#a little late to the polls party but i just got them so

[ailomo]

I GOT POLLS THAT MEANS I CAN DO THE REALLY IMPORTANT RESEARCH

[tokischaaaaa]

distraction 🌀

notes!!: inspired by tiktok above ^^

warnings: fluff

word count: 1.1k!!

y/n was 2 hrs into her stream on her twitch channel, she had just begun a poll on her stream to listen to albums she hadn’t had the chance to listen to before.

basically a listening party, and a way for her viewers to input and spread their music taste.

“so admins can yall show what are the albums chats saying i should listen to?”

moments later and a few clicks later, y/n moved the poll to the screen to show her viewers.

options of albums to listen to were:

orquídeas - kali uches

negro swan - blood orange

cowboy carter - beyoncé

late registration - kanye

considering the biggest/ most well known artist was beyoncé and kanye , the polls showed the competition between both albums.

seconds later, the poll ended and cowboy carter by beyoncé had won.

30 minutes later, after gasps, snapping and humming, y/n was 75% done with the album. as she heard the beginning another comentary interlude and got up and stretched, still being visble to chat she jumped once she heard a loud chanting in her head phones.

spaghettii had started playing, y/n got up and started tapping her foot while placing her hands on her hips. she was so distracted that she didn’t hear hamzah come inside their apartment, he was became quickly aware that y/n was streaming due to the blaring light from her monitor.

as the lyrics ‘like a snap of my fingers im thanos!’ was yelled by beyoncé, y/n couldn’t help but start twerking due to the hypnotizing song. she wasn’t showing her junk to the camera but having her backside face the wall.

hamzah on the other hand was having a fun time. he couldn’t help but laugh as y/n kept making faces as she rocked her hips.

soon she got lower and lower, THAT caught hamzahs attention. he began to feel his chest tighten as he his desire to be behind y/n as she was dancing grew stronger.

as the song started to progress and get a little slower instrumental wise, y/n went back to her seat and was quickly made aware of hamzahs presence by chat.

“who’s here chat?” y/n said looking around, her eyes meeting hamzahs.

“you saw all that?” y/n blurted as her face turned red.

“yeah, never knew you had that in you y/n,” hamzah chuckled, walking closer to her monitor.

“mhm, guess you never knew i was apart of the beyhive.” y/n said raising her eyebrows.

“yeah, guess not.” he said, still thinking about y/n’s dancing, getting closer to y/n.

y/n could tell hamzah was feeling dirty, but she had to warn him before he kept talking stupid.

“babe i’m on stream,” y/n said pressing her mute button.

hamzah took her finger off the button, and grinned to her.

“babe i don’t care, plus you was bucking your hips in the air.” hamzah snickered eyeing y/n down, putting his warm hand on her back, slowly inching his fingers under her shirt.

y/n’s back straightened quickly, hamzah grinned shifting his head to the camera.

“how’s the listening party going?”

“good, wait you’ve been watching?”

“yeah, nonifications always on for you babe.” he said giving her cheek a quick peck.

soon y/n’s chat filled with hearts and you and hamzahs ship name.

“bruh, look what you did.” y/n groaned. “i still got like 7 more songs. all chats gonna be doing is asking for this.”

“so, give them what they want.” hamzah smiled putting his bag down and letting his hand on y/n’s back go deeper and grab her ass.

a audible gasp came out of y/n.

“hamzah.” she hissed under her breath, holding onto the mic.

hamzah shrugged in response.

y/n took a deep breath, giving hamzah a playful glare before turning back to her chat. "alright, alright, y'all. let's get back to the music!" she said, trying to regain her composure.

as she clicked to start the next track, the chat was buzzing with excitement and heart emojis. "you two are too cute!" one message read, while another said, "this is the best stream ever!"

y/n couldn't help but smile. despite the unexpected interruption, she loved how supportive her community was. and she couldn't deny that hamzah's presence added a special touch to her streams.

as the next song started playing, y/n leaned back in her chair, letting the music wash over her. she glanced at hamzah, who was now lounging on the couch, watching her with a smirk. she felt a warmth spread through her chest, a mixture of love and amusement.

hamzah, sensing her gaze, winked at her. "you know, i could join you for the rest of the stream. make it a duet," he teased.

y/n laughed, shaking her head. "oh really? you think you can keep up with me and beyoncé?"

"absolutely," hamzah replied, standing up and moving closer to her setup. he pulled up a chair next to her, and the chat went wild with excitement.

"alright, chat, you heard him. hamzah's joining us for the rest of the listening party!" y/n announced, her smile widening as she saw the flood of positive reactions.

hamzah settled next to her, slipping his arm around her shoulders. "so, what's next on the list?" he asked, peering at the screen.

"let's see," y/n said, scrolling through the remaining tracks. "ah, here we go. this one’s a classic." she clicked play, and the opening notes filled the room.

as the music played, hamzah gently swayed in his seat, occasionally singing along and making y/n laugh with his over-the-top yapping. they shared stories about their favorite songs, playfully debated the best albums, and even took turns reading out the funniest comments from the chat.

at one point, hamzah leaned in closer, his voice soft in her ear. "you know, watching you like this, so happy and in your element... it’s one of my favorite things."

y/n felt her cheeks warm and her heart flutter. "glad you enjoy it as much as i do," she murmured back, giving his hand a squeeze.

as the final track played, they both leaned back, content and relaxed. y/n turned to hamzah, her eyes shining with gratitude and affection. "thanks for joining me tonight. it made this stream extra special."

"anytime, babe," hamzah replied, pressing a kiss to her temple. "you know i'm your biggest fan."

as they wrapped up the stream, y/n felt an overwhelming sense of joy. not just from the music and the wonderful interaction with her chat, but from the simple, beautiful connection she shared with hamzah. it was in moments like these that she felt truly blessed, knowing that they had something extraordinary.

"goodnight, everyone!" y/n called out, waving to the camera as the stream ended. she turned to hamzah, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "now, where were we?"

hamzah grinned, pulling her close. "i believe we were just getting started."

tokischaaaa speaks: idk why but i jus like writing fluff now lol 🤭

[mondayspdf]

Ven and Vel getting jobs xD

Dancer AU!! (technically Veneer isn't a dancer in this but my explanation will be on the bottom! TLDR it was just cool so yippee [there's lore!!!!!!!])

Also! sorry@imadumdumjewel for the late reply!

If you guys req anything, I'll get to it, just may be a tad late...

Anywho! I ran a lil poll on Twitter to decide on the types of jobs they would have so here we go:

So I actually forgot to put dancer Vel/artist Ven because I kinda thought Ven would kinda fit the thing but after I finished this art I was pretty happy I didn't put it on there lol.

I honestly think that the other job options seemed pretty interesting, but no one really suggested any other jobs, and almost everyone was enthralled with the idea of dancer Ven & Vel.

For Veneer:

At first, my friend and I were planning this, but nothing really felt right to us. I did suggest Ballerino, but it didn't feel like something Veneer would do without Velvet, because they kinda come in pairs. Gymnast was also a suggestion, but after a couple minutes, it was swiftly discarded because I didn't want to draw Veneer's toes.

Anywho, while searching for other options, ice skating appeared, and my friend suggested an interesting idea as to

Lore time:

When Veneer was young, his parents pushed him towards traditionally male hobbies, such as sports and more sports. When his dad saw a flyer for an ice hockey team, he signed him up immediately. However, some mischievous kid had taped a different number to the hockey flyer, so Veneer's father ended up signing him up for figure skating instead.

At first, Veneer thought he was out of place, after all, the ratio of boys to girls was significant and he found himself to be the only one in that class. He didn't enjoy it much and regretted that he didn't join Velvet in her breakdancing course. However, as he unwillingly went to classes, he slowly started gaining a love for the sport and noticed how beautiful it was.

That led him to go down into professional figure skating and join competitions, eventually leading him to go down in history. For Velvet

My friend suggested swapping traditionally male and female dance styles, which led to the eventual conclusion: breakdancing. Velvet is a strong-willed character who would definitely try to get her way (as shown in the trailer of the movie) and take the classes that she liked.

Lore time:

When Veneer got signed up to do ice hockey, Velvet felt like she didn't have to deal with her little brother all day, and felt that she had a lot of time to herself. At first, she found a lot of things to do every day, running to places, going to parties, and just generally having fun.

At this point, Veneer was still unwilling to go to figure skating classes, (turns out Velvet was the mischievous kid who changed the number on the ice hockey flyer into a figure skating course phone number) but since his father had already paid for a year, he had to go anyways. Velvet would purposely use this to upset Veneer when she didn't get what she wanted, but then would accidentally make Veneer cry, resulting in her getting lectured by her parents, and Velvet holding back tears as she apologized to Veneer (she was totes in the fault here tho).

She realized that the more free time she had, the more her parents would lecture her. She decided right then and there that she would sign up for a class. She spent days, scrolling her phone and watching videos of different skills to decide what she wanted to do. However, nothing caught her eye.

Then, one day, she saw a kid do a flip, and slip and fall miserably. First, she took a video and laughed, and then thought to herself, "Hey, I could do that waaaayyyyy better. That kid's a failure!" And so she threw herself into learning it, but unsurprisingly, she fell flat on her face.

She was unhappy with this result, so she immediately went to her parents and asked them to sign her up for a breakdancing course. However, she had a tendency to give up when things got annoying/hard, so her parents turned her away each time. However, both the nonstop pestering and the fact that she no longer was bullying Veneer (because she was too busy following her parents around and throwing tantrums), they finally gave in.

From then on, she started breakdancing classes, and Veneer was upset because now his sister got to do something she liked, but Veneer was stuck in ice skating hell. He was very unhappy for some time, but then decided, "If she's gonna be happy, I gotta be happier. I gotta upstage her". So, he took to ice skating and started focusing all his efforts on it.

Velvet, seeing her twin brother become increasingly devoted to learning the trade she had forced him into while she had just started to get bored of breakdancing, felt a spark of competition and decided to practice harder.

Her parents were really impressed. Periodt. Now they are famous both nationally (Veneer) and on the streets (Velvet, for breakdancing, not giving up). YIPPEE

THE END

[digitaldiarystuff]

Our Secret Pt.2

sooo i’m starting to write before the poll is over hope the result stays the same lol

also thank you for not giving up on me💕

you can read part one here

————

pairing: Pedri Gonzalez x Y/N x Fermin Lopez

summary: you are Pedri’s girlfriend and know his friends, one of them being Fermin. It doesn’t look like he likes you very much but what if he likes you too much?

genre: angst

————

That night after Fermin dropped you at your place you had a weird feeling in your stomach you couldn’t quite place, you didn’t do anything wrong, you kept reminding yourself. Fermin is literally Pedri’s friend, he was just doing you a favor and you’re mad at Pedri because he left you alone, that’s it.

After taking a much needed shower to clear your thoughts you laid on your bed hoping to sleep quickly but unfortunately, you weren’t that lucky and had trouble falling asleep. You felt upset about Pedri’s behavior at the party and suddenly realized all the other times he made you feel uneasy in public, there were times he didn’t feel comfortable being seen with you because you weren’t official yet and that’s understandable given the fact that he’s insanely famous but a part of you felt like you shouldn’t be hidden no matter what. The more you thought about it, the sadder you felt but finally, you felt your eyes closing.

The next morning you woke up a little late and with a headache, great, you thought. You found your phone in between your sheets and looked at missed notifications secretly hoping to see a good morning text from Pedri but there was something else. An unsaved number texted you at 8.32 am

Hey, good morning! Hope you’re okay and don’t have a headache or stomachache, I think eating McDonald’s that late was a mistake 😅

You immediately realized it was Fermin and your heart warmed with his thoughtful words, he didn’t have to text you or check up on you but still did it while your boyfriend couldn’t even bother asking if you went home okay. It’s not like he was asleep because you knew for a fact he had practice this morning so he had to be up. You decided not to let it get to you and started typing.

Hey thank you so much for everything, I don’t know how I’d survive last night without you! And yes the nuggets definitely were a mistake lol, hope you’re okay too

You reread the text trying to make sure it’s not weird but why would it be weird, it’s just two friends checking up on each other even though you didn’t even know he had your number before today. He could’ve easily got it from Pedri, right?

Fermin didn’t text you back after that and you thought maybe it’s for the best but you also didn’t hear from Pedri until well into the afternoon when he called.

“Hey” he smiled softly like he wasn’t black out drunk last night

“Hey” you said with slight coldness in your voice but you weren’t doing it on purpose.

“Are we still on for tonight?” he asked without even mentioning anything about the previous night’s events and you were kind of taken aback.

“What’s tonight?”

“We have that charity event, remember, I told you a week ago.” you suddenly remembered him asking you to accompany him to this fancy event.

At first you were thrilled with the idea thinking this may be the night you make your relationship official but he quickly shut the idea down by telling you he’d pose for the cameras out front and meet up with you once the auction starts. You were less excited now but still said yes and forgot about it all till now.

“Oh yeah, sure we’re still going. How are you planning on going there?”

“The boys and I were thinking about getting a limo, can you take an Uber and meet me there?”

“Do you not want me in the limo?” you asked shocked by how inconsiderate he was being. First he hides you from the world and now he wants you to step in an Uber with a fancy looking dress and ride there alone.

“No of course not, you can come get ready at mine then. I’ll be at the house by five.”

“You know what, I’ll find my own way Pedri. You don’t have to worry about me, not that you care.” you said and ended the call feeling agitated.

He tried calling you a few more times but you didn’t pick up, you even considered turning your phone off and not showing up but wanted to have a nice night with him, maybe this could solve your issues.

You started getting ready for the event, trying on 2 different dresses. One was an off the shoulder black silk maxi dress and the other was a dark red spaghetti strap maxi dress with a wide slit on the side and a corset as a top. You took mirror selfies with both dresses and sent it to your best friend who was on top of your messages app and started on your makeup as you waited for an answer. Your phone pinged not long after and you picked it up expecting it to be Elena but was shocked to see Fermin’s name on the screen. You remembered saving his number in the morning. He sent you a single text.

Definitely the red one

Your cheeks heat up immediately realizing your mistake, you sent the photos to Fermin instead of Elena because he was the last person you texted.

I’m so sorry, it was meant for someone else lol

You wrote back but made a mental note to wear the red dress, maybe it was that much better. You anxiously waited an answer from Fermin but it never came and you felt stupid, did he think you did it on purpose or was he being the cold and stoic Fermin you know again? You felt like you managed to make him open up more and made progress in your friendship and would hate if he went back to being distant. You thought about what can you text him that would make him answer but before you could find something your phone started ringing.

Fermin Lopez

You picked it up slightly nervous.

“Hey”

“Hey, are you not riding with everyone else to the venue?” he asked straight away without even asking how you were.

“No, um, I’ll go straight from my place so…” you drifted off not knowing how to explain why you weren’t going with your boyfriend.

“Are you ready?”

“Well, I’ll probably be ready in 15.” you looked at yourself in the mirror, you had the dress on and your makeup was almost done.

“Okay, I’ll pick you up then.” he suggested but his voice was so neutral you couldn’t understand any emotion behind it.

“What? Fermin you don’t ha…”

“I’m on my way Y/N. I’ll text you once I’m outside.” he said and hung up before you could even reply.

You stood there for a few moments trying to understand what just happened, why was Fermin this interested in how you’ll arrive at the venue or how you’re doing and more importantly, why wasn’t Pedri?

You decided to push these thoughts away and put on your accessories for the night but was a little too slow because Fermin already texted you before you could put everything on. You told him you need 5 more minutes and he was welcome to wait in your living room whilst you finish up and he soon rang the doorbell.

You opened the door revealing Fermin in a suit, this was the first time you’ve seen him this formal and admittedly, he looked nice. Actually he looked so good that you had to tear your eyes away from him but he didn’t look like he noticed, he was too busy looking at your figure with wide eyes. This may be the longest he’s ever looked your way but once you made proper eye contact, he immediately looked away.

“Hi” you smiled and hugged him softly, kissing one of his cheeks. He smiled at you and placed his hand on your waist careful not to put it too low. It felt more like a fancy first date than two friends carpooling to a charity event where your boyfriend was waiting for you and the thought made your stomach turn. There was something about Fermin that you couldn’t understand, he was never inappropriate or weird with you but you couldn’t help but feel something and that something scared the living shit out of you.

“You look amazing, told you this was the best dress.” he shyly said and your cheeks turned red with his compliment, you knew he preferred this dress but it was also your favorite. You didn’t wear it for him.

“So do you.” you replied and it was his turn to have reddened cheeks. He looked down at his shoes and didn’t look back up until you spoke again.

“Let me put on my shoes and we can go.”

You went into your shoe closet and picked out the nude heels you had in mind. They weren’t too high but still elevated your look. You dropped them in front of your door and tried getting in them but struggled because of your dress hugging your body tightly, Fermin soon noticed your uncomfortable state.

“Here, let me help you” he didn’t even let you reply and kneeled down in front of you to help you step into your shoes and buckle them, he did one foot and lightly tapped your calf for you to hold the other one. His one hand on behind your calf steadied you while the other helped you and you were standing so close that you could feel his breath on your exposed leg which made you shiver. You placed one hand on his shoulder and he looked up at you, his eyes were filled with yet another emotion but this time you knew it wasn’t something like sadness or anger, it was pure lust and you hated that you also had the same look on your face.

He slowly rose to his feet but you didn’t let go of his shoulder, you felt glued to him at that moment. Fermin must have felt the same because he stood so close to you that your noses nearly touched and he made no effort to pull back, you knew better you really did, you should’ve taken a step back thank him for helping you and go to the event but Fermin had other plans.

He suddenly closed the gap between you two and pressed his lips onto yours in a hasty manner like he had to do it, he did it so urgently as if he needed you and you couldn’t help but move your lips with his placing your hand on the back of his neck. Your judgement was too clouded to stop as he walked you back into your living room without breaking the kiss, he only stopped when your back hit the wall and a soft moan escaped your lips.

“Fermin” you mewled as he was moving his hands all around your body and on your exposed leg.

He pulled back slightly, your foreheads still touching and both of you panting. His eyes opened for the first time since he kissed you and looked straight into your soul.

“Fermin” you whispered this time not even sure if you were asking him to stop or carry on.

“Y/N, I want this. I want this so fucking much but if you don’t, I can get out of here now and we can pretend this never happened. I’ll never bother you again.” he softly said and you were surprised at how calm he was talking contrary to how passionate he was being mere seconds ago.

You closed your eyes to try to slow your heartbeat down, your whole body was shaking a little. You tried to think but all you could think about was his lips and hands on you.

You stood there for a moment before leaning in again and he happily accepted your advances telling you to jump and you obliged not caring about anything else in the world other than Fermin. He was making you feel that alive.

“God, you’re perfect” he said while carrying you to your room and kissing every inch of skin he could find.

“Just make me feel good” you begged him and he nodded eagerly. He was going to do just that.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Gladys Cooper (Now, Voyager, My Fair Lady)— Best known for tyrannical mothers or put upon wives, she was a gorgeous early star too. Bette Davis thought exceptionally highly of her 'On the day following Cooper's death, her Now, Voyager co-star Bette Davis appeared on The Dick Cavett Show and called Cooper "Without a doubt, the most beautiful person as well as actress, and a professional ... never was she late one minute, never didn't she know every line."'

Joan Crawford (Dancing Lady, Mildred Pierce, The Women)— God, where do I start!!! Her face is so UNIQUE and compelling and stands out so much. I love her thick brows and high cheekbones. She has a school-marmy hardness too her that makes her a little scary and therefore sexy. Her low thick voice also does it for me. Despite being an unusual looking woman with an unusual face, she never loses her glamour. Just a gorgeous talented actress, AND she was some sort of gay!!!

This is round 4 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Gladys Cooper:

Joan Crawford:

I just love women that are very mean.

she was a smoke show in every decade, from the 20s to the 60s.

The classic matronly beauty with amazing eyebrows

of course there's a space for MILF joan but i want to just take a second and say she was so cute in her early movies (like grand hotel and the women)! those parts often get forgotten but her stardom shines in them just as much as in her older #queen #icon roles

Misremembered for wire hanger hatred, this original screen queen mastered the art of the comeback and refused to let Hollywood toss her aside as she aged. The term “auteur” is usually revered for directors or writer-directors, but most critics have one actor they’ll give that title to as well: Crawford—anyone who knows classic movies already has a “Crawford picture” in their head. She knew how to style herself and promote herself. She made herself a star and kept herself fixated in the Hollywood firmament. What’s hotter than knowing just how hot you are?

(don’t think about Mommie Dearest right now) Joan was known for being super nice to all the like crew of the movies she worked on and she’d get everyone gifts. Joan would hold movie nights at her house and knit at the back of her home theater. Joan was sooo obsessed with other women including Greta Garbo, whos dressing room she would obsessively and purposefully walk by. She said that while working on Grand Hotel, Garbo grabbed her face and “if there ever was a time in my life where I would’ve been a lesbian, that was it.” But like Joan also probably did sleep with women including Barbara Stanwyck. Joan was so obsessed with Bette Davis, screening multiple movies of hers in a day at her watch party, constantly trying to spend time with her or do a movie together, insisting on the dressing room next to hers at Warners and sending her daily gifts… etc. Once Bette said that sex was gods joke to humanity and Joan said “I think the joke is on her.” Joan fucked a lot. Joan got caught publicly fucking a man and sent a letter to the woman who saw them basically saying “I bet it excited you” and the woman was like you know what. It did. Joan was best friends with a gay man. Joan was an actually genuinely good actress even though people mocked her a lot for being like cheap and stupid (partially because she never finished school because her family was broke). Joan was so insane and so cool that’s all.

[gimmethosedaddymilkers]

The Stronger Desires

So, starting off strong, we're doing the request for @cantchoosejust1 first, who lovingly requested a femme fatale reader.

Now, I haven't written anything like this, so hopefully you enjoy my spin on things.

Now, let's see exactly what happens with these two.

*Side note, I may have a poll later regarding a pfp change, just to see everyone's thoughts.*

Warnings: Cursing, canon like violence, sexual innuendos, perhaps even fluff, Female reader

The gif is unfortunately not mine, and Tumblr didn't wanna work with me, so it's from Pinterest.

Anywho

Arthur wished, truly, that he could explain exactly how he ended up in this spot, but honestly he'd be just as lost as whoever he was telling the story too.

The night had started off pretty good in all honesty. The gang had been celebrating, enjoying their success on the last job they'd managed to pull off, drinking, laughing, and causing problems for everyone else around them in the saloon.

The place had been lively. Hell, even Arthur had ACTUALLY been having fun.

The biggest smile on his face as he took a seat in the far corner to catch his breath from all the dancing and singing he'd been doing, which he was sure had made him look like an absolute fool.

He chuckles to himself as he quietly lights a cigarette and places it between his lips.

The Saint Denis saloon was...surprisingly more lively than what he'd expected it to be. Rich folks sure knew how to party properly.

Out of the corner of his eye he spots something, a brightly colored dress, not out of the norm for this place, but, for some reason, this one seemed...different.

He turned his head to look, and he was honestly surprised he managed to keep the cigarette in his mouth with the way it nearly fell open.

The woman wearing the dress was far prettier than the actual dress itself.

A gorgeous face, and absolutely wonderful hair as well.

The only part that didn't quite make much sense to him was the fact that you were all over a fat aristocrat. Balding with an awful mustache, but you seemed to be rather excited to stand next to him.

He couldn't quite understand it, how absolutely stunning you are, yet you're following a man like that around.

It boggled him.

The night continued, as they usually do, but now that he'd seen you, Arthur couldn't quite stop staring at you.

You were absolutely beautiful. You were...stunning, and it was damn near impossible for him to focus on much else.

It was hard not to when they man you were clinging too was a big as a house, and being followed around by at least four body guards.

What he was doing in a saloon he'd never know.

It's pretty late at night when things really start to get confusing for Arthur. It's about here that he'd be a little...confused when trying to retell the tale.

Due to the confusing nature of it all as well as all the apple pie moonshine in his system.

Things seem to be going smoothly, until all the sudden the entire saloon is screaming rather than singing.

Instinct takes over and Arthur's hand grabs the butt of his pistol before he realizes exactly what's going on.

The crowd quickly disperses, and it's then that Arthur realizes exactly what happened.

You, you're what happened.

There, on the floor is the aristocrat, though he's much less lively now that there's a bullet wound through his head.

How the hell he hadn't heard the shot he still didn't grasp.

The body guards all surround...you.

Arthur almost jumped up right then and there to defend you. He could take out all four of them in a matter of seconds, and he knew that, but right as he contemplates it he watches you pull a revolver out from under your dress.

The evening suddenly got much more interesting.

"Back off! Or I'll kill you too, that fat bastard had more money than he needed anyway, and if he'd put his hand up my skirt one more time he was gonna die in a much worse way, so be fucking GRATEFUL!"

Arthur nearly laughs out loud at the venom in your voice. It was...well it wasn't funny actually, it was more...attractive to him than anything.

For a moment you make eye contact with him, and it's a strange sensation, the way the two of you seem to talk with your eyes.

Arthur gives you a soft nod, a small smirk on his face and then he nods towards the saloon doors.

You give a nod in return and Arthur takes it as his que to leave discreetly.

It's only a moment later when you exit the saloon at a sprint, and Arthur holds his hand out for you to grab as he sits atop his horse, a black Shire.

You take his hand and he hoists you up easily, as if you weigh nothing at all.

The moment you're on his horse he takes off, the remaining guards rushing out of the saloon too.

It's only seconds after that, that the sound of the lawmen's whistles can be heard. One of the patrons must have reported the gunshot.

You hold onto Arthur for dear life, an arm around his torso and the other holding out your revolver.

"Nice to meet you mister! I take it you aren't exactly a friend of the government either?"

"No ma'am!"

Arthur laughs at the absurdity of it and keeps riding hard as the lawmen start to gather behind the two of you.

"Quick on your feet back there!"

He states, taking a turn down an alleyway that appeared to be just big enough.

"Thanks, you too, saw you reach for your gun!"

You chuckle to yourself.

"Don't exactly look the rich type. In fact, don't look like the Saint Denis type. I take it you might be in the uh...'bodyguard' business."

"If ya mean shootin' fools who deserve it, then yes, I am."

"Yeah, that's what I mean."

"Arthur Morgan."

"Y/N L/N."

"Nice to meet ya. Let's get the hell outta here."

Arthur did his best to do just that, out running the law as quickly as he could get his poor horse to go.

Finally after quite some time the two of you make it into the woods, just outside Saint Denis, the sound of the lawmen steadily fading.

You're nearly out of the woods, metaphorically of course, when a stump seems to have other ideas.

Arthur and you both go flying off the horse, and directly into the mud below.

It's dark as hell and Arthur has no clue exactly where he is, and you just barely do.

Both of you are covered in mud and Arthur's horse: Mayhem, is currently writhing on the ground attempting to right itself.

You sit up in the mud, scoffing and trying to wipe mud off your face as Arthur does the same.

"Christ Alive..."

Arthur groans, flicking his arm downwards, trying to get the mud off.

You do the same, looking at him with a look of disgust on your face, only for a moment, before you start laughing.

"Well, Mr. Morgan, how very kind of you to dump me in the mud like this."

"Well I didn't mean-"

You laugh and stand up, before you tear off your skirt, now soiled with mud, to reveal your pants underneath it.

"I needed to get that thing off anyway, I was about tired of it."

You reach your hand out, and Arthur takes it, a sort of sheepish grin on his face.

"Well, glad ya ain't too mad at me."

"Nah...you ain't crossed the line just yet cowboy."

Arthur laughs this time and pulls his hand away to run it over his stubble in an attempt to try and get the rest of the mud off.

"I'll be stinkin' for weeks with this stuff, even if I take a damn bath at the hotel."

He sighs and takes his hat off, wiping mud off the brim.

He looks up at you.

"So...Miss L/N...You...sure seem more than capable of takin' care of yourself...I assume you got somewhere you can hide out for a bit until the law gets off you?"

"Course I do."

You laugh and step closer. You take the hat from his hand and gently place it back on his head, pressing your hand to his chest in the process.

"All worried about me there, Mr. Morgan?"

"Worried? No. Curious? Yes."

You offer yet another chuckle and then step around him, letting your hand travel over his shoulder, gently taking it away as you step closer to his horse, and offer it an apple from your bag that had been hidden beneath your dress.

"Well Mr. Morgan...if you're so interested, I suppose you'll have to bump into me again sometime soon, won't you? After all you did save me back there...even if you threw me into the mud afterwards."

"Hey I said-"

"So defensive."

You tease and step back towards him, you flick his hat, making it tilt upwards slightly.

"Send me a letter sometime Mr. Morgan...I could use someone like you for some of my...endeavors. If you're willing that is."

"Depends...You ain't gonna make me dress up and sing the can can are you?"

"No, I wasn't but...now I might."

You laugh and look towards Saint Denis' in the distance.

"Well...Mr. Morgan, if you could do me a favor and drop me off near Rhodes...I think I'd be forever in your debt."

Before Arthur could really register it, that's exactly where he was, stopped in front of the Rhodes train station, holding something you'd given him as he watched you climb onto the train.

A heavy locket, sat in his palm, as well as a handkerchief you'd insisted on giving him, with your initials sewed into the corner of it.

You smile at him, and wave from your seat as the train pulls away, and something within Arthur tells him that it won't be the last time that he sees you.

He couldn't quite remember exactly how he'd managed to end up here. In all complete honesty, the only thing he really knew for certain was that you were....something, that was for sure. Spitfire and kick to you.

He'd see you again. he'd make sure of it.

Okay, so, like I said, this is slightly different than what I write, not by much, but it is a little different, so I hope it was good, and I hope that you enjoyed it! As always, I'm always happy to rewrite something if it doesn't hit the spot just right!

[thehollowwriter]

Summary: Poll winner. Some Silas and baby Finn fluff, with accidental angst (Lamentations' lovey dovey shenanigans have kept ya'll too happy)

Word count: 1982

(Pls reblog and leave a comment ❤️)

Pup

If there was one word to describe how Silas felt right now, it would he antsy. Tired, too. So so tired.

They had been out for three hours, drifting through the waters and ensnaring what prey they could find. There was a notable lack of fish compared to last season, and they were forced to swim further out.

Silas was exhausted. He didn't want to be here right now. He wanted to go home. He needed to go home. He was at home without him, he can't leave him at home without him-

Silas' fins twitched, and his tail coiled in discomfort. He sucked in a breath and tried to calm down, fearing the loud beating of his heart may alert their prey.

He needed to go home. Anything could happen without his presence there. Timo can't-

"-We can cover for you, sir."

Sleep deprived and distracted, it took Silas a few moments to process the fact that someone was talking to him. He blinked, then turned to face who had a spoken- a young member of his hunting party- with a frown.

"What?"

"You can go home if you want." The blue ringed octopus mer repeated. "We can cover for you. It's getting... late... and-" She faltered. "You... seem... anxious about... your..."

Silas stared at her as she trailed off and shrank into herself, avoiding his eyes. "If you want, sir."

Silas simply observed her a minute or so, watching her fins flick and quiver nervously. Behind her, the other four waited for an answer with wide eyes.

"...Don't come back empty-handed."

Silas was darting through the water towards home before any of them could respond. They would manage just fine. They were a talented group of mers.

"Anxious"? "Antsy"? Neither could even begin to describe the pit in his stomach and the weight on his chest, the sense of dread that hung over him like a dark cloud.

He's going to open the door to an empty, silent house. He's going to be met with the stench of blood. He's going to fail. He will be gone. He's going to be alone again-

Timo's surpised yelp when the front door burst open made Silas feel just a little better.

The cuttlefish in question looked at him in surprise, a hand over his heart and skin bright yellow with alarm.

"Mister Silas, sir, you're back early!" Timo exclaimed, his colours slowly turning back to normal.

Silas ignored him, continuing to swim anxiously down the hallway.

"Where's Finn?"

"Uh... asleep? In your room?" Timo's tone was quizzical, and he followed after Silas with an incredibly confused look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

Silas didn't answer. He simply swam into his room and towards the cradle crafted from coral and bone at the foot of the bed and peered inside.

A glorious feeling of relief flooded him, and the weight on his chest lifted.

Curled up around a clam on a mattress of seasponge, his son slept soundly, the rise and fall of his chest and the flutter of gills gentle and calm.

Finn was fine. He was breathing. His heart was beating. There was no blood. He was safe.

"How was he?"

Timo took a few moments to realise Silas was talking to him. "Oh! Yeah, he was great. He was a bit fussy and started chewing on me, but I got him the clam to play with, and he fell asleep just before you arrived."

"And his food?"

"Pureed shrimp and seaweed, like you showed me. He ate it all really fast. I think he's due to eat some more now, though."

Silas nodded slowly. "Thank you, Timo, I... I appreciate it."

Tino lit up like a light. "No problem, Mister Silas!" He said, making an awkward salute gesture. "I'm happy to help."

Silas sent a small smile the teen's way. "You can take a few extra madol and a few scallops and lobsters home. I'll see you tomorrow, Timo."

Surprise adorned Timo's face, and he nodded slowly, almost like he didn't believe what he was hearing.

"T-Thank you so much, Mister Silas! I'll see you tomorrow!"

'Swim safe.' Silas wanted to say, but the words would not leave his lips. He simply watched Timo disappear from sight and waited until he heard the door open and shut.

A comfortable silence settled over the house, and, finally alone, Silas reached into the crib to gently thumb at Finn's cheek.

His chest tightened when he got no response, but the sight of the tiny, beating heart through Finn's translucent skin made him relax once more.

"You're safe..." He murmured, moving his hand away to rub his temple. "Safe."

With that mantra repeating in his mind, Silas moved away from the crib to the large clam shell bed with sea sponge and seagrass nestled inside. He settled onto it and rested his chin on his wrists, gaziny at the cradle as if he feared it would vanish if he blinked.

However, finally relaxed and lying on something soft with his pup in sight and perfectly safe, his lack of sleep began to creep up on him. Before he knew it, his eyes slid shut, and he drifted into a state of unconsciousness.

A series of clicks, whistles, and squeaks shattered his peaceful sleep, followed by the sound of crying.

Silas sat up and tiredly dragged a hand down his face in frustration, growling to himself. When he fully registered what he was hearing, he shot off the clam shell and scooped Finn into his hands, clicking to let the pup know who was there.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly, cupping his hands to look Finn over carefully. He didn't seem hurt...

Finn simply cried and squeaked in response and coiled his tail around Silas' thumb. He began to chew on it, and tiny, glazed over eyes darted around as he tried to find his father.

"I'm right here." Silas murmured, shifting Finn into one hand and using his free hand to gently stroke Finn's back. "Are you hungry?"

Finn's subsequent bite into his thumb seemed to answer his question. Finn's teeth were brittle but still sharp, and little streaks of blood bloomed in the water before dissipating.

The scent hit Silas' nostrils, and for a brief moment, an overwhelming and primal sense of dread and panic washed over him.

'There's blood in the water,' Something in the back of his mind snarled at him. 'Hide.'

Silas cursed at himself but didn't move. He stayed frozen in place with pinpricks for pupils as that little voice continued to berate him.

'Idiot. Stupid. Foolish. They will smell it, they will smell you, you put yourself and your pup in danger with no one to protect you, and-'

Silas closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose. He doesn't live in the abyss. Not anymore. Not for over twenty or thirty years. He lives inside a kelp forest, with a group of staff and a city nearby. It was fine.

It took Silas a few moments to realise Finn was still chewing on his thumb and to gently move him away. He could see the puncture marks and smell the blood, but he felt... nothing.

Finn squeaked at him and wriggled around, annoyed his chew toy was taken away and trying to find it again.

"It's alright, I've got something even better for you." Silas murmured. He snapped his fingers, and a tiny bottle the size of his thumb appeared in his hand.

"Shrimp and seaweed. Isn't that nice?" He asked, whistling a few times. He carefully pressed the teat of the bottle against Finn's lips, hoping the little pup would be as co-operative with him as he was with Timo.

To his relief, Finn grabbed at the bottle and started drinking the liquefied food as if he had never eaten anything in his life.

Silas sighed and smiled a bit as he supported Finn's little head with his finger and used his another to stop the bottle from dropping onto Finn's face.

"There we go. That's nice, right? Yummy yummy shrimp."

He wasn't good at 'baby talk', as it was called. He never knew what to say or how high his voice should go. Morrigan was far bett- no. Don't go there now. The dreams had just stopped tormenting him.

Finn finished the entire bottle in the span of about five or ten minutes and then pushed it away, chirping softly in content. Silas let go of the bottle and let it float to the floor. He could fetch it later. For now, his focus was entirely on Finn, who was now chewing on his own tail.

Silas gently moved Finn to the clam shell and silently observed the little one crawl off his hand and start curiously pawing and playing with the sea sponge.

Finn was so small. Only about the size of Silas' hand. He had frail bones and delicate skin and was completely blind. It would be so easy to kill him. Silas could curl his hand into a fist and crush him. Just a dash of magic could end him. Just a snap of teeth, and he could be eaten.

Silas was no longer in the abyss, but there were still threats lurking around every corner, from the alleys of the city to the wide plastered smiles of the citizens.

'At least most issues are dealt with if Leech keeps his word,' Silas thought. 'Perhaps I should speak to him abou-'

"Da."

Silas' train of thought came to a sudden stop, and he lowered himself down so his face was in front of Finn's, wondering if he had heard correctly.

"What did you say, my darling?"

At the sound of hus voice, Finn wriggled around and reached out to pat his face with a tiny, stubby hand. "Da."

Oh.

"Yes," Silas gasped, his voice barely above a whisper. "Da."

"Da!" Finn repeated. A delighted giggle left his lips. "Da!"

Silas sucked in a breath and bit his lip. That was the first time Finn had ever laughed.

Silas nodded his head, the long forgotten feeling of excitement lighting up inside him. "Yes. Yes, that's right, Finn. I'm your dad."

Finn squeaked and clicked in response, then shuffled away from Silas to play with the seasponge. Silas picked up a teething ring from his side table and placed it in front of Finn, still feeling elated.

"There, how's that? Something for your sore teeth."

Finn's hand closed around the familiar object, and he pulled it towards himself with a delighted coo. His teeth, sharp and monstrous, sank into it easily but didn't pierce through. He chewed on it happily , his tail flicking back and forth in quick succession.

Silas rested his head on the sponge bed and curled his tail to form a protective circle around Finn. He was tired but awake enough to watch his baby tucker himself out playing with teething ring and other toys Silas had placed on the bed.

After about twenty minutes, Finn lost interest in the toys and went still. A moment or two passed, and he put his hand in his mouth and looked around nervously.

"Da?" He called, following the word up with a click. There was a tremble to his finns, and he sounded like he was about to start crying. "Da?!"

"I'm here, I'm here." Silas said quickly, gently placing Finn onto the palm of his hand and bringing him close to his chest. "I'm here, precious."

Finn didn't make any further sound. He relaxed and curled his tail around Silas' finger, and then he was asleep.

Silas smiled at his lovely, wonderful, precious pup and leaned forward and gently kissed Finn's forehead. He didn't move, deciding that it was alright if Finn slept with him tonight.

"Sleep well, my treasure."

...........................................

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed! It was fun writing this, even though I'm too happy with the ending and don't think it's one of my best. Ah, well, I'll blame it on school.

BONUS:

Here's what Finn's squeaks sound like:

https://youtube.com/shorts/u_r7WwfZlFQ?si=QRFUlTUDQKROE9yZ

Tagging: @distant-velleity @theleechyskrunkly @cyanide-latte @cynthinesia @the-banana-0verlord @jovieinramshackle @oya-oya-okay @officialdaydreamer00 @krenenbaker @skrimpyskimpy @boopshoops @kitwasnothere @krenenbaker @casp1an-sea

@br3adtoasty @rainesol @galaxies-and-gore @elenauaurs @am0nline

@1dont-really-know @kazumify @minteasketches @ramshacklerumble @elysia-nsimp

@skrimpyskimpy @casp1an-sea @offorestsongs @skriblee-ksk

[littlespacereader]

Halloween Fic Ideas!!🎃👻

Hey guys! I just wanted to pick your brains for a little bit. I want to write a fic as a Halloween Special for my Tumblr but I’m not sure which fandom to write it for. So I’m putting it to a poll and letting you decide what I write! Here’s my ideas:

Hannibal (tv show) - Caregiver! Hannibal & Will take Little! Reader to a Halloween party. They all dress up in a group Halloween costume. Their little one gets scared at the party but nothing to fear, Hannibal and Will are here to protect their little one. (My personal fav)

Criminal Minds- The BAU have a Halloween party (either at Rossi’s house or over the office) and they all have to keep an eye on Little! Reader from eating too much candy. (We don’t want a repeat of last year!) Complete with party games, little scares and such. Morgan and Rossi trying to scare everyone, while Spencer, Hotch and Emily all protect you from the scares and Garcia and JJ slip you a piece of candy when no one is looking.

Supernatural - Dean never really got to experience Halloween to it’s fullest as a kid. With Sam away on a case and the Bunker to himself with Cas, he regresses and hve the Halloween he always wanted. A Halloween with Little! Dean and Caregiver! Castiel. Watching scary movies and dressing up together.

Moon Knight - The three personalities all wonder what you’ve been up to lately because you won’t show them the art project you’ve been working on for Halloween. Turns out you made a makeshift moon knight suit to wear when you go trick or treating for the first time. Enter Caregivers! Marc, Steven and Jake with a Little! Reader going trick or treating in London.

Let me know below what you would like to read on Halloween! 🎃👻

I’m going to decide on a fic by Friday night so I wrote it over the weekend. That being said please vote as soon as possible! If you have any suggestions to the ideas listed above comment below! I’ll make a post announcing the winner. Thank you all so much! I can’t wait to see what you pick!😁💞💞 -Clara💞

[la-tramontana]

when it comes to voting

It's time to stop relying on political machines and staffers to do the work and act like organizers. Anyone and everyone can do it, but it's important to remember that if you want to move someone from INACTION to ACTION, the biggest influence on that person's behavior is going to be a personal relationship with strong rapport.

That means you.

Make a list of your contacts. ALL your contacts, including the annoying ones. Online and offline. Your neighborhood. Everyone who could roughly be called your monkeysphere. Your target is a list of 10 - 300 people who you have some ability to contact.

Next, power-mapping.

Who knows who? Who influences who? Who is in a friend group together? Chunk them up into key groups. Try to find a person in every group who you think could influence others, and who you could also influence. Identify people in powerful positions.

Do you have friends who have more influence in their particular friend groups than you? Do you have friends who you might be able to convince to go to a protest with you?

It's time to agitate, which means targeted asks. Get your identified influencers, people who already want to be engaged in politics, who will vote but won't do more yet (in unions, we call these "strike captains") to say "yes" to actions such as: protesting, spreading the word, joining a project like Sister District, registering people to vote, as you are able. If they say no, that's fine. Let them cool off, rebuild the relationship stronger, and ask again.

Ask people to ask people, specific people who you know they know, to vote. Check in a couple weeks later to ask about what so-and-so said.

You can't do all of this yourself. Organizing means pulling other people in and sharing responsibility. Your goal is to spend as little time "in charge" as possible.

Document barriers to voting and organize mutual aid to cover those barriers. This may mean helping people pay for their IDs, driving people to the polls, etc. The likely fact is that if you know 50 - 100 people you probably know some people who have some resources and some people who are going to need some help. Connect these people to each other.

Leave the hard no's, the ones who want nothing to do with politics whatsoever, alone and focus on influencing as many people as you can around them. You might be surprised at the outcomes you can achieve.

Something that's worked for me, but YMMV: if anyone asks, you aren't agitating and you aren't organizing and you definitely aren't a leftist of any type. You're a centrist leaning slightly conservative with neutral values (smile). You don't care about specific outcomes, you just want the election to be representative of people's views. You want to get young people involved in "something." It's important to participate in democratic traditions.

Make a timeline of 3 months or so leading up to the election with concrete, achievable goals every week. Your goal is to flip as many of your targets to a. VOTE and b. ORGANIZE their own monkeyspheres. Use gentle peer pressure: "I know so-and-so registered to vote lately, have you? Do you need help?"

Don't forget to remind people of both a. the stuff that pisses you off and b. what you hope to win. Without hope ya got nothing.

Don't use regurgitated lines or scripts; come up with your own motivations, your own way of saying things. The less you sound like you're working for the democratic party, the better.

Here's the money line that got my famously "neutral" and "apolitical" turf of 200 to swing active and anarchist: "No, I'm not going to tell you how to vote. That's your business. Check the issues and see what you think. I just want you to vote in the strike authorization. Don't you think our group should get a say in the outcome?"

[fuck-off-im-ace]

Warrior Nun Update │ January 10th edition

First of all, last i checked we reached at least 5,5 millions #SaveWarriorNun tweets! With the speed we’re going, we might be real close to 6M by the time i post this. To give yall an idea, i’ve heard that the Manifest fandom, who managed to get their show saved after a cancellation, did 10M in a year? Not sure how true that is, but it is what i heard! 

They were also big on signing the petition, which reached 100K signatures. We reached that goal at the end of december, we’re now at 104K last i checked. 

We’re also borrowing the Billboards strategy from the Wynonna Earp fandom. A Go Fund Me is still taking donations, the more we are the bigger the billboards will be! For legal reasons, we need fanart for them, so if you’re interested in getting your art out there or know someone who would do great representation, go to the Discord to get the specs! 

A lot of people all over the world are getting together with fellow fans that live near them to put up posters to publicise the effort. An Instagram account has been made to share WN things (such as art, memes, stories and more), i think there’s a tiktok account too, so go follow if you’re into that

If Twitter is more your thing, the wonderful team behind the Discord made a little game to get some quotes trending! Each day got its own sentence to get trending along with the general hashtag, like “For all nunkind”, “Just your job?” or “And my pleasure”. That last one was used by Simon himself on a tweet about keeping up the effort to get the show to a new home, so don’t give up hope! They know we’re still there, and they are working on this too. We have some fun ones for the next days, like “Lemon drop”, “Warrior Nun New Home” and “Love you Alba”, cause she deserves all the love. 

The admin team is giving a big effort in the general organisation of the fandom this week. They’re looking for artists for the billboards, video editors for publicity, but also for a ton of other skills! They need coders, tiktokers, data analysts, graphic designers, musicians and people that are real good with management. All the info is on the Discord, as usual.

Some good news, to make this less tedious: We won some shits! As i said in a previous post, Warrior Nun won “Show of the year” on the SpoilerTV poll! KTY won the performer of the month for december, and Alba the performer of the month for november. That puts them both in the “Performer of the year” poll! They are up against some really good and popular actors, so be sure to go vote for them both.

For the next weeks, the admin team is putting together more watch parties, fanfiction events, WN themed D&D, trivia nights, all sorts of fun! Not too late to join on the action if you’re not already in the Discord Server!

It is very important to know that tweets and other ways to publicise the show will not get us a renewal. Netflix doesnt care about a bunch of fans tweeting about it. What matters is views. All this is just to get the show noticed, cause Netflix sure as hell didnt spent a dollar on getting the show out there. So be sure to stream it, suggest it to friends, family and colleagues, and always always finish a season! What Netflix pays attention to is if people watch the show, and if they finish both season. 

To close this big ass post, i just want to remind everyone that Warrior Nun got cancelled less than a month ago. How incredible it is, that we managed to get all that done in a month. Couldn’t be prouder of us. 

[the-physicality]

ok long election post incoming

it wasn't one thing. it was every thing. and it starts at the top. when democrats don't govern, thy don't give anyone a reason to vote for them. and when they only cater towards specific groups [for example the college educated] they may end up losing other groups

campaigning against something but for nothing is not a persuasive strategy. especially when people have experienced it before and came out on the other side.

governing you can blame on joe. you can blame the administration for not taking enough credit for its accomplishments. you can blame them for only bragging about it to people who aren't listening. you can blame the administration for writing a blank check to israel.

campaigning you split the blame. joe dropped out too late and not having a primary*. and harris lost momentum when she started listening to the consultant class. she didn't distance herself from the things that got joe a 38% approval rating. you can blame biden for not building a campaign.

But. she started listening to the consultant class i'm sure because they were showing her numbers like people think you're too liberal. and that only happens when you lose the culture war. [the culture war says Black people and women want to take away everything good in the poor little white man's life [and anyone who aligns themselves with the white man] which started in like 2008, and has only grown exponentially with the strengthening of the conservative media empire, the 2016 election, the 2020 protests. not just podcasts but sinclair media and fox news.

democrats are so proud of their ground game and their volunteer numbers and their donations but no one ever stops to think why they need all of this, especially after trump wins with basically none of it.

it's their media empire but it's also because democrats aren't doing enough in office. I also want to say that the premise behind all liberal aligned outreach is horrendous. they put your number on 150 different lists and everyone wants to make sure you vote and you're registered. because they don't have a large enough loyal base. because they don't do enough in office to earn people's support.

and the people who are their strongest base, the ones who turn out - Black voters, are far more likely to be subject to voter suppression- be that too few polling locations in a region or voter id laws or Bomb Threats or Ballots Getting Burned.

fundamentally the party also doesn't understand its broader base, mostly because of the consultant class. therefore , they don't know who they're supposed to govern for, and they would rather keep donors happy [because again, see the outreach problem]

Democrats should look to push popular policies** and focus on the economy [in an inclusive way]. returning to the running against vs running for point- if your opponent only sees you as running against something, that is a huge hole that they can fill with whatever they want. and for them, it's culture wars.

if democrats are only seen as the party that is socially liberal with no economic policy [because they do not talk about it] then republicans [who have no morals] will fear monger uninformed voters with lies.

and how do these lies get reinforced? how do they gain traction? how did republicans grow their base and maintain turnout? they created a media infrastructure outside of the mainstream media. this is through podcasts and streamers and alt right pipelines on youtube and elon buying twitter. inundating people with fear tactics about how diversity will create a zero sum game that you. will. lose.

if you look at the map of voter swing [all the red arrows] people at first said that's insurmountable there's nothing she could have done. then they said well she is underperforming 2020 numbers and he is holding. 2020 had abnormally high turnout because of the pandemic. many people for the first time in their lives had access to ways to vote other than in person on election day.

2020 was in a sense a perfect storm. trump was bungling a pandemic that everybody still acknowledged was happening, deeply unpopular, and joe biden was able to unite the party after [amid] a messy primary enough to come in and play hero.

and then they arbitrarily decided the pandemic [and public health] was over. that it was too taxing on the public. too unpopular. when in actuality people are begging their governments to lead them. They never sent out checks they promised in the name of fiscal responsibility.

they passed the inflation reduction act but didn't know how to publicize it enough. they decided the only way to get back on track was to raise interest rates, which increased the cost of borrowing money, which limited things like building housing.

meanwhile if you look at exit polls, people said they voted republican because their cost of living was too high.

harris did start running on affordable housing. but it was too late. the party didn't have a strong enough platform. they REMOVED mention of being against the death penalty. they take no human rights stance on palestine. they alienate people who wanted so badly to lib out.

now, why would a presidential candidate have to run on something like building more homes? because the states aren't building enough. the big blue democratic trifectas don't govern as they should. their schools are funded by property tax and property tax is based on the value of a home and if you add more homes or more people [people who are not the same as you] the homes may lose their value. and of course school funding isn't why homes aren't being build in cities [cities that need to run up their D votes to offset more conservative areas in the state]. it's because people were raised with the idea that real estate is an investment. it's a way to make money. and with the basic principles of supply and demand, if you have less, demand will increase, and if demand increases, you can sell for more.

so now you have red states building lots of housing for cheap, not getting fucked over in the census, and gaining population and therefore congressional seats and electoral votes. these people do not vote out republicans. they agree with them or the state democratic party isn't strong enough or they don't vote at all. meanwhile blue states won't ban single family zoning until it is too late and because of their high taxes [to pay for social services] and wages [because of the cost of living] the cost to build is higher, and less gets built. so these states lose population, they undercount in the census, they lose representation. now their representatives have to cover more ground. which leads us into the second biggest problem the democrats have:

after /during trump, they don't know what their identity is. they don't like their base. many of the democrats in leadership positions are overly intellectual and aim for a kennedy vibe. they like their consultants and they really don't mind the old republican party either. they've grown used to the reagan republicans like frenemies. because as many really wealthy people will show [with their votes], they won't be affected by a rollback of the social net, of healthcare, of abortion. they'll find a way. after all, money can get you a lot of things in life.

because of this they open the tent. they say anyone who is not a trumpie can come in. we want all the help we can get to go against this guy. show the country that there is one sane option. [but what is it that they say ? the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. hmmm.] they invite the cheneys in. they say we will govern for everyone. and this means doing things like not playing hardball in nominations and appointments, not doing enough to push things through. mitt romney was right when he said 49 percent of voters don't matter.

the best way to govern as the head of your party is to be strong. let your members carve their own path, but people like politicians who have a backbone. who stand for something. who fight for something. not people who say " when we win, we'll codify roe v wade!" that's bullshit and everyone knows it. moreover, it's not even a sound legal decision. you're still letting five lawyers set healthcare policy for the nation and enshrine it as a constitutional right. literally what? [not to mention the trimester shit .. when does life begin blah blah blah]

**and now, the biggest problem of the democratic party: nobody likes them. the party as a whole is DEEPLY unpopular. it does not make sense that candidates up and down the ballot are outperforming a persidential candidate like this. it doesn't make sense for progressive policies [ballot measures] to outperform candidateS like this in red states.

but post LBJ [into nixon, reagan-present] the party fell apart and never got back. they've had flashes of charisma [W Clinton, Obama] to get them through, but we are living in a republican era. in the same way people who lived FDR-LBJ lived through a democrat era. [my apologies to jimmy carter]

nixon awoke the modern republican base and reagan made it mainstream. his minion bush kept it moving and then bush's son brought it into the new millennium. many thought there was a new era with obama, that we wouldn't look back. but it turns out it was just enough for one of the greatest conservative backlashes in politics. and just because republican insiders were new to the trump ways didn't mean they didn't pounce on the opportunity to regain power.

all this to say, since LBJ democrats have been clinging to scraps with every democrat in office, just enough to keep the country functioning. which means, once again, that they do not govern enough to be likeable. they do not campaign to be likeable. because they value policy, but they cannot communicate it. Republicans are great communicators because they lie. and their base doesn't care.

every once in a while there will be a great communicator from the democrats- FDR, JFK, Obama. but so often the party, at all levels, will shun this talent. because it's not their time yet. because someone else was here first. because that's not the message the party wants, now or ever. they like their consultant class, they don't mind being republican lite, especially when the alternative is trump.

the name democrat is bad vibes and we lose elections because of it. that's a branding problem, it's a policy problem, it's a candidate problem.

*the primary. people say well there should have been a primary. okay. and who would have won that? after forcing biden out for age? do you think gavin newsom would have won? do you think the party would have let sanders or warren get it? shapiro [who I don't like but obviously has aspirations] had one year in the Pennsylvania executive. AOC isn't old enough.

the democrats have no bench. why do they have no bench? because they are constantly getting wiped out by the red wave. i mean, they have a supermajority and don't govern. they let republicans dictate policy. they cede whole arguments to republicans [see "balancing the budget" and the culture wars]. republicans put effort and money into recruiting every race. they bankroll new candidates and they send them to seminars to get all the talking points they need. they create a whole judicial ecosystem with clerks from their supreme court nominees.

meanwhile democrats are too worried about getting beat by republicans, about making sure everyone in line gets to die in office. they don't invest in the infrastructure to build and coordinated campaigns and recruit strong candidates. in fact, some of the strongest candidates have come from primary challengers, people who were at one point shunned from the party because they didn't wait their turn.

.

the democrats need to take a good long look in the mirror and then smash it with a hammer. they need to break it all down and start from scratch. they need to exile the consultants and work to create an independent media infrastructure to get young minds on the pipeline to progressive ideals. they have fucked up royally a few too many times for it to be coincidence. they froth at the mouth to run against trump and they blow it most of the time. they wouldn't know how to run against a "regular" republican if a campaign plan hit them in the face. they need to create a coalition, they need to create state party infrastructure, they need to campaign on the things that are popular and use persuasive messaging. if they can do a better job if they can understand actually what needs to happen maybe they'll have a chance. i'd like to see it, but I won't bet on them.

[blushstarot]

PICK A CARD: your favorite character celebrates your birthday!

Anon request ^^

Pick whichever picture you feel more attracted to and skip to that pile.

kinda late, but I had a lot going on, sorry! (rant and poll at the end as always). Images credits.

Pile 1

four of cups (reversed), knight of pentacles, four of wands.

I feel this character you are thinking of is either male or just gives a lot of male energy, and that they are someone who is very responsable, gentle and reliable, which means, they probable organized the party, and if is a surprise one depends on you and what you would prefer. They might have issues expressing themselves, and how they feel about you, so they are trying to express their care and appreciation through organizing the party of your dreams, from what kind of cake and decorations you'll like, to the day, hour and location of the party, they see that everything is perfect for your special day. And judging by the four of wands as the last card, I would say that they did an excellent job at it, the party was a huge success and you felt like royalty the whole time.

Also, something important to add, is that with the four of cups in reverse, I feel that they didn't invite some people that you might consider important in your life out, since they are a little stubborn with their believes, probably the people you know that won't really vibe with them was left out.

**As in all the PACs, just take what resonates and leave what doesn't, this is for entertainment only, so have fun with it!

Pile 2

king of cups, four of wands, page of pentacles (reversed).

You're probably the one that suggested that you celebrate your birthday, and I'm seeing more of a small reunion than a party, maybe even just a having a meal with your favorite character. Now this is a little complicated, but probably things didn't work out as you had planned, at first everything was really good, you were having fun, they were having fun too, and everything was going smoothly… until it wasn't. Right now, I'm seeing two main scenarios: maybe you decided to have an after party someplace else and things got out of control there, which made you leave early or just ending and send everyone home; or you had a dinner reservation for after the reunion and didn't make it on time so you lost it. Any inconvenience that might of happened, I'm sure your favorite character tried really hard to make up for it, so you could still enjoy your day and be happy, but it's really on you how you take this inconvenience and if you pull through and still have a good time.

**As in all the PACs, just take what resonates and leave what doesn't, this is for entertainment only, so have fun with it!

Pile 3

temperance, nine of cups, six of swords (reversed).

I feel that you and your favorite character get along really well, too well some might say. And not necessarily in a romantic way (so no, I'm not saying you are dating this character) but more on a "we banter a lot and are always making jokes and just having a good time" kind of way. Your relationship is really harmonious so of course they are celebrating your birthday, and what better way to do it than granting your wishes that day. You want to go to a restaurant? They take you there and pay for your meal; you want x, y or z gift? they bought it for you; you just want to stay at your place and spend a good time with them? they bring snacks, helps you set up the place, and when you're done they are cleaning for you. And some of you might love this, but I'm seeing that for some of you that all this attentions is kind of making you uncomfortable, and feel overwhelmed; if that's the case, you can ask them to stop and they'll probably do, you won't hurt their feelings, just communicate with them.

**As in all the PACs, just take what resonates and leave what doesn't, this is for entertainment only, so have fun with it!

I hope you liked it! I'm really sorry for the delay in getting this reading out, I got a new keyboard and I had to get used to it since is in English and I'm not used to the key placements (and I had some personal problems but we're not getting into that). Anyway, I think I would be able to upload normally again, so hopefully new pacs are coming soon! For any updates I'll make a post so if you want you can follow me, or just check my master list (link below) every couple of weeks to see what's new.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think.

You can find more of my PACs on my master list, and if you have any suggestions on future PACs you want to see me do, you can send me an ask.

Bye byeee ✨

[taiblogcomics]

Grim Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Social Media

Hey there, rapping in French. We're as close to Halloween as we'll get without going over, so we might as well do something spooky, right? And I'm doing the spookiest thing I can think of: I'm going out of order and reviewing an issue a little bit ahead. This might be unprecedented! True horror! So yes, if you're reading this in the backlog later, this is issue 11! We'll do issues 9 and 10 next month~

As soon as you see this cover, though, you'll understand why we had to do this one today:

Yeah! Do you see why this is our Halloween episode this year~? Like, come on. This might be one of the best MLP covers we've ever had. Even if you don't like G5 that much (and there's certainly reason not to), you gotta admit you'd be tempted by this cover. This is one that's gonna catch your eye. This honestly brings me back to the good ol' days of Tumblrpon askblogs, when every other blog had some kind of spooky-edgy content (including mine!) that was just like this. Ah, fantastic~

So we're skipping ahead only slightly here, just past the conclusion to the Discord arc. I don't think you need to actually know anything about how that arc ended to read this one though--I hope you don't, because I haven't read it yet either--so we can probably just jump right in. Which we do! Pipp is doing her livestreaming thing, and Zipp is annoyed by it. Their usual sibling dynamic. Particularly, Pipp is thrashing about, agonising over her likes counter, and Zipp is mocking her for being invested in her made-up internet points.

While Izzy explains to Zipp how engagement works (though Zipp is also right in that Pipp shouldn't be chasing likes), Pipp retreats to her room to rant. So the only thing about the Discord adventure you need to know is that actively adventuring is what has been driving up Pipp's view count lately. Now that the adventure is over, folks are unsubscribing because her normal content isn't what they're interested in. This is a little disenheartening, because Pipp puts a lot of stock in being authentic and giving her fans what they want at the same time.

So, to that end, she starts to delve into what I can only describe as creepypasta. It's a legend about the Old Nag, and she shows several posts about her history and how to summon her. Long story short, nopony came to her birthday party, and she will grant a wish to somepony who recreates it perfectly. Pipp thinks it's a really good idea to try and summon this ghost entity she read about on the internet, especially since these videos and posts get lots of likes. Oh boy, somepony's about to get Slenderman'd~

So while the pega-sisters go out shopping for supplies, Zipp expresses her skepticism with this whole plot. Namely, trying to summon a ghost whose motivation is revenge is probably a bad idea. That's why Pipp isn't doing it for the wish, she's giving Naggie the birthday she never got! Yep, and finding Samara/Sadako's body and burying it solved the Ring curse, right~? Ghosts don't follow your mortal logic, and Zipp knows this. She tells Pipp she's missing the point of the story, while Pipp ignores her to poll chat about cake flavours. Now, somepony livestreaming in public, that's way scarier than any ghost~

Despite Izzy and Sunny being equally skeptical, the plan commences, and we get the next scene in "Paranormal Activity" filter. It is genuinely a ritual, as they offer the completed plushie of Old Naggie the chips, light some (birthday) candles, blow them out around the plush, and so forth. And this is just the first night of three! Pipp has a whole script she's working from (thus making her ghost show barely better than any on basic cable), but what none of them planned for was a glass suddenly falling off the table. Is the ghost already here~?

Izzy confronts Pipp the next morning, asking her if she really believes in all the ghost stuff. Despite last night's freak-out, she's actually undecided on it all. Izzy then asks her motivations. She does arts and crafts because it makes her happy, and thought it was the same with Pipp's livestreams. But if she doesn't really believe in the ghost stuff and she's only doing it to get more followers, is it really making her happy? Aren't they really just baiting Naggie, like the ponies who ditched her party did? "Except they were mean and I'm not!" Pipp replies in an angry tone of voice. See this? This is my cocked eyebrow of skepticism~

Night two! This involves recreating the party itself to invite Naggie in, which is always a good thing to do with a supernatural creature. The lights go out during the filming, causing everypony to freak out. When they come back, Pipp has dropped her Paranormal Activity filter, and is instead chatting about some of the anecdotes posted online about what to expect during night two. But none of it prepares them when the plush they made suddenly begins floating in the background and flies over to attack Izzy. Jumpscare!!

Next morning, Pipp has to really reassure Izzy to get her to come back for the final night. Which she does! Not much else to say, so they move on to the third night. The ol' green filter is back in place, and they're now eating of the cake in order to "consume the curse". Zipp feels ill from too much cake and excuses herself. As the other three wait and Izzy keeps a wary eye out for any rogue plush toys, the lights go out again--and when they come back, a looming specter of a mare with flowing hair and tattered clothing looms over them!

The ponies scatter, with Pipp retreating to her closet, terrifiedly confessing with her remaining followers. She's terrified, but in those terrified moments… she's had an epiphany. An e-Pipp-phany, if you will. By chasing likes and seeking adventure, she may have gotten involved in something dangerous. But worse, she exploited somepony else for entertainment, which makes her really no better than those ponies who ditched Ol' Naggie on her birthday. Pipp apologises to her viewers, and then exits the closet to go apologise to Naggie as well.

Pipp steps out to make her wish: that Naggie had gotten a nice birthday party like she deserved in the first place. The ghost appears as she begins her apology, somewhat awkwardly thanking her in an ethereal voice with a southern twang. She tries to slip out while Pipp is still apologising, which is when Pipp notices the clothes aren't quite as tattered as she thought. Indeed, they're actually made from paper streamers. And as the ghost flees, Pipp pounces, tearing the dress off and knocking her wig aside--for it is a wig, you see~

Yep, the ghost was Zipp all along. Hence why she had to duck out after eating the cake. Pipp is so furious that Zipp doesn't even get a chance to apologise until the next morning, while they're packing up the seance stuff to take back to Hitch's house. I guess he got too scared on the cover and ducked out for the rest of the issue. Once again, the long and short of it is that Zipp felt like a jerk after making fun of Pipp's social media stuff. But when she heard the backstory on the Old Nag, it just made her sad, even more so when Pipp started making it all about her.

Both ponies kind of learned their lesson, and on the way to Hitch's, they get some ice cream. Pipp's followers also forgave her, thinking they were doing a found-footage kind of thing. Pipp casually mentions Hitch has all this stuff because he started a cold-case true crime podcast (see next issue). Zipp also wonders if it's okay to eat this ice cream, since it resembles their dog, Cloudpuff. He has his own line of sweets, it turns out, and Pipp pulls out her phone to show Zipp proof that it's okay to eat his likeness, since he'd eat theirs. I'm glad we don't see those photos.

To close out the issue, the sisters have decided to respect each other by trying out each other's interests. Zipp is really bad at blogging, struggling with the keyboard. As she posts a photo, though, she catches a mysterious face in the background. When she looks up, the same face is smiling at her, only to disappear when Pipp looks over. Pipp asks her to knock it off with trying to scare her, already having already learned her lesson. She's ready to go try one of Zipp's extreme sports. And as they leave, the image on the laptop shows the ghost of Naggie enjoying a slice of cake…

This is, honestly, a pretty great issue. It's got some decent lessons that are also fairly applicable to modern life. And it's a well-constructed urban legend/creepypasta to boot. Honestly, the G5 comic seems to do really well when they lean into the spooks. (Pipp even lampshades this, saying she hasn't done numbers online since that selfie with Lightning Rod.) And even if the main story doesn't grab you, you can at least look at the cover for a while. And imagine that thing behind you. And maybe that will grab you~

Happy Halloween~

[tendergore]

I gotta get this off of my chest while the information is still relevant in my life, it’s totally inconsequential to anyone else, but it has had a weird bearing on my fandom experience in 1D.

Okay, I literally looked through my facebook messages to find out the exact date, so on April 10, 2012 a girl I was probably in love with in high school told me that I just had to listen to this boyband from X Factor, so we could bond over the interest. I was so entirely skeptical and way too cool and #feminist to care about a stupid boyband, so even though she sent me homework in the form of a youtube playlist of video diaries and another link to youtube documentary that were sure to hook me, I didn’t watch them. 

Then at the beginning of 2013 I heard a song on the overhead speakers at school which was DJ’d by students, Shazamed the track on my first ever phone, and got back One Thing by One Direction. Say isn’t that the group Isabela sent me those videos of?

On January 29, 2013 I added the first One Direction song to my hefty and disorganized Spotify playlist, Kiss You. On February 26 I added it again, along with all my favorites of the Take Me Home album. By all accounts, objectively, this is definitely early on enough to feel like a fandom elder, but I didn’t feel like that.

Feeling self conscious that I had waited so long to delve into something I had liked so readily, I sheepishly sat down and clicked the video diaries playlist she had sent me and watched them all. Louis was my favorite (this is not what I told the fandom girlies I met, at the time it seemed to me that he was unpopular with straight girls looking back). I watched the documentary (One Direction: A Year in the Making from ITV2) she sent me as well, and cried when Harry cried about messing up his solo and hate comments. I watched it from my phone on my grandmother’s couch at a family function with headphones, and I felt so stupid for not caring about some deeply emotionally in touch and complex boys. 

Somewhere around this time I passed Isabela in the hall and said, “Hey! I watched the video diaries, oh my god!”

She said, “Barely??”

We were between classes, she laughed off what I’d said, and that was the last we spoke on the subject. It’s entirely possible that it’s the last we spoke period, as I transferred schools soon after. I wanted it to spark conversation with us, bond us like she’d hoped to do the year previous, but it was too little too late, and she’d moved on from liking them. 

I felt so late to the party! I soon found fandom on twitter for the most part, and found solace and community there, and soon after, here on tumblr as well, which I was previously using for other interests. 

But nonetheless, I counted myself as a latecomer, not a real fan, not knowing enough, just based off of this passing interaction. 

So much so that when I met my now longtime long-distance friend over facebook messenger, I deferred to her for any opinion I thought I should have on them, I lied about my favorite boy (though, funnily enough, I find she may have lied about her favorite too) and felt like I don’t have enough authority on the subject to have a valid opinion.

I still! Think! This! Way! It’s been a decade since I added those songs on Spotify, and I bet if I went through my old hard drive, I’d find that it’s been even longer since I ripped each of their songs painstakingly from youtube and added the album art manually on iTunes--something I did with all my music before I found Spotify.

I’ve essentially had imposter syndrome about being a “real” One Direction fan for ages, for absolutely no reason. Isabela probably thought nothing of the passing conversation we had in the hall, but I internalized it so badly, that I sat here voting on a Tumblr poll system that didn’t exist when I was first blogging about them on this website--Tumblr didn’t even have an APP then, I’d made it a shortcut to the mobile website on my phone!-- and think, well, I’m not a real fan, so that’s why I don’t know what the majority would vote in this poll.

Babe, huh?!?

I’ve never put words to this, and I’m a writer, so just now I thought journaling it out somewhere I could revisit the thought process someday would be productive and maybe undo some of the imposter syndrome I infected myself with in a school hallway all those years ago. 

I’m a real fan! A first or second wave fan in the very least. My tenure as a 1D stan predates Midnight Memories first single release date by almost a full year and follows the release of Take Me Home by only two months! I was singing Diana at school dance in December of 2013 with all the fervor of a baby who had no idea what was to come, and I’m still here.

This is just for me, my personal records if you will.

In a box marked: FOR MY BIOGRAPHER etc.

[qqueenofhades]

Do you really hate this county? Or were you just ranting?

Sigh. I debated whether or not to answer this, since I usually keep the real-life/politics/depressing current events to a relative minimum on this blog, except when I really can't avoid ranting about it. But I have some things to get off my chest, it seems, and you did ask. So.

The thing is, any American with a single modicum of genuine historical consciousness knows that despite all the triumphalist mythology about Pulling Up By Our Bootstraps and the American Dream and etc, this country was founded and built on the massive and systematic exploitation and extermination of Black and Indigenous people. And now, when we are barely (400 years later!!!) getting to a point of acknowledging that in a widespread way, oh my god the screaming. I'm so sick of the American right wing I could spit for so many reasons, not least of which is the increasingly reductive and reactive attempts to put the genie back in the bottle and set up hysterical boogeymen about how Teaching Your Children Critical Race Theory is the end of all things. They have forfeited all pretense of being a real governing party; remember how their only platform at the 2020 RNC was "support whatever Trump says?" They have devolved to the point where the cruelty IS the point, to everyone who doesn't fit the nakedly white supremacist mold. They don't have anything to do aside from attempt to usher in actual, literal, dictionary-definition-of-fascism and sponsor armed revolts against the peaceful transfer of power.

That is fucking exhausting to be aware of all the time, especially with the knowledge that if we miss a single election cycle -- which is exceptionally easy to do with the way the Democratic electorate needs to be wooed and courted and herded like cats every single time, rather than just getting their asses to the polls and voting to keep Nazis out of office -- they will be right back in power again. If Manchin and Sinema don't get over their poseur pearl-clutching and either nuke the filibuster or carve out an exception for voting rights, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is never going to get passed, no matter how many boilerplate appeals the Democratic leadership makes on Twitter. In which case, the 2022 midterms are going to give us Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House (I threw up in my mouth a little typing that) and right back to the Mitch McConnell Obstruction Power Hour in the Senate. The Online Left (TM) will then blame the Democrats for not doing more to stop them. These are, of course, the same people who refused to vote for Hillary Clinton out of precious moral purity reasons in 2016, handed the election to Trump, and now like to complain when the Trump-stacked Supreme Court reliably churns out terrible decisions. Gee, it's almost like elections have consequences!!

Aside from my exasperation with the death-cult right-wing fascists and the Online Left (TM), I am sick and tired of how forty years of "trickle-down" Reaganomics has created a world where billionaires can just fly to space for the fun of it, while the rest of America (and the world) is even more sick, poor, overheated, economically deprived, and unable to survive the biggest public health crisis in a century, even if half the elected leadership wasn't actively trying to sabotage it. Did you know that half of American workers can't even afford a one-bedroom apartment? Plus the obvious scandal that is race relations, health care, paid leave, the education system (or lack thereof), etc etc. I'm so tired of this America Is The Greatest Country in the World mindless jingoistic catchphrasing. We are an empire in the late stages of collapse and it's not going to be pretty for anyone. We have been poisoned on sociopathic-libertarian-selfishness-disguised-as-Freedom ideology for so long that that's all there is left. We have become a country of idiots who believe everything their idiot friends post on social media, but in a very real sense, it's not directly those individuals' fault. How could they, when they have been very deliberately cultivated into that mindset and stripped of critical thinking skills, to serve a noxious combination of money, power, and ideology?

I am tired of the fact that I have become so drained of empathy that when I see news about more people who refused to get the vaccine predictably dying of COVID, my reaction is "eh, whatever, they kind of deserved it." I KNOW that is not a good mindset to have, and I am doing my best to maintain my personal attempts to be kind to those I meet and to do my small part to make the world better. I know these are human beings who believed what they were told by people that they (for whatever reason) thought knew better than them, and that they are part of someone's family, they had loved ones, etc. But I just can't summon up the will to give a single damn about them (I'm keeping a bingo card of right-wing anti-vax radio hosts who die of COVID and every time it's like, "Alexa, play Another One Bites The Dust.") The course that the pandemic took in 21st-century America was not preordained or inevitable. It was (and continues to be) drastically mismanaged for cynical political reasons, and the legacy of the Former Guy continues to poison any attempts to bring it under control or convince people to get a goddamn vaccine. We now have over 100,000 patients hospitalized with COVID across the country -- more than last summer, when the vaccines weren't available.

I have been open about my fury about the devaluation of the humanities and other critical thinking skills, about the fact that as an academic in this field, my chances of getting a full-time job for which I have trained extensively and acquired a specialist PhD are... very low. I am tired of the fact that Americans have been encouraged to believe whatever bullshit they fucking please, regardless of whether it is remotely true, and told that any attempt to correct them is "anti-freedom." I am tired of how little the education system functions in a useful way at all -- not necessarily due to the fault of teachers, who have to work with what they're given, and who are basically heroes struggling stubbornly along in a profession that actively hates them, but because of relentless under-funding, political interference, and furious attempts, as discussed above, to keep white America safely in the dark about its actual history. I am tired of the fact that grade school education basically relies on passing the right standardized tests, the end. I am tired of the implication that the truth is too scary or "un-American" to handle. I am tired. Tired.

I know as well that "America" is not synonymous in all cases with "capitalist imperialist white-supremacist corporate death cult." This is still the most diverse country in the world. "America" is not just rich white middle-aged Republicans. "America" involves a ton of people of color, women, LGBTQ people, Muslims, Jews, Christians of good will (I have a whole other rant on how American Christianity as a whole has yielded all pretense of being any sort of a principled moral opposition), white allies, etc etc. all trying to make a better world. The blue, highly vaccinated, Biden-winning states and counties are leading the economic recovery and enacting all kinds of progressive-wishlist dream policies. We DID get rid of the Orange One via the electoral process and avert fascism at the ballot box, which is almost unheard-of, historically speaking. But because, as also discussed above, certain elements of the Democratic electorate need to fall in love with a candidate every single time or threaten to withhold their vote to punish the rest of the country for not being Progressive Enough, these gains are constantly fragile and at risk of being undone in the next electoral cycle. Yes, the existing system is a crock of shit. But it's what we've got right now, and the other alternative is open fascism, which we all got a terrifying taste of over the last four years. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to go back.

So... I don't know. I don't know if that stacks up to hate. I do hate almost everything about what this country currently is, structurally speaking, but I recognize that is not identical with the many people who still live here and are trying to do their best, including my friends, family, and myself. I am exhausted by the fact that as an older millennial, I am expected to survive multiple cataclysmic economic crashes, a planet that is literally boiling alive, a barely functional political system run on black cash, lies, and xenophobia, a total lack of critical thinking skills, renewed assaults on women/queer people/POC/etc, and somehow feel like I'm confident or prepared for the future. Not all these problems are only America's fault alone. The West as a whole bears huge responsibility for the current clusterfuck that the world is in, for many reasons, and so do some non-Western countries. But there is no denying that many of these problems have ultimate American roots. See how the ongoing fad for right-wing authoritarian strongmen around the world has them modeling themselves openly on Trump (like Brazil's lunatic president, Jair Bolsonaro, who talks all the time about how Trump is his political role model). See what's going on in Afghanistan right now. Etc. etc.

Anyway. I am very, very tired. There you have it.

[shyficwriter]

Don’t hide Loki’s things

Marvel fanfic | Loki x Reader

Summary: Reader is sassing Loki and hides his stuff, prompting a chase where Loki ends up tickling reader to reveal the location of his things

Author’s Note: Prompt that won first place in the poll (Option: Loki 2). Second place (GOTG 6) will come shortly, and I’m still deciding how I want to go about a tie breaker for 3rd place lol. Based off prompt from @delightfulfics

Word Count: 1,336

“Go away.” Loki said in frustration, rolling his eyes after the second paper ball hit him in the back of the head. He was being a sour puss lately, largely due to boredom of not being trusted to join the other Avengers on missions, and you thought maybe if you could convince him to do an activity that he might start being a little cheerier, or at least a little less sour.

You moved to stand in front of him and put on your best ‘cute and innocent’ face as you lowered the book he was reading. “Aw, you know you'd be bored without me.”

“Boredom would be a most welcome friend compared to your presence at the moment.” Loki said, pulling back his book and turning so his back was facing you again.

You turned with him, grinning. “Well that’s not nice. Why don’t you put down the book and we can do something. We could watch a movie?”

“I’m not interested in your moving pictures. One can only watch the reptilian movie so many times.”

“Hey, Jurassic Park is a classic, Lucky Charms.” You grinned, trying to provoke him, knowing Loki hated it when you called him by that name.

Loki looked up at you with dark eyes. You finally got his attention. Putting down his book his stood, towering over you. “Well if you insist on bothering me, then I suppose I’ll go for a walk.”

“Cool! Let’s go to-”

“Alone.” 

The words came from his voice, but the man in front of you did not move his mouth at all. You heard the door shut behind you and watched in confusion as his form shimmered away before your eyes.

Realizing you had been tricked you didn’t bother to chase him down, instead you turned your attention to the book he had been reading, and you got an idea.

***

About an hour later, you heard Loki return. From your place on the couch you could hear his footsteps walking to his room, some shuffling noises, and then slightly angrier footsteps exiting his room and walking in your direction as his called out your name.

His eyes were narrowed as he asked if you had seen his book anywhere.

“What book? Can you be more specific?” you grinned, mostly from nerves than from anything else. You knew you sucked at lying.

He stepped toward you, prompting you to get up from the couch and pretend you needed something from the other side of the room.

“You know very well what book, and I’m not going to entertain the notion that you didn’t take it, now where did you put it?”

You reached the other side of the room and you wasted no time opening the door, hearing him already approaching you. You quickly made your way through it without a word and shut it behind you and took off running, nervous giggles bubbling up your throat as you heard him rip open the door and sternly call your name.

You rounded a corner and ducked into a stairwell. You could hear Loki calling your name as you descended the stairs. You considered camping out there for a little bit until you heard the door above you open just as you reached the bottom of the flight. Startled, you looked up to see Loki, almost surprised that he had such a close tail on you, but you supposed that’s what you got for not looking behind you as you ran. With a squeak you ripped open the door and bolted, nearly knocking into Happy as you did so. 

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Where’s the fire?” He called.

“No fire,” you panted. Just then Loki shot out of the stairwell, a playful look of murder in eyes. You squeaked out, “Loki!” as the rest of your answer to Happy and took off again.

You know you couldn’t outrun the god, so you ducked into the nearest room, not sticking around long enough to see what happened to Happy, knowing that he’d probably be dumb enough to try and stop Loki. You knew Loki wouldn’t hurt him, but you also knew he wasn’t going to let him stand in the way of his target either. 

[Little did you know, Loki just calmly walked up to Happy, who looked at him suspiciously, but after Loki explained that you two “were playing a simple game of tag” and he was “it” Happy simply let him pass. Oh, gullible Happy...]

You didn’t waste time. You were grateful to see that you had ducked into a room with another door, and even luckier, it wasn’t a closet. Before you ran out into the hall, you thought better. Surely Loki saw you run into this room. He’d be there any second. Instead, you left the door wide open and went instead to crouch behind the large drink bar on the right side of the room, suddenly grateful for Tony’s over-abundance of rooms for parties.

Just as you thought, Loki entered the room not long after. Not peeking, as you didn’t want to accidentally be seen, you still heard him chuckle as he no doubt fell for your plan for him to think you ran on through, before he ran though the door himself. 

You waited just a bit to make sure he was gone before you quickly got up to walk back out the door you had entered in, intent to run back up to the stairs to gain a larger head start on Loki, maybe hide away in Steve or Nat’s rooms, somewhere Loki might not think to look. 

However, the moment you walked out the door and softly closed it behind you, you were startled by a loud “Boo!” shouted behind you. Clutching your heart, your eyes widened in horror as you spun around to find Loki standing there.

Damn! He hadn’t fallen for your trick, you had fallen for his trick! 

Before you could take off, Loki caught you by the arm, a mischievous gleam in his eye. “I’ll give you one chance, my dear. Where’s my book?”

Nervous giggles poured from your mouth as you said, “Uh... What book?”

Loki tutted, “That was a mistake.” and before you had a chance to think his fingers flew to your ribs, tickling them mercilessly.

You squealed, backing into the door you had just closed, and now very much wishing you hadn’t and foolishly thinking you might have been able to escape your torment if you had left it open. You grasped at his wrists, trying in vain to smack him away as you shrieked for him to stop. 

“You had a chance, now you’re learning why it’s not wise to steal from the God of Mischief.” There was laughter in his voice. You apparently had succeeded in your goal to cure him of his sourness, but by god, at what cost?

You slid down to the floor and he only followed you down, laughing with you as you laughed your head off and begged for mercy when his fingers began to attack your stomach. 

“You better tell me where you hid my book, and give me an apology for taking it in the first place, otherwise I can just stay here and find all your most sensitive areas to make you laugh and squeal for hours.” 

He may have been the god of lies but you had no doubt he’d keep true to his word this time. Breathlessly you cried out, “OKAY! Okay! I give up! Second floor! Coat closet! I’m sorry! Please! I’m sorry!”

Loki stopped with a grin, looking down at you as you gasped for air. “Thank you,” he said, but you noticed he didn’t get up, he was still straddling you, looking down at you and grinning that grin of his that he wore when he was up to no good. 

He spoke again, “But, to make sure you’ve fully learned your lesson...”

Your eyes widened as he grinned wider. “WAIT-”

But of course, he didn’t.