#WE'D NEVER BE ABLE TO LIVE IN A HOUSE LIKE THAT IN A MILLION YEARS AND YOU ARE JUST GIVING IT THE FUCK UP???????

[nexus-nebulae]

i am fucking angry one of my family member's old houses is being sold and we're helping fix it up and everything and. i am desperately trying to get my mother to take the house instead because we need a fucking house and my mom keeps fucking refusing because it has "too much space"

mother we live in a tiny three-room box in the fucking basement how the genuine fuck are you fucking COMPLAINING about having a FUCKING REAL HOUSE that has TOO MUCH SPACE???????? TOO MUCH?????? WE DON'T HAVE FUCKING ANY

[captainsophiestark]

The Hard Call

Azriel x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Requeted by Anon! Nonnie, thank you for enabling me to write about Az and Flynn, I absolutely love you for it ❤️ Feel free to drop by any time you want to talk anything SJM-related! Hope you like this, and good news, I have a Flynn fic coming in the next couple days too!

Fandom: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Summary: Azriel made the hard call when he had to, but he's feeling pretty guilty about it.

Word Count: 1,610

Category: Angst, Fluff

WARNING: House of Flame and Shadow spoilers below the cut!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I swore under my breath as Nesta jammed Ataraxia into the back of the Daglan, the Asteri, whatever it was called. Black blood spurted out of its mouth, but a moment later, the thing—Vesperus—pushed back against the tip of the blade and removed it from her chest. It shouldn't have been possible for something to survive a direct hit like that from Nesta and that sword, but a lot of things from the past few days shouldn't have been possible.

When a fae female had landed in a heap on the River House lawn in front of my mate, I knew we were in for some strange new challenges. But never in a million years could I have predicted the journey she'd led us on through tunnels apparently running all under the Night Court, straight into the heart of the Prison. And now we were facing down one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, just me, Az, and Nesta, with the female Bryce as an unreliable additional ally.

I tightened my grip on my sword and tried to calm my racing heart as I stood shoulder to shoulder with Azriel. We'd gotten through countless life and death situations together before, but for the first time in a long time, I wasn't sure we'd be able to get out of this one.

Vesperus gave Nesta a horrifying smile as the wound in her chest quickly healed. I glanced to Az, but he kept his eyes locked on the monster before us.

"Ataraxia didn't work," Nesta breathed. "The Trove-"

"Do not summon the Trove," barked my mate. Based on what we knew about this thing before us, I immediately agreed. "Don't bring it near her."

"But-"

"Not even for our lives," he snarled, leaving no room for argument. The same harsh resolve solidified itself in my mind, and I braced myself for the possibility of a last stand. At least if we went down, it would be fighting side by side with my mate.

A flicker of shadows floating softly over my shoulders was the only indication that my mate felt the same. The Daglan grinned, and I got ready to pounce.

****************

Hours later, I sat slumped in my favorite chair in the Velaris townhouse, trying to recover from everything that had happened under the prison. We'd managed to kill the Daglan-Asteri, despite Bryce trying to question it, no matter the risk to our world. But she had gotten away in an impressive display of power, which meant her world's Asteri might have a chance at using her to find us.

Needless to say, when Az, Nesta, and I had made it out of the Prison, we'd had a lot to debrief about with the rest of the Inner Circle.

Nobody was happy about the situation we now found ourselves in, but for the time being, there was also nothing we could do about it. So once we made a basic plan to try to gather information and prepare in case something from that other world came back, we all split off for our separate tasks. Az still had a few things to go over with Rhys, but I was free for the time being, so I'd come to my favorite cozy spot in Velaris to try to come down from the insane adrenaline that had been pumping since Bryce got here.

One perk of Rhys and Feyre building the River House and Nesta keeping Cassian at the House of Wind more often was that the townhouse, my personal favorite location, was often free for Az and I to use as our own. I closed my eyes in my favorite armchair by the fire, still in my fighting leathers, and focused on taking deep breaths to try to get the tension out of my shoulders.

I'd actually almost managed to drift off to sleep when I heard the front door open and shut heavily. I didn't need to look to know Az had just arrived, so with a deep sigh to drag me back from the edge of sleep, I raised my head and turned to look at my mate.

"Everything figured out with Rhys?" I asked. He nodded once, moving into the room with a face like stone. I frowned, sitting up and paying a little better attention as he took a seat on the couch, his gorgeous hazel eyes never leaving mine. "What's wrong?"

A muscle in Az's jaw ticked, and I knew he was mustering a response to my words. Despite his reputation as the unreadable spymaster, all our time together as friends and then as mates had given me a leg up on everyone else who tried to read his expressions.

I stood from my seat in the armchair and moved to sit before Az on the couch instead, taking his hands in mine. His eyes searched my face, and I let a small smile work its way through the exhaustion, trying to put him at ease. He could take however long he needed to, and I'd be ready to listen when he wanted to talk.

"I'm... sorry."

I raised an eyebrow. "For what, exactly?"

That muscle in his jaw was working over time, the rest of his face the same inscrutable mask he'd worked so hard to perfect.

"For what happened in the Prison. For... being willing to let you die down there, rather than risk Nesta summoning the Trove. You deserve a better mate than that."

My jaw dropped, shock preventing me from responding for a few small moments. Az just kept staring at me, and even though his face didn't show it, I could feel the guilt eating him up at his core.

"Az, you have nothing to apologize for!" I finally managed. One of his eyebrows quirked up and he frowned, expressing doubt at my words without speaking one of his own. I huffed and squeezed his hands tighter.

"Listen to me, Azriel. The reason you are my mate is because you made that decision in the Prison. We both know that letting something like that into the world with a weapon like the Mask is an unacceptable option, as long as there is anything in this world we can do to prevent it. If the Daglan or the Asteri or whatever she was had gotten her hands on the mask, it probably would've cost the lives of everyone we've ever cared about, and the rest of this world along with it. Nothing is worth allowing that to happen."

Az ground his jaw, his gaze softening and his eyebrows furrowing as he continued to scan my face.

"Are you... sure? Cassian and Rhys... I think they'd tear the world to shreds for their mates."

I just shrugged. "For what? If the world is gone, if the cost of that choice is absolutely everything else, then what's the point of saving each other in the first place? We'd have nothing left, other than the blood of the world on our hands."

Az grunted, and I shifted closer to him, bringing one hand up to cup his cheek.

"Az. I love you, so much, and a part of that love is because you're not so selfish as to risk throwing the world away for me. Especially since, more likely than not, we'd be dead anyway not long after she got that mask. Neither of us is selfish enough to make a call like that, and I love that about us. The only thing that matters is that we stand together as long as we can, and I knew damn well in the cave that if either of us was going down, we were going down side by side, fighting to our last breath. Obviously I'm happy we both made it out of there, and I'm not saying we shouldn't fight for each other, but that call you made today? I'd be pissed if you'd made a different one."

Az studied me for another second, and I let him see every truth and emotion written in my face. Finally, he sighed, the tension going out of his shoulders as he reached out and pulled me closer to him, arms around my waist. I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and tangling my hands in his hair. We'd almost died today, and I wasn't about to take the fact that we were both still here together for granted.

"Have I mentioned lately how happy I am to have you as my mate?" Az asked, his voice a little gravelly as he leaned in closer to me. I smiled, leaning forward and letting my lips ghost over his own.

"Yeah, actually, you have. But I'll never complain about hearing it again."

Az smirked, then gently closed the last of that distance between us, his lips brushing softly against mine. I leaned into the kiss, eager for more contact, and I could feel Az's smirk widening right before I deepened the kiss. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me as tight to his body as possible, and I tangled my hands in his hair, letting myself get swept up in him.

I'd meant every word I'd said to my mate, about the choice he'd made and how I felt about it. But I was also incredibly happy it hadn't come down to the cost of our lives, and that we'd made it out of there together. And now that Official Night Court Business had been taken care of, I intended to fully celebrate and appreciate Azriel, and the fact that we were still here together. And I knew he intended to do the same.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

[queersatanic]

is that post about you wanting to discriminate against immigrants a meme? or????

It sounds like you're referring to this post, which you're right, is pretty jarring without the context of the bitter but serious joke being made there.

In the wake of the psychic trauma of the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton's electoral loss to Donald Trump, a librarian named Kristin Garvey came up with the following sign:

In this house, we believe: Black Lives Matter. Women’s rights are human rights. No human is illegal. Science is real. Love is love. Kindness is everything.

Basically saying, "Unlike those people who supported and support Trump, we are reasonable people who have basic human decency and right opinions," and presumably these people vote for the most progressive Democrat they can in every election.

But pretty quickly the sign was mocked and satirized by others, especially on the political Right. On the Left, though, this was often done by noticing how such people tended to also be wealthy white liberals who would suddenly grow very reactionary when an issue moved away from platitudes to something material like greater housing density near them, sending their own children to public schools, or non-carceral government responses to immigrants or visibly homeless people. Even the opening phrase "in this house" tells you that you're talking about a certain kind of person with a certain kind of wealth because to be able to plant a yard sign you both need a yard and have the authority to put something on it, which renters rarely have.

So let's go back to @papasmoke's post, riffing on that:

In this house we believe in Housing de-regulation A strong border wall Discriminatory immigration policies Infinite funding for the police Rhodesia 2's right to rape, murder, and conquer A maximally lethal military Loving who you love ❤️

This is a reference to the current state of the Democratic Party under presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and specifically her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024 (the day before papasmoke's post was made).

Now, we may be differing with @/papasmoke here in that "housing de-regulation" in the sense of ending shit like single-family zoning probably is actually a good thing. But the point we'd agree on is that Democrats aren't talking about using the federal government to step up dense, public housing projects like they did in the mid-20th century. It's just, "We're going to solve the problem!" as an applause line.

On the border, Harris is criticizing Trump for not being as strong on "border security" as she will be.

On police, since 2020, the Biden regime, and surely Harris as well, will continue to push for more federal resources for cops around the country. The spigot will be turned on for the publicly-funded thugs doing the attacks on unhoused people but not so much for the unhoused people.

In regards to "Rhodesia 2", of course we have Harris saying this about Israel:

And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself — (applause) — and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7 — (applause) — including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.

Not only is there continued material support to proceed continuously bombing Gaza for what will soon be a year, there is not even the rhetorical condemnation of Israel raping, murdering, and starving two million people, all in the name of greater living space and manifest destiny of a brutal apartheid state.

For the USA's own military, Harris says:

As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. 

However, Harris does say that at stake is "the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride," which is one of the main clubs Democrats use to tell queer people in particular that if you aren't OK supporting genocide, cops, and imperialism, then you are not a serious or practical person and you deserve whatever the next Trump regime does to you.

All of this was wildly popular to that room full of people, who also chanted "U-S-A" in response to people trying to just get a Palestinian speaker on stage to have their suffering recognized.

There's an old joke about how if you ask a socialist to describe their problems with capitalism, the socialist tells you a long list of problems with capitalism. But if you ask a capitalist the problems with socialism, they just describe the status quo under capitalism.

U.S. politics is like that with progressive voters in particular. If you were to accurately describe the Biden regime's current immigration/border policy or the enabling of Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing to a liberal in 2017-2020, they would tell you, "That's why the next election is so important to get a Democrat in office."

Then when you look at what Democrats do while in office, yeah, you can argue that it could be worse. But it could be a hell of a lot better, too, and the fundamental problem is there are tens of millions of liberals and partisan Democrats who only seem capable of imagining and working toward a better world when the opposing party is in power. Meanwhile these same people call life under their own rule the best of all possible worlds and see anyone conceiving and working toward something better than that to be actively sabotaging them.

So, that's a much longer explanation than you presumably were asking for, but that's what that post is criticizing specifically and why it's in that format, and it's also why people left of Ronald Reagan are so antagonistic toward partisan Democrats and their political class when we recognize that, yes, Donald Trump and the GOP are horrible and want horrible things for everyone they can put under their power.

[mayalaen]

I'm way too grouchy today.

I lost $900 today because my family STILL won't double check things.

When I first got covid, I was REALLY sick, and they knew it. My brain wasn't functioning right (still isn't but it's better than it was) and I wasn't double checking out-of-state orders for the shop personally for a couple weeks.

It had been a few months since they sent something out that was obviously paid for with a stolen credit card so I was like okay I'm gonna just step back and take care of myself and let them do their thing. It's a slow time of year anyway in the tattoo industry.

This morning Charlie (my uncle) dropped a letter from the bank off at my door. All four of us handle different things and Charlie does some of the banking stuff (among other things).

The letter was sent out weeks ago but he wasn't getting the mail even though he's supposed to get it no less than once a week.

The bank was notifying me that there was a chargeback on an order.

An $850 machine with expedited shipping, so $900 total.

I checked the order and the shipping address was 1500 miles away from the billing address. The phone number was 2500 miles away from the billing address and in a completely different state from the shipping address.

And the time period for being able to dispute the chargeback ended Friday at 5pm eastern standard time. He gave me the letter (today) Saturday morning. So TFB for me.

I pointed out the address discrepancies and both Charlie and Marissa (his wife) were like yeah but the system didn't flag it as fraudulent!

I said for the millionth time yeah I know. Not every fraudulent order is flagged as fraudulent, otherwise we'd never get scammed and the world would be a wonderful place!

I said, yet again, that I usually check EVERY order that comes in, especially when it's for more than $100.

Just a quick check to see if the billing and shipping addresses are SOMEWHAT close.

They responded with "EVERY ORDER?!!"

What kind of response is this?! Why the fuck would you double check some orders and not others?

And if you ARE going to check some and not others, wouldn't the $900 order with expedited shipping be one of them?!

I wasn't mean about it but I mentioned that I deal with scammers CONSTANTLY. I swear between the IRS requirements for small businesses and scammers, more than half my time working for the shop is spent dealing with bullshit instead of working on my actual shop!

I spent 3 days this past week dealing with a guy who ended up being a scammer. He kept trying to run his card through the online store and it was getting kicked back for nonmatching info.

I was emailing back and forth with him because he sounded like a genuine customer with a bank issue -- it happens sometimes because tattoo supplies are sometimes flagged by banks as unusual.

After three days of no less than an hour a day dealing with him, my bank finally kicked back some useful info -- that the card was issued to a man in the Netherlands while this dude was purchasing from the US.

So yeah. Scammer.

And if I wouldn't have been diligent with it or I had pushed the order through anyway, I would've lost almost $3000 in supplies.

I told Charlie and Marissa this and they reacted like spending this much time on a scam was a completely new idea to them. Like I haven't told them a million times how much time scammers take up.

But you can be sure that at the beginning of next month Charlie's going to be there with his hand out waiting for his pay and will throw a stink if I deduct $900 from his allowance even though the shop pays for my house/living expenses (and my parents) and Charlie's house/living expenses.

It feels like Charlie and Marissa are glorified cashiers (who get paid WAY more than cashiers and only work 30 hours a week) while I'm working no less than 60 hours a week and paying for their fuckups out of my own pocket.

At least you can fire shitty employees 🤬

Of course he immediately turned it around on me and acted like the hurt party in all this to the point where my mom was like "let him know you still love him he had a hard day."

Oh I'm sorry. Did he have a hard day when he found out that the car part he ordered was destroyed during shipping and they're sending a replacement? That's so terrible let me cry for him.

[abigailspinach]

Kellee Speakman, a native Californian, started dreaming about life in Texas in 2022.

The 50-year-old elementary school teacher and self-identified conservative was frustrated with California's COVID-19 policies and intrigued by Texans proudly flaunting their "freedoms," Speakman told Business Insider earlier this year.

So, in January 2022, Speakman and her family packed up and left Temecula, California, for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

But it only took four months for Speakman to start planning her return to California, citing Texas' higher-than-expected cost of living and politics.

--

Jeffrey VonderHaar, an owner of a medical equipment business, told BI earlier this year that he was planning to move from Calabasas, California, to a neighborhood outside Houston.

After 26 years in California, VonderHaar said he was leaving because the regulations, taxes, and high cost of goods made it increasingly difficult to run his business and manage daily living expenses.

"In California, there are so many rules and regulations that change constantly," he told BI in February. "The taxes are never-ending."

He said he found Texas to be significantly more business-friendly. While he intends to keep his business in California, where he doesn't foresee much expansion, he is looking to grow his operations in Texas.

By moving to Texas, he and his family were also able to purchase a larger home on four acres of land for $1.275 million.

---

Abby Raisz, Senior Research Manager at the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, told CBS News in November that job opportunities partly drive the influx of Texas transplants to California.

As companies move back to in-person work, Raisz said that many employees who worked remotely during the pandemic are returning to California. There has also been a rise in new tech jobs.

"It's not just workers returning," Raisz said.

"It's new jobs being created in some of these burgeoning industries like AI," she added. "The Bay Area remains this epicenter of innovation when it comes to tech."

--

The Californian boomerang

The wider group of movers to California between 2022 and 2023 also includes some individuals returning back to the state.

BI spoke with several Californians who had moved away, only to regret their decision or discover that they were better suited for life in California.

Dannielle Price, 47, moved from Riverside, California, to Texas for the second time earlier this year.

She moved to Henderson, Texas, with her daughters in 2021, hoping to buy a home. However, due to her children's struggles to adjust and the harsh summer heat, they returned to California just months after settling in Texas.

After facing challenges in finding suitable housing in California, Price decided to give Texas another chance this year, bringing her children and co-parent, Eiman Monam, 45, with her.

Advertisement

Despite settling into an apartment in Tyler, the family still feels that Texas isn't the right fit for them.

"We are definitely not planning to stay in Texas. We just want to get back home to California once our lease is up in May," Price said. "We'd rather deal with the high cost of living and have the convenience. It's home."

[borntobecheap]

"Look, one of the things about this country I really can't stand? It's the lack of accountability.

Everything wrong with an American's life is somebody else's fault. All these smokers raking in millions of dollars in damages from tobacco companies, when, what, they've known the risks for forty years. Can't quit?

Stick it to Philip Morris. Next thing you know, fat people will be suing fast-food companies because they've eaten too many Big Macs!" I paused, catching myself. "I realize you've heard this before."

Kevin was winding me up, of course, like a toy. He had the same intent, mischievous expression I'd seen recently on a boy making his model race car hurtle off the rocks in Tallman Park by remote control. "Once or twice," he allowed, repressing a smile.

"Power walkers," I said.

"What about them."

"They drive me insane." Of course, he'd heard this, too. But he hadn't heard this, because until then I hadn't quite put it together: "People around here can't just go for a walk, they have to be getting with some kind of program. And you know, this may be at the heart of it, what's my beef?.

All those intangibles of life, the really good but really elusive stuff that makes life worth living— Americans seem to believe they can all be obtained by joining a group, or signing up to a subscription, or going on a special diet, or undergoing aroma therapy. It’s just not just that Americans think they can buy everything; they think that if you follow the instructions on the label, the product has to work. Then when the product doesn't work and they're still unhappy even though the right to happiness is enshrined in the Constitution, they sue the bejesus out of each other"

"What do you mean, intangibles," said Kevin.

"Whatever, as your friends would say. Love, joy, insight." (To Kevin, I could as well have been talking about little green men on the moon.)

"But you can't order them on the Internet or learn them in a course at the New School or look them up in a How-To. It's not that easy, or maybe it is easy ... so easy that trying, following the directions, gets in the way…

I don't know."

Kevin was doodling furiously on the tablecloth with his crayon. "Anything else?"

"Of course there's anything else," I said, feeling the momentum that gets rolling in those plane chats when I finally get access to the library in my head, remembering Madame Bovary, and Jude the Obscure, and A Passage to India, "Americans are fat, inarticulate, and ignorant. They're demanding, imperious, and spoiled. They're self-righteous and superior about their precious democracy, and condescending toward other nationalities because they think they've got it right—never mind that half the adult population doesn't vote. And they're boastful, too. Believe it or not, in Europe it isn't considered acceptable to foist on new acquaintances right off the bat that you went to Harvard and you own a big house and what it cost and which celebrities come to dinner. And Americans never pick up, either, that in some places it's considered crass to share your taste for anal sex with someone at a cocktail party you've known for five minutes— since the whole concept of privacy here has fallen by the wayside. That's because Americans are trusting to a fault, innocent in a way that makes you stupid. Worst of all, they have no idea that the rest of the world can't stand them." I was talking too loudly for such a small establishment and such abrasive sentiments, but I was strangely exhilarated. This was the first time that I’d been able to really talk to my son, and I hoped that we'd crossed the Rubicon. At last I was able to confide things that I well and truly believed, and not just lecture—please don't pick the Corleys' prize-winning roses.

Granted, I'd begun in a childishly inept way, asking how's school, while he was the one who’d conducted our talk like a competent adult, drawing out his companion. But as a consequence I was proud of him. I was just fashioning a remark along these lines, when Kevin, who had been scribbling intently on the tablecloth with that crayon, finished whatever he was drawing, looked up, and nodded at the scrawl.

"Wow," he said. "That's a whole lot of adjectives."

Attention deficit disorder in a pigs eye. Kevin was an able student when he bothered, and he hadn't been doodling; he’d been taking notes.

"Let's see," he said, and proceeded to check off successive elements of his list with his red crayon. "Spoiled. You're rich. I'm not too sure what you think you're doing without, but I bet you could afford it. Imperious. Pretty good description of that speech just now; if I was you, I wouldn't order dessert, 'cause you can bet the waiter's gonna hawk a loogie in your raspberry sauce. Inarticulate Lemme see... "He searched the tablecloth, and read aloud, "It's not that easy, or maybe it is easy, I don't know. I don't call that Shakespeare myself. Also, seems to me I'm sitting across from the lady who goes on these long rants about ‘reality TV' when she's never watched a single show. And that-one of your favorite words, Mumsey—is ignorant. Next: boasting. What was all that these-dumb-fucks-suck-dead-moose-dick-and-I'm-so-much-cooler-than-them if it wasn't showing off? Like somebody who thinks she's got it right and nobody else does. Trusting ... with no idea other people can't stand them." He underscored this one and then looked me in the eye with naked dislike. "Well. Far as I can tell, about the only thing that keeps you and the other dumbass Americans from being peas in a pod is you're not fat. And just because you're skinny you act self-righteous, condescending and superior. Maybe I'd rather have a big cow of a mother who at least didn't think she was better than everybody else in the fucking country!"

We need to talk about Kevin

[inheritedthrowaway]

hi it's op. some more info, since we now know A LITTLE BIT more and I'm not as completely out of it as I was when I submitted this:

-to all of the people saying to get a lawyer: I promise I wasn't trying to come here for legal advice lol. tbh I kinda figured that that would be something we would have to do. I've returned home, but Phineas told me before that his close friend offered to set him up with a lawyer for this situation, so I'll let him know to get on that when he's able. unfortunately, the stress of everything + his job has been keeping him somewhat unavailable, but if what some people in the notes is saying is true, I guess this was always gonna be a long process anyway. its been less than 3 weeks since it happened, tbh looking back I'm surprised we've done as much as we have.

-but on that note I was less worried about the legal side than the moral side. truly Phineas and I are down for whatever she is ok with us doing that we are legally able to do--except paying our dad's portion of the debt, bc we definitely can't afford to do that. it turns out they still owe like, more than half of what the house is worth, and it's a house in a major city on the West Coast so that's A LOT. so the point is kinda moot anyway bc it wouldn't really make much difference if we gave her anything bc we could not afford to come close to covering that anyway. so the actual question of if we'd be assholes, I guess, is No, bc we can't anyway.

-the more concrete monetary situation is this: myself, Phineas and Aaron were the 3 beneficiaries of his life insurance, splitting it even 3 ways (I was told I get 34%, so I assume they each get 33%). I won't share the exact amount here, I'll just say: it's less than a quarter million, but it's got 6 digits. which like. when I heard the number I almost threw up. I saw some in the notes saying "uh 5 figures isn't exactly life-changing." y'all, my partner and I each make under $20k a year. we live paycheck-to-paycheck. any amount that is more than a years salary (or hell, even HALF that) is gonna be life changing in some way for us, even if that change is "we can now afford to move to a different apartment if we need to".

-(since Aaron is underage and can't legally enter a financial contract, his mom will probably be in charge of what happens to his share. not sure there's much we can do about that but hopefully she does the right thing and puts it in a CD or whatever till he's of age)

-we still never did find a will, but other than the money in his bank account (probably not a lot, considering his bills), the trailer and the half of a house, my dad didn't really own anything that would be worth fighting over (his vehicle was completely destroyed in the wreck). its mostly all things like clothes, the furniture in the trailer, multimedia stuff, etc, nothing else with like deeds or official ownership or whatever. Phineas and I have been pretty much on the same page regarding everything to do with his estate so far in abstract, so idk how much a lawyer needs to be involved in figuring out who gets his Big Bang Theory DVDs. but we probably will add it to the list anyway, cuz the dude was kinda a hoarder and has 2 storage units and a shed we need to go through so who KNOWS what he's got put away.

-to the one person in the notes shaming me for "writing his cheating off as polyamory" or whatever: as I said in the post I am literally polyamorous myself and I'm not excusing his actions, but I am calling it like I see it. he was absolutely a cheater about it I just don't want people getting the impression that he was some gross womanizing asshole, cuz he wasn't. my dad may have been stupid but he wasn't like, a piece of shit for fun.

anyway the whole situation has been incredibly exhausting and I get the feeling the paperwork has only just begun. in my defense I've never had to deal with the legal side of somebody dying before, so I'll fully admit I don't know what I'm doing lol. thanks for the feedback, I'll probably leave this account up for like a month or something if anybody has further questions and/or advice.

@am-i-the-asshole-official

here's a wild one for y'all. cw for parental death. names have been changed, it is a kinda specific situation but I think only 1 of my family members is on Tumblr so whatever. sorry it got so long, it's a complicated situation and still VERY fresh so my brain is kinda fried lol.

tldr my dad passed away without a will and we want to give his long-distance "side" gf the house he helped her buy. I'm worried she won't be able to afford the mortgage, but don't really want to give her any of the monetary payouts. WIBTA if my brothers and I kept all of the cash?

so late last week (it's Dec 19 as of submitting) my father (60s M) passed away in a sudden car accident on his way to work. I'm (late 20s ftM) his oldest child, I also have a younger brother (mid 20s M) who we'll call Phineas and an even younger half-brother (almost tween, M) who we'll call Aaron.

so I'd describe my dad as a kind and loving but stubborn and stupid man. I would also guess, based on what I know of his love life, that he was polyamorous but didn't realize it due to his conservative Christian upbringing and didn't know it was an option so instead ended up being...well, kinda an adulterer tbh. this isn't to excuse his actual actions bc they were obviously wrong, but is the way the situation reads to me, a polyamorous person.

Dad had a long distance girlfriend (50s??? maybe??? F) on the West Coast (we live near the East Coast), we'll call her Melody. I met her a few years back when he flew Phineas and I with him to visit her. she's a sweet woman from what I know of her. when I got the news of his passing, I was the one who called her to let her know what happened. (which sucked.)

well, what I Didn't know until I was trying to scrape together travel arrangements (I live 5 hours away from Phineas and my dad) was that he also had a Wife (60sF), who we'll call Patricia. (it wasn't a legal marriage, it was "in the eyes of the Lord" as they said, due to legal complications to do with her social security benefits or something. which is why the arrangements for his death fell onto Phineas and I as his adult children. but if he called her his wife then as far as I'm concerned that's what she is.) he didn't really tell me or Phineas about the full nature of their relationship. Phineas found out bc our dad was spending so much time with her that he'd practically moved in w her, put two and two together and asked her to confirm. I never even knew she existed till all this happened. he had told his parents and siblings about her, and they approved of her. we can only speculate why he kept it so quiet to us, she thinks bc of his history with Real Duds that we'd be upset somehow. idk.

so anyway Patricia knew about Melody. my dad was already seeing Melody when he started seeing Patricia. I don't know what he was thinking when he got with Patricia tbh, can't ask him now anyway, but she knew about Melody the whole time. wasn't thrilled about it, constantly told him he needed to tell her the truth and end things, but doesn't truly hold that against Melody herself bc she didn't know.

Melody, however, did not know about Patricia. he was planning to tell her at some point. kept meaning to. still loved her, didn't wanna hurt her, but was also trying to be monogamously committed to Patricia too. he never got around to actually ending things with Melody before he passed, and as far as she knew he was still planning to move out there and get married to her. he even took out a loan to help her pay for her late mother's house, both their names are on the mortgage and deed.

which brings me to my question. my dad didn't seem to have a will (not that we can find anyway), so Phineas and I are the ones in charge of distributing his various belongings and payouts and such. we both agree that we don't have any use for some house across the country, and Melody is already living in it anyway. imo she should just Have It. however, she is also Pretty Poor. I don't know the specifics of her situation (or, really, much about the complications of home ownership?) but I do worry about her ability to continue to pay the mortgage, assuming that's a thing. we're still waiting to hear about all the details and numbers and have somebody who actually knows about that stuff translate it into layman's terms for us non-homeowners (or in Phineas's case, Brand New Homeowner) so we can get a full picture of how all that is going to work legally speaking.

Dad also had life insurance thru his employer. we are still working thru the red tape at his company to figure out who the beneficiary is, the most likely candidate being me as the eldest child. Phineas and I are agreed that we'll at least be splitting most, if not all, the money evenly between us and Aaron. Patricia is INSISTENT that she doesn't want any of it, she wants us kids to keep it bc unlike some of his exes she never cared about his money (he made GOOD money, but still ended up kinda poor due to both being generous to, and having been taken advantage of by, multiple women since my bio mom died. including having to shell out an insane amount of child support for Aaron despite already having a very active role in his life. like he paid more child support than either I or my fiancee even make at our jobs, while also frequently just straight up directly providing for him where he could). because of his income it's looking like a pretty hefty payout.

however, my brother and I are both pretty poor as well. while we don't know the exact amount we're getting, some are speculating a number that, even split 3 ways, would be Life-Changing for us. we're talking 5 figure amounts, more than I or my fiancee make in a year. like we'll still need to work for a living but, for example, it could be a down-payment on a house or a massive safety net for when I'm out of work (I have a steady job but with seasonal unpaid breaks). it could help Phineas afford expensive repairs for the trailer he now owns, which my dad was supposed to help pay for. in the right account with a decent interest rate, it could be tuition for when Aaron goes to college.

I feel like I Should probably toss some of that money Melody's way, esp since I feel so bad that she's getting the one-two punch of finding out her bf died AND also he had a wife she wasn't aware of. but my brothers and I could really use that money as well. I don't know that Phineas wants to send her any, we're saving that conversation for when we know more of the exact numbers. I don't even know how much Dad was paying towards it, or if he even was anymore. plus--and this is kinda a minor detail--but there's kind of a general vibe I'm getting from the Family (ALL 4 of my dad's siblings AND both his parents are somehow still alive) that Melody is kinda...unliked. they love Patricia and were CONSTANTLY frustrated that he was still visiting Melody and frequently sending her money; I get the feeling they viewed her the same as some of his other gold-digging exes so i think maybe sending her Even More Money would look a little weird? like she's already getting full ownership of a house out of the deal. most of them are in agreement that Phineas and I are the ones who get the final say on the bulk of these decisions but they're...a little pushy anyway.

like I said, we don't know what any of the actual numbers look like AT ALL yet, so it might actually be fine. but WIBTA if we just left her the sole homeowner when she couldn't really afford it, and not send her any money? the consensus will probably show up too late to affect our decision but hey, figured the situation would make for a wild ride anyway (or maybe I just feel like that bc it has been for me LOL).

What are these acronyms?

[narutogwriting]

Turning Page

⋇✦ Pairing: Naruto Uzumaki x Reader

⋇✦ Genre: fluff; one shot

⋇✦ Synopsis: Naruto never would have dreamed that he would get this sort of happiness, but there you are

⋇✦ CW: none

⋇✦ Length: 1.4k+

⋇✦ Inspiration: Turning Page by Sleeping at Last + @naooseimaiss request

I’ve waited a hundred years

I’d wait a million more for you

Had Naruto ever expected it? Had he ever even dared to dream about a day like this?

No. No he hadn’t.

Not in Naruto’s wildest dreams would he have let himself believe that someone would love him the way that you did. Someone who would support him, stand by his side through thick and thin. Through every win and especially every failure, every step of Naruto’s journey since he met you, you had been by his side, unwavering.

If I had only felt the warmth within your touch

If I had only seen how you smile when you blush

Or how you curl your lip when you concentrate enough

I would have known what I was living for all along

And Naruto loved you. He loved you so much more than he knew was possible. Naruto didn’t know just how boundless his love really was until he gave you his heart. Holding you for the first time was the greatest pleasure he had ever experienced. Having your smile aimed in his direction lit a fire in him that even the harshest rainstorms couldn’t put out.

He wished he could go back and tell himself, just whisper the words into his own ear those nights as a child he’d spent alone and lonely.

She’s coming. Don’t worry. I know it hurts now, but once she’s here, you’ll see. Every hurt, every pain, every harsh look. Your strangeness, your curse, your always feeling like an outsider. It all existed so you could belong here, with her. It’s all worth it.

The pain you’re feeling can’t compare to the joy that is coming.

What I’ve been living for

Naruto heard once that true love isn’t being willing to die for a person; it’s about who you would live for.

Every day for the rest of his life, Naruto would live for you.

Your love is my turning page

Where only the sweetest words remain

“It won’t go down!” Naruto complained, running a comb through his hair again and again. “I put so much gel on it! Why won’t it stay in place.” He threw the comb with a frustrated shout, observing himself in the mirror.

He’d done his best to comb his hair down into something presentable, but those unruly spikes wouldn’t stay all the way down. “I look like a mess! This is the best day of my life and I look like a mess!”

A light chuckle made him turn. Iruka was smiling at him from the couch, shaking his head. “‘Snot funny, Iruka-Sensei!” Naruto whined, crossing his arms.

Iruka got up, walking over to Naruto, still laughing softly as he stood in front of the blond, hands placed on his shoulders. “What!?” Naruto demanded as he glowered at his old sensei, bottom lip protruding out in a pout.

“It’s just…” Iruka stopped, shaking his head as he felt his throat tightening. “It’s just… I’m so proud of you, Naruto.”

Naruto stopped, taken off guard by the comment. He stared at Iruka, wide eyed before he laughed, giving that close-eyed, big grin he was known for.

“I never thought I’d be one of the people standing by you at your wedding, Naruto. It’s an honor. Truly.” He pulled the boy who was no longer a boy, but a man, into his arms. How long ago had it been that Naruto was just a kid, starved of love and attention, so small he’d barely come up to Iruka’s chest?

You hadn’t just been an answer to Naruto’s prayers, but Iruka’s as well.

Every touch is a cursive line

Every touch is a redefining page

“Quit bouncing, usuratonkachi” Sasuke whispered at Naruto’s side, but there was a lightness to his tone. He’d seen a lot of emotion in the blond over the years. He always thought that the day Naruto had become Hokage was the happiest day of Naruto’s life, but even that day didn’t compare to the utter joy that was on Naruto’s face now.

Naruto only grinned at Sasuke. It was time. Any moment now, you would appear, walking down that aisle wearing your uchikake, and Naruto knew you would look like an angel. He’d asked you not to wear the headdress brides usually did. He didn’t want to ‘hide your horns.’ He didn’t want submission from you.

You were Naruto’s partner; his better half. He loved every single part of your large and wild heart.

His heart was already leaping out of his chest; he didn’t think he would be able to contain himself once he saw you.

I surrender who I've been for who you are

For nothing makes me stronger than your fragile heart

And there you were. You appeared like a vision, ethereal and effervescent as you glided towards him. Naruto’s breath caught in his lungs. He wasn’t sure he’d ever really breathed before this moment, had never really lived until now.

Naruto was in awe of your beauty. His eyes were locked on yours, glistening with happiness and adoration.

He still couldn’t believe it. That you would look at him that way.

Naruto wanted to stare at you forever, wanted to exist always here, in this moment, but he had to close his eyes. He wasn’t sure when he started crying, but the tears were there, overflowing and blinding them. He smiled as he wiped them from his eyes.

He heard a familiar giggle and when he opened them, you were there, reflecting that same love and adoration.

He couldn’t help it, couldn’t wait.

Naruto kissed you fiercely, holding you close to him like he was afraid you would disappear at any moment. You returned the kiss with the same intensity, arms locking around his neck as you drank him in.

A cleared throat finally broke you too away as you both giggled, eyes never leaving each others.

“If you’d like to begin…” Kakashi laughed.

If I had only felt how it feels to be yours

Well, I would have known what I've been living for all along

What I've been living for

It was perfect. Every moment. You and Naruto had decided to forgo a lot of the wedding traditions, but you kept the nuptial cups. Naruto had suggested it because he wanted to surprise Iruka; have him be his parent that drinks from the cup like your parents would and seals the family together.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

“I love every piece of you, Naruto. Every scratch, every scar. From the demon inside of you to the fire that burns around you. I always always meant to be here, to love you. And I will. Always and forever. Thank you for choosing me. I will never stop choosing you.”

“My whole life, I felt lost. Confused, and empty. And then I found people who were important to me, people that I had to care for and fight for. And I was happy; but sometimes, I still felt so lost and so lonely, and I never understood, because I was happier than ever. And then you appeared. It was like suddenly, the world made sense. Everything just suddenly fell into place. I was lost, and you found me. You taught me that I couldn’t just love others, but that I could also love myself; something I never realized. Thank you for changing my life. Thank you for teaching me things I never knew, and for being my best friend. Thank you for always finding me.”

“I’ll always find you, Naruto. In every world, in every lifetime. If I have to search a million life times, I will find you again.”

Though we're tethered to the story we must tell

When I saw you, well I knew we'd tell it well

With a whisper, we will tame the vicious seas

Like a feather, bringing kingdoms to their knees

It was the first day of the rest of your life. You had read something once: “To love someone was not what she had expected. It was like falling from somewhere high up and breaking in half, and only one person having the secret to the puzzle of putting her back together.”

You’d read that to Naruto, and he had smiled, because it was true. It did feel like that, and yet, it had never hurt. Because as soon as he had fallen, you’d been there, catching him and putting together all his pieces, just like he’d done for you.

There was something else.

“I wouldn't be surprised if that is the way things go after all - that all things end happy.”

You smiled as you kissed Naruto once more. For the first time in your life, thanks to the number one, hyperactive, knuckleheaded ninja, it was something you could believe.

[bopinion]

Album of the month / 2021 / 08 August

I love listening to music - gladly, all the time, everywhere. That's why I would like to share which music (or which album, after all I'm still from the vinyl generation ;-) I enjoy, accompanies me, slides up my playlists again and again...

The Beatles & George Martin

LOVE

Rock-Remix / 2006 / Parlophone, Apple, EMI (Universal Music Group)

When you hear the term "remix," it's usually a DJ putting a danceable techno beat under a pop or rock song. And often enough, this leaves the original performer or composer turning in his grave to the same frantic beat. But there are also exceptions. And one of them this time is my album of the month.

34 years ago in Québec I visited a kind of circus performance that was new to me. There were no animals, but excellent artistry. The whole thing was embedded in an almost psychedelic production of sounds and music and light effects and projections. Although individual acts, the whole was dramaturgically staged like an opera or a musical in one piece. The name of the circus was "Cirque du Soleil". A concept that in the following years and decades went from French Canada around the world and celebrated legendary successes everywhere - including artists in residence in Las Vegas. The visionary founder Guy Laliberté also became known worldwide as an impresario and, incidentally, a billionaire.

There are bands I really regret never having seen live. For example, The Queen with Freddie Mercury, although at least I met the latter once in a club in Munich - well, we were in the same room for a few hours. But there is also the opposite, for example The Beatles. As much as I appreciate these musical titans, a concert seems rather witless to me: film footage shows four musicians on stage, initially even dressed alike, operating their instruments without notable movements or show effects and trying to permanently drown out screaming young ladies. But maybe I only comfort myself with this assessment, because I was and am simply too young to be able to experience John, Paul, George and Ringo in their active time on stage. Anyway.

Guy Laliberté and George Harrison were friends. And at some point - I imagine the two of them over a cup of yogi tea after meditative yoga, one handing the other the joint "You, I have an idea..." - the idea was born to bring together the two cultural phenomena Cirque du Soleil and The Beatles. As a composition for all senses, new and timeless, ecstatic and colorful. After all, it was Harrison who was always eager to experiment. He converted to Hinduism in the 60s, gained experience with psychedelics and transcendental meditation and introduced oriental instruments, first and foremost the sitar, into Western music and is thus considered one of the most important pioneers of world music. A development that goes hand in hand with my personal taste: the longer their hair got, the more I liked their music.

It was only after Harrison's death that Laliberté was able to close the deal with the rights holders of the music (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison), which can thus probably be considered a kind of Harrison's legacy. For the show was not to simply put together a soundtrack of the old familiar hits, nor were the compositions to be reinterpreted by other musicians. No, the original multi-track recordings were to be used to create new adaptations of the original songs. And who would be better qualified for this than George Martin, who had already produced groundbreaking albums with the Beatles themselves. In the process, he advanced from mere producer to arranger and idea generator, who also revolutionized recording technology by using overdubbing, for example. It's hardly surprising that he is often referred to as the "fifth Beatle".

In general, Sir George Henry Martin, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, is a man of musical superlatives. He is recorded as the producer of 4,836 titles, but one assumes considerably more. And that includes not only The Beatles, but also a wide variety of works for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Manfred Mann, Little River Band, Ultravox and many more. His 30th number one hit was "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John. Martin founded the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts with McCartney, was one of a handful of producers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received the BRIT Award for "Best British Producer of the Past 25 Years" in 1977, among countless other honors.

So George Martin went into the studio with his son Giles Martin, who had produced INXS and Kate Bush, among others, following in his father's footsteps. And not just any studio - of course it had to be Abbey Road Studios (again). With the original recordings, the team not only created new variations of the original pieces, as they could have been created alternatively with the Beatles themselves. For example, they enriched the acoustic version of "While my Guitar gently weeps" with an orchestral accompaniment and combined the rhythm of "Tomorrow never knows" with the vocals of "Within You without You". Thus, a soundtrack project for a circus stage show ultimately became a new album by the Beatles. No wonder that Sir Paul himself described "Love" like this: "This album puts The Beatles back together again. It's kind of magical." And Ringo added "George and Giles did such a great job combining these tracks. It's really powerful for me and I even heard things I'd forgotten we'd recorded."

The documentary "All together now - A Documentary Film" by Adrian Wills (director) and Heidi Haines (screenplay), which won a Grammy in the category "Best long form Music Video", also fits the project's ambition. It tells the entire story of LOVE's creation, from the first meetings of the creative team around Martin and Laliberté to interviews with, among others, McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow, and Neil Aspinall, the Beatles' longtime road manager and event technician, to the first rehearsals of the stage show in Montréal.

LOVE is more than a medley of hits by the mushroom heads, but rather a kind of rock opera that is a first-class listening experience even without the accompanying show. Says George Martin: "The Beatles always looked for other ways of expressing themselves and this is another step forward for them." And father and son succeeded with remarkable creativity. The new version of "Because" is still directly harmless, since it uses the birdsong of "Across the Universe" as well as the final chord of "A Day in the Life" played backwards. "Glass Onion," on the other hand, became a grandiose collage with elements of the songs "Things We Said Today," "Hello, Goodbye" (background vocals), "I Am the Walrus" (background vocals), "Penny Lane" (flute), "A Day in the Life" (orchestra), "Magical Mystery Tour" (effects) and "Only a Northern Song" (effects). State-of-the-art technology in digitization, mixing and mastering also ensure the finest sound quality.

Speaking of sound quality: a show that relies so heavily on music must of course also rely on a perfect acoustic performance. Created by French designer Jean Rabasse, the LOVE theater at The Mirage / Las Vegas houses 2,013 seats set around a central stage. Each seat is fitted with three speakers, which sums up to a spectacular sound system with 6,351 speakers designed by Jonathan Deans. The stage includes 11 lifts, 4 traps, and 13 automated tracks and trolleys. The theater features 32 digital projectors creating very large high definition digital 100' wide panoramic images, even on four translucent screens that can be unfurled to divide the auditorium. That's what I call "being in the middle of the action".

Reportedly, the theater cost more than $100 million - which doesn't even include the development of the show. And unfortunately, it also means LOVE can never go on tour. So I won't be able to avoid traveling to Las Vegas one day for that reason alone. Which I trust will be on the event calendar for a few more years to recoup its costs. And so the circle closes: Decades later, I would once again enjoy Cirque du Soleil in North America - and thus also experience The Beatles live in a somewhat different way.

Here's a trailer for the Las Vegas Show LOVE from the Cirque du Soleil:

https://youtu.be/hIJZAfyRlD4

[shawnpetermuffins]

No Prior Engagement

(The outfits in the photo are not what's described in the story, but I liked the picture.)

A/n: To make this easier to write, I'm just going to use places that pertain to me - make it less confusing when I'm writing and while you're reading. You can find the "next part" in my March Mendes Madness Masterlist under 03.25

Summary: this is what happened before Shawn's minor slip up at an awards show.

***

My phone buzzes on my desk and I sigh, looking up from my study guide. 2:32 a.m. my phone read.

Bubba 💞

"Shawn, it's late. Are you okay?"

"Let's get married," he says out of the blue.

"What? Are you drunk?"

"No," he answers seriously. "I just don't want to wait anymore. Why should we have to? We're in love, right?"

"Well, yes. But-"

"I want to marry you. Right now. I want a house with you. I want kids with you. I want us to make grocery lists together. And I was just laying here in bed and I realized how much it fucking sucks falling asleep without you. And I know that I can't be anymore in love with you than I am right now. I want to marry you," he says and takes in a deep breath.

I didn't know what to think. We've talked about this, sure, but it always for when I got out of school.

"What do you say, pumpkin?"

"I want all of that, too," I start. "But I'm still in school. We can't let our first year and a half basically be long distance - even more so than usual, it would seem."

He sighs, "I thought you'd say that. Which is why I should tell you... I bought us a house in San Angelo. It's on the lake, like you've always told me you wanted. I'm ready to move down there with yoh if you tell me that you'll marry me."

My eyes burn with tears, maybe because it was so late and I was running on a total of three hours of sleep, or maybe it was because of the craziness of his request. "You're sure about this?" I take in a sputtery breath. "Like you really want to marry me? You want to spend the rest of your life with me of all people?"

"I do. And I already asked your dad. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of us doing this so young, but I promised it wouldn't interfere with your studies and that we'd stay here until you've graduated. He said that as long as you said yes, then so did he. So? What do you say, y/n? Will you marry me?"

I giggle - this time I know, for a fact, it's because of the absurdity of the situation. I'm talking to my boyfriend of three years at 2:30 in the morning, and he's asking me to marry him. I have an exam in two days that I should be studying for, but my guide sits abandoned on my desk while I pace the room back and forth. "This is absolutely insane. You know that right?"

"Is this your way of saying yes?" He asks, his voice hopeful.

I bite back the smile that transforms my face, "yes," I whisper.

His laugh is so soft and happy, and I blush because I made that laugh happen. "I'll make all the arrangements. Come Saturday afternoon, you will be my wife."

"Whoa. That fast?"

"Yes," I know he nodded on the other side. "I told you I didn't want to wait anymore. Now go get some sleep, you can study in the morning. Right now, though, I want my fiancé to be well rested."

I shake my head, "I love you," I say in pure bliss.

"Good night, future wife. I love you more."

"Good night, future husband. I love you most."

---

"You're sure you're okay with not having a huge wedding?" Shawn asked outside the courthouse.

I look down at my outfit, black shirt, cream skater like skirt - the bottom hem littered with flowers - And black stilettos that I was already ready to slip out of. I'd always imagined a big flowy white gown, but when I look over at Shawn - dressed in a white button up, a few buttons naturally undone, and signature black jeans and Chelsea boots. He looked perfectly content just like that and I couldn't ask for more. I didn't need the big fancy wedding as long as I had the man of my dreams standing next to me.

"I'm okay," I say finally, taking his hand in mine. "I just want to marry you already. I don't care how."

He caresses my knuckles and leans in to press a sweet kiss to my lips. I hum in acknowledgement and kiss back, placing my free hand behind his neck. "Then let's go do this."

---

Everyone we want it here. Our parents, siblings, Andrew, the band, my aunt and uncle, my two best friends, Josiah, and Brian. This is all I needed.

"Shawn, if you would..."

My beautiful boy clears his throat, "y/f/n y/m/n, I may not have known you my whole life, but it definitely feels as if I have. In these three years we've been together, I've watched you grow into this beautiful, confident young woman who I am so lucky to have by my side through my crazy, fast paced life." He clears his throat, shaking his head with a soft smile. "I never thought the day would come when I met someone who's soul matched mind. You're my other half, pumpkin. I know a million little things about you and I can't wait to learn a million more. I love you more than should be humanly possible. The way you do your nails every Sunday afternoon, like clockwork. How you scrunch up your face when you're annoyed. The way your laugh, when it's completely real, fills up a room with nothing but brightness."

I giggle through the threatening tears. Shawn wipes away the one straggler tear. "The way you'd probably rather do anything but watch Harry Potter for the hundredth time, but you sit through it anyway because you know it's my favorite. I'm just... I'm so in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life proving that I am. You are my forever person and I wouldn't have it any other way."

He catches a couple more of my fallen tears and I melt at the soft gesture.

"Y/n?"

I take in a shuddery breath, "I don't know entirely what to say. I tried writing down how I felt about you a billion times. I tried writing these vows the second we got off the phone the other night. There are not enough words in the English language to tell you how I feel. But I know that my entire being is on fire with just the brush of your hand against mine. Shawn, I fell in love with you when all you were to me was an international pop star, who had no idea u even existed. I was about sixteen then. And then god put you in my path when I was seventeen and I haven't turned back since. When we met, I didn't meet Shawn Mendes: superstar. I just met Shawn: a regular guy just living his life. There was never this moment of celebrity to fan; it was instantly friend to friend."

He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear and I can't help but smile. "You make it entirely too easy to love you. And I do. More than anyone else in the world. I can't believe how lucky I was to find my other half at only seventeen, and to be standing here, three years later, completely giving myself to you. I love you more than you will ever know, bubba, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

---

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Finally," Shawn mumbles, pulling me against his hard chest. His large hands rest on my cheeks and kisses me with so much love and passion. I laugh into the kiss and pull away. "You're my world, Mrs. Mendes," he whispers into my hair, holding me tight.

I bury my head into his chest, "I have never loved my name more than I do in this moment."

He hums, "I love you so much."

---

Shawn stands up, holding his wine glass. "I would like to propose a toast to my beautiful wife," he stops and smiles for a second. "Guys, I get to say that for the rest of my life. That's- wow, that's the greatest gift I could ever receive." The whole table awes, the women, of course placing their hands over their heart. "I just want to say that I am so lucky to have found you when I did. And even more lucky that you agreed to marry me. I fall more and more in love with you every day. Y/n, baby you are my biggest blessing, and I could not be more grateful for our time together. Now, let's go change your name to Mendes on everything."

We all laugh, but he I know he's serious. Bevause I've been thinking the same thing since I said 'I do.'

He leans down and pecks my lips gently. I hum and pull away as he sits back down. "You're the perfect human being," I whisper, taking his hand in mine. I bring it to my lips and smile at the single silver band that now decorates his left ring finger.

Brian stands next. "Well, I too would like to say a few kind words about the happy couple."

"Oh no," Shawn and I say in unison.

"Y/n, when you guys first met, I knew that Shawn had met his soul mate. It was undeniable, the chemistry between you two. Everyone thought you were moving too fast, and I hate to admit that for a second there, I thought so too. But then I realized, there was no other pace for you guys to go. And you couldn't be moving that fast, when it took six months for you guys to say 'I love you.'" I laugh at that. "Your relationship began at such an awkward time for the both of you. But you shoved any doubt that anyone had away and you powered through. And now here you are, three years down the road, married. I'm so proud to be able to call you both my best friends."

Everyone takes turns toasting us, and it's all beautiful, but I just really wanted to be alone with my husband.

A couple more hours pass before we're back in my car, Shawn takes my hand and just stares at it for a while.

"What are you doing, bubba?"

He looks up at my through cloudy eyes, "You're my wife," he says, barely above a whisper. "God, I'm so lucky."

"Shawn, are you crying?" I reach for his face with my free hand. His eyes are red as he stares at me. "Why are you crying, hon?"

"Because we're married. I'm married to the love of my life. I don't- I don't think I could ever be any happier than I am today. Today was better than any show I've ever played, any award I've ever won, and place I've ever been. Today is the absolute greatest day of my life."

***

I hope you enjoyed this fluff. Next and final part will be up on Wednesday!

Like, reblog, and leave feedback!!

[dank-morpork]

I'm not from the US, I'm from Canada, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Canada is effectively a two party system as well. We may have many parties available to vote for, but only two have ever been represented by our Prime Minister. And after most every election one party or the other has the most votes and can unilaterally control the agenda of the whole country.

But that didn't happen in our most recent election. Yes, our Prime Minister remained in office, but he's just one vote. The rest of the House of Commons (roughly analogous to the House of Representatives) is split unevenly and the party of government doesn't have majority control. And our progressive party (NDP) has used that to their full advantage.

The government knew that they couldn't avoid responding to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. They had to start spending. But the rules of the House state that any bill that contains spending is automatically a confidence vote. If a spending bill ever fails, the House is immediately dissolved and there must be a new federal election.

The government wants to be able to push off the next election as far into the future as they're allowed, so they've had to seek concessions from the NDP to give them the number of votes they need. So, every good thing you've heard about Canada doing for its people—the monthly enhanced assistance, increased child benefits, wage subsidies—have all been thanks to the pressure from the NDP. In a majority government, we would only have a fraction of the help.

But our media always treats every election like a two-party race, and we hear the exact same messages. "Canada must vote Liberal to stop Conservatives! Splitting the vote on the left will allowed the right-wing to squeeze through the middle!" (Our representatives are elected just like your congresspeople, district by district with each winner chosen by the most number of votes.) And if we'd listened, we'd have been screwed.

So, no. I don't believe that American leftists voting Democratic is the pragmatic solution. Because that has never gotten the left anything they want. Even now, with people pulling their hair out at the possibility of four more years of Trump, what has Biden or the DNC done to secure any votes on the left?

M4A is off the table. Legal cannibis is gone. No one is even breathing a word about a living wage. Pelosi spent four years passing Trump's entire legislative agenda and is about to stand by while millions of people get evicted next month. Biden just said he's prepared to jail anarchists purely for wrongthink and may very well make a cop his VP pick. Biden said for years he wanted to cut Medicare and social security. He boasted about being the inspiration for the PATRIOT Act.

Biden is not the pragmatic choice.

Yall. I wanted Ranked Ballots and the Popular Vote so bad. SO BAD.

I want to be able to vote third party, and I want my vote to count, and I want everyone to feel like they can actually vote for the candidate and party that best represents them and I’d LOVE if some third parties could actually get seats in Congress and wouldn’t it be fucking great if we didn’t have simple majorities, but actual pluralities that required multi-partisanship? I WANT to vote for actual leftists instead of whatever dumbshit neoliberal the democrats parade out. I WANT that. 

But if any of yall vote for a third party this election, ESPECIALLY if you live in a battleground state, I swear to god, your refusal to be pragmatic when we’re facing down the gun of real, actual, not actually hyperbole President for Life Trump, I will go fucking feral.