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ghost-proofbaby · 2 years ago

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twenty four hours (modern!eddie munson x fem!reader)

HOUR SEVEN

in which you come to a few realizations while remembering the very first night you'd met eddie. a phone call with steve leaves you with more questions than answers.

→ tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn

→ warnings: strong language, eventual smut, heavier angst this chapter but all will be well soon, two uses of y/n, upside down does not exist, minors dni

→ word count: 4.4k+

→ a/n: shorter chapter today but the focus here is the memory! finally making some progress haha. also trying out something new with formatting/the summary situation. if i hate it, i'll probably change it. <3 also, italicized portion is a memory.

masterlist.

spotify playlist.

◁ previous part, next part▷

7:00 ────ㅇ────────────── 24:00

DINGUS: [image attachment]

DINGUS: y/n just texted me this. we’re not getting an update this hour.

BIRDIE: what the hell happened?

DINGUS: she hasn’t said yet, as you can see in the photo, robs.

ARGYLE 😎: what do we THINK happened?

BIRDIE: my best bet is fighting?

ARGYLE 😎: lover’s quarrel? Makes sense.

BIRDIE: i’m adding nance back into the chat

BIRDIE added NANCE to the groupchat.

BIRDIE: @NANCE explain what you meant earlier please. we’re having a code red. the bad kind.

DINGUS: there’s a good kind of code red?

NANCE: Oh God, what happened?

DINGUS: y/n texted me saying she fucked up, and we’re assuming either she’s finally murdered eddie, or they’re fighting again.

NANCE: I can call Eddie, if you guys want?

JOHNNY: So does this mean we’re all $500 richer?

BIRDIE: @JOHNNY if you still think this is about the money, you’re a fucking idiot

—

HOUR SEVEN - 10:00 PM

There had been a time in your life where you believed you didn’t hold a single mean bone in your body. A time where you were soft-spoken, a time where you overflowed with kindness and dotted out compliments to random strangers. There was once a version of you in this lifetime that worked so fervently to be the type of person people liked and enjoyed the company of. You always swore to always treat others with the same grace as you would prefer to receive as well.

A year ago, that version of you had been sidetracked.

You stare at the wooden frame of Eddie’s door with blank eyes. He wasn’t going to open it any time soon. You’d tried knocking multiple times, calling out to him in a soft voice, begging and pleading and begging and pleading. His response continued to be silence.

“All I’ve ever done is hurt you.”

With the haze clearing, in the midst of the aftermath and sour clarity, you wish you would have corrected him. Eddie and you had surely hurt each other countless times, but it is not all he’s ever done.

You can remember the better moments clearly now. The time you’d tripped walking up the steps of one of the bars on Main Street, and Eddie had been the only person in your friend group to stop completely, reflectively reaching out to catch you from embarrassing yourself. The night of your birthday, in which he hadn’t come to the party due to “work” as Steve had explained, but had sent a card along with your friends that contained a gift card to your favorite coffee shop. You hadn’t even realized he knew your favorite coffee shop, and you’d come to find out that he didn’t even ask a single one of your mutual friends for it. You’d brushed it off as a lucky guess. And there was the time you’d forgotten your wallet during a brunch with the group, and he hadn’t hesitated to pick up your bill with his own. He didn’t even give Robin the chance to argue; he’d simply snatched your bill from across the table when you’d paled as you dug through your bag, and didn’t say a word about you paying him back.

Small moments. Glimpses of kindness, bandages on wounds that you’d been ignoring to keep up a war between the two of you that you’d always assumed he’d started.

Eddie Munson wasn’t the enemy, and the first night you two met was never a red herring; it was a glimpse into who he actually was. A clear look past the armor he hadn’t formed yet when it came to you.

—

A YEAR AGO

“They’re going to love you!” Robin insists as she continues to shove you from behind through the entrance of the bar. Steve is ahead of you, guiding you through the rough crowd to the table the rest of the group had already snagged.

You turn your head over your shoulder, reaching up and grabbing the hand that Robin rested on you, “You don't know that. What if they hate me? What if they think I’m the worst person they’ve ever met?”

Even as you wore a smile, there was a truth to the fear in your words. You were petrified that these strangers, strangers who meant so much to your only friends on campus, would turn their noses to you. There was nothing Robin or Steve could do to extinguish the fear. It was already a terrible knot in the pit of your stomach, tying and untying itself like a nuisance as Steve started to wave at a brunette who had been scanning the bar as if waiting for someone.

She’s pretty. Wavy hair barely brushing her shoulders, sharp features accentuated in the shadows of the busy location. The moment her blue eyes locked on Steve, all the concentration on her face faded to be replaced with an excited smile.

She returns the wave, and the boys surrounding her at the table all glance in your direction.

You’re still half-hidden behind Steve as the three of you approach the group. Robin bounds out from behind you, scooping the woman you assumed was the famous Nancy into a barrelling hug. Your eyes flickered to the boy sat to Nancy’s right, shaggy hair flopping against his forehead and smile creases exposed as he nods to Steve and holds up his drink in greeting. Beside him, another man sits, long and shiny hair flowing over an outrageous Hawaiian print shirt and topped off with a baseball cap that looked to be the merchandise of a pizza shop. His smile is welcoming – something comforting in the relaxation of it.

You’re almost completely captivated by the warmth that bled from the group when Steve and Robin are suddenly taking their seats. Robin sits beside Nancy, while Steve takes the seat across from the man with long hair.

The only seat left open was between Steve and a man who’s back was turned to you.

His hair is in a loose bun, unraveling against the nape of his neck. You could see each and every defined curl. His broad shoulders stiffen beneath a leather jacket and denim vest, and his ring-clad hand cradles a short glass of something dark, something fizzy.

“Alright, everyone!” Steve announces, turning and beckoning you to take this seat. Your stomach twists again, realizing you’d be sitting beside a stranger. One who had yet to even spare you a glance, “This is Y/N.”

There’s rounds of greetings and introductions as you brush shoulders with the stranger to take your seat, and try as you might to keep up, all you can focus on is not looking at him.

You’re guess was correct – the pretty girl that Robin had hugged was Nancy. The boy with floppy hair at her side was Jonathan, and the man with long hair told you his name is Argyle. His tone of casualty matches the comfort of his smile as he holds a hand out to you across the table, both your elbow and his brushing against empty baskets once filled with bar food as you shake.

Finally, you turn to look at the stranger beside you, Steve reaching around to clasp his shoulder.

“And mister oh-so-welcoming here is Eddie.”

Eddie. He finally turns to look at you, with doleful eyes and a tight-lipped grin, and you almost forget how to breathe.

He was intimidating. All broodish glances and stand-offish energy. But then Argyle cracks a joke, and suddenly, it all fades. The air in the room crackles frantically as you watch him chuckle slowly at first, until he finally descends into cackles with Steve and Jonathan alike.

That’s when the first vine sprouts.

The second one does when the conversation becomes overwhelming, and you find yourself lost amongst the sea of new friends. They’re nothing but friendly, trying to learn more about you but easily falling into well-established inside jokes at times. When you descend into silence as you watch them recount a story of a time that Argyle snuck them into his job after hours, you suddenly feel Eddie lean in closer to you.

“I think they tell this story every time they get drunk,” he whispers, tilting his head so that the words only reach your ears, “I’ve probably heard it a hundred times by now.”

You bite back a smile, “Just tonight, or the entire time you’ve known them?”

“Both.”

You have to fight hard to swallow down giggles, Eddie hiding his with a sip of his drink. A waiter who had taken your order nearly ten minutes ago arrives with your own drink. An amaretto sour.

“I’m Eddie, by the way,” he says as you taste the drink. Its citrus bursts across your tongue and you nod.

“So Steve mentioned.”

“Yeah, but I felt bad for not introducing myself,” he shrugs. You were facing him fully now, no longer trying to stick vehemently to Steve’s side. “I didn’t want to seem like a dick, just… had a long week.”

You knew all about long weeks.

“I get it,” you assure him, “Are you in school, too?”

“Night classes,” he supplies with a wave of his hand, “Midterms are a bitch, especially after working all day.”

“Tell me about it. I think I’m about ten seconds away from getting fired at my current gig,” you joke, and Eddie laughs. It occurs to you that you’d probably do just about anything to hear his laugh more, and already begin to conjure up terrible jokes to pull that sound from him once more. It’s even more comforting than Argyle’s friendly cadence, than Steve’s elbow knocking yours to remind you he’s still there.

“Why would you think that?” Eddie’s nose scrunches, more curls falling against his cheek. Your drink is immediately forgotten.

“He caught me talking shit,” another laugh falls from Eddie’s lips at your deadpan, more reserved than the previous but just as melodic, “I give it a week. He was already looking for a reason to send me to the chopping block. Says I talk too much to customers.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Apparently.”

For a moment, in the smoky bar, it’s just you and Eddie. All knotting nerves have been replaced by the weight of the vines that surge higher and higher in your chest, growing at impossible rates. They don’t strangle you like your fears of the night had; their weight is a comforting hold, something solid to reach out for in the unfamiliar territory of new socialization. Without the mask of intimidation, Eddie feels like an old friend.

You assume that everyone else is distracted by their own conversation, but Robin catches the way you lean into him as the two of you joke. She nudges Nancy subtly, and they both share a look when Eddie blushes at you being impressed as he tells you that his battle vest is hand-sewn.

Your vines are not as hidden as you assume they are, certainly not when the first bud of hopefulness begins to grow.

“So how long have you known Steve?” you ask him quietly, still under the guise of the two of you having created your own small bubble of a moment.

Eddie downs the last of his Jack & Coke, something you caught onto by smelling it on his breath when he had gotten particularly close to you during conversation, “Too long. We all met in high school, actually.”

“Oh, don’t tell me that,” you groan, and your forehead dramatically falls into his shoulder without second-thought. He stiffens beneath the connection, “I’m infiltrating a friend group that’s stood the test of times? I’m doomed.”

You nearly lift your head from his still stiff shoulder, afraid to make him uncomfortable, when he brings a hesitant hand to pat your back jokingly, “There, there. I think you’re fitting in fine.”

“Just fine? Ouch,” you finally lift your head as you had planned to, just as Eddie had begun to relax into your touch. His hand doesn’t fall too far from your back, resting on the back of your chair. His shy grin is impossibly charming, “You could have just said I’m crashing and burning, you know?”

The night carries on like that, you and Eddie lost in private conversations only to be occasionally dragged back in on whatever debate the group is having. It’s a spring reaction; once one or both of you have given your two cents, you return to one another, finding solitude in joking and Eddie updating you on the group’s ‘lore’, as he puts it. Steve shoots several glances in your direction, always prepared to offer comfort in what should be an overwhelming situation, but he never has to. Every time he glances at you, Eddie is already taking the lead of entertaining you, qualming all your anxieties into non-existence.

Your vines decorate with buds of hope. Every laugh you pull from Eddie, every fleeting touch that passes between the two of you, every new inside joke he decides to make with you rather than indulging in ones set in stone already with old friends - they all whisper of new friendship. They whisper in potential, in new beginnings and coming home after long weeks.

By the time Nancy announces she has to go to the restroom and invites you and Robin, you’re in full bloom. You’re convinced that Eddie is a friend. And you can see it in his eyes – he’s convinced of it too, looking nervous when you stand and agree to go with Nancy. He looks like a child about to lose their social crutch, and it has potential to be devastating.

It’s almost enough to make you ignore your bladder, but you need to pee, and you need to socialize with more than just Eddie tonight.

You’re not sure what happens at the table during your trip to the bathroom. But something surely does happen as you giggle with the girls under the humming lights of the restroom, as you all stand in the mirror side by side and fiddle with your hair and makeup and Robin makes a comment about how terribly cliche the moment is. Nancy slaps her on the arm, mutters something about the importance of girls bonding, and when you return to the table, you see it immediately – Eddie’s mask of indifference has returned.

His cheeks are flushed, and all the boys are sharing nervous glances between one another as you all sit down again.

There’s no more fleeting touches. You sip on your now watered down drink, and you try and pull Eddie out from wherever he’s ventured in your absence, but it’s no use. A conversation was had while you girls had been in the restroom, and it left Eddie in his head, out of reach. The buds of hopefulness quiver on their vines, and you try to reassure yourself that it’s nothing personal. It’s nothing personal when he clearly holds back any laughs at your jokes you lean into his space to whisper to only him, it’s nothing personal when his arm never rests on the back of your chair again, it’s nothing personal when he won’t meet your eyes the rest of the night.

It’s nothing personal, but it’s sorely disappointing.

You end the night, everyone splitting up, Eddie heading off towards his motorcycle. He hadn’t even mentioned driving a motorcycle during the night, and you curse the way you watch him straddle the seat as he secures his helmet over his tied-back hair. You desperately wish to know what was said while you were in the bathroom, what had happened to make him retreat so far from you after spending the entirety of the night tending to the greenery that had grown attached to your ribcage.

“You like him, don’t you?” Robin teases at your side, bumping shoulders.

Something aches in you. The thrill of meeting someone new, of getting along, of finding them cute and endearing, is beyond your grasp.

He didn’t even say goodbye.

“I did,” you whisper softly. A reverberation of past-tense, an exhale of worry.

You did. But he didn’t even say goodbye.

—

Eddie still hasn’t opened the door. But to his defense, you haven’t tried knocking again.

That ache from that night, the feeling of a delicate rush of possibility taunting you from a distance, still remains. Even amongst now rotted vines, even as petals fall from your hopeful buds. It never really went away. With each group hangout that followed, it echoed louder and louder, demanding to be heard and demanding to be felt as Eddie grew colder. You were an idiot the first few times; you’d still gravitated to him, falling right into his orbit and begging for his attention. You’d still seek him out in every room, craving to find the warmth that had once sparked in his eyes only to find them averted from you entirely. And when you couldn’t take the hint, when you wouldn’t leave him alone when Steve and Robin left you to your own devices at the hangouts, he became mean.

You took it as a joke at first, but six months ago, something inside of you finally wisened up – it wasn’t a joke. Eddie Munson hated you. Somehow, he hated you, and yet he also swore to protect you. He hated you, and yet he would still pay for you without you asking him to. He hated you, and yet he still remembered your birthday. He hated you, and yet, he still knew your favorite coffee shop.

He hated you and yet.

You stand, unable to take your racing thoughts anymore, moving to pound on the door again, “Eddie. Open the door.”

You’re not asking anymore.

You don’t care for answers any more. In this moment, you truly believe you could let it all be water under the bridge. Right this second, if you looked into honey brown eyes and goddamn dimples, you’d forgive him.

“Eddie,” your voice cracks, and you scorn yourself.

All I ever do is hurt you.

Even in locking himself away, he’s hurting you. Putting that distance, choosing to not work this out like adults, is hurting you.

“Can you- I don’t know, at least let me know that… that…” you trail off, huffing in frustration and finally smacking a flat palm against wood, watching the door shake on its hinges from your force, “Just let me know you’re alive, Jesus Christ, Eddie. We still have to take the stupid fucking photo for this hour, and we-”

Mid-tirade, the door swings open to reveal Eddie. He doesn’t look irritated, he doesn’t look mad. He looks tired.

The war between you two has weighed heavy on him, too. He doesn’t look like the same person you met a year ago. The battles raged, the fights lost, the victories celebrated through bloody teeth – they all show on the shadows of his face, a clear mirror image to your own.

“Take the photo,” he says in monotone, hardly leaving the door cracked enough to catch a proper glimpse of him.

“What?”

“The photo. Take it. For the chat, so you can get your money when it’s all over.”

You’re stunned for a second. The money hadn’t even crossed your mind; you had just been rambling, hoping to find the right thing to say to get him to unlock the barrier between you two.

Who the fuck even cares about the money anymore?

You do. You’re supposed to. And so is he.

You sigh and pull your phone from your back pocket, and turn your back to him before lifting the camera to capture the two of you. The door creaks open an inch more.

There’s no fun pose. There’s no smiles. There’s nothing. It’s even more lifeless than the first photo taken. You can’t stand to look at it longer than necessary as you send it off to the group.

Just as you turn around to face him again, to try and talk to him, the door shuts again. You can hear the soft click of a lock. The ache is heard, the ache is felt, as you refuse to look back at the wood that still separates you physically, at the emotions that separate you mentally.

You don’t really know why you do it. But you walk out to the living room, deciding against sitting outside the door any longer and continuing to make yourself miserable. Your feet carry you straight to the sliding door of his balcony, and you press outside into the cooler night air, shutting the door behind you.

What happened when I was in the bathroom that night?

The thought haunts you, a new ghost that had been lingering and gathering dust since that night. You never asked anyone, certainly not Eddie, and refuse to overthink it until now. But after tonight, after practically reliving your first encounter with Eddie all over again, the deja vu and the curiosity are winning over.

You dial Steve’s number.

“Hell-”

“Why do me and Eddie hate each other?” you blurt out, cutting off Steve’s greeting.

“I- What?” Steve’s confused, understandably so, “How should I know? I don’t keep a list of every time you rant about him to me.”

“What about him?”

“Okay, you know I love you, but I’m not a mind-read-”

“What about a list of every time he rants about me?”

Silence buzzes through the line, and you glance up at the night sky. It’s a cloudy black. The city pollution hides most of the stars, and from Eddie’s balcony, you can’t locate the moon.

“I also don’t have one of those.”

“Why not? Because, Jesus Christ, Harrington, I have questions-”

“Because he doesn’t rant about you. Especially not to me, but Nancy says he never talks about you usually either,” Steve explains in an even tone, still not sure how his answer should be helping you. You are the one, afterall, with Eddie right now.

Even if he is locked away in his room right now, refusing to speak to you.

“That makes no sense,” you sigh, exasperation creeping its way into your bones, “I rant about him all the time. I’ve bitched to you and Robin more times than I can count about him. He should be doing the same.”

Steve says your name softly, “Why are you asking me this?”

You laugh humorlessly and shake your head, even knowing Steve can’t see you, “It’s stupid. Forget it,” It’s not stupid to you, and you can’t forget it, but this doesn’t concern Steve, “Can I ask you one last question, though?”

“Shoot, babydoll,” you can’t help but grin at that nickname. Steve pulls it out at random, every time he’s trying to make you feel bad. He knows that neither of you can take it seriously.

“Um, that night you introduced me to everyone,” you begin, stepping up to wrap your free hand around the iron railing of Eddie’s balcony, letting the cold seep into your palm, “At the bar, you know?”

“Right…” he encourages, “What about it?”

“Me and Eddie got along,” you spit it out, letting it tear from your chest and score your throat on its way out, “We… we were getting along at first, and then I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he…. He…”

He was gone. The Eddie I’d first met had vanished. Where’d he go? Why’d he go?

“Shit, your memory is way better than mine,” Steve chuckles, sounding nervous, “But, I mean, I kind of remember that. You two getting along, at least. Guess that’s why we all were really confused when you started hating each other. But I’m still not understanding the question - are you asking if I remember the night? Or if he’s ever talked about it? I was a jock, you’re gonna have to spell it out for my pea brain.”

“Stop insinuating you’re stupid,” you scold on instinct, scowl settling along your features as you lean onto the railing and glance down. It’s only two stories, but the ground feels impossibly far as you ask, “What happened when all us girls went to the bathroom? When we came back, he acted differently. Did he mention hating me that night? Did I leave a bad first impression? Was it all just a joke to hi-”

“Woah, woah, woah. Slow down. One question, remember?” you’re sure Steve can hear the panting in your breath over the line, the way your chest heaves in the memory, “I’ve gotta be honest - I don’t remember. I know that’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, and I don’t know what’s going on with you two right now, but I was already well on my way to drunk. I think Jonathan and Argyle poked some fun at Eddie, maybe teased him about something, but I really can’t recall what it was about. Maybe his hair? Who knows?”

The answer isn’t helpful. It’s only more confusing, more hurtful.

He stopped joking with you because someone made fun of his hair? You lost access to the warmth buried beneath his surface because his friends teased him?

“Okay,” you sound defeated. You feel defeated – defeated by the weight of still feeling like an outsider, defeated by the barrier of some measly wooden door, defeated by the hurt in Eddie’s eyes as you admitted that he only ever hurts you, “Okay, thanks, Steve.”

You hang up before either of you say goodbye. When you pull your phone down from your cheek and ear, you see your phone still open to the photo of Eddie and you that you’d sent to the group.

You were wrong. There wasn’t only nothing. Your face may have been void of all emotions, but now looking at it, you can see Eddie’s isn’t.

He’s looking at you and not the camera during the shot, face crestfallen, eyes nearly teary as the corners of his mouth tucked downward.

He’s looking at you with regret, with sadness. He’s looking at you as if he can see the vines he’d planted in you, all rotted and dusting away, and he’s mourning them just as you had.

It’s bullshit, or your imagination, or your innate need for Eddie to bleed the same way as you have over your entire situation with each other. You lock your phone and don’t bother to look at the photo again as you enter the living room, as you toss your phone onto the loveseat, as you curl up on the couch and don’t even bother to go to ask for a pillow or blanket. He probably wouldn’t answer the door, anyway.

You don’t say goodnight to Eddie, just as he never said goodbye to you the first night, and wonder if he notices the absence of your salutation.

taglist: @catherinnn @haylaansmi @gaysludge @paprikaquinn @manda-panda-monium @audhd-dragonaut @amira0303 @blushingquincy @hellkaisersangel @eddieslittlewh0re @ajkamins @prettyboy200 @munsonzzgf @blue-eyed-lion @digwhatudug @madaboutjoe @wickedslashdivine @sweet-villain @somespicystuff @big-ope-vibes @jadequeen88 @sylviin @emma77645 @notbeforelong @lolalanaie @lo-siento-ama @happy-and-alone @micheledawn1975 @aysheashea @moon-huny @munsonswrld @bambipowerblueaddition @averagestudent03 @bakugouswh0r3 @mattefic @mxcheese @bietchz @nativity-in-black @tlclick73 @stezzil @vngelis @coley0823 @folklorebau @luvmunson86 @theherothesavior @keene200213 @hargrovesswifee @m-chmcl-rmnc @cherrymedicine13 @iunaelumen777

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#eddie munson #twenty four hours #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x y/n #feels so short of a chapter haha #angsty babes

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nimonabigbang · 11 months ago

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Nimona Big Bang Sign Ups Are Open!

Do you love the Nimona movie and/or graphic novel? Are you a writer who has always wanted fanart for a fic, or an artist looking for inspiration?

What's a Big Bang?

A Big Bang is a collaborative fandom event that results in an explosion of new fanwork. Writers are paired with artists, who create fanart for the new fanfic written for the Bang.

For the Nimona Big Bang, we're asking for a 5,000 word minimum for fanfics and two art pieces. Participants can take on up to two possible roles: writer, artist, beta reader (to help proofread draft fics), writer pinch hitter (in case a writer needs to drop out), or artist pinch hitter (in case an artist needs to drop out).

What's the schedule?

Sign ups for all roles opened on January 1, 2024. Writers need to sign up by March 1st, artists need to sign up by April 1st, and beta readers need to sign up by July 28th.

Writers need to provide fic summaries/200 word excerpts no later than April 20th so that artists can bid on them. Writers and artists will be paired by April 28th.

We will have several scheduled check-ins to make sure everyone's on track. If you feel like you need to drop out, please do so by July 15th so that we can try to find a replacement writer or artist for your partner.

Final fanfics and fanart will be revealed on September 14th.

The detailed schedule is here.

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Please sign up using this form.

I'm not sure if I have enough time for this.

We understand that people are busy! The schedule was designed to be relatively relaxed and low pressure.

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We're not gatekeeping! Beginners are welcome.

We also will have beta readers to help proofread for grammar, spelling, and clarity.

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We're happy to help! If needed, we can provide prompts, AU ideas, etc.

I've never written a fic that's 5,000 words before.

This is an excellent excuse to give it a try in a supportive community! If you're used to writing shorter scenes, connecting enough of them will help get you there. :) (The 5 + 1 fic format might be a good fit if you have length concerns, but there are many ways to write a fanfic.)

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We hope you sign up today and are looking forward to all the wonderful fic and fanart!

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meraki-yao · 1 year ago

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RWRB Movie Analysis: The Placement of Alex's Speech

Alright I’m really fucking sick of people complaining about the placement of the speech. (I swear, I write half of these essays out of irritation. But I’m happy while doing it so it all checks out)

Two things.

Regarding Henry’s consent

Use context clues people. Henry says, “Your speech was beautiful. Made me very proud to be your boyfriend.” It’s clear that Henry approves of the speech.

Again, what can be shown explicitly is restricted by the format. The point of Henry’s montages during the speech is to show how trapped and helpless he is in the situation. (for more, I wrote about it here.) The scenes need to keep that atmosphere/feeling of isolation and pain. If let’s say, we have a scene where the prime minister asks Henry about admitting and coming out, it would take away the consistent feeling of Henry’s pain. Cinematically, it won’t work. But that doesn’t mean in universe, it didn’t happen.

Also, Alex fucking loves Henry with every inch of his soul. He’s willing to fight for them, but he’s also willing to be patient for him. After getting his feelings sorted out and knowing with 100% clarity that he’s in love with Henry, he is never, ever going to do something that so obviously would hurt Henry. He would rather get hurt himself than hurt Henry. (Corresponding Book Quote: “Alex wants to go to war for this man, wants to get his hands on everything and everyone that ever hurt him.”) He wouldn’t make the speech without knowing Henry is okay with it. He just wouldn’t, that would straight up be out of character. So the fact that he did, means one way or another, he has Henry’s consent. And Henry later approving the speech in the piano scene, proves that. (It’s completely possible that the script itself meant to explain it this way, but if at any point they might have explicitly discussed coming out, my guess would be the Kensington breakfast scene, Prime, I’m coming for your hard drives—)

Regarding the placement of speech

There are two reasons for this.

One irl reason, is again, the format of the medium, and movie story telling. You want the tension to continuously build, increase and move upwards, then get a big but concrete resolution, and then this part is over. Having the speech as a conclusion after the balcony wave will not feel as well resolved as directly having the speech, then ending this part of the story with the big, big protest and balcony wave.

But there’s a diegetic/ in universe reason as well.

A lot of people, especially those who complain that Movie Alex is a himbo (also spite writing an essay on that, WIP, stay tuned), forget that Alex is a budding politician, and in fact, is a damn good one.

He, despite being kind of confused about his sexuality (read this essay for more), figures out Miguel’s flirting is mostly trying to get his statements for his articles, and in a fairly polite and classy way, Alex declines. (The state dinner slip was because he was way too entranced by Henry) He was a speaker at the DNC. His Texas campaign ultimately won Ellen the election.

When is comes to these things, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s good at what he does.

Making the speech before the crown can make a statement, was a strategic move.

Henry told Alex about his grandfather’s stance on this during the Paris date. He also told, well, yelled at Alex about the pressures he has from the crown during the Kensington confrontation. Alex knows the King will disapprove of their relationship and attempt to shove Henry into the closet.

So he has to be the one to control the narrative. He needs people to listen to, and believe in his, or rather, their side of the story.

And here’s a bit about human psychology. When receiving a new piece of information, our first impression and subsequent judgement of said information tends to be persistent. If we are provided with a second piece of contradicting information, we will tend to treat the second piece with much more criticism and suspicion. The mindset would be “prove to me the first one is wrong” instead of “Which one of these is right”.

Therefore, for Alex to get more people on his side, he must speak first.

(I almost imagine this is the reason the White House blocked communication with the palace. That bugged me for a while, until I thought, if the White House doesn’t block communication and receive a demand from the palace, they aren’t really on grounds to refuse it without a diplomatic mess. It’s the equivalent of avoiding talking to someone you don’t want to approach with the excuse “Oh my phone was off sorry”)

Imagine it. If the crown does what the King originally proposed and claims all the emails are fabrications and denies that Henry is gay and in a relationship with Alex, then Alex’s speech will be viewed through tinted glasses of “this is a fabrication, this is a lie” and it will take much more persuading for people to believe in Alex, because their first judgement of the issue, would be the crown’s lie of a narrative.

But by making the speech first, people’s first judgement of the issue, would be Alex’s explanation, of it being an invasion of privacy, and of it being true. Even if the crown denies it, with the first judgement being Alex’s narrative, it would make it much easier to see through the lie, because in people’s head, they already assumed that Alex is telling the truth.

By making the speech first, Alex has won both himself and Henry, the pen to write history.

Making the speech first is in no way Alex disrespecting Henry.

By playing politics and strategy, Alex is protecting Henry in the most familiar way he knows.

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #firstprince #nicholas galitzine #taylor zakhar perez #rwrb thoughts #i am so sick of people criticising these things without actually thinking #alex fucking loves henry alright #i usually write from henry's pov because I get him more #first time writing alex pov #fun though #got to pull out my psyc notebook for this lol #rwrb analysis #meraki essay

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aesethewitch · 6 months ago

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Divination Troubleshooting

One of the more difficult aspects of divination, I think, is working out what to do when things don’t work the way they’re supposed to. When you’ve done everything technically right, there’s a chance you still won’t get answers that you can interpret, that make sense, or that are correct. If you have an occasional problem with divination, that’s totally normal — nothing will work 100% of the time. But when it happens consistently, it might be time to do a little troubleshooting.

This post is far from a complete list of possible problems. I’ve spent many years trying (and failing at) different forms of divination, so these are things I’ve personally run into and the things I consider when troubleshooting.

The basic format of this post is the form of problem, a short description of what the problem looks like, possible causes for the problem, and multiple suggested solutions for each cause. These recommendations are fairly general and non-exhaustive. You may find that you need to employ multiple solutions before the problem resolves, and you may find that none of these proposed solutions solve the issue you’re having. Some listed problems are specific to a particular tool, but most are applicable to more than one type.

Sometimes, determining the cause of your issue can be difficult. It can take a good amount of discernment to figure out, so don’t feel discouraged if you can’t fix the problem on the first try!

Unclear Answers

You’ve drawn your cards, cast your charms, selected your runes, and… it makes no sense, or maybe the answers you receive are too vague to be useful.

Cause: Lack of practice or familiarity with the tool Solutions:

Perform practice readings with the tool

Study the guidebook, if you have one, to determine whether there are additional meanings to glean

Look up potential alternate meanings to the individual cards/runes, or consider another perspective (Three of Swords not always meaning heartbreak, for example)

Ask for a second opinion by taking a picture of the reading and sending it to like-minded practitioners who would be willing to help you interpret

Request a reading from a more seasoned diviner to confirm the information you’re able to glean from your own reading (if you do this, I would suggest letting them know that you’re seeking clarity from a divination you did for yourself)

Cause: No thoughts, head empty (brain fog, sudden blanking, fatigue, etc.) Solutions:

Set it aside and come back to it later with fresh eyes

Do grounding or energizing exercises before redoing the divination

Take care of your mundane needs (drink water, eat something, sleep, take medicines, go outside/get fresh air, etc.) and then return to it

Ask for a second opinion

Write down what you can understand and return to it later to check your interpretation and/or reinterpret it

Cause: The question was poorly worded, or you’re asking the wrong question Solutions:

Reword the question

Ask a different question related to the situation

Consider whether the answer given is to another question or another facet of the situation

Ask the tool, spirits, deities, etc. what you should be focusing on, if not the question you’re asking

Ask follow-up questions to clarify specifics

Cause: The tool isn’t suited to the question you’re asking Solutions:

Try a different tool

Reword the question to suit the tool better

Request a reading from someone else (if you only use one type of tool)

Cause: Stagnant energy is lingering on or around the tool Solutions:

Cleanse the tool and any containers you keep the tool in

Reshuffle, shake, etc. thoroughly before attempting to divine again

Allow the tool to “rest” so it can “cool off” and lose some of the stuck-on energy

Cause: Missing context or information Solutions:

Write down what you can understand for now and come back in a few days/weeks to see if it makes more sense

Walk away and come back to it in an hour to see if new details come to mind

Work on phrasing your questions to account for information you don’t actively know

Cause: One single card is standing out, not meshing with the rest of the reading Solutions:

Let the querent know it’s a confusing card, explain what it typically means, and allow them to offer clarification or possible meanings to it

Decide ahead of time what you will do with cards like this and what they could possibly mean, so that when they come up, you can seamlessly deal with them

Disregard the rogue card entirely

Allow the card to stand on its own, almost like a separate reading within the existing reading; redraw for the position if doing a spread

Consider alternative or unorthodox meanings to the card, especially if it’s in an odd position in a spread:

The card may be referring to another question or situation; if so, set it aside and consider doing a separate divination with that card as a focus

The card may indicate a particular person; determine who it may be and what their impact is on the overall situation

The card may be a message from a spirit, related or unrelated to the situation; set it aside and consider doing a separate divination to see the full message

The card may indicate an unexpected element, upheaval, discomfort, or mismatched priorities; the interpretation largely depends on the card and position

Wrong Answers

You thought you had it, but the divination ended up being completely wrong. One time is normal, but consistently very wrong divinations are less so.

Cause: Lack of practice or familiarity with the tool Solutions:

Perform practice readings, either with actual questions, hypothetical scenarios, or no prompt at all to work on weaving meanings together and identifying messages/symbolism

Ask others if you can practice your divination with them to get more practical experience

Study the guidebook (if there is one) or other guides and articles on the tool to determine whether you missed a meaning, theme, or detail that would have made the reading more accurate

Study how you asked the question, performed the divination, and interpreted the output to see what may have gone wrong, if anything

Cause: The tool you’re using isn’t suited to you Solutions:

Try a different type of tool

If using tarot or oracle cards, try a deck with different imagery

If using tarot, try a deck based on a different system (Thoth vs. Rider-Waite-Smith, for example)

Cause: You’ve asked the same question too many times in a short period, and now the readings are so muddied nothing is accurate Solutions:

Take a break from divining on the question or topic

Consider the answers you’ve already gotten and determine which is the likeliest to be true (or untrue)

Ask a different question

Cause: Misleading or incorrect phrasing and information from the querent Solutions:

Clarify the situation with the querent

Before beginning the divination, let the querent know that they need to be honest with you or results may not be correct

Rephrase the question or prompt to be more honest about the situation

Cause: Blockages or disruption between you and the divination target Solutions:

Ask the querent to temporarily allow you through their protections

Cast a spell to break through the barrier/blockage before trying the divination again (note that if the barrier is a purposeful protection against prying eyes, there may be consequences to busting through)

Request spirit assistance with breaking through the blockage

Ground yourself and clear away any blockages or reluctance within yourself to see and understand the truth

Accept that the target person doesn’t want you divining about them

Cause: The question was poorly worded for the tool you’re using Solutions:

Try a different tool better suited to the type of question you’re asking (pendulums for yes/no, magpie oracle for general life readings, tarot for advice, etc.)

Reword the question to suit the tool

Practice asking better divination questions overall (proper wording, understanding the tool’s capabilities, etc.)

Conflicting Answers

When you do separate readings on the same topic and get different answers, it can be confusing! Which one do you believe? Which will actually come true?

Cause: You’ve asked the same question too many times Solutions:

Take a break from divining on the topic or question

Consider the answers you’ve already gotten and determine which is the likeliest to be true (or untrue)

Ask something else, either relating to the situation or not

Cause: Circumstances have changed radically since you last divined on the situation Solutions:

Divine on what’s changed and how it’s caused the shift

If the change is undesirable, ask how you can get back on track to the future you want

Compare the readings to see if you can determine the links between them

Cause: The future is mutable, and there are separate, very different possibilities branching out around the situation Solutions:

Divine about the causes of each outcome already gathered to see what’s causing the vast difference in readings

If there are many people involved, do smaller, more specific divinations to determine their impact on the future

Accept that you may not get to know the future perfectly

Ask instead how you can attain the future you actually want, rather than what may happen

Always Exhausted Afterwards

After doing divination, you feel absolutely drained of energy. Whether that’s physical, emotional, or spiritual energy, when it happens often, it can be discouraging and make you want to never do divination again!

Cause: Your energy is depleting naturally Solutions:

Do smaller divinations

Only perform one divination in a single sitting, rather than attempting several back to back

Request assistance from spirits to boost your own energy or borrow theirs for the reading

Eat a nourishing meal beforehand and have a snack afterwards

Cause: The querent, tool, spirits, etc., involved are draining your energy Solutions:

Bolster your area’s protections with a focus on keeping your energy to yourself

Wear something like a veil or other protective clothing, jewelry, or accessories during the divination to prevent the drain

Do a grounding exercise beforehand to center your focus and keep your energy to yourself

Pause the divination if you start feeling yourself draining to refresh and protect your energy

If working with spirits which are draining you as part of a deal (whether spoken or unspoken), make a physical offering instead of an energetic one

Practice energy work to learn how to better contain your energy so that it isn’t as free for the taking

Cause: You didn’t have the energy to begin with, but divined anyways Solutions:

Request a reading from a trusted source

Seek ways to boost your energy before beginning

Take care of your mundane needs before performing divination (eat something, drink water, take a nap, get some fresh air)

Spirits Aren’t Coming Through or Assisting

You’ve invited spirits to the table, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve got a hand in the divination results you’re getting.

Cause: You haven’t made an offering equivalent in value to what you’re asking for Solutions:

Set out an offering before starting if you haven’t already

Determine what the spirits might want other that what you’ve already offered

Offer something more personalized to the particular spirit

Make a sacrifice, rather than a simple offering (give up the last cookie, lay a piece of meaningful jewelry on their altar, etc.)

Cause: The spirits think you aren’t ready to know the answers you’re looking for Solutions:

Seek answers from another source

Wait a while and try again later

Ask a different question

Cause: The spirits you’re trying to contact aren’t immediately available/answering Solutions:

Call on the spirits before you start divining and let them know what you’re doing and why

Perform the divination at their sacred space, if possible

If working in an animist sense, “wake up” or “activate” your deck’s spirit in some way before beginning (knocking, speaking to it, etc.)

Cause: Another spirit is interrupting Solutions:

Ask the intruding spirit to back off (for now or forever, that’s up to you)

Perform a banishing if the spirit is unwelcome and will not leave when asked

Find out what the interrupting spirit wants and either decline or fulfill their request

End the divination and come back to it later on

Pendulum Won’t Swing Consistently

The pendulum swings willy-nilly with little to no rhyme or reason, providing no clear answers.

Cause: The cord, chain, string, or other material isn’t long enough Solutions:

Replace it with a longer cord, chain, string, etc.

Use a different pendulum

Create your own pendulum using a length of string (or twine, etc.) and a crystal, stone, pendant, coin, or other relatively heavy item

Cause: The pendulum itself isn’t heavy enough, or it’s an uneven shape Solutions:

Replace the pendulum with a pointed stone, crystal, or piece of glass Thread other, heavier beads, charms, crystals, stones, etc., onto the pendulum’s cord/chain

Cause: Your source for answers isn’t working with you Solutions:

If working based on your own intuition, do a grounding exercise and try again

If working with spirits, make an offering or see whether the spirits are present before trying again

Cause: There’s a breeze making it swing Solutions:

Wait until the wind dies down

Move indoors to try again

Close windows, turn off fans, and turn off air conditioners in the immediate area

Cause: The energy in your area is causing interference Solutions:

Perform a cleansing of the area to clear out excess energy

Banish any rogue spirits hanging around who are messing with the pendulum on purpose

Perform a ritual to calm the energy around you, like soothing a storm or lulling the wind to sleep for the duration of your divination

Keep Dropping Cards

Dropping your whole deck of cards may be an issue with grip strength, clumsiness, or joint bendiness… or, it may be a sign of an underlying issue or message.

Cause: The deck is too large or cumbersome to hold and shuffle easily Solutions:

Try another, smaller deck of tarot cards

Try a deck with standard card shapes (round or very large cards are personally super hard to shuffle neatly)

Ignore jumping or dropped cards, and only take cards you consciously draw

Cause: The shuffle itself is difficult Solutions:

Try another method of shuffling

Practice shuffling with regular playing cards, then with the deck you want to be using (this makes a fun fidget while watching shows)

If all shuffling is difficult, spread out the cards on a flat surface and mix them together before putting them back into a pile and drawing accordingly

Cause: The spirit(s) you’re communicating with don’t want to provide answers right now Solutions:

Provide an offering or payment for services rendered (especially if you haven’t in a while)

Take a break and try again later

Investigate the root cause of their reluctance and plan accordingly

Never Feels “Right” to Stop Shuffling or to Pull a Card

You’re shuffling. And shuffling. And… shuffling. You’re waiting for a sign to stop and pull cards, and it just never comes.

Cause: Your brain and/or intuitive thinking is exhausted Solutions:

Take a break from divination and other magical practices

Do a grounding exercise to reconnect with your intuitive thoughts and try again

Replenish your energy by eating something, drinking water, having a nap, and otherwise taking care of your mundane needs before trying again

Cause: You aren’t meant to know the answer to the question you’ve asked Solutions:

Ask a different, related question to see if you can get answers

Try again in a few days

Try a different divination tool (different tools can provide different answers with varying levels of detail)

Failing troubleshooting, accept that you can’t know everything that’s ahead and simply plan accordingly (magically and mundanely)

Cause: Blockage between you and the target of the question Solutions:

Determine whether there are missing details about the situation that may help break through

Request spirit intervention to get around the blockage

Ground yourself and clear away any blockages or reluctance within yourself to see and understand the truth

Accept that the target person doesn’t want you to divine about them

If the reading is about a situation, a spell of “true seeing” or clarity may help

Cause: The querent isn’t being fully honest about their question (misleading phrasing, leaving out information that would impact the reading) Solutions:

Clarify the situation with the querent

If divining for yourself, consider all facets of the situation and question before rewording it more clearly and honestly

Talk or journal about the situation before beginning to get as much information as possible

Cause: The spirits you rely on for divination have declined to provide answers Solutions:

Ask why they aren’t answering

Try again later

Try another divination tool

Use another source for answers, such as the universe on the whole or your own deeper intuitive self

Reword the question to be more specific or general, depending

Cause: Something about the cards or shuffle themselves isn’t right Solutions:

Try another shuffle/pull method (spread out cards and pull at random, create piles and take the top of each, etc.)

Try a different deck of cards

Try another type of divination tool

Give the deck a cleanse

Look for a way to “wake up” or “activate” the cards

Too Many Jumpers

Even if you read tarot like I do with all jumpers, having a ton of cards leap out at once can be daunting — and even annoying, if it keeps happening consistently.

Cause: Your deck is too large for your hands, or it’s an odd shape (circular, non-standard number of cards, above-average card size, thick card stock) Solutions:

Try a deck with fewer cards or a more standard shape and paper weight

Create your own deck of cards that fits more securely in your hands

Try a digital deck of cards

Disregard jumping cards completely and only accept cards you’re pulling on purpose

Cause: More possibilities or details about the situation need to be brought to light than expected Solutions:

Try another spread to accommodate the jumpers

Ditch the spread altogether and read the cards as they fall instead

Treat the jumping cards as amendments or extra information about the card whose position you’re drawing for (for example, if drawing for a “Self” position and you get two jumpers before pulling your card in your usual fashion, the two jumpers modify the Official Card)

Cause: Spirits are interfering with the reading Solutions:

Cleanse the area or banish the offending spirits if they’re not ones you’ve welcomed into the space

Request that they chill the heck out and not throw any (or as many) jumping cards

Make an offering to quell their mischief

Pay attention to why they’re acting this way; if you’re not sure, ask for their reasons

Applicable to Now, Not Later

Your reading describes your situation as it is right now with perfect clarity, but it doesn’t reveal anything new or give insights into the future.

Cause: Your current talent lies in revealing the present Solutions:

Practice with readings explicitly about the immediate future

Practice targeting a specific moment in the future, such as a particular future month’s events

Fine-tune your questions to specifically request information you don’t know

Employ spirits or deities to expand your abilities to encompass the future

Try another tool or supplement your reading with another tool

Cause: The question or prompt is too open or general Solutions:

Ask a more specific, carefully worded question

Ask what you mean, rather than a general question around the situation (“What do I need to know about my relationship with X?” vs. “What do I need to know about my love life?”)

Cause: There will be little to no change in the timeframe you’re asking about Solutions:

Expand the range of time you’re asking about

Choose a time further in the future (next year instead of next month, for example)

Make an active choice to change the future if you’re dissatisfied with things as they appear to be now

Can’t Get into the “Right Headspace” for Divination

You’ve sat down and have your tools ready, but you just can’t get into the zone.

Cause: Your environment is distracting Solutions:

Move to a quieter location where you can focus more

Perform a grounding exercise to shut out distractions and focus on your divination

Wear headphones and play music that will help you focus (I suggest unobtrusive music without lyrics, so that it doesn’t impact your interpretations; personally, I use crackly fireside sounds over lo-fi beats)

Cause: Your environment isn’t inspiring you to get into the right headspace Solutions:

Create a space specifically for performing divination, whether permanent or temporary

Curate an aesthetic for your divination space with candles, crystals, plants, divination cloths, and other things that are meaningful to you

Go for a walk in a place that does inspire you and perform a divination there, if possible (cemeteries, parks, museums, rivers, etc.); if not possible to do divination there, absorb as much of the inspiring energy as you can and carry it back to your divination location

Cause: You don’t have the energy for it right now Solutions:

Focus on replenishing your energy with food, water, sleep, and other self-care tasks before divining

Request assistance from spirits to boost or borrow energy

Request a divination from someone else

Cause: You just aren’t in the mood for it Solutions:

Create a ritual that will help you get into your desired headspace for divination (putting on specific accessories, preparing your space, calling on spirits, etc.)

Request a divination from someone else

Walk away and come back to it when you feel more motivated

Scroll through others’ divination posts, watch a video, or listen to a podcast to get inspired to do your own divination

Conclusion

Again, there are countless possible issues and even further countless possible solutions to those issues. In general, walking away for a while, having a rest, practicing asking questions, and becoming more familiar with your tool over time will be the best tools in your belt. And if you can’t find a solution on your own, there’s no shame in crowdsourcing ideas for fixes! Ask your friends, your favorite witchy blogger, your Discord servermates, make a public post for others to comment on, or otherwise reach out. The best ideas often come from conversation.

Feel free to drop questions in the reblogs, replies, or my ask box if you’d like to ask me in particular about your divination troubles! I’m always happy to help out where I can. And if I’ve got no clue, one of my followers or mutuals might have a thought to share!

If you enjoyed this post or my other work, consider tossing a couple dollars in my tip jar! (And check out my commissions for custom spellwork and tarot readings!) Everything goes toward keeping me and my partner afloat on our bills, so it’s very much appreciated!

#aese speaks #divination #tarot #pendulum #troubleshooting #divination troubleshooting #divination questions #beginner divination #witchblr #witch community #divination witch #beginner witch #divination tips #witch tips

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ancientgoddessofegypt · 10 months ago

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The Sun's Creator : Create Your Reality

WHICH PICTURE OF THE SUN DRAWS YOU CLOSER TO CREATING YOUR BEST YOU?

Hey so I designed a beautiful pick a card reading on how to find the best way to create a stronger bond for yourself. What do you need to know to know right now? Its best to give ourselves a chance to breathe some new light, so just enjoy the picture and the message is right below :)

PILE 1 - 'Do you get me? I'm right around the corner.'

Picking up where we left out sometimes gives us the chance to find our new wings. Because the climate is chilling, you cover yourself up to keep that warmth inside your belly, but it only keeps trying to show its weight. Because you're accustomed to the usual. You've become light headed to whats in front, but not the deepest parts in it. Change is around the corner for you, full on differences and expansions of the imagination will keep you moving forward in this horizon. Places you felt not so sure of will bring down the uncertainty you've been carrying for the past several weeks. Charming experiences will show soon as you've let out a big roar to yourself and for others to appreciate. Congratulate yourself for the work that you've BEEN doing because its been a lengthy road. That hidden joy is soon to pop through as you continue to awaken the force that continues to knock inside of yourself.

PILE 2 - 'Look at me now, I was chosen for this path.'

Pat yourself on the back boo! You're incredible. Your appearance is changing and you feel that beautiful light showing itself on a daily. Please, keep it that way. Look forward to the shifts you've been creating for yourself. You were meant to soar, forgiveness is needed and appreciated. Taking a jog and getting a full on exercise will help your mind feel more clarity. Get a camera, and take some new pictures of yourself for these next few weeks-months so you can feel the gratitude of being in the moment, being connected to a life that you could remember.

Enjoy the surface, the waves are magical.

PILE 3 - 'Can I get you something? Guilty Pleasures, & Formatting A New Love For Life.'

There's many opportunity we get to pick from, sometimes not every choice is going to get us the good one. That's okay, at least you learned something. Enjoying your familiarities and picking and choosing when to go saves you from a lot of problems in the long run. Because you've kept quiet about certain things to enjoy the love, you've made a promise to the ethers that you could forgive and for bide by a new law of justice inside of yourself. This world was created for us to become the versions of ourselves that was hidden in the shadows; There is another way to go than the ones from before. Thank the universe for allowing the lessons to bring more fullness, more creativity, more power, more love and more light in your heart. A thousand times plenty. Abundance can formulate deeper bonds inside of you, relationships, etc. Financial rewards coming in larger quantities than before. Congrats, would you like someone to get you drink? You've been eaten them up this hol' time ;)

#pick a picture #pick a card #pick a sun #pick a light #intuitive readings #tarotreading #psychic

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nostalgebraist · 2 years ago

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About my fake staff ask

How I made it:

Currently, the tumblr API just... lets you make a post in which you "reply" to an "ask" from an arbitrary user, containing arbitrary content.

In tumblr's Neue Post Format (NPF), responses to asks look similar to other posts. The only difference is that they have a special entry in their "layout," specifying which part of the post is the ask, and who it is from.

Right now, if you try to create an NPF post with this kind of layout entry in it, it just works! You can use this to make an "ask" from anyone, containing anything, and answer it.

This is a huge bug and presumably will get fixed sometime soon?

How I discovered the bug:

Weirdly enough, I find out about it while trying to improve @nostalgebraist-autoresponder's alt text features this past week.

As you may have noticed, Frank now writes alt text differently, with more clarity about which pieces are AI-generated and what role they play.

While making this change, I found myself newly frustrated with my inability to use line breaks in alt text. The API used to let me do it, but then it stopped, hence all the "[newline]" stuff in older alt texts.

After poking around, I found that you can use line breaks in alt text on tumblr, and you can do this through the API, but only if you create posts in NPF.

Frank creates posts in legacy, not NPF. This has been true forever, and it works fine so I've had no reason to change it.

Fully rewriting Frank's post creation code to use NPF would take a lot of work.

Right now, Frank's language model generates text very close to a limited subset of HTML, which I can send to tumblr as "legacy" post content basically as-is. To create posts in NPF, I'd have to figure out the right way to convert that limited HTML into NPF's domain-specific block language.

I wasn't going to do that just to support this one nicety of alt text formatting.

"But wait...", I thought.

"Frank is already making these posts, with the alt text, in legacy format. And once they exist on tumblr, it's easy to determine how to represent them in NPF. I just fetch the existing post, in NPF format."

So all I need to do is

Have Frank make the post, as a draft, with the alt text containing "[newline]" or something in place of the line breaks I really want.

Fetch this draft, in NPF.

Create a new NPF post, with the same contents that we just fetched, in whichever state we wanted for the original post (draft, published, or queued).

Delete the draft we made in step 1.

This was convoluted, but it worked! I patted myself on the back for a clever workaround, and went on to do other stuff for a while...

...and then it hit me.

In the case where the post was a response to an ask, Frank was doing the following:

Responding to the ask.

Fetching the response in NPF.

Creating a completely new post, identical to the response -- including the contents of the original ask.

Deleting the original ask.

Meaning, you can just make asks ab nihilo, apparently.

So after a few more tests, I went and made the @staff ask, as one does.

Unfortunately, once the bug gets fixed, Frank's newlines-in-alt-text solution won't work for asks anymore... oh well, it wasn't a big deal anyway.

#tunglr dot hell #nostalgebraist autoresponder meta

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cq-studios · 1 year ago

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This one screenshot has so much I want to talk about in it so I’m gonna babble about it below the cut

(TLDR: CQ geeks out about translating the Scala Language)

Okay, so first off I’d like to say how much I love the newspaper vibe they are going for and achieving with menus. It has me gnawing on the walls. There’s just Scala Script (the Scala language, for clarity’s sake) everywhere and my code breaking brain is eating it up.

Speaking of which here’s what I’ve been able to translate so far (out of what I’ve been able to make out… the writing is pretty scuffed up in places and it’s not the highest quality image lol)

So the first thing I’d like to focus on are the banners. Each one has something written in Scalian underneath. Those things in order of left to right are “Daily”, “Item”, and “Avatar”, which uh, makes sense lol.

I think it’s a little strange that “Item” is the only one that isn’t exactly translated… like did they just forget the “S”?

On a more interesting note though, this one for one translation here means we now have an official Scalian character for “V”. Unfortunately the character used is pretty scrapped away, so I can’t be 100% sure, but I do think I know which character is used.

(Click/tap on the images below… for whatever reason they were just not formatting correctly)

I also considered it being the one below, but because of the location of the flecks I lean more towards the first one.

I also might have translated another new Scalian character but I’m not sure…

See, on the bar at the top of the screen it says “[unknown character]ho[same unknown character]colates”. I spent at least an hour trying to find out all the possible English words what it could be. I just filled in the blanks tried anagrams, the whole shebang (except for trying that with the other languages that are most likely to be used. Those being Japanese, for obvious reasons, and Latin, which has been used in Scala Script before on the manhole covers in KH3 Scala) and came out with one possible word: Chocolate.

And I must be wrong because that makes no sense, but in case I’m right, it’s here.

I tried to cross reference with KH3 signs to no avail so I’m a bit stumped…

Maybe the little blurb on the other side makes it make sense but it’s too blurry for me to read.

Next up I’ll talk about the “Weather”.

The top text is decently clear so I was able to work that out pretty quickly (pros of being fluent in this fictional language I guess lol) and thanks to that clear text I was actually able to make out a bit more of what was below it than I would’ve otherwise. See, the smaller letters are pretty blurry but I’m able to vaguely make them out. The “L” and “W” were what I caught first and I filled in the blank between pretty fast with some pretty simple connections. Once I’d seen that I realized that there was probably a high there too, and there do seem to be “H”s on either side of the word above it… and a “G”… and an “I” (I think, I was trying to double check but my iPad has significantly worse image quality than my computer).

As for the temperature, I tried my best but the numbers are probably inaccurate. They are very blurry.

Last but not least, here are a few of my smaller notes.

I’m a big fan of the Moogle stamp, but I could not tell you what the first word on that thing is. The second is “news”, clear as day but the first word doesn’t have any characters I recognize other than the “S”. I tried coming up with possibilities through context but I’m drawing a blank.

I also love the little Potion and Elixir advertisement in the bottom corner. Like, I’m so charmed by the art for it. That being said though, I also have no clue what the text next to this one says. I’m sure it’s an onomatopoeia of some sort but once again my brain wasn’t working with me.

If you guys have any ideas please let me know. I always love to have discussions and help.

(Also I know I left a whole text box out… I honestly have nothing to say about that. Not enough characters I recognize to decipher anything at this point)

#AHHHHHHHH I’M LOOSING MY MIND IM SO EXCITED FOR ML #Like this ramble is just a small taste of where my brain has been all day #so many thoughts not enough time to write them all #kh #kingdom hearts #khml spoilers #khml #sometimes i think about ml

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legionofpotatoes · 1 year ago

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All other criticisms of modern Star Wars aside, the thing that gets me the most is how every single story is being written to fit into some Avengers-level grand finale that just isn't laying a solid enough foundation to make it worth the wait. Regardless of whether the individual stories are good or bad, what makes them fall so short, imo, is that there's usually no real payoff within their own runtimes (unless you count cheap callbacks or loose promises of More, which you shouldn't)

Like, I already knew halfway through Ahsoka that we were in for a cliffhanger and it's just like...alright, guess we'll see how this ends in about 5 years? Even Mando, which had a great first season and was poised to stand on its own two feet and ride off on a rootin' tootin' bounty huntin' adventure, has ultimately become yet another dusty path on the road to the current Big Plot with an indeterminate due date. That's not deliciously addictive media, it's a dry-ass carrot on a spindly little stick, lol

Of course, this is a problem that many franchises are happily getting cozy with lately because everybody wants to have their own Infinity War / Endgame moment, but I guess it seems a bit more egregious with Star Wars because, ironically, it used to work best because it had less overall focus. Like, sure, we had concurrent movies, animated series, and games, but they were always happy to do their own things and tell their own stories with definitive conclusions. Now it all has to funnel into the Big New Plot and, man, I honestly just can't bring myself to care when it feels like an endless waiting game

I definitely need to get around to watching Visions at some point because, every time it pops up, it sounds like the lifeblood that Star Wars sorely needs atm

Yeah the setup-and-payoff a-to-b type dramatic clarity that seemed so entrenched into the very bones of cinematic grammar - up to around the emergence of streaming, wink wink nudge nudge - is sorely missed in star wars atm. sure maybe downsized writers rooms fidgeting with limited series formats instead of doing actual seasonal TV has something to do with it, but even that is probably such a small piece of the larger issue that spins all this longform storytelling bullshit ferry wheel around.

Another part is certainly chasing the MCU business model of it all like you said. Carrot on a stick is verbatim how I've often described these things myself, the endless promise of another promise of another promise instead of forming a complete thought with a beginning and an end. servicing the plot before story at all costs. another part still is reverence towards the aesthetic trappings of the source material instead of its themes, trying to nail the exact texture of tatooine's huts and dial in the perfect balance of lightsaber choreography and pay homage to a thousand iconic shots before articulating something true in the text.

And like it's an endless laundry list, this confluence of capital-I Issues both industry-scale and creatively-driven that seem to be flaying the skin off the bones of whatever star wars even "is" nowadays. no one can answer that in the context of billions of dollars made off toys and storylines centering around this one moment in fictional history about sons and fathers and empires and rebellions. so they just keep twisting in the wind filling in any gaps within that period. I don't know nonnie, it's all so bleak. ahsoka and obi wan and even mando tbh. as charming as season 1 was, it truly felt like it coasted on its incredible restraint to avoid muddying its aesthetic with cameos, and lucked into effective storytelling as a result of that utterly unintentional alchemy. that's obviously well and truly gone now as its true optics have reared head.

what star wars is by itself is such a pointless discussion, right? andor argues it's a perfectly functional heightened universe that can support incredibly nuanced and dramatically charged stories of grassroots rebellion and the bureaucratic strain of fascist regimes. visions argues it's a world beholden to the force, an endlessly mutable and elegant metaphor that can support infinite monomyths and fairy tales. both are equally fantastic at executing on their takes, despite being in diametrically opposite extremes of interpreting the source. so it's not really about that at all, why the other stuff sucks this bad.

they're just bad at the craft of it, that's really it. whether it's auteur worship or business decisions rotting that fish down, it still rots all the same. maybe the new writers' guild contracts can shift the winds a little, because I was so securely done with star wars and then the aforementioned 2 shows came and affected me. so, so profoundly that I'm back on the hook again. like a lil sucker!

#long post #anon #asks #boy howdy forgive me mister baby yoda for I have engaged in star wars discourse again #this will definitely not backfire on me as it never before has.

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sing-it-togetherzine · 4 months ago

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F.A.Q*

I never participated in a zine before, what exactly are you expecting a “finished piece” to look like?

For artists, it depends on the artist and their style. For some it may mean fully rendered figures and backgrounds. For others it may mean a simpler background and colors. Everyone is going to have a different definition of “finished”. You want it to be presentable and nice to look at, not something you threw together without much thought. Try to think of what movie posters might look like, or phone/desktop wallpapers.

For authors, your story should have been edited at least once for spelling and grammar errors. Your story should be self-contained, a.k.a. a one-shot, with a beginning, middle, and resolution. There will be beta-readers available in a specific channel on discord, so if you need help and don’t want to ask anyone directly, you could always shoot a message there and someone will know to help.

Overall, it doesn’t hurt to apply! If you’re not sure what your “best example” work is, you can include a link to your blog/online portfolio (wherever you post art) and we’ll take a look.

Relationships aren’t always happy, can my piece be something besides fluff?

Within the limits of the PG rating, your piece can be happy/fluff, hurt-comfort, or angsty. Things that are generally not allowed for PG ratings include heavy violence/gore, heavy adult language, and explicit bedroom themes. Do you want to make us cry for Grandma Rosiepuff all over again? Bring it on.

What if I want to change my idea partway through the creation period?

If you get partway through your piece and decide on changing it to something totally new, please notify the mods first. Given that there are 3 months to work on your piece this will likely be allowed but you will have less time to finish it. To avoid this, we recommend really thinking over your idea early on, and if problems do arise you can use the #wip-feedback channel to get help.

Can I change from writing to art or art to writing after the creation period started?

Unfortunately, once you are accepted as either an author or artist, you are locked into that position. If you are someone who likes to make both art and fanfic, please take your time in deciding what you would like to focus on for the zine and apply at a later date. Applications are open until August 31st.

When I submit my art piece, how can I make sure quality stays the same?

To start, it helps to format your canvas to 2400px by 2400px or 8in by 8in and 300dpi. This will be the final size and resolution of each page of the zine. If you start with a smaller canvas and lower resolution the image will be blown up/stretched to the correct size and will likely loose clarity. When finished and ready to submit final files, you can simply save to Google Drive and share the link with the appropriate mod.

Can I sign/watermark my art before I submit?

Yes, you are welcome to sign your artwork anyway you normally do (if you do). However all creators will be listed on a credits page with their name and page(s) of their work, so you don’t have to worry about unsigned artwork not being credited. If you do decide to sign your artwork, we simply ask that you do so in a way that doesn’t interfere with the overall presentation. For example, a signature that is too big, a signature that blocks an excessive amount of details, or a watermark pattern that makes the image difficult to understand.

Do I have to use my real name for the credits page? What if I just want to use my online handle?

We will never ask for sensitive information, and that may mean the real or full name for some people. All we ask is some way to credit you. This can be your first name only, a nickname, or an online handle from any of your accounts (i.e. Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter/X, etc.). We will also include the primary account name/address for any creator who wishes to include one. For example, a piece could be credited like: Jane Doe, Jane, JD, Jbug, jbug @ tumblr, or any other combination. This goes the same for fanfic authors, although you will also be credited under the title of your fic.

Are alternate universe settings (AUs) allowed?

Alternate universes are absolutely allowed! However we do ask our creators to be mindful of how much the average viewer may know about them and work accordingly. For example, an au that needs a lot of explanation and previous knowledge may be a bit confusing, but more simple or self-explanatory aus (like human-aus or role-swap aus) should be fine.

Are original characters (OCs) allowed?

We ask that creators focus on canon characters in their piece, but ocs are allowed to be included. OCs are welcome as side characters, as in a fanfic, or in backgrounds of artworks for example. This is to avoid confusion for anyone who may view the zine but isn’t familiar with the multitude of fan-created characters.

*This list will be updated as necessary

#faq #requently asked questions #faq post

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campbyler · 6 months ago

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:( you guys are so passive aggressive sometimes :( some of us are new here and i was excited about the parent trap vibes but then you shot down that other user and i was scared to ask about any other references. i've checked your archive and scrolled a fair way to get the jist but theres lotssss of content on your blog so i couldnt check all of it to see what has or hasnt been mentioned and not all is addressed in the faq cos its such a huge world youve built for the this fic. maybe the fic length is overwhelming and audience response prickly sometimes, but if you do an ongoing fic like this you surely have to expect newcomers who don't know everything about what's happened in the past? if folk ask questions that appear rude you dont have to be rude back. i mean, ofc you can, but why would you want to be those people :(

honestly and truly we just match the vibes of the ask for the most part. i am autistic so i already struggle with tone and interpreting tone over text is hard enough without that. we are also both pretty sensitive people so if we perceive that someone is poking fun or being mean we will get defensive. we are human! it happens! i’d say for the most part we try to answer asks kindly, and we consistently get and answer asks where the answer is easily found in our faq or our pinned post without much complaint. but please understand that it is just as big of an undertaking writing this fic and running this blog as it is to go through all the content we’ve posted, and we get dozens of asks that you do not see — asks that are rude and entitled and disrespectful. i value kindness, but if i think that someone i Do Not Know is being mean or disrespectful, i am not going to respond with kindness, and like i said, it is extremely difficult to pick apart tone in text format. i appreciate you bringing it to our attention, and our intention is to never be mean or scare you away from asking a question, but i hope this offered some clarity on our end as well!

#asks #perhaps tone indicators would be useful #and maybe an updated faq idk #eta we have also been doing this for a year now so i do think we are a little jaded lol

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staybabblingbaby · 7 months ago

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SKZ x Coordi (Intro Part) a1 d3

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: Reader is a successful makeup artist with a notorious and prolific career and no self awareness. Reader joins JYP as a part of Stray Kids' team and encounters their hazing ritual for new coordis: flirting.

Word Count: 1,178 Notes: This spawned because of my conviction that I could never get my makeup done by a professional bc I would fall in love. Getting your makeup done by someone else just feels very intimate to me (ik its not, ok, I'm just touch starved T^T). It's sort of lending itself to long one-shot style formatting, but for tumblr purposes I'm posting it in parts. Also, I think I accidentally avoided pronouns for Reader? Not sure how but I didn't see any when I was reviewing this part. Will update as I post (idk how to add emojis, just imagine a thumbs up here pls TT^TT). Needs to be edited for clarity. Warnings: None that I know of? Reader has weird self esteem but it's not bad?

Masterlist Link :D | Next Part Link <3

You're fairly sure, by the time your sunbae finishes showing you around and giving you the low-down on your new duties, that you'd gotten this job over other make-up artists because you were the safe choice. You suppose it's not an awful thing to be thought of as safe and professional. You can’t help feeling stung anyways.

You'd come to this conclusion after your sunbae, while showing you a few of the dressing rooms in the company building you'd be working in, casually drops, "oh, yeah, if you end up having relations with one of the idols, just make sure the media and management don't find out. No one else will rat you out." mid-tour.

You'd had to stop and give your sunbae the most confused and alarmed look you could manage, and when she'd seen she'd immediately laughed and made the face back at you. That made you crack, and the two of you ended up giggling together for a minute. Once you'd calmed down, she elaborated.

"It's a bit of an open secret that the unattached idols will sleep with a willing coordi every now and then," she explained "As long as management doesn't find out, and the media is entirely clueless, it's pretty much useless to try and stop it." You’d nodded along, fascinated by how similar celebrities were around the world. Sure, the cultures surrounding them were different, but there was almost always a similar sort of system when you were contracted long-term somewhere.

"Staff are pretty safe options for them, at least here at JYP.” Your sunbae had continued, “They vet our staff and stylists really well." You’d nodded again. The background check had been intensive and you’d had to sign a lot of release forms about it. It was one of the things you’d liked most about this opportunity, actually.

"Your group in particular have probably fucked at least 2 dozen coordis between them." You’d choked on air and turned to her incredulously again. What was with her and dropping bombs like this on you? It was your first day! She’d just laughed and rolled her eyes at you. "Why are you so scandalized? There's 8 of them." She reasoned, "That's, like, 3 flings a piece. Not that many." You’d conceded her point with a tilt of your head. You're sure the actual numbers aren't so even, but she had made an excellent point regardless.

"I guess that makes sense," You’d mused, "I mean, they're grown men, right? Their hands must get awful tired." That startled a laugh out of your sunbae and you’d grinned at her before you continued. "But, sunbaenim, you won't have to worry about that from me." You’d stated confidently. She’d shot you a questioning look, so you’d continued, “They’re both my clients and my coworkers under my contract. Two types of people I categorically refuse to sleep with.”

She’d laughed again, simply saying “That’s probably for the best.” and moving on with your tour. You’d let yourself be distracted by memorizing everything she was telling you and promptly forgot all about your scandalous conversation.

Despite moving on, a seed of doubt had been planted in you. You couldn’t help but think back to one of the odder questions you’d been asked when you were interviewing for this position. As an independent make-up artist you’d had to negotiate everything yourself, and at the time you’d assumed it to simply be part of their vetting process.

“What are your views on workplace relationships?” They’d asked. At the time you’d simply said you strived for friendship with both your clients and coworkers, but that you preferred professionalism over all else. Which was true, obviously, but after that conversation with your sunbae you couldn’t help but add a new context to the question.

That doubtful seed sprouted at the end of your tour, when your sunbae gave you another warning.

“Don’t mind the boys, by the way,” She’d said out of nowhere. “They’re playful, all of them, but they’ll respect a boundary to the death the moment you set it.” Once again you’d had to look at her, hopelessly confused, and you’d become pretty sure at that point that she just liked getting a reaction out of you because she snorted a laugh at whatever face you’d made and explained herself.

“I mean that they can be pretty loud and playful with both each other and staff. That includes being flirty and touchy.” she said, “I think it comes with the territory of being an idol. All that fanservice must do something to them.” She laughed, and you’d smiled along, still somewhat confused of the warning.

She must have noticed, because she elaborated further, “It can be flustering for new stylists.” She explained, and you finally started to understand, “A lot of the time it’s the first time a new stylist has been so close to an idol, you know? You have to prepare for it, like, mentally.” She made a weird gesture toward her head and you’d giggled at her antics but shook your head.

“I’ve seen so many beautiful people at this point in my life that I'm pretty sure I'm immune.” you’d declared with a chuckle. You weren’t lying either, you’d seen so many examples of so many different culture’s beauty standards you could probably write a book on it.

You’d sort of made it your career’s goal to learn as many different styles and skin and face types as you possibly could. You’d done pretty well by that goal so far, doing everything from tiny private boudoir shoots to high profile fashion shows, just about anywhere you could get to, from Cairo in Egypt, to Hollywood in California, to tiny barely-named towns all over Europe.

“Idols are different!” Your sunbae insisted, “There are hot people everywhere, but idols are built different. They’re manufactured to be desirable.”

“So are models,” you’d dismissed with a wave, “Honestly, sunbaenim, I’ll be fine. If anything, it’s the idols you should worry for.” you’d given her a saucy wink and she’d howled with laughter and clapped in delight. You’d giggled right along with her, and when you’d both calmed again, you continued. “No, but really, I’ve been told I can be quite intense when I’m focused, so maybe you should be warning the group instead.”

She’d waved you off, saying “It’ll do them some good to be humbled by someone they have no chance with.” with a devious giggle. And that had been that. The click of a conclusion sliding into place in your mind had sounded and you’d become certain that you’d been the safest of the candidates who’d applied.

It hurt, just a bit, because you’re used to being selected for your experience and ability to mimic and blend styles, not for your personal beliefs. You stave off the hurt by reminding yourself that reputation matters in this industry. If they hired you because you value your professionalism, then you’d show them exactly how professional you could be! You’d wrapped up your tour with mixed feelings and lots of determination.

#Baby Writes #Coordi AU #skz fanfic #skz fic #Stray kids fanfic #skz x reader #stray kids x reader #w.i.p fic #w.i.p

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colderdrafts · 2 years ago

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1: In the darkness

Underground visitor, gn reader x monster (male drider). Sfw. Next

It is not unusual to hear odd noises in the forest during dark nights.

Neither is it unusual to see shapes moving about in the silhouettes of the trees – your eyes adjusting, the shadow of a squirrel, the dark canopy above rustling in the cold wind. You’ve traversed this area before, yet not at this time, and the contrast is striking. Otherly.

After all, a dark forest is just that, something otherly to a daywalker such as yourself. People get lost in these forests, they say. Sometimes they don’t come back.

Superstitions and rumors, of course. The first thing you were warned of since moving to this area was its vast collection of make-believe.

The matted ground beneath your feet is full of shapes that you can’t make out, all blending together as your eyes desperately try to make sense of everything suddenly being colorless. If ‘dark’ can be classified as a color.

You jump in surprise when something snaps to your right, and you look only to find nothing. The branches of the trees are one blurry silhouette, and whatever is hiding in their shapes remain unknown to you.

You keep walking.

The path is muddied and slippery, a gentle rain caressing your face when a stray droplet finds its way under the hood of your jacket. Gentle you remind yourself, the rain is not here to hurt you or purposely slow you down. As many other things in this forest tonight, it’s simply there, with you.

You find your path home divides in two, and suddenly you have to make a choice – however you do not remember that your path home used to have such a choice. Have you taken a wrong turn somewhere?

You glance around the dark colors that dance around your vision, denying you clarity. Are you lost?

Left or right?

Or turn back?

You turn around, trying to trace back your steps, but the darkness closes around you and you don’t know where you are anymore.

The rain hits heavier now, your path still unclear. A rumbling in the sky above serves as a warning of something to come. You pull out your phone, trying to spare it as much of the pouring water as possible as you swipe to find a flashlight and navigation app, wet fingers uselessly sliding across the screen.

Finally, a small white light pierces the dark from your phone, but still offers no answers of your whereabouts as the navigation app seems to have trouble locating your position.

You keep walking. There must be a way out somewhere.

You can feel your pulse increasing now, you're straining to keep a steady pace and simultaneously keeping on your feet in the slippery path below. The rumblings in the sky above turns to glinting, the rain starts drumming heavier, and you’re slowly realizing this is a losing battle. The dark is total now, and, despite your phone providing a meager shine, you can barely see a hand in front of you, let alone the path you’re on. It’s dizzying, suffocating, and you fumble ahead blindly.

Your hand finds the bark of a tree. You rest your palm against it momentarily, grounding yourself. The world is still here.

Lightning strikes across the sky, and you yelp in surprise, the purplish tint momentarily blinding you and lighting up everything around you. The phone slips from your wet hands and vanishes somewhere in the underbrush.

In the fleeting moments of clear vision, you spot something new. Were those tall rocky formations there before? You must have gotten further off track than you thought.

You curse, leaning down to try and feel around for your phone - your hands brush against the branches of a bush, and the light is gone. It's no use. You can't find it.

You feel around and find another tree to steady yourself on, and head toward where you saw the rocks. If you can find some sort of alcove in between the wall of stone you might just be able to find a secure spot to wait out the storm. Your phone can wait until this passes. Hope reignited, you steady on, careful not to slip.

You palm soon finds the smooth surface of a boulder, and you start to feel around for some sort of opening.

Surely enough, a surprisingly large entrance deeper into the rock formation presents itself only moments later, and you sigh in relief, hauling yourself inside and out of the onslaught of rain.

You still can’t see a thing, but you shake off the worst of the water and stand there for a bit. There's an earthy scent hanging in the air, hinting at whatever entrance you've found goes deeper yet. You decide not to venture further for now, staring out in the murky darkness outside.

A few minutes pass. The rain thunders across the forest, and another blast of lightning divides the skies in blinding flash. You catch your breath, thankful for the small reprieve the rocky shelter has provided you.

But the noise deafens everything else, and you notice far too late that you’re not alone when you sense movement above you.

Something drops down in front of you and a rough push sends you to the floor.

“Not on my watch,” a harsh growling voice sounds, and you feel something heavy forcing you into the ground.

You immediately start struggling, luckily having landed on your back you kick up blindly into the air. You manage to hit whoever is bearing down on you, and they recoil with a hiss and you swear you hear something scuttling. There’s movement all around you, one, to, three, four – you lose count at the rapid sounds of clacking footsteps. You fumble around, palm closing around a stray rock and you hurl it at whatever is above you in a panic. It collides with a sharp clink, and something above you chitters angrily.

In the confusion you manage to turn over on your stomach, and get to your feet. You don’t waste a second before you start sprinting back out into the storm in favor of whatever you just encountered back in that cave.

The now howling winds are accompanied by the sound of rapid footsteps. You pray it’s the heavy rainfall playing a trick on your senses, though you’re severely disappointed mere seconds later as something narrowly strikes past the side of your head, and you know for sure that the thing has given chase.

You turn, and you’re sprinting blindly through the underbrush in an effort to shake them off.

“You think I’d let you get away with this?!” your pursuer roars through the storm, booming voice full of rage. “Get back here.”

You're not inclined to follow that order and grit your teeth, keeping up the pace.

Things change however, as you sense the hunter suddenly leave the ground behind you, and you hear its movement instead above you, using the trees to move about. You try and look up though the canopy conceals most of it. You do however catch a glimpse of an unusually large amount of long limbs moving about in the dark.

You stop dead in your tracks as it suddenly drops from above to land right in front of you, the large figure forcing you to make another turn to avoid getting snatched.

It returns to the canopy above.

Something crashes against the bark of a tree to your right, and you rapidly spin left.

It drops yet again, making you turn on your heels and dash the opposite direction.

After two more forced turns, you realize it’s not just hunting you anymore.

It’s herding you.

You don’t have time to think about where, because suddenly you fall face first into something soft and sticky, and immediately your limbs are immobilized. You flail around, but you only manage to entangle yourself further.

You let out a pitiful whine as the horror of the situation settles within you.

You're stuck.

The rain falls heavy, and for a moment you can only hear your own haggard breathing, adrenaline coursing through your body. The there’s another dull thud, and the sound of multiple footsteps coming closer. Right in front of you is a silhouette of something big coming out from the darkness. Multiple limbs protrudes from a crude lower body like that of a giant spider, though instead of a head you can just barely make out the shape of a humanoid torso.

You stare from under your hood, mouth agape.

This is a nightmare. It has to be.

“Got you,” it snarls, stepping closer.

You struggle against your bindings, realizing now that it must be web, and that you have been herded right into a trap.

It watches you for a moment. “Don’t bother, filthy thief. You’re not going anywhere.”

Thief? You ponder, daring to glance up. One of its limbs heaves into the air, as if preparing to strike.

“W-wait!” you call out, squirming. “I didn’t -”

The limb halt slightly.

“It talks? First time I’ve heard that. Well good,” it steps closer, far too close, and leans down. A hand roughly grabs around your throat. You feel it glaring holes into the top of your head. “Maybe then the thief can tell me where it's hiding my eggs?”

“Eggs.?” you gag, straining. You feel tears prickling in the corner of your eyes. “I don’t – what eggs? Please-”

The hand around your neck tightens, efficiently cutting off your air flow. “Do not play games with me, you little - hm.”

There’s a pause where the grip suddenly lessens. You greedily heave in a shuddering breath and cough.

It shifts, crude legs stepping around you as it settles further down at your eye level, and another hand comes up against your neck, causing you to whimper. You feel its thumbs brushing against your throat.

“Warm.. no scales,” it ponders quietly. You shudder as you feel one of its hands slowly taking the hood of your jacket and lifting it back, revealing your face.

You can make out two sets of eyes gleaming in the dark, taking in your appearance. The other hand somewhat gently grabs your chin and moves you face side to side, as its eyes widen in surprise.

“A sentry?” it – he? blurts, hands immediately recoiling. “Blue moons – I am so, so sorry!”

His entire demeanor changes. He keeps low to the ground, legs folded back and humanoid arms awkwardly fidgeting in front of him.

“Silhouettes are so similar, trespassing my abode during a storm – I thought for sure-” he frantically waves his arms as he speaks, and then settles for crossing them as if he’s unsure where to put them.

You cough, just blearily staring at him while struggling to find words for a few seconds.

“I’m – what?” you stumble, relieved he apparently isn’t set on murdering you anymore, but this stark contrast to the vengeful predator you saw merely seconds ago has effectively thrown you off any sort of loop you could get on.

He starts pacing a bit, nervous. “Four limbs, nimble running styles, covered in fabric from head to toe-” he lists off, as if that should explain anything.

Lightning cracks the sky once again, and you get a glimpse of the being in front of you – the uncanny mixture where his humanoid torso meets the spider lower body is baffling your mind. Something about how he’s put together screams of something wrong, the chittering lower body somehow incomplete and yet completed by the torso above it. It doesn't make sense.

It shouldn’t be possible, yet here it is.

And currently he’s pacing back and forth on spindly legs as if he has a bunch of pent up energy he doesn't know where to utilize. “Chased down and trapped a sentry. Of all the asinine things-!”

You stare at him for a while as he berates himself. He rubs his face in frustration and finally returns his attention to you. He takes a deep breath, and when the spider leans down close again you recoil per reflex.

“Are you alright?” he asks, genuine concern in his voice.

“Let – let me go? Please?” you manage, straining against the webbing to put some distance between you and him.

He blinks. “Oh! Right, yes, of course! Hold still.”

It takes all of your mental fortitude not to scream when the legs of his lower body suddenly get way too close for comfort as he gets to work undoing your bindings, pedipalps keeping you balanced while the upper legs works to easily cut through the webbing, releasing you. He carefully lifts you out of the trap, and sets you on the ground before respectfully moving a few steps back.

You feel like a deer in headlights staring at this thing straight out of a nightmare just awkwardly standing in the pouring rain. Adrenaline is still kicking through your system. Thunder rumbles above.

You weigh your options. Is now a good time to run for it?

When he speaks again you flinch. “You must believe me, if I’d known I would never have – I’m sorry if I frightened you.”

If?

You genuinely thought you were going to die. He was mere seconds from gutting you like a fish. You just keep staring at him.

He fidgets uncomfortably. “I did, didn’t I?”

You don’t know what to say, so you just nod an affirmative.

He cringes, and distracts himself by observing the harsh surroundings, hands in front of his face presumably to keep hair out of it from the wind. “Storm will get worse. If you promise me you’ll assure your custodian I mean no quarrel, I can offer you a safe place to stay dry in my abode if you want?” he looks back at you. “As a way of apologizing.”

You blink. What the hell does that mean? Is he serious? After all that?

“Unless they’re somewhere nearby and you have somewhere else to go,” he continues. “But – seeing as you probably came looking for shelter in the first place, I’ll allow myself to assume that you don’t.”

This can't be real. This might just be a fever dream before death. You're still not sure a tree hasn't just fallen on you and you're currently bleeding out in a ditch somewhere.

“I don’t know where I am,” you croak. “I don’t – how did I get here?”

The spider gives you a somewhat pitying look, and slowly turns to the side. The way his legs move is oddly fascinating. “The middle of a storm is not a good place to find that out. Will you come along? I’ll help you answer that if I can.”

You don’t trust any of that for a second. Notwithstanding he could have killed you, you probably shouldn’t go with a complete stranger in any case at all, nightmarish creature or not.

You look at him wary. He’s started fidgeting a bit again, patiently waiting for your decision. He crouched a bit down, like he’s trying to make himself appear smaller. Nonthreatening.

It's not very efficient.

Though if he’d wanted you dead, you would be. You’re lacking options, you’re drenched to the bone and while the darkness is no longer as suffocating as before, you still have a hard time making out anything. Not to mention the storm getting stronger, for what you know, something even more sinister than the thing currently in front of you could be hiding out in the gloom, and you’d have no way to defend yourself.

This is a terrible idea.

But do you really have anything else you can do?

“I don’t trust you,” you say, and his form slightly falters. “But – you’re right. I’ll.. come along.”

It’s hard to tell in the dark, but his eyes somewhat widen and then scrunch up a bit. You think he’s smiling.

#colderwriting #monster x reader #drider #gn reader #monster lover #monster boyfriend #phew #gotta get them spiders out of my system #exophilia #drider x you #monster x you #i've had this one on the backburner for a while #it's nice to jump between stories from time to time

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not-the-citadel-official · 4 months ago

Text

okay, so, we're trying out a new format with this one. instead of screenshots, i'm going to copy paste the messages, for ease of reading.

this one is pretty important to the ongoing plots of @msc137, @presidentpawn, and @primessrick, so i really would recommend reading it! i'm sure a fair amount of this is going to show up later, here on tumblr.

#group-chat

Skittle: said this in #group-chat-2, but i dont think ryan saw it,

there are some people that really muddle the clarity of the whole "anti primess" movement

Primess: Yes thank you for your input Not-Grandson. Don't you have a bar to drink through?

Skittle: yeah im really slacking off on my duties.

Primess: As long as you are aware.

Whatever Effie sees in your pathetic presence we shall never know.

Skittle: i dont know either tbh

Primess: And you still always seek new ways to disappoint her?

Skittle: seems like it. its just a matter of time at this point really

Pawn (in response to Primess): Do you ever shut up? Do you truly lack the capability to acknowledge when nobody wants to hear from you? Are you so desperate for attention that you bring back everything you've already done in order to live out your former "glory" ?

Pawn: You're disgusting. If the only low hanging fruit you can find is scraps from past encounters, you have long since deserved to starve.

Skittle: oh. woah.

Primess: Careful, little Pawn. Your amusement will run its course, and unlike little 'Skittle', who we still find entertaining and will continue surviving our tender mercies. You will find out how unfortunate our games can be to those toys we wish to throw away.

Pawn: I don't play for your amusement. I don't fear you, nor have I been given a true reason to. You are nothing but a parasite, you leech off whatever you can get your hands on and pretend you're the monster. You may be powerful, but that doesn't make up for your weakness in every other place.

Pawn: What you do is none of my business, but it's becoming sad to watch. You're desperate for pieces of past experiments, and they are long past finished. Pretend to be important as long as it makes you feel better, but know your act is transparent.

Skittle: im. i. i think i need a minute. ill be right back.

Primess: ... It is truly quite an accomplishment to render us speechless... But how else are we meant to react when we see a fool attempt to fistfight the Sun. Your pathetic attempts to psychoanalyse us fail as you try to attribute what we do to human natures, little mortal you can not even begin to understand our mind; thinking so otherwise makes you even more adorably naive than every other Morty we see.

Primess: But please. If it makes your pathetic life have some meaning, leap into the maw, try and flail. It only serves to remind us how weak and lowly you truly are.

Pawn: You'll have that connection to humanity forever, whether you like it or not. You may be inhuman, but you started as a Rick, and that will forever your baseline. When stripped of what makes you 'special', you go back to being somebody who can only thrive off of seeing somebody do worse than you. I would say it's sad to watch if anybody cared enough to do so.

Pawn: You're not above as much as you think you are, and the day it happens, I hope to watch you fall much like Icarus. You are beyond your depth, in every way.

Primess: For a moment she watches Pawn in silence. Until a cruel laugh erupts from her throat.

How utterly adorable you are—adorable and insignificant. Be grateful for it. It is the only thing keeping that loveless little fluttery thing in your chest, actually in your chest. For now atleast.

As for your hopes, by all means, pray to non-existent gods and hope to the universe that abandoned you long ago for all you wish. But the way we see it, your dreams are as pointless as you are.

Pawn: My heart keeps beating because I make it so. If you had any say over that, I would bother to watch my tongue around you. I don't respect you, nor do I fear you. Your opinion of me matters less than it does any man I'd see on the side of the road, you're no more than a vulture to me.

Pawn: You aren't to be feared, and you do nothing but act as a fool when you pretend to be as much. You are vermin, the dirt on the cosmic heel.

#mortys-1

Skittle: um, hey. pawn, uh. thanks.

Pawn: Don't thank me.

Pawn: It's not necessary.

Skittle: ...

Skittle: i think it is

Pawn: It's really not.

Pawn: If it... helps, you're welcome.

Skittle: :)

Skittle: i mean. it is necessary. im sure you know how shitty ive been feeling lately. it was, well, it felt really nice for someone to say something to her when she started to dig into me.

Pawn: It's not just you. She needs to be taught what her place is.

Skittle: i know

Pawn: What she pretends to be is far from where she actually stands, and she looks foolish picking on an already ill teenager.

Skittle: still

Pawn: I don't need to be thanked. Others should be standing up when you can't more often.

#group-chat

Primess: Her eyes blaze Oh, poor little toy. Perhaps we were too lenient. Your heart did beat because we allowed you to have it so... Such a pity it won't do so again. At her final word Pawn's heart stops, the agony in his chest is instant.

By our count, you have 20 seconds to beg for your life.

Skittle: shitshitshit pawn it isnt worth it please apologize to her

Primess: By all means little fool die upon the floor then. Perhaps others will learn to hold their tongue

Primess (in reply to Skittle): Once again you get other people hurt Not-Grandson

Skittle: please please dont kill him

Skittle: please

Primess: Tsk tsk. We thought you said so long ago you wouldn't do any deals with us again

Primess: Either we get a deal, an apology or a corpse

Skittle: im fucking weak, okay? im not gonna let you kill him. what do you want from me?

Primess: Another favour, another game when we choose. Don't worry it won't be the same as last time.

Pawn: The pain that flooded his system instantly made Pawn clutch his chest, eye squeezing shut. He tried to wave off Morty, biting down on his lip to prevent crying out in pain, near keeling over. 20 seconds was up too quickly, the boy collapsing on the ground.

Skittle: and no one gets physically hurt?

Skittle: fuck

Skittle: deal

Skittle: i cant make demands right now just please dont kill him

Primess: Do you really think you deserve that kindness this time?

Skittle: fine whatever just please

Primess: Good choice. At the snap of her fingers Pawn's heart starts beating again... not a moment too soon

Pawn: When brought back, Pawn's body twitched, heavy gasping and coughing bringing him back to awareness. For a moment, he sat still on the floor, eye widened as he stared down at himself on the floor. Without speaking, he stood and used his gun to send himself somewhere else. Anywhere but there.

Primess: ... Skittle

Skittle: ...hi.

Primess: He does that ever again, we will rip his heart out of his chest and feed the bloodied mess to him. Make sure he knows it.

Skittle: okay

#mortys-1

Skittle: god fucking damn it

Skittle: no one ever give a shit about me again. please

Skittle (linking to #group-chat-1): this is what happens when you do

Skittle: fuck

False Morty: im pretty sure that happened because it was a long time coming

False Morty: shouldve let him die

Skittle: he went out of his way to defend me to her and she almost fucking killed him.

Skittle: fuck you

False Morty: im just saying! this is not the first fight hes caused

Skittle: but its the first fight hes caused on my behalf

False Morty: the guy practically looks for a fight whenever he can get it

Skittle: and this is the fight that almost killed him

Skittle: the one where he was defending me

#group-chat-1

Adult!Showrunner Morty: * walks in holding a smoke wearing a cover all, looks at this shit * ...oh * leaves *

-----

what an eventful morning! let me know what you think of the format!

kisses, @thoughts-and-gayers!

#ntc official #rick and morty #rp blog #mortys only chat #group chat #canon post #morty c137 #primess #president pawn

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