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yatescountyhistorycenter · 1 year ago

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Getting to know Levi Benton and his town

By Jonathan Monfiletto

(The following essay is the script I - Jonathan Monfiletto - presented while portraying Levi Benton during the Yates County History Center’s annual Walk Through History cemetery tour at Benton Rural Cemetery in August 2023. The namesake for the town, Benton and his family were the first non-native settlers - aside from the Public Universal Friend and their followers - in what is now Yates County. If we could actually talk to him today, then he would have quite a story to tell about the early history of Yates County and the town of Benton).

Hello everyone! My name is Levi Benton, and welcome to my property here in the town of Jerusalem. Yep, that’s my house right over there – or at least it was – and this is the land I donated to the community to become our cemetery. Ahem, excuse me, I’m sorry. I forgot we broke away from Jerusalem in 1803 and formed our own town. Please allow me to start over.

Hello everyone! Welcome to my property here in the town of Vernon. Oh, that’s right, never mind. Those people over in Oneida County took our name for their town the year before we did. So we had to come up with a new name, which we did in 1808. Let’s try this again, shall we?

Hello everyone! Welcome to my property here in the town of Snell. We named this town for State Senator Jacob Snell from Montgomery County. No, wait a minute, that’s not correct either. You see, Mr. Snell had no connections to this part of Ontario County anyway, so we decided the name didn’t really fit. OK, I’m going to get it right this time, I promise.

Hello everyone! Welcome to my property here in the town of Benton. Ah, there we go! I got it this time! We named the town in 1810 for, well, yours truly. You would think that would be an easy one for me to remember. But, hey, give me a break, I’m 277 years old. I’ve forgotten more things than you people have remembered.

In fact, there was a meeting in the spring 1810 that took place at Luman Phelp’s hotel at the corner of Main and Head Streets. You folks know that as North Avenue, back then Penn Yan was a settlement within the town of Benton. There, Nathan P. Cole and a committee drafted a petition to the New York State Legislature to change the name of the town in my honor.

But I am still getting used to the idea that this is called Yates County now – named after the governor, Joseph Yates, who signed the bill into law to formally establish this county out of Ontario County in 1823. You see, I’ve been dead longer than Yates County has been a thing, and this was still Ontario County when I moved away from here.

And don’t get me started on the town of Wilton. You see, Jerusalem and Augusta – you folks call that Middlesex nowadays – were the first two towns incorporated in this part of Ontario County. But a bunch of us men – nearly 70 in all – wanted to separate this part of Jerusalem into its own town. There weren’t any hard feelings or anything; we just felt Jerusalem was too big and this part getting too grown up.

So we presented a petition to the Special Court of Sessions in Canandaigua dated February 3, 1797 – a Tuesday, to be exact – to ask that we citizens of this part of Jerusalem be allowed to form our own town. James Parker drew up the petition and signed it along with us other men, but for whatever reason the court didn’t grant it. We had to wait a few years to get our own town.

Well, anyway, I do hope you’ll excuse me for my lapses in memory and judgment. That really is my house over there, though it’s been modernized since the time I built it, of course. And I did donate this land for the cemetery. I actually owned quite a bit of property around this part of the town. I’m not buried here, though; I’m just visiting some dear old friends and checking out the old homestead.

In this part of Jerusalem – excuse me, Benton, to use the proper terminology – I was the first settler, hence why they eventually decided to name the town after me. In fact, my family and I were the first settlers of Ontario – er, Yates – County, outside of the Public Universal Friend and the Society of Universal Friends.

You see, I was born in Kent, Connecticut on March 20, 1746, and I married my wife – Mary Woodworth, or Molly, as everyone called her – in Canaan, Connecticut on October 30, 1769. We had seven children (three girls and four boys) by the time we decided to follow the Public Universal Friend out to the Genesee Country. You think long car trips are tough nowadays? Imagine having seven kids screaming “Are we there yet?!” and you don’t even know where you’re going!

We weren’t Friends ourselves, but the Friends blazed a trail, literally and figuratively, for those of us who came after them. We had two more girls once we settled here. In fact, Molly was pregnant with Hannah on our journey out here.

I mentioned we weren’t followers of the Public Universal Friend. In fact, it was my cousin Caleb – a prominent member of the New York Genesee Land Company, the group that Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham established to handle their land transactions – who convinced me to move out here. Through the company, Caleb bought the title to Township No. 8 – the town of Benton as you see it nowadays – and built the first sawmill on the north side of Kashong Creek. The site is opposite of the south side, where nowadays you see the stone gristmill that was built in 1828.

Eventually, Caleb sold some land to me, and my family and I settled on what was then lots 35 and 37 – right here. In fact, I owned much of the land on the south center and flat street roads, and I sold lots to the pioneers of Benton as more people moved into this area.

In 1789 I built a large log house, which I soon replaced with the large frame house that is still standing over there. The home still stands on its original foundation and is possibly the oldest home in the county still occupied. I also built the first frame barn west of Seneca Lake, for my cousin Caleb in 1793. We built the barn and filled it with crops all in one day.

Of course, being the namesake of the town and its first settler, I was connected to nearly every leading enterprise in the town and was frequently a public officer – one in whom the people had every confidence.

Even though I wasn’t a Friend with a capital F, I tried to be friend to everyone. I considered myself a Universalist – meaning I believed everyone receives salvation – but I was hospitable to traveling preachers of all faiths and hosted religious services in my home early on. In fact, the very first meeting of the Benton United Methodist Church took place in my barn before the Methodists built their own church. I think my barn was across the road from here, but you know, after all these years I can’t really remember. I’ll have to beg your pardon on that one.

In fact, our home was one of the social centers of the town while we lived here. We held Fourth of July celebrations on our property back before there was any villages around. You think your Independence Day parties nowadays are something special. Well, we had parties with people – including myself – who remembered America being founded.

We would set up long tables of refreshments in the shade of the butternut trees that stood in the rear of the barns, and men would give speeches for the occasion. Platoons of muskets would fire in honor, and there would be patriotic toasts. In the evening, everyone enjoyed a contra-dance to the music of the fife and violin.

During the winter evenings, my son-in-law Ezra Rice taught people young and old how to sing sacred music using a new system for the time, called “The Easy Instructor by William Little and William Smith.” From this system, folks learned the theory and practice by singing some good old pieces. Ezra was a good school teacher in the area as well as a good music teacher and church choir leader.

And speaking of school teachers, I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I did introduce Yates County – there, I said it right this time – to one of its first teachers. In the spring of 1802, a young man, just 20 years old or so, named John L. Lewis came to see me and proposed to teach school in Benton Center. I showed him around the town and introduced him to some of the local men. Sure enough, John got the job and began teaching school that April and taught here for three years.

In 1816, Molly and I – and many of our children and their families – chose to leave Benton and move westward. After a bad investment caused financial difficulties for us, we decided it was best to start over and try again somewhere else. We ended up in Whitewater, a town in Wayne County, Indiana, where I died on July 20, 1820 at the age of 74.

Well, I want to thank you all for coming and welcome you all to this cemetery tour. I hope you enjoying learning about the history of Benton and Yates County from us pioneers who helped settle this area and make it what it is today.

#historyblog #history #museum #archives #us history #american history #local history #newyork #yatescounty #bentonny

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misfit-fics · 3 years ago

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Demon Rehab For Dummies

Summary: (Y/N) started seeing seven demons when she was 10. Through the years they all disappeared, all but one. Namjoon. A demon who has not so creepily, creepily, very creepily been in love with her for years.

Genre: fluff, crack, extremely minimal angst, idiots to lovers, romantic-comedy

Word count: 7384

Rating: Teen

Warnings: mentions of suggestive & kinky themes, a handful of cursing, a story with a plot but not doesn’t exactly have a plot, a stubborn (Y/N) who dismisses love confessions & genuine flirting, an unspoken confession

A/N: Hey! we're back, it's been a while. We're starting school in a while but it will be gamble if we'll be more active or not. Well... we ARE active but just not posting? Yeah, you know what I mean. This has been sitting in our drafts for a while now and we're posting it now... although it's pretty unedited, feel free to address any oopsies. Hope who ever finds this enjoys reading!

At the ripe young age of ten (Y/N) began seeing seven men. Which- would’ve (should’ve) freaked any kid out but you know (Y/N) is just kinda quirky like that so she didn't really mind much. The men were nice and played with her anyway, and the only weird thing was that sometimes they would bring her dead birds.

At age eleven (Y/N) noticed that one of the men was missing.It didn’t affect her much except for the fact that this particular one would help her find things and she’d lost almost all of her socks since he disappeared. Not to mention the increase of bug bites after he left. The darn things seemed like they multiplied exponentially after a month.

By twelve only two of the men had disappeared, at this point (Y/N) not only lived in sandals (she still couldn’t find her socks) but she also couldn’t explain why her hair was burning off every time she tried to straighten it (her lil demon friends didn’t want her to, you’d think after almost 3 years of having men following her around and telling her what to do she’d get with the program already.) Her dog her parents had given her when she was 9 started disappearing quite often after he left. He always came back with a single sock that would disappear the next morning.

By thirteen (Y/N) had developed a crush (more like unhealthy obsession) on one of the men, Namjoon. The third year was also the year when Jimin disappeared, taking all of her favorite shoes with him. That year she had prayed to whoever was listening because her parents really couldn’t afford to keep buying her socks and shoes, and because she definitely couldn’t afford to shave her head.

By fourteen, Hoseok, the man who had cheered her up whenever she needed it, had gone, leaving a tidal wave of bad luck in his wake. He had a great deal in keeping (Y/N) happy, although some of his antics made her want to punch him, it never turned out that way.

When she was fifteen no one left… except for the dog. Aside from that, the only thing that left was her social life (It wasn’t like she had one before but you know it was still a little rough). (Y/N) began to depend more and more on her demons. She had become great friends with the oldest, Seokjin, who cooked for her when her parents went on trips.

At sixteen Yoongi left and the nightmares began. And with the nightmares came the growth of (Y/N)’s relationship with Namjoon. Namjoon became her protector, along with sometimes Seokjin, who still cooked for her and cared for her altogether when she couldn’t.

At seventeen, (Y/N) was informed that when she turned eighteen Seokjin would be leaving, on account that they didn’t need each other anymore. (Y/N) had been torn up when he told her and even more when he left. He didn’t take anything when he left other than a piece of (Y/N)’s heart.

At eighteen, (Y/N) moved away from her parents house with Namjoon trailing behind her (He even had lil demon suitcases and everything,) following her every move.

“I really don’t understand why you had to follow me out of my parents house. I thought spirits are supposed to be attached to a general area…” (Y/N) took to unpacking a box in the small apartment she now lived in.

“(Y/N) how many times do we have to go over this, I'm a demon, DE-MON.” Namjoon clapped his hands with each syllable. (Y/N) rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist at the self-proclaimed demon.

“Demon, ghost, same thing.” She shrugged her shoulders, “same thing as to-may-to, to-mah-to.”

“It is not the same thing!” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) like it was obvious.

(Y/N) snorted, “Okay Casper.” She continued pulling out the items in the box.

Namjoon looked flabbergasted, “CASPER!?” Namjoon put a hand over his chest and widened his eyes. (Y/N) looked up at the demon with a raised brow,

“Geez Casper, why are you so offended? I’ve called you Casper before, Casper.” (Y/N) struggled to keep in her laughter, trying to keep a straight face as she looked at Namjoon.

Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “I think I shall simply cease to exist in your realm.”

(Y/N) looked back down at the almost empty box, “You wouldn’t do that, you love me too much, my dearest Casper.” She said in a singsong voice, “Oh hey I found a sock.” She pulled out said sock from the box, it had yellow stripes. :]

“I think Jungkook took the mate to that when he left.” (Y/N) threw the sock at Namjoon with a loud ‘FUCK!’

“I mean we could try and summon him to see if he’ll return your socks.” Namjoon shrugged.

“I wouldn’t even try.” She started putting the random items in their new places.

“You should put Juno on the window sill rather than the coffee table, I mean cacti do need sun.” Namjoon looked at the little green prickle plant.

“I’m sure if i didn’t tell you how to parent your child, it would’ve been confiscated by child protective services.” Namjoon crossed his arms and looked at Juno who had been (rightfully so) moved to the window sill.

“Casper- Juno is a cactus. There is no CPS (Cactus Protective Services).” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon with her own arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised, “Now if you could- Can you please go unpack a few boxes?” (Y/N) shooed Namjoon away before her eyes widened and she added in, “NOTHING LABELED FRAGILE!”

“You know if we painted a wall or two in here, it would liven up the place so much…” Namjoon looked around the bland apartment, “Maybe an accent wall over here. A floor lamp over there. A new plant in the kitchen. It wouldn’t hurt you to give Juno some siblings.”

(Y/N) looked flabbergasted, “You want me to pop out another child?!”

“No I mean-” Namjoon’s eyes widened.

“-OUT OF MY WALLET?!? MY BARELY 21 DOLLARS!?” (Y/N) got her wallet out and zipped it open. She shook it in the demon’s face, about 26 pennies, 2 nickels, 1 dime, and a quarter fell out. It was followed by a single, folded, 5 dollar bill.

“I don’t think that’s 21 dollars, (Y/N)” Namjoon looked down at the floor, where one or more of the coins had caught onto his feet.

“I have a gift card.” She pulled out the cheap plastic, silver, $25 visa gift card (that didn’t have 25 dollars) with a bit of a struggle.

“How much exactly is on that gift card (Y/N)?” Namjoon eyed the flimsy silver object.

“You expect me to know- I mean probably more than 10 dollars!” Namjoon raised a brow at the statement. “Okay, maybe about 3.69.” Namjoon sighed, massaging his temples. (Y/N) bent down to put the money back into her wallet like a pigeon eating bread crumbs the old lady on the bench threw onto the floor.

Namjoon walked away from the pigeon-girl and grabbed a notepad and pen that was left on the kitchen counter. “We’re making you a to-do list.” He stated, clicking the pen.

“WE haven’t even unpacked all the boxes yet.” (Y/N) whined, pointing at the last large box in the middle of the hallway. Namjoon looked to where she pointed and shrugged.

“It says Christmas decorations.”

“EXACTLY! VERY. IMPORTANT.” she clapped her hands in between each word.

“It’s February.” He said.

“It’s still winter.” (Y/N) reasoned, finally done picking up the money. She plopped herself down onto the small brown couch.

“Okay so first off you need a job.” He wrote it down onto the notepad, the pen scratching being overlapped by a loud gasp from the human in the room.

“You dare ignore me?!” She yelled offendedly at the demon who glanced at her before looking back down at what he was writing.

“You also need to go to the supermarket.”

“I told you I barely have any money.”

“Your parents gave you some money.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

“And also, you should walk to the school and find a short route to get there.” Namjoon pulled out a literal map.

(Y/N) pouted, “I thought you were gonna walk me to all my classes to deter all the frat boys from coming my way…”

“I did say that,” he confirmed before continuing. “But I mean to get to the actual school grounds.”

“But we have a car.” She had drawnout the ‘but,’ trying to make her point that she didn’t need to walk.

“But you need exercise.” He reasoned, mimicking the way she had said her words.

“Are you calling me fat?”

“No.”

“Yes you are.”

“(Y/N) i’m not.”

“Yeah you ARE, Casper.”

“Would you PLEASE call me by my actual name for once?”

“Sure thing. Rap Monster.” She teased, the ground started shaking. (Y/N) let out a loud screech looking up at the demon who’s eyes were rolled back. “OH FUCK YOU!”

The shaking died down, Namjoon staring down at the girl who was now underneath the coffee table. “This is why you’re still here!” she cried.

“You want me gone?” Namjoon questioned, offendedly. (Y/N) army crawled her way from her ‘safe spot.’

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT!” She yelled, returning the offended tone.

“I’m out,” Namjoon pivoted on his heel, walking to the front door robotically.

“Noooo!”

“Will I ever see my socks again?” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon with hope, “I mean having shoes would be great too though.”

“What’s wrong with living in sandals? Birkenstocks are very comfortable.” Namjoon pivoted around with a candle in his hand.

“It’s winter.” (Y/N) frowned.

“You could always use mine?” He gestured to the shoes at the shoe rack at the front door. The ones that were closed toed…

“Your feet are too big.” (Y/N) looked over at the shoes, then looked down at her own feet, then at the demon.

“Size didn’t matter Last night with your sweaters?”

“That’s different, Namjoon.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes.

“Size.” Namjoon smirked.

“Different.” (Y/N) stood confidently.

“You know, you could always just go buy new socks?” Namjoon looked at her oddly.

“I usually wait to get them for Christmas, you should know this by now.”

“Independence.” He stated.

“You’re a hypocrite.” Namjoon let out a ‘huh?’ and (Y/N) continued, “You said independence when you’re dependent on me.”

“That isn’t my fault.” Namjoon raised his hands in defense.

“It kind of is though…” (Y/N) shrugged, Namjoon opened his mouth to retort but was quickly cut off, “I’m literally a rehab center for you.”

“Apparently you’re not a nicely rated one.” Namjoon shook his head.

“I’ve helped 6 other demons, Namjoon. You’re just being difficult.” (Y/N) poked his chest really hard before retracting her hand.

“Ouch,” he put his hand over his heart where she had poked him, “You shouldn’t be saying these things to your client.”

“I didn’t ask to get a client or even BE a rehab center.”

“The reason why you became a rehab center was because you decided that humans were ugly and disgusting.”

“The reason why you ended up with me was because you did something bad and you just now decided to be a good person and it’s not turning out well for you.”

“For your information, I could have left a long time ago.” Namjoon crossed his arms, with an audible exhale from his nose. He stared down at the rehab center.

“And why didn’t you, hm?” (Y/N) crossed her arms also with a raised brow. Namjoon kept quiet, debating how to answer, keeping eye contact as if it was an olympic staring contest.

“You.” He said. (Y/N) snorted, ready to insult the patient. “-would’ve starved to death by now if I hadn’t stayed with you until now.” He finished, (Y/N) gasped, reaching up and hitting Namjoon on the shoulder.

“You. Jerk. Get. Away. From. Me.” She hit him harder every word before waddling away into the hallway from the chuckling demon.

“No problem,” Namjoon disappeared with a veil of sparkles out of view.

(Y/N) thrusted open the door to her new bedroom. Continuing her waddle to the end of the full size bed. Facing the head board, she plopped the top half of her body onto the bed front first. Namjoon reappeared about 6 feet away from her with a loud poof and a burst of sparkles scattering around the room.

“Go away.” (Y/N)’s face was still shoved into the mattress, “Seriously shoo.” (Y/N) lifted her arm off the bed to wave him off.

“I won’t go. You can’t make me.” Namjoon walked towards the bed hesitantly, scared to get fucking murdered by his prison warden, “Move over. Give me some room.”

“Go sleep in my closet.” (Y/N) flipped the demon off.

“You’d prefer nightmares over your dearest Casper?”

“Yes.” Namjoon sat down on the bed, his knee almost hitting the girl’s head. “I thought I said in the closet.”

“And I prefer the bed.” Namjoon leaned forward and took (Y/N) by her hands and pulled her closer to himself with an annoyed groan from her. She was pulled until her head was laid on his chest, wrapping his arms around her.

“I hate you.” (Y/N) grumbled into her demon-pillow.

“I know.”

“You live because I allow it, and that is it to be my flesh pillow.”

“Okay, now sleep.”

“But why do you have to leave?” (Y/N) looked up at her bunk buddy, her chin was impaling the person’s chest.

“I have to. I'm ready to go.” Yoongi looked crestfallen, “They said I could have one more night. But then, when I leave, I can pass on my role.”

“Could you maybe not steal my socks?” (Y/N) pouted at Yoongi who chuckled in response. “This is a genuine request.” She said with slight seriousness in her tone.

“You don’t have any to steal anyways,” he rolled his eyes with an endearing smirk that replaced his dispirited look just seconds before.

“Ok just- don’t go stealing any of my clothing, I need it.” (Y/N) clicked her tongue, not denying the fact that she was sockless.

“I won’t. I don’t need your clothing.” Yoongi shrugged, “I might take your guinea pig though. Meatloaf is cute.”

“YOU wouldn’t DARE take Meatloaf from me.” She glared

“I can and I will.” Yoongi crossed his arms over his chest and looked towards the cage that housed Meatloaf. (Y/N) groaned, unlatching an arm that was sandwiched between the bed and Yoongi’s back. She planted her palm smack in the middle of the demon’s face, covering his view of the poor guinea pig.

“No.” She patted his face, Yoongi’s eyes now squeezed shut.

“I can lick your hand.” he threatened, his voice muffled and jumpy from the wacky hand.

“You’re gross,” she moved her hand up, now only covering his eyes and revealing a gummy smile from Yoongi.

“It’s sleep time,” he declared. (Y/N) whined in response, “I’ll be here in the morning to say goodbye one more time okay?”

“Promise?”

“Never said that,” he hummed.

“You jerk,” she groaned, laying her head sideways. Her ear over his heart, engraving the sound into her mind.

Like a cliche love story, (Y/N) woke up to no one but herself on the bed. Through groggy eyes, she could see that poor Meatloaf was gone too.

“I tried to stop him from taking Meatloaf I swear.” Namjoon uncrossed his arms from over his chest when he noticed that (Y/N) was awake.

“Did you really?” (Y/N) sat up in bed.

“I did, I swear,” he said immediately, “I have proof.”

“By proof, do you mean you broke something?” Namjoon took a deep breath figuring out whether or not to say yes or no.

“I… never said that.” He decided on dying, his words drifting off in nervousness.

“So… you did?” She concluded, Namjoon nodded slowly, his eyes down on the floor.

“Yea…” (Y/N) sighed, trying to find anger to cover up a tsunami of sadness that was approaching.

“It’ll be okay. We can summon him every once in a while. Maybe while we’re at it we can try to get your socks back.” Namjoon smiled and hoped it would make her feel better while the reality of things had begun to set in for him. All of the boys loved (Y/N) with all of their hearts but he was the only one willing to stay for the long run.

“I don’t think people want to go back to a rehab center, Namjoon.” (Y/N) let the tears begin to pour.

“(Y/N) it’ll be okay…” Namjoon went over to sit on the bed next to (Y/N), “Seriously we’ll get through this.” Namjoon put a hesitant hand onto (Y/N)’s shoulder and began trying to comfort her.

“I know- I know but-” (Y/N) sniffled, “Hold on, my mascara will run.”

“You’re not wearing any?-” Namjoon raised a brow and looked at (Y/N) like ‘bih-’

“Shush.” (Y/N) shushed Namjoon before shaking off his hand and placing her head on his shoulder.

“You know you can’t prevent me from getting a boyfriend forever.” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon before continuing to pack her bag for school.

“I can and I will.” Namjoon slung his own bag over his shoulder. He was definitely a professor.

“You can’t make me be single forever.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes and slung her backpack onto her shoulders.

“Your preferences in men are horrible (Y/N), I'm not trying to prevent you from getting a man.” Namjoon said in a matter of fact voice, moving and opening the front door, letting (Y/N) pass through before he walked out behind her.

She scoffed, “maybe you should hook me up with someone, maybe then you can leave rehab.”

“I miss Meatloaf,” Namjoon said solemnly, changing the subject.

“Why do you always change the subject when I bring up my love life?” (Y/N) complained, stomping her foot as they walked down the hallway of the apartment building toward the elevator.

“Do you think Yoongi will respond if we try to summon him?” He ignored the question.

“Hey Joon? Is your dick ribbed? I heard all the demon dicks were ribbed.”

Namjoon stopped in his tracks, putting his feet together and staring down at the human with a face screaming ‘what-the-fuck?’ (Y/N) had a boxy smile on her face, waiting for a response. “Who the fuck did you hear that from?”

“A fanfic I read, it was a group called DTS,” she shrugged. “Is it right though?” she leaned forward slightly in high expectations.

“Well-” Namjoon paused, “uhhh…” his eyes darted around. “Mine… isn’t.”

“Damn- that’s really disappointing,” (Y/N) frowned, throwing down an imaginary hat onto the ground and continuing walking with Namjoon following behind her.

“Why is it disappointing? You’re a virgin.” Namjoon raised an eyebrow.

“Why would you think I’m a virgin?” (Y/N) looked offended. They stopped in front of the closed silver elevator doors, Namjoon hit the down button before responding.

“You literally had no social life in middle and high school and depended on demons who were attached to you by force in order to not lose your ability to speak in English.” Namjoon raised a finger, “Plus I’ve known you since you were ten and unless it was before that… I would know.” He slipped into the elevator, turning around and walking backwards. A know-it-all smirk plastered on his face while (Y/N) had an annoyed look on her own.

“Can we just- stop before we start arguing about my sex life?” She marched forward into the elevator like a preteen going into their room after an argument with their parents.

“How did you even become a professor?” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon confused. “Couldn’t you have just you know… poofed yourself from people’s view when I go to school?”

“I need something to do while you’re in class. I might as well teach asshole frat boys how to do business math amiright.” Namjoon chuckled.

“I mean… you can just be the ghost you are and haunt me n’ stuff?” (Y/N) suggested, “I mean you already do that, Casper.”

“That’s Professor Casper to you.” Namjoon laughed too hard at his own joke.

“Ew,” (Y/N) cringed. “I’d rather call you Daddy Casper.”

“Only in the bedroom.” Namjoon looked at the human.

“Sex doesn’t always have to be private.” (Y/N) stared back at the demon, flipping her hair back. “Wait- are YOU a virgin then?” She asked, bringing back the topic from earlier, but this time about Namjoon.

“Classified.” Namjoon glared.

“So you ARE a virgin?” (Y/N) snorted a laugh, “And you call yourself a demon.”

“Not all demons are incubi or succubi, your demon-racist.” Namjoon accused.

“I am not demon-racist.” (Y/N) looked up at the tall demon, “I’m human.”

“You’re not a human, you’re the personification of the word ‘dumbass.’” He said, poking the proclaimed dumbass on the forehead.

“Rude of you to assume what I am, Casper.” (Y/N) smacked away his hand and pushed Namjoon not so gently on the shoulder.

“Now you’re the hypocrite,” Namjoon glared, “Professor Casper.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes, “Daddy Casper.”

Namjoon frowned, “If you’re so persistent on not calling me Professor, then just Daddy works fine.”

The girl shrugged, “I’d prefer to just call you Daddy Casper, but without the Daddy part.”

“But what if I want to be called Daddy Casper.” Namjoon wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as they walked through the gates of the school, the walk soon enough would be coming to an end.

“Woahhhh down bessie.” (Y/N) lifted her hands and moved them in a downward motion, “Save it for the student who’s gonna try to fuck you for their grade.”

Namjoon laughed again, “You say it as if it won’t be you trying to fuck for an A.”

“I don’t get how an idiot like you got a job as a professor.” (Y/N) punched Professor Namjoon on the shoulder who was still laughing at the insult he pulled out his ass against the girl.

“I don’t know how an idiot like you got into college.” Namjoon rubbed his shoulder and then pushed (Y/N) back with a grin on his face. The bell conveniently rang, ending the conversation and forcing the pair to speed their way over to the classrooms.

“You know I saw one of the sorority girls eyeing you, I think we’ve found our fuck-for-a-grade person.” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon, “You wouldn’t fuck her right?”

“I would never fuck one of my students.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “Plus I don’t like cheerleaders, I like depressed freshmen who can see demons and that double time as rehab facilities.”

“I am not a rehab facility. I am a struggling freshman.” (Y/N) clapped at Namjoon.

“No you’re not a rehab facility, you’re my rehab facility.” Namjoon smiled cheekily, “And the way I see it you are not a struggling freshman, you live with a professor that helps you with most of your homework.”

“Eh- The one thing you don’t help with is stress relief.” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon, “The least you could do is let me go out and find a boyfriend.”

“You HAVE a boyfriend.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) seriously.

“WHERE? WHO?” (Y/N)’s eyes frantically searched the room.

“HERE! ME!” Namjoon pointed at himself and then widened his eyes.(Y/N) looked at Namjoon with a raised brow, her frantic eyes stopping and looking the demon up and down.

“I didn’t know you had a rental-boyfriend service?” (Y/N) said in genuine shock, “I don’t have any money though so-“

“You don’t have to rent me.” Namjoon scoffed, “I’m right here and I cost no money.”

“I don’t take charity work, sorry.” Namjoon groaned and covered his face with a hand.

“You’re literally the most stubborn person I know.”

“I’m trying to keep my single streak here, thank you very much.”

“Wait so we aren’t dating?”

“You thought we were dating?”

“You didn’t think that?”

“You like me?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I mean- you never said it-”

“I literally said it seconds ago, (Y/N).”

“Well yeah, seconds ago I guess but I mean before?”

“I literally confessed to you when we were looking for apartments to move out of your parents house.”

“When?-”

“What about this place then?”

“I like it.”

“More than you like me?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Are you questioning my love for you?”

“Bitch, maybe I am.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why shouldn’t I be questioning it then, hmm?”

“I’m literally helping you look for a home that we both will move into.”

“That proves nothing.”

“Bitch- If that doesn’t say ‘I LOVE YOU’ I don’t know what does.”

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe saying ‘I love you’ straight up?”

“Fine.”

“I love you.”

“Nice.”

“Ohhhhhh.” (Y/N) smiled, “You meant that?”

Namjoon looked at her with a blank face. She stared back waiting for an answer that didn’t come.

“So… you do mean it?” She confirmed it herself. The demon nodded slowly, waiting for her to process it.

“(Y/N)? You good?” Namjoon waved a hand in front of her face.

“You know,” she started, finally having rebooted her system. “There’s a lot of things wrong with this relationship. First of all, you’re a demon and I'm a human.”

“Not the first time I've heard of that type of relationship.”

“Secondly, you’re supposed to leave soon considering you’ve delayed it enough. Even using my personified dreamcatcher as compensation to stay longer.”

“I’m pretty sure at this point, they’ve given up on trying to get me back.”

“Third of all, it’s weird that you’ve literally known me since I was ten.” She held up ten fingers, “How old are you again?”

“Not that old for a demon,” he shrugged.

“Exactly. For a demon, thank you for proving my point.” Namjoon went to retort but (Y/N) continued. “Fourth, teacher and student relationships are weird.”

“People roleplay it in the bedroom?” Namjoon shrugged once again.

“Exactly,” she said again.

“It’s technically not weird since you’re not my student though. You’re definitely not a business major so…” Namjoon weighed the pros and cons of being caught with a student even if said student isn’t even one of his.

“I’m an English Major- BUT that’s besides the point. You’ve still known me since I was ten.” (Y/N) poked Namjoon’s chest.

“Hey it’s not like I was creeping on you when you were a kid…” Namjoon raised his hands in defense.

“No you just started creeping on me when I was around sixteen.”

“It’s more acceptable than pedophiles!”

“You’re like three hundred!” She exclaimed, she threw her hands above her head to

“Add about seven-hundred years to that.” Namjoon added with slight hesitation.

(Y/N) stood there, mouth agape, trying to do the mental math.

“You’re one-thousand?!”

“Give or take some.”

“I- I’m going to remove myself from this situation.” (Y/N) walked away.

[:] I ran out of image things, so we get text from now on. [:]

“Maybe I should start sleeping in the closet.” Namjoon voiced his thoughts as he was grading papers one night.

“You don’t have to sleep in the closet.” (Y/N) looked at the demon from across the kitchen table.

“The closet is comfortable.” Namjoon shrugged before voicing his concerns about the student’s work, “I’m pretty sure this student is gonna try to suck my dick for an A. This work sucks ass. How did she even get x=34? The answer is x=0!”

“I’m bad at math, don't look at me.” (Y/N) jotted a note down on her work before closing her notebook.

“But anyway- Back on track. Why do you want to start sleeping in the closet?” (Y/N) raised a questioning brow.

“Because the bed is awkward now.” Namjoon sighed before writing a bold ‘10/35’ down on the paper and circling it. (Y/N) glanced over at the paper that was marked red at every inch of it.

“You should put ‘see me after class’ on it. Maybe she’ll suck your non-ribbed demon dick.” (Y/N) suggests as she puts away her notebook. Namjoon’s fist hit the table in annoyance with a loud sigh that definitely said ‘i’m not getting some dumb bitch to suck my dick.’ The girl snorted, “Geez, no need to be so rough on the table.”

“Stop bringing up my non-ribbed demon dick.” Namjoon glared across the table.

“You admit that it’s not ribbed? That’s rough, man.” (Y/N) sighed sympathetically. “Some people are into that, you know.” Namjoon facepalmed, a bit too harshly, a loud smack echoing in the cramped apartment. “No need to be so rough, Casper.”

“You’d probably like it rough, and why the hell are you so bent on the fact that my dick isn’t ribbed?” Namjoon glared, moving onto the next student’s paper.

“We’ve taken the god damn BDSM test together, Casper. You KNOW I'd like it rough.” (Y/N) said in a smart-ass tone, knowing for a fact that they’ve done the test before.

“That shit lies,” Namjoon declared, “I’m not a bottom.”

“We know sweetie, we know. The test did you dirty.” (Y/N) weighed her options before ultimately deciding not to cross the room to comfort her demon. “But you know, the test DID have some direct questions-”

“You mean like the golden showers?”

“Ew, why would you even bring that up.”

“You said ‘direct questions.'” Namjoon shrugged.

“That question was traumatic.” (Y/N) shuddered, “But anyway, You can keep sleeping in the bed. It’s only awkward for you. Plus you can’t even be a demon dreamcatcher from a closet.”

“I can and I will. Now go get ready for bed. I'll join you in a bit. I have to email the kids' advisor.”

[:] Oh wow, another spliter [:]

“What’s awkward about this?” (Y/N) asked, ignorant to the fact that it was very awkward. Her legs were wrapped around the demon’s waist, who was laying down as straight as a log uncomfortably.

“Everything is uncomfortable.” Namjoon tried to push (Y/N) off of him.

“This is where you’re wrong,” (Y/N) states. “Your chesticles are very comfortable.” She furthered her point, by moving her head and weirdly nuzzling her cheek into his chest.

“(Y/N) get off of me.” Namjoon was now really uncomfortable.

“No.” (Y/N) pulled Namjoon’s log-body closer.

“Please?” Namjoon wiggled some more, “Seriously (Y/N) get off.”

“No…” (Y/N) held Namjoon tighter, “Imma go sleep now.”

“Ok (Y/N).” With that Namjoon pushed (Y/N) up and off of him and climbed out of bed and into the closet.

(Y/N) whined, “Nooooooo!” She looked at the closet through her eyebrows. “Are you hiding something from me?” She accused the demon.

“Excuse me?” Namjoon opened the closet door a bit.

“Oh my god- are you a closet gay?” She gasped loudly.

“WHAT?” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) from the crack in the doorway.

“It’s okay! You don’t need to use a fake confession to hide it from me.” She comforted the demon, “I will support you 1000 percent.”

“I’M NOT GAY!” Namjoon wiggled around in the closet before emerging from the space.

“Okay okay- but just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with being gay, Casper. Closeted or not.” She hummed, her words being muffled as she slowly put her face into the mattress.

“It’s been awkward since you basically called me a cradle robber, you stubborn piece of shit.” Namjoon blushed at his confession.

“I thought you didn’t care about that earlier.” (Y/N) looked back up, taking a deep breath of air after almost suffocating herself.

“Well I did.” Namjoon huffed out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“Well that sucks,” (Y/N) said blandly, “I was thinking of saying I love you.”

“The fuck- wait,” Namjoon’s eyes widened.

“Night night.”

[:] Cockadoodle-Doo it's morning [:]

The next morning came around quickly for (Y/N), though I wouldn’t say the same for Namjoon. Having him overthinking the “postponed” love confession from (Y/N). Meanwhile, though the night was quick, the morning dragged the girl by the toilet paper stuck at the bottom of her shoe.

Frown plastered on her face, seemingly deep in thought. She was unmoving in her seat aside from her wrist moving to stir the half eaten cereal in front of her. Namjoon sat across from her, “You can stop thinking, you’re going to hurt your head.”

The insult snapped the girl out of her concentration, she looked up and clicked her tongue. “I was just thinking about you. You want me to stop doing that?”

Namjoon raised a brow, “Depends on what you were thinking about.”

“I was wondering if we could summon the boys,” (Y/N) smiled before continuing, “Maybe get my socks back…”

“Are you saying you’d enjoy the company of your socks more than you with me?” Namjoon asked rhetorically with a shocked expression. (Y/N) gagged and rolled her eyes.

“Namjoon…” she said with a honey coated tone. “Are you saying you don’t know that I know you’ve used MY socks before?” The accused had a shocked look on his face that looked like he was on the verge of throwing up.

(Y/N) started snickering, amused by the demon’s expression. “As if I'd use your cheap ass yellow striped socks,” Namjoon aimed his nose at the ceiling. The girl laughed harder, finding the insult to her socks a bit too amusing.

“Okay, back on topic,” she said in between giggles, “We’ll get back to this later.” Namjoon shook his head, unamused unlike the person across from him.

The offended sock insulter cleared his throat, “We should have enough time before we need to go to the school to summon one of them.” He said in a factual voice, (Y/N) nodded as she took a glance at the time that read 7:23 am.

“What did we need again?” She got up from the stool she sat on, abandoning the poor soggy cereal. Namjoon got up also with a hum of thought.

“Candles and a lighter are the main things, obviously,” He says. (Y/N) nodded going into one of the kitchen cabinets for the items. “And if we’re summoning all of them, we’d need offerings…” Namjoon drifted off.

(Y/N) put down the candles onto the marble counter and looked at Namjoon questionably, “So… we need another hamster and dog?” This made the demon pause before nodding slowly, the situation becoming a bit more difficult than it needed to be now.

“And then what about Hobi? What he took wasn’t exactly… a physical object?” She also put it into consideration and clicked her tongue. “I’m still mad at you for sacrificing my literal source of happiness and good luck for yourself.” Namjoon’s jaw dropped.

“I thought we were past this!” He threw his hands up in the air, (Y/N) flipping him off simultaneously.

“Maybe you were,” she sassed, pointing fingers with a half assed glare.

“Technically, it wasn’t a sacrifice, (Y/N).” He said, crossing his arms.

“Well-” She was cut off by the demon.

“Nuh uh, It was just him choosing to leave and wanting to stay,” he snapped, not in a harsh way though.

“But-”

“You know what, let’s just try and summon them another day. I don’t think it’d work anyways.” Namjoon said, dismissing the topic by waving his hand, taking a glance at the tree outside.

[:] Wooshy flash back time I guess [:]

“Why are you still here?” (Y/N) looked at Namjoon, “I mean weren’t you supposed to leave this year?”

“I was supposed to leave instead of Hobi last year. I asked to stay.” Namjoon was sitting nonchalantly in one of the lounge chairs in her parents' living room reading the book she was supposed to be reading for school.

“Why didn’t you leave when you were supposed to?” (Y/N) looked at the demon, a look of confusion evident on her features.

“Who else is supposed to write your book reports for school?” Namjoon smirked while holding up the book before going back to reading said book.

“Then why did Hobi leave? Did he not want to be attached anymore?” (Y/N) began to tear up.

“It’s not that. I asked to stay because I felt I wasn’t ready to leave yet and Hoseok felt he was ready to leave. Most of the time, we leave when our time comes (Y/N). Hobi and mine were at the same time and I wanted to stay so I stayed.” Namjoon smiled at (Y/N).

“But why didn’t Hobi want to stay?” (Y/N)’s tears were flowing freely at this point.

“(Y/N)! Are you crying?” (Y/N)’s mom came rushing downstairs to investigate why her only child was crying.

“I’m fine.” Even (Y/N) wasn’t convincing herself, “Really Mom, I’m just over exhausted. I’m gonna go up to my room.”

[:] And back to the present :) [:]

“Are you almost ready to go?” Namjoon popped his head into the bedroom, “We have to leave soon if you want to be on time for school.”

“I’m almost ready, relax. And don’t you have a class to teach and a non-ribbed dick to get sucked by that one bitch for an A?” (Y/N) scoffed from where she was printing an essay that Namjoon had written the night before.

Namjoon started counting down from five, “Five- You better fucking get your ass in gear or you’re gonna be late. Four- Seriously (Y/N). Three- Professor Howard can’t give you another pass just because he likes you. Two-” Namjoon got cut off by (Y/N).

“I’m ready, asshole.” (Y/N) looked at him, “You better not let that bitch Brianna suck your dick.”

“I won’t let her suck my dick!” Namjoon raised his hands in defense, “What about my toes though?” (Y/N) looked at the demon with a face of disgust and looked at him from head to toe.

“Are you Namjoon or Taehyung?” She squinted, looking at his face.

“It was a joke!” Namjoon smirked, “But I'm sure she’ll do it for an A anyway.”

“I’m done with this conversation Casper.” With that (Y/N) slung her bag over her shoulder and left.

“Hey wait!” Namjoon grabbed his own bag before speed walking after (Y/N).

[:] Professor Casper or Daddy Casper? [:]

“SO.” (Y/N) sat down across from Namjoon in his office, “Rumour has it that you’re dating a cute english-lit major and are up for evaluation. What say you in your defense?”

“I mean I am dating a cute english-lit major. But I’m not up for evaluation, I used my demon charms to get out the punishment.”

Namjoon looked at (Y/N) seriously.

“Did you actually?” (Y/N) gaped at Namjoon.

“No. I explained that dating you is punishment enough.” Namjoon smiled, his dimples popping.

“Bastard.” (Y/N)looked at Namjoon.

“Bitch.” Namjoon smirked at (Y/N) before leaning over the desk and kissing her on the forehead, “I love you.”

“Good.” (Y/N) blushed.

There, through the window of the office, there were 6 peeping toms watching the couple.

“Adadada-uda,” Taehyung stuttered, “THEY’RE SO CUTE!”

“This looks like it’d turn out like a straight porn video on the hub,” Yoongi says bluntly.

Jungkook looked at Yoongi, “Ew straight.”

“Moving on,” Seokjin cleared his throat, “Does anyone remember when (Y/N) said I love you back?”

A series of “No’s” could be heard.

“Maybe we weren’t watching!” Jimin raised his hands, “But when were we not watching?”

“Oh I know!” Hoseok interrupted, “When they split up because of classes earlier. We left Yoongi hyung in charge just in case something happened.”

“I took a nap and must've missed it.” The guilty demon shrugged.

“No, (Y/N) definitely isn’t someone who confesses straight up.” Seokjin said, stroking his chin. The rest nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that's why she didn’t have a man when we were still there.” Jungkook snorted.

“No JK, we all know the reason why (Y/N) was always single. Was because she was pining after Namjoon.” Jimin stated the obvious.

[:] Damn. Imagine having someone to kiss in public. Or at all. [:]

“So how do you reckon the staff caught onto us… I mean PDA really isn’t our thing.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “Who have you told?”

“I haven’t told anyone!” (Y/N) frowned, “Maybe someone saw us go home together? I bet it was that bitch Brianna. She gives off the stalker vibes.”

“I’m not gonna let her suck my dick.” Namjoon looked at (Y/N), “And she’s already failing my class so even if I did let her suck my non-ribbed punisher, she still would probably only have a D-.”

“Hey- I thought we stopped referring to your dick as non-ribbed.” Namjoon raised a brow, making a face that said ‘you’re-the-one-who-started-it.’

Reading his expression (Y/N) glared at the demon, “Technically you’re the one who started it because you freely admitted it freely.”

“What makes you find out the hard way that my dick isn’t ribbed?” Namjoon looked at (Y/N) suggestively before flopping namtiddie first into the couch.

“I think I would've preferred finding out the hard way.” (Y/N) flopping onto Namjoon’s hard back.

“So I can’t even have the couch to myself?” Namjoon groaned before realizing what (Y/N) meant by ‘finding out the hard way,’ “Are you saying you rather had found out in the heat of the moment after having prepared yourself for a ribbed demon dick?” Namjoon leaned his head up to bump (Y/N) who still had her fat ass on his back, “I can’t breathe, get off.”

(Y/N) rolled off of Namjoon before plopping herself down in front of Namjoon, “That’s exactly what I am saying.”

[:] Smh stalkers at every moment [:]

“And I got a big fat ass!” (Y/N) shook her ass while singing off-key.

“Your ass is everything but big, baby.” Namjoon passed (Y/N) to reach for the garlic from the spice cabinet.

The girl turned and looked at Namjoon with an offended look, “You know. As my rental boyfriend, you’re supposed to be nice.”

Garlic forgot, Namjoon turned to (Y/n) and grabbed her waist, “I’m not your rental boyfriend and you know that.”

(Y/N) laughed, “Okay go off I guess, not my rental boyfriend.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes before pushing Namjoon away.

“Woman,” Namjoon placed a hand over his heart, “You wound me.”

(Y/N) turned around and smiled at her demon, “I could argue that you’re the one that wounds me.”

“I do not wound you.” Namjoon scoffs, “But I could very well wound you if you keep saying i’m a rental boyfriend, love.”

“Well we wouldn’t want you to wound me now would we,” (Y/N) smiled up at Namjoon before leaning in and placing a quick peck to his lips, “I love you.”

Namjoon smiled before returning (Y/N)’s peck with a chaste kiss, “I love you too, baby.”

*Meanwhile from the dining room 6 men were watching from not so afar*

“Hyung! Hyung! Did you see that!” Jungkook excitedly pointed towards the couple in the kitchen.

Yoongi groaned, “See what?”

“Le gasp! How could you have missed that!” Taehyung held a hand over his heart, “(Y/N) initiated affection for once!”

Jin smiled, “It really was adorable.”

[:] Oh look, you're at the end. [:]

“Every kiss begins with consent.” Namjoon wiggled his shoulders while grading papers at the table.

(Y/N) smirked before leaning over the table and planting a large whet kiss on Namjoon’s cheek.

“Rude.” Namjoon scoffed before pulling (Y/N) in for a proper kiss.

“You know that kiss didn’t have much of my consent in it.” (Y/N) smiled before leaning in for another kiss.

“I don’t think I consented to that either though.” Namjoon smiled.

“Get back to work baby.” (Y/N) nudged Namjoon towards his pile of papers.

“Yeah yeah.” Namjoon smiled before looking down and putting a big red ‘F’ on a paper clearly marked Brianna Simms.

“When will she just drop the class?” (Y/N) chuckled, “Dumbass.”

do not repost, translate, or claim as your own. :]

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cricketnationrise · 4 years ago

Text

More Cheese than a Dairy Farm

for @adambirkholtz and also how dare you :D

_X_

1. after the last practice of preseason

“Great job guys, good work today. Take tomorrow off and get ready for classes to start, and then regular practices start tomorrow night,” Dex says.

“And the first team breakfast is Wednesday after morning practice!” pipes up Chowder.

There’s a general rush to shower and leave, guys chirping each other left and right. Nursey finally feels at home. He closes his eyes while he waits for C and Dex to wrap up so they can head to Annie’s. He’s a senior. He even knows what he wants to do after college. Life is good.

“Hey. Hey Nursey.”

“What Dex.”

“Feel my shirt.”

He opens his eyes to see Dex holding out the edge of his t-shirt with a smile and doesn’t try to fight the rush of affection that comes with it. He reaches out and rubs Dex’s shirt.

“It’s nice. Soft.”

“Know what it’s made of?“ Dex asks.

“No? Cotton? Should I know?”

Dex smirks and leans closer.

“Boyfriend material.”

Nursey bursts out laughing. He can’t help it. Coming out to him and C over the summer had been a huge step for Dex. He was so much more relaxed and, though he would never say it out loud, chill now. Chill enough to use horrible pick up lines on Nursey of all people.

“Dex that’s so bad oh my god,” Nursey manages to wheeze out between laughs. He looks up to chirp him more and sees that Dex looks proud of himself despite the fire truck level blush he’s rocking.

“You guys ready?”

Dex reaches his hand out to help Nursey off the bench. “Yeah we’re good Chowder, let’s go.”

Still laughing, Nursey just says “boyfriend material” to himself, takes Dex’s hand and they leave the locker room.

_X_

2. During Spookykegster

It’s an excellent party. They won their game last night, and there’s no practice or classes in the morning to wake up for. Ideal conditions for sure. And his best friends are on NurseyPatrol, which, to be fair, hasn’t been needed since sophomore year, and has now evolved into the best excuse to hang out with Dex and C for some quality Frog Time.

“You mind if I leave to go over to Cait’s?“ Chowder asks, shouting a little to be heard over the music.

“Ooooooh we see how it is, don’t we Dexy? Not even our epic friendship can hold a candle to the lovely Farmer. What ever shall be done?” Nursey says as he sways into Dex.

“You’re good C, take off. Come help with clean up in the morning and it’s all good,” Dex says, his hands automatically coming up to catch Nursey before he overbalances and falls.

“Bye guys! Have fun the rest of the night!”

And now Nursey has a slight problem. Tiny really. It’s just that now he’s alone with Dex. Dex who is actually wearing a costume for once. He’s dressed up as Woody from Toy Story and Nursey might be having a hard time not staring at Dex’s ass in those jeans.

It’s fine.

“You want to get another drink? Or are you going to dance?“ Dex asks.

“I think drink,” he says, moving toward the kitchen, “I need another beer I think before dancing. Want one?”

“Ayuh, sure, thanks Nursey.”

He goes and comes back, handing Dex a can as he leans back against the wall next to him. He’s drinking and scoping out a potential dance partner when out of nowhere he hears,

“Are you wearing space pants?”

“What? No? I’m wearing jea-”

“Because your ass is out of this world,” Dex finishes a little too loudly, blushing furiously.

“What’s this Dexy? You flirting with little ole me?” Nursey flutters his eyelashes and delights in watching Dex’s blush deepen and spread down his neck.

“I - well - you know - I - no?”

“Chill Dex. I know you’re just practicing, en bee dee,” he says just to watch Dex’s eye twitch at the spoken letters. “Gotta go see a boy about a dance. Catch up with you later.”

Nursey laughs to cover his disappointment and goes to dance. Now that he knows Dex isn’t serious and his beer is finished, it’s time to dance.

_X_

3. At Founders a Week before Finals

Nursey is stressed okay? Just because he’s got an internship lined up for credit for next semester doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need to study. And his Harlem Renaissance paper is kicking his ass. But once he finishes this draft he can take a break. He just needs to focus. Or another coffee? Maybe he just needs -

“It’s a good thing I have my library card because I am totally checking you out,” Dex whispers, from the chair next to him.

Nursey starts to snigger, trying to keep from making too much noise in Founders.

“You been saving that one just for me Dex?”

“Just thought you needed a little break from your paper,” Dex says, trying to be nonchalant about it, but his hand comes up to rub the back of his neck, and his ears are bright red, giving him away.

And.

Nursey can’t hold it in anymore, and starts hysterically laughing.

He’s still laughing as the librarian swoops down on them and demands they leave. What a horribly cheesy pickup line. And from Dex of all people.

_X_

4. Nursey’s Birthday

All the card says is “We’re not socks but I think we’d make a great pair.”

But, he recognizes the handwriting and it was left on his pillow so he digs his phone out of his pocket, laughing.

Me: woowwww dex

Me: this one is so cheesy if i didn’t know better i’d swear you’d have a fondue machine down there

As he changes out of his jeans and gets ready for practice in an hour his phone pings. He opens Dex’s response and promptly has to sit down. William J. Poindexter has responded with a selfie. It’s a little blurry, clearly taken while he walks home from his programming class. It’s unseasonably warm for February today, so the pink across Dex’s freckles are 100% blush.

Dex: Happy Birthday, Nursey! Hope it made you laugh.

Something about the picture makes Nursey’s breath catch. He doesn’t feel like laughing all of sudden. He doesn’t want to examine the swooping sensation in his stomach too closely. That way lies madness.

_X_

5. March

It’s been a brutal practice. But no one is complaining. They’re in playoffs. Everyone wants to do well. And Dex is a great captain. He’s really come into his own this year.

But today was like Bitty was still here; Dex put them through a whole practice of the Russian calisthenics that Bitty had adapted from his figure skating coach.

Everyone was wiped.

“Dex, you’re my best friend but I hate you so much right now. If you were a punching bag all that would be left would be a pile of sand on the ground.”

“If you were words on a page, you’d be fine print.”

He couldn’t help it. He giggled.

“Oh stop making me laugh, I can’t feel my abs as it is,” Nursey says, looking over at Dex.

“S’just the truth,” Dex mumbles, flushing abruptly and turning away to dig in his bag for his shoes.

“Fine print,” he snorts and hauls himself up to go refill his water bottle.

_X_

+1 After Winning the Frozen Four

Nursey doesn’t think he’s ever been happier. They’ve won the Frozen Four for the second year in a row. Chowder had a shut out, and both he and Dex had scored. It was truly a perfect game.

He knows he still has to get through the rest of his internship and finals but right now, he’s on top of the world.

He and Dex are crammed into a too-small booth for their combined shoulders with Chowder and Farmer (who flew out to watch the game) opposite them. Nursey feels good, floaty and glowing. They won, his friends are here, and long-established convention means he gets to be pressed up next to Dex. Not an inch between them.

It wasn’t like he was unaware his crush was getting astronomical. And it didn’t help that Dex kept feeding him pick up lines all this year. Lately, they’ve been a small torture, wanting Dex to flirt with him for real.

Whatever.

He’s here. Dex’s here. Nursey’s happy.

Dex has never looked better. Confident and loose like he usually only gets at the Haus. The lights overhead highlight his freckles and Dex’s hair, a touch too long and starting to curl after not cutting it through playoffs. Nursey’s staring. He knows he is. With a herculean effort, he tears his gaze away and tries to focus on what Chowder is saying.

“-And wasn’t it s’wasome when Bully checked that guy right before he could get to Whiskey and -”

“Breathe, babe,” Farmer says fondly, “They were there too.”

Nursey leans further into the leather, relaxing when they leave. As happy as he is, he is tired, and the booth is comfortable. Especially with Dex so close.

They’re all chatting too loudly about The Martian and he’s laughing at Farmer’s Donald Glover impersonation when Dex suddenly winks at him. Nursey almost falls off his seat. Dex leans closer, and whispers in his ear.

“Hey Nursey?”

“Yeah?” Nursey can barely breathe.

“Even in zero gravity I would still fall for you.”

Nursey doesn’t blush. Which means the heat he feels in his face must be a symptom of a fever. His throat is dry enough it might be true.

“Ha ha Poindex-” he abruptly stops talking when he feels Dex’s hand cover his own on the seat in between them and his fingers curl around Nursey’s own.

“Oh holy shit,” he whispers, “Really Dex? Now? With a cheesy pick up line no less?”

“S’thematically appropriate,” Dex shrugs and then tilts his world upside down with, “I got tired of you thinking I was joking around the other times I tried flirting.”

“Wh - I - I -” Nursey has no words. For once in his life.

“Its a good thing you’re pretty,” Dex chirps before leaning in an kissing his cheek, holy shit.

“FINALLY!”

They both jump and look around at Chowder’s shout. C’s beaming at the two of them.

“Do you know how much in back fines the two of you owe?!?!”

Dex just laughs and hides his (bright red) face in Nursey’s neck and Nursey tries not to melt.

“I think we’re good for them, C. It’s chill,” Nursey says, not looking away from where his fingers are curled up with Dex’s.

The fines are worth it.

#nurseydex #pick up lines #kegsters #frozen four celebrations #senior frogs #charmer #dex is trying really hard to flirt #nursey is oblivious #and pining #until he isn't #nursey #dex #chowder #farmer #smh #samwell men's hockey #5+1 fic

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bluebellwriting · 4 years ago

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Love Me Tender Part 6

Hey folks! I know it’s been a minute, I’ve been super busy with work and school, but I’m by no means done with this piece and you know I had to post something for Valentine’s Day (to make up for the fact that single and lonely 😆😭)

Despite popular belief, Hell does in fact freeze over. It’s Hell, after all, and in the world of pain and torture, everything is fair game. And it’s February, historically one of the coldest months for you back when you were living and certainly the most miserable in Hell too. The roads are slick with sheets of ice, you can’t walk a block without a three-foot icicle nearly spearing itself through you, and everyone’s car is perpetually trapped in a snowbank thanks to Lucifer’s “generous snow plow program.” Each winter day reminds you of the worst snow cyclones from when you were growing up in Brooklyn, cold yes, but in a way it’s all very sentimental. They remind you of the winter nights cuddled up with your siblings, hot chocolate in hand, listening to the winds blustering against your windows. It’s all rather lovely, in a strange way.

Your boyfriend of four months does not seem to agree, if the way he’s gripping you and nuzzling into your neck is anything to go by. You’ve been trying to extricate yourself from your practically shared bed for the last ten minutes, but each attempt only causes Alastor to pull you closer. He’s basically on top of you now, those boney forearms are stronger than you’d think.

“Sweetheart,” you whisper. “It’s time to get up.”

Alastor groans but otherwise your voice falls on deaf ears.

“Come on, we have to make breakfast and then--”

“But darling, it’s freezing,” he sighs. “And why would I go anywhere when I have my own personal heater right here.”

It’s really hard to stay mad at him, especially when he places sweet little kisses from your cheek to your shoulder and back again.

“Well your personal heater has some errands to run and needs to get her day started.”

“Ugh,” Alastor whines and inch by inch, begins to roll off of you. “How can you even stand to be out in that unbearable cold? Don’t you want to stay right here with me, your loving and adoring boyfriend?”

“You know I would,” you boop his nose. “But then I wouldn’t be able to get your present.”

His ears perk up immediately.

“Present?” He coos. “A present for lil’ ol’ me? Dearest, you shouldn’t have.”

“Yes, but I can’t pick it up until I get out of this bed.”

“Oh fine. I suppose I have some things to do for tonight as well,” he teases and kisses you on the nose before finally allowing you to shift out of bed.

“Although before you leave me,” he whines. “I have a little something to kick off the festivities.”

With a snap of his fingers, a red garment manifests in your arms.

“Oh, Alastor.” You run your hands over the thick velvet of the dress. “It’s lovely.”

“This is just the beginning, love. Now go try it on,” he shoos you off to the bathroom, then immediately curls back up into the comforter to protect himself from the draft leaking in from your window.

The dress is beautiful and warm. As soon as you change into it and assess yourself in the bathroom mirror it hits you that this has to be a customized dress. It fits you far too perfectly and the fabric is so soft, it’s like a blanket heating you up and snuggling you in. It’s either custom or enchanted with Alastor’s magic. Or maybe both, you wouldn’t put it past him to make this the perfect dress.

The last four months together have been a dream. A blissful and rapturous dream that you never want to wake up from. If you thought he was sweet before you began dating, then this is an entirely new level. You two are practically glued to the hip, and he finds a way to make every possible moment so enthralling and exciting that it doesn’t even matter.

Everything about him is just enthralling, and the best part is that he can’t seem to get enough of you either. It makes your face warm and your mouth split into a grin just thinking about it.

You poke your head out of the bathroom door and giggle at the sight of Alastor in his own personal blanket cocoon.

“Comfortable?” You ask.

“I’d be more comfortable if you were here with me.”

“While that sounds tempting, I wouldn’t want to ruin my fabulous new dress.”

He shoots up, blanket still around his shoulders, eyes wide and alert and trained on the way the bodice clings to your curves. It’s even more perfect than he could have expected.

“Do you like it?” He scoots to the edge of the bed and holds his arms out for you to step into.

“I love it.” You smile and step between his legs to fall into his embrace. “It’s perfect. Thank you, my love.”

“That’s just the beginning, dear,” he cheers.

“Alastor, you didn’t--”

“Nonsense! It’s our first Valentine’s together and it must be the best of all time!” Ever one for theatrics, with a flourish of his arm the room is filled with red roses.

“Oh my goodness,” you giggle and cup his face in your hands. “You darling man.”

Alastor melts into your hands, letting the softness of your palms warm his cheeks.

“Only for you, love.” He leans forward and nuzzles your nose. “Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, dear.”

If you weren’t worried about getting to the store and back in time, you would have stayed here, exactly like this, for hours more.

“Let’s begin the day, shall we, love?” You whisper.

“But it’s cold!” He whines. “And you’re so warm!”

“Ugh, you’re such a southern boy,” you tease and pull away from him, if only to draw him out of his blanket nest and into the world.

“You love this southern boy,” he laughs and finally rises. With a quick snap, he’s dressed in a redder-than-average suit with one of the red roses on your floor now pinned to his lapel.

He hands you your coat, gloves, hat, scarf, and tries to force another sweater upon you but you stop him before you’re a complete bundle of wool and layers.

---

Charlie must have gotten up early because the entire lobby is littered with hearts and confetti. Chocolates are on every available surface and your fearless leader is currently snuggling with Vaggie in matching heart sweaters. You watch Angel hand Husk a box of chocolates wrapped in a lovely bow. Hesitantly, Husk opens the box and spits out whatever he was drinking all over your brother before stomping away with a red face.

“What did you do to that poor man?” You call over.

“Just gave him an innocent token of my affections,” Angel chimes and shows you the contents of the box: three rows of chocolates with letters printed on each piece, spelling out “Best Dick Ever.”

“Angel, that is so vulgar,” you exclaim.

“It’s the day of love, sis.” Angel pops one of the pieces into his mouth.

“That is not love, my fellow,” Alastor chastises.

“Aww, that’s cute coming from you, strawberry pimp.”

“I’ll have you know that I am plenty romantic,” Alastor says incredulously. “Aren’t I, (Y/N)?”

“You are, love. The most romantic,” you coo. “Now I have to get going. Please be nice, boys.”

“And you,” Alastor leans down to pull your scarf tighter around you, “promise me that you will be careful. You’re sure I can’t come with you?”

“I’m sure, love. I’ll be fine. Angel,” you turn to him. “Be nice.”

“’K, mom,” he calls back to you, waving as you begin your journey into the chilly winds.

“So,” Angel drawls, sidling up to Alastor. “What are you doing for my sister on this ever most sacred day of love and affection?”

“Something special and perfect and I will not have you distracting me,” Alastor sighs and snaps his fingers, transporting himself to his cottage deep in the woods of the Pentagram. Because only a crazy person would want to walk out in that cold. Good thing Alastor loves your kind of crazy.

---

It’s been a while since Alastor has been to his home, his actual home, one that is reminiscent of the large, Queen Anne-style homes of New Orleans. Dust is collecting on the counters and window sills, but that’s nothing that some quick magic can’t fix. The real task at hand is the redecorating and the meal he has to prepare for tonight to be as perfect as can be. This is certainly not the first time that you’ve been to his home but he’s hoping that it will be the last time that he calls it “his home.”

If he had it his way, tonight would be the night that Alastor asked you to marry him, to spend the rest of eternity -- or as long as you’d have him at least -- together in Hell as husband and wife, as partners in crime until the very fabric of the universe began to fray at the seams. He’s known for so long, long before you began your courtship, that he wanted to marry you and it took everything within him not to propose to you on your first date. But he had to be patient, suave, a perfect gentleman, because the last thing he wanted to do was scare you off with a hasty courtship and engagement. The last man who had attempted that with you, well, Alastor was still in the process of hunting him down so he could offer you his head on a spit. That was supposed to be the second part of your Valentine’s gift but alas, the wretched soul was more slippery than he had anticipated.

Hopefully you’d be impressed enough by the way he had decorated the house with some of your favorite colors and furniture from the 1940s, things to make it look more like a home you could share and grow into.

---

The beauty about Hell in the wintertime is that there are so few people out on the streets to bother you. The sidewalks and roads are eerily quiet, the snow swallowing up distant sounds so the only ones left is the crunch of your boots. Your trip to Rosie’s had been quick, as the poor woman was overrun with sinners trying to buy up last-minute Valentine’s gifts. As she said to you in passing while gift wrapping some tacky jewelry for a panicked demoness, “good for business, bad for relationships.”

You clutched your gift bag close to your chest, guarding it from any muggers who would even dare steal the most perfect gift for your Alastor. This was weeks in the making and you were not about to let someone ruin your first good Valentine’s Day.

You approached the door to the hotel, already anticipating a warm fire to warm your cheeks and nose, when suddenly an arm is around you and you’re no longer in front of the hotel. No, after blinking your eyes to readjust, you’re now staring at Alastor’s home, which means the arm and body hugging you close belongs to your sweet, adoring, and sometimes startling beau.

“Alastor!” You squeal. “What have I told you about surprising me like that?”

“I’m sorry, love,” he chuckles. “But I just couldn’t have you out in the cold any longer.”

“If this wasn’t a day dedicated to love you’d be buried in snow right now,” you grumble.

“I don’t doubt that, sweetest. Now come on, the fire is waiting for you.”

When Alastor first brought you into his home it was your one-month anniversary. You were actually relieved when it wasn’t a massive mansion like most Overlords pick for themselves, and you couldn’t help but be charmed by the perfectly retro, 1920s decor.

But it’s different now. The living room has new, floral wallpaper and some of the furniture reminds you of... your old home back in New York.

“You redecorated,” you shiver as you allow the warmth of the home heat up your body. Alastor rubs his hands up and down your shoulders to warm you up as soon as your coat and layers have been shed.

“Do you like it?” He asks, a glimmer of hope igniting in his eyes.

“Oh it’s lovely,” you breathe and inhale, smelling the hot meal he’s probably slaved over. “Just surprising. What brought this on?”

“Oh, just, wanted to try something new. Are you ready for dinner?”

“I’ve been salivating since I first stepped into the door.”

Dinner is delicious, mouth wateringly incredible and cajun. But all throughout dinner you couldn’t help but notice the way Alastor’s knee bounced or the way his hand shook whenever he held his fork to his mouth. Not to mention the eery quiet between you two. You can’t seem to get more than a one-word response out of him. It makes your heart drop, and the way his eyes shift away from your gaze makes a pit form in your stomach.

“Alastor, love. Is everything alright?”

His eyes dart up to meet yours. His teeth worry his bottom lip and you can hear his fingers tapping excessively on his seat.

“Of course, darling. Everything is right as rain. Are you enjoying your food?”

“It’s amazing, Al. It’s always amazing.” You beam at him and reach across the table to hold on to his hand.

“If you don’t have any more delightful surprises for me, love, could I give you my gift now?”

“(Y/N) you didn’t--”

“I won’t even dignify that with a response.”

Reaching down beside your chair, you pull out the perfectly wrapped present and slide it across the table to him.

“It’s not much,” you explain. “But I hope you like it.”

It’s perfect. So perfect, the wrapping, the bow, the very idea that his darling has given him a gift at all, that he doesn’t even want to open it. As much as he wants to tear it open, there’s the urge to keep this moment preserved in his mind forever and ever, just in case his present to you goes south tonight.

But from the way you’re looking at him, eyes wide and hopeful, he knows he has to open it right now.

Inside is a little plastic... view finder? He’s really never seen anything like this. They look like binoculars but there’s a little white disk inside with small film negatives along the circumference.

“It’s a reel viewer,” you explain. “Put it up to your eyes and click the lever.”

So he does. And with each click he’s met with little candids of you and him, some from before your relationship began, some from after, all of them more perfect than the last and preserved forever just for him. His heart swells and warms an overwhelming amount. His joy leaks from his mouth and eyes, until it feels like the sun itself is pouring through his teeth and tears.

“Oh, (Y/N), darling...” he sniffles.

“I know it’s not much but--”

“It’s everything, dearest.” It really is. And more importantly it’s enough for him to get his act together. He feels like he can breathe again, like the fog of doubt has finally been lifted. What was he so worried about? You love him, of course, you love him.

“It’s perfect.” He rises and comes to kneel before you. “More lovely and wonderful than you will ever know. So much better than my gift to you but I hope you will love it all the same. I love it, (Y/N). I love you. So, so very much, dearest.”

“Alastor, I’m going to love anything you give me because I love you, sweetheart.” You peck his nose.

“Yes, well, that’s the thing. Because really, this feels more like just another gift from you to me.”

“Is it now?” You tease.

“It is...” he sighs. “I love you. I hope you never have to doubt that for an instant in your life. And I know this might be too soon, and you can say no for now, or forever, but I have never doubted for a minute that you are the one for me. My gift to you, love, sweetheart, darling dearest, is this.”

He motions to the dining room.

“The... dining room?”

“No, love,” he chuckles. “The house. My house... Our house. If you’ll have it. If you’ll have me.”

You gasp and tears flood your eyes so quickly that you have to blink them away to see Alastor’s hopeful eyes properly.

“You’re asking me to move in with you?”

“I am. I’m asking you to make this house, our home.”

“Oh, Alastor.” You launch forward and wrap your arms around his neck. You press your lips to his in a bruising kiss, letting him bundle you up in his own arms and grip your waist.

You pull way for a brief moment, short enough to mumble out a fervent series of ‘yeses.’

“Of course,” you say between kisses to his face. “Of course, I’ll move in with you.”

#alastor x reader #alastor x Chubby!reader #alastor #hazbin hotel #valentine's day #they say write the stories you want to see

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steve0discusses · 4 years ago

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The Full Metal Alchemist Live Action Movie Part 8: Watch This Episode Covered in Butts be the Only One Not Flagged by Tumblr

Gonna be risky business and not only upload all of these caps the way I screenshot them--which has just SO MANY poorly CGI’d butts but also gonna do it on the Tumblr Drafts folder, which I have been assured works now.

I’m so worried about so many things, but considering all the fears I have about like...everything else in the world right now...I guess I’ll take a risk on tumblr.

Edit: I cannot believe that I had 8ish episodes of Kaiba’s tall dueling tower get flagged but not this movie. I just....wow I cannot.

So anyway, last we left off, General Hakuro stepped in and was like “Hi guys, you like my wily plans that no one in their right mind would have ever guessed???”

Yo remember this part of the anime? Where the bodies drop from the ceiling and it’s a hunk out of the final arc--it’s here. In this movie. This movie that can’t possibly afford to do that. Lets get some CGI animated bodies in here ASAP.

(see some texture regrets under the cut)

It’s like a Monet, as the Mean Girls say, because far away and shrinked to 500 pixels this looks kinda neat. They sort of look more like those slime ball that grow in the back of your throat rather than human bodies, but they still look pretty gross hanging up there.

But then.....we zoom in. Remember again that this was full screen on my computer, and at one point was on a freakin movie screen. This level of 3d...was on a movie theater screen.

The mind boggles. The mind boggles!

Like as you know, I am an artist, and I’ve dabbled in...basically everything in my pursuit to make a dollar...and I have taken about 2 years of classes in 3D art with Maya and all those. I’m not thaaat great at it--I’m much more an illustrator/painter--but I feel like I have that reference point. Can I just say--the model is...fine...you can do a lot with layers of bump maps so you don’t need a truly detailed model (not like they did that, because they didn’t do that, but I can figure that maybe they had an intention to do that and forgot?)

But, there’s no connection of the wires to bodies. They just kinda float? The bodies are also all the same shiny-ness? To the point that it looks like a copy paste? (I don’t think it is, the wires are slightly different on a few of them) There’s just not much in the way of a texture map or a bump map. It just...there’s also something missing from the skin.

Skin is actually kind of rough to render, so when I did it back in the day, I followed like a checklist to make sure I had all the layers and steps to make someone look...clammy. Some things are kinda translucent, they reflect light a different way...especially white skin like this wouldn’t be just...white like putty. Dunno if you ever saw a white person, but we got so many veins...there was so much potential to make something really gross and fleshy.

Instead we got silly putty. It’s fine. I’m fine.

So General Hakuro decides to just...kill everyone right now.

This makes no sense to me.

That means that the whole thing of Lust killing Hughes was completely unrelated to General Hakuro. All Hakuro needed was Shou Tucker, who has been in prison for...I assume months since Ed shipped him off. And Shou was only released today? Just now? Just now when Hughes was shot?

So this all just happened at the same time by accident?

I mean the General sent us to the wrong lab initially, so he didn’t actually want us to be here, and now that we are here, he’s going to set off an entire army as a reaction to three people walking in and going “oops”?

So, lets get a look at our army.

Oh it was so disappointing, this reveal. Not just the eyeball that has a bounce light coming from below the top lip there (how did that even happen???) but also when it opened it’s mouth, it had a flat animation of skin breaking--it wasn’t actually rendered 3d skin, it was like a jpg wrapped around it or something (or at least that was the illusion I got. That is fine for a video game or a TV show, but this is a movie. This is shot so that it can be displayed in a size bigger than your own house.

What happened to the animation team on this one? Not saying I can do better, cuz no, I can’t, that 3d chapter in my life was a while back, but I’m just one guy. This was an entire animation studio and they just...didn’t render 3d face ripping (which is their entire job, to work in 3d) and then they kinda just turned on the stock physics dynamics and dropped em instead of animating them.

The way they fell was like fish from a bucket--the same amount of speed, too. they all ragdolled like a 3D shooter, their rigs just hanging on for dear life (and yes, you could see the deforming happen on the joints of these models.) I’m fine with having a computer program render something out with a physics engine...but there is a balance.

You do have to still go in there and finangle it back because...real life is hella stupid. Real physics? So stupid. It was hilarious how nonthreatening it was, too because they’re like...the size of shrimps in that zoom out image. The scale is just so wild!

It was like one bored guy in a sound booth and they multiplied his voice three times. Golden. Absolutely golden.

So these guys stride over, all of them with the same amount of speed (leading me to think it was probably a recorded walk cycle they all share with slight alterations between all of em) and they kinda just...pile on eachother in a weird way.

I will give them this: I was happy to see something that wasn’t physics or procedural. They mo-capped and animated that part for sure. It had the touch of an artist’s hand. It was also a very funny way for Hakuro to die because this guy was on screen for like 5 minutes, and maybe 7 minutes of this whole movie.

Youknow...I think it really says a lot about your nude 3d models if they’re not disturbingly human enough to trigger the tumblr filter, youknow?

Anyway, Envy looks on.

And then Gluttony saves the city.

Meanwhile, they decide to bust out the fire effects and Mustang becomes the most useful person in this entire movie. Like honestly this movie was poorly named, because it should have just been “Mustang saves the FullMetal Alchemist’s Entire Ass.”

The next part seems like I forgot a cap, or maybe missed something. I swear to you, I did not.

First off, Al becomes fullmetal and makes this happen without an alchemy circle. The show doesn’t really care to talk about that though, it’s just a thing he can do now, and you’d only notice it if you were writing a Tumblr post about it.

I swear to you, Winry is just inside of Al and there is no explanation.

There is no explanation for this.

She was on the couch...why is she not on the couch? What?

And then when you think they might have a moment, Ed’s like.

Damn.

For reals what the hell was that entire scene except for a way for Ed to get his arm stitched back on in like 2 minutes?

Outside, Envy and Lust are just strolling around the back-alley of this red brick building we have seen used for this entire movie.

And like...it’s so funny to me because they weren’t trying to run or hide. It makes complete sense why they got shot. This is what happens when you just...walk away when the whole military guard wants to kill you.

Now lets go see how Hawkeye is faring.

Luckily, all of the ambling bodies have decided to walk slowly through this one weird grass section between extremely long buildings.

And Hawkeye tells everyone “You have to shoot their heads off” and I want you to look at that scene and tell me how many of those bodies still have heads.

Oh, all of them. Don’t worry about it.

Kinda hard to see, but Ed shows up to give Mustang a hand, which was fully unnecessary but we’ll get to that in a bit.

This movie is such a gem.

Ed goes big brain and realizes that Envy is still burned up, and thus is about to pass on.

And whatever, I’ll take it. It’s not like the movie has told us that they are made out of 1000000 lives, for all we know, in the movie universe, they really are only 4 lives. Like half a cat. Maybe Father only killed half a cat instead of an entire city.

Yugi Muto would be so freakin proud of Envy for how often this guy gets hit square in the chest with fire balls. It’s basically every scene where Envy and Mustang share screen time.

And don’t worry, I don’t think Envy died? But they sure made it look like he did, which I’m sure everyone everywhere was really happy to see, since Envy’s death was one of the climaxes of the whole series. Like people used to make these lists of “top 10 saddest anime deaths” and how many people had Envy on there? Like everyone? People freakin love Envy and they did him so much dirty in this movie.

Again I have no explanation for Winry.

So Mustang is like, Ed, you make sure Winry doesn’t biff it in that corner, and I’ll do my actual job over here on this side. And yo, he did.

And so then that’s it, Lust is dead, and now we have a Sorcerer’s stone.

Man it looks delicious, right?

I’d eat the hell out of that.

Anyway, we only have one more update and we’re done with this movie!

I know!

I know! They only have 10-15 minutes to resolve pretty much everything, and that’s assuming that the credits don’t take up a heap of that. Hell, I might only have 3 caps next episode if that’s all credits. I honestly don’t remember.

Anyway, hope y’all take it easy this February, here is a link for people who just got here to read these FMA recaps in Chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/fma/chrono

#FMA #Fullmetal Alchemist #Fullmetal Alchemist Movie #recap #photo recap #ed elric #colonel mustang #hawkeye #al elric #Winry Rockbell #so much fire #so much almost there CG

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scotianostra · 4 years ago

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On October 15th 1586 the trial began of Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle.

Settle down, this is a wee bit longer than my normal posts, some state it started on 14th, but it concluded on the 15th, so here we are.

You might remember my post a month ago when Mary arrived at her last "prison", the place where she would ultimately spend her last days and meet her end.

If the history books are to be believed. Mary Stuart first sighted the ancient castle towers from a path called since the "days of the Domesday Book", Perryho Lane, on hearing the name Perryho, she is said to have made a melancholy little play on the name exclaiming aloud, ‘Perio! I perish.’ and indeed she did.

Mary was always a threat to the English Queen Elizabeth’s rule. Seen by Catholics as the true catholic ruler of England, there was many a plot to bump off Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne.

For almost 20 years Mary was dragged around England and locked up in its various castles. Having said that she was allowed certain freedoms including rides in the countryside and hunting trips, Fotheringhay was different.

Despite the size of the castle Mary found herself incarcerated in comparatively mean apartments: this brought back all her phobia of a secret killing, the sort of barbarous death that stained the history of English medieval castles. The most notorious being one Edward II son of Longshanks, "Hammer of the Scots" who some say was murdered at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire by being held down and having a red-hot poker inserted inside his anus, and his screams could be heard miles away. although most historians do question whether it is true or not, the fact is he was murdered.

When Mary's servants reported that many of the state rooms had been left empty, Mary drew the correct conclusion that she was about to be tried, and the rooms were awaiting the arrival of dignitaries from London. Just after two weeks later on, October 1st she was informed by her keeper, Sir Amias Paulet that her misdeeds were now to be punished by the interrogation of certain lords, and advised her in her own interests to beg pardon and confess her faults.

Mary's reply was that Paulet was behaving like a grownup with a small child, asking her to own up to what she had done. Then she went on more seriously: ‘As a sinner, I am truly conscious of having often offended my Creator, and I beg Him to forgive me, but as Queen and Sovereign, I am aware of no fault or offence for which I have to render account to anyone here below. …’ And she concluded loftily: ‘As therefore I could not offend, I do not wish for pardon; I do not seek, nor would I accept it from anyone living.’ For those who know anything about the Stewart monarchs this relates again to the Divine Right to rule, and they would only answer to God.

The charges against Mary were to do with a conspiracy to kill Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, her fellow conspirators included among others, John Ballard, a Jesuit priest, Weshman Thomas Morgan, a close confident of Mary's, and Anthony Babington, a Catholic noble who is said was the ring leader, the plot has gone down in history bearing his name The Babington Plot.

Whilst locked away, Mary advised the plotters, both in terms of strategy and how to ensure she’d win the English throne. And naturally as the ‘rightful’ ruler of England Mary would be the one to sign off on the plot starting. he plot took shape during the summer in 1586.

Babington informed Mary that he represented a group who planned to kill Elizabeth and install Mary as the new Queen of England. Babington asked for her support of their plan. Mary responded, asking for more details.

Unfortunately for Mary, the plot had been infiltrated and Elizabeth I’s own spy master, Sir Francis Walsingham had been using the letters to entrap Mary and get her to call for Elizabeth’s murder.

Mary agreed with the plans, but did not authorized the assassination. That did not matter however, because Walsingham's spies intercepted the letter. The letter was deciphered and copied but this time a postscript was added. According to the new letter, Mary authorized the assassination. Walsingham had his proof, and so with this false evidence Mary was indicted.

Before the trial even started Ballard, the Catholic priest, was arrested and tortured. It is said that by the time he arrived at his execution site, John Ballards limbs were barely in their sockets, as a result of the torture he’d undergone, of course during his torture he gave up the names of others involved, the main man being Babington, in September the men were executed one after the other and forced to watch as they, in turn were hung drawn and quartered, the same age old punishment for treason.

After the gruesome bloodbath attention turned to Mary.

Now I'm not saying Elizabeth was faultless in all this but she wasn't keen on trying her Mary, not just because they were cousins, it would set a precedent trying and ultimately executing someone still seen as most of Europe as the rightful Queen of Scotland. Her hand was being forced by her advisors like Walsingham, indeed they had their eye on disposing of the troublesome Mary for some time forcing through an act of Parliament the year before called The Act of Association: this provided means whereby a commission of twenty-four peers and privy councillors might be appointed to investigate any conspiracy or attempt to hurt Elizabeth ‘by any person or with the privity of any person that shall or may pretend to the title to the Crown of this realm’.

The punishments for anyone found guilty under this act were to be two-fold: firstly they were to be deprived of their title to the English crown forever, and secondly they could be lawfully put to death under the provisions of the Act. It had been quite clear at the time that this Act had been especially framed in order get rid of our Queen, it was tailor made for her.

The records of Mary's trial were compiled by the notes of those present, who included two persons designated as writers. It would have been nearly impossible to write by hand every word uttered in the courtroom. Some say Mary spoke very broken English due to her time spent in France., I myself find this hard to believe, yes she had been educated in France, but the Four Mary's would have made sure the young Queen could speak the Scot's tongue, at very least.

Mary's defence was set out mainly that, she wasn’t an English subject and therefore couldn’t be held as an English traitor. She’d been denied legal counsel or the right to view evidence being bought against her. Oh and the age old she was a Queen. Anointed by God. It would literally be a sin to kill her.

Therefore, how accurately were the writers able to record her statements? Whose spoken words were left undocumented? Which statements in particular? Did the two journalists favour Mary or Elizabeth, and if so, did they allow this to influence their notes of the trial? A completely accurate record of the trial is unattainable due to the faultiness of its records, some historians just filled in the blanks to suit themselves, depending on their own leanings.

When the trial concluded, Parliament gave speeches and had open discussion about Mary's sentencing. They also held audiences with Elizabeth. During the audiences held between Parliament and Elizabeth, Elizabeth gave two speeches. In her first speech, she declared that if it were not for "the safe and welfare of my whole people, I would (I protest unfeignedly) most willingly pardon her." Elizabeth asserted that Mary was bound to the English laws but reaffirmed that the late act "was no ways prejudice to her." Rather, Elizabeth explained that the law was in place to warn her, but since Mary still acted against the Queen and the law "was in force," there was no reason not to "proceed against her according to the same.' But, if the laws almost explicitly name Mary, then why did Elizabeth feel the need to restate that they were not prejudiced against her? Now I know I deflected some of the blame away from Elizabeth earlier but It seems that this was just another way for Elizabeth to maintain her image of innocence.

Furthermore, Elizabeth explained that because of "this last Act of Parliament" she must "order for her [Mary's] death" The Councillors' plan to somehow remove Mary as a threat had worked. Elizabeth felt her hands were tied in the matter due to the Acts of Parliament, which the Councillors had drafted with specific language aimed toward Mary.

Eventually, Mary's sentence was issued and proclaimed in the English countryside and towns. Immediately following the proclamation, Walsingham drafted the warrant for Mary's execution. The speed at which these documents were drafted show that Elizabeth's Councillors were adamant about having Mary executed.

In late December of 1586, Elizabeth had the papers for the execution drawn up. On February 1st, 1587, she signed Mary's death warrant.

I wont go into the execution as I normally post all the details on the anniversary of her death, February 8th 1587, I will however add a few more lines regarding King James VI and letters between Elizabeth and him.

Around the same time Elizabeth signed the warrant, she sent a letter to James, who had earlier requested that his mother be sent into the neutral custody of a foreign prince.

In her response, Elizabeth asked if James thought her "so mad to trust my own life in another's hand and send it out of my own?

She also refers to the "absurdity of such an offer. In this letter, Elizabeth placed the focus on James's offer rather than on the circumstances surrounding Mary at the present time, basically awaiting her fate. She did not say she was unwilling to give Mary to a neutral prince because she was either considering signing the execution warrant or had already done so.

Elizabeth withheld from James any more of a response than was necessary. It seemed that she intentional1y focused this letter's content on James's request to divert attention from her intention to sign Mary's death warrant.

After Mary's execution, Elizabeth wrote another letter to James. Elizabeth referred to Mary's execution as a "miserable accident which (far contrary to my meaning) hath befallen"

Elizabeth claimed innocence in calling for Mary's execution, but what she wrote next left a sense of doubt as to her innocence in the matter. She told James that she had "now sent this kinsman of mine ... to instruct you truly of that which is too irksome for my pen to tell you.'d While one may infer that Elizabeth sent a kinsman to explain the actual happenings of Mary's execution you have to wonder if that was truly the case. Could Elizabeth have sent this "kinsman" to explain what she would not want left documented on paper? Elizabeth would have known to not leave a self-incriminating paper trail regarding her true role in Mary's execution. Thus, she sent a "kinsman" to explain the actual circumstances relating to Mary's execution.

The truth behind what this kinsman actually told to James will forever stay a mystery because these words were just spoken in a private audience and not documented in a letter, just like Elizabeth wanted. The final question remains: was it the work of the Councillors that called for the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, or did Elizabeth I play more active role than she wished to admit?

I myself believe the Councillors did not need to have their arms twisted to call for Mary's execution. They perceived Mary as a threat and made it their top priority to remove her Queen Elizabeth's full part in the murky affair will always be up for debate.

As ever I have used a lot of different sources when compiling this, if you want more on the trial check the article below out, remember though every source is different so not all that is written here will relate entirely to my post, it is however a more in depth analysis of the trial.

https://erenow.net/biographies/maryqueenofscotsantoniafraser/27.php Pics are a depiction of the trial and part of the Babington letters held by the English National Archives, more on that here https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies/ciphers/mary/ma2.htm

#Scotland #scottish #The Stewarts #the stuarts #mary queen of scots #elizabeth i of england #history

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polkadotfairyposts · 4 years ago

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Ok, so as an english person living in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 I now actually really *get* the need for independence.

Here's my brief, foggy and perhaps mildly innacurate because im a bit shit with dates and names but bear with me. I was also drunk when i wrote this but it still stands

So, Scotland is one of the oldest *established* countries in europe, in 843 or 834 it became a recognised country

England, being England, kept on invading and there was a lot of dispute about territory.

You know thoose historical figures you hear about a lot, William Wallace of Braveheart fame, Robert the Bruce of Outlaw King. These guys were about in the 1300s. Contantly battling with England over their sovreinty

In 1314, the Battle of Bannockburn happens, Robert the Bruce pretty much destroys the English army near Stirling

1320, the Declaration of Arbroath is signed, stating the people of Scotland, not a king or leader, but the people theselves are sovereign, in quite a dramatic comparison so England's monarchy and heirarchical system. Yes, the Scots had kings and nobility, but the people were the most important, kings were not chosen by God

It was written in Latin, but says the following:

As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself".

Boom, right?!

The union of the crown happened, im hhazy on it all, watch Mary Queen of Scots to get a fairly good idea. Its mostly to do with a lot of Protestant/Catholic issues, mostly fuelled by English politics, as far as i can see, but i. Could be v wrong. There was alot of hoo-ha regarding recognising Scotland's monarchy, especially involving the "Auld Alliance" with France, who England was continually picking fights with

1703: The Scottish Parliament passes the Act of Security, under which Scotland will not in future be bound to accept the same monarch as England unless Scotland is accorded completely free trade with England and the colonies.

So, the Treaty of the Union happened in 1707 (thats right, its only just over 300 years old) but lets just look at the curcumstance in which it was signed

In the years (maybe decades) leading up to this, England imposed some kind of tax or restrictions on scottish trading.

5 February 1705: The English Parliament pass the Alien Act, restricting scottish exports and trades. Big economic impact here. Many purses made a lot lighter.

So, the Scottish Parliament (made of nobles and officials, no vote for the people. Rumoura of bribery and threats abound) decide to enter into this Union. A draft is written, its voted in, the Scottish Parliament is dissolved. There was a LOT of anti-union feeling about this. Theres a rumour the Treaty was signed in an actual basement in edinburgh to avoid protests happening around the city. (I obvs dont know the truth in that)

Magically, when the scottish parliament was dissolved, restrictions were removed and scotland was able to trade freely as part of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain"

Now, theres a king, exiled, James, or "the Pretender", hanging in France, decides to rally troops from there and head back to try and sort a Jacobite uprising. This, in 1708, failed.

1715 sees another Jacobite uprising. Defeated

1720 Spain tries to. Help another Jacobite uprising. Defeated.

Honestly, just keep on going through rinse and repeat until the big one.

You all know Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 Jacobite uprising and the absolute massacre of Culloden, especially if youve followed the Outlander series.

This was the last big rebellion. And I'll tell you for why.

Scottish culture was all but outlawed. Kilts, Tartan, Pipes, Gaelic, all punishable offenses. The Highland clearances happened (basically rich people owned the land, decided it was gonna make them more money to feed cattle than people and moved villages and townspeople to the most barren areas, on the brink of survival. A lot of folk were destitute, some left in ships bound for the US willingly , many were sent as punishment for even minor crimes)

Now, im not saying the Scots were angels and innocents subjected to English rule, a good few profited highly from Slave Trade and many oof Glasgow and Edinburgh's city statues are of questionable admirability.

But this Union of Equals is anything but.

In the 1990s, the Scots had to fight tooth and nail to get their own parliament back. This was under Labour and Donald Dewar became First Minister.

In 2014, there was an epic vote for Scots on whether to become and Independent country again. From polling at just 26%a year or so before, the Yes vote went up to 45%. Not enough to win the referendum, but a huge improvement. The Better Together campaign raised questions such as EU membership, pensions, currency, could Scotland afford it?

The DAY AFTER the No vote was announced, David Cameron announces EVEL (yeah, it looks like evil) English Votes for English Laws. Freezing Scottish MPs out of decision-making. So much for "Stay with us, Scotland. Lead us, dont leave us"

2016 the goddamned Brexit vote happens. It was 52/48 Now you know, if that had been the outcome for Yes, the uproar would have been "its too close to call" "thats not a big enough margin!" but because it was what an underlying majority of Tory backbenchers actually wanted, it was accepted. People who voted to stay in the EU were labelled Remoaners and the 16m+ who voted against it were ignored in favour of the 17m+ who voted for. Also worth noting, scotlannd voted 62% to stay in the EU. A much higher margin than to remain ppart of the UK. We were ignored. So much for Scotland staying in the UK to stay in the EU

Oh, and the last decade of Tory austrity has seen oension age increase and pension amount decrease. We've one of the worst ppensions in the developed world. There goes that argument

As a result of the Brexit vote, the sterling decreased in value. Fuck it, a number of Scots wouldnt even mind using the Euro if we were to rejoin them, but we'd be well within our rights to use our own Scots ££££

Also, the Macrone report shows pretty well that Scotland has a wealth of natural resources it would be able to use, we could definitely afford it.

Soooo, we comme to the "once in a generation" arguement. This was said a lot, by both sides. As a turn of phrase. Same as many things. Boris Johnson said he'd rather be dead in a ditch than take an extension for EU talks. He took that extension and thougb ive been thoroughly searching ditches up and down the UK, not spotted him yet.

Nowhere in the Edinburgh Agreement (the document agreement 2014 referendum) does it state "once in a generation". It *does* state that scotland can holld another referendum following "constitutional change". One word. Brexit. Thays one big motherfucking change.

If were talking about a generation, in human terms, thay could be 20/30/40/50 years or so. But if we're talking political generation, its worth noting in talks with Ireland, this was defined as seven years. Since the Edinburgh Agreement was signed in 2012,we're past that. And even if we go by 2014, thay makes 2021 the year we can do another.

12 consecutive polls have shown Yes well ahead for independence. Scotland also allows 16-18 year olds to vote. And EU citizens living in Scotland.

The point is, if Scotlannd wants it, Scotland shoukd be able to choose it.

#scottish independence #End of the Union #Yes Scotland #scottish history

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justanalto · 4 years ago

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i was tagged by the wonderfully sweet @besidemethewholedamntime -- thank you so much!! <3 <3 <3

1. What is the color of your hairbrush?

I have a wet brush that’s bright blue, but I also have a hairbrush that’s red!

2. Name a food you never eat

uhhhh...olives, but only when they’re on their own.

3. Are you typical too warm or too cold?

I’m always too cold. always, always, always. my fingers are currently freezing and so are my toes. I think it’s because there’s a loose draft in my room here somewhere, TBH.

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago?

roses are red // 45 minutes ago // i was writing poetry // and answering all my asks in a row

i’ve been sending people asks in poetry form and they’ve been responding, LOL -- so there’s been a lot of poetry brain going on!

5. What’s your favorite candy bar?

either a nice dark chocolate bar or a green tea kit kat bar!

6. Have you ever been to professional sports event?

I’ve been to a few professional baseball games! gotta get out there and have some mass sports pride. one of these days, my american football team will be good again and I will get those tickets.

7. What is the last thing you said out loud?

some half-hearted mumble-harmonizing to pentatonix’s be my eyes, so something along those lyrics!

8. What is your favorite ice cream?

either black raspberry (s/o to campus!!) or mint chocolate chip :)

9. What was the last thing you had to drink?

a couple of sips of water, hehe

10. Do you like your wallet?

I do! It’s the first “grown-up” wallet I feel like I’ve ever had -- I bought it from camden market last year when I was in london, and it’s a nice pine shade of green and made of cork. unfortunately, because i bought it in london, it also means that it doesn’t hold american currency quite as well, but it’s okay, i make do, LOL!

11. What is the last thing you ate?

my dad made spaghetti bolognese and I ate that with a hecking ton of bread. it was fantastic :)

12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend?

unfortunately, no :( i can’t remember the last time I bought new clothes. maybe january? february? before the pandemic started.

13. What’s the last sporting event you watched?

I think...I know it was definitely a pats game, and I’m pretty sure we lost, so it’s somewhere along the lines of pats v. ravens, I think

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?

extra buttery, even though it would probably murder me :’)

15. Who is the last person you send text message to?

@aleksandrachaev, and it was two thumbs-up emojis, LOL.

16. Ever been camping?

I have! I went a long time ago, like nine years ago long ago, I think somewhere out west? I slept on an air mattress, went to an outdoor bathroom, all that fun jazz! and the bug bites, LOL.

17. Do you take vitamins?

my mom: so you’ve got the probiotic, the vitamin c and the biotin...

18. Do you regularly attend a place of workship?

I don’t -- my dad used to go to church regularly, but other than that, I’ve never been to church and we’ve never been as a family.

19. Do you have a tan?

i don’t know how this happened but I literally still have shorts tan from like, august. it is the middle of november, someone tell me how I got here. a couple of years ago, I burnt so badly on a trip to LA I was still seeing the tan months later, LOL. and most of the time, I have some fair flip-flop tan!

20. Do you prefer chinese or pizza?

chinese, because pizza has the ability to murder me

21. Do you drink your soda through a straw?

it it’s a takeout cup, then odds are good i’m drinking it through a straw, but other than that nope :)

22. What color socks you usually wear?

white or grey, I think? i have some funky colored ones but i’m trying to change that

23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit?

i’m having flashbacks to a conversation I had with a friend who laughed at me for going five miles above the speed limit -- yes, I do, but only the allowed five miles above the speed limit and none more

24. What terrifies you?

oh, no, you don’t want to ask me that, we’d be here all day...being abandoned, I guess? being left by the people I care about, becoming too attached to people because they can leave and hurt me, spiders, heights, the pandemic, being hated, being alone...my own emotions, sometimes.

25. Look to your left, what do you see?

my tubby nugget! he smiles at me, and I feel a lil better :)

26. What chore do you hate the most?

i literally could not tell you how much I hate cleaning the grout in our bathroom tile. it is a CHORE.

27. What do you think when you hear Australian accent?

the hemsworth brothers, but also someone I met abroad who was from perth and had the same name as me, LOL

28. Whats your favorite soda?

ginger ale!

29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit drive through?

depends on where I’m hitting, tbh -- if i’m in a hurry, we’re going straight through the drive-thru. but if it’s an event, then we’ll go in! have a fun time. sit for a while and talk.

30. What’s your favorite number?

i don’t think I have one, actually?

31. Who’s the last person you talked to?

my dad, I’m pretty sure -- we talked about pandemic unemployment assistance :)

32. Favorite meal?

sushi, or whenever my mom makes steamed chicken. (i’m realizing it’s been so long since I’ve had that chicken and now I’m sad)

33. Last song you listed to?

for real by lana condor

34. Last book you read?

confucius jane by katie lynch, just to see if the lesbians stood up to the pedestal i’d put them on -- and hell yeah, they did!

35. Favorite day of the week?

right now, thursdays, because thursday is grey’s day!

36. Can you say alphabet backwards?

probably, if you gave me enough time to think about it

37. How do you like your coffee?

like i like my men -- from afar, some of them are pretty, but do I actually like them? no

38. Favorite pair of shoes?

either my gray ankle boots I got a couple of years ago or my ‘gay lesbian snow boots’ that I use when it’s snowing something awful out, LOL!

39. Time you normally get up?

i’m supposed to be up at 8 am, but I’m usually up anywhere between 9 and 10am. I...need to change that, LOL.

40. What do you prefer, sunrise or sunset?

i love both! but I like sunset because I’ve never specifically woken up to see the sunrise, i’ve only seen it out of coincidence because I pulled an all nighter to do work

41. How many blankets on your bed?

three, at the moment -- a costco blanket, my college blanket and a five-below blanket

42. Describe your kitchen plates.

white with a floral border

43. Describe your kitchen at the moment.

it’s lived-in -- we have a side table that’s always at the risk of a collapsing, a power strip that runs a kettle, microwave and toaster oven (you can never run two of them at once otherwise the strip shuts off), kitchen mats that will never get rid of their crumbs and a healthy, healthy pantry!

44. Do you have a favorite alcoholic drink?

either pink moscato wine or a rekorderlig cider!

45. Do you play cards?

i used to a lot, when I was younger! when I got older I stopped finding people to be able to play them with, unfortunately.

46. What color is your car?

silver! (even though I share it with my sister)

47. Can you change a tire?

no, but I’d definitely like to learn :)

48. Your favorite state or province?

new york or california, honestly. probably california. it’s the place I’ve felt the most free :)

49. Favorite job you’ve had?

i’ve had a lot of internships but not a lot of jobs, but I’d probably have to say it was the one I had at dunks -- so many funny things and stories came out of it, and now I have enough barista experience to power my coffee shop fics for a lifetime!

tagging: @agentmmayy @nazezdha321 @sadtunes @a-biochemist-not-a-bird @browneyedgenius @daisylincs @aleksandrachaev @missinglittlebritishfriend @hannahxowen @genderfluid-and-confuzled and anyone else that I missed -- you’re it!! (i’m truly sorry if I forgot you, I haven’t slept a lot in the last couple of nights fhdskjfhs)

#tag things #rebecca #besidemethewholedamntime

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 2, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

I spent all day writing only to emerge tonight to a flood of news.

Some of it is tragic but seems random: a man apparently drove a car into a barricade near the White House, injuring two Capitol Police officers before hitting the barrier. He got out of the car with a knife, and police officers shot him when he did not respond to their commands. He died. So did one of the Capitol Police officers, an 18-year veteran of the force, Officer William “Billy” Evans. The assailant has been identified as 25-year-old Noah Green of Indiana, and he appears to have feared that the CIA and the FBI were targeting him with mind control.

Other news seems to be about rebuilding the nation from the troubles of the previous administration: President Joe Biden had a 30-40 minute phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which Biden reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine’s burgeoning democracy as Russia builds up troops in the region. Former president Trump soured the U.S. relationship with Ukraine when he tried to get Zelenskyy to announce an investigation into Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, to discredit the man he expected—correctly—to be his main rival in the 2020 presidential election, before Trump would release money Ukraine needed to defend itself against Russia.

Also today, the U.S. and Iran agreed to talk again about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal that Trump abandoned, to limit Iran’s program of enriching uranium that could be used for a nuclear weapon. With our abandonment of JCPOA, Iran resumed elements of its enrichment program. Both sides are hoping to make headway on a new deal before Iran’s presidential election in June.

The United States has also lifted sanctions the Trump administration had imposed on the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, after she began an investigation into U.S. forces in Afghanistan for alleged war crimes. The U.S. is not a member of the court, and the Biden administration says it disagrees strongly with the court’s actions but wants to address those concerns through engagement rather than sanctions.

In a new indictment yesterday, prosecutors revealed that the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, his deputy, and three members of the far-right group who acted as guards for Trump loyalist Roger Stone exchanged 19 phone calls over three hours during the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The indictment indicates that federal officials have a very clear timeline of the events of that day.

The trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, continues. Today Lt. Richard Zimmerman, the head of the Minneapolis police department’s homicide division, testified that kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he was handcuffed, as Chavin did, was “totally unnecessary,” and that the officers should “absolutely” have stopped restraining Floyd once he was in handcuffs, as that position on its own makes it hard to breathe.

And then there are the ways in which the country appears to be roaring back from the low point of the past year. Today U.S. healthcare professionals put almost 4 million shots into arms, bringing our daily average for the past week to almost 3 million. Nearly 40% of all adults in the U.S. have had at least one dose of the vaccine. And yet, coronavirus infections are rising again, spurred by new, highly contagious variants of the virus into areas where safety precautions have been relaxed. The seven-day average of new cases is more than 62,000 cases a day, with just below 900 deaths a day.

The Labor Department today said that the U.S. added 916,000 jobs in March, the best job growth since last August, dropping the unemployment rate to 6%. This is excellent news, but we still have 8.4 million fewer jobs than we had in February 2020, before the pandemic.

And then there is Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who is at the center of a scandal which includes pretty much everything: women, girls, state lines, drugs, cash, fake IDs, and so on. Where it will all end up is entirely unclear, but it is notable that the Fox News Channel, where Gaetz has been a regular, made a point of stating that it has “no interest” in hiring Gaetz. Only Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have spoken out to defend Gaetz, and both of them have troubles in their own backgrounds.

But the lasting story today is the one that will hang over everything until it is resolved: the attempt of Republican legislators in 43 states to suppress voting with what are now 361 voter suppression bills across the country.

Today Major League Baseball announced it was pulling the 2021 All-Star Game and the MLB draft from Georgia in response to the state’s new voter suppression law, passed last week. The announcement drew fury from Republican officials.

They attacked MLB’s move by as a product of “cancel culture and woke political activists.” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Georgia House Speaker David Ralston released a statement blaming “this attack on our state” on President Biden and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams and insisting that the bill in fact expands, rather than contracts, the right to vote. Ralston said that “Stacey Abrams’ leftist lies have stolen the All-Star Game from Georgia…. But Georgia will not be bullied by socialists and their sympathizers.”

Republican politicians also piled on at the national level. Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA) tweeted that MLB was “[t]otally caving to the lies of the Left” and called for a baseball boycott. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) called it “a cowardly boycott based on a lie.” Then Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) called for Congress to retaliate against MLB with a law to remove MLB’s antitrust exception. The former president urged his supporters to “boycott baseball” and the companies that do not support Georgia’s new voter suppression bill.

But journalists Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein of the New York Times today reviewed the new 98-page Georgia voting law and had one primary takeaway: “The Republican legislature and governor have made a breathtaking assertion of partisan power in elections, making absentee voting harder and creating restrictions and complications in the wake of narrow losses to Democrats.” Sixteen key provisions hamper the right to vote, especially in the urban and suburban counties that vote Democratic, or take power away from state and local election officials—like the secretary of state, who refused to throw the election to Trump in 2020—and give it to partisan legislators.

If it’s true that the Georgia law is no big deal, Democracy Docket founder and election law defender Marc Elias asked, “why are three separate Republican Party Committees spending money intervening in court to defend it—claiming that if the law is struck down it will disadvantage the [Republicans] in elections?”

MLB’s decision was actually not prompted by Stacey Abrams, who rejected calls for a boycott and urged companies not to leave the state but to stay and fight for voting rights. She tweeted that she was “disappointed” that MLB would move the All-Star Game “but proud of their stance on voting rights.”

Former House Speaker John Boehner, who presided over the House during the Republican wave of 2010, published a preview of his forthcoming book that makes some sense of the Republican attempt to divert attention to Abrams. He says that the rise of the internet meant that by 2010, Republican lawmakers were taking their orders from internet media websites and the Fox News Channel, their only aim to keep viewers engaged and cash flowing.

The Republican focus on media, rather than policy, has mushroomed until lawmakers are now reduced to talking about Dr. Seuss and the Potato Head clan rather than answering the needs of voters, with no policy besides “owning the libs.”

And now they are trying to pin the decisions of MLB on the “socialist” Stacey Abrams, a voting-rights advocate, rather than on the Georgia Republican legislature’s open attempt to undermine democracy.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#quotes #political #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From an American #voter suppression #voter faud #MLB #Georgia #infrastructure

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chronicallypainful · 5 years ago

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It turns out my advisor lets out her inner ableism when stressed

I'm going to write about some events that happened between my advisor and I about a month ago. Thinking about some of this is still pretty stressful for me, but I do think that writing will help the process some of what happened. Also, if the following makes absolutely no sense, you now know why. I feel extremely betrayed. I had trusted my advisor. I had thought that she understood and respected my limitations and my boundaries. Apparently I was wrong.

Though I could sense a growing tension in our relationship for months beforehand, the first issue came directly after my thesis proposal defense. This is a step of the PhD process where you write a document outlining the research steps you intend to take in the questions you intend to answer. You then present this plan to a committee and have to answer their questions.

I passed my defense. I was able to answer all of the technical questions from committee members, and my written proposal was also approved.

I'd been working hard on my proposal for nearly a year. I was technically "late" in defending my proposal, but I was officially granted an extension due to my disability and other health circumstances. Just to lay some of those out for you: -I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in February of my first year in the program. This means that I literally slept through most of my first year courses. I then had to take comprehensive exams over the material, which meant that I spent my first summer studying frantically. I did pass the exams, but I did not have time in that first year to begin a research project. -I can't type without excruciating pain! I do use other tools like speech to text and eye gaze, but these are much slower than typing. -I have a limited capacity to write by hand before I develop excruciating pain. -I'm extremely sensitive to uncomfortable furniture and generally need ergonomic tools in order to even sit at a computer monitor or read a textbook.

The list goes on, but you get the idea.

Therefore, completing my proposal, even a few months later than officially required, was a big accomplishment!

Additionally, I had worked through a lot of pain to achieve this. Some of that pain was caused by the necessary work. I thought I deserved some credit and some space to rest.

When I met with my advisor two days after my proposal defense, her feedback for me was "I really wish you had gotten this done six months ago."

She told me that, basically, she thought I had just been procrastinating for the past six months. Nevermind that it took me about two months to tackle the task of literally writing the proposal, at least a month to make the 2 figures that were included, and many months to read all of the necessary background literature. Also, nevermind the fact that I had actually asked her to read a draft of my proposal the previous summer, which she never found the time to do. Oh, and I suppose we should also conveniently forget about the multiple of the research projects I was involved with, the fact that I was helping a postdoc get up to speed with the technology we used in the group, and the administrative work I was doing documenting the various software tools we used in the group.

Her read on the situation was that I was anxious (true), didn't want to do the proposal (actually false), and had therefore chosen to simply procrastinate (clearly false).

This probably should've been a big red flag.

But I carried on working with her. And then we had a series of meetings in May. I'm not going to attempt to cover everything that happened in those meetings, but I am going to pull some highlights.

The first of these meetings occurred on a day when I was already in a bad mental health place. In the report that I write before each meeting, I included a note stating that I was in a bad mental health place and would prefer to have a very brief meeting. The way I wrote this note, I intended to imply that I would prefer that she just signed the paper I needed her to sign and then let me go home and take care of myself. Though I did not say that explicitly.

My advisor did not respect my wishes for a short meeting. Instead, she dove face first into discussion of a project that was currently stressing her out. In retrospect, I wish I had enforced my boundary more strongly and informed her that I needed to leave. But I didn't do that.

We discussed the grant that was funding my RAship. We had never discussed this before, and I actually didn't even know which granted was that was funding me. But I learned that I had not been contributing much to the specific projects funded by that grant, and my advisor was upset about it. She treated this as if it was my fault, even though I did not have the necessary information.

She really wanted me to finish this one particular project that had been started by a previous student. Working on this project would require a lot of time at the computer, and I wanted to prioritize working on a current paper I'm writing in my limited computer time. When I told her this, and shared that I did not think the deadlines she had posed were realistic given my limited capacity to use a computer, she got very angry. She told me how my limitations were very frustrating to her. Her exact words: "There is always a reason why you can't do what I ask you to do."

I thought she understood that I had limitations and was okay with that. Apparently not. Apparently my limitations were simply not okay with her and she was taking it out on me.

Later in our conversation, she said something else to me that set off alarm bells: "You really need to have a more can-do attitude."

She was referring to the many tasks that I do struggle to complete and tell her should probably be delegated to somebody else. The implication is that I should find some new assistive technology or assistance. I do believe that she legitimately does not know how difficult this can be. And I know she does not understand the degree to which resources simply do not exist.

But, in the face of this, I don't need to work on having a can-do attitude. I already have a can-do attitude. I had to invent my own system to make it possible to write math using speech to text software. I've found hundreds of little modifications or hacks to help me with household tasks. I navigated the world of assistive technology with no professional help. I figured out mobility aids with no professional help. I was told by many well-meaning authority figures that I should pick an easier major than mathematics, given the limitations of my disability. I ignored them, earned a bachelors degree in mathematics, and went to grad school.

Saying that I need a can-do attitude reveals how little my advisor understands about the real struggles of disability, and it's also frankly offensive.

She accused me of not contributing to group projects (which is just false). She implied that I was lazy. She expressed resentment over the fact that her grant had been funding me. She again brought up my proposal and how she wished I had completed it sooner. Regarding my anxiety, she told me that I needed to "grow up."

The stress and anxiety from these meetings was making me physically sick. At times, I was unable to eat because I was nauseous. I was holding a lot of tension in my muscles, leading to increased pain. I was struggling to sleep.

I've had enough experience with my health to know that I couldn't let this go on. I went to a couple of other professors in my department to let them know what was going on. As a "crisis management" solution, they were able to find another funding source for me for the summer, and I have been working on a collaboration with a different professor.

These interactions marked a clear downturn in my mental health. Since then, I've primarily been focusing on trying to rebuild my mental health. I'm seeing a therapist who I really like, and I saw a psychiatrist for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It's hard, but I'm taking it one day at a time.

It's not yet official, but, in the weeks since these incidents, I realized that I needed a new advisor. The unreasonable expectations of my advisor had crept into my brain and are still contributing significantly to my anxiety. I won't be able to completely avoid interacting with her, but I am convinced that I will not allow her to continue to have official authority over me.

I do need to figure out who I would like to advise me instead. There are a couple of logical candidates, one of which I like (but I'm not sure if he's currently taking students), and another one who makes me a little uncomfortable (but I know she has an opening for a new student). I will be talking with people over the next few weeks and working out my next steps academically.

But my main focus will stay on my mental health. It is better than it was, but still feels precarious. The psychiatrist I saw did increase the dose of my antidepressant (which I was already taking for pain). I'm hoping it will help, but it's too soon to say. In the meantime, I'm focusing on one day at a time.

#spoonie student #grad school #chronic pain #chronic illness #disability #school #personal #long post

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thesportssoundoff · 5 years ago

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“The XFL is a thing. Should you care about it?”

Joey

February 2nd, 2020

Another winter, another money mark attempt to figure out winter football.

The NFL has wrapped up another successful season and now it's Vince McMahon's turn to try once more with a brand new football league. In 2019, the son of his friend Dick Ebersole tried with the AAF which fell apart before the season finale could even take place. Vince McMahon seems more prepared than Charlie Ebersole and his backers, especially when you consider that the XFL apparently has long term financial backing place to absorb what figures to be some money losing seasons. The XFL's rule set which features things like a revamped overtime, a double forward pass concept, a continuously running game clock and a variety of different special teams related rules designed to entice an improved pace of play. Is the XFL going to revolutionize the NFL? Probably not. Will it provide some concepts that inevitably get stolen? I'm going with a pretty solid "oh yeah absolutely." It's live sports and chances are if you're reading this you know that the SportsSoundoff is all about live sports and activities that are able to cosplay as sports (axe throwing and chainsaw-ing come to mind).

If you're looking for more football to take in then the XFL figures to give you that and with readily-ish available-ish games across FS1/2, Fox, ABC and ESPN/2 platforms. Long story short, games will be out there for ya if you want to spell some time between the NBA's second half kicking off and the start of baseball and college basketball's tournament run. With a neat and tidy eight teams across a variety of markets, I'd like to go team by team and detail why you should try your hardest to give each team the benefit of your time. Some teams figure to be easy and some teams figure to be impossible BUT I've got free time and I gotta do something, right?

The Dallas Desperados The most intriguing coaching staff in the entire league

Let's start from the obvious; if Bob Stoops truly wanted to, he could be coaching in the NCAA right now. This is a guy who left Oklahoma as an insanely successful well liked legacy coach who won a national title and 10 conference championships. Bob Stoops took Oklahoma football to a level not seen since the Barry Switzer run and is clearly one of the greatest coaching minds of his era. Health and perhaps a general all around malaise for football led to Stoops stepping down but when you look around the number of college teams divided by the number of quality of minds currently available for head coaching jobs, there's zero doubt Stoops could've been the guy at any school he wanted to over the past two years. Hell, I would NOT be surprised if Stoops would've been on the radar of NFL teams if he did an Urban Meyer-esque TV gig as opposed to just falling off the face of the Earth and living life in the shadows. Instead he re-emerges in the XFL as the GM and head coach of the Dallas Desperados. Stoops admittedly took this gig because of its proximity to his recruiting trails of the past and just general all around comfort with the area. Stoops was the prized announcement of the XFL, the first coach they revealed and put in the biggest football media market of the entire XFL league. Long story short? Bob Stoops was a rare coup for the XFL and he's being advertised and promoted as such. So much so in fact that when Stoops stopped appearing in XFL promotional material for a short spell, there were rumors that the XFL was going to lose the only drawing card it had with Stoops maybe making a move all the way up to the NFL for the Cowboys head coaching gig. The fact the XFL has Stoops gives it something the AAF never had; a familiar well liked face who isn't tired or old hat; the two knocks that basically hurt the AAF when Steve Spurrier was limping around on the sidelines for the Orlando Apollos.

The intrigue goes beyond JUST Bob Stoops as the Bob Stoops coaching staff is genuinely pretty ridiculous. If you love the Lincoln Riley and Mike Leach style offenses then you know of the name of Hal Mumme. Mumme is the father of most of the modern air raid offenses you see today, the likes of which that get mediocre-y college coaches like Kliff Kingsbury head coaching gigs in the NFL. Mumme is a bit of a college coaching legend with concepts that have bled into the highest levels of football. Stoops will be the offensive coordinator for Stoops' offense and with a few years away from the coaching circuit, I'm intrigued to see if Mumme has anything new left to offer. Defensively, Chris Woods and Jim Jeffcoat have long ties to Bob Stoops or Hal Mumme. The offense has a mastermind, the defense has a glut of former defensive coordinators and there's a damn good chance that Bob Stoops could turn a solid run in the XFL into a head coaching job elsewhere. Just keep an eye on the Desperados coaching staff as a potential breeding ground for coaches into the next level.

DC Defenders Name defensive talent = ???

It seems like the XFL is going to make it a lot harder for defenses to really play a meaningful part in the games with rules clearly designed to go for more of a high paced scoring first and foremost brand of play. That said, the DC Defenders do have some defensive talent to keep an eye on. They've got a name defensive line with guys like former Giants starter Jay Bromley, USC's Kenny Bigelow, Washington Huskie Elijah Qualls and a linebacking core with Arizona undersized legend Scooby Wright, former Atlanta Falcons player Jonathan Massaquoi and former Bills player and early retiree from football AJ Tarpley. In the secondary is where things really have "could play in the NFL potential" with former draft picks Jalen Myrick and Bradley Sylve and former starters Shamarko Thomas and Matt Elam at the safety spots. Most of the attention will be on former National Championship winner Cardale Jones at the QB spot with name weapons like Malachai Dupree and Rashad Ross but in truth, I'm curious to see if their defensive talents can find their way back into the NFL.

Houston Roughnecks Actual NFL name talent

Soooo yeah, let's take a second to talk about the Houston Roughnecks. There's a WEALTH of NFL level talent on here, if not in actual talent but in name value. We can start at the QB spot where the Roughnecks at the very least boast an interesting "What if?" scenario. Going into the 2016 NFL Draft, a lot of teams needed QBs and the draft boasted some really interesting ones. The top two were pretty much locked in (Carson Wentz and Jared Goff depending upon your preference) and Paxton Lynch seemed like a solid lock as the #3 QB. After that? Free for all! The likes of Cardale Jones, Dak Prescott, Jeff Driskel, Connor Cook, Nat Sudfield and Christian Hackenberg were all fighting for spots to try and eek themselves into that next tier. There was a belief of sorts that Cook was the leader in that clubhouse but concerns about his personality and how teammates viewed him at Michigan State dogged him all the way down to the 4th round. The Cowboys were going to take Cook (who they had as a late 2nd round pick on their draft board) but he got snagged up as the Raiders as a developmental QB behind Derek Carr. The Cowboys, not exactly heartbroken but not exactly thrilled, moved to taking Charles Tapper out of Oklahoma and then with their comp pick (thanks Eagles! Thanks DeMarco Murray!) picked Dak Prescott at the behest of their coaching staff, bucking scouts who had him behind Jeff Driskel. Dak Prescott will likely earn anywhere from 30 to 40 million next year and Cook is trying to carve out his path in the XFL after failed stints in Oakland, Cincinnati and Detroit. It's a fun "What If?" scenario to toss around while Cook can perhaps reset his career in the XFL.

Beyond Connor Cook? Houston boasts a kicker in Sergio Castillo who as an all star in 2019 and boasts an NFL quality leg potentially. Kickers come and go in the NFL and if Castillo is good then he probably has a chance to pop up somewhere. RB De'Angelo Henderson was a 7th round pick who has bounced around the NFL and figures to probably get similar looks as a 3rd round COP back somewhere if he's good in the league. Cam Phillips and Kahlil Lewis are former NFL camp bodies while Sammie Coates played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. SS Marqueston Huff played in the NFL for a variety of teams and has a pedigree as a former 4th round pick. DL Kony Ealy, Gabe Wright and Walter Palmore could probably fill out the back end of an NFL defensive line rotation right now. There's some actual NFL talent lurking in these waters, even if most of it is probably training camp filler variety. Those guys still have merit!

LA Wildcats The Josh Johnson Situation

So let's chit chat a spell about this. Josh Johnson is one of those guys that seems to pop up once a year on an NFL roster. He's been in the league since the dying days of the Gruden Era in Tampa Bay, a former fifth round pick who carved out a career as a somewhat competent-ish back up. He bounced around, played in the United Football League (consider THAT one) and seemed set to flame out. When the Redskins brought Josh Johnson in in 2018 after injuries to Alex Smith and Colt McCoy, Johnson stepped into the starting role and actually played pretty well! Not well enough to get brought back but well enough to earn another shot in the NFL as a back up for the Detroit Lions. Johnson was let go and continued his playing days by adding onto the XFL. I think Josh Johnson is the only dude to play in all three short term gimmick leagues (the UFL, AAF and XFL) but that's not where our story ends. Injuries to Jeff Driskel and Matt Stafford opened the door to play the NFL again when the Lions came calling. Surprisingly the XFL refused to follow the AAF's lead and kept Johnson to his XFL deal, forcing him to pass on a Lions opportunity. Josh Johnson basically has to be the best QB in the league to justify the XFL's decision to force him to stay in the league. Otherwise they'll probably be looked at unfavorably by future players for robbing a guy of an NFL opportunity. Also keep an eye on Nelson Spruce to be a big third down guy who racks up 1st downs.

New York Guardians ???

So I've looked over the roster a bunch, taken a gander at the coaching staff and honestly? I mean I don't have anything. This team on paper is pretty boring with no real flashy star name value and a head coach and offensive coordinator in Kevin Gilbride who had his best years some fifteen years ago if not longer. I suppose there may be some interest in seeing former AAF names like Jamar Summers and Luis Perez do stuff? This team is boring but boring teams can win games and boring games can win championships. Just don't expect the Guardians on paper to be something you'll feel compelled to go out of your way to see. In a way the Guardians match up pretty well with Vince McMahon's current WWE product; a severe lack of storylines and star power that compel and force you to go out of your way to tune in on a weekly basis.

St. Louis Battlehawks Football is BACK in St. Louis!

The Rams left St. Louis for LA in 2016 and to be entirely honest, I'm not sure if it worked out any well for the NFL. Surely the Rams bring in more money and notoriety in theory but it sure feels like the Rams have not exactly caught on with the locals in LA who are clearly baseball fans during the summer/fall and basketball fans every other time else. The Rams boast a tremendous team and watching a city like Kansas City enjoying its first Super Bowl win (in the great state of Missouri or Kansas or Kansourri) has me wondering how much more fun the NFL would be if the Greatest Show On Turf stayed in St. Louis as opposed to venturing out west and had kept up the tradition of having two teams playing in a rather "small" market. The fans of St. Louis will get to show how much they support football when the Battlehawks take flight (Ugh) in a few days. The Battlehawks have an intriguing roster with plenty of Mizzou names on it like WRs L'Damian Washington and former TE turned WR Markus Lucas. They also have swagmaster Marquette King trying to rebuild his NFL case after his falling out in Oakland. To add to the madness, the Battlehawks boast the most QBs on any of the 52 man rosters in the XFL and are led by Ole Miss QB legend Jordan Ta'amu who is coming off a failed stint in the NFL. I still really like Ta'amu and think he's got developmental upside for what it's worth but that's neither here nor there.

Seattle Dragons Holy shit Jim Zorn is still around?

The Redskins have a rather....interesting history in the modern era. Outside of a few brief periods of success from the likes of Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan, the Redskins head coaching history is rather no bueno. Among those bodies lost to the annals of history you have Jim Zorn. Zorn was a bit of a QB whisperer for the likes of Mike Holmgren and Dennis Erickson before surprising folks by making a massive leap from QB coach to head coach for the Washington Redskins in a stunning move. Zorn's move went...about as well as you'd expect. Jim Zorn became the latest victim of Redskins incompetence and then sort of just disappeared. He coached QBs for a bit after getting fired and then became the NFL equivalent of a ghost. Well Jim Zorn's back and back in Seattle where he led Matt Hasselbeck to some insane-o Seahawks records. The Dragons roster overall isn't exactly must see as it's mostly AAF leftovers with the occasional 2019 UDFA but at the very least seeing if Jim Zorn can wash off the Redskins stench some 10+ years later might be a bit of fun.

Tampa Bay Vipers A Florida all star team

The Vipers have the world's most name recognizable pseudo all star squad in the entire XFL. With former Bears head coach Marc Trestman at the helm, the Vipers boast a wide array of talents from various schools in the state of Florida. Miami Hurricanes WR Stacy Coley, Florida OL Martez Ivey and TE DeAndre Goolsby, South Florida QB legend Quinton Flowers will be trying his hand at RB as well as FSU RB Jacques Patrick and DB DeMarcus McFadden. That doesn't even begin to cover the number of Central Florida, South Florida and FAU players on this team as well. Also Aaron Murray is here and it seems like people are still going to try and make him into a thing after being a 4th round pick back in 2015.

#XFL #football #teams #sports

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justcallmehitgirl · 6 years ago

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MY BLUE HEAVEN // PART TWO

Fiona Carrasco is just trying to get by in law school. She has average grades and good friends, but is currently jobless and trying not to binge on ice-cream every night.

Harry Styles seems to have it all. He’s third in their class, has a job lined up at one of the biggest law firms in New York, and is beloved by the student body.

However, Harry has a problem and Fiona may be the answer to his problems… if they don’t strangle each other first.

A short story about law students, late night Dairy Queen runs, and finding love where you least expect it. AU.

Part One

“Your opening is too argumentative.”

I look up from my computer screen and look at Harry wide-eyed. “It is?”

We had been working in the library for the past two hours, going over rough drafts of our opening statements and direct examinations of our witnesses. However, instead of collaborating, Harry was just going through my notes and critiquing anything he could.

“Your statements of fact seem too argumentative. You’re supposed to tell the jury what you’re about to show them, not shove it down their throats,” he says, his eyes not leaving the notebook in front of him. I clench my fists together. I’m not one for a temper tantrum, but he should at least have the decency to look at me if he’s criticizing me.

“I was doing that. What part of my opening was argumentative?”

“Some bits at the beginning… middle… and at the end,” he says, waving his hand in the air dismissively.

I narrow my eyes at him. “But that’s all of it.”

He finally looks up from his notebook and raises his eyebrows.

“Exactly.”

—

“How’re things going with Harry?” Leanna asks, digging her spoon back into her hot fudge sundae.

Leanna and I are sitting on a bench outside Dairy Queen. Even though it’s the end of February in New England, nothing can come between me and a cookie dough Blizzard.

“Horrible,” I manage to get out with a mouthful of ice-cream.

She rolls her eyes. “It can’t be that bad.”

“He’s overly critical!” I exclaim. “Any chance he gets, he just has to pick apart everything I do.”

“Law students are type-A.”

I shovel a spoonful of ice-cream in my mouth and pout.

“I can’t believe you’re making excuses for him.”

“I’m not. I’m just saying he’s probably not doing it to get a rise out of you. He’s probably just stressed and wants to do the best job he can,” she shrugs.

I stick my spoon back into my Blizzard, only to realize that it’s empty. I sigh.

“I’m already kicking myself for doing this competition.”

“Hang in there,, Fi,” Leanna says, nudging my shoulder. “Who knows, maybe you might even start to get along with Harry.”

“When hell freezes over,” I mutter, as I toss my plastic spoon and carton cup into the trashcan across from us.

“Ready to blow this joint? I’m pretty sure Jane the Virgin’s on tonight,” Leanna smiles, tossing her empty container into the trash as well.

We get up from the bench and start to walk down the street.

“Jane needs to totally get rid of Rafael and Michael,” I say, shoving my hands into the pockets of my coat.

“But I love Rafael. He’s hot AF.”

“Guys are more trouble than it’s worth.”

We’re walking past a row of restaurants when an entrance door opens. Before I can react, a body comes through the door and comes straight at me. I bump into the warm body in front of me, and as I begin to wobble, two hands grab ahold of me to keep me steady.

“Whoa, sorry there love,” the body says, his British accent thick and recognizable.

I know that voice. I look up and squint my eyes.

“Harry?”

He furrows his brows. “Fiona? What are you doing here?”

“Being a human,” I quip.

“No, I mean all the way in Quincy.”

“Well it’s the closest Dairy Queen in the area so I’m a pretty frequent flyer in these parts.”

He nearly rolls his eyes at my response and looks over at Leanna. “Leanna, right? You were in my Partnership Tax class last semester.”

“Bingo. Nice to see you, Harry.”

Another person appears next to Harry. He’s slightly shorter than Harry with dirty blonde hair and facial stubble.

“Hiya ladies,” he greets with an enthusiastic wave. His greeting seems to knock Harry out of his stupor.

“Oh, this is my mate, Niall. Niall, this is Fiona and Leanna. They go to law school with me.”

Leanna extends out her hand and shakes Niall’s hand. I follow and do the same.

“Fiona? Are you Irish?”

I nod. “Half, on my mother’s side. She’s an O’Connor.”

“I’m a Horan,” Niall says proudly, puffing his chest out. Leanna giggles, and I can’t help but smile.

“Well it was nice to see you both, but Niall and I were just about to grab a drink over at Treva...” Harry starts.

“Would you ladies like to join?” Niall interrupts with a smile. I can see Harry from the corner of my eye visibly tense.

“Oh well we’re actually just…” I begin, motioning down the street.

“We’d love to join,” Leanna interjects. My head shoots up to give her a glare as she smiles widely.

“Great, after you ladies,” Harry mumbles, motioning for us to walk in front of him and Niall.

“But Jane the Virgin...” I whine.

Leanna places her arm across my shoulder. “We’ll catch the replay,” she says with a wink.

—

“Are you both hungry? This place has great bar bites,” Niall exclaims, taking a sip of his beer. We’re seated in a booth in the corner of the bar. Harry and Niall are sitting opposite Leanna and me. Of course I’m sitting directly in front of Harry, and I’m desperately trying to avoid eye contact. It’s bad enough that I see him almost daily to work on the competition, but now I’m seeing him during my downtime.

Leanna and I both shake our heads. “We’re good, we just had ice-cream,” she says, rubbing her belly happily for emphasis.

“Ice-cream instead of supper? Very nice,” Niall says, giving both me and Leanna a high-five. Harry shakes his head at his friend.

“Nothing to drink for you, Fiona?” Niall asks.

“Nah, I’m driving tonight so I gotta stay in tip top shape.” I take a sip of my water. Refreshing.

“Fi’s the most thoughtful person ever,” Leanna says, putting her head on my shoulder playfully. I pat her head and smile. Harry catches my eye, and I can’t help but maintain my smile out of politeness. Killing him with kindness.

“So,” I clear my throat, as Leanna lifts her head off my shoulder, “how do you two know each other?”

“We met through Liam,” Niall starts, “Liam and I have been mates since we were kids so when I found out he was in Massachusetts, we reconnected. Then I met Harry over here.” Niall clasps a hand on Harry’s back. Harry smiles and takes a sip of his vodka and soda.

“What brought you to America?” Leanna asks, taking a sip of her drink.

“My job. I work as an engineer here in Quincy,” Niall explains.

“Do you like it?” I ask.

“Absolutely! It’s never a dull day.”

“Quite the difference from law then,” Harry interjects.

“But law sounds fascinating! When you all are big shot lawyers, don’t forget about your friend here,” Niall smiles. “By the way, how’s that competition going?”

I can’t help but look over at Harry, who’s taking another sip of his drink. He quickly puts it down and licks his lips.

“It’s going great, Niall. Been working a lot. We should do pretty well,” Harry responds.

“Harry’s actually recruited me to be one of your practice witnesses,” Niall adds, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Really? That’s so nice of you to drive all the way to Boston to help out,” I say earnestly, taking another sip of my water.

“Anytime! I love being involved. I actually did theater when I was a kid so I thought why not, this shouldn’t be any different!”

“Well the help is much appreciated.” I lift my glass of water to toast with his beer.

“So, how’s it been working with Harry, Fiona? Hopefully he hasn’t been too much trouble,” Niall jokes.

I look over at Harry who’s looking at me with a piercing look that almost says, ‘your move.’

I clear my throat. “Harry’s been a fantastic partner.”

I look back over at Harry who’s giving me a small smile, and I peek over at Leanna who’s biting her lip.

Yeah, I know I’m a liar.

“Fiona’s been pretty great too. Very patient with me,” Harry adds. I can’t help but straighten up at his response. A compliment?

“Thanks, Harry,” I say slowly, afraid he might take it back.

“I only speak the truth, Fi,” he says, lifting his chin and taking another sip of his drink.

Fi? Now hell was definitely freezing over.

“I owe Fiona a lot actually,” he continues, “If it wasn’t for her, I’d be shit out of luck.”

I feel everyone’s eyes on me. “Well, it’s no problem at all. Gives me something to do besides classwork,” I say, pushing some hair behind my ear.

“Well I’d like to propose a toast to Fiona,” Harry says, lifting his drink. I perk up again at his gesture.

“Yes, to Fiona!” Niall bellows, lifting his drink.

I can’t help but blush as Leanna nudges me with her shoulder and lifts up her drink in unison. “To Fi!”

I look at Harry, who’s grinning from ear to ear. Someone should give him alcohol more often.

“The insurance company is a bunch of greedy bastards if you ask me.”

I look up from my notes and squint at Harry, who’s looking at me with furrowed brows. He’s tapping his pencil on the desk we’re sharing and I’m mentally counting down until I’m forced to tackle him to stop. After our outing at Treva a couple days ago, Harry’s been a bit better to deal with, but it doesn’t mean we’ll be best friends anytime soon.

I lick my lips and respond, “But they’re not being greedy. They don’t want to pay because they think our client paid for someone to purposely burn down the building.”

“We can argue that it’s unrelated and deny it,” he reasons, lifting his pencil off the desk and placing it behind his ear. My eyes can’t help but drift to his pencil. I was seconds away from reaching over and grabbing it out of his hand to throw it at him. He looks back down at his notebook.

“The guy died in the fire.”

He looks up from his notes and gives me an exasperated look through pursed lips. We had been at it for hours already, going back and forth, and I felt like we were at each other's throats.

“Do you have any ideas?” he grits out. Could someone give this guy another vodka and soda please?

I click my tongue in my mouth and think for a moment before I respond, “We recognize that the deceased was an employee but that his death was accidental. Wrong place, wrong time sort of thing. Unrelated, but recognizing the undeniable.”

“Accidental, eh?” Harry leans forward in his seat.

“Yes…”

“That could work,” he mumbles, turning his eyes back to his notes and scribbling words down messily. I can’t help but smile a little bit in victory. I then look up at the clock instinctively and realize it’s almost ten-thirty at night. I automatically rub my eyes in exhaustion.

“I think we should be good for tonight,” I say, as I start to shut down my laptop.

“Agreed,” he says, closing his notebook and starting to pack up as well.

“I have to catch up on homework this weekend, but I can meet again on Monday.”

“Sounds good to me.”

I pick up my phone and see that I have a missed call from Connor. I scrunch my eyebrows together. My thoughts immediately turn to the worst. I quickly text him, ‘Sorry I missed your calls. Is everything okay at home?’

“Are you alright?” Harry asks, shaking me out of my thoughts. He’s closing up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

I look up from my phone and nod my head. “Yeah, just missed a call from my brother.”

He nods his head in understanding. “Younger or older?”

“Younger by six years. Do you have any siblings?” I ask politely, as I slip my phone into the back pocket of my jeans.

“I have an older sister,” he responds. It all makes sense now.

“Ah, so you have the younger sibling complex.”

“I do not have a complex,” he says, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Baby brothers always have a complex,” I smirk.

He narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

“If only because older sisters gave them a complex,” he says with a close-lipped smile, as we begin to walk toward the library exit.

“Ah ha, so you admit it,” I say as I push open the door.

“I plead the fifth, Fiona,” he says, holding the door wider for me to exit.

I can’t help but grin in victory. I turn to start walking toward the main street when Harry catches my arm.

“Where are you going?” he asks with furrowed brows, letting go of me quickly.

“Home,” I motion in the direction that I was heading in.

“But the parking lot is that way,” he says, motioning over to the opposite direction.

“And my apartment is this way,” I say, pointing again toward the direction of the street.

“You’re not walking home alone, are you?”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal. I only live down the street.”

“But it’s dark out.”

“And I have pepper spray.”

“And it’s late.”

“I also have a mean swing.”

“I’m walking with you,” he declares, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

“You don’t have to,” I say, shaking my head.

“I want to.”

“But it’s out of your way.”

“How do you know?” he asks with furrowed brows.

“ESP,” I retort.

“Where do you live?” he presses.

I hesitate for a moment. “On Oak Street.”

I can see his eyes light up at my response. “That’s convenient, I also live on Oak Street.”

I can’t help but blurt, “Are you shitting me?”

I place a hand over my mouth. Harry chuckles.

“Wow, such the potty mouth,” he comments cheekily.

“I just can’t believe you live on my street.” A realization hits me at that moment. “But wait, I thought you were headed to the parking lot. Why would you drive if you live so close?”

“I was only going to go to the parking lot to walk you to your car.”

“Wow, such the gentleman,” I say sarcastically.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he smirks. “You really don’t take chivalry well.”

I narrow my eyes at him in response.

“No girl at this law school has actively avoided contact with me like you do.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m immune to British accents,” I shrug.

“You’re something else,” he says, shaking his head.

“And what does that mean?”

“If I tell you, how would I keep you on your toes?”

I give him a look that screams ‘give me a break.’

“Fine,” I relent, “I’ll let you walk me home so we can stop bickering in front of the library.”

“Excellent,” he says, tilting his head slightly back.

I can’t help but shake my head.

“Ladies first,” he says, motioning for me to start walking.

We walk side by side in silence for a few moments before I blurt, “So I have to ask, why did you decide to go to school in America?”

“Ah, I knew this would come up at some point.”

“What can I say, the masses want to know.”

“I guess I wanted to do something different. All my friends back home seemed stuck, and I wanted to adventure out here and see if anything would stick. I got into NYU, and I fell in love with the States. As much as I missed my family, once my junior year rolled around, I knew I didn’t want to go back home. So my advisor suggested I apply for graduate programs and the rest is history.”

“Why law school then?”

“Since I was young, I could always see myself as a lawyer so it was only natural that I applied to law schools.”

“I find it hard to see any eight-year-old wanting to become a lawyer.”

“It was one too many watchings of Law and Order and My Cousin Vinny,” he laughs. “What made you go to law school?”

“Well… I genuinely like learning about the law. I also want to help people, and I felt like the way to do it was through the law. My dad was definitely thrilled when I told him I was going to law school.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well,” I start, lowering my voice a bit, “my dad’s a lawyer.”

“So you’re a legacy, eh?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I say, covering my face with my hands.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You should be proud you’re following in your dad’s footsteps.”

“It’s not that I’m not proud, it just that people tend to judge you when they think you’ve grown up with a silver spoon in your mouth. That certainly wasn’t the case for me and my brother. My dad’s big on pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and working hard to get what you want.”

“Well, I would never judge you.”

“Thanks, but you have to say that or else I’d quit being your partner.”

He laughs. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Well, this is me,” I say, pointing to the building to our right. We both stop in front of it.

“Nice building,” he comments, looking up at my red brick building.

“Yes… good foundation.”

“Looks really sturdy too.”

I look back over at him, and I can’t help but smile a little. I then awkwardly extend my hand, and he gives me a perplexed look before he takes my hand into his.

“You’re really something else, Fi,” he says as I firmly shake his hand.

“You must tell me what that means one day.” I let go of his hand.

“Eh, we’ll see,” he says with a shrug.

“Text me when you get home, okay? It would suck if you died on your way home. That’d be on my conscious forever.”

He laughs. “Will do. Goodnight, Fiona.”

“Goodnight,” I say with a wave. I put my key into the door lock and turn it slowly. I look behind me and see Harry walking further away into the distance. I can’t help but breathe deeply and push open the front door.

—

“Hey Con,” I say into the phone pressed up against my ear. I was sitting on my bed preparing to wind down for the night when I remembered my brother’s text, ‘Call me ASAP.’

“Good to know you’re still alive, sis.”

I purse my lips. “Sorry I missed your call. You could’ve texted what you wanted to say you know.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to keep you in suspense. Where were you tonight anyway? Hot date?”

I scrunch my eyebrows. “Ew no, I was in the library with my partner for my Mock Trial Competition,” I respond as I inspect my chipped nail polish.

“Do you get to bang a gavel?”

“That’s what a judge does, doofus,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Do you at least get to yell ‘objection your Honor’ really loud?”

I sigh. “I can.”

“Sickkkkk.”

I rub the back of my neck. “Anyways, what’s up Con? I doubt you called to to ask about my future profession.”

“Yeah well, I’m on a covert mission from Mom to make sure you’re coming to Dad’s birthday party in two weeks.”

I bite my lip. “She’s worried I won’t show?”

“More like she’s worried you’re going to make up some excuse so you don’t have to show,” he responds with a matter of fact tone.

“Why would she think that?”

“Because you haven’t been home in two months and you live an hour away.”

“Well things get busy in law school,” I reason.

“You were only down for Christmas.”

“I had a lot of work over break.”

“I’m just saying, they’ve noticed.”

“Well rest assured, I’ll be there.”

“And you have to make more than just an appearance. It’s Dad’s 60th so Mom is making it a big deal. She told me to tell you to bring friends or something too if you’d like.”

“Sounds peachy.”

“Great, now Mom can stop whining to me about you.”

“I’m not that big of a deal at home, am I?”

“Are you kidding me? You’re practically the golden child for following in dad’s footsteps.”

“You’re young, you could do it too.”

“Hard pass.”

I yawn and stretch my arms above my head. “Anyways, I’m exhausted so I’ll talk to you later, Con.”

“Night sis.”

“Goodnight Con.”

I hang up and look down at my screen to see that I have a new message. It’s from Harry. I bit my lip as I open it.

‘Got back home. Had to fight a biker gang, but made it out alive haha. Have a good night, Fi.”

I contemplate if I should respond with something witty back. I think about it for a few moments and breathe deeply. I slowly type back, ‘Thanks for risking your life to walk me home. Goodnight Harry :)’

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truthoradair101 · 5 years ago

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WIP Tag for Project Blue Done 5/26/2019

Okay I’m going to go ahead and apologize for this being so long, but I went into detail for a lot of things... not really any spoilers that I can think of but if you’re really sensitive to those kind of things, I advise you to stay clear.

WIP TAG DONE 5/26/19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExyndnUSJMY I used the format Lainey did from Gingerreadslainey, I highly recommend you check this out.

Ok first off before we get started, Camp NaNoWriMo starts in five days so let me quickly give an update on that. I have a cabin and have been talking with my cabinmates and planned out writing sprints with friends and hopefully some other writeins would be nice. If you’d like to do a few with me or talk about your projects or have questions, my inbox is always open and you can always message me or send me an ask! I promise, I won’t bite! I’m still planning on doing six projects and the 50K words will all be split. Project Blue (this one) is the furthest along, and all this week my goal has been to do 300 words each of my current five projects a day (which is going well except for today so I sort of need to fix that at some point). More aesthetics and other things on this project and my others will happen soon.

So since I have everything already worked out for NaNo and am basically ready to start (although I still haven’t reoutlined in greater detail anything and need to finish some planning for the project I’m starting… I’m working on it… but still) I do have a little quick thing on what it’s about.

(from my Camp NaNo page)

“The Assassin Chronicles (Project Blue)- A YA world filled with disaster at every turn for 14 year old Timothy. Growing up in a poor town with a single mother was always hard for him, but he survived. What was harder was growing up with Alicia, his closest friend since before he can remember, their fates looming over them. They’ve known for years that when they turned fourteen their worth would be reduced to nothing, but now the time for them to be rated by the governors for their Assassin Camps is looming over them, the day hanging over their heads. They never wanted the fate to be seen as heartless and cold by the townsfolk, to be the ones doing the dirty work, but to the government they’re seen as easily spared.”

So that’s the gist of it, thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

Working Title?

So the current working title for the overall series I have planned is the Assassin Chronicles, and yes, I do think that this could really be a series, it just has so much potential and so many things are set up for a sequel already that it’d be hard to be a standalone, besides, it ends on a cliffhanger because I’m awful. As for what this title in particular is, I genuinely have no idea… there are so many things I could call it, but nothing has sounded right so far...

Idea from book come from?

So interesting story…the idea came to me March of 2018 during math class of all things… which was odd… but anyways it worked so who am I to complain? But the idea came to me with Timothy of all things. I had the idea of a young assassin who was forced into this position and the world just developed itself… this dystopian where everything is affected by where you stand… and for most people it ends in certain death. From there throughout the next few months I got inspired for Alicia and knew I needed a third person who ended up being my favorite character in the world…. His name is Eric. They’ve all changed so much since then… at first they were all based heavily off of people I knew… now not at all. Just thinking about it is sooo weird. Like you have no idea, it’s surreal. Eric is the most differed. Anyways, I picked it back up in December and finished planning back in February, taking a break from writing to sort out my life for a while and started the first draft in the first week of May. Plotwise it’s all due to the characters, they’ve always been my first priority, I love all of them so dearly, and honestly I’ve freestyled a lot of subplot that I never expected until I was deep into writing all of it out, especially with Alicia in particular.

What genre does your book fall under?

I say “dystopian esk” which basically means that the world has those supprevise elements dystopian novels do, but it’s not quite dystopian, the entire world is different from ours… in a way. It’s a different world that’s all I’ll say. It’s considered a YA fantasy world in my mind, that’s the easiest way to say it, there’s just not really magic… but that’s not all too uncommon at this point so I say it works.

What actors would you choose to play your characters if there was a movie?

So if you don’t know…. Hi, I’m Grace, I’m obsessed with aesthetics. So obviously, I have faceclaims and pinterest boards because that’s just how I am. Eric is obviously in most of them, because even though he’s not the protagonist, he’s just the most important to me, like a lot of my friends like to say that I’m obsessed with him, because my mind is always focused on my writing, I talk about it a lot, specifically this project, because it’s the most developed, for one, but also because it’s my oldest project, my friends have been with me every step of the way. So while they hardly ever get spoiled, a few of them help me develop things all the time, especially with characters, so they know a lot about Eric… but there’s a lot of layers to him, nobody truly knows everything, there are even secrets he’s still hiding from me, so many, even though there’s already so much I have learned so quickly from just writing him. There’s a reason behind every action he takes, every word he says, and the way he is. He befriends Alicia and Timothy soon after they arrive at the camp, and is essential, so of course he was the first character I ever made aesthetics for. The person who is basically my exact vision for him is named Alex Storm, who is a model. He is a bit older than Eric (not even sure by how much) but a lot of pictures with him when he had short hair and no facial hair do look basically like Eric to a tee, which is amazing. Eventually, I could see Eric growing his hair out a bit once he’s a tad older, so there’s also that. (He’ll be pictured down below).

Alicia took me a long time to find, not as long as Timothy, who was just impossible to find a person who looked like the vision I had, but she was still hard. And she does differ a bit, her skin is a bronzish shade, which is due to her heritage being somewhat distantly middle eastern like, but it’s fairly distant. Her hair is still like a copper auburn color, eyes hazel, but she just… there had to be a certain build to her. Lean and quick, someone who I could see being teaseful, witty, sarcastic, with a fire that never dies from her eyes. Alicia is a true fighter, she’s stubborn and reckless, her huge personality is just hard to find a fit for, especially to match how I envisioned her. In the end, after probably a few weeks or so of looking, I found a person named Karol Queiroz, who was just perfect. There are some pictures of her when she had shorter hair, which is definitely Alicia, she ended up growing it out past her shoulders, but most of the pictures I use for Alicia at the moment have her hair barely brushing her shoulders. There will be a point where I really think Alicia will grow out her hair, it makes her really look older and at one point she will yearn to not be judged for her young age, she is a warrior and she strives to make it look that way. (She will also be pictured down below).

Timothy… is just so complex. He’s suchhhh a Hufflepuff. Everything he does is, very much like Eric, for a reason, but a completely different reason. Eric always is plotting ahead, he’s trying to save himself most of the time from everything that he doesn’t exactly want to ever face, he wants to live, and he’s willing to make sacrifices to do so. Timothy, on the other hand, would rather give himself up than see those close to him, especially Alicia, but in time Eric as well. She’s always in the back of his mind, he’s learned to watch out for her to put it simply. Also like I have specific descriptions of eyes, it just comes naturally to me because that’s how I perceive people, because my eyes always tell such a story, also like eyes show personality and mood, and I don’t know… I feel like eyes are kind of what I always judge people by, a single look can tell an entire story, and it’s often how I’ve seen through lies and been able to see things are wrong, so descriptions of eyes especially to me are always important. I will admit, I am one of those people who falls in love with someone because of eyes, it’s how I remember faces, all because of eyes, I don’t know how to describe it, it just is how it’s sort of always been for me. And let’s just say the person Timothy was originally based off of…. Yes they’re extremely different over a year later, but the eyes are the same. That was the main reason, very distinct eyes. So it was hard to find, and to be honest I’m looking while writing this, but I had a vision, and I’m not sure how accurate it is. Basically the eyes are kind, yet strong, which is Timothy’s character, when it comes to emotion, he’s the one support Alicia has and I think she’d find comfort in his eyes, like I do with so many people. They are a slate grey blue (oh but wait it gets more specific and I feel awful making it so specific) with hints of lighter blue and darker green, with flecks of a much lighter green, almost yellow, and it looks like lightning crackling through the night sky. That’s always how I’ve described them, and as specific as that is, I see that as how Timothy is. Eventually, I stumbled across Luke Powell, who I had seen many times before, but specific pictures screamed Timothy to me, specifically him with bangs.That just… the thicker hair, the eyes aren’t exactly what I saw, but you know… it just works! (He will be pictured down below as well).

Yes, I know Timothy and Eric look rather similar, it’s not for a particular reason, it just sort of fits them.

To put it simply, personality matters when I look at people to represent my characters as much as looks, if not more, so you get a long explanation, sorry.

Self published or traditional?

You know, I’m young, I’m a teen writer with a big dream, getting this published or really anything at my age is hard! But of course I want it, I’ve always been an overachiever. I could see it being self published, but really… I don’t know if I want that in a way, but things may change over the next few years.

How long did it take you to write the first draft?

I’m going on month three and half way… my goal is to finish by the end of August.

What other books would you compare this story to?

Honestly I get sort of Young Elite vibes, that was what I was reading while I came up with the idea, spring 2018, and I was obsessed, just the atmosphere. It’s like young elites mixed with… something without magic and set in like a hilly world with patches of forest, it’s sort of reminds me of the woods outside of district 12 in the hunger games movie, almost like that…

Who or what inspired you to write this story?

Honestly I came up with this two months after I won this huge writing competition in my district, I got a really good score and knew I needed to use that momentum to carry over and create something GREAT. Over that past year all the momentum has done is increase, I just sort of got the idea talking to my friend, also I was a dark child… I loved assassins. I truly did. I think it was because Teren was great later on in the Young Elites and… I don’t know just that sort of vibe of him I guess. I never really thought about it that way, but still. I love dark fantasy and the young elites is why… it’s where it started. This is a dark fantasy world without magic, which is what I have been wanting to see. It was really just coming up with the idea of Timothy and basing the world around what could motive and stop him.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

I know this is like the longest thing in the world, I’ll go into more detail later I promise (I can hear your groans in the distance…I said this was going to happen! I’m doing a ton of stuff all throughout July, this was addressed… besides, I like to think people actually care but I could be wrong...) specifically with the characters because they really are EVERYTHING. But anyways, it’s not touched on so far, but it’s implied (*cough cough* Eric *cough* Timothy *cough*) that there’s LGBTQ+ representation, like nobody is straight let’s be honest (at least in the main cast, so far it’s leaning towards all three of the main trio are multisexual, like meeee so that’s fun..) I like to think that it’s the trainees way of revolting against the traditional governors running the camps, like they would do that, they would start a gay cult, let’s be honest, they’re a bunch of angsty teens being trained to be assassins against their will, it’s a disaster waiting to happen because… plot! No, but seriously, in their world I like to think just like in ours, times are indeed changing.

There is hinted romance (there’s just a lot of hinted things let’s be honest), but it’s not the main plot at all! So… there you go. Establish ships if you want, don’t if you don’t, all is good with me.

Like oppressive governments? Here! Like characters who have various skill sets and have diverse personalities? HERE! I mean they’re all sort of sarcastic… but they’re teenagers I can confirm that it’s normal. I feel like I’m missing things but this is already too long so… I’m gonna end it here… my tags for my other projects will be up soon!

Alex Storm as Eric.

Karol Queiroz as Alicia.

Luke Powell As Timothy

All posts and information for all of my writing projects and Camp NaNoWriMo July 2019 can be found under the tag #GraceWritesYA2019

#GraceWritesYA2019 #writingproject #writers on tumblr #writing #writers #writeblr #camp nano 2019 #nanowrimo #wip #writing wip #amwriting

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1422kilometres · 6 years ago

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Here are 10 + 1 things I learned while organizing our wedding:

1. Don’t have expectations from people. Especially not the reaction you would like them to have. You are the star of your narrative, but for other people you are just a supporting role.

2. Don’t overshare in the beginning. Keep some secrets and share bits and pieces only when things cannot be altered.

3. It is a myth you cannot organize a wedding in less than half a year. I did it in 2 months, and you can do it too.

4. Making comparisons can spoil your happiness. No two weddings are the same, so don’t be afraid to take an alternative route.

5. You can never be overprepared, so start early and be efficient.

6. Don’t overestimate the superstars. There are a million talented, kind-hearted vendors out there who are not so busy and unattainable as the biggest names in the industry. Rising stars are more eager to work with you than the actual megastars with a million clients.

7. Be a good client. I got a lot of positive feedback about being a “dream client”, which is of course an overstatement, but I firmly believe that the universe gave me this title in exchange for all those years spent working with really sucky people in the creative industry. So…write detailed, but concise and clear briefs and never ever forget to be kind.

8. Early spring can save you a lot of money and headache. Since everyone wants a late spring or summer wedding, all the vendors are booked “in the season” or the ones that are not booked are extremely expensive. However almost all the offers I received contained an “out of season” discount for early spring which was very lucky, as I have always wanted an early spring wedding with lilacs and cherry blossoms in bloom. That is my favourite time of the year.

9. Use the advances of modern technology. It is quite romantic to jot down pieces of information in your Moleskine and put a little heart over the i in the word wedding everywhere. But on the long run your mailbox, Google Docs, Instagram, Pinterest, Word and Excel will be better friends if you want to be efficient.

10. DIY. I have a clear vision for a couple of things I want to have at our wedding e.g. the material of the ring holder, the wedding collar for my dog, the bouquet I am going to throw away. Instead of briefing someone and paying a lot of money to have these done, I will just do/order them myself. Outsource things you cannot do e.g. photography, the cake, a wedding arch etc. but don’t let everything out of your hand.

+1. Try to enjoy the process as much as you can. Do it together with your spouse, but everyone should do the part they are good at. Take mental snapshots of important milestones (and actual photos too). Appreciate this amazing journey you are about to take as a couple. And don’t forget to talk about something else every now and then. :)

***

A little additional background info:

Disclaimer: I have the most wonderful friends and family in the world. I feel extremely lucky to have them in my life.

BUT. :D

Since I started organizing our wedding I realized that people can’t be genuinely happy for each other. They can act like they are, oh my, they can be real Meryl Streeps about it, but I don’t think they truly are, not without an ulterior motive. I am not throwing stones, I probably did the same whenever my friends and relatives were getting married.

Iliza, my favourite female comedian grasps this in a hilarious way in her latest Netflix special, the Elder Millennial. In that she talks about people’s reactions after she told them she got engaged. It is dead on. Just watch it, you will see.

Even when your people try their hardest and ask questions while putting up their best “I’m so happy for you” facade, you still feel a certain undertone. A pulsating little “bore someone else with this” stare or vibration in their voice. Or in some other cases, they are really happy for you and then hit you with a question like: “You are not inviting cousin this and that??? But they will be insulted!”

In spite of it all, I am having the time of my life organizing the shit out of our wedding. I think all of my project management experience, all of our travels around the globe and all of my control freakishness led up to this point: the wedding.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not going to be a big, fat, Hungarian affair. It will be a tasteful, romantic little ceremony in my home town on a little island, in the middle of a lake. There won’t be a party afterwards, because we don’t like wedding parties (at least we have never been to a really good one). The bride and groom cannot spend quality time together and they cannot spend quality time with anyone, because there are at least 50 people around them waiting to be entertained. The food is usually mediocre at its best, the music sucks, some relatives always get drunk and being around them becomes just bloody awkward. And there is the added pressure of “how long it is appropriate to stay”.

We decided to have a more intimate celebration, where we have the time and energy to BE with each other and make it to the hotel afterwards in time for our bedtime. There will be a dinner after the ceremony, with our parents and siblings in a great restaurant (Márga Bisztró on the Szent Donát estate) with the most beautiful view of Lake Balaton I have ever seen. Also, the day after we will have brunch with our closest, most dearest friends at the lake. What could be more perfect than this?

Another thing we are doing different is that we are not asking for presents and money either. We do want people to bring us envelopes, but instead of money, we want them to write kind notes, or pieces of advice for married life, or next week’s winning lottery numbers, or just draw or take a photo of something and give it to us.

All of this of course would not be possible without the help of the most amazing people in the wedding industry. I would like to share a list of our vendors, because we are so extremely happy with them. They are incredibly nice and helpful people with impeccable taste and for a reasonable price in each and every case. Our invitations are currently being prepared by the Fanatic Calligrapher, and she is absolutely amazing. She has just sent the first draft and we are in love with it. Our photographers will be Just Stay Natural, a couple I worship on Instagram. My bouquet and the decor will be created by the incredible Toboz Művek , they are effortless, efficient and extremely kindhearted people, and their works take my breath away. I also ordered a couple of decor accessories from Natural Wedding Decor, they have some beautiful products that perfectly fit into our vision. The cake is from Egy csipet torta, who were the biggest POSITIVE surprise. I was really afraid at the beginning that they have become such superstars that it will be next to impossible to work with them, which was the case with some of the VIP people in the wedding industry. But I was wrong, they are nice, professional and responsive and I cannot wait to taste their cakes and design ours together. We also wanted macarons for a dessert bar and who else would do it better than Chez Dodo. The fingerfood for the ceremony will be provided by an old high school classmate, running a very modern and healthy catering service, Four Bites. David’s outfit will probably come from Massimo Dutti, although that we haven’t decided yet. One thing is for sure though: he is going to wear a high top Supra, because we both heavily dislike traditional “formal” men’s shoes. He will look so rad! We will also have a consultation with Ági of Dimesso about the rings in February, we are so looking forward to that too.

And when it comes to my dress: it will be another dream coming true, as I will be marrying the love of my life in Daalarna Couture. Initially I saved up for it and then David surprised me with it for Christmas. I am so humbled by how lucky we are to have found each other 7 years ago.

I hope I deserve David and our life together.

And I also hope I am not dreaming all of this.

***

The photos are credited individually, but here they are again from top to bottom: Egy Csipet Torta, Just Stay Natural, Chez Dodo, The Fanatic Calligrapher, Toboz Művek, Daalarna Couture, Natural Wedding Decor, Just Stay Natural, Dimesso.

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katiebug445 · 6 years ago

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Katie says goodbye to the Supernatural cons.

Alright, so, I’ve been putting off writing this post for a couple days, because exhaustion hit me like a freight train and I’ve been feeling icky and sickly for awhile, so bleh. But okay. Time to get emo on main.

So about five years ago, around this time of year, actually, i finally got the chance to go to my first ever convention. me and some friends at the time were all planning on going to the Salute to Supernatural convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August of 2015. I was so excited to finally get to do this, because I’d been wanting to go to a con since 2011. This was my chance to finally go, and see Richard Speight Jr, and make a dumb dream that kept me alive for a long time come true. And it was, without a doubt, the most magical, and important experience of my life to date.

Around this time, I was beginning to come up in the fandom. i had a really good following, my fics were getting a lot of attention, i was in with a group that was insanely popular, and life was actually really good. The show was the most important thing in my life, and i had countdowns going until it came back on in the fall. i was in very deep in the fandom, and it was my main source of happiness, so going to this con was going to be fucking HUGE for me.

^^ freshly turned 20 year old Katie out there living the best life she could at the time. she was trying her best.

So we get to Minneapolis on that Thursday, and we’re walking around, and it hadn’t exactly sunk in yet that I was there. Like, I knew I was going, and I knew what was all going to happen, but I hadn’t been like “oh god this is happening” as of then.

I remember the moment that it did sink in, though. We were sitting in our seats, Richard and Rob were up on stage doing the rules and regulations, and I kind of came back into my body and realized that i was shaking a LOT, and i just remember looking around the auditorium, and then back up to the stage, and hearing Richard’s voice. I thought to myself “You did it. You made it here. You stayed alive for this moment right here. You fucking did it.” and that’s when everything sunk in completely for me.

i remember crying a lot after that.

The con was everything I imagined it would be. I laughed a TON, i got to spend time with some - at the time - really good friends, and I was very swept up in the magic of the whole weekend, and I never wanted that feeling to go away.

Then on Sunday, I got to meet Richard in person.

I won’t go into details, and I’ll spare the sob story that lead up to all of it, but I will summarize and say that Sunday at Minncon 2015 remains one of the most important days of my entire life. there was so much personal feelings wrapped up in all of that, and I still have no clue how i managed not to break down crying as soon as i saw him.

I love that man more than just about anything else, even to this day. richard is still a driving force to me to keep on going with life no matte what happens, and i owe him so much for that.

anyways, i loved the con. I loved the show, the cast, the whole experience. I walked away from that with some of the best memories that i will keep with me forever. I’ve said this a thousand times before over the last several years, but Richard Speight makes those conventions an incredible experience. The effort he puts into them, the way he treats his fans, all of it makes the cons so special for me. I thank him so much for being such a wonderful person, and making me want to go back again and again and again.

And i wanted so badly to do just that. I wanted to see Richard again. I wanted to do the cons, and hang out with friends more, and just do the whole fucking thing. Because that was peak happiness for me. it still is, in some ways.

Between the ending of 2015 and the beginning of 2017, i had a bad falling out with the people i went to Minncon with. i lost a lot of my popularity, i backed way off of all of the corners of the fandom that I’d made a name for myself in, and i kept my head down. I did and said some really stupid stuff that I’m not exactly proud of, and I paid the price for it. As a result, i started backing off.

But I still loved Richard, and i wanted to see him again.

So I saved. And saved. And saved even more. And in February of 2017, I got the chance to do it all again. I got to meet and hang out with a BUNCH of friends on that trip, and I got to spend a lot of time with two people who have become so important to me, and who I love dearly.

i owe that to Nashville.

^^ 21 year old Katie, had experienced a lot of bullshit and was living a her goodest life, but not her best. Still trying to get through some shit and attempting to grab life by the balls once more.

Nashville was... an experience.

the company that puts on the cons ended up doing a mega price raise, and everything went up by a lot of dollars (i’m too tired to math now, but it was a fucking LOT of money and even more stress by the time i got to buy tickets). I was really mad about it, and decided that nashville would be my second and last con.

i decided to go ahead and go all out with it since nobody would ever see me again.

I got to see richard right out of the gate again on that Friday, and actually got the chance to talk to him for a moment (i use that term very loosely, seeing as my “talking” is just me stuttering out two or three words and running away) and by some fucking miracle, richard actually fucking remembered my dumb face, and that made my entire life up to that point worth living (still kinda does tbh). I hurried out of the autograph line with my buddies, found the nearest chair i could plop down into where he wouldn’t see me, and i cried. i cried real ass tears (thanks for putting up with me, that day, christy!)

I actually got called up to do karaoke this time with one of my absolute best friends and favorite people, and we fucking rocked it. for four minutes, we were rockstars and it was fucking great. we got to act like idiots and get yelled at by Matt Cohen (KAZOO KREW FOR LIFE!) and ugh. it was just incredible.

Saturday was good. tt’s kind of a blur of ups and downs and photo ops, but overall, it was a good day. Same with Sunday. I know a lot more tears were shed by a lot of people in our group. And christy and brandi screamed at misha collins. That was fucking hilarious.

Nashville was a fucking great con, and despite all the crap that happened during and after, i wouldn’t trade it or change a single thing about it. I loved that con, and the people i got to go to it with. we all had an incredible time.

And part of me still, despite everything i told myself, wanted to go again.

Between February and May of 2017, i underwent a huge change in my life: I somehow got talked into watching anime with a - at the time - good friend of mine, and realized “wow. this is actually a lot better than what spn has done for a long time.” and it kinda pissed me off because WOW THIS IS WHAT SHOWS COULD BE LIKE WITH WELL WRITTEN FEMALE CHARACTERS THAT DON’T DIE!!!!! (thank you, fma for helping me see that light!). i was mad, but i was still devoted to spn, and yadda yadda yadda.

in May of 2017, i watched the finale of season 12 at my friend Cas’s place, and the finale left such a bad taste in my mouth, that i decided that was it. i was angry, i was hurt, i was completely done. i stepped completely out of the fandom, i muted all the fan accounts i followed on twitter, i spent that whole summer getting farther into the weeb side of life, and farther away from my spn roots.

and i’ve never fucking regretted it since.

I started looking into conventions for anime around my hometown, and ended up finding one that looked fun. And Ohayo was a fucking BLAST - but that’s a post that’s been sitting in my drafts since january that i haven’t written up yet. I’ll finish writing that eventually...

but i was so done with spn by that point that i wasn’t even upset that nashville was the last con for me.

I had started getting back into the fandom during s13, started writing fic again, and THEY ACTUALLY BROUGHT MY HONEYBEAR SON, MY PRIDE AND JOY, MY EVERYTHING, MY FUCKING WAFFLE CHILD BACK AND EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD. I WAS HAPPY. I WAS BACK. I WAS LIVING MY BEST FUCKING LIFE.

and then... then they took him away from me again. for nothing more than shock value.

and then i said nope fuck this im out im done fuck you all i’m going full ass weeb. FUCK IT ALL. i doubled down on my belief that i was doing no more cons, no more anything.

And then the fuckers announced that there would be a convention in cleveland, OH. Which I had been single-handedly campaigning for a con here for YEARS. When I finally get out of the fandom, they give us one. Absolute bastards!

So, with a defeated sigh, i decided “one more. one more and then it’s over for real.”

besides, i really, really, really, REALLY wanted to see richard again.

So i decided, why not get the remaining members of the gang back together, and go out with a fucking blast? that kinda worked. i got one member of the gang to come with me, and the other was there in spirit.

Richard cancelled about a week and a half before, which meant that my main reason for going was gone. and then misha cancelled until sunday, which meant my other reason for going was gone. but i still wanted to go and say goodbye to the cons and what little bit of the cast was there.

so we get there on friday, knowing full well friday is the only day we’re going, we didn’t buy tickets, we didn’t do anything to give creation our money, and we went in AOT cosplay because we’re cringy cool like that. and it was... surprisingly freeing.

^^ 23 year old Katie, who at this point has seen so much shit it doesn’t phase her anymore. Living an even better life than 2015!Katie. much more confident in herself, and a lot happier in general. Still trying her best.

the con itself was a shitshow. it was an absolute shitshow. but i had every bit as much fun hanging in the lobby with my friend as i did actually doing the panels and stuff. i knew this was my goodbye, and having the con be so higuhgieh actually made it a little easier to say goodbye to it. karaoke was a fucking blast, and i shouted and danced the entire night, and my poor voice suffered.

you’d think i just saw my best friend get eaten by a titan right in front of my eyes by how gone my voice was by the end of the night. -cough-

on the way back to the hotel is when it hit me that it was officially over. i cried the whole 20 minute drive back, knowing that this was the final time i’d ever see any of it. my last karaoke. my last chance to see everyone. my last spn con. it was so bittersweet, because i had such a blast, but it was done. it was all done.

and i didn’t even get to say bye to the man that i owe everything to. that’s what hurt the most about the whole thing.

i wouldn’t trade the cons for anything. i spent some of the best (and worst) years of my life doing them. the experiences and memories i have from these conventions are ones i wouldn’t give up, even if i could spare myself some heartache or stress. i am so grateful for these opportunities to meet these incredibly talented people, and get to see my friends there, and just have the time of my life. there isn’t one thing about any of those cons that i regret.

i am so sad to be giving them up, but i know it’s for the best. the prices keep going up, and it would take even longer to afford them, and i just can’t keep doing it to myself. the stress is crazy enough as it is, and there’s a lot i’ve missed out on trying to afford these things.

Not only that, but I’ve grown and evolved so much from that 19 year old doing everything she could to save back for her first con - and out of state trip. i’m not anywhere near who i was back then. i’ve gained much more confidence in myself, i’ve gained much more self worth, learned to control my anxiety/depression, and learned what i will and will not put up with from people. i’m a MUCH happier person than i was back then, and i’ve gained a lot of life experience and a lot of new interests over the last few years. so much has happened so fast, and almost everything has turned on its head.

but one thing that hasn’t changed for me is my love for Richard Speight Jr. I have said it in this post alone several fucking times, but i adore Richard. He is without a doubt one of the funniest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and he makes these cons so special for a lot of people - myself included. he’s the reason I kept wanting to go back, the reason that i kept pushing through the bad times, he’s been my reason to “Always Keep Fighting”. I am so blessed to have so many memories with him, and they’re the ones i talk about more than anything when talking about the cons. He will always have a huge and special place in my heart, and he will still continue being one of the big reasons why I keep pushing, and keep going, even when i don’t want to. he has absolutely no idea how important him just existing has been for this dumbass, and i really wish that he did. i hope that he knows the impact he’s had on my life, and that he’s always been my favorite since the trickster first announced that he had more ass than a toilet seat. richard has been one of the biggest inspirations to me for the last 6 years, and i literally owe the man my life. i’m so happy that he exists. it makes things a little easier knowing that he does.

I’m going to miss him so much that it hurts, and I hate that I didn’t get to see him or get to hug him one more time. that’s the hardest part for me about saying goodbye to the cons.

it’s so bittersweet going forward now, because there’s this huge part of my life that’s over, and i don’t know how to fully express all of it, but im so glad that i got to be on the ride as long as i did.

hopefully in the future, things will continue to be as fun as the last four and a half years have been. i can’t wait to see what future conventions hold for me and my friends.

#kaytastrophes #i started crying talking about richard and now i can't stop #im going to miss him so much you guys. so fucking much.#thank you so much to richard speight for making life worth living #i don't think a single thing in this post is coherent but it's 3 am and i'm sad and emotional and i wanted to get some of it out #katie cons

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