#and the other half is stuff I've already seen T-T

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

It's. It's my favorite thing ever to look through tags for my favorite duos and see that half of it is my own posts QwQ (/s)

[fuctacles]

Part 2 of the series that can't be named (it's the cat lady steph)

😺 | 😺😺😺

Eddie doesn't think more about Steph until there's a knock on the door on Saturday morning. He sighs, knowing it's his duty to open since his uncle would take forever on his crutch. And because he's a good nephew and wouldn't make him do that, of course.

He doesn't bother with the peephole, his sleepy brain basically forgetting of its existence. It's only when he opens the door and finds Steph with a duffel bag on the other side, that he realizes he went to open the door in nothing but his old Iron Man pajama bottoms.

"Good morning!" Steph greets him with a bright smile that falters a bit when her gaze drops to his tattooed chest. Eddie couldn't imagine a sight of zombie and spider tattoos giving him any credit in her pretty, middle-aged eyes. She quickly looks back up to meet his gaze. "Did I wake you up?" she asks, looking apologetic. 

Eddie shakes his head, hoping it would send his hair over his shoulders, and cover him up a bit. 

"I did!" Wayne pipes up from the kitchen. He sounds way too happy about running into a cupboard on his way out of the bathroom.

"Good morning, Mr. Wayne!" she calls out, making Eddie roll his eyes.

"You can just come in, no need to yell through the whole place."

"Right, sorry," she steps inside tentatively, her hand clutching the strap of her bag. She's wearing a colorful windbreaker and her hair is tied up, showing off the soft line of her jaw and the beauty marks on her neck. She heads to the kitchen, seemingly already knowing her way around, and Eddie closes the door behind her. He quickly runs off to his bedroom (/guest room, now that he's on campus most of the time) and grabs a t-shirt to cover his nipples, tattoos, and overall unattractiveness.

"Visiting Robin for the weekend?" He catches his uncle's question when he steps back in. 

It rubs him the wrong way, not knowing who Robin is. Is he Steph's boyfriend? Maybe they're doing long-distance? He returns to the ancient coffee maker he had abandoned to open the door.

"Yeah. I haven't seen Rob since last month. Our days off finally aligned."

"Can't you stay there longer? I'm sure Eddie wouldn't mind taking care of your cats for a day or two more."

"Hey!" Eddie whips around to glare at his uncle. The coffee maker splutters behind him. "Don't just offer my services like that," he scoffs. Then, he turns to Steph. "I wouldn't, though."

She chuckles and he grins, simply happy to make her smile.

"Try dealing with them alone first, and then we'll talk. But, you really wouldn't mind? If I stayed a day longer?"

He shakes his head.

"Not at all." He still has Wayne's words fresh in his mind. That people weren't kind to her, that she doesn't have many friends to rely on. "I'm assuming Robin is someone important to you?" he half-asks, leaning against the counter all casually. 

Just the thought of Robin makes Steph glow.

"She's my best friend. We met at our first job serving ice cream."

Eddie's a bit embarrassed at the relief of knowing Robin is a girl. Still, a best friend is higher in ranks than your friendly neighbour's nephew. 

"What's it been? Twenty years?" Wayne asks. Steph nods, making him whistle. "I couldn't stand any of my coworkers for longer than a shift."

"Maybe you're bad at making friends," Eddie butts in. "I've known Gareth since high school and we're still going strong."

"You guys are band buddies, that's different," Wayne scoffs. 

"You play in a band?" Steph picks up, her eyes shining with interest that Eddie squirms under.

"Yeah, we play metal though. Probably not your stuff."

She shakes her head.

"Any music can be good when you put your heart into it. My friends listen to all kinds of weird stuff, I've heard everything from classical to experimental techno." She rolls her eyes. "I'd love to hear your music if you have anything recorded. Or you could give me a heads up if you're playing somewhere."

All Eddie can do is stare at her, dumbfounded. 

"Uh-huh."

Wayne, bless his sometimes useful soul, saves his ass by changing the subject.

"Coffee?" he asks the stunning woman at their table. She's just sitting there, in the Munson abode at their kitchen table while they're still in pajamas like it's normal. Eddie wants it to be normal. Wants to sit in her lap and listen to her laugh. 

She looks at her watch. It's white, she must be cleaning it often.

"I only have fifteen more minutes before I really have to go."

"Half a coffee then," Eddie decides for her, grabbing the mugs. She chuckles.

"Fine." She rolls her eyes.

Each of them gets their coffee, and Eddie notes Steph takes her with just a splash of milk. Before he can ask anything, to push their small morning gathering further into a friendly small talk, she reaches into her pocket to fish out her house key.

"I came over to drop the keys," she says, pushing them towards Eddie. "And if you have something to write on, I'll give you Robin's house number in case of emergencies."

"Sure, yeah." He nods, standing up immediately to look for the notepad they plan the grocery list in. In his haste, he catches Wayne's amused stare. He sends him a frown, but the man is already looking away, which only further agitates him. 

[sweetcocopowder]

Share Your Toys | SilverV

Synopsis: V buys something new and odd and Johnny doesn't want to participate. All until he needs to show V just how to use.

Word Count: 2.1K

Genre: Smut

Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Male!V

Warnings: nsfw/anal/dildo/sex toy/masturbation/degrading/slut shaming

Notes: I know I've only done one cyberpunk fic in the past. But I have this one and one more planned to post haha. I'm here for the male!v x johnny enjoyers

Does he feel a little ashamed buying one? No… Maybe. Just a lil. They had peaked his interest when he had spotted one, but he had much more pressing matters on hand.

So, here he is, with a six-inch dildo in hand.

It’s odd looking. It’s thicker at the tip than it is at the base. Being an ombre from a pink on the bottom to a pastel blue to the tip, it’s almost alien looking. With ridges on the underside that poke out a fair bit, V already knows this is going to be an odd sensation. Something funky to use to get his mind off of current things.

“There’s no way in fuck we’re sticking that thing up your ass,” Johnny snaps from the couch.

V sighs a gruntle noise. He tries to ignore Johnny but the rockstar taps his foot on the ground. He looks up to Johnny finally with a raised brow. He sits on the edge of his bed in only an old t shirt -one that use to be an outdoor shirt but slowly turned into a pj shirt with all the holes and grease stains in it. He sets the dildo on the bed next to him with another sigh.

“We?” V asks.

“Yes, we,” Johnny bites back. “I can feel everything you feel to an extent. And tonight, or any other, I don’t think I’m in the mood to have that thing shoved up my ass,” he says as he points to the dildo with a silver finger.

“You’ve never taken a dick before?” V mocks as he scoots up on his bed.

He makes himself comfortable and brings a bottle of lube with him in hand. Johnny leans back on the couch with his legs crosses over one another. He pushes his aviators up back to cover his eyes. The red glass reflects V on the bed, laid back with his shirt pooled over his crotch and thighs.

“I said I don’t want that,” Johnny grits out.

V rolls his eyes. “Just, leave me alone and I’ll forget you’re ever here. Go to whatever corner of my brain you normally go to when you don’t like something. It’s still my body, so I can do what I want and put whatever the hell I want in it.”

Johnny stares at V for a moment longer and for a split second, the merc feels very exposed. The rocker has seen everything before. Has done stuff to him before. But right now, the look he’s receiving is something different. Then, without a word, Johnny disappears in a glitch of blue and red static.

Good. Now he can continue in peace and use sex for a moment to forget about how shit life is.

-

Getting the first inch in is a struggle. Even with a lot of prep and a lot of lube, the tip is a tad thick. The stretch is a little overwhelming as V opens his legs out a bit further. He works himself little by little, letting the ridges of the fake cock rub up inside of him.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.”

V stops all so that he can glare at the disturbance standing over him at the side of his bed. He’s gotten so use to Johnny popping up randomly that when he does, it doesn’t phase him at all now.

The rocker’s arms are crossed over his chest and he still wears those red aviators. He can see himself in them again. Legs apart, dick half hard between with a large cock spreading him open. And all Johnny does is frown.

V moves the dick, pushing it a little further into himself and watches Johnny’s face. And when the rocker’s face scrunches up into a scowl, soon followed by a shaky, quiet exhale that is a clear indication he’s trying to hide his reaction, V can only smirk.

As cockily as he can say with a cock up his ass, the merc grins, “How should I be doing it then?”

Johnny’s scowl only deepens. Yet, he disappears from where he’s standing and reappears in a wave of glitches and static in front of V. Bent over and looking over him without his aviators. Dark, brown eyes stare him that hold something dangerous.

Without a word, Johnny takes control of V’s spare arm and grabs a pillow behind him. He shoves it under V’s back that has the merc rolling his eyes. The pillow trick? Really?

“I can’t believe you’ve got me doing this,” Johnny grumbles under his breath.

“You’re the one that hopped in yourself, I could have done this on my own,” V interjects.

Johnny covers V’s hand that holds onto the base of the fake cock. “And have a shit time because you’re taking too long? I’d rather not sit back and have to experience that.”

“But you’d rather experience a misshaped dildo up my ass?”

Johnny only frowns at that, his brows furrowing together. Hard enough that it brings creases to his forehead and brings out his crow’s feet.

With a hard push, one that V wouldn’t have deemed himself ready, the cock is pushed halfway in. V throws his head back against the bed. The ridges of the dildo rub up against the part inside of him that makes everything tingle. The painful stretch of the cock has him trying to catch his breath. But it’s a pain that is welcome. Has him buzzing.

The thickness of the first half has him already feeling full. The ridges on the underside of the dildo rub up against all the good parts inside of him that adds to the dizziness in his head. He breathes heavily, soft whines hitching his throat as Johnny moves the cock inside of him before he can get use to the feeling. Slowly pulling out before pushing in where it was before. And God it feels so good. It has him gripping the sheets with his other hand, the other being held down by Johnny.

The rockstar lifts one of V’s legs up and props it over his shoulder so that he can settle in closer. V looks to Johnny through slitted eyes and the look on the rocker’s face only turns him on more.

Johnny’s mouth is parted, and he breathes in sync with V. Each time he pushes the cock inside of V, each time a little deeper, each time hitting his prostate, Johnny shivers and pants. The blue of the cock all but disappears into V’s ass, leaving only the pink half to take down. God he’s quickly enjoying this as much as V is. Who knew the rockstar could have a little fun.

Being trapped on a biochip must do that to someone though. But by whatever God there is, is it hot to see Johnny become a little desperate. He’s so focused on the fake cock that his own hips move in sync faintly.

Johnny growls, -something that V never expected to hear- and pushes the rest of the cock inside of V. It slips in easily, the base being narrower than the first half. And everything feels like it short circuits inside of V, as if his cyberware doesn’t know what’s happening. His back arches as he groans deep within his throat. The cock is so wide and girthy it stretches him greatly. It makes him feel full and has him twitching. Each movement has the ridges grinding up inside of him and each time that happens, a small hiccup of moans are forced from his mouth. He can’t help himself. This feeling is wild and he’s glad that he bought this.

Johnny on the other hand. He’s bent over V trying to catch his own breath. He doesn’t need to breath but it bloody feels like he can’t intake air. Every time V moves and shifts, a wave of pleasure pulses through Johnny that has him shivering and twitching. He can feel himself grow hard in his leather pants. He’s not meant to be into this but by god does it feel great.

He catches his breath before pulling cock out of V to the tip, the sweet sound of moans and groans coming with it. With a forceful push, he shoves the entire six inches back into the merc, the blue disappearing along with the pink. And there it is again, the wave of pleasure and tingles from V that has Johnny shivering and groaning deep in his chest.

He begins slowly pumping the fake cock inside of V, revelling in the raw feelings and sensations that come from the merc’s end. He can feel V’s pain and those friendly pats to his shoulders from strangers. All of those are faint, like passing by a soft blowing vent. But this, this has Johnny’s head spinning and his code glitching.

V other hand comes back down to stroke his hardening dick. He grinds his teeth together at how overstimulating such a simple touch is. God he’s not going to last much longer if Johnny keeps this up. Especially with the pace quickening with every pass of his prostate.

Johnny begins panting loudly as he quickens the pace. Each time it fills V up in the right places and stretches him a little painfully. But that sting is something that feels so good. He matches his stroke on his dick with Johnny, letting him take the full reigns even though he knew he was fucked when the rocker popped back up again to make his comments.

V gets lost in everything, letting his mind go to this moment right now. Forgetting about everything that’s fucked him over in life. Johnny pushes the cock fully in and lets it sit there for a moment. All so he can swat V’s hand off his dick and replace it with his own. The feeling of Johnny’s metal hand on his dick is cold and brings a harsh gasp out of his mouth.

V meets dark brown eyes that stare at him. There’s something different there that the merc can’t quite place. Maybe because he’s having trouble reciting the alphabet or he’s completely forgotten what day it is. His mind is a jumble. But he knows that that dark look within those eyes is something akin to…

“You’re such a slut, you know that?” Johnny quips in between his own panting.

And there it is. Johnny’s comments. Why should V be surprised?

“Yeah and-“ The comeback V was going to make is lost as Johnny moves the dildo inside of him.

He grinds it into him shallowly, letting it rub up against everything inside and makes his entire gut and head to buzz. And in time with the movement, he strokes V’s dick, his thumb flicking and rubbing over the tip each time strokes up.

V grabs onto the blanket again, still letting Johnny guide his other hand on the fake cock. Everything is going crazy. He can’t help but grunt and whine like a two eddie whore.

“Yeah,” Johnny groans out. “You sound like one too.”

V can feel himself coming closer and closer. If Johnny keeps this same pace, he can get there quickly.

“My little slut, how does that sound?” The words are spoken deeply, gravelly.

And it all goes straight to V’s dick. He cums as if a freight train just hit him. His Kiroshi’s become spotty for a second, the black spots disappearing slowly after a while as his eyes recalibrate. He can’t catch his breath for a moment and when he opens his eyes, Johnny is gone.

For a split second, V feels a bit of panic, but as soon as it comes, Johnny appears back again in a storm of glitches and static. He’s hunched over V with a wide expression upon his normally grouchy features. He pants and shakes. He gulps, trying to collect himself. But whatever V felt, Johnny did as well ten fold it seems.

V slips the alien like dildo out of him with a pop and a groan, and throws it aside on his bed. He’s too worn out to worry about anything other than the rockstar leaning over him.

He reaches up and pats Johnny’s face. The simple touch has brown eyes latching onto V.

“Was it worth it?” V asks.

“No.”

“Not even a little?”

Johnny sits up straight, still kneeling in between V’s legs. He runs a hand down his face and lets his gaze run down the merc’s body. His eyes linger on V’s still leaking cock and the cum splattered over his stomach and tattoos. He’d be wrong if didn’t admit this was all a little hot. It’s all in how V pants and shakes from the orgasm still, his chest and stomach rising rapidly with each breath.

Johnny swallows thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing on his throat. “A little then, yeah,” He grumbles.

-

Please do not copy or repost my work. <3

[saffiroll]

CAMP CAMP REWRITTEN

EPISODE ONE: ESCAPE FROM CAMP CAMPBELL

*A shot of the camp can be seen, and we are taken inside the counselors cabin*

David: *putting his boots on* I've never been more excited in my life!

Gwen: You say that no matter what you do David.

David: This time is different Gwen. Finally after gosh knows how long we are getting new campers! Apart from the ones we had last year-

Gwen: Why are you so excited about this? It's not something to be so jumpy about.

David: You clearly just don't understand the Camp Campbell life Gwen.

Gwen: *picking up some enrollment forms* Thank god i don't.

David: This summer all these kids will learn something new and exciting

Gwen: Half of them will be dead by sundown.

David:...yeaaahh probably

Gwen: God you're unbearable sometimes

*Bus honking*

David: The bus is here!!

*David ran out...and got hit by the bus*

Gwen: Ah fuck, why does this happen every time.

David: I'm okay!

*Kids started walking out*

Gwen: New campers huh? None of them are different

David: Uuuhhh- well i guess we're out of luck then-

Gwen: I dunno, there is one extra form, could be unexpected

David: oh come on now Gwen, Nothing here ever happens unexpectedly!

*bus door opens again*

QM: Forgot one.

Max: *steps out* Prepare for hell this summer.

*Everyone stares*

David:..oh.

*Intro plays*

David: Well hello there! Welcome t-

Max: i don't want to be here camp man, don't tell me stuff i don't care abo- is that girl just consuming dirt?

Gwen: Nikki no we talked about this last summer!

Nikki: *inhuman hissing noises*

Max:.....was i just sent to an insane asylum outdoors?

David: Hey! That wasn't very nice!

Max: Shshshshshsh- nobody caaarrreeesss

Nikki: *runs towards Max* Well hello!!

Max: *steps back* Woaaah there speedy gonzalez do NOT touch me.

Nikki: *jumping around* My name is Nikki! What's yours? *points downward* I like your shoes!

Max: *looks down* Where are YOUR shoes? You're just wearing socks.

Nikki: You don't need shoes in nature! It's natural!

Max:....Ew-

Nikki: Sooo you're the newest one here no? All of us came here last Summer and we're back again! But you? You're not.

Max: Wow, no shit

Nikki: *poking around her hair* My mom forced me to cut my hair because it got dirty often and-

Max: What does that have to do with out conversation so far

Nikki: Oh! Right! Camp!

Max: What even-

Nikki: ANYWAY LET'S GO LOOK AROUND! *She pulled him by his hand and started running*

Max: FUCK-

*The scene cuts to the Mess Hall*

Nikki: Behold! *she showed it off with her hands* The place where we eat, fight and throw up!

Max:..oh i hate this place even more...

Nikki: *walks over to the door* The mashed potatoes are my favourite personally-

Max: i literally don't care.

Nikki: *she opened the doors to chaos happening* aaannndd behold, again!!

*All the kids are either throwing food at each other or slipping on it*

Max: i-

Nikki: I'm already feeling like i'm home.

Max: Well i DON'T?

Nikki: Don't worry! It's only your first day!You'll get used to it! *she sat down on a bench*

Max: What does this camp even represent?!

Nikki: look at this potato bug i found!

Max: NIKKI!!!

Nikki: Ah! Don't yell at me!

Max: Then answer m-

Gwen: *Banging on pots and pans* ALRIGHT EVERYONE SETTLE THE FUCK DOWN YOU LITTLE SHITS WE NEED TO DO SOME VIDEO SHOWING SO YOU ALL DID NOT FORGET THE REASON YOU'RE HERE!

David: Ahem! What Gwen wanted to say is..we just want to remind you all what makes this place special and fun for you all! Especially for our newest camper Max!

*Everyone just glanced at him*

Max: *whispering* ffffffucking kill meeee-

*A momemt of Cameron Campbell can be seen as he goes down the stairs and climbs up again*

Max: What the fuck?

Nikki: This is normal.

*Annndd he's back. Ew*

Cameron: Well i'm here now as well- apparently!

David: Mister Campbell! What are you doing here?

Gwen: Oh god please no.

Cameron: Well i'm not hiding from any authorities if that's what you're talking about! Haha!

David: Haha what-

Cameron: Come on now Davey! How about you show this uh-

*he looked at Max*

Cameron: New gremlin- around the camp!

David: Hey! Maybe you could do it Nikki!

Nikki: Me?

Max: HER?!

David: Well sure why not? It'll be good for you two to get to know each other better! Since you've been near each other this entire time!

Max: nononoNONONO-

Cameron: Great! It's all settled then! Haha! Off you two go! Davey go supervise them! Or else.

David: I wont disappoint you Mister Campbell!

Cameron: Yeah whatever- *closes curtains*

*After 5 minutes*

Nikki: Okay so! Here we have these uh- things! Camps! Let's see *Starts pointing at each one* there's Sports camp! Which the best girl does! Magics! Stars! Shakespeare! Art!...other magics- and other stuff i do not remember!

Max: *rolls his eyes* Wow how wonderful.

*Gwen walked over*

Gwen: David i think we need to discuss MANY things about running this at this scale with Cameron-

Nikki: Gwen?

Gwen: What is it Nikki?

Nikki: *pointing* Max ran off

Max: *Currently trying to RUN* GOTTA GET THE FUCK OIT OF HERE HOLY SHIT-

Gwen:....David can you-

David: On my way- *he ran after Max*

Max: YOU CAN'T CATCH ME YOU TWINK ASS HORROR SHOW!!

David: *he did.*

Max: SON OF A BITCH-

*10 minutes later*

Nikki: You'll get used to all of this eventually- i promise

Max: Ughh i hate this...so mu-

*he bumped into someone*

Neil: *turns around* Can i help you?

Max: PFFTT- hahaha! You look ridiculous! Is that a costume for a halloween party?

Neil: I'm a scientist.

Max:....your tone is uh- new.

Neil: Is that a problem? *He looked at him with a skeptical expression*

Max: Ye-

Nikki: *covers his mouth* No no! Not at all! We'll just be on our way! We just ran into you accidentally!

*she pushed Max away*

Max: what the hell is the problem?

Nikki: Neil...uh..intimidates me...

Max: intimidates you?

Nikki: It was a whole thing like last year...i don't wanna talk about it-

Max: Oh- jeez- uhm...well- that sucks. I'm sorry.

Nikki: It's fine! I mean it's not like something weird is gonna happe-

*bullets were suddenly being heard*

Max: the fuck?

Cameron: Code black! Well look at the time! i gotta go now!

David: Wait sir! Where are you going??

Cameron: International waters! Have a decent summer kids! *grabs on a helicopter ladder as agents follow him with the gunshots*

Max:...wanna run away together?

Nikki: Spy escaping let's go!

*they started running*

David: Max get back here this instant!! You're being a bad influence!

Max: don't tell me what to do!

Nikki: *she took Max's "new camper" pin and yeeted it at David*

Max: SAYONARA SUCKERS!!

*they got on the bus...annnddd immediately crashed it*

Max: Ughhh we were so clooseeee

Nikki: i cut my arm on glass.

Gwen: well honestly Max how were you expecting to drive a bus?

Max: Fair.

David: Well i think we all learned something today!

Max: No David. I think YOU learned something today. I will make this year hell and none of ypu can stop me, and i have a wild and probably traumatized sugar full gremlin to help me!

Nikki: *Jumps in joy* Yeah yeah yeah!

Max: C'mon Nikki. We're out of here.

*They walked off*

David:....can i play the song now?

Gwen: *Snatches the guitar and slams him with it*

*Outro plays*

[nautiscarader]

What the hecking heck happened with me - THE UNNECESSARY (and kinda boring) SEQUEL

So you might have noticed I have been absent for the past 2.5 weeks. So, where have I been? What has happened to me?

Well, you see, I got this magical music box, and when I opened it, I was transported into a different world full of talking frogs, toads and-

Wait, I've done this bit already.

....

Yeah, got into hospital. AGAIN.

Same warning as before applies, regarding medical stuff. Especially if you are eating.

Chapter 13: Wednesday Night's fever

So around three weeks ago I found myself really sapped of strength. Well, as you might recall, I basically had a fall and got wounds on my hip. Or to put it in another words:

Well, something from those wounds got infected or something and started affecting my whole body. The effect? Pretty much daily ~38C (~100F) fevers that drained me of energy.

No, buddy, the solution is paracetamol.

That was helping me daily when I was in hospital while getting some long-term antibiotics.

So, yeah, not to blow the trumpet, it was pretty much that: drips, pills, drips, pills, gastroscopy, drips, pi-wait, what did I say AND WHAT IS THIS THING-

Chapter 14: Gastroscopy

So I had to have gastroscopy done, which, in case you don't know is basically a tube with camera being inserted into your esophagus and-

Yeah, not pleasant. But the whole thing lasted only about 10 minutes, and the worst part was the first 30 seconds. So, no biggie. Now, let's talk about....

Chapter 15: Neighbours

Because they were really an odd collection.

First one was just an old dude who hated when I asked to open windows (and of course just as I was admitted spring temps have arrived)

Second one was a detective! In fact he has just solved a murder mystery that happened in the adjacent room! And the murderer was his roommate!

... yeah, he was pretty out of touch with reality, they took him after a day.

And then comes our star: Typical Janush, or Ordinary Janusz, as the Polish meme goes (don't worry if you don't get it)

This absolute unit of Polishness with huuuuge beer belly, bald spot and moustache has brought with him in his bag of holding:

coffee and sugar (nothing spectacular tbh)

TWO different chocolate waffers packs,

two strawberry chocolate bars,

Toffee sweets,

coffee sweets,

TWO different types of sausages,

home-made chicken wings,

and a jar of pickled mushrooms (fereality-indy DNI)

What else did he have in it? I don't know, and frankly, I am scared of the possibilities. This guy could give Mary Poppins a run when it comes to that bag.

He cursed like a sailor when he watched the news - and he watched all the news, he was funding the TV, so he might as well get what he's paid for.

He was also... really kind. He helped me with everything I couldn't do, sometimes faster than the nurses. Really awesome dude.

And the last one who was admitted JUST as I was leaving, was a 96-year old grandpa with some gastric problems. What problems? I don't know, but imagine a cat coughing up a furball... at a volume of a small steam locomotive. At 2 a.m. Every half an hour.

i only had to deal with him for a day.

He also brought... a flask with him.

The one they usually sell spirytus in. Now, it did NOT contain alcohol, just lemon-flavoured water.... but you had to see the nurse's reaction when he was seen casually drinking from it :) He was politely told to use other vessels.

And as a bonus, there was a guy in adjacent room who sometimes visited us and wore a curious t-shirt.... you know the "how do you do fellow kids" meme, right?

and how they just wrote "music band" in order to avoid problems with AC/DC copyright?

Well, his T-shirt had a generic basketball and words "Basketball Team est. 1992". And that's it. No other allusions to, say, Chicago Bulls, or any other team. Just that.

We have reached singularity, people.

Chapter 16: In conclusion, it was mostly boring

Yeah, I have to admit, this stay wasn't that eventful, which I guess I should count as blessing. What else to add... Oh, all the nurses were h*cking cute!

One even recognised me from my first visit!

So, yeah, now I've done the unpacking, and oh boy, you always collect lots of stuff you then forget about.

Like-

Wait, the heck is that?

It... it looks like I have written a 4k Glitch Techs G-rated fic... on my phone! Which has non-existent keyboard! Wait, that can't be right...

It's mostly done, but not finished... Still, it's a shame if it got wasted, right?

[moopsy-daisy]

Make Your Own Cosmetics, Get What You Actually Want

Once you've been in zero waste, eco friendly, solarpunk/lunarpunk circles for a while, it's easy to forget the steps you took when you started. There are lots of DIY projects I've been doing for 10+ years now, and I keep doing them because they work (for me). Yet, when I sit back and think "am I doing enough?" I always gloss over the myriad things that have become part of my everyday life.

Making these things won't save the environment, but you'll get products that meet your needs on your terms, will save you money, and you won't have to worry about a company discontinuing your favorites. Plus, it seems like a lot less packaging to just buy a brick of beeswax and toss in some kitchen stuff you already had to make makeup.

Henna

I got really lucky, I always wanted red hair and henna is a natural dye that only comes in red. Well, more of a coppery tone. But, here's the other cool thing: the henna process is anti-fungal and controls dandruff. Half the time, I remember to color my hair because my scalp starts getting itchy 6+ weeks later and I start to get flakes. Coloring my hair takes care of my scalp and I don't need dandruff shampoo to keep it healthy. It's cost-effective, buying high quality henna for a year's worth of color (for my length and thicc hair) is about $60 for 18-months' of materials. I mix it when I need it, and keep the powder in the freezer. Pro-tip, if you or your partner don't like the grassy, hay-like smell of henna, add cardamom or ginger powder to the mix. It doesn't change the color but it'll knock down the scent.

I learned everything I needed to know about Henna for Hair here: http://hennaforhair.com and buy through Catherine's store because I know I'm getting real, quality henna powder.

Oh and a cloth wrap for your hair will let you keep the henna covered without wasting plastic wrap every time you redo your roots. I've been using the same 'turbie twist' wraps for years now. I made them from old t-shirts and they're stained as fuck. Who cares? This is basically their only job.

Carmine Lip Color

No, it isn't vegan. Yes, it's made of bugs. It's also a spectacular color, the insects aren't abused in the process of gathering or raising. They're actually parasites on nopal cactus, they have a simple niche and serve it well. I learned this lip stain recipe from Humblee & Me, and have found that the anti-bacterial doesn't seem to be necessary, ymmv. A 2.5 gram sample pack of carmine from TKB has lasted me almost a year and I wear this almost daily. I find that the glycerin really helps keep my lips from drying out too badly, so I wear my lip stain even when I'm not planning on being seen by other people. I spend about $20 on lip color for a year and that's including the bottles I use to store it (tiny eyedroppers work best imo) and the glycerin. Not quite zero waste but darn close.

Note: I'm still trying to find a simple recipe for black goth lipstick that I like. So far, my attempts have had a nasty texture and aren't worth the trouble.

Eyebrow Fill

My favorite brand of eyebrow liner discontinued the best color I ever found, so I decided to make my own. Beeswax, cocoa powder, activated charcoal, and almond oil made a little pot of eyebrow fill that suits my needs beautifully. Go super light on the charcoal until you know you've got the color you want. My brows are pretty dark but not fully black, so I do a dark chocolate sort of shade. I think I made my last batch about 11 months ago and it's still half full. I use it daily, apply with an angled brush, and it's never given me breakouts or anything. I don't even wash it off, because I am lazy.

Body Powder/Dry shampoo

Growing up in California, I didn't need this stuff. Living in Oregon? Summer would be awful without body powder. It's also a nice way to have a fragrance on. Pour your favorite perfume (I love Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oils) onto a cotton ball, put that ball in a jar with a bunch of corn starch. Shake. Leave it for a month. You now have scented body powder. It's a decent dry shampoo, too, I just brush it into my dark hair and it disappears.

Tooth Powder

There is NOTHING wrong with using conventional toothpaste if it meets your needs. I have particular reasons for using tooth powder. These include hating the taste of most toothpaste and needing to avoid fluoride because of my particular thyroid condition. (Fluoride isn't bad for everyone! It isn't ideal for everyone. Figure out what you need!) I make my own tooth powder, it works well enough for me and I don't hate brushing my teeth like I used to. 1 part baking soda, 1 part bentonite clay, some ground cloves. Mix it up, keep in a glass jar (metal will bond with the clay, bad things happen, this is why we use glass or plastic for storage). $20 of materials = LOADS of tooth powder.

Cutting Hair

It's way easier than you think. I cut my own hair and I do a graduated bob which is a little more complex than most at-home cuts. I taught myself. I use decent shears (don't use scissors) and a Wahl hair trimmer set. Learn this skill on yourself, and when people find out you can do hair, they'll come to you for their own needs. Great way to provide mutual aid (one of my parents is trans and getting haircuts in a salon would be extremely stressful for her, so I cut her hair and save her money and suffering). You could also do skill trades! I trade haircuts for massages from a massage therapist friend, for example.

Protip: Dust yourself with body powder before cutting hair, it makes the little shards of cut hair way less prone to sticking to you. You'll still want a shower but it'll just be less icky.

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "Odd Ones In" Episode Followup, Part 2

Place your bets on how long this followup is gonna be. In how many parts. 2 and a half minutes in and I'm on Part 2. Good God.

Let's continue below the break!

(And if you haven't seen Part 1, peep it here before proceeding.)

Perhaps the most pressing question that will never get answered: how can she even get home?

...

No, better question: how'd she wind up working on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls? They won't answer that one either, but it needs to be asked because we also never got an answer for Opal and Omar in Season 3.

"They said you're needed right away, but with a very fancy accent."

This is, on some very thin level, xenophobic in the Oddverse.

Do not ask me why. This is what happens when you work in a cave behind a waterfall. Bite me.

On God's BUTT IT IS OPAL AND OMAR ALL OVER AGAIN HUH. ONLY WITH A SMALLER EMPLOYEE BASE HUH.

Two agents, one's a hard worker, they're in a remote area...

Cool. I hate it. Thank you. 0/10, see me for summer classes on originality. The only original thing here is that the Director here is leagues smarter than "the cold bit my brain" Arctic Mr. O.

"transfer papers" AND THERE WERE NONE FOR OPAL AND OMAR??? EXCUSE ME?!?!?!?!?!

Granted they got plopped into a new department, but still...we have logistics lore. Let's stick to the logistics lore. You can erase a lot of things about Season 3, but it still gave us lore of the logistical kind.

First mistake was trusting Ozzie in that this random-ass agent is the best one in the world among a pseudo-government organization of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.

Second mistake was thinking one agent will solve the entire crisis.

Third mistake...uh...

Okay, third mistake is bringing back Olympia's welcome basket thing from "Xs and Os". That's it.

It's ironic because Ozzie looks like Otis, who openly showed disdain at Olympia's welcome basket in that episode.

"One with cheese in it?!"

"Ozzie, she's lactose-intolerant."

"Aww...wait, what?"

"Now, Oprah, on the other hand..."

"Who?"

"Sit down and let me tell you a story of a little friend of ours-a named Oprah..."

Gonna say this off the bat: the fact that this precinct's numbers are a flipped version of 13579 (97531) will forever bug me to the grave. Pretty much the show's entire Discord server has come up with more original numbers. I've come up with more original numbers!

"Oh, I'm not your partner."

Mm. You keep telling yourself that, Ozzie. You keep living in that world of delusion.

AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA HE GAVE HER NOTHING?!?!?!?! UNDER THE PRETENSE THAT "TIME RAN OUT"???

AND SHE L O V E S I T ?!?!?!?!?!

...No, honestly, given where she was working before, an empty basket is a marked improvement.

And we're already performing theft from Season 2's "First Day" in the form of "agent just arrives to Headquarters but is shipped off into town before anything happens".

Let's be honest: this may be a 10-year-old franchise, but I'd like some originality with shacking up with the CBBC instead of leaning on PBS like a crutch. CBBC's more lax, from what I gather. Go wild!

OHHHHH no. Orli found a loophole. A legal loophole. You can't close the loophole, Ozzie. That was in your job description too.

"Again, we're not partners."

I mean, to be fair, he has a point. If he were Orli's partner, he'd be wearing an Investigation department suit.

But he's not, so...he's not.

Otto's whole "I'm terrified of taking the tubes" schtick from Season 1, copied and pasted.

Guys, I'm apt to turn this into a drinking game and then go get my stomach pumped. They're serving me this stuff on a silver platter. I can't not oblige.

So you had to stuff it in a room with shitty-ass chains versus...getting rid of it?

Let me tell you something: in the TAoPaM 'Verse, I came up with a literal version of "The Odd Side". Basically, oddness gets zapped, and it goes to the Odd Side where it can thrive in a safe environment. It's run by a queen named Clementine, a resident of a town of dogpeople known as Galagu who has been corrupted by The Odd Side and antagonizes Mandy for abandoning her when they were children instead of helping her.

If you think that sounds more sane than whatever bumfuck idea Onom has here, you'd be right. And that's not bias -- those chains can't hold shit, let alone a door.

I will say that this lab is already more expansive than any Lab we've seen in the past, and I like it.

That being said, Onom, the fact that you can't fit a tiny-ass egg in that room only proves me more right in that storing oddness in a tinny lil' room is a bad idea.

Taking another shot of Fireball for this very blatant "There Might Be Dragons" rip.

And before you say "it's not a rip", allow me to remind you what was playing on PBS stations before Odd Squad UK premiered.

"There Might Be Dragons".

Out of over 100 episodes.

That's no coincidence.

Behold, the man who will reinvent every single piece of medical research about pilonidal cysts and make every medical researcher in existence who is focusing on it break down into tears.

And if you happen to not know what a pilonidal cyst is, I envy you dearly.

He's...he's sitting on it...on the floor...

Y'know, at least Oprah had the decency of being elevated. Oswald...

...No, actually, Oswald was worse, because he was sitting on the dusty dirty ground and bouncing on it.

See, this is the kind of tourist my state fears.

The only reason why we don't yote 'em into the sun is because, aside from the obvious morality reasons, they give the state revenue and lots of it.

So yes, I can, indeed, relate to this despite being a dumb lil' American.

If things are so bad that you're sending out your cook to go deal with a food-related odd problem, you are 100% fucked and having Orli there won't solve a lick of shit.

Behold: a child who has gotten more pilonidal cysts than most people will ever get in their lifetime.

Nice to see the creepy "exercised lately" PSAs have not made their way to Britain enough to teach the children not to plant ass so much and to stand up and move.

"Agent Orli is the best agent in the world."

I can name 13 agents who are more than willing to contest you on that, Ozzie.

"Wow! You're all so polite here!"

As opposed to...Canadians, who are well known for being polite? As in, the country you came from?

Yeah, you don't get out much, do ya?

God, I haven't had this much combined fun and rage over stupidity since dealing with the vehicular stupidity that was littered all throughout Season 3.

Now this is a guy who has seen some shit in his lifetime.

Y'know...beyond...lightning coming out of his head.

"The Towel-inator's my only gadget!"

You laugh, but it makes sense considering she comes from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, "towel ain't big enough" be damned.

It took them seven entire fucking minutes to show a math lesson, and for this franchise, that is some hella good restraint for a 22-minute episode. Normally you'd be exposed to one before the five-minute mark!

Episode gotta episode, but I'm laughing at how Ozzie actually has gadgets to begin with considering it seems he doesn't really get out much. His expertise is helping around HQ, not helping clients.

(On to Part 3!)

[paradoxcase]

Parodos and Chapter 1 of Harrow the Ninth

Interestingly, the parodos is the first song that is sung by the chorus at the beginning of a Greek tragedy

We are back in the third person, but only for the Parodos, then it goes back to second. Not sure what this means

So the Parodos is some kind of altered memory, and it has a broken Nine skull at the start. I think this is where it goes off the rails:

I'm guessing at this point in the original memory/what actually happened, Ortus probably said "have you never considered Gideon Nav". I went back to the third chapter of Gideon and note that Ortus doesn't really react to Harrow's announcement, other than saying that he fears death, so it makes sense that he was already briefed on this and knew he was going to be replaced by Gideon. So, I guess this is some sort of Dalinar-esque thing, where Gideon's name has been replaced with Ortus's name in Harrow's memory, so that she would remember Ortus doing the Lyctor trial with her instead? And I note that "Ortus" here is allcapsed - I guess the Lyctor whose name was given in the Dramatis Personae as "ORTUS" is maybe in fact named Gideon, then?

I notice also that the first part of the first sentence of both the Parodos and Chapter 1 matches the first part of the first sentence of Gideon the Ninth, more or less

I was hoping that reading Chapter 1 would help clarify some things, but it did the opposite. I spent so much time during the last book complaining that Gideon wasn't telling me what was going on or information about the world and how it worked and so forth, and was kind of hoping that when we got Harrow POV Harrow would fill me in on stuff, and maybe tell me some cool things about necromancy, but it actually got worse, now I'm not just unsure about the general premise of the universe or what is going on politically in the Empire, but also about what is even happening to Harrow in the real world, and what is a hallucination. Does the unreliable POV just continue to get even more unreliable as the series goes on? I've seen posts saying that the next narrator is a literal baby, but that can't possibly be true, can it?

The Parodos is "fourteen months before the Emperor's murder" and Chapter 1 is "nine months before the Emperor's murder". The difference is five months. The Parodos must have happened just before the beginning of Gideon the Ninth and I don't think Gideon the Ninth lasted for five months. There's a period at the beginning of the book where Gideon trains for three months, and then they go off to Canaan House, and they definitely weren't at Canaan House for two whole months. There's some timeskip in the Chapter 11-12 range, but I don't think it was close to two months of time. So this can't be right after the end of Gideon, but maybe like a month, or a month an half after? There's also definitely a lot of timeskip within this chapter as well, so I'm not sure if "nine months before the Emperor's murder" refers to the beginning of the chapter, or the end of the chapter. Is this before or after whatever happened to Harrow to make her "half a Lyctor"? I would guess probably before, but who knows. The Nine skull at the beginning of this chapter isn't broken, so maybe that means its meant to be before that

Harrow has so far established that things that she physically feels are definitely real and not hallucinations (like feeling Ianthe touching her, and here she says that usually when she hallucinates about the Body she can't feel its touch) so we have to assume that when she is getting burned/etc. by the sword, that was a real thing that happened. Was there something special about Gideon's sword? Harrow didn't have trouble wielding it at the end of the last book. I can't find in Gideon any information about where the sword came from, but maybe I've just forgotten. Honestly I don't have any other explanation for this than Harrow's best guess:

Harrow also had Gideon's knowledge of how to use the sword at the end of the last book, but doesn't seem to anymore, which makes me wonder again if this is actually post-becoming-half-a-Lyctor, but I really don't know

There's also something else that's kind of making me feel a bit crazy, which is that the Nook app is definitely slightly resizing the text, or the spacing, or something, at random times, so that the same text will sometimes appear in slightly different places when I look back at it later, and I don't know why this is happening. It would be cool if it were programmed to do that specifically with this book, but I suspect it's just a happy accident

Speaking of Nook-related typographical weirdness, is this style for the title page of the first Act an intentional choice that also appears in the dead tree book, or is this just the result of an image being the wrong size?

Harrow can sense living beings now, which is cool, but maybe not super useful for her at the moment. I guess when she said that "five pairs of eyes closed" in the prologue that was from direct experience and not just something she knew would be happening. There also seem to be a large number of people on the ship/space station/whatever who are not Lyctors

Since Harrow is saying that she does feel the Body touching her in these scenes, I wonder if the Body is actually a real person here, and she is just hallucinating their appearance

I don't think I have anything else for these chapters. Just a big I Don't Know at this point

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

you mentioned maybe doing some destiel for the prompt thingy... 23 and 60 were giving me such dean vibes i would love to see you do more destiel stuff <3

hello, friend!! thank you so so much for requesting these!! i've literally never actually written any destiel stuff, so i really hope you enjoy! 🫶🫶

23 - “It’s hard to get used to…” “what is?” “Being someone that someone cares for…” 60 - “I’ve never felt this way before and I’m terrified to be honest.”

pairing: destiel | word count: 1,508 | rated: T

request a prompt from here!

Damn fuckass witches…they should all go straight to hell.

What lesson is he supposed to be learning anyway, it’s not like she gave him any sort of hint. 

…Okay, maybe she did, but it’s not Dean’s fault he wasn’t listening, it’s her fault for chanting her freakin’ curse after throwing him around like she did.

Make his ears ring then tell him the thing that could help break the spell? Not cool.

What the fuck ever, they’re back at the bunker now, the whole case being a dud anyway. That damn witch was behind the ‘ghost’ reports they had gotten, having just conjured one to keep people off her lawn. A classic Scooby-doo type.

Now the only things on Dean’s mind were to get the fuck back home (check), take a long-ass shower (heading there now), and avoid Cas like his life depended on it (…remains to be seen).

Cas being back at the bunker for a long stretch of time like this was a good thing, a great thing, really. He was finally back in one spot where Dean could keep an eye on him, make sure he’s okay for real. No phone calls, no prayers that go unanswered more than half the time, just Cas. Down the hall. Safe and sound. 

And that’s where the (current) problem lies.

Dean’s Cas Problem™ had been slowly building and burning and broiling under his skin for years now. Since that first goddamn meeting in that barn covered in ineffective banishing sigils.

It had to come to a head sometime, and Dean'd much rather that time be when he's not just recently been cursed to only tell the truth.

He successfully avoided the angel for about seven hours.

The next morning, when Sam was either already nose deep in research on Dean’s newest affliction or out -gag- jogging, Dean makes his way to the kitchen for some sustenance.

He’s hoping to be sneaky enough not to alert Cas to where he is, lest the angel try to cook for him again. 

Cas has been doing that a lot. Cooking. Said he found it to be ‘quite fulfilling’ even though all foods only ever ‘taste like molecules’ to him

The act never failed to throw Dean farther down the You’re totally in love with your best friend who’s an angel and also a dude hole he’s dug himself into over the years.

Food is Dean’s ultimate love language. Being given his favorite beer after a long hunt, a plate of homemade treats from the mom whose boy they’d saved, even just a simple slice of pie for lunch while on the road for a while? Astounding, amazing, perfection, 10/10.

It goes the other way too; he loves to cook for someone. It’s how he shows his love for the people around him. He likes just knowing exactly how much of each dumb rabbit food to add to the frankly enormous omelet he makes for Sammy every Saturday, or exactly how much lemon zest he should add to the blueberry pie for the elderly Ms. Aggie up at the grocery store.

Loves it.

So that’s why whenever the particularly gorgeous celestial being that’s taken over Dean’s heart cooks for him, he folds. Wants so badly to love the angel, be loved by him in return. But it’s the most frightening thing he’s ever come face to face with.

Sometimes Dean thinks the affections are returned, but even after all these years he still can’t quite read the full meaning behind anything Cas does.

For the Dean of Now, it’s a compounding problem that will go completely off the rails if Cas finds him in the kitchen.

He’ll find Dean there, insist that Dean ‘rest. You are only human.’, and take up making breakfast himself.

With this curse on him, Dean doesn’t want to even think of the possible things he’d admit to without wanting to.

So he prays (hah) that Cas is gone off somewhere else for just the moment, somewhere far far far away from the bunk—

“Good morning, Dean.”

Fuck.

‘Just keep your mouth shut, Winchester. Don’t make a sound.’

“How are you feeling?”

Dean grits out a simple “Fine.” He’s not lying, physically he feels perfectly fine if a little sore. “Maybe a little sore.”

Cas nods, “Were you about to make breakfast?” he asks, stepping past dean to the stove and turning on one of the burners.

‘Mouth shut mouth shut mouth shut–’

Luckily, Cas is facing away from him and doesn’t see his head nodding in betrayal.

“Dean?”

Dean’s response is slow, each word said very carefully. “I was, but now I am going to just have coffee.” Hey, it’s not a lie if he’s changed his mind.

Cas turns to face him. “Dean, humans cannot subsist on coffee alone. Shall I make you breakfast?”

“No, it’s alright Cas, really. I want coffee.”

A loud grumble emanates from his stomach the moment he stops speaking.

There’s a smirk on the angel’s face now. “Sounds like I should make you something.”

He turns back to the stove, reaching for and setting down a pan from the hook on the wall, and gets to work freakin’ caring and shit.

Dean can’t do much else but to sit back down at the table and wait for food to be made for him.

He can’t protest in the slightest because he really does want more than coffee. As soon as Cas said it the second time, Dean’s brain flipped from ‘Just Coffee’ to ‘Breakfast’ and wouldn’t flip back no matter what Dean thought. 

He couldn’t say anything to the contrary, couldn’t even shake his head ‘no’. All he could do was stare down the tabletop.

So, he stares and stares and stares at the wood in front of him, until the sight in front of him is changed from particularly swirly knot to honest-to-goodness breakfast smiley face. Eyes made of eggs and a salty bacon smile.

The look on his face must be positively tragic because Cas asks “Is something the matter? Did you want your eggs scrambled instead?”

Dean tries to keep the words at bay, his head shaking no for him.

“Then what is it—”

Dean doesn’t keep his mouth shut hard enough. “It’s hard to get used to…”

Cas is guiet for a moment and a half. “What is?”

“Being someone that someone cares for…”

Cas sets down the other plate he was holding, the green shit all over it giving away that it’s for Sam when he gets back, and sits down kitty-corner to Dean (who’s still staring down the same spot).

“Dean—”

Fuck. He’s let something slip and now all of it’s threatening to spill out after it.

“I’m so used to taking care of others, you know? It’s all I’ve ever known. Take care of Sammy, take care of victims, hell, even taking care of those few terrified spirits that don’t know they’re even doing anything wrong!

“I like to take care of people, I like making sure they have what they need, yeah? But whenever you’re around, you’re the one taking care of me.”

Cas nods, “I do, because I care fo—”

“And I don’t ever tell you how much I really appreciate it, hell, it’s what made me fall in lo—”

Dean snaps his mouth shut. Nope nope nope, not doing that. Never. Cas doesn’t need that shit.

“Dean?”

He finally looks up at the angel beside him. 

Cas’ brows are furrowed, his head tilted slightly in confusion, as if he’s trying his damndest to read Dean’s mind.

Dean’s eyes lock with Castiel’s and…

“I love you Cas.”

He can barely process the holy shit, I said it–god fucking mother— before his mouth is barreling onward. “I’m so in love with you, man, haven’t been the same since that night in the barn.

“I love you when you’re full angel, when you’re human; I loved you when you didn’t even know who we were, when you disappeared after the whole leviathan thing, when you went a little insane and became obsessed with bees…I’ve been slowly falling for you since we met, Cas.” He pauses for only a moment, and is off again in the next breath. “I’ve never felt this way before and I’m terrified, to be honest–” he chuckles sardonically at that, “as if I could be anything else right now.”

Cas’ eyes grow wide. “Dean—” his voice placating in tone.

‘Fuck, of course he’s not going to return the feeling; damn emotions, damn angels, damn motherfucking witches!’ 

“Hey, morning guys! That omelet for me?” Sam interrupts before Dean can be let down fully, loping into the kitchen all flushed and sweaty--ah, so a jog, then.

Dean huffs out a breath, scrubbing his face clear of the couple wayward tears that had snuck down his face. “Yeah, Cas made it for you.”

“Sweet, thanks Cas, I–whoa, Dean, what’s wrong?”

Dean clamps his lips shut once again, stands slowly, and walks out of the kitchen with a short pat to Sam’s shoulder.

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2024 #29

this week I've been visiting my parents for my dad's 50th birthday. despite my goal to work on reading through the books already on my shelf, today i did go to the comic book store and the manga store and get some more things to read!

Finished:

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske I did end up finishing this the day after my last post! I had gotten briefly anxiety stuck at Chapter 15 (if you read it you will know why), but after receiving Wise Counsel from my mother who has already read it, I trusted the process and persevered through to the end of the book, and enjoyed reading it. Ultimately I think A Power Unbound suffers from having to serve as the conclusion to a three part fantasy story, which took away focus from the advertised romance between Lord Hawthorn and Alan. As I was reading I remember thinking that they were spending a lot more time doing stuff apart, rather than working together in the way the previous couples in the series were. that was a little disappointing bc I was really looking forward to this pair. Also i think i was sadism-baiting. submissive brat sadist Alanzo believers rise and join hands with me!

Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems translated by Burton Watson finished this lovely collection of poetry. very pleasant read. I think some of the poems written from his sick bed where really special in particular, and there was a great one about Shiki getting a cane to help with his mobility as his TB got worse

"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe I read this so I could understand what was being referenced in a horror novella later on. the first half i was a bit bored, but from the ballad on i was hooked and found it genuinely unsettling. also it was excellent to read a first-person perspective story that doesn't mildly grate at my nerves. i'm starting to identify what made me like it's usage in this work and not in many others

our bodies too, plateaued by rozecrest on ao3 Unknit by Hierodule on ao3 Signs of Life by rigormorphis on ao3 i am diving into the friends at the table ao3 tag again! not as thoroughly as I have previously, but I am enjoying what I've read so far

If You'll Have Me by Eunnie this graphic novel is just like the sweetest butch/femme romance. it made my day to read it. please go check out this shy femme x suave butch romance

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher an incoming library due date on libby forced me to read this, and oh it was just amazing. as seen above I read the original Poe story this is playing off of. the protagonist has a third gender from a made of European culture, that is to say kan gender is soldier, which I loved bc it let there be gender variance without downplaying like. historical awful gender roles. this story unsettled me and it was very great. also it seems like zombie fungus has really been in vogue in the past several years

Demon Riders by Jack Holder if you saw me reference buying a book from a self published author at a farmer's market a month back, this was that book! its the episodic adventures of a couple of monster hunters, and given that it was episodic, my enjoyment of the story of the book unfortunately varied a lot from chapter to chapter...At its best it had some really interesting ideas or well executed takes on classic ones, but at its worst it was underdeveloped and cliche, under-utilizing its ostensible setting of a post apocalyptic America (the one story in which its Clearly set in Texas really might as well come up with a fantasy name for the place. it would work just as well). I think this would be better suited to a serialized format, instead of published as a collection, that way each of the episodic stories could really breathe.

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 12-13 by ONE, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian plain fun! excited to be reaching the parts where Tome gets to shine as a character

[morningsound15]

Hi! Really love your works! Do you plan any new fuffy fics?

Hi! Yes, always, I have about 8,000 words of a Fuffy pregnancy/kid!fic AU written that I may or may not complete before Christmas time, I have been extremely bad about fic writing recently.

but here's a little snippet/sneak peak if you'd like one

it's tentatively called Prophecy, Baby and rated either M or E I will decide after i've written the sexy stuff lol

.

Buffy shows up on Faith’s doorstep in Cleveland, five years after Sunny-D went crater-up, looking ragged and all-in-all worse for the wear. Faith’s eyes linger on the swelling beneath her t-shirt, and she blinks a few times, not knowing what to say. They haven’t seen each other in half a year, but Buffy’s got that look in her eye, the one that always seems to spell trouble for Faith and her bleeding heart.

“Hey,” Buffy finally says, her throat raspy, dark bruises under her eyes from exhaustion. “Got room for a couple of fugitives?”

Faith blinks, and can’t think of a single thing to say. Wordlessly she steps to the side, and opens her door, feeling a bit like she’s just hung a “Vamps, Demons, and All Manner of World-Ending Baddies Welcome!” sign above the knocker.

They don’t speak for several weird, stressful minutes, wherein Faith, on autopilot, goes about her hosting duties: she takes Buffy’s coat, leads her to the couch, and gets her a glass of water. Only then, once properly settled, does she think to speak.

“What the hell are you doing here, B?”

“Warm welcome,” Buffy says between hefty sips, rolling her eyes.

“I think I can stand to be a little testy. Wasn’t expectin’ company tonight.”

“I’m sorry, am I interrupting a hot date with you and your bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos?”

Faith spies the opened bag where she’d knocked it off the couch in her haste to get to the insistent knocking on her front door. She kicks it out of sight, embarrassed and huffy. “If you don’t wanna start explainin’, you know where the door is.”

Buffy looks like she might be in the mood to quip a bit longer, except something in her stomach must twitch (kick? Is the little gremlin at the kicking stage already?) and she winces. The fight leaves her at once, and she takes a breath and grits out, whether because of the pain in her abdomen or the pain of admitting it: “I needed a friend.”

Faith chokes down her knee jerk response, Are we friends?, and instead says, “Last I checked, you had lotsa friends. A whole castle full of them, actually.”

“I needed a friend who wasn’t going to send me back to the Organization. Someone I could… keep a low profile with. At least for a little while.” She glances down at her expansive stomach. “About three and a half months, actually.”

Faith nods. It makes sense, in a perverse sort of way. “So you came here. Last place on earth anyone would look for ya.” Buffy’s face performs an intricate dance disguised as a wince. She opens her mouth, maybe to apologize, but Faith waves her off. “No sweat. I get it. It was smart. And you know me, always looking to help a couple of good-for-nothings hide out from the law. Or the witches, or whatever it is you guys have got going on over there.”

“To be honest, I didn’t really think this through. I just knew I couldn’t stay there. And I hoped you wouldn’t turn me away.”

That’s something Buffy can always count on. It’s the part of Faith’s personality that she hates the most about herself. Her inability to turn Buffy away, even when she knows it’s no good for her to invite her in.

“They know?” Faith looks pointedly at Buffy’s rather large belly. “About… Buffy Junior in there?”

“They know,” Buffy says with a grimace. Faith is still staring. She can’t take her eyes off of Buffy. The swell of her belly, the heavy way she sits even now. Faith’s trying, as carefully and subtly as possible, to think through the timeline. It doesn’t do her much good, she basically doesn’t know anything about Buffy and what she gets up to outside of the two days they see each other every six months. They both prefer it that way. They get along like a forest fire — all burning destruction, crackling heat, explosive violence, etcetera etcetera. It’s easier to keep them apart, to minimize the damage.

Faith doesn’t have a very good knowledge of the reproductive cycle. She never finished high school, what with being a wanted fugitive and the whole coma and all, but if she had to guess she’d say Buffy’s probably somewhere in the second trimester. Five, six months along, maybe? Which would put the date of conception right around… right around…

Faith blinks, her eyes flicking up to Buffy’s face.

Buffy doesn’t seem to be paying her any attention. She groans as she stretches her feet out, her muddy boots making a mess of Faith’s coffee table. Faith doesn’t care about the mud or the boots. Buffy kicks her shoes off slowly, tries to bend to rub at her swollen ankles, grimaces when she can’t reach before flopping heavily down onto the couch again. After a few moments she notices Faith hovering, frozen in place, and she must clock the panic in Faith’s expression.

“It’s not yours,” Buffy says, not unkindly. Faith flushes, because she feels stupid for even thinking… of course the kid isn’t hers. That isn’t even possible. She doesn’t know much about the reproductive cycle, but she knows enough to know that their combination of downstairs equipment can’t, strictly speaking, do something like that. But she couldn’t help the initial thought. Unfortunately the thought of Buffy bouncing from her bed one night to some nameless, faceless, hunk of masculine musculature the next stings more than she’d like to admit. She can’t pause on that thought, or else she’s liable to put her fist through the wall. Or walk right off her balcony. Whichever one seems like it’ll cause more pain.

 “I see you trying to do the math over there,” Buffy says, ignorant of the thousand-yard-leaps Faith’s mind has been making three feet to her left, “but it’s not yours.”

“Yeah,” Faith scoffs, and it rings hollow even to her. “Of course not. I’m not, like… I know how it works. Not like I coulda gotten you pregnant even if I wanted—I mean…” She clears her throat, her cheeks flaming hot (not unlike the bag of Cheetos currently attracting ants next to her TV). “So… the dad is—?”

“Not in the picture,” Buffy says shortly.

“Gotcha.”

“I didn’t come here for an interrogation.”

“Hey, I gotcha, B. If you wanted the third degree you woulda stayed in Scotland. I can be discreet. What goes into or comes outta your body ain’t any of my business.”

“Gross. But thank you, I guess.”

[motheatenscarf]

Okay, I'm at the point where I need to do a trial in order to progress the story and I'm a tank, so I'll actually have to watch a video for that, so I took a day off to parse my thoughts on things that WEREN'T unspeakable goddamn tragedies.

I will also post thoughts on the tragedy, but later. I want to see the consequences of this loss in the narrative play out first before making a value judgment, but so far I am already leaning towards "good story beat, actually emotionally impacted me and the characters in text and was thematically appropriate."

For non-tragedy thoughts, I'm just going through screenshots and gonna post my thoughts in order based on what I clearly thought was worth screenshotting;

Okay, I already talked about how I came around on Estinien, but I also really like Ysayle. I love that she earns the name "Lady Iceheart" but is the most emotionally driven character so far in her desire for peace and believes that she's the reincarnated soul of this ancient dragon's old flame. Quite the blow to realize she isn't that and this guy doesn't recognize or care about her and that she just summoned up a primal based on her own desperate beliefs. WOOF. That's a good character arc. I want to see where she goes from there.

Also the fact that she just loves Moogles because they're adorable and makes a comment like "My heart is aflutter from mere... fluffiness??" and like, girl, same, they're so cute.

Another interaction I liked from the Moogles was when Alphinaud got mad at them for making his trial of worthiness just be the chores none of them wanted to do. He got so pissed he went and said something like, "I don't know what a 'kupo nut' is but I know they use it for currency and I've half a mind to demand some for the work I just did!" and, YOU GET EM, SWEETIE! We'll make a lil pinko out of you yet, demand compensation for your labor, work to rule, honey! I'm so proud of him!!

And another fun Alphinaud moment was when he said, in the fanciest little lad way possible, "Last one to finish their job is a rotten egg!"

And speaking of babies, Nanamo's okay! I've actually got mixed feelings on that.

On the one hand, I really like Nanamo and I fucking love Raubahn, I'm full on going to switch my faction allegiance to the Immortal Flames once I max out rep in the Malestrom, but man. The MOST exciting part of the end of ARR was when they shifted the status quo that hard! I grant you the scions are still missing and we still had to retreat to Ishgard to seek new allies, but man, handwaving it so that things can more or less go back to the way they were before kinda sucks.

I was EXCITED for that change! I'm of course glad that Ruabahn is okay and gets to keep being surrounded by tiny adorable lalafel, and I really liked Nanamo and her struggle to figure out how to help her people was compelling, but man... idk... I feel like there was more to be explored with that Ul'dah crew on the run and the city in chaos that had a lot of potential we never got to see :T

This is a relatively minor complaint, of course, the stuff with Isghard is certainly gripping enough. I'm fine if Raubahn only ever gets to be that gif of the drunk girls with the puppies when it comes to keeping all of the itty bitty babies in his life safe

Final thought, UH, they kinda dropped a bomb on me that apparently half-elves exist in this world???

I .... I mean, one would assume it was possible, but we haven't seen any until now, despite there being plenty of instances of inter-species relationships that it actually raises MORE questions than it answers. Even if Dragon Age is a copout answer, it at least means they don't have to program unique models to make all children between elves and humans just humans. It means the same of probably other pairings as well, but if you put half-elves in a setting, it BEGS the question, okay, what do mixed heritages look like across the board? And namely, uh, where are all the others? I refuse to believe that this Hilda woman is special, if there is ONE thing I know about humans and elves in any given setting it's that you can't leave them alone for 5 goddamn minutes together without drowning in half-elves. Also, the others, huh? Where are the human/au-ra babies? Where are the Au-Ra/Elezen babies? I know people be fucking these anime uwu catboys and catgirls, where are the lanky elf-cats and scaley dragon cats?!

My brother actually pointed out a very real possibility that if we have humans, and we have hrothgar..... maybe that is where miqo'te came from in the first place, which begs the question of like, okay, if you can have a half and half baby of mixed heritage, what happens if that baby has babies with a third entirely different option?

You cannot introduce this element so cavalierly and then kill my goddamn elf husband and expect me to forget, I WON'T FORGET THE HALF-ELVES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN, FF14, YOU WILL ANSWER ME!

[trans-xianxian]

hello ben been following u for a while love the content great stuff. rewatching cql and wanted to know ur opinion on whether or not u think wwx knew he was in love with lwj b4 his death, after his resurrection, or post-canon? and talking like, IN LOVE. crush he probably knew like idk. during or after the schooling portion as teenagers ?

idk what the book says but cql specifically i think he knew pretty early on. there are a lot of fics about him JUST figuring out his feelings post-canon surprisingly so i wanted to ask u abt it lol

u've probably already said in the past but i either forgot or didnt see when uve all discussed it. thank u much love hope the hair comes out cool as shit

here's my timeline for how I think wei wuxian felt about lan wangji throughout the series/how aware and comfortable he was w those feelings:

I think that wei wuxian knew almost immediately that he was at the very least Attracted to lan wangji. he makes that stupid gay face the first time he sees him. throughout the cloud recesses arc it's pretty clear that wei wuxian has himself a little crush, and I think he definitely knows it. I've seen a lot of interpretations saying that wei wuxian had a crush but wasn't aware of his own feelings, but all of his clumsy attempts at flirting w lan wangji and trying to get his attention make it obvious to me that he knows very well how he feels and is not uncomfortable or in denial of those feelings

I don't think that wei wuxian was necessarily In Love with lan wangji by the time he's thrown into the burial mounds, but I think he's moved on from silly teenage crush to something more. the thing that makes him finally sit up and keep going in the burial mounds is him imaging lan wangji saying his name for fucks sake

during/around the sunshot campaign I think he is somewhere between Very Strong Romantic Feelings and In Love, and the fact that they spend half of that time at odds w each other only complicates his emotions and how much he is able to accept his own feelings. he obviously feels very strongly for lan wangji in a romantic way and is pushing and prodding to see if lan wangji feels the same but a lot is happening and he has just experienced intense emotional and physical trauma, Every emotion he's feeling is intense and complicated and repressed

as for post sunshot campaign pre yiling laozu era wei wuxian... I think this is where his feelings for lan wangji become more complicated. wei wuxian is pushing Everybody away post burial mounds and trying to separate himself from all of his attachments. he went through unspeakable trauma and now the war is over, he is left with a lot of time and space to fester in his trauma in a way he wasn't during the sunshot campaign. wei wuxian is conflicted about All of his relationships, including his relationship with lan wangji. I think he's struggling with being close to and vulnerable with anybody, and accepting new, intense, and, honestly, dangerous emotions for lan wangji is difficult for him. at this point he is very much shutting down emotionally and he very well may be In Love by then but I certainly don't think he's processing it fully. I think their conversation on phoenix mountain speaks to both wei wuxians uncertainty about their relationship and the intensity of his feelings for lan wangji

now. by the time "at least I could be killed by you, that would be worth it" happens, I Do think that wei wuxian is in love if only because that's the most batshit insane romantic thing I've ever heard in my life no other evidence needed. I think by then he's started to process his emotions more but also there's like. a lot going on right now. I don't think it's high on his list of priorities

By The Burial Mounds Arc, I 100% believe that wei wuxian not only knows that he is in love with lan wangji, but is fully aware of the fact that lan wangji is in love with him. for me, part of their tragedy is that by the end they both Knew, but they had simply run out of time. what is the point of saying it now, at the end? what good is that? maybe if they do not say it outloud the fact that they cannot act on their feelings for each other will hurt less

but part of the joy of their relationship post res Is the tragedy that came before it. they thought they had run out of time but they didn't! wei wuxian gets a second chance! they have been given more time!!

[rbelle310]

A burger holder seems like a gag gift, but the weird plastic doohicky is the gift Kiyoomi buys Atsumu for his birthday because for as long as he's known Atsumu, the setter has never been able to eat a burger without it falling apart.

It's absolutely baffling to Kiyoomi: Atsumu is a man who displays so much dexterity and finesse with his (very beautiful) hands. His brother owns a damned onigiri store. How different could they be to eat neatly?

"It's so different Omi!" protests Atsumu with his mouth still half-full of burger (Kiyoomi very very briefly reconsiders his love).

He's halfway through his All-In Megastack and the paper lining on the tray is already littered with bits of lettuce, a half-bitten slice of tomato, and the tragic tail end of a piece of bacon.

Atsumu swallows and takes another big bite, dislodging a bit of onion that now dangles precariously from the tenuous grip of smashed beef patty and toasted potato bun.

Kiyoomi nibbles on a fry with pepper mayo while waiting for him to elaborate.

"An onig-" Atsumu starts, pauses to swallow again and take a sip of soda before continuing, "Samu's onigiri is perfectly shaped, an' y'know the rice is lightly kneaded to hold together with the fillin'. A burger's just..."

He gestures vaguely and the unfortunate onion (now nicknamed Mufasa) plunges to its untimely demise.

"A burger's just stacked. Mebbe it's got some cheese an' stuff to hold it together, but it ain't properly compacted."

"Sounds like what you really need is a sandwich press." huffs Kiyoomi amusedly, "But I've seen your paninis fall apart at lunch too. Why don't you just use the holder I got you?"

"Awww Omi~~ I can't carry it with me everywhere! It's not like I plan for burgers!"

"I suppose not." Kiyoomi relents.

Today was one such example after all. They were supposed to have conveyor belt sushi but the queue was too long for their voracious athlete appetites.

He finishes his fries and Atsumu wolfs down the rest of his now All-Out Megadebris meal.

"Gochisousama~" Atsumu intones, lilting Kansai-ben making the customary words all the more adorable to Kiyoomi's ears.

The love of his life is a walking mass of contradictions. He handles the ball with such grace, but grips his burgers with a hamfist.

He sometimes says the silliest things even in front of the press, but he's conscientious enough to say the customary words of appreciation to the line cook who will never hear it.

He'll put aside time every night to moisturise and manicure his hands to keep them in perfect condition, but here he is carelessly brushing sesame seeds and sauce off his fingers with a crumpled and over-used serviette.

Atsumu is baffling, yet endearing, he fills Kiyoomi with no small amount of consternation, but also causes his heart to swell with vast amounts of affection.

"Here, your fingers are going to be sticky." Kiyoomi chides softly, pulling a pack of wet wipes from his pocket.

He takes those messy hands in his own clean ones and carefully wipes each finger down, even rubbing under the nails. And once Atsumu's hands are sauce-free and pristinely smooth, Kiyoomi presses a kiss against a knuckle.

Thanks to the wipes, his boyfriend's skin smells like sweet muskmelon and aloe instead of fast food, so Kiyoomi is content to let his lips linger a little longer, maybe brush more than once against other parts of Atsumu's hands as he murmurs, "There, all clean."

"T-thanks Omi." Atsumu squeaks, face as red as the half-eaten tomato on the tray.

He's so hot and yet so damn adorable at the same time. Kiyoomi tightens his grip ever so slightly and gives a teasing smile that promises more than wet wipes and kisses when they get home.

Atsumu only grows redder at the provocation, squirming in his seat. Cute.

So, maybe Kiyoomi was just a teensy bit annoyed at his gift going to waste. But if he were really honest with himself, maybe the messy burgers weren't really such a bad thing if he could still make Atsumu blush like that with just wet wipes and a smile.

[heretherebedork]

Hello hello

Have you already heard about Mame's new show?

https://twitter.com/MemindyOfficial/status/1632244779416440832?t=e4xmGS6w7vN4wINt58gFTw&s=19

A lot of people are hyped because there will be a GL side couple!

But there are also a lot of people very skeptical about it because...well it's mame.

While I do think that people can change and learn from past mistakes and to reduce Mame to stuff she has written only and never allow her to grow and do better is a bit unfair, I do understand the concerns as she wasn’t able to let go of some stereotypes and sa storylines.

I wonder what you think about it? <.<

Oh, MAME is unlikely to learn from what I call her mistakes (because, as the fandom is clear, they don't consider them mistakes) but she has two different styles of show and it's perfectly likely that this one will be one of her more enjoyable ones.

Like, I want to be clear, I've enjoyed several MAME productions (Don't Say No and Love By Chance... well, LBC as long as you skip an entire pairing) and don't mind others.

She can create interesting characters, she just really likes rape a bit too much for my taste and seems to believe that consent is absolutely optional if the characters are or are going to be in love and that anything goes if they're supposed to be in love.

So... what do I think? I dunno what I think, honestly. I always worry with a new MAME production and I'm likely to have issue with at least one couple in the show... but you never know. She might do another DSN where the worst crime in a couple is being boring.

I don't prejudge the show but I do... anticipate worrisome things.

Honestly, I'm more afraid of the fandom then the show. The show is the show and it's going to be what it's going to be but watching an entire fandom fall over themselves to explain why doing what he did somehow isn't abusive because it's love!!!! was rough. Real rough. So... fingers crossed to not repeat that?

Anyway, anon, this is basically me admitting that I don't have many thoughts on it. I love the idea of arranged marriage being turned into mlm/wlw solidarity and destroying the marriage for the sake of love... but I also have seen what MAME will do to make a 'romance' happen and it worries me.

So.

Is that an answer? I dunno.

I will not be getting overly excited but I will be watching, most likely.

I like the idea, I'm just not sure I trust the execution. Especially since I was hopeful for LITA and got that entirely dashed in the second half and in the worst ways. Still hoping for a sequel that rescues Sky or redeems Pai but it seems very unlikely at this point.

[starcrossed-sky]

(previous anon) thank you for the detailed answer. my knees have no cushion either! and yeah, my body does not move the way i want it to in a few ways. standing still for more than a minute or so quickly gets very painful, and the only way to mitigate it temporarily is to walk slowly or shift my weight from one foot to the other if sitting isn't an option. i have to sit when i bathe/do dishes/laundry. i've mentioned this to doctors in the past, but they just tell me to exercise more, which unfortunately is not ideal because exertion makes my base level of fatigue worse to the point where i can't keep up with my day job. i'll put a pin on seeing a physical therapist some time, though; i have been planning to look into my mobility issues for a while.

about dieting- i've always been fat, since i was a child, and i felt completely neutral about my own body. when i was a small child, it was seen as cute and a sign that my parents fed me well, but by the time i was in high school, PE class involved everyone getting their BMI measured and i was classified as obese (32 or so). ever since then, my mother has been obsessed with my weight and mentioning how worried she is for my health and how i should definitely be on a diet because i was "ballooning" (said with terror and pleading).

but i was kinda never sold on it? i have relatives who're huge into dieting and would post their gym and progress photos on facebook, but some months later i'd see them at reunions and they had already gained it all back. i even had a distant aunt whose heart gave out because she gained and lost so much weight many times throughout her life. when it came to weight loss, my stance has always been: what's the point of all that effort and expensive products/services if it's so easy to gain it back anyway? i just want my weight to be stable, not to keep going down. unfortunately, i live in southeast asia, where being fat is seen as "you're gonna have a heart attack any minute if you don't drop everything and lose weight right fucking now!!!"

if anything, the only thing that annoys me about my weight and general size/shape is that it's hard to shop for clothes and shoes in my size lol. specialized plus size stores are always more expensive, economies of scale, etc. i always gotta rely on hunting for foreign overruns or secondhand stuff since everyone's so small in my country :p

Oh god, I can't imagine trying to shop for clothes at our size (I think my BMI is also in the lower half of the 30s... not that I pay attention bc that's not what BMI was designed for) in an Asian country. It's hard enough in the US and over here, Asian sizes are notorious for "plan on buying at least one size up from your US size, probably two." I hav e enough of an interest in Asian fashion that I go looking occasionally and immediately have to laugh in pain at "size: XL waist: 112cm" type size charts. (my waist for reference is 50in/127cm)

You should definitely see a physical therapist if you can find a decent one (I have no advice for this, on account of there being an ocean between us, and also I myself have never actually used one). I only had immediate pain from standing during the worst of my Bad Hip period, but I have permanent back problems and can't stand for long periods without an assistive device (which in my case means... a heavy backpack as a counterweight. Lmao.)

Also, as far as fatigue goes, if your body is running estrogen as your primary hormone, get checked for anemia! I had horrific anemia before getting on T, and it was a definite factor in my chronic fatigue.

And, well, yeah, none of what you described with your relatives is surprising to me, as someone who has followed actual weight health science all my life as a survival need. Humans tend to vary by 5 or so pounds in either direction depending on various factors, but any weight loss of more than 10-15 lbs (please don't ask me to convert to kilos I don't have that one memorized) is like... it's medically concerning... unless the person is dieting! then it's fine!

Yeah, bullshit.

Good luck out there anon.