made me unfunctional . mr paranoia over here ...

[girlofmanyfandoms]

Forbidden Spicy Gatorade Chronicles Chapter One

A/n: Ok, so the cult is getting stronger by the minute so if you haven’t been introduced yet, don’t be offended! I’ll try to go through everyone and introduce you in the next chapter. Erica (@the-never-ending-void) has asked not to be included in this fic.

Key:

Tater - @a-lonely-tatertot 

Lynn - @lesbilynnette

Gray - @silver-snow

Lilah - @tribblemakingalicorn

Cadence - me

Ivy - @imaramennoodle

Molly - @molly-sencen

Farris - @everyonehasthoughts

Speens - @an-absolute-travesty

Holes - @holesinmyfalseconfidence

Connor - @linhammon-roll-bromance101

Panda - @worldwidepandamonium

Meg - @ultralazycreatorfan

Word count: 2,382

Warnings: If you’re reading this, you already know what’s about to pop off

Lilah poked Cadence’s shoulder who promptly rolled over. Lilah poked her several more times, a bit more aggressively. Grumbling Cadence sat up quickly and smacked her head on the top of the bunk bed. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. Her eyes slowly adjusted to her surroundings, taking in the strangely black, purple, and gold aesthetic room.

“Why’d you wake me up?”

“You got a notification,” Lilah said, eyes wide open, handing her the phone, slowly walking out of their shared room.

Cadence furrowed her brows, unlocking the phone before calling out to her roommate. “Wait, how long have you been up?”

“OREOS!” she called back. “Where are the keys?”

“On the kitchen counter,” Cadence replied, checking her emails. 1 unread message from Gray, the AI developer who she made small talk with during lunch breaks.

Dear Cadence,

Good evening! There’s a new play coming out on Mainstreet, called The Facade, and I was approached by the team to create a promotional piece. I was hoping you could help, and we would split the rewards 50/50. The play is about a murder crime, which is plotted out in a series of intricate riddles. The plot twist: the lead detective was the murderer, and had been delaying her trial while she was pretending to gather evidence, and stealing from a suspect to gain enough money to flee. And her second in command was funding the plots without knowing that her boss was the mastermind behind it all.

Ok, now that my boss has read above the cut we can talk freely. The offer is real, and I WOULD like to split it 50/50, I just can’t stand talking all formal, y’know? Anyway, since you said you do animations and stuff as a side gig, I thought maybe you could make the animations, and I’ll edit and do the social networking? Idk, I’m just spitballing here, let me know what you think.

Also, Lilah directed me towards this email, she’s really good at tracking people down.

Sorry if I made any spelling mistakes, I haven’t slept in weeks,

Gray

“Huh,” Cadence huffed, glancing at the clock. 3 AM. She had time. So, grabbing her IPad, she opened Procreate and got to work. The Facade. Sounds interesting enough. But what to draw? A lock perhaps? A silhouette of the main character? Before she could decide, her phone buzzed again, a voice recording this time, from Lilah.

“Hey, so I just ran into two of the actresses from The Facade and they said they want to talk to you about it so you can create a better promotional vid, meet me at the local library, k bye.”

Cadence wished on a shooting star that at least an hour had passed by so the buses would be running. But how wrong she was. It was 3 AM. It was raining. And the library was at least a mile away.

“This should be fun,” she mumbled, grabbing her set of keys, her IPad, and a raincoat before jogging the mile it took to get to the library.

_______

By the time Cadence arrived her hair was drenched and she was so out of breath and tired she thought she was going to pass out. She looked for any sign of her roommate, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw three people sitting at a table chatting freely and crying laughing. The librarian wasn’t fazed in the slightest. On the contrary, they seemed to be enjoying it, leaning over the library’s registry system, talking with them. Quickly Googling “The Facade,” Cadence confirmed that the two ladies were the actresses from the play. The other one offered occasional comments, mostly just watching the occurrences that went on. Social anxiety kicked in and told her to run in the other direction, but she really needed the money. She forced herself to approach them.

“Hey, I’m Cadence,” I introduce myself nervously. “Lilah said you wanted to speak to me about promoting your play?”

“Cadence! Lilah mentioned your animations, and we thought it’d be a new, eye-catching way to get our work out there,” the first one chirped. “I’m Molly, by the way. I play the detective’s second in command.”

“And I’m Ivy,” the other one greeted. “I play the lead.”

Cadence expected the third person to introduce themself next, but the librarian took the initiative. “Hello, fellow human, you may address me as SPEENS, I accept liver sacrifices.”

“They do that all the time,” the third person assured her. “Tater, by the way. I’m not in the play, I’m just working on a novel with Molly. We met up here to talk to good ‘ol Speens when these bit-”

“Language,” Molly warned.

“When these lovely individuals,” Tater corrected, “decided to make this a research sesh for the book. As if we needed more work. I’m free to fly wherever the wind takes me.”

“Amen to that, sibling,” Speens responded solemnly, pulling five wine glasses and vodka out from under the desk like a bartender. Cadence looked confused, but not against it. “Say, where’s the rest of the crew? Lynn, Gray, Farris, and the lot of them?”

“Farris doesn’t work on the set,” Ivy reminded her. “They’re an archaeologist. Holes makes the sets for us.”

Speens wrinkled their nose, seemingly in disgust. “And the others?”

“Well, if you can take a break, we can meet up with them at the theatre. Even Farris, since I heard their last trip was a bust,” Molly offered.

Without a second thought, Speens put up a sign that read “The Librarian is Out.”

“Do they-”

“All the time,” Ivy nodded. “It’s kinda their thing.”

“But, yeah, Farris and Connor tend to hang around the set,” Molly explained. “They don’t bother anyone, no one bothers them. They’re a bit older, kinda like the authority figures of the group.”

“If authority figures would let you make a dumba-”

“Tater,” Ivy nudged.

Tater changed their wording. “-unwise move in order to see what would happen.”

“They’re responsible for us without being responsible for us, if that makes sense,” Ivy commented. “Let’s get going though, before someone blows something up.” She shot a sideways glance at Speens, who put a hand up in surrender.

________

Ivy swung open the doors to the theatre and immediately had to duck for cover. “What the HELL, Connor?”

They were holding onto some theatre seats, zooming back and forth the row on rollerblades, occasionally losing balance and having to sit down. After a particularly messy turn-around, they decided to crawl over to the red carpeted steps and laid there for a moment. Farris was perched in a seat a row down, calming watching as Connor seemed to be having an existential crisis. Upon seeing Tater and Cadence, Farris got up, carefully stepping around Connor. “New kids?”

“Farris, this is Tater, and that’s Cadence,” Ivy helped. “They’re helping us promote the play.”

“Congratulations, you’re adopted,” they vowed, though Tater looked confused. “What? I don’t make the rules. Oh, wait, I’m supposed to be the responsible one…. Ok, so I make the rules, but they can be bent if the alternative’s interesting enough. Right, Connor?”

“Uh huh,” he called from the floor tiredly. If he hadn’t spoken, he would have been deemed dead.

“Lynn and the rest of the gang are in the back,” Farris informed them, pulling a skateboard from under their seat and helping Connor stand. Connor’s rollerblades flailed a bit as he struggled to get up, but his arm was slung around Farris’s shoulder, supporting him.

“DO A KICKFLIP,” Connor prompted, his words slurred.

“Are you kidding, I haven’t skateboarded since I was six, I need an actual skate park to practice that,” Farris recounted. “And how drunk are you?”

“Yes,” he responded, giggling in a hiccupy way. “Does anyone have more vodka?”

“I got you fam,” Speens said, pulling out a suitcase of alcohol from thin air.

“Anyways,” Ivy interjected, trying to get the conversation back on track. “I’ll go get the others, wait here.”

Ivy returned with Gray, Lynn, Holes, Panda, and Meg, and introduced them accordingly. “Gray works on the special effects, Lynn designed everyone’s costumes, Holes makes the set, Panda is a theatre critic, and Meg is our concept artist.”

“So, other than animation, is there anything else you bring to the table?” Molly asked.

“Well, I do glass art,” Cadence supplied. “It’s probably not relevant, but when it’s still really hot and glowy, which is when you can shape it, it looks like it would make a good snack. Hell, it almost looks like Gatorade. I can show a picture if you’d like.”

Cadence took her phone out and everyone crowded around to see.

“More like Powerade, Gatorade doesn’t come in that kind of blue,” Speens added.

“F O R B I D D E N S P I C Y G A T O R A D E,” Connor yelled, startling Farris.

“NO,” Holes countered, clearly distressed. “Do NOT drink molten glass. You’d die!”

“You call it death, I call it adventure,” Molly smirked. “I’m here for it. C’mon Holes, live a little.”

“Sis, how have you made it to adulthood thinking like that?” Lynn questioned, looking a bit scared.

“And I know how to live, I’m living right now!” Holes countered.

“Sure you are, nerd.” Molly rolled her eyes. “And how many near death experiences have you had, huh?”

“Near death- okay, first of all, I am not a nerd-”

“You kinda are,” Tater mumbled. Holes gasped, putting a hand over her heart as if they were betrayed. “What? You are. You make a living off of reading books.”

“Used to, friend,” Holes clarified. “I’m a freelance artist now. I picked up this gig because of these fools. And good thing too, because now you’re about to poison yourselves! Second of all, um, none?! How many have you had?”

Molly clicked her tongue in disappointment. “Five. Blended corn, acorns, eating soap, eating paper, and an intense game of dodgeball. I haven’t even peaked with these experiences yet.”

“Immortal until proven mortal,” Connor finished for her.

Meg stood next to Molly and held her shoulders. “This girl, she’s going places.”

“Meg, not you, too, I swear to god-”

“sLuRp,” Ivy joined in, grinning from ear to ear.

Holes was getting hysterical. “What the actual hell is going on? Lynn, help me out here.”

“The Gatorade is Forbidden for a reason, kids,” Lynn tried to reason.

Gray stood up with a mischievous glint in their eyes. “Where can we get it?”

“From the crunchy forbidden chocolate powder, of course,” Connor chimed in. Panda gave him a high-five while Holes became paler and paler from the cult forming in front of their eyes.

“This one speaks the truth,” Panda shrugged.

“Ok, what even is crunchy forbidden chocolate powder?”

“Sand, duh,” Connor said matter of factly. “Add some vodka, a martini, and some olives, and you got one heck of a slushie.”

“So that means there must be Forbidden Chewy Lettuce and Flavoured Forbidden Chewy Lettuce,” Tater went on. “Grass and flower petals. Cursed, but not wrong.”

“Ooh, and crackle air can be limestones and sodium carbonate, pies are dirt, bread is wood, and hard candy is metal,” Panda proclaimed.

“Fidget spinners are Forbidden Bagels, too,” Connor helped. “I should know, I tried the other day and cut my lip.”

Farris ignored the last part of Connor’s rant. “The variety pack, I like the sound of that.”

“Farris you’re supposed to look after us and you’re condoning this?!” Holes shouted.

Farris mounted his skateboard. “I’m not condoning anything. I’m enabling and hyping them up without joining in. That’s some big brain stuff.”

“This is why they control the brain cell,” Ivy nodded. “WAIT, ARE MY CHICKEN NUGGETS BURNING?!”

“Ives, you literally set a timer on the microwave backstage, you’re fine,” Tater reassured Ivy, holding her from running to check on her meal.

“Oh, like you know anything about microwaves,” Ivy argued. “You microwave ice cream.”

“It takes too long to soften, and I’m impatient,” Tater defended, turning to address Holes. “And it is eaten with a spoon.”

“Do not start this debate again- you know what, Panda, get ice cream from the mini-fridge, we’re settling this here and now,” Holes demanded.

“I think the real question is why is ice cream so hard,” Speens mentioned as Panda brought a tub of Haagen Daz ice cream. Holes used a fork to attempt to chisel out part of the snack. It wasn’t very successful.

“I think that’s just how Haagen Daz works,” Cadence observed.

Holes saw this as an opportunity to gain some momentum in the argument. “Not just this brand! All ice cream works like that!!!”

“No,” Panda objected. “Not Breyer’s. That stuff is always just right when you need it. Hashtag not sponsored.”

“Did you just break the fourth wall?” Lynn asked. “You know what, I don’t wanna know, just for the love of all that is good in this world please don’t drink the Forbidden Spicy Gatorade.”

“Too late,” Cadence said. “It’s easily accessible. Also, I’m calling E so we can recruit her.”

“Holes, I know you’re hiding it from us,” Molly speculated.

“What are you talking-”

“You’re keeping the Forbidden Spicy Gatorade all to yourself because you know of its power and you want it all to yourself.”

“I don’t HAVE the Gatorade, and I’m explicitly telling you it’s going to kill you if you drink it!”

As the bickering went on, Lynn slipped off to the vacant staff lounge to pull out her phone. There had to be a supplier somewhere who would give them this. She searched for a few minutes, and, after a few dead ends, she finally found an investor. “Cha-ching. Forbidden Incorporated is in business,” Lynn smiled to herself.

“Forbidden Incorporated, eh?” Farris asked from the doorway. Lynn froze and cursed herself for forgetting to lock the door. Now Farris knew of her plans. “Tell you what, I’ll keep your secret under one condition: We split the money 50/50, and get equal control over the decisions. So, deal?”

Lynn hesitated. She wasn’t sure she could trust Farris, but seeing as this was the only way to stop Holes from knowing just yet, she had no other choice. “Deal.”

_______

A/n: So that was fun and took entirely too long to write. I hope you enjoyed it and if you’re in the cult and I didn’t include you, reblog this and I’ll make a list. The next chapter might focus on a smaller group bc there are like thirteen characters here and I’m tired. Peace out!

[im-hqlover]

Arkham Knight - Chapter 1: Calm before the storm.

A/N - Ok, Idk if it will work, but I will try. I wanted to warn you that this story is based on the Batman Arkham Knight game, and that I will make certain changes in the universe, I hope you don't mind.  (Btw, I wanted to thank again @aliasimagines to proofread the chapter.)

Warnings: Spoilers, anxiety disorder, psychological terror? (maybe not yet in that chapter)

Pairings: Richard Grayson (Nightwing) x Reader (in that chapter / arc)

Y/n = your name (the reader is female)

d/n = dog name (the dog is male)

Words count: 1915

Next chapter: Coming soon.

Y/N's INFO:

Gender: Cis-Female

Sexuality: Straight 

Height: Short 

Weight: Not Defined 

Skin Color: Not Defined 

Hair Color: Not Defined 

Eyes Color: Not Defined

Other details? No

=-=-=-=-=

9 months. It's been 9 months since the Joker's death, and I knew something wasn't right, I felt that, since his death the crime rates have decreased, this should be a good sign, but... I feel like it was calm before the storm starts.

Today was October 30th, the day before Halloween, it was a nice day, I mean, I like to watch Halloween movies, give candy to children, see and create costumes, and maybe go to a Halloween party... pfff, obviously I don't go to parties. But other than that I think Halloween is cool, a great autumn day, cold days to stay under the blankets, watch something on tv and maybe customize some pumpkins.

My day was going as well as any other, Richard and I had agreed to spend today and tomorrow in my apartment, I was happy that he was coming to stay here with me, at least I wasn't so alone, I mean, I have (d / n), but well... he's a dog, so he doesn't answer me verbally, so it's good to talk to someone instead of just hearing my voice and the sound of barking. I was putting food for (d / n) when I heard knocking on the door and I ran to answer it, when I opened it I came across my boyfriend.

- Richard!

- Hey baby. - He smiled at me, put his arms around my waist and kissed me, I kissed him back and put my arms around his neck.

After we kiss, he walks into the apartment and places his backpack and motorcycle helmet next to the couch, I closed the door and go back to the kitchen.

- It looks like you worked hard to decorate the apartment. - He said while looking at the decorations, such as pumpkins and skeletons papers that I hung from the ceiling and also other details that referred to Halloween.

- Yes, I worked all week to do everything, but since I am not working and there were no classes this week, it was one of the only things I could do to distract myself. - I said while looking proudly at my hard work.

- It's wonderful.

- Thanks. - I say while blushing. I look at the oven and notice that the cookies were almost burning and I ran to get them out.

- The smell here is great, what are you cooking?

- Cookies. I hope it haven't missed the point. - I put the tray on the counter and Richard comes closer and look closely.

- That still needs to be painted. - I say while watching my boyfriend.

- They must be delicious, can I get one?

- Feel free, as long as you don't eat them all before painting them, I think everything is fine.

- I promise to leave at least one. - He spoke and touched my nose, he knew it irritated me. I crossed my arms and looked at him seriously. - Maybe two. - I rolled my eyes and laughed lightly. He comes over and wraps his arms around my waist. - Hey, you know I can't resist your cookies.

- You can't resist any food Richard. - I said and laughed as I put my arms around his neck.

- You know me. - He kisses me until (d / n) barks and we get scared.

- Looks like someone is jealous, isn't it (d / n)? - I say leaving Richard's arms and going towards my dog, and I pet him, after doing that I wash my hands to go back to my work in the kitchen.

- I'm just missing one thing. - He said while sitting on the couch and (d / n) lying on his feet.

- What?

- Pumpkins.

- Oh, I just didn't know where to leave them. - I get some pumpkins that were in my fridge.

- Wow, how many did you do?

- Four so far. I was planning to make two more after the cookies.

- Wow. This is incredible (y / n). He got up from the couch and looked at the pumpkins more closely. I smile shyly and continue making preparations to decorate the cookies.

While I was decorating the cookies, Richard decided to put some film on.

- Hey (y / n), what movie do you think we should watch?

- Hmmm, I don't know, how about ... The nightmare before christmas? - He smiles and nods in agreement placing the film right after.

While I was decorating the cookies, Richard stayed in the living room "watching" the movie, because he was actually writing something on his laptop. I saw it at a glance, it must have been a police case or something related to thieves.

When I finished the cookies I put them aside and went to carve another pumpkin, it didn't take long for me to hear the footsteps of a certain person coming to steal cookies.

- I loved the expressions of your pumpkins. - He said approaching slowly, like he wanted nothing with anything, but of course I knew what he wanted.

- You can get the cookies, you don't have to make a scene Richard. - He smiles and takes some cookies. - I loved this one. - He said showing a bat-shaped cookie with blue details.

- I made it especially for you.

- I am honored - He does something like a reverence and starts to eat the cookies, he supports his back on the counter and watches me make a drawing on the pumpkin.

- Oh, by the way, I have something that I think you will like. - I go to the fridge and get a pumpkin pie.

- I think I'm going to put on 10 kilos this Halloween. - We both laugh and put the pie on the counter.

- Since I had a lot of pumpkin pulp, I didn't want to waste it, so I made pies.

- Did you do more than one?

- Yes, I did if I'm not mistaken 7 pies.

- And what are you going to do with so much pie?

- I planned to maybe see with the neighbors if any of them would like it... on second thought, maybe they also already have pie... but, I think it is worth trying and see if someone would like it... - I say while I think about the possibilities of what people would like of pumpkin pie. - Maybe I'll give Alfred one, do you think he'll like it?

- I'm sure he will, you know that Alfred loves anything you give him.

- Yeah... I hope so.

- You don't have to worry about it, believe it. - I smile awkwardly and he kisses me on the cheek. - By the way, what do you think about watching Friday the 13th?

- It may be, I think I never watched the movie, so... I think it might be a good idea. - I shrugged while watching my pumpkin.

- Have you never watched Friday the 13th?

- I have almost pretty sure not.

- So it's going to be the perfect movie. - He smiles and goes back to the couch, with some cookies and a piece of pie of course.

The hours go by and it gets close to 18:00, it was getting dark outside. Richard and I were entertained watching the first Friday the 13th movie, everything was fine, just a few scares here and there and holding Richard's arm and resting my head on his shoulder, until I hear a scary voice outside. 

- Did you hear that? - I ask him and he answers positively, we got up from the couch and went to the window. My apartment had a view of some of Gotham's big screens, so it was possible that we could see Scarecrow talking. He was talking about his fear toxin, saying that tomorrow it would look like child's play, my heart started to beat faster. 

It didn't take long for the city to start being evacuated, I grabbed my backpack and put on everything I thought was most important to me, as Gotham was supposed to be dominated only by villains I couldn't leave it here to them. 

I got my laptop, pen drives, pictures of people important to me and a few other things. Richard took his backpack and helped me to take what I needed to my car, as he had come on a motorcycle, (d / n) couldn't go with us, so my car was the best choice, we put everything in and Richard went to leave his motorcycle in a safe place, or at least he thought it was safe.

- I drive the car. - He spoke while making hand gestures asking me to give the car key. - You aren't in a position to drive and you know it.

I agreed and handed over the key, I was very anxious, probably already having an internal panic attack, so letting him drive was the best option, as he was already used to dealing with this type of situation.

As there were so many cars and buses evacuating the city, it took us a long time to leave the island and head towards the wayne mansion, probably one of the safest places at this time. When we got there, we removed (d / n) and our belongings, and Alfred was already at the door ready to help us. 

- Master Dick, Miss (y / n), I'm glad you are well. 

I was still in shock with everything that was happening, so many things going on in my mind, I was freaking out, I was exploding internally, I couldn't answer anything, because I felt that if I said anything I would collapse.

- Actually (y / n) is not well, this whole situation has affected her a lot.

- I understand, come inside Miss (y / n), I know something that will help you. - I looked at Richard before entering the mansion and following Alfred into the kitchen, he started making tea and at the end put it on the counter in front of me. - I know you are not a big fan of tea, but I recommend taking this one, it will calm you down.

- Thank you Alfred. - I say with a slightly shaky voice and take the hot cup, I wait for the tea to cool down a little before taking a sip of the drink, it was not as bad as other teas I had already tried, but it wasn't something I would take all hour. Alfred leaves the kitchen and goes to another room. I spend some time alone in the kitchen, watching the cup of tea, until Richard arrives in the kitchen and approaches me.

- I know that all this is messing with your mind, but I know that soon everything will be resolved, I know that Bruce won't let anything happen to Gotham and will do his best to save everyone he can, and so will I will help in whatever I can. And I swear I won't let anything happen to you.

- Thank you Richard. - I leave the cup on the counter and hug Richard, who returns the hug. - Thank you…

We stayed like that for some time until Richard breaks the hug and says he has to see some important things, but that he would be back soon. I go back to drinking the rest of the tea and when I finish I watch my shaking hands, I hear the sound of dog steps approaching and I see that (d / n), he knew something was wrong, I approach of him and I pet him, at least that made me calm down a little. I decide to go to the living room and look out the big window and observe the dark, rainy night that was at that moment. I hope this nightmare will end soon.

=-=-=-=-=

Masterlist

[sparksinthenight]

I feel scared about posting this but the truth needs to be revealed.

So I just had a terrifying yet potentially revelatory nightmare.

Idk how to describe it. It was all very creepy. So, it was winter. But it wasn't how winters are out in the woods or the fields or anything, with everything being peaceful and friendly and full of life, the cold stirring up your energy and the ice bringing forth wonder. Nah, I love nature-winter, just as I love nature-summer and nature-spring and nature-fall.

But no this was city-winter. It was sharp and unforgiving and tinted dark with air pollution. The buildings were gray, the air was gray, the streetlights towered and cars sped by, leaving thick trails of smoke. Candy wrappers and cigarettes littered the ground and the sidewalk was frozen hard under your shoes. It was the kind of day unhoused people dreaded. The kind of day I would have had to suffer through wearing torn shoes and a too-thin coat while waiting outside at the bus stop. It was the kind of day where you really feel the effects of capitalism, in all it's uncaring nightmare glory, beating down on you.

I had just walked out of my school and towards the crowded bus stop at the end of the street. On my way, I met these two girls. They were very pretty but there was something off-putting about them. Something dangerous. They were handing everyone free money. Three dollars, in the form of a loony and a toony. They told me it was for a birthday, which was kind of weird but okay. I put the money in my pocket, beside my bus ticket, intending to give it to someone who needed it.

I joined the crowd that was  waiting for the bus. There were many people waiting anxiously for the bus to arrive. They were just as cold as I was, in pain in the frigid weather. This part of the dream actually doesn’t make sense in real life since other people waiting for the bus tend to have much better and more wether-resistant clothes than me. So they tend to not be cold in the ten-fifteen minutes at most that we have to wait. But for some goddamn reason today everyone was wearing shitty clothes made more for the autumn than the winter. Anyways, it gets worse.

I was waiting for the Number 6 bus. As I usually am. So were a lot of other people. As they usually are. But the first bus spend by us. The second bus was not in service. The third bus was on route to go to all the wrong places. We kept waiting and waiting and more buses passed us by. It was starting to get dark. We were cold. We were desperate. We could see the worry in each others’ eyes. We waited and waited until finally a bus came by. It was more of a van than a bus really. Small. But it it could take some of us. We all lined up, chasing the bus as it came to a stop, crowding around the edge of the sidewalk. We tried to all cram in there as much as we could. But the bus driver - a fat man with dark greying hair and amused eyes - sped away after only accepting two of us.

I was on the bus. I felt really bad that it had left my comrades behind. It wasn’t fair. But there was an energy of fear in the bus, sharp and sticky and cloying. Hidden by the uncharacteristicallly plush seats and the merry mood of the driver. I look around. The other people in the bus had anxiety in their eyes. But while talking to them they assured me that the bus would take us to our destinations.

The bus driver was jovial, in good spirits, and assured us he would take us where we wanted to go. For a while we drove by, familiar buildings passing by as we went down the well-known road. But then the familiar buildings became unfamiliar ones, increasingly unfamiliar ones as we twisted and turned through the streets. I was so lost. I had no idea where we were or where to get off. Eventually the driver took us to the arena district - which was the most posh entertainment district in the city, filled with very expensive clubs and bars and restaurants and casinos and stuff I didn’t even know. He made us get off of the bus into the cold, harsh, bitter and unforgiving morning outside.

His appearance had changed. He became tall and slender. The colour of his skin, hair, nails, everything, was the same colour as the winter outside. His dark eyes were full of cruelty, full of a raging, ferocious, corrupted hunger. Not the hunger of not having food, no. Not the hunger of actually being hungry. This was the hunger of wanting more, more, always more. Of never being satisfied. His nails were just a bit to sharp, just a bit too pointed, almost not human. His eyes were just a bit too dark, the colour a bit too indecipherable, and they were hungry, hungry, hungry. They were powerful. And they were raging. Inside him, you could tell, was a bottomless pit. One you could fill and fill and fill and fill and it would still be deep, and dark, and bottomless. His face was set in a cruel, severe expression. He didn’t look human. Not really. But almost. You could believe that he was human, if you only glanced over him. Not if you looked at him for a while though. If you focused on him, you could tell. That he wasn’t human. He was a black hole given human form.

He told us that we needed to work for him now. We needed to work to make him money. He told us that he must make money and we owe it to him to work. After all, he had so generously driven us. Never mind that he didn’t even drive us where we wanted to go, I thought but didn’t dare say out loud. None of us dared speak. We were all terrified of him. We were all acutely aware of the terrible and all-encompassing power he held over us. And we were all aware of the terrible and destructive rage he would fly into if we didn’t do as he said. We were all aware that we were stuck. And that he had powers we did not know. Even if there were no walls, no fences, no chains binding us. Even if we could technically make a run for it. We couldn’t. He would kill us. We knew that money was what he hungered for. Money was what he used to fill the ever-continuing, ever-reaching, ever-growing abyss inside him. We knew that he had a dark and twisted desire, a cold and cruel desire for money, money, more money. Consuming like  some sort of demon. Which we was. No, he was worse. Demons weren’t real. There was nothing not real about him. He said that we had to do the jobs he told us to do. It was freezing and we were cold, cold, cold. But we were terrified. He told us that we had to do repairs and other maintenance around the arena district. We had to repair the tall, shining, artfully architected buildings that people spent their Friday evenings and weekends at. We had to keep the district up and running. Keep it pretty and beautiful as it shone full of metal and stone and glass. We had to serve him. And line his pockets. Nobody could see us. Nobody could hear us scream. Not unless we got away from him.

He put us to work immediately. We had to scale the large, spiralling buildings without any protective equipment. We had to work up there perching on the ridges and folds

... I’m too terrified to write any more. I don’t know what about this dream scared me so much but I am so fucking terrified and I need to take a moment before I go on ...

I think I should describe the district. Most of the buildings were really new-age. They had walls and roofs that curved and folded and bent over themselves and twisted and spiralled and rolled like hills. It was all very artistic. It was all very materialistic. It was all very decadent and opulent. There were tall buildings that stretched up into the sky and wide buildings that sprawled out across multiple blocks, connected by twisting, glittering interior bridges. There were glittering and polished windows. Often the windows were from floor to ceiling. Often the windows took up the space of the entire wall. Often the walls were made of glittering metal. A very popular way to gild walls was with folded, overlapping panels of shiny silverish metal. There were also many buildings built with the straight edges and straight walls of the slightly older building style. They were all very tall, very straight, very imperious, as they stretched up towards the cloud-swamped, softly glowing sky. They were very clean. They had large windows, the bottom floors always being made of looming floor-to ceiling windows that were clear as crystal. They had many ledges and ridges. Like I said before all the metal was shining silvery-grey, sometimes more silver and sometimes more grey. But always so very clean. Sometimes it was reflecting like a mirror. Sometimes it was had such a certain lustre that it almost glowed. Sometimes it almost had a sickly yellow tint. Sometimes it had a blue tint. Sometimes it even managed to have a pink tint. The stone, on the other hand, used in buildings, was imperious gray, jet black, shimmery brown, blood red, rich maroon, light creme, or even sometimes granite. Everything was so opulent. Everything was so rich. Everything was so oppressive.

The atmosphere was oppressive and heavy and it was dark and twisted. The surroundings held no life in them. Not any of the spark of life and kindness that lit up the kinder parts of the world. The air was polluted, polluted, oh so polluted. Everything was heavy and pressing. The world, the world around us was uncaring, apathetic, twisted, dangerous, and cruel. It was almost suffocating. An air of danger, hung thick all around. An air of terror, of unholiness, of corruption pressing and swirling in the weight of the air all around. It was claustrophobic despite - no because of - the grand scale of everything.

We couldn’t take in the “beauty” of it. We couldn’t notice any of the grandeur. It mattered not to us but rather passed by beyond our reach.

We were too busy being tired, sick, aching, scared, and cold in our hearts and in our bodies and in our minds. We were too busy being caught up in work, work, work. We were too busy pushing ourselves forward in the repetitive, agonizing, mind-numbing labour we were forced to do. We were too busy freezing and ignoring how we were freezing. We were too busy feeling our life force drain from us. We were too busy being tired, body and soul, and ignoring the tiredness in order to make him more and more and more money. We were too busy trying to ignore how our arms and legs and everything ached. We were too busy pushing ourselves to do dangerous work and feeling how it felt to not know if you were going to die or not. We were too busy not having anything. We were too busy being exploited. We were too busy slowly dying. We were too busy feeling pain and fear and death. Death hung over us ever-present.

He sent us up buildings, to scale walls and stand on ledges and balance on folds and whatnot, shining and cleaning and repairing without any safety equipment. We had no nets or harnesses or anything to protect us from falling. We had no helmets or any other protective gear. We had no warm clothes to protect us from the majority of the winter’s chill. We had to work, work, work at a brutal, frantic pace, pressing our hands and bodies onto the cold of the stone and metal and glass.

I remember being up high, on top of the curve of a folded, new-age wall. Straddling the curving slope on either side. I had a bucket of cold, soapy water that was making my hands burn but I had to clean the building. All the while making sure I didn’t fall off and die. I remember hating it so much and feeling myself die. But I was trapped in a crystal of his corrupted making. I couldn’t do anything.

The people entertaining themselves and going about their day in all the bars and restaurants paid no attention to us, to our misery. They couldn’t see us and even if they could they wouldn’t care. They had cushy, intellectual day jobs that paid well, that they did in the safety of an office, that they pretended to hate so they could justify their lavish spending habits. Meanwhile the monster was getting richer and richer. And still he wasn’t satisfied. He was never satisfied.

Every time we finished a job we had to come to him. He sat ruler-straight, imperious, and ever hungry. And we were aching and tired and we just wanted to rest. But he didn’t care. He gave us no rest. He just gave us another job. And we had to go do it. We had no rest. No time to sooth our bleeding souls. No time to find some peace and calm. We only had the constant demand of filling his ever-expanding emptiness with coins that were as poisoned and tainted as he was.

We didn’t want to but we were scared of him, so scared of him, so scared about what he would do to us, what he could do to us. He was unholy, and his unholiness extended out to all the world around us, choking us, poisoning us, feeding off of us. But he was all-powerful. His corruption was everywhere. His spirit reached out in all directions like electric wire, watching us, keeping us in line.

I wanted to escape, to go somewhere I could call home. We all did.

I was picking up trash from the stone courtyard of a great library/movie theatre when I figured out. I was between the slanted walls of two cold, looming glass pyramids. Despite the fact that the public sidewalks were littered with trash, the grounds of private property had to be kept clean. It almost felt protected though, between those sloping walls that provided the illusion of privacy. I realized what he was. I realized what he was doing to us. I had felt my life force draining out of me bit by bit but I had never paid attention to it. I had never known why. But now I knew. I felt it. He was drinking us. He was draining our life force and turning it into corrupted money for him to consume. He was slowly killing us and soon we would be dead. I knew I had to escape. I knew we had to escape. But how? We had no power.

He made us gather around. He told us that if any of us gave him six dollars he would let that person go. But none of us had that kind of money. At most we had three dollars from the girls on the street corner but many of us didn’t even have that. I saw his offer clearly for what it was, a ploy to make himself seem good and reasonable while keeping us trapped in servitude anyways. He wanted to seem like he wasn’t interested in oppressing us, only in making money. But I knew how he was draining our life force for money. I knew how draining us and oppressing us was inextricably tied to his ability to make money.

I had to think of a plan.

One time I was working near the very edges of where he was keeping us trapped. I was separated from him by two walls made of rough stone. They were also granting me the illusion of privacy. On the ground I saw some coins. A toony and two loonies as well as a few quarters and nickels. I was shot through with amazement and hope. But upon closer inspection I saw that the money had the unmistakable quality of being tinged with the type of corruption that can only come from him. The money was unmistakably his. And this was a trap. Of course it was, it was too good to be true. Just a bit more than the money I needed to get free, and then some. He wanted me to pocket his change, to bring the money to him asking to be let go. And then he would accuse me of stealing and he would utterly destroy me. He would scrape the flesh off my bones and tear into my throat and drink my blood and bite into my bones and leave nothing left. Maybe he knew I was onto him. And he wanted to consume the last bit of me that he could. But still. I had to get free. I had to get free. I had to get free.

I pocketed the larger coins, too cautious to waste my time picking up the handful of smaller ones. He could come at any second. I did not intend to give him the money. But I knew that in this world, money was hard to come by and people could use it to keep themselves alive. I intended to give the money, along with the other money I already had, to someone who actually needed it. I don’t know what happened after that. Maybe the rebellious act of stealing had given me the power I needed to break out of the spell for just a little bit. But I just started running as fast as my legs could carry me. I ran and I ran and I ran through the forcefield that had been keeping us in. I knew I ignited his anger. I felt it the moment that I was free from the force field. So I kept running. My legs were sore and aching but they felt invigorated. My lungs were sore as I fought for every bit of oxygen I could get. I kept running and running until I reached my home.

For some reason my home was my science teacher’s house. Like, my science teacher from real life. I’ll tell you about her or else this part won’t make sense. In the “real” world, the world outside the dream, where you and me and everybody lives out their waking lives, this woman was my science teacher and now she teaches other people. I’m not going to tell you what year she taught me because on the off chance that she ends up reading this it would be incredibly awkward for her to know that she saved me from a capitalism demon in a dream that I had. Anyways, she really likes nature and really cares about the environment and taught me a lot of what I know about climate activism and stuff. She’s also really nice to all her students and she’s a communist.

Anyways in the dream she was all of that and she was also my mother.

In the dream I ran to her. And she felt bright and new and green like nature-spring. I told her everything that had happened. She told me that she knew what kind of creature he was. She had travelled the world and heard many stories of what exists beyond the physical reality. He was a Capitalist, a terrifying and dangerous creature that had an everlasting hunger for money and grew fat from harvesting the life force of humanity. She told me she didn’t know how to get rid of him but that I must try, and I had her support.

I was scared. But I was also full of determination. I knew I had to end him. I had to end him immediately. I knew that I had a high chance of failing. A high chance of dying. A high chance of getting enslaved again and having my life force drained out of me. I did not care. I knew I also had a chance of killing him.

I marched up to him. He looked at me with his terrifying, dark eyes, and he snarled. I told him that if he wanted money he could come get the money. I held a toony up. He opened his mouth and rushed at me. But I jammed the coin into the roof of his mouth, making him bleed. He howled in pain as I jammed another coin into the roof of his mouth and two into the floor of his mouth, under his tongue. He howled in pain as he bled to death. And then finally, he was gone. Dissolved and carried away by the wind. Into nothingness. My friends were free! They were safe! They could go home and rest and live their lives as free people. They smiled and cheered.

But I still had the coins that I stole from him, which carried his corrupted essence. I was unsure of what to do with them. It was then that I realized. He might be gone but there were so many other creatures that were just like him. That were on the prowl. That were gaining power and draining their own victims and making the world what it was. We lived in hell.

I startled awake. Out of the dream. Into real life. I was so overwhelmingly scared. I tried really hard to forget about the dream, to stop thinking about it, to put it behind me. But I could remember his sharp teeth and his empty, abyssal eyes and his hard, uncaring expression. I felt his power all around me. And my heart thudded in my chest. He was coming to get me. He was coming to get me. He was coming to get me. But then I realized. That words have power. If I could explain to the world what happened, if I could explain what he was, what he did. If people knew about him. If more people knew. Then he would have less power. Then he would be foiled. I needed to fight him in real life, just as I had in the dream.

It’s true that I woke up terrified but I woke up safe. I woke up in a house that was mine despite not being the home I wished was mine. I woke up secure. So many people don’t. So many children wake up separated from their families all alone in dark rooms on hard floors. They’re all alone. They’re young. They’re small. They’re uncared for and unloved by all that surround them. They have no one they could call and no-one that would hear them if they did call. They have only their fear. Only their grief. Only their aloneness. They have no-one and they have to be quiet and not wake anyone. They can’t even cry. They can’t even scream. They have no-one to comfort them. No-one to help them. No-one that sees them as a person. No-one that sees them as a child. No-one who holds them and strokes their hair and tells them it will be alright. They just have to lie there silently, flooded with fear, silently trembling as they drown in their terror and grief. Young and already a victim of the system’s destructiveness, of the cruelty of the people who benefit from it.

And I know because I’ve met children like that. I’ve turned my nose up at them. I’ve stayed silent to their injustice. You don’t know what happens in places that aren’t the West. You don’t know what gets hidden and swept under the rug and never talked about and never taken seriously even if it is. We divide the world up into meet little categories that can easily be sorted. Put strangers in neat little boxes. Think that we can learn everything important about their whole lives from just a glance. We justify our wealth however we can. People are individuals not groups. 

[ubemango]

hi ella, ur the only canadian i can think of so i wanted to ask u (don’t answer if u feel weird!!) but i recently committed to mcgill and it afraid i won’t fit in and don’t know the culture as well as well everyone else i guess. btw, i am american and from a relatively large, elitist california city lol. but the thought of not being able to make friends and what not is making me really stressed out and is making me question my decision to go to canada. do u have any advice? ❤️ love u

It’s not weird hehe!! First of all, congratulations on getting into McGill!!!! Montreal is a beautiful city and that’s a great school :3 Anywho, I’m happy you came to me for advice, I’ll try my best!!!

Culture-wise, here are some random tips:

Tim Hortons is the Canadian go-to for coffee/breakfast/what-not. If you like coffee, the way our orders go is instead of saying two cream/two sugar we just say “double double”. Tbh I’ve never heard anyone say single single LOLLLL But I’ve heard triple triple before

I’m pretty sure not a lot of people say this anymore but just in case: a loonie = $1 coin; toonie = $2 coin. Also we don’t have pennies anymore!

Montreal buses don’t have air conditioning from what I remember

?? I can’t really think of anything that might surprise you, Canada isn’t much different at all!! I would make a statement about colonization but that would not do much to help u!

Also just a thing now that you mention elitism: the way college and university works here (from what I know living in Ontario) is that a lot of people look down on college. College is more career-based here, meaning you have a lot of practical/hand-on training. You can usually get your certificate/diploma within two years. University, on the other hand, is more “academic”, and this is where you get your degree. So you can see that “divide” in like... being “more prestigious”, being “more learned” etc etc. It’s just really stupid and both my brothers went to college and are making MONEY and are happy so what I have to say to people who look down on college is *my middle finger*

Anyway, my first piece of advice on making friends: go to Frosh if you’re able to!!! Frosh is a great way to make friends—I’m pretty sure McGill’s lasts like a week ? And the drinking age in Quebec is 18 so I know a lot of people who went there who had the time of their liiiiiives 😭😭😭😭 But drinking isnt the only thing you need to do LOL. It’s just a really good time to mingle. The main thing you should try to do (if you end up going, and if its not cancelled due to COVID) is see who’s in the same program as you because you’ll be taking a majority of the same classes as those people! Also, there are usually Facebook groups that people create for their graduating year (for example, I’m in a group with all the graduates of 2022 of my university). The way we got to know each other in 2018 is we all posted our own intro posts lol!! Idk if McGill does that but look it up to see if it’s there :)

Second piece: look up the student directory and check out clubs you might be interested in! Usually programs will have its own student association. For me I have access to the political science SA, and the English lit SA as well. These associations can plan meetings that help you mingle with professors and students in your program. Also you can just check out some super mundane/low stakes participation clubs. I really wanted to join knitting club LOL but I was too busy

Also international students should have access to programs that help you get familiar with the city. The student centre has a loooot of resources for you to use and take advantage of—after all, it’s part of your tuition! So don’t be scared to talk to advisors because they’re there to help you navigate living in a new city and going to a new school! I will say though that they tend to be overwhelmed with a LOT of people coming in everyday, so sometimes wait times can take a whole day. It gets super frustrating on that front but again I will emphasize that they will try their best to help you!!!!!

I think what I would really like to stress here is that it’s okay if you don’t make friends right away. (I’m entering my third year next year and I can count on *one* hand how many friends I’ve made !! I’m not kidding!!) It might feel like you’re just floating in that sea of a student body but I proooomise you will find people to be friends with. Idk if McGill has tutorials for every class but those are sort of like little classroom-sized settings where you’re able to talk to other students and this is how I became friends with one of the friends I have now. Or sit next to someone who has an empty seat beside them during lecture!! I would do this and sometimes our profs would make us have discussions so I was forced to talk to these people LOL which helped me because I’m very shy, it’s very hard for me to start conversations just because

And just remember that A lot of those students are in the same boat as you. Post-secondary education is an entirely different ballpark of socialization and learning style. You’re all going through it together! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and scared, I’ve been where you are. But I promise you it will be fun and it will be worth it!!! And because you talked to me about it, I’m saying right now, everything will be okay. I have a big head and therefore a big brain and therefore I’m really in tune with the universe and the universe is telling me to tell you that you will be fine:) If u need to talk more just send me another ask and I’ll open messaging for you 💖💖💖💖 I hope this helped even the slightest bit, I love u much ;-;

[sgtduckybucky]

an act of comfort

Genre: Hurt/comfort, fluff.

Warning(s): Mentions of suicide

Words: 1712

A/N: idk if F.E.A.S.T was ever mentioned in the new movies but it was in the video game so that I decided to use. This is set during the beginning of far from home btw. right after peter escapes the press.

Sorry for the spelling and grammar error, I wrote this in a rush! 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。

Queens at night was beautiful.

Sure you couldn’t see the billions of stars that litter the sky like they do in the suburbs but who needs that when you have the view of the city illuminating the sky from their artificial lights? Those stars are better in your opinion. 

Something about the multicolored lights and the slighting humming that accompanied them relaxed you. It calmed your racing thoughts and rapid heartbeats.

You sighed in contempt at the magnificent view of the city before you. Technically speaking, you aren’t supposed to be at the rooftop of F.E.A.S.T, especially at this late hour, but it was the only place you can go without people constantly asking, are you ok? As if any minute you would break down and be hysterical.

Volunteering at F.E.A.S.T was great. You had the oppurtinty to help in need and a lot of the people there were friendly. Even the ones that seemed ‘dangerous’ were harmless, they were just grumpy. But you weren’t some delicate flower. You’re 16 years old, damn it! You can handle your emotions just fine thank you very much!

You stepped around one of the large rooftop air vents and admired the large memorial graffiti painting of Iron Man. Thanks to the city light, the art work made Iron Man glow, giving it the illusion of the shiny metal his suit always had.

Taking out your phone, you snapped a couple of quick pictures of the artwork, smiling down at them. It was strange seeing Iron Man gone. It felt…surreal.

 A sudden sniffle caused you to lift your head upwards. Eyebrows furrowing, you listened closely for anymore sniffles. Just as you were about to shrug it off as a cat running through the roof and its tail brushing the dusty surface, you heard it again.

Curious, you slowly walked towards the source of the sniffles.

Whatever it was you were expecting, it was safe to say that Spiderman crying on the edge of the rooftop wasn’t it. Eyes wide in surprise, you called, “Spiderman?”

Startled, the young Avenger jump and you could some whirring as his mask glowed before hearting a soft curse and for the hero to turn around and face you. His mask covered most of his face, only his thin lips and chin were exposed.

“Hi?” His greeting sounded more like a question. His tongue darted out, wetting his lips in nervousness, “How can I help you?”

His voice sounded strange. It’s usual high pitch sounded thick and heavy, as if his throat was dry from severe dehydration.

“Umm, I can go if you wa-”

“No!”

Your mouth was quickly shut at his interruption.

He shook head, exhaling deeply as if he were gathering his thoughts, “I mean, you can stay…if you want.”

Nodding, you slowly took the few short steps and sat next to him on the edge. You weren’t scared. You’ve been on this roof since you were in middle school so you were pretty familiar with it. Sitting on the edge was nothing new.

It was quiet between the both of you. It wasn’t awkward but neither of you were sure if you should say something or not.

“It’s nice here.” Spiderman finally speaks up.

You hummed, “Yeah, it is.” Your legs swung beneath you as the cars zoomed down below you, “It’s very relaxing.”

Spiderman didn’t reply but he nodded his head in agreement.

“I really like that artwork.” Spiderman pointed at the wall, finger barely lifting upwards. It seemed like that would demand a lot of strength from him.

“Thanks.”

He turned to face you, lips set downwards in confusion.

A chuckle escaped your lips as you looked back at the graffiti work of Spiderman, “I did that.”

The super hero next to you said noting so you continued, “I was in denial when I heard about his death. It took me a couple of weeks before I finally accepted it. Then I came here and spent hours working on it. By the time I was done, I didn’t even know what I was doing. It was like I was possessed by a ghost or something.” You ended with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry,” You can easily notice the confusion lacing Spiderman’s voice, “Did you know him?”

You shrugged weakly, “I didn’t. But when I was in middle school, my parents and I were on those city tour buses when Loki attacked. We were on the bridge when it started collapsing, we would have died had it not been for him.”

You didn’t see it, but Spiderman had a small smile on his lips at your story, “He was a good man.”

“He was.” You agreed.

 Silence fell again briefly before it was interrupted by Spiderman’s sniffles.

“I miss him.” The thickness in his voice intensified, obviously indicating that he was crying.

“Me too.” Taking notice of how his shoulders sagged and how his skin around his lips had turned slightly red, you added, “But I’m sure he was special to you.”

The hero nodded, “He was…He was like my dad.” He choked out his words, trying so hard not to cry again. Especially not in front of a stranger.

“That must be hard on you.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” He snorted.

“I do, actually.”

He tilted his head. You could almost picture what the mysterious person under the mask was looking at you in curiosity. It would've reminded you of a puppy were it not for the dead white eyes of his mask.

“My… my dad,” you exhaled shakily, a way to prepare yourself for what you were about to say, “He passed away a couple of years ago…during the snap.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice was quiet, just a whispered apology.

You shrugged, disregarding his sympathy, “He couldn’t really cope with my mom and I turning into dust before his own eyes so…he,”

Spiderman placed his hand gently on your shoulder. Telling you that you didn’t need to continue, he knows what happened.

“There was a note. My dad said that he tried looking for us but with the Avengers quitting…it wasn’t easy. Suicide was the only option for him to be with us.”

There was slight pressure on your shoulder. You turned to face the figure and smiled at him in appreciation. The gesture was an act of comfort that you didn’t know you really needed.

 Spiderman didn’t remove his hand from your shoulder as the two of you started at each other, nothing but the sound of the rooftop air vent and the cars below filling your ears.

Neither of you knows how it happened but your lips were suddenly connected. It was a small kiss, just a brush of lips. Chapped lips against smooth ones.

And just as quickly as it happened, it ended.

“I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…” Spiderman sputtered hastily, tapping the spider on the middle of his chest but nothing happened. Mutters of, stupid suit, work! Tumbled from his lips.

“Hey, it’s ok!” You held his wrist gently in your hands and smiled at him reassuringly, “It was an emotional moment.”

He nodded, “But I shouldn’t have taken advantage.”

You smiled at him in appreciation, he really was the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, “You didn’t. We both needed it.”

 Your thumb was rubbing Spiderman’s wrist soothingly, coaxing him to relax and release the tension.

“Can I?” His tongue quickly darted out and wet his lips.

“Yeah.” You breathed shakily.

Leaning in, your lips were connected once more.

The second kiss was slow, a shy touch of lips. It wasn’t difficult to notice that the hero didn’t do this very often with how clumsy he was being.

Cupping his cheek, your thumb caressed his jaw, “Don’t think about.” You muttered against his lips before kissing him again.

It didn’t take long for Spiderman to loosen up and ease into the kiss, shoulders sagging in relaxation while his hand snaked their way up your arms. One resting on your shoulder and the other was on the back of your head.

The added pressure your head pushed your forward and deepened the kiss in a certain way that made the man in front of you open his lips in slight surprise. Naturally, your tongue darted out and slithered its way into his tongue.

A moan rushed from Spiderman’s lips at the sudden intrusion. It was an odd sensation to have another person’s tongue rubbing and sliding against his own but, at the same time, it felt insatiable. Heat pooled in his stomach at the way you pressed closer against him and biting his lower lip, gently tugging at it before letting go and resting your head against his forehead.

The both of you were panting heavily after the long kiss and you can hear Spiderman breathing harshly. You could the shiver going his spine due to the lack of space between you.

Just as you were about to say something else, a sudden vibration cut through.

“Shit.” He muttered, hesitantly pooling away.

You rubbed your hand up and down his muscled arm, watching as Spiderman frowned down at his phone, tapping away quickly before pocketing it.

“I have to go.” Maybe you were imagining it but, it sounded like he regretted saying that.

“Duty calls.” You chuckled.

You can’t see his face but you can tell that he had a happy expression under the mask based on how his lips turned upwards.

The third happened naturally. He leaned in and captured your lips in a rushed and messy kiss. Fingers clutching your hair tightly, wet noises filling the open space.

“Will I,” Spiderman bit his lower lip at what he was about to say, “Will I ever see you again?”

That surprised you. You thought that he would just kiss you and go. Forgetting about what had just happened because, after all, he was an Avenger. A busy one too. Lives to save, crimes to stop.

But, did you really want him to forget? Here was Spiderman, asking to see you in the near future after making out for the past half an hour. It honestly sounded like a bizarre dream but, it isn’t. He is actually there and he actually kissed you.

“Yes.” Was your reply, “I’m not going anywhere.”

A grateful smile and quick peck, Spiderman jumped off the roof and swung through the city to wherever he was needed.

[celesjial]

hyunjin’s live quick trans 

he was like HI BABY HI ANGEL HOW R U from the comments and i nearly died hes so cute 

hes like oh whoops is this bad timing its like rlly early in korea WAKE UP AND WATCH ME GUYSSSS 

someone knocked on the door so hes like WHO IS IT IM ON VLIVE and then seungmin jeongin and changbin barged in and theyre like we needa get smth and hyunjins like WHAT and seungmins like SECRET and then jeongin was like imma just stay with changbin till ur done bye and changbin started whining about how its HIS room and jeongin cant just barge in

didnt catch the name of the first song he listened to, but the second one was comethru by jeremy zucker 

hyunjins been listening to more music than dramas recently but theres one hes been watching recently called hotel del luna and he likes it

he doesnt get colds very often so he never really feels sick (okay hyunjin flex) and he ate a lot of lobster recently

“who’s your roommate” hyunjin; minho-hyung but hes sleeping rn apparently he sleeps v well so he won’t wake up 

he took a lot of pictures and a lot of them are of scenery with his members in it 

he doesnt have swimming goggles and he swam with his eyes closed and he said he was scared lmao 

“changbin’s birthday...” OMG CHANGBINS BIRTHDAY TF DO I BUY HIM

he played instagram by dean 

“are u gonna do hyunjin’s practice room again” hyunjin: haven’t been satisfied with dance recently but i’ll practice hard and come back

“who are the roommates for this trip” changbin and seungmin, hyunjin and minho, chan and jisung, woojin and felix, and jeongin’s with the manager i’m guessing 

he’s playing crush’s woo ahh now 

“where is changbin” “where is HAN JISUNG” (side note please stop asking for other members adfhlkajsdhflk) but he said jisung is prolly working out rn 

hyunjin’s tmi for today: is that he ate jjamppong at some korean restauraunt and it was REALLY good 

“whats ur fave flower” hyunjin: idk flower names

he says hes been eating really well recently (good for u bubsie keep eating) 

now he’s asking for song recs 

ooh his favorite mixtape is mixtape 2 

“OMG I LOVE THIS SONG” plays beautiful people by ed sheeran and khalid and he’s singing along super cutely bc he knows some of the lyrics i love him :) 

“what drama do u like” 

“you’re so beautiful” hyunjin: thank you :) (YES YOU ARE)

“do you like mint chocolate ice cream” yES I DO (i knew i could trust hyunjin )

he closes his eyes and his ears when he watches horror movies bc apparently the music is the scariest part (is it really?)

hes playing in my blood by shawn mendes now and hes singing along hes adorable 

“you make my day better” hyunjin: everyone should always have happy days  and hes happy he made someone’s day better) 

he likes iced coffee better than hot coffee which is INCORRECT hyunjin take that back 

in my blood is seungmin’s song recommendation ahdflahsd he was singing it around hyunjin and hyunjin was like what is that i want it and now its part of his playlist 

“where is IN” (PlEASE dont ask for other members :( ) hyunjin: changbin’s room i think 

“where is felix” hyunjin: felix is currently sleeping 

hyunjin: ooh i like this song (he’s playing treat you better) 

“what did you eat for breakfast” he had honey (?) and it was REAL honey

he learned how to take pictures from seungmin bc he taught him how and thats how hes been getting new pictures really well  

“will you play senorita” hyunjin: yes!

he wants the concert to come really quickly bc he wants to show stays a cool image really soon :) 

paris and london: was his first time to both and when they took the boat from london to paris everything was SO PRETTy like the sky and the colors and the scenery and he had such a great time he was so so happy 

he thinks lion king is rlly cute 

hes playing 19 adfkhlakjdhfla where is jisung when he needs it 

“insomnia” hyunjin: ᵒᵏᵃʸ

hyunjin: ALSO GUYS THE BUSES... *song is too loud* --EXCUSE ME *turns down the music* -- ANYWAYS THE BUSES---when we rode them i slept alot it was great

(hyunjin i love u but plz hurry up i needa finish my work and ur not being very helpful)

hopes today was a healing room and now hes playing insomnia 

“episode with minho as ur roommate” no he sleeping he does that too much hes boring he aint fun 

wifi stops working -- “NO WIFI PLZ -- WIFI STaRt WORKING PLZ DONT BETRAY ME LIKE THIS WIFI--oh ok we good :) ) 

hes ranting about minho now lmfahlfd i thought we were done w this topic but he said minho never wants to do anything even after he says he’ll do it lmfaoo big mood minho and hes like minho makes noises in his sleep is funny 

all the comments are like go to sleep hyunjin and hes like I WILL IM WAKING UP LATE TOMORROW CHILL GUYS 

“stray kids music is the best 3racha is the best” hyunjin: I KNOW 

“you make me happy” hyunjin: thank you :)

“screenshot time plz” hyunjin poses for the next five minutes here’s a preview :) 

(rip i need this bitch to hurry up i have to do my fkn work SIR)

he’s playing ocean eyes by billie eilish now 

the bitchass live froze RIP us 

oh we back 

oh now he’s ranting about minho again hyunjin for a boring roommate u sure got a lot to say ab him -- hes like minho sleeps rlly lightly so he had to be rlly quiet when he went to shower -- but wait hows he live rn then im confuzzled 

OH MY GOD IM GONNNA CRy there was a comment that was like “hug HUG” and he hugged the camera im gonna sob i love him sm 

smth about cereal --oh he’s playing crush’s cereal 

aww he always misses kkami 

THIS BITCH IS TALKING ABOUT MINHO AGAIN SIS WTF 

hes playing with filters now aldjshfkalshfasdjfalsfajsdjfimnotdeaddontworry

he likes fruit loops and so does seungmin 

THNAK GOD HES FINISHING NOW I WAS GONNA CRY 

bye hyunjin!

[retro-aesthe]

Sidelines (Part 3)

(idk what happened. I typed and this is what came out. I feel like it should have a TRIGGER WARNING. So yeah, be warned... I think. Enjoy reading!)

Alex Danvers x fem!reader

One week. Seven days. Seven fucking days of avoiding Alex Danvers, of always being close to tears every time you remember what happened that night. Also, always cringing whenever you do.

• • •

Lexie pulled back. You were shaken out of your hazy mind, and you sobered up enough to make sense of what was happening. You can still feel Lexie’s hot breath against your mouth, and you can’t help but want to pull her closer and kiss her again.

“Y/n. Stop. You’re…” It was blurry, what Lexie said afterwards. Right when she said “stop,” you pulled back, horrified. You looked into her eyes. They were so big and you can see how she was a mixture of alarmed, confused, and terrified—fucking terrified. God, you ruin everything.

Lexie was still talking, but all you can hear was ringing. You were getting dizzy, as if you’re close to having a mental breakdown. If there was a “zooming” feeling, it was this. The tequila doesn’t help—it was making everything worse. And your heart was racing and everything was sharp yet they aren’t.

“Leave… leave, please leave.” Your voice went from low mutter to above average volume. You weren’t shouting though, it was just loud enough to stress conviction, your need for her to leave. “Please, Lexie, leave…” you were whispering now, because you’re close to hyperventilating. You were close to having a breakdown, not being able to process what was happening.

“Y/n… no…” You looked up at her with tears in your eyes. You were still battling the alcohol in your body, that’s why when you tried to push her off your sofa, your hand slipped from her shoulder. You kept on trying until she relented. She stood up.

“Y/n…” You heard her try once more. You shook your head fiercely and muttered “leave.”

You were a mess and you only half care about it.

• • •

Every time you remember what you did, you cringe. No, you shouldn’t have wasted that bottle of tequila that night. You shouldn’t have given in to urges. Or, you should have gone to a bar.

You just went out of the building where you work when the ground shook. You immediately parted your legs to steady yourself then, covered your head. You looked around and saw people panicking. The ground was still shaking—it was an earthquake, obviously—so you looked up, and immediately became scared as you saw how cracks were forming on the building’s walls. The shaking became harder, and your previous attempt to balance yourself failed. You fell on the ground.

You were panicking too—except, with wild eyes, you tried to search your brain for anything that you’ve learned from the earthquake drills you attended ever since preschool. Nothing was coming up, you were too distracted by the screams other people were eliciting. And, of course, by the ground shaking. You were just able to remember to go to—

A block of cement fell just a few feet near you. That made you scream. There was smoke everywhere, caused by the fall of the piece of building. You coughed then covered your nose and mouth. With squinting eyes, you looked up and saw the cracks went all the way up, and that your workplace was showing signs of giving up (more like, falling down). You scrambled to get up, and you just followed your instincts by ducking and placing both hands above your head. You tried to hold back your breath to not inhale the smoke. All you can think about is getting away from the falling building but, surprise, buildings surround you and they were all shaking. Despite this, you ran, towards what you consider “away” from it all. You remained on the sidewalk, a bit far from the road, since above the screams were horns of cars hitting and missing each other, of buses screeching to avoid car crashes.

“Oh my god, the world is ending,” you muttered to yourself, your voice shaking. You were starting to lose hope fast, because nowhere is safe.

“Supergirl!” You heard someone scream. You looked up cautiously and, there, up in the sky, you saw Kara flying around, trying to save people… or stop buildings from falling. Your attention was suddenly diverted towards someone moaning near you. You looked around, but you can’t concentrate because a lot of people were running past you. It was doing things with your head.

The shaking stopped. But the noise everyone was causing didn’t. There were lots of cries, hissing of smoke, and loud ringing. The ambulance and police cars can be heard getting near. You once again heard the moan. You looked around. Then you noticed, just at least three to four feet away from you, a car crashed on a telephone pole.

A woman was underneath the slightly raised car. You gasped and started running towards the scene.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” you muttered repeatedly. You were kneeling beside the woman. Your hands were shaking, and they were circling just near the woman. If you weren’t currently in a situation as serious as this, you would have laughed at yourself because it was as if you were trying to heal her with your “miraculous” shaking hands.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” you asked instinctively. “Of course, you’re not. You’re fucking trapped under a car,” you muttered, angry that you were so dumb to ask the question in the first place. “Um… I’m gonna get you help… oh my god, blood,” you exclaimed, when you saw that blood was coming out from her mid-stomach. Her lower half was under the car. You don’t know what was holding the car slightly up. Whatever it is, it was the only thing keeping this woman from death.

You feel like you’re in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

You tried to think. Stop the wound from bleeding; you heard Lexie’s voice in your head. You placed both hands on top of the woman’s stomach.

“H-Hurts…” you stared at the woman’s face—it was filled with drying blood—and you just barely managed to throw a sarcastic line at her. This is the reason why you’re not in a humanitarian job like Lexie’s, or Kara’s, or… Maggie’s. You’re better at behind the desk jobs rather than socializing (except when picking informants and interviews) and helping other people.

“Well, I am keeping you alive by stopping the bleeding. I’m gonna call for help—Supergirl!” you bellowed. You honestly don’t recognize yourself right now. Everything’s happening so fast and it’s changing you.

Of course, she wouldn’t come. She may be trapped in keeping a building from falling apart. You looked around. Everyone’s either in the same situation as the woman, or as you.

“Y/n?” You turned to your and looked up and saw Maggie Sawyer. Maggie freaking Sawyer was staring down to you… was that concern in her eyes?

She was wearing her uniform. She doesn’t look like any of the people near you—her face was calm and not single cell in her body was screaming “panicking!”

“Help her.” You were surprised by your voice. She immediately looked at the bleeding woman. She nodded repeatedly and spoke something at her walkie-talkie. The familiar face, even if it’s Maggie Sawyer, makes you want to cry. You don’t know what’s happening with your emotions, they were all messed up.

“Help is coming. Y/n, you’re bleeding.” You frowned at what Maggie said. You’re not. You would feel it if you were. God, why was she so dumb?

“What? I’m not. This woman is. And if help doesn’t come any minute, the car might go down and crush this woman—and my hands.” You heard the tremor in your voice. You don’t know why you’re close to crying, but you are, and you so badly want to go back to your apartment and hide under your covers and stay there until you die. Blood was rushing to your head and you feel hot and all you can think about is how you want to leave because nothing about everything that is happening is right.

You were always so good with keeping your head above drowning problems, or dealing with crisis, but you don’t know why you’re reacting as if you’ve never seen catastrophe hit the city before.

“I’m aware of that. It seems as though you are not aware that your head’s bleeding, as well as your side.” She—Maggie—was kneeling beside you and you didn’t even notice her kneel. You were getting scared of everything she’s saying, simply because you don’t believe her.

“You keep spacing out…” You heard her say. You just frowned. “Let me take over…” Her words were like cut scripts from a malfunctioning TV. You felt something move your hands, and suddenly, Maggie was in your place. You sat on the ground, and just stared at Maggie blankly. What the fuck is happening? You keep trying to focus yourself, but everything was loose. It was as if you’re everywhere.

“It’s a deep cut—hey, Y/n, look at me. Focus on me.” You were trying to locate the cuts Maggie said you had. Your right hand reached that side of your head, and you were refusing to believe that wherever you touch, it was sticky. Sticky with blood. You pulled back your fingers then stared at it. Oh god, blood. Deep, dark, sticky, red blood. You looked down. You saw your shirt ripped, as a gash can be seen in between the rip of the shirt. It looked deep—angry red, but not deep enough to bleed out.

“Y/n, focus on me,” you heard Maggie say once more. Her eyes were fiercely on you, but her hands remained on the woman’s stomach. Your gaze kept shifting from the woman to Maggie, back and forth.

“What happened to me?” You managed to whisper, because you don’t remember pain. You don’t remember being hit by anything. If it weren’t for Maggie, you wouldn’t have known you were even bleeding. There was no pain. Was it from the block of cement that fell near you? It can’t be, because it was far enough…

“Y/n, keep your eyes on me.” You looked at her once more. Maggie. When did you look away again? “Help is coming.” Her words were hard, but they were a bit clouded to you. “Hey, hey, Y/n?” Her words were clear again. “Listen to me. Alex is coming, alright?” You opened your mouth when you heard Lexie’s name, to say something, but you can’t form words. You don’t know what to say.

You swayed, uncontrollably, so you immediately put your left hand on the ground for support.

“Oh god, Y/n. Stay with me. Hey—Hey, Alex is here! There she is! Keep your eyes open—Y/n.” You finally detected panic in Maggie’s words. You’re still in denial that she was talking to you even if you heard your name. Everything felt cold. You felt faint. You’re wondering why you haven’t felt this before. All you wanted to know was what caused this. When did you start bleeding?

Your arm holding you up was shaking, and you chose to concentrate on keeping your consciousness and not listen to Maggie’s annoying voice. You know you’re holding yourself up, but the feeling in your supporting arm went away. You felt light, yet hot and cold at the same time. What was happening? You kept your eyes closed because that’s the only way you can focus. You’re focusing… you’re focusing. You’re awake. You’re awake. You’re bleeding and you’re awake. You have to stay awake. That’s what they say in the movies, right? Head injuries are serious. Bleeding is serious. You have to stay awake. Y/n, stay awake.

You felt someone shake you, and you gasped and opened your eyes. You felt the back of your head resting on a pillow, and the bed was moving. Another earthquake? Why were you moving? Wait, why were you in a bed?

Lexie came into your line of vision. The room was dark, robbed off the sunlight you remember before closing your eyes. You close your eyes.

“Y/n, keep your goddamn eyes open.” You opened your eyes and saw Lexie staring down at you and there were tears in her eyes. Why in goddamn’s world is she crying? Wait, oh god you were bleeding.

“Lexie—“ Why was it so hard to speak? “Lexie, I’m bleeding,” you choked out. Why is it hard to speak? Is this it? God, you’re tired. You wanted to close your eyes.

“She’s in shock—“ You heard someone say. Then, you felt a warm hand against your cool right cheek.

“Y/n, stay with me, alright?” The hand was slightly shaking, and so was Lexie’s voice.

“Lex—“ Your tongue kept twisting. “—I’m bleeding,” you muttered, and your eyes were slowly closing. It was slow for you—you actually thought you became cross-eyed for a minute. It was like a lagging laptop shutting down. Or a robot shutting down. Like in the movies.

“I know, Y/n, you are. God, you are. Stay awake for me please?” Was Lexie crying?

Okay, I will. —You’re sure you told her.

[kittyeekcube]

Orion, Phoenix, Hydra, Black Eye Galaxy, Sombrero Galaxy, Asteroid ✨

i ended up having long responses to these asks please bear with me 🤐 😅 thank your asks!!

Orion - Favourite month?

ahh im not really sure i think i’ll go with march since it’s my birthday month haha

Phoenix - Favourite thing to wear?

I like simple clothes that are comfortable and cozy to wear with nice colors and usually long sleeves for the pressure hehe I have been wearing the same outfit of a black sweater black jeans black boots and a denim utilitarian type jacket and that’s it haha i like long jackets and boots a lot too. i also really like crystal jewelry!!

Hydra - Favourite sound?

The fog horns and buses in San Francisco musical instruments like bells piano and xylophone + any nature sounds esp water like rain ocean waves rivers streams brooks etc crickets were my fav as a kid hehe

Black Eye Galaxy - Do you believe in love at first sight?

hmm yeah i think love at first sight is def possible but i think it could also be any type of love or not always what you expect love at first sight to be

Sombrero Galaxy

Do you have a crush right now?

ahhhh yea :’) actually i have had a crush for a while now. its the first time i have really fallen for someone and it’s a lot ahaha i haven’t felt like this before so it was overwhelming for me to feel and embrace everything at first. it hasn’t been as easy as i thought it would be to express my feelings to them and im kinda scared how they could react since they are a very good friend of mine and idk what to do and im really not sure how they would react or if they would feel the same way about me at all and it might get awkward 😖 it makes me feel bad and like deceitful that i haven’t said anything yet and i don’t mean to hide my feelings at all because im a terrible liar and super honest and straightforward lol so if they asked me then i would def tell them because i really can’t lie and hate lying. but i swear im trying my best!! it’s just that every time i try to tell them about my feelings in person i can’t say the right words or speak at all 😣 maybe it’s already extremely obvious haha but they really mean a looot to me as a person so even if they don’t feel the same way towards me that’s ok! it may hurt a little at first if i get rejected but i’ll still love them very much as a friend and person and our connection overall. truly. and i hope they find someone that they love if that’s something they would like in the future and really just wish all the best for them in life because they deserve it and are such an amazing good person and friend omg 😭 ahhh i can’t usually talk about it but now it’s super obvious. yess.. i do have a crush haha 😳😅😫

Asteroid - What does your dream life look like?

hmm i feel like my dream life could easily change over time but right now my dream life would entail my family friends and loved ones having the very best lives possible. loving and giving back to my animals other animals nature and people in life. having a cozy and safe home and environment. discovering and becoming who i am and embracing and loving myself. being able to be more open and enjoy life. not being afraid to create and live again. creating and conveying warmth to others. having my work inspire and reach others. travelling and having new experiences i could never have dreamed of. feeling at peace with my life. enjoying the small things. being strong enough to endure the hard times and feel what i need to feel. being more grateful for everything i have received in my life. especially all the support and love and people i have been so fortunate to know and still know maybe more but i think i’ll wait and see 😉 ☺️

ahh finally got through all of that sorry i can get a little ahead of myself while typing! thank you!!

[leejeongz]

How Stray Kids met their s/o

💚thanks for the request, this is kinda messy I hope you still enjoy it tho!💚

😬I tried to avoid the “meeting at a fansign” scenario idk that’s just kinda cliche but so is everything I wrote actually ugh I’m sorry shdbsh😬

Bang Chan:

You were a waiter at the all inclusive hotel stray kids were staying at while on tour. They were staying for two nights and you couldn’t have been happier when you realised you were allocated their table to wait upon. Both evenings Chan asked for the bill and both times he got the reply of “it’s all inclusive... it’s all in the price.” The next morning, their final morning, you woke up kind of sad. You put on your uniform and went to work knowing this was the last time you’d ever see them, knowing this was the last time you would ever see Bang Chan. You spotted him from across the dining room piling his plate high while you cleared away the previous plates from their table, gosh he ate so well you thought. When they left that morning, you cleared away their final plates and noticed a bit of folded paper, with your name scribbled onto it and someone’s number was written inside followed by “- you can text me the bill, Love Bang Chan”

Woojin:

The best day of his life, Woojin was finally going to see Bruno Mars live! And so were you, in your home country! You stood waiting in the crowd for the main attraction to come onto the stage while Woojin stood behind you, pretty unaware of each other’s presence at this point. He was late, your favourite artist was late. You turned to your friend and said “I hope I get some 24 karat gold to compensate” which made Woojin laugh, he could appreciate a good pun. You turned around and Woojin smiled at you and complimented you on your punny joke and also returned with one of his own “that’s what I like...” pausing to wait for your name. You guys really hit it off that night and you’d never forget it. He got your number using “too good to say goodbye” and later down the line asked you to marry him using the Bruno Mars song “marry you.” The “inside joke” never died.

Lee Know:

Retail wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. You hated it. At least you got some nice clothes out of it. Today you wore one of your “postponed” good outfits at the possibility someone attractive may come into the store, even though that never usually happened. Yet that’s exactly what happened today. You were working on the men’s fitting rooms, the easiest job since usually men rarely tried on their clothes, wanting to get out of the store as quickly as possible. A man who’s name you later learnt was Minho came over with 4 items and went into a curtained cubicle after you handed him the required ticket. After each item he came out and asked for your opinion, he was happy with your honestly, not being afraid to tell him when something didn’t look quite right on him. When he was finished, he handed you the “4” token back and the items he didn’t want. You expect him to leave but instead he stayed, engaging in an actual conversation with his broken English and sooner or later asking for your number. When you told him weren’t supposed to give it out while working his expression changed but of course you couldn’t pass up the chance, telling him you’d risk if for him.

Changbin:

Lost in a foreign country. Changbin’s worst nightmare had become a reality. No battery on his phone, no charger, no nothing. The street was empty and he didn’t want to knock on a strangers house, worried they would think he was a burglar or something. That’s when you, his saviour, walked around the corner. He jogged over to you and used his limited English to ask if he could use your phone to ring his friends. Of course you agreed, the poor boy looked so distressed. After the phone call he appeared a lot calmer and he asked you how to get to a certain location. Unfortunately it wasn’t in walking distance so you decided to call a taxi for him. He couldn’t thank you enough and asked if he could use your phone one last time to tell his friends he was on his way. Little did you know he’d actually slipped his phone number into there and set his name to “the cute good looking man who was still cool while lost.” The first text you sent did indeed highlight how false the latter part of his name was and how true the first part was.

Hyunjin:

Hyunjin is obviously very tall and can reach the shelf unlike you who was having great difficulty. You and your family were going on holiday to Korea and Hyunjin (and the other boys) were coming home from Kcon. You had been separated from your family on the flight and were put next to 9 insanely attractive guys you realised as you located your seat. You got what you needed from your bag and tried to put it into the compartment above your seat but you just couldn’t reach. One of the good looking guys stood up taking the backpack out of your hands and putting up for you. You smiled in his direction and thanked him before sitting down. He cleared his throat and indicated that his seat was the one next to you, of course it was that’s where he just stood up from stupid y/n you cursed in your head. The plane took off and oh damn you forgot your headphones and there was no way you were getting that bag back down. You decided to sleep, sleep on Hyunjin’s shoulder apparently. Rather than being a jerk about it he was really chill and even shared his blanket with you. He woke you up just before landing and you knew you had to repay him. The only payment he’d accept was a date within the next two weeks and your couldn’t refuse that now could you?

Jisung:

Confidence, a very attractive quality which oozes out of Jisung. He even asked a random cutie on the street for their number while living in your county for some time. When he went to text them, he didn’t realise the number they had giving them was fake and it was in fact your number. He figured this out pretty soon but was willing to continue talking with you because you seemed cool. He later realised how much of a killer personality you had and asked to see a photo of you. Truthfully he texted back how much cuter you were than the other person and how he was so glad this mix up happened. Of course you were super satisfied with the photo you received too. After a few months of talking you decided to meet up, neither of you were disappointed. He knew that he wanted to marry you there and then and didn’t you just know it, not that you didn’t retaliate the same feelings.

Felix:

Childhood friends. His Aussie buddy. You met at school after transferring from your old school and Felix was asked to show you around. That was only because he’d already spoken to you that day, your socks werent fully pulled up so he told you so you didn’t get told off which you were most definitely grateful for. While showing you around, you discovered the school had a lot to offer, “a lot” being your new crush Lee Felix, who just so happened to feel the same. Ever since that day Felix spoke to you all the time and asked you to be his just before he left Australia, saying he would never forget you and that he’d always only love you. How could you say no to that? Your relationship was mostly long distance, either of you visiting when you had the chance but not once did it come between you two. After all love conquers all.

(Ok but like imagine calling him and him not wanting to hang up ever)

Seungmin:

You realised everyone else must be risking the later bus when you arrived at the bus stop to see only one other student waiting. You’d get to school incredibly early but getting there just 5 minutes before class was just too risky. You waited and waited for the bus but nothing turned up and it was cutting it too fine. Now just half an hour before school started you decided to walk the 1/2 a mile. To your surprise the boy at the bus stop caught up with you and began to walk with you. His excuse was that it would be better if the pair of you walked since it was still kind of dark at that time in the morning but the truth was he’d do anything to get to know you... away from the crowded buses. That walk revealed a lot about each other and you began to be friends who came to school together every morning. Another day came, no bus turned up. You both decided to walk again, this time Seungmin slipped his hand into yours “for warmth” but you didn’t mind.

I.N:

Even though Jeongin was only a little older than you, he still intimidated you, much like any older person, especially since you were in a foreign country. Every time he walked passed you in the corridor you felt the need to say sorry to him even if you didn’t brush shoulders. The last day of term before Christmas break and you were sat eating lunch with your newish friends when a group of older boys came and sat next to you. Jeongin and his friends. The whole lunch you felt restricted to talk in case he thought your accent was weird or something and Jeongin realised that. Half way through lunch he turned to you and told you that it was okay to be yourself and that he won’t listen in on your conversations. But that’s exactly what he did, he couldn’t not. Your “friends” were actually making fun out of you for your “poor” Korean even though you were evidently really trying, but you didn’t realise. Lunch was almost over, when you stood up to walk to your lesson Jeongin leaned towards you, patted you on the back and said “if you ever need to bitch about those mean friends I’m always here to listen, they aren’t nice people, from now on you sit with us” and pointed to his “student ambassador badge” and to his friends wearing similar badges. He was from then on your protector and you met up every day over Christmas, surprising yourself how quickly you could become friends and possibly more with someone you used to be scared of. Every time he’d compliment you on your Korean skills and telling you how to improve, not once burdening him.

Gifs aren’t mine

[purplesurveys]

525

This survey is literally called Adult Survey so let’s see just how bad I am at being one 👉😎👉 What grocery store do you shop at the most? My mom does most of her shopping in SM supermarkets, but sometimes she’ll stick with Freshto.

Which stovetop burner do you use the most? Uhhhh I haven’t used the stove in a while, especially since it almost exploded in my face the last time I used it – but I used to go with the rightmost one since it was the largest, and it fit the pan that I typically used. Do you use a dishwasher or wash dishes by hand? We wash dishes by hand here. I can’t name you anyone who actually bought themselves a dishwasher here in the Philippines.

What color is your favorite laundry basket? Idk, I don’t have a favorite. What color was your first car? White. If we’re talking about the car bought by my parents.

What was your first job? Never had one yet. What is the best job you've had? What is the best pharmacy near you? Not sure about the best, but we have one right across the village that we head to. Do you use public transportation? NO. Public transport in this country is an embarrassment, a joke, and one of the reasons I’m hell-bent on moving out entirely. If you ever needed a country that has trains regularly break down every week (forcing its passengers to walk to their destinations even when they’re nowhere near), trains with poor air conditioning, smoke-belching jeepneys, buses driven by murderous drivers, and public transportation that all in all will force you to wake up 3 hours earlier and STILL end up late to school/work, the Philippines is for you. Which bank do you use? I don’t have any sort of card yet.

Do you have a credit card? ^ What is your favorite fast food restaurant? As questionable as every branch of theirs smells like, I have to give the crown to KFC. What do you want to name your kids? Olivia and Mia are pretty much locked in for me. Still clueless about boy names. How many tattoos do you have? No tattoos. What year did you graduate high school? 2016. Three years, but it’s felt like forever ago. What chore do you hate the most? I haaaaate washing dishes. Thankfully Gabie loves doing it, so it’ll be easier for me when we move in together haha. What is your favorite shampoo to use? Dove is fine. How do you remove stains from clothes? Water and tissue usually do the trick. Do you carry pepper spray? I don’t. I really should. What highway do you drive on the most? Marcos Highway. I live on it and have to go through it if I want to go anywhere. Do you like driving? It’s convenient and I like being out on my own time without the pressure of tiring out/going overtime on a personal driver; but being stuck in traffic for hours all by yourself can be very draining. What is your favorite radio station? I listen to 93.1 in the morning for my favorite radio program, but for the rest of the day I’d switch between that, 99.5, 94.7, and 87.5. What do you use for an alarm clock (phone, stereo, actual clock, etc.)? I use my phone and I have like 5 alarms set everyday because I’m pretty difficult to wake up. Which department store do you shop at the most? I don’t shop for stuff a lot; most of my money goes to food haha. Which dollar store is your favorite? Do you shop at the dollar store often? We don’t even use dollars, sis. What is your favorite gas station? I don’t have a favorite but I like going to Petron just out of habit. Do you burn candles often? I never burn candles. How do you relax? It depends on what I feel like doing. I can choose to watch YouTube videos, watch Friends, take a survey, take a nap, or binge-eat. What's your favorite app on your phone? Twitter or Reddit. What do you cook the most? I can’t :( When was the last time you relaxed in a hot bath? Over a year ago? I dunno, I don’t get to do this a lot. Do you take showers or baths normally? Showers. What is your favorite candle scent? Whatever smells like food, like a bakery or cinnamon. Floral scents make me gag. How much does it cost for you to laundry (if you use a slot machine)? Do you make your bed every day? Yes. It feels so much nicer coming home to a fixed bed. Do you have any pets? Yes, I have a dog. Do you have kids? Nope. Are you married? Also nope. Do you save receipts? Receipts from important dates, sure. I like keeping the little details. Do you use re-usable bags at the grocery store? I think my mom does. What color is your carpet? We have a big brown carpet in the living room, but other than that the rest of the house isn’t carpeted. Have you ever burnt yourself with the glue gun? No and I am too scared to know what it feels like so I’ve never held a glue gun before. We actually had to use one fairly recently to make props for an org event, but I told my orgmates I wasn’t gonna help in that department and I could work anywhere else I was needed instead. Do you write checks? Nah. I’ve had my parents ask me to pay with one, though. Ever had a garage sale? My parents never held one, but we’ve been to several. What have been some of your best garage sale finds? I don’t think we bought anything from them. What time do you wake up in the morning? Depends if I have something to do that day. Are you a morning person? God no. I hate having to report to school early and I usually need an hour or two to adjust to the surroundings. I have a 7 AM class on Wednesdays and Fridays and my brain just refuses to cooperate every time.

Are you more of a morning person now than you used to be? Haha I don’t think I ever was a morning person. Do you like to read? I used to. Nowadays I’ll read something every now and then, but it’s not my favorite hobby anymore. What was the first election you voted in? 2016. Who is on speed dial in your phone? We don’t have speed dial. Do you play games on your phone? Sure. I used to have no games at all cos I thought it was a waste of storage, but now I have like 10 games on my phone because of all the advertisements I see hahaha. What phone do you have? I have an iPhone 8. What was your first phone? I keep forgetting the exact model, but it was the iconic Nokia one that had a green screen and early versions of Snake and Space Impact. What kind of computer do you have? I was too young to ever pay attention to the brand and the model, tbh. I did reach the era where connecting to the internet meant weird sounds and not being able to use the landline, so there’s that. Wall calendar or desk calendar? Phone and laptop calendar. If you read a daily devotional, which one are you using currently? I don’t. What is your favorite book? I’ve read a lot of books but I don’t think I’ve encountered my favorite yet. What is the strangest food you've had? I absolutely love Indian food and would do anything for it, but gulab jamun was pretty horrid. The taste confused me so much and the wet, sticky texture didn’t help either. What do you do when the power goes out? Curse out Meralco on social media, especially if it was an unannounced outage. Then I’d stay with my dog so that he doesn’t get scared. Does your home have a basement? Nope. How often do you clean? My mom likes to be in charge of general cleaning, and she does so once in a few months. How often do you go grocery shopping? An hour or so seems like it. Ever bought a lottery ticket? Nah, I don’t want to grow obsessed with it hahaha. Do you gamble? Nope. What does your purse look like? My *wallet has several essential cards/IDs, my savings, and old receipts and papers I never got around to throwing away. Do you ever sleep on the floor? No. I slept on the floor a lot as a kid and I hated it, so I stay away from the possibility completely now. Which room do you stay in the most? Mine? What is your bedtime? I don’t have one, but I always strive to be in bed by 10 or 11 PM. Ever worked two jobs or more at once? This hasn’t happened to me. Do you live in an apartment, condo, house, or dorm? I live in my parents’ house. What does your dream house look like? Modern, minimalist, square-shaped, lots of glass, white. Describe your dream wedding. I haven’t figured out what location I want, but I wouldn’t want it to be in church, at the beach, or in a barn. I want an all-white (or at least almost all-white) motif, a laaaaarge guest list (I’ll only get one wedding so I’m making it huge lmao), free flowing drinks, cupcake racks, and I wouldn’t want it to be too formal nor too casual. That’s like 6 elements out of the hundred I’ll probably end up thinking of, but it’s a start. How often do you go on vacation? As often as my dad is home, so like a few times every 4 months. What is your favorite type of weather? Rainy/stormy, dark, and bleak. What do you do when you have a sore throat? Hate myself. And continue eating whatever because a sore throat isn’t gonna stop me from eating delicious food. How often do you go see a doctor? When it’s required lol Do you have acid reflux? I don’t. Do you snore? I snore only when I’m ridiculously exhausted after a day. And when I do it’s only like once then I stop. Are you on birth control? I’m not. I don’t need it currently. What kind of toothpaste do you use? A normal one? Idk, I just use Colgate. Do you wear glasses or contacts? I have glasses. How often do you wear make-up? Only when I go to parties, which isn’t often. Do you put on make-up in the bathroom or the bedroom? Gabie usually puts makeup on me in her room. Do you have a swimming pool? Nope. What is the first site you go to when you turn on your computer? It differs, based on what I feel like doing/have to do. Typically, though, it’s Twitter. Which email service do you use? Gmail. How often do you check your email? Everyday, because I guess I’M AN ADULT NOW AND I HAVE TO SUCK IT UP. How old were you when you got your first phone? I was 7. I’m pretty sure my parents didn’t want to get it for me, but I was 7 in a private school, everyone was getting their own phones (and this was when phones was starting to get big among kids), and I was feeling pressured to get my own. What was your favorite boy band back in the 90's? I wasn’t conscious for most of the 90s. Did you own a Britney Spears album? Nope.

[psycho-slytherin]

Strangers ch. 7

You think fast to save yourself. Later, when Lisa needs you, you enlist Yoongi’s help– and let slip too much.

Pairing: Yoongi x (female) Reader

Word count: 2.3k

Genre: idk man fluffyish?

<––Prev   Next––>

|mlist|

Fuck. Fuck. It’s a dead end and you’re already seeing the glow of flashlights blocking your egress. You quickly duck back into the doorway, your mind racing at a thousand miles an hour.

“I saw someone, I swear. A girl!”

“Where? I don’t see anyone.”

“Is she secretly dating one of the members?”

“They would never do that. BTS belongs to us!”

The voices are coming nearer. Think fast, you have to come up with something. They’re going to catch you. What can you do to lower their suspicion? You’re literally a professional liar. Think. Think.

The glow of one of the flashlights catches your fingers, and you look down at your hand to see your favorite ring, the one you never take off, glittering on your index finger. That’s it.

“Hey, over there! She just came out of the building!”

You’re suddenly swarmed by teenage girls, most of them holding signs professing their love for the guys of BTS.

“What were you doing? Who are you?” a tall girl with dyed blonde hair demands.

“Guys, it’s late, I just want to get home,” you grumble, trying to inch your way through the crowd.

“That’s not an answer!” the blonde yells in your face.

“I’m the housekeeper!” you shout back, your voice cracking with fatigue. “And I’m not dating anyone in your precious boy band. I’m engaged, look!” you brandish your left hand at the de facto leader of the horde. There, gleaming on your ring finger, is your favorite piece of jewelry.

You can almost see the girls’ hackles lower, but it’s not enough.

“As if they’d even let me work for BTS if I was single. Every real ARMY knows how careful BigHit is about this stuff.” You admire the ring on your finger before looking at the blonde disdainfully. “What does that make you?”

“Excuse me? I’m their biggest fan!” the blonde screeches, looking around at the other fangirls as if for backup. They shift uncomfortably.

“Actually, I did read something about that...” one of the sign-holders murmurs. “How they only look for female staff that are engaged or married.” Other girls nod in agreement, and eventually the blonde girl huffs and flips her hair.

“Whatever,” she says. “Just stay away from them if you know what’s good for you!”

You sigh as the fangirls return to lurking around the building. An ARMY you are, certainly, but not if that’s what being a fan entails. You’ve never understood the stalkers, the ones that believe an idol belongs to their fans alone.

Although, it’s certainly wonderful motivation to continue on your campaign to not develop feelings for Min Yoongi. Which, you reflect, is growing perhaps... a tad difficult?

No, no. Not at all. But his reaction when you recited those first few lines of your poem... surely he couldn’t know that you’d written it with him in mind. Your midnight rendezvous have become the best part of your week, even if they don’t happen as often as you wish they could.

Those precious few minutes spent on the pavement and in the car after your shift at the cafe– you’ll never be able to express to Yoongi how much those minutes mean to you.

Oh, yes, he’s Yoongi now. He’s finally trusted you with the name you’ve known all along. And what a relief it is, now that you won’t have to juggle with the alias of Agust. It’s been getting increasingly difficult not to slip up, and you can’t afford a mistake this late in the game.

Every word, every action must be thought out, and to screw up after so long would mean the termination of your friendship with Yoongi. After your talk in the basement... no, screwing up isn’t an option. You have to continue for Yoongi’s sake as well as your own.

Caught in a lie...

You shiver as you make your way home. The song’s been stuck in your head for how long now? You’re starting to wonder if it’s just a coincidence.

But also, and you can’t believe this is an ‘also’...

You met BTS.

All of them.

As friends.

You’re still trying to wrap your head around the fact when your phone begins to ring insistently with a call from Lisa.

You pick up. “Hello?”

“Y/n! Hiiiiii...” Lisa hiccups into the phone.

“Having fun, are you?” You check the time. Yep, around now is usually when she starts drunk dialing.

“So much fun, y/n. Like, five glasses of fun.” In the background, you hear the whoops and music typical of the parties that Lisa loves to frequent.

“Do you need me to take you home?”

“I need you, girl...” Lisa sings into the phone. You can practically smell the liquor on her breath.

“I’m coming to get you, okay?” She was talking about Kai’s party all of yesterday, so at least you know where to find her.

“Nooo, I’m making so many friends!”

You roll your eyes. Lisa’s one of the most beautiful girls you’ve ever seen, and you know exactly what type of person would try to ‘befriend’ her while she’s drunk.

“I’ll be there soon. Stay safe, okay?” You hang up.

Aish, but you won’t be able to carry her all the way back to her apartment. Her car... no, she never drives to parties. The buses have stopped by this hour.

You sigh and call your last resort.

It rings and rings before at last– “Hello?”

“Yoongi, I’m so sorry, can I ask a favor of you?”

Fifteen minutes later

“You didn’t have to come,” you babble as you slide into the seat beside him. “I just meant, you know, borrow the car. Not–” you wave your hand at the chauffeur. “Not all this.”

“Sorry to have disappointed you.” Yoongi says, raising his brows.

“You haven’t, I’m just worried. You need rest,” you say, exasperated. “And there were some crazy girls outside your building earlier... I don’t know how you got out.”

You feel Yoongi tense against you. “Did you speak to them?”

Oh, shit. You screwed up, you screwed up.

“No. I just snuck past them. Did they have anything to do with you?” You ask lightly, innocently.

Yoongi shakes his head. “Not really.”

Liar, liar.

“Hey, before we pick up your friend, I just wanted to ask...” here Yoongi shifts his weight so that he’s fully facing you.

“That poem, from earlier...” Yoongi says, tapping on his leg. “I know it was just a few hours ago, but it feels like yesterday.”

You check your watch. “I think technically, it was.”

“The thing about your poem... and I’m sure I must sound like an asshole for asking, but did you write it about anything– anyone in particular?”

He did it. He went there. But can you follow him?

Tell him you wrote it for him.

Lie. You don’t want to catch feelings.

Who says you’ll catch feelings?

Don’t tell him. You’ll ruin everything.

But maybe it’s worth it?

Nothing is worth losing his friendship.

The air is crackling with potential as you consider your words. “As a matter of fact, I did write it with someone in mind,” you admit quietly.

“Really? Who?”

You press a finger to your lips. “How could I possibly reveal the secrets of my craft?”

Yoongi opens his mouth to say something, but you notice you’re nearing Kai’s place. “Just stop here, please. I’ll bring my friend.” you look at Yoongi. “Fair warning, Lisa’s more up-to-date on pop culture than I am, so, you know...”

“Got it,” Yoongi says, already moving to the front seat and sliding up the mirrored divider. You catch a glimpse of your own reflection, and while your rosy cheeks and bright smile emphasize your euphoria, your eyes reflect their own sadness.

Caught in a lie...

No. To know Yoongi is worth every scrap of guilt. You quickly make your way to the heart of the party, grateful that by this hour, most of your classmates are too drunk to care about your sudden appearance.

“Lisa? Lisa!” You shout over the music. At last you spot the familiar mop of deep brown hair.

“Aish, what happened?” you murmur, helping your friend to her feet. Lisa throws her arms around your neck.

“Y/n, I looooove you so –hic– much!” Lisa burbles as you lead her to Yoongi’s car. “You’re so pretty and funny and pa–hic– passionate.”

As soon as you get her into the car and slide in next to her, Lisa flops on top of you. “Boys are terrible, y/n. Can I just marry youuu?”

“Sure thing, hon,” you reply, finger-combing her hair. You’re wishing fervently that she falls asleep– there’s no guarantee she won’t bring up your favorite boy band.

Lisa snuggles her head into your lap. “You’re so sweet, y/n. You’re –hic– as sweet as sugar.” She gasps and sits up. “Sweet as Suga!”

Every muscle in your body tenses up and your eyes flicker to the mirrored divider, where you’re sure Yoongi’s heard her words.

“Uh-huh. Shh, Lisa, just go to sleep.” You stroke her head until her breaths turn deeper and her eyes flutter closed. You tap on the divider and tell the driver Lisa’s address.

“Thank you,” you tell your own reflection, meaning every word for Yoongi’s ears. “You’ve done so much for me... I’m lucky to have become your friend.”

Yoongi doesn’t respond, and the silence goads you on. “That poem I wrote, I wrote for you. Of course I did.” There are more.

“I don’t know much about you,” Lie. “but it feels like I know you. And I never got to tell you earlier, when we were in the basement... I care about you so much.” Too much.

The car arrives at Lisa’s apartment, and you fish her keys out of her pocket. You can think of nothing else to say, and so you say nothing.

“I can walk home from here,” you tell the divider as you support Lisa’s weight. “Thanks. For everything.”

Without a word, the car drives away.

What else can you do? You lug Lisa up to her apartment, settle her in bed with water and painkillers nearby, and begin the walk home.

For once the darkness feels cold, uninviting. Your mind is racing out of control.

I’m an idiot I’m an idiot I’m an idiot. I scared him off. What’s the matter with me? Why did I say anything? I’ve ruined everything. Nice going, y/n, you’ve fucked it all up.

You’re surprised when you realize you’ve arrived at your own apartment. You let yourself in and collapse on your bed, exhausted in every sense of the word. The evening started so well: hanging out with BTS is something you’ve only ever dreamed about. But then you had to go and screw up a precious friendship by blurting out everything. Thank goodness you had enough sense at least to not spill the fact that you’re perfectly aware of his status as an international superstar.

The next few weeks drag by with no word from Yoongi. The last thing you want to do is contact him when he’s so clearly avoiding you, and so you reciprocate his dead silence.

It’s over, you suppose, the brief excitement. You’re glad. Of course you are; the emotions that tugged painfully at your heart whenever you saw his gummy smile or heard the mirth hidden beneath a sarcastic comment– those feelings will fade away eventually.

“Remember when you wore a skirt that one time?” Lisa asks one day as you get into her car.

“I don’t pay tuition for other people to enjoy looking at my body.” You tug at the sweatpants and T-shirt. “I’m comfortable like this.”

“Yeah, but no one’s gonna scout you if you look like you just crawled out of a dumpster,” Lisa says teasingly.

“When I’m a famous actress, I’m gonna look back on this day and laugh,” you reply with a smile. The last thing you’ll do is let anyone get you down. Especially if that anyone is a guy. Especially if that guy is Min Yoongi.

The day passes as every day does, and as you tug your hair into a ponytail and begin your shift at the cafe, you realize you’ll be okay. You really will be fine. Your feelings will fade, it’ll be a story to tell, and life goes on. As this dawns on you, you feel a grin tug at the corners of your mouth.

The jingle of a bell alerts you to a new customer.

“Hi, welcome!” You flash your brightest smile at the young man in a business suit talking quietly on the phone. When he hangs up, you gesture at the menu. “What can I get you, sir?”

“Ah, an Americano, please. And a muffin.”

“Coming right up!” You bustle about preparing his order when you notice the man looking at you thoughtfully. “Are you a student on campus?” He asks.

“Yes, third year acting major,” you reply as you place his muffin in the toaster oven.

“Hm... how would you like to do me a favor?”

“What would it entail?”

“I just... I need a few extras for something we’re shooting, and the one extra that has any actual screentime...” he glares at his phone, “Just decided she found a better opportunity to pursue.” He sighs and waves his hand. “You’d be paid, of course. You’re pretty enough for the screen, and I honestly don’t care who we hire anymore.”

“That sounds... interesting,” you manage. Either it’s a good opportunity or he’s a very convincing kidnapper. Flip a coin.

Ah, but what do you have to lose?

“I think I would love to take you up on that. I’m here at the same time every day for when you need to get me the details,” you say in your most professional-actress voice. “I’m y/l/n y/n, by the way.”

“Yes, yes, lovely to meet you.” He shakes your hand. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Shooting starts in three days, and I’m sure you’ll fit right in with our celebrities.” He looks at you over his glasses. “Have you heard of BTS?”

A/N As always, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this (longer) chapter of Strangers. Feedback is much appreciated!

[automatismoateo]

Older generation are so desensitized to "stalking". via /r/atheism

Older generation are so desensitized to "stalking".

First off, I put stalking in quotation because I am not sure if this the right word to use but I just want to describe an incidents that happened to me that I feel like a lot of older women reactions (my mother and a few co-workers) had to this incidents.

I am 22 years old I am starting my career I take the buses to work and then have to walk some distance- ( I studied management but doing some admin work to build up experience). So as I am working to work *admittedly I do zone out and in generally I am a very smiley person in general. So I pass this guy I do not really register him, next you this guy is following me and I scream like "What the fuck" lol but the incident left a sore taste in my mouth. So I go to my work space and I tell my co-worker about I was a little bit angry but mostly scared. Because this guy made me feel unsafe and this happens often where man just follow you- often to point where I still feel this deep fear or panic in public. The saddest part is these panics usually end up being right. Anyway so the co-worker is my mom age and she goes "oh that is so cute". Yes, I did express how much it frighten me and that basically what is boiled down to.

Second incident is bit scary for me. Once again I am walking to work (this always happens to me when I am walking anywhere by myself or when I am on the bus men will approach ask my name, where I live and number- if you are not respective they somethings get a aggressive). I was told I look young like I am 16, 17 and I even got 12 once lol. This at least (40 years old) comes up to me tells me I look like an innocent, unkissed and a virgin ( I am but a weird thing to say to anyone the first time you see them), basically that God called me to be his wife. I just look like an innocent flower in this evil world. *Side note I am an atheist and recently accepted that I am aro-ace women or demi or just young and I do not really care about dating and relationship*.

Now I have learned over the years that not to say I am atheist especially to people because they can lose it in the worst ways. The man thought I was 16. Before he went there the whole opening monologue from a man his age it is creepy (red flag), there are certain group of men that fetishize the heck out of virgins or have this weird obsession with innocence. This man followed me, I did not know what to do. So I just make a beeline for my work. We are not even to the part that is the creepiest in my opinion. He starts to go on about how he sees me everyday and watches me. Then follows me because he is blown away from a beauty and virtue. I remind him of virgin Mary ( I am black, this is in Southern Africa- I look nothing like the image of Virgin Mary idk).

Now do not get wrong this has been happening to me since I was 13 the minute I developed breasts. I am 5ft and petite (when men bring up how adorable my size is, it right off the bat makes me uncomfortable). This man is like continuously following me. I keep a straight face, I fold my arms, I gave extremely short answers and I am creating distance between us ( all the body language markers that shows my uncomfortably). He basically starts to ask me personal question I am at a lost for words and mutter out "I am not interest in carrying out a conversation, disclosing personal information and I am saying no, please leave me alone".

Get to work tell the story at our work break, once again I a response from an older lady how cute this is and this the clear marker of a man being interested and he sounds like a "godly man". These "godly man" have been harassing me since I was 12, so yeah. Why I do not tell them I am atheist is because it makes the vision (for them) more clear they have to bring me to christ and can't I see that we are might to be o otherwise I spend eternity in hell. So yeah. The only person that was like "What the heck! That is weird" was 29 (born 1993) I am born 1999. Honestly my mom normalizes a lot of these situations as well. I wear a school uniform with my long ass shirt ( I hate that green ugly ass, vomit looking, ankle itching skirts) that my school had. My mom simple response " Well you are tempting men, that is what women are here for" I was 12 thanks for the trauma, mama and this was strangely normalized.

I left Christianity when I was 20 had to keep a secret but my mother came around but after a while. Except foe her little digs but take them any day then when I was 16 (I was Christian at the time) and she would randomly have strange Christian interventions because idk she felt like me watching cricket is not normal. I just want to state because a lot of people are going to think oh she said "Southern Africa" this is normal. NO. This is still weird. I just moved back to my rural town but guess what it is still weird. These women are mid to late 40s and early 50s I get that we are different generations but my gosh is so weird to me how excusable they make it. There are some older women that are more alarmed by this behaviour. My grandmother for one who was raped statutory and other by my grandfather who was in his 40s at the time, got her pregnant and at 16.

My grandmother later killed him, she passed away from old age, (after having 3 kids and being forced to marry and stay married for 4 years (this so random, but I always remember how crazy and strong my grandma was). These man that talk about the good old, always forget about this weird detail in history idk. But I also have empathy for these women because they are so desensitized themselves from the creepiness of it all.

Side-note I know a conversation I have with older women tell me they feel invisible in society, but I cannot wait for the day that I can swing my hips walking down the street or feel suffocated in public by man or at least these type of me. Them seeing as undesirable because I am not fresh eggs is honestly the day I can kind of breathe not all the way though. But breathe and exist.

This was a novel that I do not think anyone is going to read this. But I am going to post r/atheist as well. Cause this kind of fits that topic of conversation as well. Lastly I am sorry for any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, any run on sentences or if there was any slang. I really tried but English is my third language and I am also lazy to scan with it with an app. The amount of times I had to cancel the words basically because I was trying to type this like I was talking to friend is embarrassing.

Edit: I tried to fix some of the spelling mistakes but I know there is still some. Sorry! I am so sorry I have not had to written or speak English for the past 3 months (since graduating) I should be embarrassed.

Submitted February 19, 2022 at 04:44PM by iamjustasunflower14 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/aK4bP6z)