#Some people use the words “friend” and “family” interchangably

[sophieswundergarten]

Feeling Emotions about the kids still, but I think it's incredibly sweet that they don't really call each other "family". If they're talking about everyone as a big group, sometimes they use the word "family", but most often when talking about each other they say "friend"

Because it doesn't matter. "Family" doesn't indicate a better, stronger, or more important bond than "friend" to them. They love so many people and they love them all differently, but that doesn't make any one specific relationship more or less valid

[leah-lover]

Drive to survive. Leah Williamson x F1!reader

Who is going to replace Lewis Hamilton? This question has taken the f1 media by storm for a whole season. Some believed it would be Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while others hoped for Max Verstappen, or Carlos sainz. However none of them expected you. A woman would join F1 in one  of the most decorated cars in recent years. A woman would take the seat of the legendary Lewis Hamilton. 

The support was significant but the pushback was overwhelming. Many people applauded you for entering a male dominated field. They went on saying how much of a role model you were to young women, how you would change the f1 world forever, bring in new fans , and make f1 a more equal place in real life not just on paper. The other drivers welcomed you with open arms in their interaction with you or in  the way they talked about you most importantly lewis. 

As a result of your new found fame you were asked to join events and panels talking about women's sport or women in sports. Throughout your pre-season you were fully booked from training to preseason testing to the media event. 

The only time you ever thought about something other than how radical what you are doing is or what you were going to do next was when you saw a particularly stunning person. 

A tall blonde woman with a great mind you took a glimpse through when she answered the questions she was asked in the BBC panel you were on. She was educated, beautiful, well mannered, beautiful, very good with her words, and very very beautiful. 

You answered your questions to the best of your ability, took some pictures and headed towards the green room. When you came in you looked at the table and saw snacks and one lone mini chocolate bar. As you extended your hand to grab, you were met by another one going for it too. You extracted your hand quickly and looked at the eventual winner of the mini chocolate bar. It was her, the blond beauty that goes by Leah Williamson. 

“ Uhmm sorry. Here, take it.” Said the smiling young woman. 

“ No it's fine, you go ahead, I shouldn't anyway. It's pre-season.” You responded.

“ We can split it then. I am sure half of a mini bar isn't going to hurt.” She added. 

You two then split the bar. “ I am Leah Williamson.” She said as she extended her hand. You told her your name and shook her hand. 

“ You were very good there. Very good answers.” You complimented Leah. 

“ You too.” She said shyly. 

“ Do you want to get out of here?” You ask. 

“ Does that line work on everyone you meet?” 

You laugh nervously. “ No. I don't use it much. Uhmm, I am hungry and I want a buddy to go get food with.” 

“ I am sorry, I have to go to another press conference. But maybe someday soon.” 

You hand her your phone so that she can save her number in. When you look at the name she saved her number as “ arsenal's number 6.” Which gave you a glimpse of her sense of humor. 

Your season started a short while after you two started to date. You clicked instantly and one might say it was love at first sight since it only took 6 dates over 2 weeks for you to reveal that you two loved each other. 

You both  understood that your careers were busy, her with arsenal's and the lionesses and you with traveling around the world and driving your fast car. 

The start of your season was expectedly slow. You were decent throughout the qualifiers.  You started at p6 in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, all the way through china. You were a little overwhelmed by all the media attention and scrutiny. But by round 8 you scored your first p4 which you interchanged by p5. 

You were very excited for your home race on Silverstone. You were excited by the presence of your friends and family, and most importantly your girlfriend. While other lionesses were invited in my McLaren you insisted on Leah being in the Mercedes garage with you. 

Knowing your girlfriend was going to watch you for the first time, knowing she was there for you and only you, gave you more motivation than you ever hoped for. You got in your car for qualifying ready to impress. As soon as you left the garage, you pushed the car to the limit which gave you your first ever pole position in F1. You were ecstatic and the team was happy for you too. 

Race day was crazy, you couldn't see your girlfriend because you had to prepare yourself for what probably was going to be a rainy race. 

The track was dry and empty in front of you. You were in pole, you just had to keep your position. As soon as the light turned green you pushed as fast as you could. Your team informed you of a few crashes behind you and an angry Max Verstappen in a red bull. The red bull team expressed their concerns about foul play in my result in qualifiers which led max to have an alleged grudge. You didn't think much of it, you just focused on staying in p1. 

“ Careful Max is being reckless trying to overtake you “ said one of your guys on the radio. You couldn't let fear creep in after all your girlfriend was watching. She to whom you promised the win. 

You went on denying him every opportunity to overtake and in time the race was just about you and Max going head to head with all the others being a full lap behind. You kept thinking of Leah and the sex you two would have after the win and how proud she would be of you. That was what gave you the edge over him .

You two changed tires at the same time. While Mercedes was faster, Red Bull was fast too. You speeded out of the box, felt a shock wave throughout the entire car. You didn't register what happened quickly. Your brain went silent then you said some words to yourself.

“ Silverstone, Leah, pole, win, box, max.” You thought. The car was getting hot, and you were getting light headed. You heard a voice through your ear but you couldn't register what they said. 

A few seconds passed before you saw an ambulance, you heard sirens and saw white foamy gas. The kind of gas they used for fires. 

“ Fires, I crashed, the car is on fire.” You thought again and quickly tried to get out of the car. 

You wanted to get up but couldn't. You were dizzy. You were going to die. 

[9800sblog]

pick a card tarot reading - which version of you will meet your forever person?

what's your character development before they come along? or have they already arrived?

from left to right, up to down: red nails - pile 1, yellow helmet - pile 2, kitty - pile 3, pool - pile 4

pile 1

cards: knight of swords reversed, 7 of wands, ace of swords, ace of cups, 10 of cups

this is one of your happiest chapters, the end of a book that has a sequence, a teenager in the end of a coming of age movie. you're not prepared for your whole life or done developing, but you have gone through rigorous moments already. this is a new beginning, you're stronger, smarter, happy, but irresponsible or scared. you think you're better than everyone, you have better ideas and values, you might be right, but there's no need for a fight, you're a rebel in a small idle town. you are unique, you bring freshness into the world with your talents and experiences but you may not have the exact type of support you need to succeed with those right away, your person will be that support, you're gonna have to rely and trust on them to be the backbone of your newest story. you're a little cynical, sarcastic and defensive. you may be very into a specific social fight but not know enough about the subject to actually take part in it. you know this is your person because they're gonna go against tradition to take care of you and make sure you're safe and happy.

gilmore girls vibes! the whole show and all characters fit this description, if you see yourself in them at some point in your life, that might be when ;)

pile 2

cards: king of wands, 2 of cups, 5 of cups reversed, 2 of swords reversed, the hermit

introspective, experienced and major respect to the elderly, understands the value of interchanging informations and respecting others' boundaries. probably a loner tho, you have accepted your fate as the old neighbor with 5 cats, whatever these cats may represent for you. ironically, you're so comfortable alone that you're attracting many people to you. you're someone that others are curious about, you're different than the rest and they wanna hear your opinions on different things, you may be the quiet kid that somehow got friends without saying 2 words. you're seen as wise and confident, you feel like it's a lie, that you ain't nothing special, you're just different from this batch but there are others similar to you out there; that's your person. your person has these same life experiences and you'll know it's them because you've never met someone as similar to you before. they'll probably surprise you because you're so used to being alone you plan a whole future of loneliness.

pile 3

cards: page of wands, the emperor reversed, the world, page of pentacles reversed, the devil reversed

childlike wonder, you're almost crude, if this word can be used for people. someone who refuses to grow up and be an adult for whatever reason. you're probably focused on inner child healing - that may be as simple as watching childhood movies, playing on an inflatable bed or more thoughtful as allowing yourself to make mistakes and exist as a regular person. this is giving me the feeling of summer, so this may be a version of you who knows how to have fun and forget responsibilities or goes to your family's for a while and allow yourself to be taken care of. you engage in worldly behavior without any shame, it's literally harmless in this case, it's good and healing to your soul. if you have a position of power, you'll have stepped down from it because it's too much pressure and you wanna enjoy life more. you'll know you wanna be with them forever because it'll feel easy, they are perfect, an angel sent from above and you may feel a little inadequate at the time, but you'll get over it because you're cool as fuck.

pile 4

cards: the magician reversed, 4 of cups, queen of swords reversed, judgement reversed, the star reversed, 8 of cups reversed

your whole life is upside down, this is probably a depressive episode. you don't have patience, energy or hope even for the near future, you may be physically sick too. you know you're worth more than this, you wanna change but you think you don't have the resources. you feel lazy and bored, harsh on your words with yourself and others, you may have a creative outlet that you don't share with the world yet, it may be the thing that's gonna change your life. you're scared to show people you're unwell, but you desperately need help and you feel like you're making a wish on a dead star. your person shows up during your darkest time to help you get out of it, they'll give you that nice butterfly feeling, tingling on your tummy and warm on your face ^^ you'll know this is your person because you usually like nobody, including yourself, but this soul is just like yours and you think they're the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in your entire life, maybe too good to be true - they're not. you like the same things and match very well, this person deals with emotions in a different way than you and you will start seeing the world in a different perspective.

[theladyofrosewater]

A TEAM IS OFFICIALLY DONE AND DESIGNED FOR THE MOST PART SO HAVE SOME LORE AND TWILIGHT AND WILD'S SINGLE SOLO PEICES.

Like most magical girl series this takes place in the relatively modern day, I'm currently thinking around late 90s early 2000s?? flip phones exist basically, but I'll allow some more advanced magic tech for simulations and stuff.

The chain live in "New Hyrule" as a country but I haven't landed on a city name for it yet.

very mild magical abilities are common but Combat Transformation Magic is not so every time someone is found to have those abilities they are quickly snapped up by recruitment schools.

Recruitment schools take "students" ages 16-24, so it's a weird mix of high school and college.

Technically they are called "Triforce Guardians." but if I use the word "Magical Girl." it's because it's what the genre is called and it's force of habit just know they interchangeable when I talk about them but the in-universe name is "Triforce Guardian."

Here we have "A team" or as I like to call them "promotional squad" as in addition to being some of the most powerful they are also from very famous families and often used is marketing/propaganda

I'll pick their "real" names later but their LU names are their code/battle names

WARRIORS

"Warriors" is about 19-ish and is used to being in the public eye as his younger sister Linkle( I'm calling her Linelle) was one of the few people to develop magical girl powers before the age of 14, she was 8 at the time, as a result had his family was elevated. Warriors was a teen model until an incident involving dark forces interrupted a photo shoot caused him to unlock his powers, Which I'm making Speed and Flame. He debuted with his sister as a team for about a year until and accident put her out of commission and Warriors had to join Twilight's team. He's not happy about this but it's mostly out of concern that he failed his last teammate and not dislike towards Twilight and Wild.

WILD

Wild just turned 17 and is actually Twilight's younger cousin. He's had his powers since he's been about 13 but because both of his parent were highly involved in government they've been training him since he was about 7 (yes they are terrible how did you know) and as a result he has his scars from missions over the years before he got his powers. He's got very few friends besides a few visiting dignitaries' children (AKA Mipha). When he finally got his powers he was relieved that besides temporary fusing and lifting objects he didn't have very traditional and harmful powers...That is until his parents decided to experiment. He also has a younger sister, Lily, although she's only about 6 and deaf, and while she does have cochlear implants she and Wild prefer to sign to communicate.

TWILIGHT.

Oh boy Twilight where to begin. For starters he's the son of one of the most famous Triforce Guardian ever, the Hero of Time! who broke time itself and has been missing since Twilight was 4. He was raised in the countryside with his mom (Malon) and her side of the family (Ordon homies) but in a terrible twist of fate he inherited magical girl powers, worst of all was his father's shape shifting although from what it looks like he can only turn into a wolf at the moment but it's suspected that he may have a total copy of his father's powers and was brutally uprooted from his home to live in the city to train for the looming threat that's coming for revenge. He's exactly 18 on the dot when he's finally enrolled at Hylia's Academy and Warriors and Wild were assigned to be his teammates to keep him alive until he can unlock more of his powers

Twilight Design

And Wild.

[2023himbotournament]

CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT AND DEMAND A CEASEFIRE FOR PALESTINE

For Eu look up:

Voices in Europe for peace

For Usa look up:

US campaign for Palestinian rights

BOYCOTT FOR PALESTINE

FOA (Friends of Al-Aqsa) have organized a boycott in support of palestine. Here are the key companies to boycott:

HP (Hewlett Packard)

Coca-Cola

Israeli produce

We will be ending our call to boycott

PUMA once the contract with IFA officially dissolves in 2024. Until then, we encourage you to continue boycotting PUMA products.

Please help to spread the word by sending this copypasta to as many blogs as you can and/or going to FOAs website where you can find posters to download and print out

Ok I'm not a copypasta person unless it's memes but like. Look I'm not Palestinian but I'm also a Southwest Asian and my mental health has definitely deteriorated seeing just. Everything. Especially the increase in racism and islamophobia (I'm also muslim) and seeing all the hate crimes and knowing that someone could probably shoot me in the head while I'm writing gay fanfiction in public and justify it by saying that I could've been a dangerous terrorist and therefore my entire family tree must be eradicated-

basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm hoping that making this post on the himbo tourney blog will get some eyes on this. Like. I've been feeling really powerless about this and kinda just like shriveling up and dying lately. Tbh. The world is fxcked right now. In the year of our lord 2024 /ref, here we are post undertale we are being pro-genocide how funny is that haha. It's not funny. It's. It's not. It's not funny . I can't. I've seen too many videos of children dying and crying and I just. I saw the one thing about the kid with cerebral palsy whose parents got shot right in front of them for literally no reason and then they got yelled at by soldiers and like. People literally will look at this and call these people animals?? I saw that term get thrown around a lot. It's just disgusting and like.

have people seen the bingo the literal genocide bingo. People are treating this like a joke like. Do people not realize that Southwest Asian people are like... people??? We're people you know. Like this is mainly targeting Arabs but I've seen stuff about people discriminating against the rest of us too (mainly because they can't tell the difference. Because the idea of not treating Asian cultures as interchangeable applies until you get to Southwest Asia I guess even in progressive circles everyone just says Arab for everything even here I've seen people like-). I'm Persian and I'm still scared someone will cut my life off. I'm 16. Nowruz is next week and I just want to live to it with my family. My mind is inundated wit the tears of the families that had never gotten to have their celebrations. Because of one group on one day.

one group on one day. One group on one day. it's always that. it's always that for people like us.I feel like I'm going insane. It's just 9/11 in America all over again. I wasn't even born for that. But you can just feel it all around you. And now we have the sequel, across the world. But it's used the same way. 7/23. Can't wait for the memes /s. This one thing happens therefore we can dedicate multiple months to killing all of you just making you suffer stripping your dignity you don't deserve anything and we'll make the world hate you because fxck you and then the world goes along with it because nothing good ever happens and I just want to escape from this but every time I go on tumblr it's just this and I know if I ever stop seeing this it means that the worst has happened anyway

and then people try to act like YOU'RE the bigot because you're trying to hold a country's government and military force responsible for war crimes just because the country has its branding in minority groups. How about I make this crystal clear: I don't give a flying fxck about what Israel is, it's what it's doing that matters. I'd be saying nearly the same shzt if they were PERSIAN, and that is MY ETHNICITY. I literally do not care. It doesn't matter. Because killing people is wrong and that should not be a controversial statement but I guess some people like the sound of screams in the morning. The Palestinian death toll has surpassed the 7/23 death toll. And it's still going. And not all the deaths have even been accounted for because bodies are still buried under rubble. Because they're still bombing people and they won't stop. And no one will make them stop.

like I don't give a fxck about Hamas either, I heard some of the members did genuinely say some like directly quoted antisemitic shzt and also they like condoned a racist caricature of a black woman in a magazine I think but I'm not sure about the second one (I know the magazine thing definitely happened but I'm not sure of their like involvement at all-) like. I don't need to suck there dzcks like some people do it's one group of fxcks like I don't. They're just the excuse being used for this. You're bombing the entire population of a country where the majority population is fzcking tater tots. You're attacking children. You are killing children. Paint yourself purple. Dammit. Just. Again it's 9/11 all over again but in another country.

even then like it's like. You know that trope in cartoons that shows up more often than you'd think that was in like Avatar and Korra and RWBY I think where there's like a fictional minority that is oppressed and wants rights and then active protest is represented by an evil terrorist group who attacks people and is the villains of the media and passive protest is always portrayed as good and active protest is evil and there's no nuance and also they just frame the group as just like evil spawned out of nowhere not addressing that they literally would not exist if not for the truly evil system of oppression that basically created them. Like.

You know Hamas only exists because Palestinians were already treated like shzt right? Like they were already displaced and didn't consent to the whole Israel thing and like look up Nakba it's fzcking awful like. Hamas is just a symptom of the disease and there will just be another Hamas if you try to knock it down without actually like. Doing anything about. the fact that Palestinians are oppressed. but people will just act like you can keep punching at Hamas like that'll result in anything like they're the flowers not the roots y'know-

also I'm calling it here, this entire thing is gonna definitely be used down the line by Neo-nazis I mean it kinda already is being used to justify antisemitism but like I saw the stuff of people trying to redefine antisemitism to be synonymous with antizionism and make isrseli and jewish synonymous and to basically gatekeep jewishness from anti-zionist jews (I'm not kidding I actually saw shzt like that) and it's like. Y'all they're gonna turn around in a year or two like "ohhh look at the big bad scary jews- I mean Israelis their identity is literally tied to the genocide of Palestinians they are inherently evil there is no denying it!" (Ignoring the fact that the USA and other bastards of colonization did the same shzt as Israel literally the same story history is repeating itself but we have social media brands this time-). And then like what the fxck do you do about it when the word antisemitic now means anticolonialist so no one takes it seriously anymore. What the fxck are you supposed to do about that. And when they probably made themselves right because they probably contributed to Palestinian Genocide themselves they don't care they're just using them as props in their fxcking jew hatred. But like. Yeah you are now tied to this nationality that is tied to fxcking genocide what do you do? It's like perfect to use for fearmongering around Jewish people since the shzt they used before somehow worked despite literally being pulled out of their xss istg like where the fxck did any of the bank stuff come from like. The fzck?-

im tired. I'm so tired. Both in the literal "It's past 1am" sense and the less literal "make the stop" sense.

I just don't want people to die. I just want people to be happy. I just want people to not suffer but every day it feels like it's getting worse and I just want something to change for the better and I'm scared. Why do people act like it's a bad thing to not want people to suffer? I don't understand. I just. I just don't understand. I. am I naive? For this?

does this wish make me naive?

[reijnders]

inspired by @reyneluvirith skyrim and fire emblem maps sent to me by my friend, maps depicting the sub and regional dialects of the northeast of the country Yaence.

Also featuring lakes and rivers too small to be included on my past world maps(but not the big interactive QGIS one ive been doing forever), major highway-type guys(though these are primarily used by forms of public transit), the borders of prefectures, and some major-ish cities in the area.

Some info about the cities pictured, and the dialect fuckery going on as well below the cut!

LANGUAGE AND DIALECT

Pictured in this map are two major languages that fall under the Tewenic language family, and are sister languages. Called Twac̊in̊(left) and Seșǔ(right), they linguistically are more akin to niece and aunt respectively, with the latter diverging from the Tewes protolanguage at the same time as the common ancestor of Twac̊in̊ and minority language Hetema. Due to this, the writing used by Seșǔ is closely related to that of Twac̊in̊ , but retains archaic artifacts of the abjad that was once used by Twac̊in̊ , and remains still in Hetema. Examples of these archaic letters include the use of the cluster t-w(fig. 1) instead of the single glyph tw(fig. 2), and the original m(fig. 3) glyph that fell out of use in Twac̊in̊ due to the sound being dropped altogether as a phoneme. Despite being the most widespread in the language family, Twac̊in̊ is the only member to have lost the /m/ sound.

The organization of the different subsections of language can get a little rough, especially since I've had this project since forever, but he's a basic chart to get you by:

Basically, language describes what I call all forms of the language, comparable to English as an entire language. Macrodialect refers to massive regions that all share similar overall differences. So English : American English = Twac̊in̊ : South H̊lanuel. From there, dialect or subdialect, used interchangeably, is across comparatively smaller areas, but still pretty big. Where macrodialects may cover an entire section of a continent, a dialect may only cover a country or two. Then down into regional dialects, which are within a country at their largest. Comparing to real life again, USA southern English : Atlanta area dialect = Suyal : Na Hel.

TWAC̊IN̊

The official language of the nation, and technically has a lot of overlap and overshadowing in the areas marked in the Seșǔ map, but that's not what I wanted to highlight with these maps. It is the language of majority across all three species that reside in the country: yotavuș, the native species, making up about 79% of the population of Yaence; humans, making up about 13%; and Keleŵu making up the rest. Yaence is a bit of an outlier in terms of human population outside of Earthspace :).

Featured in particular are the three of the four subdialects of macrodialect South H̊lanuel spoken in Yaence: Aeleh, Suyal, and N̊anec̊. Not pictured are Luatwed, found in the furthest western corner of the nation, and the In̊seh subdialects Lusus and Siyue to the south. The nation's most populated city, Ludu, as of the 2372 census, is often considered as the place with the "most correct" dialect in the country, and the word <Duyacin̊> implies a sense of being the everyman, "normal", and most importantly, Not Poor. One of my main characters born and mostly raised in the city actually has an accent in direct opposition to this, due to his parents raising him around people with accents from central parts of the country, areas considered to be less well-off.

SEȘǓ

Something extremely important, which you may have noticed in the maps themselves, is that the nation's capital is surrounded by one of the Seșǔ subdialects. More importantly, one of three subdialects that is native to Yaence, traditionally a non-Seșǔ country. This lends to a very... interesting accent in the people of Yasnae, which includes a muddling of the Twac̊in̊ /ʃ/, and the contrasting in Seșǔ of /ʃ/ and /s/ as the biggest offender noticed by other people in the country. Plenty of folks, in particular those in the western, less diverse regions of Yaence, look down on this accent as a degradation of the Twac̊in̊ language, and some extremist groups have put this fact forth as definitive proof that somewhere with an accent that better represents the majority of people(a touchy subject to the other people in the south and central regions that the westerners also look down on), namely, somewhere like Ludu or Nen̊in̊(not pictured).

EXTRA

See below for a chart with these places and language parts written in the native writing system. Also, keep in mind that while Twac̊in̊ and Seșǔ use the same base alphabet, there are diacritics and the aforementioned archaic letters in play. Think of it like how both English and Spanish use the Latin alphabet, but similar letters may represent different sounds, and some variations may exist in one language but not the other(ñ and rr in Spanish, /ʒ/ for the most part in English). If anyone has specific questions about the language-y side of stuff, feel free to DM or send an ask!

[dani-says-stuff]

Chernobyl

❥ Back to the Control Center

❥ Nate Hardy Masterlist

-Note: The words Baba and Babushka mean the same thing and are interchangeable

-Note: I didnt feel like embarrassing myself with my horrible spelling and grammar, so, the Baba's words will all be pre-translated and coming through Misha in English If my grandma knew how much I had to use google translate before I made this decision she'd smack me upside the head istg..

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Nate Hardy x fem!reader

Summary: Based on this request

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: sensitive topics, talk about the real events and lives of those who experienced the event, alcohol, inconsistent capitalization, my usual grammar warning

Not so much of a warning and definitely more of a heads up, this fic actually doesn’t have a lot of substance to it somehow? like somehow i managed to write 1.6k for absolute nonsense. for example, somehow, i managed to get like zero Nate scenes and neither him or Sam end up talking at all… basically huge apologies to the anon who requested this, i really struggled with this fic for some reason and i feel like it shows…

Dialogue Key:

Y/N

Colby

Misha

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

It had to be one of the top experiences of your entire life thus far, and it would probably stay there for the rest of your life.

For as long as you knew the boys, this is what you all had been talking about. This was the big exploration you all had dreamed about for years, and you were finally here.

The four of you were in Ukraine, exploring Chernobyl.

As much as you had wanted to go, you'd pretty much expected that this bucket list item would have to remain undone. Yet here you were with your boyfriend and your best friends... to say it was surreal had to be an understatement.

You were able to experience the place on a personal level. You were no longer just viewing the place through photographs and video, but you were here. You were walking the streets, touching the trees, seeing everything. 

Your tour guide and translator, Misha, took you through the city he used to call home. He helped share with you the story of what had happened here from the mouths of the locals. He shared several stories and several locations that allowed you to fully understand not only the location but the people who lived there. A glimpse of the lives lived, lost, and left behind.

Your group first made their way to a science lab that was created from an abandoned house in the exclusion zone. Here, the four of you were able to talk to a scientist who was researching radiation and get a more detailed explanation of what had happened here. 

You all drove through the red forest area, one of the most contaminated areas in all of the exclusion zone. 

You were able to go to Pripyat and explore the famous city. The very location where some of the most famous pictures were taken, and you were there. 

You had been able to meet Vladimir, one of Misha's friends and a worker within the exclusion zone, who was willing to talk to you all about his experiences and how he felt after. He brought you to his old home, told you about his family, and explained what the town had been like- it was insane to hear the entire situation from the perspective of someone who was there. 

Of course, when reading about the situation, you are able to feel sympathetic and you able to understand that the situation was horrible.

However, there is something about hearing the story from a human's perspective, removed from the facts and removed from the overall objectivity of the story, just the pure feeling and experience of someone there... it just adds so much gravity to the situation, so much emotion and respect for those who lived through something like this. 

You walked through what was left of the abandoned restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels. Seeing the ruble and miscellaneous items left behind, scattered along the ground and placed among exposed brick. 

You saw the Ferris wheel in real life. Walking through an old amusement park, one which used to be filled with laughter and children running around, left in silence with not a soul to be seen. 

You went inside one of the reactors-- the one that might as well be a mirror image of the very one that the explosion occurred in. Here, you all got an even clearer explanation of what happened on a mechanical level. The theory explained to your group, was that everything done by the workers theoretically should have worked, it all came down to metal tubing warping out of shape from the extreme heat released.  

You were even able to enter control room 3, the room where the button that would lead to this catastrophic chain of events, was pushed that fateful day. 

You entered an old kindergarten, an old stadium, and a hospital used for those who were first affected by the radiation. All of which, are almost completely overtaken by the elements. Trees, bushes, and vines overtake the areas.

You were able to enter Duga Station, a military base and a lesser-known location. The area was bathed in conspiracy. documents explaining what the building was for were almost all destroyed or archived, the building was hidden on all maps, and the soviet union itself denied its existence. All of which, aid in allowing any story or explanation of the place to run wild. Things like mind control and spy headquarters, even a conspiracy that Chernobyl was a cover-up for what was happening there. 

Lastly, you all went to visit one of the last remaining villages on the outer edge of the city. Allowing you all to talk with some of the babushkas who came back to their homes, and are currently living there together. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

The car pulled up to an area blocked off by a high fence, only allowing you to see the tops of a few roofs that lay behind it. Misha walks the four of you up the small worn driveway and through the gate where you meet the first Baba, Babushka Marusya. She was an adorable old woman, dressed in vibrant purples. 

After the woman speaks, Misha turns to you all, translating her words to English, "She just finished with homemade french fries for us."

 Your heart melted, "Aw, thank you so much!" 

"Ah, she says not to worry about it" Misha translated with a bright smile, "She says she plans to spoil you kids during your visit" 

That made your heart melt even further. 

Colby turns around to talk to your small group while Misha and Babushka Marusya spoke in Ukrainian, "Just tiny old ladies, full of joy"  

Add that to the list of times that Colby Brock jinxed himself on camera. 

Not a second later Misha turns to face Colby, looking as if he was trying his best not to laugh, "You are too attractive, she says you look like a girl" You slap your hand against your mouth to keep your laughter in as well. 

The boy's arms curled in on himself, cheeks flushing pink in both embarrassment and laughter as his friends divulged into hysterics around him, "It's the long sleeve isn't it" he pouted, a call back to earlier in the day, "It's the bright blue highlighter shirt isn't it?"

You placed a hand on his shoulder rubbing it in faux sympathy, "Aw, it's ok Colby" You leaned forward, head resting against his arm, "You're the pwettiest girl I know."

His face clouded, annoyance crossing his features. "Mhm, yeah, thanks Y/N. I really appreciate that." he deadpanned, shoving you off his shoulder. A small smile crawled up the sides of his lips at his three friends' continued laughter. 

Within a few minutes, Misha and Baba Marusya had a full spread ready for you all on a picnic table outside. Everything adorning the table, including the moonshine, was made by her from her own property. 

As good as all of the food was, part of you couldn't wait for the car ride afterward. Misha kept refilling the boy's shot glasses, and they kept drinking them.

By the time you all would load back into the car, you were certain they'd be absolutely shitfaced.

Not you though. Not because you were better at holding your alcohol, but because every time your shot glass was refilled, you drank about half and then pawned it off to Nate.

This meant, your boyfriend was having double the shots of pure, homemade, moonshine, that the boys were having and you were having about half what they were. 

You would be the most sober and camera ready for any stupid shit, he was bound to say.

Ah yes, soon you would be armed with an arsenal of material to pawn off for his embarrassment.

You were an amazing girlfriend. 

Baba Marusya saw through your plan immediately. Maybe she didn't quite understand the goal of filming him later, but she definitely got what you were doing. That much became obvious when she came around to refill your glass, she placed it a little closer to him than to you, giving you a subtle wink as she walked away.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━ 

After you ate—and helped clean the table despite the baba's insistence that you didn't have to—you all filed into the home to speak with both her and Baba Hanna. 

They spoke to you of their lives. They talked to you about how they lived before the accident and their families. They told you stories and sang you songs of their younger years, it was both heartwarming and devastating to hear it from them. To see the joy, but also the pain they experienced when speaking of what used to be. 

You found yourself hugging Babushka Marusya about halfway through her speech talking about her family and loneliness here, of course, you asked permission through Misha first, but you felt as though you had to. You weren't one of her children and you knew she had just met you, but you hoped that somehow something as simple as a hug could give her some sort of comfort. 

It made you feel kind of stupid when you began to tear up in her embrace. Here this woman was, talking about how sad she was here and how much she misses her family, strong and not a waiver in her voice, and you were on the verge of breaking down. It only made it worse when she noticed your tears and began to your back, turning to try and comfort you. 

She was experiencing all of these things, all of these sad feelings, and all of these broken memories, but she remained a sweet woman above it all. 

It was inspiring, you knew that you would never forget this experience for as long as you live. 

[boypussydilf]

Tell me youryour thoughts of details that don't effect anything please I'd love to hear more of your thoughts (No need to if you don't feel comfortable though!!!)

i am so brain full of thoughts to talk about all of the time, Until people ask, hey what are your thoughts, and my brain Evicts them with great prejudice. Let’s see what i can scrongune up. I meant scrounge, but okay. I’m inventing scronguning.

I think that Finn and Jake moved into the treehouse BEFORE their parents died. I base this exclusively off the fact that Joshua’s first holo-message for them in Dad’s Dungeon was in the attic of the treehouse. It’s entirely plausible that F&J were just taking some of their parents old stuff and went “sure bring this and shove it in the attic” and completely forgot about it. But I like to think that Joshua actually put it there while he was still alive, since like, going off how he looks in the scene at the end of the BMO Distant Lands special, Finn was really young when he & Jake started living in the treehouse, and I just prefer to imagine that Finn was not a literal toddler when his parents died because it makes me a little less sad. Jake probably moved out as soon as he was whatever-the-mutant-talking-dog-equivalent-of-18 is and just took Finn with him because they are Literal Honest-to-God Soulmates and could not be separated. Also what with the “being dogs” thing Margaret & Joshua were probably too old to have the energy to take care of a really young child by the time Jake and Jermaine were adults. Still, since Finn is 12 at the start of the show, and he and Jake are clearly not actively grieving by then, Finn still had to be pretty young when they died. Ten at most, I think.

That… feels like a sad note to end that on. Oh dog family, you are sweet and I love you, and I kind of wish we got to actually see some Dog Family Moments from when the kids were still kids (and not babies) and Joshua and Margaret were still alive.

I was rewatching Elements and Finn has a line where he says “This is Simon, the Ice King,” and it finally clicked for me what’s actually going through his head when he switches between saying Simon and saying Ice King. He’s approaching it the same way he approaches addressing every other royal he’s friends with! He calls PB Bonnie, but he also calls her Princess Bubblegum (and variations thereupon) all the time. He calls FP Phoebe sometimes, but he also calls her Flame Princess, even while they’re dating, because to Finn - and to everyone in Ooo - titles and names are interchangeable things. A princess’s title is commonly used as if it is their name. And Finn does the same thing with Ice King. He goes “oh, I’ve learned the Ice King’s name now,” and starts calling him Simon sometimes, but also calls him Ice King sometimes, because in the society Finn was raised in, that’s what people do. This, truly, is a detail that affects nothing, but it was something I had not consciously thought about before, and it’s neat to me.

“Simon, the Ice King”… Finn, can we get more of your thoughts on this? Man I wanna see what their interactions were like not long after Come Along With Me.

On a tangentially related topic, I am fascinated by the Ooo systems of… government? I’d say that seems the wrong word, but they’d probably say it’s right. They just use it a bit different. I think that Bonnie might have been the first person to call herself a “princess” (I think this is true? but I can never remember the episode Bonnibel Bubblegum super clearly), and then she kind of… presumably-accidentally shaped the recovering world by doing so. She called herself a princess, and began to build a kingdom, and as more magic beings and mutants started to fill the world they went “oh, kingdoms, this is what we’re doing,” and organized themselves that way, and in most cases it does not mean the same thing as our idea of kingdoms at all. Raggedy Princess just rules a junkyard. It seems like anyone can call themself a princess as long as they have, like, a plot of land distinctive to them… and yet it’s treated like a special title, and lots of princesses have crowns with, like, Significant On A Large Scale jewels (for the Enchiridion multiverse-opening spell and stuff) so maybe there are more qualifications we just don’t see because why would that be relevant…

“Princess” and “King” are also terms that just refer to rulers, they’ve lost their gendered connotations in most parts of the world. Phoebe refers to herself as having become the Flame King, and King of Ooo becomes Princess when he takes over the Candy Kingdom. The Flame Kingdom is ruled by a King, that’s just how it works, a Flame Princess will become a Flame King, and the Candy Kingdom is ruled by a Princess, that’s just how it works, it will never have a King or a Prince.

Most of the major kingdoms are ruled by princesses, by God there are so many princesses, so like… Are the kingdoms ruled by kings (Flame Kingdom, Goblin Kingdom, I guess technically the Ice Kingdom but I have questions about whether or not it is considered an actual government and whether or not Ice King is actually considered a ruler of jack shit…) seen as like, outliers? Is that considered unusual by people?

Also what’s the economy like in Ooo. Finn and Jake don’t need to spend any money to get by, they just walk into a random treehouse and apparently don’t need to spend money on food or anything else because they just accumulate treasure and have an entire episode dedicated to them deciding to spend all the gold they never spend on anything. Is this part of the Adventuring Hero’s Lifestyle, or are there lots of people in Ooo who just walk into whatever unoccupied space counts as a house to them and live off of… food from not entirely clear sources? In F&C we see Simon paying with like, just straight up a regular dollar bill. Does everyone pay like that in the Candy Kingdom or is that a special thing they allow him to do. I don’t know. We don’t see people paying for things that often, I think. Not sure how money works in Adventure Time. It’s mildly interesting.

Okay I’m tired now and losing my trains of thought goodbye. Thank you

[peter-guy]

How Peter Griffin helped me realize I was trans.

No, that title isn't a joke. My heavy Peter Griffin kin geniunely helped guide my path to realizing I was a transgender male.

I'm not gonna lie- I used to make fun of kinning when I was younger when I was a kid with unrestricted internet access & made fun of all these concepts that were fairly new to me at the time. I think I realized kinning wasn't bad when I was 12 but acted like I hated it because I didn't want my friends to make fun of me. Said friends donot talk to me or atleast changed their mindset on kinning. When I was around 14/15, I became more invested in the kin community. I realized that most of the things that described kin fit me perfectly. I always related to Peter Griffin- He was my favorite character in Family Guy, besides Brian & Lois. Yet, the word "relate" didn't fit strong enough to me. I felt "related" to Peter to a more spiritual connection sort of way. Even to this day, it's a bit hard to explain but that's a story for another day when I can find the words to say it. Anywho, I eventually realized my feelings aligned with kin. I won't lie, I was in heavy denial since kinning Family Guy is considered cringe & we're not quite at that point where it's considered normal. I tried to identify with my kin of Stan Marsh more since South Park kin is considered less embarassing. I do kin Stan, but it's not as heavy as Peter so I felt like I was being someone else. Sounds familiar to another experience of pretending to be someone you're not, right? Anywho.. I was known as a Stan Marsh kin for about 3-ish years or so. Yet I couldn't hide the Peter kin I was hiding. By the time I was 18,I accepted it. I realized I can't hide who I truly identify with, and accepted it. I told some friends- They were more accepting than I expected. I felt so happy. I decided to go by Peter as a second name (Keep in mind, I identified as a female at the time but I thought of Peter as a gender neutral name (If you think about it, all names are inherently gender neutral.). Yet, I still didn't feel right. There was a weight off my chest, but it wasn't fully off. I started feeling uncomfortable with my deadname being used & started using Peter as my first name. But then I realized she/her pronouns weren't working for me either once I made the leap to being called Peter- I asked people to refer to me by any, but secretly I meant don't call me she/her. I started asking those close to me to use he/him and they/them interchangeably for a week, and I realized he/him made me more comfortable than both she/her and they/them. It was at that moment I realized I wasn't a female. I was a male, born in the wrong body. (I know I realized I was FtM pretty late in life, but keep in mind during my teen years I was coerced into following some pretty crappy ideologies + the environment I grew up in IRL just wasn't for trans people + Just had an incredibly low self esteem growing up to realize the reason I felt miserable was because of dysphoria.). And then I realized.. Embracing my Peter kin was the core reason that led me to figuring out my true identity. If I hadn't accepted it & let cringe culture take over my life, I would've never realized my true self. I would've stayed closeted and self conscious my whole life. I'm proud to say I'm a happier person now after coming to terms with both things.. I'm planning on starting testorone once everything in my life is settled- I'm currently in college and work a 9-5 job, so once I graduate & move from my state I'm excited to start the path of turning into my true self. I'm glad I got to share this story with yall, I used to be embarassed about it but I've learned to embrace the "cringe " sides of me, realizing I was much happier.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

Whumptober Day 4: Drowning and Separated from Loved Ones

Canon compliant. Tommy mentions how much he misses his family in L'manberg in Exile and Dream decides to “teach him a lesson” by drowning him in the ocean until he's “sorry.” Warnings for drowning, abuse, torture, past trauma, unhealthy coping mechanisms, suicidal thoughts, some very extreme splitting, dehumanisation, possessive behaviour, obsession, and victim blaming.

ao3 link

—— Tommy was, in a word, fascinating.

Dream was someone who was very easily bored. Most days were an agonising slog, enough he usually considered flinging himself into the ocean and just giving up. Before he had a purpose in life, he’d had the Manhunts to distract himself from the gnawing, rotting boredom, now he had his ideals, his research. They served as a beacon, a reason to hang onto life despite the lack of satisfaction it gave.

But despite that, Tommy provided a light in that endless darkness. A small spark of hope in an empty world because he reminded Dream of what he could have. Friends, a family. People that sparked interest in him, that didn’t just feel like interchangeable dolls, words like the obnoxious buzzing of insects, thoughts empty and vapid.

Not like Tommy, not at all.

Not like Tommy, loud yet always with interesting things to say, annoying in a way that was endearing instead of a chore, smarter than he pretended to be, a unique specimen. And Dream had always been a scientist at heart, really. To him, there was nothing better than the perfect lab rat.

They sat by the ocean, watching the sun set. Logstedshire, as Tommy had dubbed his enclosure, was nothing if not beautiful. It disguised the oppressive heat of the days and the biting cold of the night, masking it as a cage far more gilded than it really was. One day, Tommy would realise that Dream knew best and join him, become the perfect protege to carry on his work if something awful truly happened, but to get there required harsh methods. Not that Dream minded much- after all, Tommy’s reaction to anything, positive or negative, was endlessly fascinating. He could repeat each experiment again and again.

The sound of seagulls overhead and the lapping of waves onto the silver-gold shores, picturesque if you ignored the bloodstains that never quite came out, were only interrupted by the absent hum of Tommy, shaking hands working quickly with knitting needles. It was simple work, but it was work that kept him occupied, let him be useful to Dream even while he learnt to behave, and most importantly, made his face light up whenever he finished some strange creation or other. It made Dream’s day to see Tommy that happy, even if he did have to be harsh.

It was the look on his face whenever he was around Wilbur, or that goddamn ram. One day, it’d light up the room around Dream, too. He could be family, too.

“What’re you making today, Tommy?” Dream said lightly. It took the slightest thing to get the kid rambling, and Tommy’s strange ideas made a far better thing to ruminate over than the inherent untrustworthiness of the world outside of him. Their talks were a ray of light in a frightening world, an oasis in a desert of backstabbers.

“Uh, well, y’know how I make shit for you?” Tommy’s eyes darted around nervously. “I mean! You’re my best friend and all, I know that, but, y’know, I know they abandoned me, but L’Manberg is still my family and stuff, so I, uh, I wanted to make something for them, and-“

Something virulent and acidic pooled its way into Dreams’ mind. Family. Something safe, something warm. It was a word that meant no one would hurt him, no one would do anything to him that made him feel weak. It meant happiness, it meant fascination, it meant the fascinating conversations he had with Tommy, and it meant he didn’t have to feel on edge anyone would betray him, twist the knife, and throw him away once they were done. It meant they’d love him. It meant they’d get rid of the boredom fogging over his mind.

Why did Tommy get to have a family, when Dream didn’t? Why was Tommy spared being treated like a tool by everyone when Dream was betrayed again and again? Why did Tommy, fucking Tommy Innit of all people, get to keep that naïve look on the world that Dream had torn dowover and over again painfully? Why did Tommy not see him as family, too?

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair.

Dream barely even realised that he’d slapped Tommy until he felt blood coating his fingers, Tommy holding a broken nose and looking shell-shocked. He deserved it, Dream couldn’t help but think. He deserved to feel some of the pain that Dream felt.

“Your family? Your family?” The laughter bubbling in Dream’s throat was completely humourless. “Tommy, you idiot! They abandoned you! They fucking hate you, Tommy, and quite frankly, I can’t blame them! You’re so- so obnoxious, so goddamn obsessed with people who don’t give a shit about you for some reason! You’re like a little parasite, always clinging on to people and draining them dry. And y’know, I think you need to be taught a lesson.”

“Dream, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-“

He cut Tommy off with another blow to the head, disorienting him as Dream pulled him by his scalp to the water and pushed his head under.

Dream felt a lot like he was drowning. That’s how it felt, like being stuck without a raft in the middle of an ocean, alone. And if Tommy was going to- to rub that in his face, he’d make sure Tommy knew just how it felt.

Tommy flailed around, but his frail limbs couldn’t wrench him free from Dream’s grasp. It stung as he clawed desperately at Dream’s arms, but the adrenaline Dream was hopped up on left him uncaring of the pain as all he could think of was making Tommy feel the pain he felt, making him pay for being such a privileged little brat. All that was in his head was blind rage, poisoning his mind.

When Tommy’s struggles weakened, Dream pulled his head roughly out of the water, letting him hack up the water in his lungs and take a few laboured breaths, before shoving him back under the water. Again, and again, and again, the jealousy in the pit of Dream’s stomach never dulling even after he lost count of the number of times Tommy went under the waves. Nothing seemed to be enough- still, all Dream could think about was how dare Tommy be allowed to have had a family? How dare he rub that in Dream’s face? That was all he ever wanted and could never get, yet Tommy just flaunted his around like he was better than everyone else. And he wasn’t. He wasn’t.

The feeling of the struggling slowly weakening, even Tommy’s desperate fighting for life dulling, suddenly shocked Dream into realising what he’d done. He let go of Tommy, letting him crawl back to the shore as he stared at his hands, horrified. 

Not at what he’d done to Tommy- he’d done worse, and he had worse planned, all for the greater good. But that was the thing- it was for Tommy’s benefit. He beat and broke Tommy to build him up better, happier, a rightful protege to serve by his right hand. He had many experiments planned that would be painful and unpleasant, yes, but it’d be to make everyone undying, able to live happily forever.

This? This was pure anger and jealousy, rage and longing mixed into a violent outburst he couldn’t control. It was a show of weakness, a show of the emotions he’d tried so hard to purge.

And Tommy hadn’t done anything wrong, had he? He didn’t know that the others rejected him, treated him like scum, didn’t listen. It wasn’t his fault they’d favoured him unfairly, because Tommy was special. He was the only other person who felt like a person and not just a simulacra, a broken AI. The masses who hated him must long for that, and Tommy must mistake that for love.

But only Dream could really love Tommy, because only Dream took upon the responsibility to beat some sense into him like any good guardian should do to a misbehaving child. He was the only one worthy of being called family, and one day, Tommy would look upon him the same way he looked upon Wilbur. But it’d take time. Maybe even centuries or millennia. And that was fine; that wasn’t the poor kid's fault for having bad influences. Dream just needed to be kind as well as strict, to help mould his corrupted mind into something healthier.

Looking up, the poor kid was shaking, and he flinched away from Dream when he moved, shielding himself instinctively and letting out a pathetic sob. There was a terror in his eyes that seemed so satisfying when he deserved it, but just made Dream feel inexplicably bad now. He opened his mouth and shut it, too frightened to even speak. Maybe if Tommy was being a brat, Dream would have felt proud for shutting him up. Now, the quiet was sickening.

Dream took a gentle step towards Tommy, making soothing noises like he was a wounded animal. “Shh, shh. It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m sorry, Tommy.”

He gave Dream a long, disbelieving stare at that. “… Sorry?” he said, in such a quiet, strangled voice it broke Dream’s heart.

“Yeah. I just- you didn’t do anything wrong, right? You’re just naïve. That’s not your fault, Tommy. I- I just, I was so mad at what they did to you, y’know? And I just- I lashed out. And I shouldn’t have. It’s not your fault that they hate you.” Dream reached down and gently ruffled Tommy’s sopping wet hair, hoping it might comfort him, but he just stayed completely still, looking at Dream warily.

Prime. Tommy really knew how to play the guilt card.

Dream picked up the discarded mess of thread, and threw it in the ocean, ignoring how horrified Tommy looked. He’d understand later. He would. “See, look, it’s all done now! It won’t happen again, it’s fine. I’m sorry, Tommy. I- we can do whatever you want for today, if that makes it any better. As long as you stay here, we could- we could play with the tridents, or- or we could make a cobblestone tower, or whatever you want!”

Tommy let out a choked sound, and his eyes darted to the floor. “I- could I just have a hug? I need a hug.”

“Of course.” Dream knelt down and wrapped his arms around Tommy gently, taking care to avoid the bruises covering his bony form. His clothes were sodding wet, and Dream wouldn’t have been surprised if they were heavier than he was.

He pretended not to notice when Tommy buried his head into his cape and whispered “Thank you, Wil.” After all, that was the closest he’d ever got to calling him family.

[andreafmn]

12 Days of Ficmas - Day 9

Prompt (by @12-days-of-ficmas): christmas baby is sensitive about never being celebrated on their birthday/always feels skipped over

Word Count: 1.9K

Story Description: There's something about birthdays close to Christmas – they always seem to be overlooked. And that had been (Y/N)'s whole life, especially after she entered Hogwarts. But a certain golden boy would never let the day be passed over anymore.

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Cedric Diggory x Female!Slytherin!Reader

Warnings: underage drinking, slight angsty ending

A/N: this one was literally just for me because my birthday was yesterday and it always ends up being sort of an afterthought of Christmas and I love Cedric. I also had to add a tiny bit of angst at the end.

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My Christmas Wish

Spending Christmas without family was hard. Spending Christmas and your birthday without your family is harder even. But spending them whilst your own family overlooked the dates was gut-wrenching.

But (Y/N) had experienced it for many years.

Since she had gotten to Hogwarts at eleven-years-old, her family had simply set her aside. It had been years since she had gone home for the winter holidays. Instead, she spend that time roaming through the halls of the school, lounging around her empty common room, and avoiding the fact that she was a year older and her family has avoided her for another year.

She was in her fourth year now, and nothing had yet to change. Her parents had called to tell her they had booked a holiday for the Caribbean and would not be home during winter break, and there simply was no way she could come home. She wasn’t surprised, simply disappointed. They had said they would be sending her a gift – stating that it was a joint birthday and Christmas gift, as usual.

To her family the Christmas holiday and her birthday were interchangeable. Unlike her sisters, whose birthdays didn’t fall anywhere near the special day, (Y/N) had not gotten a celebration that didn’t overlap with a Christmas party. It had been that way her whole life, and she saw no change in the future.

It was difficult and frustrating feeling like the day she was born was simply an afterthought for the people that supposedly loved her the most. She didn’t want to grow used to it. The pit in her stomach that formed every time she got that letter or every time the date would be skipped over by her family. That’s why when she started at Hogwarts she never told her friends when her birthday was. She couldn’t take any more heartache.

“What’s going through your head?” Cedric Diggory startled her out of her thoughts as he joined her in a corridor near the dungeons. “You seem very deep in thought.” 

“Nothing,” she smiled, quickly dismissing any worry he could have. What she couldn’t say was that she had sneaked a bottle of fire whiskey into her room and had already downed half the bottle. “What’re you doing here?  You’re never at school during Christmas.”

“Well, dad had a research trip in Romania, and mum decided to join him. I wasn’t too in the mood for a magical creature trip so I decided to stay here,” he gave her his signature smile. If he knew she was drunk, he hadn’t said anything. “What about you? Why are you always here during the holidays.”

“Oh, Ced, some of us aren’t lucky enough to have loving and caring families,” she sighed. “Some of us have to always find shelter in the towering walls of Hogwarts during wintertime. Others have their birthdays forgotten because there are pretty lights, presents, and snow that overshadow you every year.”

“Is it your birthday, (Y/N)?” She nodded, feeling a string of tears escaping her eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything, Cedric. It never has. It’s too close to Christmas. It doesn’t matter.”

“Darling, are you drunk?” he asked, and she nodded again, looking up at him with sad eyes. “Your parents haven’t celebrated your birthday in a while I can assume?” 

“Again, it doesn’t matter, Ced. I’m used to it,” she slumped.

Cedric wrapped her in his arms, hugging her tightly as she sobbed silently. “You shouldn’t have to, (Y/N),” he whispered into her hair. “Everyone deserves to feel special on their birthday.”

“Tomorrow will be just another day closer to Christmas,” she cried. “Nothing more, nothing less. Like always.”

She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep but when she woke, she was warm. Too warm. Her eyes struggled to get used to the bright lighting, her pounding head only making it worse. But she knew she wasn’t in her own common room.

Warm-colored brick made up the walls and plants riddled the space. The couch she was on was cozy and fluffed. Light shone in from every window and the fireplace was lit. Nothing like the cold and gloomy area of the Slytherins. She could smell the kitchens from where she lay – bread, muffins, eggs, bacon, sausages, everything you could think of. It made her stomach grumble.

“Well, look who’s finally up,” a voice startled her. She turned around to find Cedric smiling at her. (Y/N) got up from the couch and into his outstretched arms. He was always her comfort space – her own safe haven. “Happy birthday, (Y/N).”

“Wait, how’d you…?”

“You sort of confessed that it was last night… when you were drunk,” he chuckled. Cedric pulled a box from behind his back, a present perfectly wrapped in yellow paper. “I got you a little something. It’s not much but I only had a couple of hours to get it. And don’t worry, it’s not your Christmas present.”

“Cedric, you didn’t have to,” she said. But on the inside, she was screaming for joy. It was her first-ever birthday present. “Seriously. You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to, (Y/N). You deserve it,” he smiled. “Now, quit stalling and open it!” 

(Y/N) carefully unwrapped the shiny wrapping paper, a childish glee falling upon her. Under the paper, a black box was revealed.  It was heavy and she had no idea what it could possibly be. Until she opened it.

“Ced,” she gasped. “It’s beautiful.” 

She pulled out an enchanted snow globe. Inside, the image was one she would never forget. It was back in their second year, before Cedric and she had ever crossed paths. It was a winter, much like this one, a week before winter break. It was the weekend, and no classes were in session so the whole school was out in the courtyard.

(Y/N) was with her friends, eyeing a certain Hufflepuff bunch from the other side of the yard. Of course, Cedric happened to be in that bunch. She had heard of him in passing, the golden boy of that house was known to everyone. He was a kind person, attractive, and smart. The whole package. And she could admit, she was interested.

But she’d never get the courage to talk to him. It wasn’t in her nature to be bold – a rather quiet Slytherin. So, as she walked away, she thought that was all they were destined for. Maybe she could live with stolen glances and daydreams.

The universe had other plans. (Y/N) was almost out of the courtyard when a snowball hit her straight on the side of her head.

“Diego! I told you to be careful,” Cedric yelled before turning toward her. “Are you okay? I swear he wasn’t aiming for you.” 

“It’s quite alright,” she chuckled. “Serves me right for walking right through the battlefield.” 

“Pretty girl like you should never be a casualty of war,” he grinned. “I’m Cedric. Diggory.” 

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N),” she grinned in response, taking his outstretched hand. “Pleased to meet you.” 

And the rest was history.

They had become quick friends after that. The snow globe perfectly displayed that moment. (Y/N) with clumps of snow on her hair, Cedric’s lopsided grin, and a friendship that would last through the years.

One thing she did get right was they would only express their feelings through stolen glances, seemingly accidental touches, inside jokes, and everything that could entail harboring secret feelings for someone. Because neither of them was ready to confess how they felt, even as strong as those emotions were.

“So, you like it?”

“I love it, Cedric,” she smiled brightly. “But this couldn’t have been done last night.”

“Okay, I’ll admit it,” he chuckled. “I may have forced your sister to tell me your birthday with a little veritaserum. Don’t hate me, but I couldn’t coax it out of her normally.” 

“I could never hate you, Ced. It’s beautiful.” She wrapped her arms around her neck, tightly hugging him to hide the stray tears that had started to fall. “Thank you. Truly, you have no idea how much this means to me.” 

Flutters started to happen in their stomachs. And as they pulled back, they couldn’t help but stare into each other’s eyes. Everything quieted around them, and maybe – just maybe – this was the Christmas wish she was hoping for.

But he pulled away.

“Uh, we should head to the great hall,” he chuckled. “Get some breakfast into that hungover stomach of yours.”

“Sure, sounds like a plan.”

“Here,” he handed her a piece of clothing. “I got you a jacket. It’s quite chilly today.”

They walked side by side to the dining hall, chit-chatting over mindless things. It was like every time they were together. Comfortable, peaceful, just right.

And it would be like any other day if it hadn’t been for what happened when she opened the doors.

“SURPRISE!”

Inside, her friends and other students were waiting for her, all with bright smiles on their faces. People from every house had gathered to celebrate her birthday. And instantly she knew Cedric was behind the heartwarming surprise.

The hall had been enchanted with balloons and falling confetti that never reached the ground. Lights shone in her favorite colors and the Slytherin table was decorated with a big cake and all sorts of sweets down the table.

“You did all this, Ced?” (Y/N) turned to him, tears welling in her eyes. “For me?”

“Of course,” he smiled brightly. “You deserve this and so much more, (Y/N).”

At that moment, she couldn’t help the overwhelming joy that took over her. As she stared up into his eyes, there was only one thing she felt she could do. And he felt it too. She stood on her tiptoes to match his height, and he leaned down to meet her.

Finally, they met in a kiss – their first and most memorable. For a second, they forgot where they were and how many people surrounded them. Until they heard the whistles and cheers of approval from everyone, even a couple of teachers joined in.

Their faces grew red quickly in embarrassment, realization dawning upon them as soon as they pulled away. (Y/N) hid her face in his chest and it moved as Cedric chuckled at the responses. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and hugged her tight.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he spoke into her hair. “I’ve just never had the courage to do it.”

“Me too,” she giggled. “Since the first time we met, actually.”

“Precisely since then as well,” Cedric laughed. “I can’t believe we’ve been skating around our feelings for two years.”

“Regardless, I’ve got my Christmas wish,” (Y/N) smiled at him, her eyes staring into his grey ones. Everything simply felt right.

“Funny, I also got mine,” he said before giving her another quick peck on the lips. “Now, let’s celebrate your birthday. I’m in the mood for some cake.”

Hand in hand, they walked to an empty spot in the Hufflepuff table where (Y/N)’s and Cedric’s friends were waiting. At that moment, they believed this was the start of a whole future together. No one present knew it was only the start of the end.

Taglist: @winter-soldier-101 @sunflowerleii @DyslexicCatterpillar @andreiaafaria @bluetreecloud20 @sapnapsbandana @mushroomelephant @user0ur0mom @lilozg-123 @esposadomd @nocturnalherb16 @then-worship-at-my-altar @Yuki254 @nyenye @captainrogers-19 @beckiej0073-blog @cecehensonn @krazyk99 @klf1999 @magimtz23 @adaydreamaway08 @hufflepuffobsessedwithmarvel @thatgirljayy @sugasthreedollarkookie @laylaskywalker @fandomonetwo @fruitylilfuck

[foodandfolklore]

The Origin of the Sweet Potato

This Weekend is Thanksgiving for my American friends. Or was it Thursday....Regardless, happy Thanksgiving! I'm Canadian, so I already celebrated in October. Our harvest season tends to end earlier than our US counterparts if anyone was wondering why we celebrate early.

I've already tried digging around for turkey themed lore while celebrating my own thanksgiving. Most stories are more modern since turkey is a newer food, though so is Thanksgiving comparatively. So I thought I'd look at foods beloved for the season. I know sweet potatoes are a popular ingredient for many casseroles or pies.

So what is a sweet potato? A lot of people think sweet potato is just another word for Yam. And it can be confusing as some people will use the terms interchangeably. But they are two different foods with different tastes. A yam is a proper tuber with a thicker skin and high starch. A sweet potato is actually a root and can come in many colours. Most yams you buy in North America are imported where as sweet potatoes are home grown.

Sweet potatoes come from North and Central America, and were especially important to the natives of Hawaii. The nutrient dense crop helped keep it's people healthy in times of hardship. There were many different kinds of sweet potato the Hawaiian people could rotate with too, as they understood the importance of crop diversity.

The Sweetness of the Sweet Potato allows us to Invoke energy of Love, Lust, Beauty and Passion. But it also helps us with Stability, Health and Healing. We can also use the Sweet Potato to help Better Connect with a Younger Generation as the sweet potato's orange colour can you adapt and the sweetness of the food will make them more receptive to your attempts. The sweet potato has made it's way around the world, including Asia. I found a story from India that explains the existence of sweet potatoes and how the came to be. Though unlike Pumpkins, we know they came to Indian through the North Atlantic Trade sometime between 1500-1700

How Sweet Potatoes came to exist

Once long ago there lived an old woman who lived alone after the death of her husband. All their children had moved out after marriage. They were all poor and did not have much to share with their mother.

The old woman was also struggling to earn a living. She earned a couple of pennies by selling banana and areca palm(puwak).

One day the mother decided to visit her daughter who lived with her family in a nearby village. She walked all the way with the help of her walking stick. She arrived at her daughter’s home.

Meanwhile the daughter was cooking some rice for her kids. She was also very poor and lived admist many hardships. And when her mother arrived at her home at noon she was not happy about it at all. She invited her mother inside while thinking “If I offer my mother some rice there will not be enough rice for my kids. They haven’t had anything for breakfast either”.So instead of inviting her mother to have some lunch she said “O mother we have been having such a hard time. We couldn’t afford any rice and we haven’t cooked anything today. But if you visit my sister who lives nearby you shall definitely have a good meal”.

The mother replied “O dear then could you please fetch me some water. I wish for all your troubles to go away. May the triple jem bless you”. She drank the water and walked away in the scorching sun.

After her mother left the daughter called her children to have lunch. She went to the rice pot and took off the lid. To her horror she saw that the rice had turned into blood. The entire pot of rice was now a pot of red blood.

“O dear god! Look what happened! This happened because of my wrong doing towards my mother. I should have given her at least a bit of rice. O dear lord please forgive me! I have committed a terrible crime!”. She was very upset and heartbroken. She sat there for hours in grief.

Alast she took the pot and dumped the blood behind her house. She shouted “batha le!”(“the rice is blood”) as the blood flowed across her backyard.

After a few months a red coloured vine started to grow from where she had dumped the blood. This vine was completely red, even its leaves were red. And in a short time this vine grew all across the village it thrived in the surrounding environment. Cattle, goats, rabbits and a lot of other creatures started eating it. The villagers tried to eliminate the vines but they failed it grew everywhere. It bore large red coloured yams.

After sometime the daughter got even poorer to the point that she couldn’t even afford food to feed her kids. Her children were crying in hunger. And finally she decided to eat the red yams which grew in her backyard. She thought “I cannot bear this any longer I will boil it and eat it. Doesn’t matter even if we die at least we would have our stomachs full.” She dug out a few yams and bolied it. She fed it to her children and ate some herself.

The yams were sweet and tasty. They didn’t die. They felt strong and lively. Thereafter they started eating these yams everyday. She told her fellow villagers about the yams and taught them to consume the yams too. She called it “bathale ala”.

Later this bathale ala was grown in many villages and it spread far and wide throughout the country.The people called it “bathale ala” too and afterwards it changed into “bathala”. And as time passed by new varieties of “bathala ala” were created such as “sudupata bathala”(white coloured sweet potatoes), “kahapata bathala”(yellow coloured), “seeni bathala”(sugar like sweet potato) etc. And it remains to this day as a favourite of many.

And that was how “bathala” or sweet potato was created according to Sinhala folklore.

[shining-gem34]

The Guard of the Astral Express

Name: Dan Heng

Species: Vidyadhara

Affiliation: The Astral Express

Occupation: Guard/Archivist

Gender: Male

Height: Typically around 5’8” (~ 177 cm)

Age: Physically appears 18-23

Birthday: ????

Path: Hunt

Element: Wind

>Ship Status: Open to multiship

>To see his Imbibitor Lunae version, please click here.  >To see Dan Feng (Past-Self; HCQ Era), please click here. 

>Lore  || Headcanons

“A mysterious young man who joined the Astral Express to avoid his kin. He acts as their guard and archiver on their long trailblazing journey. Although Dan Heng is reluctant to share the details, he knows his past will catch up to him eventually…”

Backstory

Dan Heng lived most of his life in the Shackling Prison, forced to bear the sins of his past self, Imbibitor Lunae- Dan Feng. When Arbiter-General Jing Yuan lowered his sentence to exile, he saw the outside world for the first time in his life. After his exile, Dan Heng lived a nomadic life boarding from one ship to another. He had no destination in mind other than to be as far away from the Xianzhou Luofu as possible. The other reason is Blade, a ghost from Dan Feng past, relentlessly pursuing him and destroying every ship Dan Heng is on in order to kill him. 

Or more accurately, force “Dan Feng” to pay for his sins. 

Eventually, after a disastrous experience on a Masked Fools ship, Dan Heng slain a giant monster and disembarks on the next port. He meets Himeko, the Astral Express Navigator, who thanks him and asks if he would like to join the Astral Express. Dan Heng, having no other destination in mind, agrees to join as their Guard (and soon Archivist). 

[Please refer to the “Lore” for full details of his character story and in-game story]

Appearance

[Please refer to the above image of Dan Heng appearance]

Personality

At first impression, Dan Heng comes off as a stoic young man who rarely loses his composure and remains level-headed. Sometimes, it will leave others to believe he is cold and indifferent. In truth, for the people who know Dan Heng, he is a kind soul with strong loyalty to his friends/family. He dislikes beating around the bush, preferring to speak bluntly and straightforwardly, but he is also careful with his word choice and tone. 

Even though Dan Heng can remain calm in the most perilous of situations, there are few things that can shake him to the core: Dan Feng's past and the meaning of his existence. 

Abilities

Dan Heng is a skilled spear-user  following the Path of the Hunt. He channels the power of Wind to help him deal significant damage with one thrust of his spear. 

Martial Arts: Dan Heng is proficient in Cloudlancer art, one of the many martial arts used in the Xianzhou. However, he is just as capable fighting bare-handed if needed. 

Combat Experience: Dan Heng has proven to be a strong fighter despite living most of his life in the Shackling Prison. Whether he is a gifted fighter, or, as some would believe, fighting with muscle memory, it has proven to be advantageous in dealing with life-or-death situations. 

Weapon: Dan Heng preferred weapon of choice is Cloud Piercer, his spear. He doesn’t mind using other weapons if necessary, but he dislikes it to the point he rather fights bare-handed. 

Cloudhymn Magic: Due to his Vidyadhara heritage, Dan Heng can use Cloudhymn Magic. He used it to disguise his Vidyadhara features and appear as a regular humanoid. He has also shown to be able to use his magic to manipulate water without needing to transform. 

Physical Stats: With a durable body and fighting experience, Dan Heng physical abilities are above a regular human. Also, he heals faster than a normal person. 

Longevity: The Vidyadhara are able to live up to a few centuries (around 700 years) before they reincarnate. They stop aging at a certain point, appearing eternally youthful for the rest of their lives until they are ready to return to the sea.

Notes

Regular Dan Heng and Dan Heng-IL will be used interchangeably, because he can switch forms freely. For a majority of the time, Dan Heng will appear as normal instead of Dan Heng-IL. He finds his true form to be a hassle for various reasons. 

The few times Dan Heng will change forms are: 

The situation is too dire that he cannot afford to hold back.

He is heavily injured and needs to transform to heal his wounds.

The situation requires that he needs to appear as Imbibitor Lunae (Example: IL Story Quest)

[Anything else will be added here]

Regular Dan Heng and Dan Heng-IL will always be called “Dan Heng”. Dan Feng will be called “Yinyue Jun/Imbibitor Lunae” for a majority of the time.

||Updated on 03/24/2023

[gludgenbell]

Have you ever felt "out of touch" with what's happening around you? And have you ever felt "out of your mind" with worry or stress? How did you handle it and cope?

Hmm

I'm not sure if out of touch and distant are interchangeable but I've definitely felt like I'm quite a bit far lately....

As for handling stress, I take a lot of comfort in knowing I'm not facing anything I can't overcome! And there's a sunrise to every sunset

I don't think I'm much of a worrier, I tend to be very relaxed until everything kicks into high gear and I plan/work until I'm satisfied Abe I don't. Take breaks or eat during that time

I've felt out of my mind with stress before and it's made me very irritable and quick to tears

I've hurt myself a few times (lightly, I am ok) in search of a release for the excess energy and found myself running/pacing in circles for minutes to an hour

Extended answer going under the cut about that first question because this is a long one and the mood is very gray, and I think I need to talk more abt it! If you feel like reading it though, you tell me if I'm out of touch or not

I'm realizing I like my personal space! I don't talk much and most of the time I go 'mm' in varying octaves and lengths! I'm realizing I'm not very interactive with my family during the day and most of the time I'm kind of put off about everything

My friend left for college the other day, they had a party I wasn't invited to and I didn't care about it but I got the impression from our other friends that went that maybe I should've?

They left and I got to talk to them on the phone and one of our moots kept asking if I had anything sentimental I wanted to say and all I could say was good luck and goodbye because I actually don't know what they're going to college for

I actively chose to speak to 3 people during the whole two months of summer, and for one of those people I was only half-there be cause I just didn't care about what was happening with us

I'm prepping to go on a mission for church! It's some big thinking and my friend told me she'd be okay and I didn't realize she was going to miss me until she mentioned she was crying about our other friend having left

I think, I'm very not here with the people around me

I have a hard time listening when some moots talk, and I keep feeling like I'm coming off more and more like a jerk because I just can't connect? I know I can be really empathetic, but I can be horribly selfish and I feel like I'm losing a lot of my empathy and I'm becoming incredibly apathetic

I really only think I have two people I'd call friends, which is tough when people keep insisting we're friends and I know by all accounts we are but I just can't seem to care about them

I'm supposed to make money so I can feed myself! And help my younger siblings! And I'd like a job for human interaction because I know I'm not getting enough

But I haven't been hired all through summer and I don't care anymore

I know I need to, but the idea of interacting with people, of having to learn again just leaves a bad taste in my mouth which is crazy because that's not me! I love people, I love interactions? I've found myself telling moots that I just don't like people anymore, in the sense that I'm always upset when they start talking and like

Everyone has a reason to say something. There's a purpose behind every word. I can't get past that purpose when someone talks. I'm intently aware of the message in their words and if there isn't one, the fluctuation of their tone

I'm annoyed by everyone who isn't my family and my two friends, I don't like talking to anyone who isn't my family or my two friends

I've been asked to call and for four whole hours I'm just irritated

I can mask my voice well enough but I sit there, for hours, staring at the wall just upset and going 'mm' every few seconds??

I don't think I'm above anyone really, I'm not out of touch in that sense

I just can't build a bridge between me and most people anymore and it's been happening more and more as months go on

Like I see the outline, I know the blueprint

I know what I have to do and I know what I used to do not even a whole year ago

But I have a hard time feeling like it's even worth it to pick up the pieces and start building

Even with my family I have to remind myself that relationship takes sacrifice and I have to do this thing I don't want to do, help when I don't want to help, care when I don't feel like caring, for there to be any love

n e way I'm not sure if it's out of touch or not to feel that way! It might be...?

[dawnlovesham]

In regards to Crunchyroll's consumer practices from the latest reblog, let's go over some of their other wonderful (sarcasm) things to contribute to the Western anime market:

- Redesigning their office into a Walmart quality Tokyo, which Kyle McCarley (Mob's former dub VA) exposed on his Twitter

- Licensing and streaming World's End Harem, one of those shameless not-so-softcore erotic anime only to not really care about it anyway

- Posting a tweet featuring Chiaki Kobayashi, a voice actor/seiyuu asking Crunchyroll subscribers whether "friends are more important than money" in adherence to Tomodachi Game, an anime he starred in. IMO I feel like CR people pointed a gun behind Chiaki's head in that tweet, and luckily I wasn't the only one thinking that.

- Their YouTube channel, Crunchyroll Collection giving their anime clips with El0n Mu$k tweet-style titles (one from Platinum End was forced to change the title)

- Lapses in translations from mishearing certain words to allegedly using AI translations. See: Chainsaw Man and The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons for reference Likewise with the incorporation of Zoomer slang and etc. which doesn't exactly fit the original Japanese script nor source material, and liberal use of profanity

- Being faced with multiple lawsuits over the years, including a data privacy case regarding users' data being shared with Facebook

- Trolling Attack On Titan fans on Twitter by tweet a good morning tweet featuring Rias Gremory

And last but not least:

- Their liberal use of the word "shit" for translating interchangeable Japanese expletives such as kuso, yabai/yabe (pronounced "ya-BEH"), chikusho, mazui or shimatta, to the point where it has become a commonplace word in basic negative connotations. Pretty much that one scene in the South Park episode, "It Hits The Fan" when Ms. Choksondik teaches the class how to use the word "shit" in everyday communication.

[bookalooza]

New Year vs New Year's Deciphering the Difference

New Year" vs "New Year's

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between "New Year" and "New Year's" as we bid one-year farewell and welcome another. Can they be switched out? Are they thinking about the same thing? We'll explain the differences between these two often-used words and when to use them in this blog post.

Knowing "New Year"

A new calendar year begins with the simple phrase "New Year". It symbolises the passage of time between December 31 and January 1 as well as fresh starts and opportunities. People celebrate the beginning of a new year and resolve to make improvements in their lives throughout the world. 

Key points about "New Year"

Calendar Transition: The transition from December 31st to January 1st signals the start of a new year on the calendar.

Global Celebration: The New Year is celebrated worldwide with various traditions, parties, and festivities.

Resolutions: Many people set resolutions for the New Year, aiming to improve aspects of their lives or develop new habits.

Knowing "New Year's"

However, the possessive form "New Year's" denotes something that has to do with or is associated with the New Year. "New Year's" has a possessive apostrophe-s ('s) to indicate possession or ownership. This statement is often used in phrases like "New Year's Eve" or "New Year's resolutions." 

Key points about "New Year's"

Possessive Form: The apostrophe-s indicates possession or ownership, connecting something to the New Year.

Specific Celebrations: "New Year's Eve" refers to the night before the New Year, known for special events, parties, and countdowns.

Resolutions and Goals: "New Year's resolutions" are commitments people make for self-improvement in the upcoming year.

Making a Difference Between the Two

After breaking down each meaning into its component parts, let's examine some examples to help you better understand when to use "New Year" and when to use "New Year's." 

Correct Usage of "New Year"

I'm excited for the New Year and the opportunities it brings.

We celebrate the New Year with a family gathering.

 Correct Usage of "New Year's"

We had a fantastic New Year's Eve party with friends.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn a new skill.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Misusing Apostrophes: Be careful to avoid using apostrophes in the wrong way. For example, it is grammatically improper to write "New Years" without an apostrophe.

Using Them Interchangeably: "New Year" and "New Year's" are related terms, but using them interchangeably can cause misunderstandings. Utilize each phrase for its original purpose. 

Conclusion: New Year brings you happiness, success, and good times!

Overall, being able to distinguish between "New Year" and "New Year's" is essential for clear communication. "New Year's" is a possessive term that indicates something related to or part of the New Year, whereas "New Year" just signifies the start of the calendar year. Let's use these expressions correctly to express our intentions and feelings as we start a new year. Whether you're looking forward to the New Year with excitement or setting resolutions, I hope it brings you happiness, success, and good times!

Publish your book now: www.bookalooza.com/newbook