#and then a book shop. BTW THE BOOK SHOP. ok so we were walking and there was like a random staircase upstairs and a sign saying book shop w

[lowkeyrobin]

still so disappointed that mr pennycrumb [fives dog in the comics] didnt rlly appear much in the show </3

ok ok so its the academy's birthday and the reader is insanely good at gift giving and never forgets to give presents if theres smth special happening. they hand out the gifts to everyone except they avoid five and disappear w/o them knowing where they went, only to come back at dusk w/ a larger box. obviously five went insane and rambles on how worried he was before the reader finally shuts him up by plopping the box on him, and boom. theres a puppy.

[loved the last viktor fic btw. literally bawled my eyes out]

- 🦇

OMG YES the only appearance we saw was in s3 when Luther went on a jog before he got napped :( ; and thank you!! I got bored and I couldn't extend it any further so it's kinda dumb but it's alr haha ; thanks for requesting, hope you enjoy! ; also sorry this is so short and dumb idk writers block is so picky

FIVE HARGREEVES ; mr pennycrumb

summary ; when the umbrella academys birthdays roll around, you get five a whole ass dog

warnings ; language

disclaimers ; some of the gifts are related to hobbies/interests that are more of hcs than actual canon

word count ; 738

masterlist

When you walked into Allison's with multiple boxes and bags for the Hargreeves, they all knew you were at it again with your insane yet accurate gift giving. They started with cake, then moved over to presents.

Gift giving in the family was like secret Santa in a way. Everyone would essentially get gifts for all the others, and they'd pass around gifts one by one, usually by number order. Luther was always first, Viktor always last. Lila usually snuck in around Diego, because duh. Viktor had gotten used to being last, the forgotten one. But around his family now, he knew it wasn't like that anymore. He'd rather go last so everyone else could have their special time on their special day.

So, the group sets the gifts tagged for Luther on the table in front of him. The kids halfway watch from afar, paying attention to the TV and their toys more than their celebrating parents, aunts, and uncles.

You were among the minority in the house that didn't share a birthday with them, thank God. You would've gone insane over big birthdays like this.

Five, meanwhile, was going insane over you basically ignoring him all day.

You'd gotten Luther some workout gear, knowing he'd taken up going to the gym within the past couple of years. Among other gifts were little trinkets and other things he wanted. He was a little hard to shop for, never really wanting anything, enjoying the quality time over any gift giving.

Next was Diego, and inside the gift you got for him, was a knife sharpening kit. He'd lost his old one just in time. Lila came up next, receiving a few nice outfits you found for her and a gift card to Cosmoprof, as she'd been thinking about re-dyeing her hair to white again.

Next up was Allison, grateful for the numerous acting job business cards you'd given her on top of a bunch of books that were on her Amazon wishlist. She was a serious reader who wanted to get back into acting, now.

Klaus was after her, ecstatic about a carry-around cleaning kit. You were going to go with a joint maker to make his life easier before he got sober. Now he wouldn't need a full bag of cleaning supplies, he'd have your perfect gift.

Five decided to go last, wanting to watch his family be happy more than open presents himself.

Ben was next, receiving some letters from modeling agencies. As he should.

Viktor was second to last, very appreciative for the new drink recipes you'd made and found for him atop the pile of clothes you'd gotten him.

You disappeared around dusk, leaving Five to open his presents without presence. He was physically eighteen, mentally sixty-two today.

As he looks up, seeing the lack of you around, he hides a soft frown. He noticed how you weren't standing near him all night, how you barely even spoke around him.

"Did you do something to Y/n?" Klaus asks out of the blue. "They just kinda... dissappeared"

Five shrugs. "I don't think I did. Even if I did do something, they'd talk it out with me"

Allison shrugs. "I think that's them" she comments, looking out the screen door to see you pull up in your car again. "Diego, could you get the door?"

Diego turns around, unlocking the door for you, holding it open as he sees you holding a big box.

"Why is that box bigger than you?"

"Also, why is it moving?"

You set the box on the table in front of Five, a wide smile on your face. "Open it"

He slowly sets aside the large box of coffee pods he received from Diego to the side, slowly reaching for the box flaps. As he pulls them to the side, out jumps a little dog.

"Oh my God?"

Five smiles, pulling the puppy into his lap. He looks up at you, a glimmer in his eyes. "Why did you get me a dog?"

You shrug, moving the box off the table. "You're a lonely old man, you need some company"

He chuckles, petting the pug's head.

"What're you gonna name it?" Ben asks, arms crossed.

"Him" You correct

"Mr. Pennycrumb" Five answers.

"Why?" Luther asks.

The physically younger boy shrugs. "Why not?"

"Interesting choice" Klaus mutters with a shrug.

Five smiles up at you, giddy like a little kid. "Thank you"

"I try"

[rapz-rites]

Hearts

Damian Wayne x Reader

You and your soulmate can feel each other's heartbeat 

A/N: for @thesuperiorrobin btw I started writing this super late at night so it might not be the best but I hope you all like this

Word Count: 1.1k+

Warning(s): Barely proofread, loophole cursewords

You jolted up from your sleep. 4 times a week, 3 if you’re lucky. Like clockwork. Your soulmate's heart beats so fast, so hard, it wakes you up. You would think he was having a heart attack. 

You don’t know what your soulmate does that gets his heart beating so fast in the middle of the night. You found this whole heartbeat soulmate thing so stupid. Of all the things you and your soulmate had to share, a heartbeat, seriously?

On everyone’s 10th birthday, they start “sharing” their soulmate's heartbeat. It's not really sharing though, so you didn't understand why they explained it that way. Probably to romanticize it. 

You couldn’t go back to sleep until about 4am. But that didn’t matter because your alarm went off 2 hours later. You hated your life. Not only did you get no sleep because of your stupid soulmate but you had to get ready for school, a school filled with pompous a-holes. Luckily it was your last year and you only had a few more months left until you graduated.

~

You walk into class late, everyone looking up at you. Luckily for you, your teacher is nice enough to let it slide. 

“Hey” you said to the boy you usually sat by. His name was Damian, Damian Wayne. Yup. As in Billionaire “playboy” Bruce Wayne.

“What now L/N?” He asked. He looked up at you with an annoyed expression. Damn. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. 

“Do you think you could help me with number 5?” You looked at him with pleading eyes. “Pretty please.”

“Sure.” And he did. You didn’t really need help, you just wanted to bother and talk to Damian. 

The two of you were close acquaintances but not friends. He was you favorite pompous rich a-hole and you were one the most tolerable people at GA to Damian

After this class you were done. You were transferring books to and from your backpack when your best friend, Lienne, pulled up next to you. 

“What are you doing after school? Do you want to have a sleep-” If you didn’t stop her now it would turn into an investigation.

“I’m working at the clinic after school, but I can come over after and we can have a sleepover all you want,” you smiled at her.

“Ok. See you after work. Oh, and bring those chips I like please,” she says walking away. You chuckled at her.

You worked at a pet shop clinic. You loved it. You weren’t a people person, you were a pet person. I loved cats, dogs, and hamsters. Any domestic house pet you could get your hands on, you loved it. They were so much easier to deal with than people. 

You were peacefully playing with a hamster while it was quiet in the store. Suddenly 2 men rush in. You put the hamster back in its cage and turned to the 2 men. They both looked like they were freaking out.

“We need your help! Like it's an emergency,” the tall one said. He had jet black hair and a white streak at the front. Then the second one spoke up.

“It’s our brother's cat,” the other one said. He was shorter, maybe 5’10/11. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He handed you an adorable little tuxedo cat. You couldn’t help but awe at it.

“Sure, what happened? Our vet is currently busy, but I can check him out and get him to see him as soon as possible.” you walked them into an exam room in the clinic. As you were assessing the cat, your boss walked in. 

“What's going on here?” He asked. You explained what happened and gave your assessment of the cat to your boss. He complimented you on your good work and took over. You were happy until you felt a strain on your heart. Something was wrong with your soulmate. It felt like he was having a panic attack or something. You went to the front of the store to sit down. You were trying to steady your heartbeat to cancel his out. But of course as you sat down, someone walked in. It was none other than Damian Wayne.

“Where’s Alfred? Where’s my cat?” he asked. You walked up to him to get his attention. You were holding onto his arm while he was looking around frantically.

“Your cat? Is he a tuxedo cat?” He immediately looked down at you. “You’ve seen Alfred? Where is he?”

“Your brothers brought him in,” you explained to him calmly. You were already trying to calm your soulmate’s heartbeat and now you have to calm a frantic billionaire son. He was spouting nonsense you didnt want to listen to while you ushered him to a chair.

“Listen Wayne,” you said, shutting him up. “Your brothers brought him in. I assessed him and the vet is now with him. He's going to be fine”

You could tell your words helped, but he was still anxious. It was kinda cute that he cared this much for a cat. One time you saw him roll his eyes at a school assembly about suicide. But he was still breathing heavily. At this point your heartbeat was calm but you could still feel your soulmate’s fast heart.

You took Damian’s hand and put it over your heart, and you did the same to him. That's when you felt it. People who already met their soulmates said once you know it's this indescribable, thrilling feeling. They were right. It was like time stopped and nothing else mattered. Your hearts synced and that's all you both felt. You both stared into each other’s eyes. You opened your mouth to speak but was interrupted. 

“Are we interrupting something?” The tall brother asked. You quickly moved back from Damian, putting your hands at your side.

“Yes”

“No”

You both spoke in unison. You looked at him, but he was glaring at his brothers.

“So what did Dr. Goldwin say?” you asked, smiling before it got awkward.

~

“OMG OMG OMG!” Lienne squealed, jumping around her room. “YOUR SOULMATE IS DAMIAN WAYNE.”

You weren’t surprised at her reaction when you told her. She always had a knack for the dramatics. As she was jumping around, spouting how beautiful your wedding was going to be, you got a text from your “future husband”.

Damian ☹️: Hello Y/N

                    Let’s go out on a date Saturday

                    Send me your address and I'll pick you up at 2pm

Y/N : I’d love to go out with you 😉

You’ll tell Lienne once she calms down. She's going to freak.

So… what do you think???

I’m working on request so plz don’t think I forgot abt those.

[pumpkinsy0]

I’m not sure if America does this much, but from where I am, a grade is able to travel to a different country for around a week or two for educational purposes (e.g Italy, France, Etc.) So,,, any Papercut Hcs for that? (Taken that they were able to make up the money for that, maybe Pony took up extra jobs to earn the money.)

ik what ur talking about!!! i dont think its common for a WHOLE GRADE to do it, but ik wym!!!!

OK SO

•lets say they’re traveling to france (ewwww🙄🙄 but trust me, makes sense later), their language class was french and they were like “man y dont we all travel to france to test out skills n have fun”

•gonna b frank w u, pony, curly, and their families were hesitant on it, MOSTLY bc of money restraints but when it comes to pony, its bc he just never traveled out the country before, let alone all by himself

• curly rlly has no aspirations to travel anywhere but then he realized that if pony left, he would b bored out his mind cayse who else can he annoy as well as he does w pony??? so he was on board!!

•look, getting that money was a hard time for all, tim and curly did more jobs, darry and soda worked their asses off and so did pony, but at the end of the day, they did it (also some of it was covered for everyone bc of some soc’s rich ass dad)🙏🏽🙏🏽

•when the packed, they damn near packed everything they had bc they just dont have much, it was like they were going away forever����

•look, curly (and angela, shes here too!!! :3) r haitian immigrants, they knowwwww french bc they HAD to learn it in haiti to get through the education system, hell theyre probably one of the few ppl who even know it fluently out this whole grade, everyone else was lowkey bullshittin

•curlys basically ponys translator for everything, and curly WILL use it to his advantage, ponys always smarter than him but HERE??? HEEEE has the upper hand, plus, this means pony being clingy

•but his french was a lil rusty bc he wouldnt rlly speak it a lot, even in class he wouldnt rlly speak

•pony had this “introduction to french” book darry gave him bc darry can actually speak french bc of the class!!!

•curly and angela CANNOOTTT see the eiffel tower as being romantic btw, that shit was built w haitian money they hate france man (YES, im airing out some of my grievances i hate france dude🙄🙄), if pony mentioned the tower near curly he’d roll his eyes, ALSO BC HE FOUND IT TO B CORNY

•curly and pony keep getting lost dude, its like hell on earth, YES, france is walkable, but that probably just makes it worse for them bc theyre walking far in the wrong way😭

•u can def tell theyre american tourist, but i dont think curly would care, ponys trying to keep a low profile tho

•i dont think they rlly, like french food that much, not even that it taste bad or anything just not their cup of tea, honestly

•if i remember right, france has a problem w pick pocketers and i PROMISE u that wouldnt slide w either of em, they WILL fight u over it😭

•angela was excited to try the macarons!!! honestly like top thing she liked there probably, maybe she also flirted w some guys in french, got some perfume, she treated it like a vacation more than like something educational, she knew french already this was USELESS to her

•pony loved the museums, and wouldve liked it MORE if curly didnt RUSH him all the time bc he was bored, curlys the kind of guy to only go to museums for the gift shop and tbh??? so real

•they were able ti get a room together at a hotel thankfully, and half the time in it was NOT spent sleeping, it was spent w curly making stupid jokes and pony laughing so they were tired in the morning

•let them have some souvenirs, they deserve it!!!pony tried to get something each for the gang, curly got something STUPID for tim, angela got a cute gift for herself

•pony promised to take pics while he was there and he did, but some of the pics had curly being a dumbass in it🙄🙄

anyways i went through this whole post without making a kanye west joke, im truly growing to b more mature

[bluberimufim]

Writerly questionaire

I was tagged by @xenascribbles (read its post here btw!!) and I've been wanting to do it for a while (it's been so long ago, I'm sorry!!!) because it sounds interesting. Unfortunately, it's long and I am NOT concise.

I'll just leave the tags here: @squarebracket-trickster, @full-on-sam, @olliexwrites, @macabremoons, and @cheeto-flavoured-pasta + anyone else who wants to join!!

About me:

When did you first start writing?

I think I've mentioned this before, but I started writing in 5th/6th grade to kind of codify the lore and story of my friend group's playground activities (because a series of drawings was just not cutting it). Then, we collectively found out I enjoyed it and my friends started asking for fanfics of books we all liked.

Are the general themes you read different from the ones you write?

I don't really go out looking for the themes of a story, I usually focus on interesting plots or characters when I'm shopping for books (I know themes inform story and characters but you know what I mean). Also most themes in my stories are 100% a posteriori (DoS was my first time having themes in mind as I was writing). I usually write the 1st draft and go "oh shit, a theme".

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (room, coffee shop, desk, etc)

I mostly write in my room, usually sitting on my bed because I hate chairs. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention my college's big auditorium, specifically during boring architectural theory lessons. Any project of mine has been at least 30% written during class time, I can assure you.

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

I go for a Really Long Walk while listening to music. And fun fact: I've had to make my walks bigger because of this, because when I'm having Thoughts I start speedwalking like a crazy person and it was genuinely shortening my Idea Time because I got home too quickly.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I wouldn't say it's a 1 to 1 thing, but I think the environments in our lives always afects us. In terms of the places I write about, I think my fascination with circuses and magic shows (from which came B&W) stems from the fact that there are no good ones around here. The ones from my childhood were genuinely so lame. But I think mostly it's the way I was raised? My parents are artists and they've made a point of showing me all kinds of art since, like... ever, and I feel like it really influenced me as a person and, therefore, my writing.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

A few years back, I noticed a tendency in my main characters to feel a great sense of nostalgia towards the past, in a way? There was a very prevalent sense of "things were ok at a previous point in my life but not now and I wanna go back". I don't really understand where this came from tho.

My characters:

Would you please tell me about your favorite character? (Current wip, past wip, never used)

I am, on every level, deeply insane about every single named character in DoS. But mainly Seth and General Fallin. I just think they're really interesting. I particularly like the general, mostly because I have almost no chances to write about him, while Seth is the POV character. There's just something about the different perceptions of his actions that are integral his character as a general in a war setting, as well as his inherent hypocrisy in constantly stating how much he cares for his people and being more than willing to commit atrocities for them. Idk, he's got that Nuance.

Which of your characters would you be friends with in real life?

Probably Reyna, from B&W. When I first wrote her, I was her age and tried to create someone who I'd like to hang out with.

Which of your characters would you dislike most in real life?

I already despise Nester from the dystopia WIP and he's not even real. And also, I think Diedrich would be insufferable irl.

Tell me about the process of coming up with one, all, or any of your characters.

Most of them kinda start out as concepts. For example, Seth came to be because "healer that takes the life of everything around them for power" sounded like a cool idea. Sometimes they're informed by characters I like or historical figures: Viktor is loosely based on Robespierre, Lucille is vaguely inspired by Cio-Cio San, General Fallin has some faint hints of Griffith, etc.

Do you notice any themes/traits about your characters?

I've noticed that every single one of my 4 WIPs has the extremely specific trope of an older character using the protagonist as a replacement for their dead loved one (usually their child, but sometimes disciple or younger sibling) and projecting onto them. I have no clue where tf this came from but it feels like something a psychoanalyst would greatly enjoy.

How do you picture them?” (as real people you imagined/as models/actors that exist in real life/as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc)

I actually picture all my characters in my artstyle!! Actually, I "see" most of the worlds in my stories through my own artstyle!

My writing:

What’s your reason for writing?

You see, I have all of these ideas. They are just lying around. And, as I said before, just drawing them isn't gonna cut it.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

On what is actually my least-read fic on ao3, a person left me a multiple paragraphs-long comment about how they would be thinking about that fic for years, that I wrote the characters as "canon but better", that they would read any other fics I posted in the future, and that they made an account to leave said comment. I'm not saying that this is the only type of comment I enjoy, but it has really stuck with me for the past year and when I read it I kinda wanna cry. So. I guess that.

How do you want to be thought of by those that read your work? (for example, as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition as a talented worldbuilder, or a role model, etc)

I've always wanted to be one of those writers that just really Gets the human mind, you know? Like, I've read stories where my regular person brain was going through all sorts of Things while my writer brain kept shouting "THIS MAKES SENSE!! THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!", and that's who I want to be. (I feel like I'm not expalining myself correctly???) This is kind of a tangent, but I've read/watched stories so good that I was left just literally Sitting There, my thoughts completely silent, literally incapable of being a functioning human being for about an hour because my brain just wouldn't come down from the story. And that's my goal in life <3

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Probably my character building.

What have you frequently been told your greatest writing strength is by others?

My story ideas/concepts. Like settings and worldbuilding and such.

How do you feel about your writing? (answer in whatever way you interpret that question)

Overall, I like it! I spent a long time working to a point where I can actually enjoy my own work. And I'm obviously not saying it's perfect. No one sees more flaws in it than me (bc I virtually never show it to anyone), but I won't say it's bad to sound better. I'm having fun, dammit!

If you were the last person on earth, and knew that your writing would never be read, would you still write?

I would still have stories to write even if there was no one to show them to. I would still draw and sing without an audience too. Because my art is, at its core, for me. It's a need.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? if it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I used to consider what others might like, and I still kinda do sometimes because my main beta reader is my MOM, but I've mostly let it go tbh. After draft 2 of B&W I shouted "I'M NEVER WRITING ROMANCE AGAIN!!!" and here we are. At the end of the day, I'm writing mostly to have fun, so I should be able to do whatever I want.

That was fun!! I love questionaires/this interview format thingy. Makes me feel fancy.

If you're made it all the way down here, hiiii <3<3<3<3<3<3 sorry for never shutting up and not being concise. It will happen again.

[seraxfemme]

storytime! :o

i don't usually share this kind of stuff but this was a first for me soo..

ok so i was w a friend at a bookstore at the mall looking for some new reading material and maybe an oracle deck. So as we walked in i caught a glimpse of a guy at checkout and overheard him say something like "oh the bible is a different story". i thought he was just one of those Unsolicited Public Sermon types so i moved on. We're at the spiritual section now and i was really quietly taking my time. Suddenly the guy i had seen at the front just kinda spawned next to us and was saying he needed to tell us his message cuz if not his soul would be in danger too. He goes on about how he used to mess w tarot and that its really evil and that it led to the death of his brother (?!) He seemed kinda wonky ngl but that's normal where i am so as long as these ppl don't try to follow u out the store, u had a good day. Towards the end of his speech he urged us not to play around w this stuff. TBH i feel like this was the impression bc my friend (who doesn't practice) was just excitedly rummaging through the decks like christmas morning and being very loud about it bc she's very supportive of me, but this does tend to attract attention. ANYWAY. as the guy leaves, he said 'well god bless u' and i said 'yeah u too'. i pretty much just moved on, got a deck and we kept going. Then my friend was saying she didn't like his vibes and that was annoying and i was like 'yeah maybe it was a sign for me to just not spend money rn lol'. Then i started feeling anxious and kept thinking about the guy and how his presence felt heavy and invasive even tho he kept a respectful distance and never tried to make physical contact/his voice wasn't aggressive either. then i thought about going to checkout and realized I never actually checked the price of the deck, so i checked and it was over my budget so i put it back. i only got the book and we left. When we got back to her place i started feeling nauseous and her room was hot but thats usually not that much of a problem for me. But i felt like i was swimming in hot water, i had a never ending migraine, felt weak... .,my friend suggested i cleanse myself w an egg. So i did. As soon as i finished the first Lord's prayer it felt like a layer of my skin was shedding. or like something was shedding/sliding off my body, especially my arms and i got chills and this really overwhelming emotional sensation. I did this until it felt right to stop. Finally, i got dressed and discarded the egg and went back into the room. i was still really shaken up and still felt like i wanted to cry but i never did cuz there was no real reason to. I told my friend about what i felt and we concluded that maybe that guy had had some kind of effect on me bc i was the one making eye contact and i responded when he left. BTW i only responded bc i know sometimes ppl say something that seems innocuous but its their way of cursing you, and depending on who his God is, im not sure who would be "blessing" me so i just returned it to him. because he went off about how tarot is evil but he never gave me an alternative, about coming to Christ or anything like most Christians. So i thought that was interesting paired w what i heard him say when i walked in. So i finally calmed down. aannd then my friend starts feeling the same things i did. So i cleansed her too. And then she threw up. It was really quick and painless but it was like thick, black sludge instead of what's considered "normal" vomit. I discarded that egg and then we went grocery shopping. I was full of energy but now she was the one feeling weak. We were fine by the next day, but that was the most intense thing i've ever felt- spiritually speaking. It sucks that it got to her too but i'm glad i was there to fix it sooo.. yeah idk be careful ya'll cleanse regularly and when the vibes are off return to sender!

[bywandandsword]

Oh boy this about to be long. Sorry

OK SO, background; my maternal grandma had a stroke about a year ago and it left her unable to walk, move her right arm, and unable to speak as effectively. She's actively going to therapy for this though and the doctors are hopeful she'll be independently mobile with enough pt. Because of this, her four children (my uncle, aunt, mom, and younger aunt, here on out known as DM, MS, mom, and TS), got power of attorney so they can keep paying grandma's bills and stuff

Immediately after her stoke, she went to live with MS, since she had a larger house with a spare room, and my mom agreed to come by regulalry to help MS. What ended up actually happening is mom was spending 12-18 hour days at MS's house doing all the work and when she wasn't there MS (who is a social worker btw) and her husband would neglect and ignore grandma. So mom was like "screw this" and brought grandma to live with us. Our house is smaller but since i was moving to Maine, she was able to move into my old room and for the last year, mom has been taking care of grandma with the help of my siblings, especially my brother (PWJ). My parents have been paying for almost all of grandma's supplies and meds, been taking her to all her doctors appointments, been going back and forth with doctors and nurses and stuff, and been paying grandma's bills, partially with grandma's money and partially with their money. This whole time, they have not gotten any sort of help from mom's siblings, save an occasional pack of baby wipes or something. Seriously, my saint of a mom has been doing the work of three people to make sure grandma's needs are met. Another major factor is that grandma wanted mom to get on her bank account anyway, since 1) mom is her primary care giver, and 2) she trust mom with her money the most. They literally were required to drive to Baton Rouge to the bank and grandma had to say clearly that she wanted mom on the account for it to happen. Grandma specifically did not want MS on the account because it's known that MS has a shopping addiction and would blow all grandma's money, and MS did know that mom was being put on the account. Grandma has been telling mom the whole time to use her money to pay for her supplies and stuff, but mom feels guilty using grandma's money, so they haven't unless necessary. For further context, it's also worth noting that all of mom's siblings are all significantly more financially well off than mom and dad are

Cut to this July. I'm in town for summer break and we're told that TS is selling grandma's house, which TS bought for grandma after grandma lost her house in Katrina. Since it's in TS's husband name and has been vacant for a year, they decided to sell it and hired a realtor before telling grandma they were doing this, and again, only gave us two weeks notice. The cowards told grandma over vidchat what they were doing while the realtor was literally standing behind grandma appraising the house. Overall, a colossal dick move. So we started frantically packing up grandma's valuables and looking for her documents. We were also collect things from around the house that we thought she would want in her room at home, including a dresser, a chair, several prayer books and photo albums, and all grandma's jewelry that we could find. Professional packers were coming to pack the rest of the house but we didn't want things like my great-grandma's china to get broken. At first, MS helped us pack, but when grandma had to go to the hospital (not gonna get into it, but she's ok now and is set to be discharged next week), she and mom took turns being with her at the hospital. However, after two weeks, I had to come back to Maine and mom and PWJ were the ones able to drive me back. Shortly before we left, mom and dad came short on bills, and so borrowed a couple thousand from grandma to make ends meet and get me back home, with the plan of paying her back a little each paycheck. Mom didn't tell her siblings this, and frankly, I don't think she had to, since it's grandma's money and it was between her and grandma

However. The day after mom and PWJ left to bring me back to Maine, MS and TS went to the bank to be put on grandma's account without telling grandma or mom. They waited till mom left to do this. Somehow they found out that mom had taken some money out and, instead of calling mom to ask her about it or talk to her or anything a decent person would do, they got on the phone with DM and used their power of attorney majority to take the rest of the money out of the account, totalling more than $18,000. All without telling grandma what they were doing. Mom found out from an atm in Maine when she went to get money for gas. That's how she found out the money was gone. The first thing mom does is call my dad and then her siblings, and she's freaking out, thinking someone hacked grandma's account or something. MS, TS, and DM get on a call with mom, tell her they're the ones who took out the money, start saying they can't trust mom, bash on her for an hour about the money and grandma's house, and that this is to "teach her a lesson". As if she was a child! As if they had a right! Where the money is, we don't know, mom's siblings haven't said, but they haven't put it back in the account. Also see, not only did they steal all of grandma's money and insult my mother, they also fucked mom over, cause grandma has bills that come out automatically that mom is now also liable for. Also, the money mom needed to get home from Maine was now gone, so she was stranded until dad got paid. To add to the insult, they're acting like what they did wasn't a massive deal

DM was talking just before we left about how he was worried about mom breaking down from the stress over grandma and then he does this? He talked about how our family needed to have more open communication, but then pulls this?? TS is fresh from stealing grandma's home of 18 years from under her, a home she told grandma "would be hers as long as she wanted it" and then steals all her money too! This is a woman who can afford a $4,000 rent and regular vacations for her family of four, but she's going to begrudge mom this?? And act like nothing happened? And then MS, the most Janus faced of the three, the next day in response to message from my dad, MS accused mom of straight up being a thief, of stealing things from grandma's house, and of being a liar. Since mom couldn't leave when she planned, she wouldn't be there to pick grandma up from the hospital and my siblings just started school, so it was unclear if they would be able to pick her up, which led MS to assuming she'd be picking up grandma and taking care of her until mom got in. But the thing is, MS hasn't done an honest days work he her fucking life, and she can't lift grandma, who needs to be lifted between her wheelchair and bed/toilet/kitchen chair/whatever. BUT! MS assumed that because she doesn't tell her son about anything, mom wouldn't tell me and my siblings about anything, which is dead wrong, mom and dad don't keep secrets from us. This bitch also assumed that one or more of my siblings would just go over to her house like mom did the first couple months and take care of grandma for her. All of my siblings declined and now she's sweating, thinking she's going to have to take care of grandma all on her own, which we're letting her believe (even though the caseworker moved the day so mom could be there). When she realized this she APOLOGIZED TO MY DAD (NOT MY MOM, MY DAD) about what she said, cause I guess she hoped that dad hadn't told mom what she said yet and that it would make everything okay. In reality dad showed the messages to mom as soon as he got them. Not knowing this, that evening, MS sent a message to mom asking if they could talk, that material things aren't important, and that she loves her

Mom hasn't responded to any of her sibling's messages, and she's oscillating between hurt, sadness, and anger. I'm just angry. Mom, dad, and my siblings have agreed to cut MS, TS, and DM out of our lives as much as possible, and if they want grandma to visit for a holiday or something, they have to come get her and take care of her with out our help. This is the culmination of a pattern of behavior that's been building for years and, finally, mom is done putting up with their bullshit. Personally, it's on sight. But mom isn't ready to fight yet and I hold my tongue right now purely cause mom asked me to. But they stole from my grandmother, a woman who helped raise me. They exploited her vulnerability to try and gain control over her and take her money (and in MS's case, her jewelry, cause MS took a bunch of grandma's gold jewerly "for safe keeping" and hasn't given it back). Then they accused and insulted my mother, why they they did nothing to help over the last year. Mom has been bending over backwards to make sure grandma gets everything she needs and still guilts herself over not doing more. And the one time mom prioritizes her needs to pay the fucking bills, this is what happens?? Fuck them, fuck the high horses they rode in on. How dare they?

My good bros, since I have made it back up to Maine a week ago some Fuck Shit has happened and the only thing preventing me from venting about it rn is that my mom and little brother are here

But they leave this afternoon

[faaun]

ok so heres what happened

[tmabutlesbian]

oliver study time? oliver study time. lets get to know ollie boy!!

i had tons of fun with mike crew so i'll be doing this to oliver banks now since i always get confused with his personality n also death so.

avatar of the end, duh. he sees tendrils tied to ppl who are abt to die. so like only ppl who r close to dying have those tendrils then? i'm assuming so.

originally he dreamed of ppl's deaths 10 days before their death. around 2014, maybe 2013, he started seeing the tendrils awake as well.

he has 3 aliases: antonio blake, the coroner (cool ass title), and Dr. Thomas Pritchard (random ass name but we move on)

he died by satellite impact but came back ofc, at a research vessel near Point Nemo

descriptions: tall, dark n handsome. lmao, he's tall, he's black, he's careworn???? don't know what that means. n also has worry lines on his face. boy is anxious. oh careworn means "tired and unhappy because of prolonged worry". boy is depressed and anxious, mood.

2000-2006: boyfriend Graham!! in 2000-2001. dated 6 years, lived together, broke up before 2007. Ollie moved to london around 2005 "to do his undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics and started working at Barclays directly after graduating" boy went to school! undergraduate means this is his first degree btw! also wtf is barclays? oh i googled it its a back. heh oliver banks. works in a bank. hehe. oh shit, boy got too stressed, had a breakdown after barely a year n had a dramatic exit from his job around 2007. his dreams started soon after.

ok i just saw graham's page. he died in 2006. no wonder they broke up, oliver probably realized smth was wrong or the notthem ruined their relationship. poor boy :( but also i cant remember if graham broke up with ollie before or after his death. hmm. they might have broken up since graham was obsessed with that table n eating notebooks n shit.

around 2013: 2015, oliver was working on a magick shop. king. they sold crystals n tarot cards. jane prentiss mentioned him looking at her with deep sadness n even fear. this is where jane worked not oliver

oliver worked on a shop that in soho that had a sign saying "Crystals. Books. Tarot" pretty straight to the point. he asked jennifer what she was listening to even tho she had no headphones on n when altered to this he just walked away muttering a warning abt protecting her ears. so. he's awkward as well. how cute

march 2015: he gives a statement, under antonio blake, abt gertrude's death. so gertrude died around this time then.

mid 2015-2018: "Oliver assumed the identity of a chemist and boarded an unnamed research vessel in the hopes of getting some restful sleep" boy what. how do you go from A to B here. i'll read the statement in a bit to get more context but this sounds WILD w/o context. n then when he notices theyre all abt to die cuz of the vines he. kills the captain? n leads everyone to a location that gets hit by a satellite killing them instantly.

2018: oliver gives the statement to coma jon, saying the web sent him, which is interesting how the web has so much power but its all so behind the scenes. when georgie encounters him he uses his alias antonio blake again, but she knows shes an avatar of the end right away n that he reminds her of someone evil which. yikes!

post-change: he has his own domain, corpse roots, n gives jon another statement, also theorizes abt the ruined world. he's a nerd <3

still unsure of his age but! if he started his undergratuate in his 20's in 2005, then by 2016, the start of the podcast, he's around his 30's, probs 31.

let's get into the statements

mag 11: Dreamer: ok so his work stress also had a hand on the breakup actually, n he left their home to stay with some friends. he slept on his friend's Anahita's sofa, n thats when he started having the dreams.

the dreams were irregular throughout the years, so at least it wasnt everyday. he read tons of books abt esoteric dreaming but found nothing of value.

he also saw his father's death, n couldnt stop it. even after his death, he saw his father in his dreams for a month and a half

he lied to get into the institute to give his statement to gertrude, knowing she would die soon. poor boy just wanted to help somebody, even if he couldnt help his father :(

mag 42: Grifter's Bone: interesting that jennifer did not die but oliver still warned to protect her ears. she didnt even suffer damage since she took precautions. how did he know? did he see a ton other ppl with tendrils in their ears? did he actually change the trajectory of her death by being a puzzling man warning her to protect her ears?

she did kill herself by hitting her head with a hammer. does this mean that, even tho she didnt die by the grifter's bone, she still did die? like oliver sees when ppl r going to die n the only thing he can maybe change is the way that it happens? thats fucked up

mag 121: Far Away: he can feel the tendrils when they appear irl! he feels a chill when he touches or brushes against one. he isolates himself since he doesnt want to see ppl's deaths, but he cant escape that entirely. probs saw neighbors n shit, or when he went grocery shopping. or just looked out the window, oof

point nemo is a point in the ocean that is the furthest place away from any civilization. the lonely must like him a little as well, damn. he cant dream abt the place since the vines dont let him. he finds out theres a scientific voyage going to point nemo, he replaces one of the members who is fated to die n takes his identity, deposing of the corpse. him n martin are so alike sometimes how fun. no wonder martin felt threatened lmao.

he has dreamless sleep for a while, keeping to himself. finally got the context lmao. but the vines return when they get to the destination, n he understands their fate n his purpose (as an avatar of the end? as a bringer of death? damn). he makes it so they reach the place where the vines originate from n they all die. this time, he's the one to cause the deaths, not just be a bystander. i bet he also wanted to die a little bit, loosing hope of having a normal life and just wanting it to stop :((

oliver embraces death, becoming an avatar. he also states he's going along with what "she" wants, which could be annabelle cane or just the mother from the web.

mag 168: Roots: (iconic "martin, are you jealous?" episode, just fyi) his alias here is The Coroner, which is rad as shit. he sees the veins of the end, n he has no power to stop the fate of death, but even if he could he wouldnt. "for to rob a soul of death is as torturous as its inevitable coming" grim poet over here lmao

interesting that he measures how close somebody is to death by "stretches" which are "waves" of terror or whatever. some ocean terms here, probs since oliver died in the middle of the ocean, so nice lil detail.

he likes to watch ppl be afraid of their inevitable deaths, even the inevitable deaths of others. we love a lil evil in out handsome men ofc.

he also has his concerns. the ppl will die, but without ppl to die there's no End. he may need other victims from other domains, but that will result in conflict. theres probs not new humans being created, so the humans will eventually run out if the apocalypse keeps going. and when that happens, all the fears will end and this reality will be rid of them. even then, there's no action to be taken to prevent this. the other fears will feed into The End, n he will see this happen, n while this might have terrified him before, he's too much of an avatar to be what he was before, he's more of the end than oliver banks now.

so! oliver is a handsome, tall, black man. he is anxious n also very sad, and awkward. a pretty chill guy regardless. he cares abt ppl, even those he doesnt know. he slowly comes to terms with death tho, n he just starts to like. not care less but just understand that it doesnt matter if they will all die n shit. he will also lie to get his way, n he has mostly good intentions, he's just desensitized to death now. also he might be into magick's. n he used to be a banker but that didnt go well. n also he's gay. king <3<3<3

[justaself-shipper]

Marcy x RichGirl!Reader- I Like Me Better

A/N: Request by @Jenny_RHTMT (from Wattpad). An alternate universe where Marcy, Anne and Sasha never went to Amphibia. Warning: This book has bullying and mentions of homophobia and very bad angst.

Marcy looked up at the music box inside the antique shop, then back to the picture of the same box on her phone. Scowling at the picture, she deleted it. “Yeah, right.” She muttered, gloomily walking away from the antique shop. “Stupid book.” “Promise us you’ll text everyday, ok?” Anne said, hugging Marcy one last time. Sasha stood to the side, her arms crossed as she watched Anne and Marcy’s goodbye with a hurt expression. “Of course, Anne. I’ll try my best.” She said, hugging her best friend close. Glancing over to Sasha, she smiled warmly. “C’mere Sash, we need one last photo together.” Anne said, taking out her phone. Walking over, Sasha wrapped her arm around Marcy’s shoulder. “Ok nerds. One last photo shoot!” She said, holding up her own prepared phone. Marcy chuckled. Hearing the beep of her parents horn, her smile faded. They were ready to leave. Pulling her besties in close one last time, she held in her tears. “We’ll try and meet up over the holidays, ok guys?” “Sure Mar-mar.” “Of course dude. Just be careful out there, ok?” “I’ll try my best Anna-banana.” (A few weeks later) Marcy looked up at the tall school building in front of her, gut twisting and turning with anxiety. “Ok…deep breaths Marcy….new school, new possibilities.” She whispered. She jumped when a car horn blared. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed a…very fancy looking car pull up. Stopping in front of the school, Marcy moved into a crowd of students so as not to be seen. The car door opened, revealing a girl with H/L, H/C hair, wearing the same school uniform as Marcy and the other students. The other students stared in wonder and fear. Marcy pursed her lips. “Ooooh boy.” She muttered to herself. “There are rich snobs here…”

Standing in front of her school locker, Marcy stared down in glee at her mobile game, oblivious to her surroundings. All of a sudden, her locker door flew into her face, causing her to stumble for a moment. Giggles erupted from the other side, and Marcy closed her locker properly. A bunch of girls stood on the other side, giggling away as they glanced back at Marcy. One of them was the girl that pulled up in the fancy car that morning. She wasn’t smiling, but she didn’t show any sympathy, either. Not wanting confrontation, Marcy just picked up her backpack, walking away from the still cackling teens on her way to her last two classes that day. (Y/N’s POV) Sienna pointed to the opened locker door in front of us. Mobile game noises sounded from the other side, and the person hadn’t noticed anyone approaching. “Hey, check out this weirdo.” She sneered. Before any of us could react, she swung the locker door full force toward the oblivious person. Hearing a small yelp, everyone started laughing. I just rolled my eyes. As the person closed the locker door, holding her cheek as she glanced toward us, my heart skipped a beat. It was a girl, with short, black hair held back by a green clip, with beautiful hazel eyes. She must be new here. I looked away before she could catch me staring. The girl eventually walked away, hunched over as my friend’s laughter sounded throughout the corridor. Sienna snickered. “Looks like we’ve just found our knew target. What do you say guys?” She smirked. Everyone nodded. I just watched the new girl disappear around the corner. Maybe I can talk to her later?

(End POV) In the cafeteria, Marcy sat by herself. Glancing around at the other tables, she pulled out her lunch, taking a bite as she started to play on her phone once again. “Hey you! What do you think you’re doing?” Marcy looked up. It was the same group of girls as before. The leader glared down at her. “This is our table. Move it.” Marcy stood up, collecting her things quickly. “Right, I’m sorry.” She gushed. She heard one of the other members, the one who didn’t laugh earlier, say something, but she didn’t quite pick up what it was. Was it “It’s not even our seat”? The leader smirked down at her. “Oh no, you’re not going to get away with it.” Without warning, she grabbed Marcy’s bag. “Hey-!” “What’s this?” She cooed, pulling out Marcy’s notebook. “A diary? Wonder what it says~” Tossing the bag to the other girls, Marcy could only watch in horror as the other girls rummaged through her bag and the gang leader went through her notebook. “Oooh! This is juicy! Maybe I should read it out to the rest of the cafeteria~” she grinned. Marcy panicked. “WAIT-NO! Give it back, please!” She begged, reaching over to grab it. One of the other girls noticed, tripping her as she stepped forward. Falling to the ground, tears pricked her eyes as her face turned red from embarrassment. Y/N watched all this go down. She felt anger boiling up inside her as she watched her so called “friends” bully this poor girl for no reason. When Sienna started reading from the diary, gaining attention from the other students in the cafeteria, Y/N finally snapped. “Check it out everyone! The new girl has a diary! And look at this-her sick little mind believes she’s bisex-“

Marcy covered her face, when loud gasps sounded throughout the room. Removing her hands, she realised the H/C-haired girl in the group had her notebook, holding it close to her as the leader stared at her in disbelief. “Y/N, what the heck is wrong with you-“ “No Sienna! What the heck is wrong with you?!” She snapped. The cafeteria went silent, watching the spectacle. Y/N’s face was red with anger as she stood face to face to Sienna. “Picking on an innocent person, going to read her diary, then calling her sick in the head! I’ve had it! The only one sick in the head is you! Picking on someone for what gender they prefer is the most disgusting thing you’ve ever done! Now-“ she pushed the diary back into Sienna’s hands, and pointed to Marcy still lying on the floor. “Say you're sorry, otherwise I’ll have my parents involved.” She growled. Sienna’s face went pale, so Marcy assumed her parents must be bosses of something big. The leader walked over to the now kneeling Marcy, dropping the book on the ground. “Fine. Sorry.” She muttered. Walking back out, Sienna glared at Y/N. “You’ve made an enemy today, Y/N.” She hissed, disappearing out the cafeteria doors with her gang. Everyone went back to their own business. Marcy collected her bag and belongings, clutching her notebook tightly against her chest. “Hey I’m…really sorry about everything.” A voice mumbled. Glancing up, Marcy realised it was Y/N. The H/C held out her hand. Marcy gladly took it, allowing the girl to help her to her feet. “Uhm…th-thanks for standing up for me.” Marcy said, holding the notebook over her face to hide her pink-tinted cheeks. “It was very brave of you, seeing she was your friend and all…” Y/N rubbed the back of her neck. “Y-yeah well, I couldn’t let her pick on you. People like us have to stick up for each other in a world like this.” She chuckled nervously. Marcy smiled behind her book. “Well, I’m Marcy. Marcy Wu.” She said, holding out her hand. Y/N smiled as well, shaking her hand. “Y/N L/N. You wanna have lunch with me?” “Of course!”

Bonus: Marcy: So…why was Sienna so terrified of you when you mentioned your parents? Y/N: Oh! Uh…my dad may or may not be a mafia boss… *starts sweating* Marcy: Ooh…has he killed people? Y/N: MARCY NO-

Fun fact: while writing this, I had another idea in mind! Let me know if I should do the other version! (Still kinda involves bullying, but no homophobia as far as I’d thought lol. Mostly just a snooty reader being mean toward marcy for a certain reason) note: i also was gonna continue with a prom scene and Sienna was being a beach, but i might leave that for a second part if anyone wants it (it's horrible btw)

AND HEY HAVE YA'LL SEEN THE LATEST OWL HOUSE EPISODE?? I'M BROKEN INSIDE, AND VEE IS AN ABSOLUTE SWEETHEART!

I ALSO HADN'T REALISED HOW MUCH GUILT I HAD AS I MADE THIS STORY SO YEAH....SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS GUYS

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 6

Bitches Be Shopping

What is up y’all. A little late but let’s jump in with episode six of The Seven where our girls have just received a LOT of information, Sam most of all who got put into a little vision coma that she’s just now waking up from.

She explains the vision to her friends (as she interprets it, the other Eidolons didn’t die, just became part of the natural forces of the world) and then the bear that Penny made on a whim last episode (who is Russian, named Koda, and somehow a trained circus bear) gets into a fight with Katja with their friends buffing the two to make things more interesting because these are still idiot teens, life or death situation or no. Yelle decides to be the adult and tells them to knock it off and get back on mission.

That means Katja needs to call her dad since he’s knows the guy who’s the best lead to getting to TK ( Talcidimir Tallbreeze who I’ll call Tal). She actually manages to get her dad this time who is inside a giant snake on his hell mission. Katja asks what he knows about TK and he says she’s a sorcerer but also has a spell book so maybe she’s multiclassed. Sam and Ant desperately want to know if they boned and Katja absolutely is not interested in that knowledge. Yelle decides to just ask which makes her dad a little annoyed since he’s kind of in the middle of something (literally) and that annoys Ant, Ost, and Sam who--respectively, accuse him of gaslighting Kat, cast Command on him, and cast Bane on him to aid the Command spell. 

Mr. Cleaver fails the save and Ost commands him to tell Katja the truth. He admits that he did hook up with TK and he regrets it (note: it wasn’t like he cheated. It was just a casual hookup that wasn’t fulfilling it seems). Ost demands he apologize for not being there for Kat and Sam berates him for being at the top of the world and not lifting up his daughter too. For his part, Kat’s dad seems genuinely apologetic and promises to do better. 

“You don’t need to be the best father, you just need to be there,” Katja says, making her dad break down crying. 

Yelle, who has no daddy issues, is a bit less aggro and says that everyone makes mistakes and he can start making it up right now by helping with the Tal situation. She also gives them the tip that a cold spell will probably get them out of the snake lickety split.  She is on the money with the snake tip and Mr. Cleaver gets them all invites to a masquerade ball Tal is hosting. It’s being held on the Rumbosa which is this city-sized leisure ship. Mr. Cleaver says he’ll be back as soon as he can and, in the meantime, she should take care of her friends, “even the first 2 that were terrifying to me.”

The girls give Katja the axe they took as a birthday present (it was apparently her birthday the day before which Rekha just decided and Ost/Izzy refuses to accept without a fight because she *knows* Kat’s bday) which is identified as the Axe of Sundering (it can shatter objects, people, and sometimes concepts like halving movement). The two unnamed potions Yelle found are also ID’d as a Potion of Fly and a Potion of Gaseous Form. She distributes the Heath Potions to people without heals. Ant’s new arrows bypass some resistances and let her treat whatever she hits with the first one like it’s her favored enemy. 

According to their invites, the ship they need is docking in the city of Gravalvia soon (a very old city in the Baronies) so they need to figure out a plan. They have some downtime, during which:

Zelda tries to hype up the team.

Zelda tries to see if Ost is OK wrt dad stuff and Ost has a Full Breakdown after badly pretending she’s fine. 

While Zelda, Ost, and Penny are being Emotional and Sam is trying to literally cool them down with her powers, Ant and Yelle keep watch and experience emotional stability as the Adults Of The Party 

Anyway, after a night of rest, they head to the golden city of Gravalvia which is this very cool, very pretty city with mosaics and fountains and I assume columns. They get there and there’s a dramatic fight happening in the square which is halted when one of the fighters realizes that the country he’s fighting for doesn’t exist anymore. And now, it’s time for what we’ve all been waiting for. Shopping Montage! Let’s go girl by girl.

Katja and Ost

Kat asks for help from Ost with getting fancy for this gala since she’s never really done anything dressy before (and she had no mom to help--Kaaaat) and Ost is happy to oblige, dressing them both like “Jersey trash”. Kat, of course, still wears her Khakis underneath.

Antiope

Ant decides to get a vibe for what people here wear and picks something that will blend in but be forgettable so she can be stealthy. Classy blue dress and mask.

Penny

Penny...OK, I absolutely cannot describe what happens here in any way that will do justice to the scene. I am going to tell you what matters to the plot. You have to watch this yourself if you want to see the entire table have a collective breakdown. 

While looking for a costume, Penny runs into a halfling who is a member of the Society of Shadows--Laertes. He wants to know why she hasn’t responded to their invitation yet. She says she’s really eager to join, she just wasn’t sure how to respond (and also, she’s kind of in the middle of something). He says she can join by just messaging back and then her loved ones just have to sign waivers to have their memories wiped of her and she’s good to go. Say what now? asks Penny. She didn’t realize this was like a full Men in Black situation. 

He says it’s ultimately her decision and leaves.

Of course, I left out the parts where he ate a handful of Candy Heart’s remains, became violently ill, almost projectile vomited into Penny’s mouth, and she tried to kiss him despite him being a full adult. It’s A Lot, ok?

Also, we don’t find out until later but Penny picks a sexy duck costume for reasons that make more sense if you watch the scene but not *much* more sense. She also burns one of the healing potions on this dude as he is bar

Danielle

Danielle tries to get some info on the guests at the party and gets the names Lawrence LaDuc, Princess Autumn, and Duston who is the playboy cousin of Tal. She also hears some dude saying some colonize and plunder the earth BS and casts Heat Metal on him, fully mercing the dude. Ice cold. 

She tries to play it off like it’s the Curse of the Forest and when that doesn’t work and people start coming for her, she wildshapes into a dragon wyrmling and starts roasting people, killing 1 and dropping 2 to zero. 

Unfortunately, one of her party members is a known dragon hater and uses her new arrows to snipe her right out of the sky. Ant is horrified once she realizes what she’s done but Yelle says it’s all good. It’s NOT all good, says Ant, I STABBED YOU. You’re allowed to be mad! Yelle says she’s just really good at compartmentalizing but what Ant’s getting here is that Yelle doesn’t really believe that her feelings matter which echo the fears of her moms. 

Sam

Sam uses a combination of Mantle of Inspiration, glamour magic, performance, and good old flirting to get herself some killer clothes and also start a spontaneous musical number Giselle style.  

Brennan says she looks resplendent and, honestly, when does she not?

They reconvene, Zelda in a classic hoop skirt. Yelle realizes she never got a costume and just whips out a Met Gala level, autumn themed, Queen Mab-esque costume with Druidcraft which she could have done this whole time so I guess that’s why she was cool spending her shopping time getting gossip and playing Poison Ivy. 

They get to the ship and the way this works, everyone has to make an entrance and the really rich people (including Tal) are on a dais up top watching everyone come in. They all have to give fake names for the night since it’s a masquerade and they have to do Performance or Persuasion checks to see how impressive they look going in. 

Before they go in, they plan a little. Penny wants to look for TK. Sam wants to find Dunston. Ost wants to talk to the bouncers. Yelle wants to see if there are plants she can manipulate (there are btw) and for any exits. 

A quick rundown of how these all go:

Katja aka Mere (which means both mom and horse): 16 

Ant aka Midnight Huntress: 18 

Penny aka Penny Duckstone: 13

Zelda aka Madame Goodparty: 2 (Poor Zelda)

Sam aka Songbird: 22 (but she takes a hit to entrance save Zelda from totally flaming out)

Ost aka Stanley Gucci: 13

And Danielle, who never hogs the spotlight and is embarrassed to admit that maybe she does want to be the center of attention for once in her life with a Natural 20, gets a 29, absolutely bringing down the house as Empress Anima. As she walks forward she feels a voice say to her, “You got this. I love the name. You wear it well.”

Tal seems very impressed by her and a lady in a rabbit mask (Coeliabranca who I’ll call Coel if she comes up more) comes down to bring her up to the top with the high rollers. As she leaves, Sam casts Fly on her, just in case and holds the Concentration. 

Ost and Kat go talk to the bouncers and Kat decides to pretend to be her mom to get access to the area Yelle is. She rolls low and is told, “Hey, aren’t you already up there?” Kat is like, fuck and Ost saves her by using her charm earrings to get an entourage of guards who will let them through and do what she says. Once up there, Kat doesn’t see her mom which I can imagine she has mixed feelings about. 

Sam finds Dunston who is talking about Fantasy Bitcoin and seems like a real “Step on me mommy” type you know? Like, I feel like he’s into findom. Anyway, Sam charms him and his hangers on and learns about a procedure called a Phlebectomy that involves something going into their nose and then they feel better. Sam is rightfully horrified because, as I said, she is Most Likely To Survive A Horror Movie and can sense BS when she sees is. It’s apparently all the rage with the rich people here which is, como de dice, concerning seeing as they’re surrounded by them but we’ll get to that. Sam takes advantage of Dunston’s proclivities and gets him alone, knocks him out, steals him clothes, and pretends to be him (a *very* good scene by Sephie). 

Penny sees a gnome gnome boy (Lysander Higgins) shining shoes and finds out from him that there is a copper earth genasi woman here. In a very Cinderella move, she asks what shoes she was wearing. Then, she makes out with him which like, sure. At least it’s not a grown adult man this time. Before she gets her kisses in, she does tell the group what she learned. 

Up with the rich people, Yelle is introduced to Tal’s friend who is into Eidolons because of the name she chose. Between the shoes and her knowledge, they confirm that it’s TK! Yelle asks what she knows about Eidolons and she says that 7 is a very powerful number.

We cut to Ant who is patrolling the room as the sun sets and she suddenly hears a little beeping. It’s coming from a small crystal that was in Preston’s shirt (which she still has on her because???). Guests start dripping goo from their noses and transforming into monsters. Ant realizes that some kind of spell is happening triggered by midnight and this beeping. Hope these costumes are battle ready cause it’s fight time baybee!

Superlatives 

Danielle: Most Likely to Be on The News for Murdering Fantasy Jeff Bezos

I cannot imagine what was running through Yelle’s head when she decided that, having just rolled into a foreign country, her next move was to start using lethal force on anti-environmentalist colonizing capitalists. Like, she’s not *wrong* per se but she is wild--in all senses of the word.  

Random Thoughts

Kat keeps saying yesterday was her birthday which Ost/Izzy (and the rest of the group to a less vocal degree) are simply not having because maybe her dad would forget her birthday but her girls absolutely would not.

“You’re great because you stayed,” is the other killshot Kat line to her dad.

At a certain point Sam says, “This is so unhealthy,” to I think Yelle and like, if SAM is telling you your coping mechanisms are unhealthy, get thee to therapy.

OK, so someone, presumably Anima’s spirit, talks to Yelle as she makes her grand entrance which seems like info they should get to Talura ASAP, right? Cause that’s evidence they’re not dead-dead, just changed in form. But also Anima, girl. Don’t talk to Yelle. Talk to your rampaging sister!

"That's my secret, I stay in initiative."

Just a process note, notes are taken for the next ep and I am working on getting that recap up ASAP. As a battle ep, it will be in the abbreviated style that I did for last battle ep. 

In this episode, Penny rolls a Nat 1 (which she rerolls) and one of Brennan’s NPCs rolls a Nat 1. Ant rolls 2 Nat 20s, Yelle rolls 1, and Brennan says that one of his NPCs gets a 20 which sweeps him entirely into Sam’s dance number. 

[chicago-geniza]

well i intended to go for a nice evening walk, ended up having a panic attack, ordering a couple of cocktails at the bougie bar, joining a jam session with a bunch of old hippies on the logan green (one of them gave me a handpainted wooden medallion which seems to be carved out of tree bark, strung on a length of yarn???), met a crustpunk train-hopping dude in town for the month (& his dog, in a leather-studded harness) who's lived in 45/50 states & a 44 yr old guy everyone called "the wizard" wearing a tattered, patch-covered robe who shares most of my parents' conspiracy theories & considers himself a latter-day prophet, he bought us sorbet & ice cream, wound up hanging out with them & staying up all night at their indescribably eclectic, cluttered, blood-spattered (!!!) apartment, belonging to 44 yr old guy's art curator father & decorated accordingly, smoking m*th & listening to music & talking (or rather listening to them rant/rave/recount stories from their incredibly wild lives), i gave them advice on applying for unemployment & medicaid & how to appear compliant enough w/ carceral psychiatric intervention so they won't section you without actually submitting to forced medication or institutionalization, especially if they assign you a case worker & do regular "wellness checks." also how to pass off certain aspects of behavioral dysregulation as executive dysfunction, get them to pay for an adhd evaluation, get an adderall IR scrip, sell the 30 mg pills (cite body weight, high doses of other psych meds as reason for higher dose; look sincere; play to systemic biases toward cis white men, unfortunately), & use the cash to buy m*th, if they'd prefer to keep doing that. you can also pass positive psychotic symptoms--agitation etc.--off as severe anxiety, especially if you have a history of trauma, & they will give you benzodiazepines. it is in their best interest to keep you docile, i.e. tranquilized, particularly if your past convictions & involuntary institutionalizations revolve around a pattern of aggressive behavior, & that's On The Record/there's a paper trail. (e.g. one dude got arrested trying to keep cars away from an injured bird on the road, some genre of raptor i think (???) by threatening them with a shopping cart, not hitting them, but like, running at them as if to collide then feinting at the last minute so they'd swerve out of the way. not the safest or most effective maneuver, lotta reckless endangerment, but the motivation was admirable. probably put the fear of god into some drivers, though. he doesn't seem to have, like, impulse control.) it's a lot easier & you have fewer run-ins with the cops if you game the system & appear cooperative. they gave me this coat, which "just showed up in their apartment one day," like i did. 44 yr old guy walked me back to apartment, stole a street sign & tore down a real estate sign en route, lori lightfoot did indeed take down the pride flag in front of her house on july 1st & replace it with an appropriately patriotic american flag, i walked past the idling plainclothes cop car & another marked police vehicle with their Mayoral Guarding Detail inside at like 4.30 am smoking a menthol cigarette (not inhaling), high on m*th, draped in a neon anime jacket, in the company of a visibly insane, unshaven & unshorn middle-aged man in a technicolor patchwork trenchcoat, holding a lit cigarette in one hand & an upside-down traffic cone in the other, which he was using as an ad hoc amplifier for a noise track playing on my phone. he was also carrying the stolen real estate banner &, inexplicably, a stack of mail. i gave him my old backup phone (no SIM card & doesn't hold a charge long, ancient, but still works), since neither he nor the other dude have phones (cops took them), also one hybrid edible for each of them, as a thanks for the m*th & the kindness. their hearts are in the right place but they have some fucked-up beliefs about "reverse racism" being real, while also saying in the same breath that you can tell our country is irredeemable by the way it continues to

treat black people. we were discussing medical weed for seizures on medicaid & 44 yr old guy mentioned one of his close friends, a black epileptic woman, whose seizures were frequent & severe enough they prevented her from working. then he added, in apparent bemusement, they she hadn't spoken to him in some time, & he wondered why. a little while later he relayed their last conversation & i was like "my dude, i can say with 100% certainty she is not talking to you because you said some *appallingly*, jaw-droppingly racist shit & did not even realize it was racist." then i, comma, a white person, explained to this man that he literally thought of their exchange as, like, an abstract argument over insignificant ideas, a theoretical exercise, & therefore considered it simply a smug gotcha to "counter" hotep theories about egyptian origin by claiming that "if that's true, american slavery & the oppression of black people in america are divine retribution for the enslavement of the jews in ancient egypt, an eye for an eye & a deserved punishment." like, first of all, what the actual fuck, if i were that woman i would also never speak to you again, second of all there's the collapse of historical time & mythical time, history & exegesis, an assumption that rests on spurious claims of biblical literalism (zionist colonization logic, btw! him: what's exegesis? what's zionism? me: never mind, not the point. exegesis is the interpretation of religious texts in a religious CONtext, in this case what you would likely call the hebrew bible.)--but most importantly it is 100% irrelevant to this discussion whether or not black americans are Actually Factually descendended from ancient egypt! you just told this woman to her face that the ancestry she claims, of which she's proud, is the reason & justification for SLAVERY & BLACK SUFFERING--not only that, but that if it WERE true, than black people would DESRVE to suffer, by DIVINE DECREE. you are trying to force her to abdicate her claim on this heritage by putting her in a position where she'd be forced to concede complicity in her people's historical & present-day persecution, oppression, & essentially the existence of structural racism. & using The Figural Jew as a rhetorical cudgel to bludgeon her into this corner. what a despicable thing to say. like, he hadn't considered it from her perspective at all, & once he groked why the comment itself was, like, unforgivable (idk, maybe she's more forgiving; she has a virtue-name), i started socratic-method-ing him through why it was particularly unforgivable for *him* to say to *her*--the individual is not responsible for the systems from they benefit, but they are imbricated in them, they are implicated when they actively perpetuate & uphold them, even with speech acts. & finally gave the same "there is no such thing as reverse racism because racism is not an individual act, it is an institutional, systemic phenomenon, & it is an ideology, one which individual acts can bear out or be in accordance with, & to which individuals can subscribe (this bearing it out in their behavior, in their institutional roles, in their interpersonal interactions--here i gave & solicited examples of each) or be subject (also gave & solicited examples). m*th makes me very good at Explaining clearly & he was surprisingly receptive--like, it was astonishing that it had not occurred to him??? but it hadn't, the same way it hadn't occurred to my mother, & she interpreted it as "reverse racist" when their next-door neighbor called her the "white devil" for disputing their property line, & i had to be like "ok but if you called in a random third party to mediate in lily-white [city], oregon, where white supremacists openly drive down the street in pickup trucks with swastika armbands, whose side do you think they would take, statistically speaking, in your property dispute. that's why racism is systemic & institutional, & your rude neighbor calling you a name over a disagreement does not constitute 'reverse racism,' because 'reverse racism' by definition cannot

exist." now this dude wants to like, read books, so i gotta get him some entry-level Intro To Racism primers??? how did i end up here, but better me than his black epileptic (ex-)friend, i guess??? jesus christ. both of these guys have the most chaotic, reactionary politics in a potpourri with these deep commitments to abolition & mutual aid & a kind of proto-anarchist consciousness, none of which would be called by those names, but all of which is borne out in practice & in the politics of everyday life. they remind me a LOT of my parents. i'm loath to imagine how they'd internalize my stepdad's rambling, street-preacher-style libertarian lectures. probably go out & buy guns & invest in gold on the stock market & double down on the conviction that free speech is being curtailed & individual rights are in jeopardy because you can no longer unleash a barrage of harassment against some guy on the street because you think he looked at you funny. these claustrophobic convictions, like the space to express oneself is getting smaller & smaller every day, *other people* are taking it away from you, suffocating you on all sides with their offense demanding your silence, they are *making* the walls close in--when in fact it's more like a holodeck. you're a member of the Hegemonic Group, afforded the privilege of the default, so you don't question the vast verdant expanse that is your domain--ah, Free Speech, the sun never sets on the empire of ~uncensored expression, you can say whatever you want whenever you want without facing consequences because you control all the organs that mete out consequences & you have also determined that those groups who might be adversely affected by your words--emotionally OR materially--are not, well...of consequence. but of course the vast verdant domain is an illusion, photons & forcefields, held together by the all-encompassing TOTALITY of the dominant group's hegemony, power, etc. once that power begins to redistribute throughout the system--however unevenly, however incrementally, however slowly--as even the smallest pieces are appropriated by those deemed inconsequential, who have endured years of systemic, material, institutional violence that allowed the dominant group to become dominant & retain its dominant position--once those 'inconsequential' groups speak up & say "actually, these words bear an indelible imprint of the violence enacted upon us, these words are the legacy of that violence, these words are a tacit endorsement of the ideology behind that violence, which classifies us as subhuman, & even if *you* can't hear those echoes, the words broadcast on two historical frequencies, so now that we're able to broadcast on a frequency *you* can hear, we request you find other language, & consider the implications of the words you've been using for years." well--once The Subaltern Speaks, the dominant group loses its 'innocence,' & becomes aware the vast verdant expanse of language is an illusion of infinite space, aware of the four holodeck walls pressing in behind the simulacrum of the horizon, & suddenly "what one can say without negative consequences"--largely social, sometimes, rarely, if social media goes viral, professional--feels much more claustrophobic. so they get angry. & some of them are just bigots, obviously, but some of them--like my parents, &, even, this weirdly well-intentioned m*thhead who said one of the most shockingly racist things i've heard in my life & *honestly didn't understand why it was racist*, is really riled up about free speech & individual rights, hates the government, hates "FANG" (facebook amazon netflix google) & has a bunch of dystopian conspiracy theories about data harvesting & personal information that only miss the mark in that they get too nefariously biopolitical (billionaires want to put microchips in everybody for surveillance to monitor our movements & sell us more stuff; they don't need to, they already use our phone location & browsing habits to generate the algorithm & sell the information to ad companies lol, it's digital& cast a

single illuminati figure in the role of comic book villain, controlling the operation behind the scenes like an evil puppetmaster (classic conspiracy fare; again, we gotta take that energy, that suspicion, the understanding that they are being taken advantage of & tricked, the idea that power & capital & resources are concentrated among a very small number of people, however it's not an individual wealthy villain with a desire for world domination who wants to turn Free Americans into microchipped drones, it's a *class* of people--or rather several classes, but *who those people are as individuals does not matter*. if you guillotined bill gates, another billionaire would take his place. bill gates qua bill gates is not the problem. it is classes of people who control the means of production & own property & profit enormously from exploiting the labor of a desperate, rapidly increasing underclass, i.e. from the system as it is. therefore it is in their interest to maintain the status quo, because it serves them. 'the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.' the middle class gradually ceases to exist. if you want to compound it by race, consider the GI bill as an example - you learn about it as the leg up that enabled thousands of WWII vets to buy houses, enabling them to enter the middle class. hundreds of thousands of third-gen middle class white americans still reap the structural, socioeconomic benefits of their grandparents' initial upward mobility, including,, very tangibly, those selfsame houses, which can be inherited & then rented out as a second property if the children or grandchildren accrue enough money to buy their own properties. but only about 100 black vets got approved for homeownership loans, despite the staggering numbers of black soldiers who enlisted & applied through the GI bill. anyway! the impulses are there, & they're only being funneled into conspiracy thinking because that makes intuitive sense on a narrative level. these guys have a high school education; so does my stepdad. their reading habits are...eclectic, sporadic, pretty much dictated by occasional recommendations & like, little free libraries around the neighborhood. it's both interesting & frustrating to see like - hey, here are these people, we agree on a lot of things, they're earnest & open & want to learn & would give their neighbor the shirt off their backs as a matter of principle. they'd give a *stranger* the shirt off their backs; they'd share whatever they had. even what chores there are in their collective--they live with two other guys--(dumpster diving, walking the dog, tidying up the apartment) are allocated by ability & inclination. they made advance plans to look after the dog & their roommate with War PTSD on the 4th of july if the fireworks upset them, jokingly called the dog an emotional support animal. you give them the tools, the reading, talk to them like normal people with a stake in society--like, imagine a society that would have a stake in people like you instead of criminalizing you & consigning you to the margins! that's already *political imagination* because anyone who occupies a marginalized position will have their existence politicized, whether they want this or not, so better to become a self-aware, self-reflexive political subject, no?--talk *with* them because tbh i am them, i'm just better at situational masking & also i am very very afraid of cops so i only damage property in groups during planned political actions (not spontaneously, because i feel a flash of rage at my neighborhood gentrifying, & simply do not have a superego, so i tear down the real estate sign for the fancy new apartment complex in a fit of pique, because in this house we believe that spontaneity can & should be developed into class consciousness, again, the seeds of which are there in the initial trigger for the spontaneous reaction, i.e. anger at gentrification. not opposed to a little direct action, but they're just gonna put up a new sign tomorrow, it doesn't advance your agenda or hinder the gentrifiers' progress. now, if

you sabotaged the construction site for the new apartment buildings & painted a few potent symbols + graffiti'd a pithy, written statement expressing your opposition to gentrification generally & these apartments specifically? in a prominent place, large font, eye level, visible & legible from oh, a block away? maybe as a member of a collective, your neighbors, perhaps? & you could sign it "[neighborhood] or [block] residents" to pack more of a punch, the power of a crowd speaking in unison to say "not OUR home, you predatory developers"? that's no longer spontaneous, impulsive, affective violence, & it's also no longer an individual--acting alone leaves you vulnerable. again--i didn't just *intuit* that he tore the sign down because he was mad about gentrification, i asked, in a genuinely curious tone, not at all accusatory, no hint of reprimand or censure, just...interested, "why did you do that?" & he was like "it made me fucking mad." & i was like "what about it made you mad? the apartments? how come?" & he thought about it for a minute & explained. i'm not sure *he* necessarily made the conscious connection until prompted. idk, i know people talk a lot about the fact that breitbart & drudge report are free while NYT & "all the news fit to print" is paywalled, & q-pilled covid hoax sites are free while "reputable" pandemic coverage & public health guidelines & explanations of mRNA vaccines for a lay audience are paywalled & that's true but also We Live In A Society & if you talk to the wingnuts who AREN'T that way because of any far-right ideology, a lot of them are just...autodidacts without much formal education but a lot of raw intelligence that leads to analyzing The Big Picture & trying to deduce a pattern, find a framework that explains why the world is the way it is, profoundly frustrated, deeply aware of American society's, universalized & figured as the world's, exceptional unfairness & cruelty, & *that can be redirected* with reading, discussion, prompting critical thought, introducing community connections, & perhaps most importantly for this genre of person, getting them to see patterns at work in terms of systems & structures rather than individuals, letting go of American individualism's explanatory power & belief in its liberatory potential (see: the sort of ad hoc libertarianism that goes hand-in-glove with much conspiracy thinking, both stemming from 1) mistrusting the government, & 2) ultimate freedom of the individual as the most sacred value, therefore it is what all enemies want to take away), outlining positive, actionable goals rather than just ambient suspicion & anger at authority, & figuring out how those goals can be accomplished more effectively by an organized collective (but this will ultimately benefit the individual). If the world isn't run by a shadowy cabal, if you begin to understand the structures responsible & how they manifest even on the scale of your block (e.g.!!! predatory developers buying up properties during a pandemic, tearing down affordable housing to build expensive condos on the lot, or giving old buildings a "spit and polish" so they can double the rent, pricing all the current residents out, not to mention all the little local businesses, almost all mexican & run by the mexican families who live here, that give our block its culture & will get pushed out by boutique coffee shops & the like, catering to a more affluent & almost certainly whiter clientele)--you can, in fact, change the world, something both of them repeatedly referred to as their purpose on earth. it may not be as a maverick figure, one against an army, but strength in numbers is an aphorism for a reason.

anyway! thse guys were also really weird about jews, in the philosemitic way conspiracy theorists of a certain stripe often are. the itinerant vagabond guy gave me one of his drawings; it's really lovely. i'm going to give them "are prisons obsolete?" & "the wretched of the earth" & some david graeber. 44 yr old guy has this idea that society is atomized & people aren't connected to each other & have lost the willingness or the ability to communicate with each other, also that the overreach of authority has driven some people to violence, & that makes the world feel unsafe to everyone else. he feels guilty because he is acutely aware that language, when wielded adroitly & intentionally, always has the capacity to manipulate; he is afraid of succumbing to the temptation, because he senses the coercive power of language within himself. the other guy was mostly quiet but said 44 yr old guy is one of the best friends he's ever had. he thinks animals are able to sense emotions and to heal, & he thinks they can mediate between people who have become too isolated, who have forgotten humans' innate ability to forge connections, approach others as social creatures seeking to bond instead of mistrustful, apprehensive, rejecting overtures of friendship because they expect subterfuge, or propriety has evolved to deem such overtures inappropriate outside of strictly delineated, artificially orchestrated contexts. deviation from the norm is not permitted. & back again to policing. they have an idea called "the omega family," omega for the end, a group of like-minded people who come together, who encounter each other serendipitously (predicted through auspicious auguries & recognized on sight through a constellation of signs & wonders, because of course we are all psychotic here, it was nice to just be psychotic & discuss these things like they were normal lol), & serve as catalysts to each other's "personal truth." anyway this is why i don't go out when i'm crazy, i always end up in situations like this, see also: the last time i did m*th, in a pizza hut bathroom in tallinn with an art student from glascow named muhammad ali (he went by ali), the son of white muslim converts--we thought it was c*ke but it got lost in translation & that's how i figured out i had adhd. later i got [redacted] by a filmmaker from kazan & he gave me his business card afterward for some reason, which was extremely funny. thankfully these dudes were better behaved. one of them even gave a speech about how men shouldn't rape people??? & also how our society shouldn't construct women as universal victims because in doing so it makes victimhood almost compulsory & shoehorns women into a victim role as part & parcel of womanhood? i was like yes my dude you are almost there, read the essay "abject feminism." (i did not tell them i was trans bc i wasn't sure how that would shake down, to be honest; couldn't get a read on it. did tell them i was gay & they respected it, though one did say he dated a lesbian once, & i explained that many men feel compelled to interject with an anecdote relating an exception to the rule or insist that they will he the exception to the rule, & it's really just bad manners, not even getting into the bad politics. he took it on the chin & talked about how the girl in question came home to find her partner dead of an overdose & his wife had just died of MS, so their relationship was more about grief & comfort than sexual attraction. i was like that's really, really sad, & it's wonderful that you were able to be there for each other at a time of such staggering loss, & i am a person who totally understands what you mean to communicate, but if a lesbian tells you they're a lesbian & you reply that you once dated a lesbian & they get offended & instead of responding with contrition or correction you elaborate on the tragic backstory of the relationship as though that explains the circumstances in which a self-proclaimed lesbian would date a cis man, other lesbians *will* deck you, or at the very least not take you, an unwashed white guy in

his 40s who isn't neurotypical & sits way too close for social convention in a way that could easily be construed as a come-on, in good faith.) tl;dr made some new friends, did some good drügs (i much prefer smoking m*th to snorting it, basically like purer, more potent adderall, & as such will not be doing it again for a LONG time, because i enjoy it FAR too much; slices through the brain fog & the chronic fatigue & the joint/bone pain, makes me able to pay attention, follow the thread of a conversation, actually be *interested* & want to ask *questions* & expand, build, encourage my interlocutor to elaborate, place more kal-toh pieces until the conversation shimmers into a three-dimensional shape, instead of being listless & exhausted & disengaged & *bored* all the time, so obviously i would get addicted immediately if given the opportunity, & i've known this forever lol)--now going to hydrate, refill pill case, write some emails, & meet C at the beach! not how i expected to reboot my brain, but it works! also putting them on limited facebook view because i try to keep some groups of people in my life quarantined from each other & that includes 1) my relatives & my academic ~colleagues (ne'er the twain shall meet), 2) my exes & my family, 3) my relatives, colleagues, & uh. a couple of lovely, but extremely psychotic dudes with very long criminal records i met while doing hard drugs

[m1kasastan]

Yaho~ it seems you're new here :)) if so, welcome to tumblr! Please do be as there are creepy people lurking in dark corners around the internet 🙏😌anyways, I see you write hcs?

I have one for you to start but it might not be as interesting as you think.

Can you do shopping trips with Jujutsu Kaisen characters? My comfort character is Itadori :) but you can do any of the characters!

Have fun writing!❤️

shopping with the jjk characters

characters: itadori, megumi, gojo, nobara x g/n!reader

a/n: thank you!!! you are so nice 😭😭 i hope this lives up to ur expectations <33 (btw i love that pic of kenma lmaooo) *NOT proofread*

itadori yuuji

❀ he would be so happy that you guys are shopping together!! you guys were just wandering around, going into department stores and stuff because have you seen those loafers??? those are not it... (i’m so sorry)

❀ so you guys went into the shoe section, and let me tell you, he’s pretty clueless about fashion and stuff

❀ hes a pretty goofy guy so he picked up this ugly sandal and started dancing around with it???? itadori please we are in public 😭 and the sales people kicked you out

❀ he was pretty salty about that and kept on mumbling about it the whole day but it’s ok bc you gave him cuddles at home <33

megumi fushiguro

❀ ok so it’s cannon that he likes reading, although non-fiction books so you wanted to get him into like fiction books that you like

❀ he is seemed like unbothered about it but he was like whatever i’ll go 😒 he’s so stoic ??? but you know deep down he’s pretty excited because i just know he has like a harry potter poster somewhere in his room

❀ when you got to the bookstore there was a cute little cafe!! you picked out a book for him and you guys sat together reading and sipping your drinks

❀ on your way back you saw lil chubby dogs resembling his own demon dogs and played with them, you guys are so cute 😋

gojo satoru

❀ he’s a little bitch. gojo wears like expensive designer clothes and shit so he was like babe let’s go to louis vuitton (or gucci whatever his little rich heart desires) and you weren’t gonna turn him down 🤨

❀ so you changed into presentable clothes, and got into his mercedes, and drove off. when you walked in he had such a cocky attitude, and basically was just fooling around

❀ the salespeople were like these rowdy people could definitely not afford our shit, and so they were rude and fake nice, even a blind person could see through their act, and so gojo was like yeah i think i’ll take *insert most expensive item in store* and the people were like oh yeah you need to pay cash for this...

❀ this mf pulled out this thick ass wallet and said how much 😏 let’s just say the salespeople shut up and now you have a new purse 😬

nobara kugisaki

❀ she’s a shopaholic. no doubt. but she knows all the best places for trendy clothes, discounts and whatnot. so of course you’d go shopping with her.

❀ so when you asked her to go shopping with you of course she said yes, and her face dropped when you stopped in front of a supermarket

❀ she would be furious 😭 “you should’ve told me we were going g*ocery shopping 🤬” anyways she wasn’t about to go home again, and you guys just did very coupley domesticy things :)

❀ when you two were paying, the checkout cashier said you two were a really cute couple and suddenly she peeled up again and on your way back she was really happy (god i love her so much)

thank you for requesting ❤️❤️ i hope you enjoy <3

[seven-homosexual-dinosaurs]

Tree trouble

Part of the “The kids are back” series. Set before “Reunions”

Anne totally meant to get in this situation. Yep. Totally. 

Otherwise known as Anne’s tree story.

To Anne’s credit, she wasn’t completely responsible for her current predicament. Probably only forty? Fifty percent? Whatever. Point is, she wasn’t the one responsible for her situation for once. 

She hadn’t even meant to cause chaos. She’d simply wanted to give her girlfriend a nice present. Though, perhaps explaining what was going on would be a good idea. 

It had all started when she’d gone shopping with Cathy. They’d been looking for a present for Anna’s birthday. Anne had gone up ahead to look at a sparkly green pair of heelies when she’d noticed the absence of a certain blue queen. Turning back, she’d found Cathy examining an orange woolen hat.

“You think Anna’d like it?”

Cathy shook her head. “No, I was just thinking. I’m gonna need a new hat since Kitty’s been stealing mine,”

“You like this one?” Anne asked, feeling the hat in her hands.

“I mean, I guess? Just not a huge fan of the colour,”

Anne nodded in understanding. “Not blue enough, huh?”

Cathy swatted her arm. 

“Just because I’m ‘The blue queen’ doesn’t mean that everything I own has to be blue!”

Anne snorted. 

“So what colour were you gonna get?”

“... blue,”

Anne grinned , wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. 

“That’s what I though,”

Cathy rolled her eyes, grabbing Anne’s hand and leading her away from the store. “Whatever. It’s too expensive anyways, we should probably just go finish getting the present,”

Anne nodded reluctantly, sparing one last glance at the hat before following Cathy towards the video game isle.

-----------------------------------------

“You want to learn to knit?”

Jane eyed Anne dubiously. 

“Yeah, and?” Anne shuffled her feet self consciously. “What’s it to you?”

Jane expression shifted as she smiled at Anne gently, setting her book down on the kitchen counter. “Nothing, just surprised,” Seeing Anne’s expression, she elaborated, 

“Not in a bad way! Just a bit unexpected. Are you free tomorrow after lunch? I’ll need today to get the materials,”

“Yeah,” Anne nodded. “And by the way, could the wool be blue?”

-----------------------------------------

“Hey Kitty, lemme borrow that hat for a sec,”

Kat snatched the hat away from her, planting it firmly on her head once more.

“No! I need to keep my head warm!”

“It’s not even yours! It’s Cathy’s!”

“Then go ask her!”

Kat’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Unless... you don’t want Cathy to know you’re taking her hat!”

Anne snatched the hat off of Kat’s head, stuffing it in her hoodie pocket before retreating to the entrance of her room. “What? No! Psssshhhh, why’d you think that?”

Kat scoffed, throwing a sparkly pillow at Anne. 

“Yeah, whatever. If you wanted to go cause trouble you could’ve just asked,”

Anne sighed in relief. She hadn’t been found out yet.

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t tell anyone, k?”

“Like you even have to ask!”

----------------------------------------- 

Finally, it was done.

After several painstakingly long knitting classes with Jane and a close call where Catalina almost discovered her, she’d done it.

She’d made a hat.

Not just any hat mind you, she’d created a replica of the hat she’d seen with Cathy. It was blue of course, what kind of girlfriend would she be if it were any other colour? Now all that was left was to add some personal touches. Namely, a light blue and green pompom she’d spotted at an art shop near Catalina’s favorite café. 

Currently, she was making her way to the store. With the other queens out of the house, there was no one to be suspicious of her absence or question where she’d gone. With Anna and Kat were going out on a date to celebrate Anna’s birthday and Catalina, Jane and Cathy going to watch a movie at the ladies’ house, Anne was free to finish the hat. Turning the hat over in her hands, she smiled. Cathy was gonna be so damn impressed.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew past her. Stumbling, Anne threw her hands forwards to steady herself. The hat, now free from her hands, blew away into the wind. Yelping, she ran forwards to try and catch it, only to let out a short scream as she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. Picking herself up, she looked around for the hat. Finally she spotted it.

On the top of a tree.

....Fuck

Groaning, Anne walked to the bottom of the tree to try and figure out how to climb it. 

Because what else was she supposed to do?

Ask for help?

Anne would get beheaded again before that happened. 

Glaring at the tree once more, she got to work.

-----------------------------------------

Pausing on a sturdy branch, Anne took a second to catch her breath. Rubbing her sore wrists, she risked a glance back towards the ground.

Huh.

She was a lot higher than she thought. 

Oh well.

Sighing, Anne looked back up towards the hat. Just a bit more, then she’d be able to go finish the hat and pretend this whole ordeal never happened. 

Left hand, right hand. Left foot, right foot. Left hand, right ha-

The branch snapped.

Oh shit.

Anne tumbled towards the ground with a scream. Her arms flew up to her cover her head as she raced towards the ground with a scream. Bracing for impact, she closed her eyes.

Anne hit the ground with a sickening snap. 

Immediately, she was consumed by a blinding pain in her leg. Groaning, she tried to turn over, only to hiss in pain as a jolt of pain shot through her ribs. Laying back on her side, she slowly exhaled and waited for the pain to ease.

And waited.

And waited.

After realizing nothing was gonna happen, she resigned herself to her fate. Inhaling deeply, she slowly sat up, hissing as pain shot through her ribs. Standing up, she balanced herself on her leg, gripping the tree for support. Exhaling shakily, she pulled her phone out to call a taxi.

-----------------------------------------

Anne looked through her phone, bored. She tried tapping her foot to emphasize how bored she was, only to remember it was in a cast. After getting checked out, she’d found out her leg was broken, along with two of her ribs. Sighing, she put her phone down and stared at the ceiling. She’d hopped that perhaps the hat had fallen when she had, but no, it was still stuck on the tree. That goddamned tree.

Hearing her text tone go off, she picked her phone up.

Janey: Where are you?

Janey: Why aren’t you home?

Oh. Had the queens gotten home already? Fuck, this wasn’t gonna be fun to explain.

Anne: get on the gc. get the othr queens there too

Janey: ???

Anne: just do it

Queens:

Lina: what is it anne?

Kitty-Kat: where u @

Bo: Queens, i have gathered you all today to make an announcement

GamerGirl: ??

Bo: i am

Cathy P: yes?

Bo:  ✨in the hospital ✨

Several people are typing...

Anne placed her phone down as it blew up with texts, grinning at the chaos that was inevitably taking place in the queen household. 

Bo: its the hospital near the mall

Bo: btw im not dying

Bo: but also hurry up and get here im bored

Smiling, Anne laid back down on the bed. This should be entertaining.

-----------------------------------------

“Anne!”

“Annie!”

“What on earth did you do?!”

“Bo!”

“Anne Boleyn!”

Anne grinned sheepishly at the queens standing in the doorway.

“Hi”

The queens all situated themselves near Anne. Jane and Anna both pulled a chair up, Catalina sat at the foot of her bed, Cathy sat next to Anne, and Kat situated herself in Anna’s lap.

“Are you ok!?”

“What happened?”

“Did you do something dumb like fight a raccoon?”

“Anna!”

Anna shrunk down in her seat at the seething glare Cathy and Catalina sent her. Kat snickered quietly as Jane facepalmed at her shenanigans. Anne rolled her eyes. “Yeah totally. A raccoon broke two of my ribs, broke my leg, and cracked two more of my ribs,”

A stunned silence followed her retort. Looking up, she grimaced at the horrified looks on the queens faces. 

“Fell out of a tree,”

“......”

“Anne, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but what the fuck,”

Anne flipped Anna off, earning her a fake gasp from the latter. Kat however, didn’t seem keen on dropping the topic.

“Why were you in a tree anyways?”

Anne weighed her options carefully. If she told the truth, the surprise would be ruined for Cathy and Kat and Anna would call her a simp for the rest of their reincarnated lives. Jane and Lina might not overly react, but it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.

Steeling her mind, Anne made her answer.

“Felt like climbing a tree,”

As the room devolved into chaos, Anne knew one thing: she’d get that hat back or die trying.  And knowing Anne, it would probably be the latter.

Oh well.

[awed-frog]

Do you have any advice for someone who’s really struggling to study? I’m really stressed and demotivated, and I can’t seem to sit down and just study. In my country we only have virtual classes so maybe It has something to do with that, it’s really sad that it’s my first college year and I haven’t attended one single face to face class. Anyway, If you have any kind words I would really appreciate it. Love your blog btw <3

Hey! Thank you for this! And I’m very sorry you feel that way...just know you’re not alone, I think we’re all a bit ‘what’s the point’ rn, and for students (and teachers) this period must suck especially hard. I don’t know exactly what can work for you, but here are a few things that come to mind. I hope you can find something useful!

Have habits and routines. Our days are all over the place, which is not good for motivation or mental health. Instead of procrastinating, feeling guilty, working in a hurry and then feeling even worse, decide on a schedule that works for you. Don’t be too hard on yourself - give it as much time as you need to do the work well, and devote the rest of your day to stuff that makes you feel accomplished and serene (maybe learn or practice a non-screen skill, such as cooking or painting?).

And: at risk of sounding like a yoga mom, don’t forget about your body. Very often stuff like bad mood or exhaustion has physical, not mental, causes. Try to make time for sport - dancing in your underwear, running outside, walking the dog, online pilates, a 7-minute app - and, if you can, a few minutes of meditation, singing or breathing exercises every day. I’d recommend the ‘cardiac coherence’ stuff - lasts about 3 minutes, makes you feel really great. And: remember to stretch, smile and drink water throughout the day. If possible, go outside or have plants and flowers around you.

When it comes to habit, try to understand what kind of person you are and react accordingly. Some people work best when they change cold turkey (new day, new me), while for others it’s better to adjust things more slowly (for instance by moving the alarm clock forward five minutes every week or two). If you’re the second type, a method like Pomodoro could work well to organize your work schedule. 

Have pretty things. Try switching to ink or coloured pens, have nice stationery, organize your Word documents so they’re neat and tidy, use candles, plants, ‘good mood’ incense - whatever makes you feel your work has meaning and worth.

Try background music. Some people work better with noise, and you can find all kind of noises online, from stations to coffee shops to purring cats. Others like classical music. For me, what works is video game music, which is designed to keep you alert and focused while being unobtrusive.

Try to keep your workspace as similar as possible to a ‘real’ workspace. No stack of dirty mugs and plates, no abandoned pajama bottoms. If you can manage it, start your day as if you were actually going outside - dress for actual human company, put on make-up if you like to - and remember to prepare your desk the night before: textbooks, charged laptop, notebooks, water bottle, possibly a diary or a motivational quote or anything you find useful.

If it helps, study with friends or classmates. Have video meetings, chats or shared Google docs and work together. Rant with people who’re going through the same thing, but also find a way to help one another. If you live with flatmates or family members, maybe you can find a moment to work together on your separate things? Dad does admin, mom prepares a work presentation, you do your homework and that’s ‘work time’ for everyone?

Divide your tasks. Make clear lists of what you have to do - as detailed as possible (not: shakespeare essay, but: 1. read book, 2. write essay, 2b. introduction and so on) and pay attention to when the stuff is due, either writing it down in agendas or post-its or creating alerts on your phone. Some people also like the square of doom (you know, that ‘important + urgent’, ‘important + non urgent’ thingy).  

Keep track of what you’re doing if you find it helps you. There are good apps for this, or you can use a nice journal or an Excel sheet. Track whatever you want - minutes of study, words learned, tasks accomplished...a favourite of mine is ‘a time logger’, which can track your entire day. When I was in uni, it made me realize I was working a lot more than I thought, and reaching daily goals kept me motivated.

Rethink your internet consumption, especially news, TV shows and social media. Try having periods where you go off-screen whenever you need a break. Stuff like, ‘no TV before 6 pm’ or ‘no tumblr on weekdays’ can automatically make you a lot less stressed and a lot more productive. 

You can also decide to modify the way you engage with these things. For instance, if your studies involve a language, you could watch only TV shows in [language], or turn on [language] subtitles, or you could switch to Buzzfeed [country]. If you like IG, pinterest or tumblr, try having a separate ‘weekday’ account which is about healthy escapism and/or accountability: landscapes and poetry instead of fandom content, or a personal blog about your day - use the right tags and connect with others who’re going through the same thing.    

Imagine you’re teaching someone. I’m guessing you’re passionate about your subject, so turn your study sessions into imaginary conversations. Teaching a lesson (or making a speech) is often the best way to see what you understand, what you need to work on, and what you’re interested in learning more about.

Websites like b-ok can help you find books about your subject (or not) - possibly stuff you’re not actually compelled to read, but which sounds interesting nonetheless. Broaden your horizon, discover different stuff, and sooner or later you’ll find yourself making connections between the exciting stuff you’re basically reading for fun and the actual subject you’re studying.

And: remember why you’re studying this. What are you passionate about? Why did you fall in love with your subject? Why are you studying it? Sometimes we have to endure a few boring classes to get to the good part, and that’s okay.

And finally: visualize the future. The world will get better, and at some point you’ll be glad you’ve spent a few (or many) hard and boring hours getting your degree. What are you going to do after this? Make a ‘future’ board, write a fake Wikipedia article about yourself, give a Nobel or graduation speech, give a pep talk to your (imaginary) future children about the hardships you faced on Zoom and how you overcame them to become the mom they know and love. Whatever works, no matter how ridiculous or narcissistic or far-fetched is a good thing!

I hope this helps! Remember to remain calm and positive, and talk to yourself as if you were talking to a child or a best friend. Less You suck and the world is going to end and more Yes, you didn’t do great today, but we can always do better tomorrow, it’s okay to have an off day! Uni is hard enough under any circumstances, and right now...do your best and resist the bait of dark thoughts: we will get through this, and everything will be alright. It’s how it works.

[motsimages]

A list of Hollywood things that may be what real life is in the US and the equivalent situation in Spain. Feel free to add your own country. I’d love to know of other places :)

This is going to be long, so the TL:DR is there are many things I know about the US because of the movies, landscapes, hobbies, cultural things, everyday life things and sometimes they feel very normal or like something that happens in movies, no in between. They are neither and this is a list of differences I can think of in regards to Spain.

Click there to find out, there are pictures and all.

- Going to school by car, by bike or in a yellow bus: We either walk or your parents drive you (specially when you are too young to go by bus on your own or your parents are overprotective). Not really bike because bike lanes are a mess (in that they don’t exist) in Spain, it is dangerous. There are school buses if students come from places that are further but they’re average travel buses and once you are 16, you cannot use them. You have to go to school from 16 to 18 in public transportation because school is not mandatory after 16, it is understood it’s your choice. You may have a motorbike at 16 but I don’t know anybody who went to school in it. All of this is extra -fun- if you live in a village as in there may not be any bus service if it’s a small place or you live far apart from the village.

The picture is an average school bus with a woman in charge of picking up children. It looks like it’s in the country or maybe, the outside neighbourhoods of a city.

- Dating: we don’t date. If you like someone, you find a way to hang out with them and hope for the best. It may be more or less clear what is going on but it’s not a date, just a plan. You go to a restaurant/movies/theater... when you _are_ in a relationship or with friends. Not a date. The confusing hell it is to watch people saying things like “It’s a date! I’ll pick you up at 8!” Ok. Maybe they pick you up but still not a date. Also: not a problem if you have sex straight away or if you don’t feel like it (because there is no social obligation around it, no date). It seems to be a big deal when you are 30 and “never been in a date” but the first time I was in a date was with my current boyfriend _after_we started going out (I was 30 btw). I met him on a dating app, btw. Still don’t consider the first time we met “a date”. “Going on a date” maybe a thing but still probably based on movies.

- Prom: very confusing. Specially the part where you _have_ to have a _date_ (again, not something we do ever). If we do a ball (IF, also it wouldn’t be a “ball” as such but a “party”), it is actually expected to go on your own, with your friends. It would be a massive social pressure to go with the boy you like (with whom nothing happened prior to this) in front of people. Nah, you either go with your partner that you already have or with mates. But generally speaking, there is no “prom” or “graduation” in high school. In my high school, we spoke with a restaurant to have dinner, invited the teachers we liked and after that, went to local bars to party until the next morning when we went to see what grades we had received for the year. It was done like this so those who failed the exams could still party with the rest.

As for uni, maybe some other colleges do something but we didn’t (mainly because I studied translation and half of the people in my year were abroad that year). I don’t even have a picture of my graduation. People usually dress smart and then wear a band with the colour of their faculty.

The picture is graduation from Tourism (if I’m not mistaken). It shows a group of girls on a scene, all of them smartly dresses with an orange band on their shoulders. Their classmates are sitting on the grades of this “theater thing”, all wearing the same band.

- High School: in general, it’s very confusing. It seems to me like there is some kind of obsession with high school years given all the movies about high school and all the “childhood sweetheart” stories out there. For us, it is quite an irrelevant period of our lives, almost like school. You do it because you have to but often, life (and interesting things) happen AFTER high school. Our high schools don’t have lockers, you just carry 5 books in a backpack. But you have your class, only a couple of things take place in other rooms (maybe Science in the lab, or some optional subjects). Public schools close once the classes are over and all the activities you may want to do, you do them somewhere else (paying for them, most of the time). There are no School teams of anything, you don’t play against other schools either (maybe private schools do, I don’t know). In my high school, I remember for Spring we organised like a week of activities and you would sign up with your mates if anything. You and 2 others would make a basketball team to play in the Basketball league against other people in your class but it isn’t “The Official Team”. I remember there was a card tournament for the game of Mus (typical from Madrid). Also, we don’t have The Popular, The Band Kid, The Nerds, etc. clearly separated. There is bullying (but our toilets are not full of water so you cannot drown there) but either you are normal or you are the weird kid, so to say. I was a weird kid who suffered some light bullying and then I went to average, with no bullying. Overall, everyone speaks with each other and unless it’s a severe case of bullying (which there are), there are no underdogs or closed groups. We don’t have yearbooks AT ALL and this “Clown of the class” thing? I personally find it borderline problematic.

Picture of an average high school in Spain. It’s separated in two halfs. On the left, there is a couple of people carrying backpacks in a corridor. It’s quite dark, a window at the end giving light to the corridor. On the right, one of the doors of the corridor is open and shows a classroom. There are lots of green tables and chairs, all of them in pairs. At the end there is a blackboard. The light comes from the window.

- Alcohol consumption and other drugs: We can drink at 18 and it’s not a big deal if you get drunk. By the time you’re 18, your parents have seen you drunk more than once. You may have gotten drunk with your parents. You’ve seen them drunk more than once. Spain is quite an alcoholic society, tbh. BUT we do not like aggressive drunkards or dependant drunkards. You can get drunk but you have to be able to still be nice. Your friends will stop hanging out with you if you get drunk too often, too heavy or too badly (and you will find those who follow you, obvs). We do it to socialize and have fun, not to knock out. Weed is partially legal (I don’t really know the law, you can get fined for carrying but not arrested, you can buy paraphernalia in shops, there are cannabis clubs, people can smoke on the street in the open, you can grow it at home, it can be used for medical purposes or recreational). Other drugs are illegal though personal use may be allowed? I don’t know but I do know that it’s relatively easy and cheap to find other harder drugs, and so, they are commonly used at parties. The 80s were a complicated time in Spain because the heroine consumption was over the roof. It killed many many people in that generation.

- Houses: in cities, it’s more frequent for people to live in a flat. Depending on the time when this flat was built, the quality of the materials will be better, the flat will be bigger or smaller. Houses are something you see mainly in villages and they tend to be next to each other, no garden (maybe a patio). In the last 20-30 years, people started to show an interest in something that looks like “suburbs” from the movies (even though “suburbio” in Spanish actually means the full opposite of “suburbs”) but it doesn’t fit the weather nor the way we live and I personally hate them. And wooden houses are out of this world, everything here is made of stone or brick. Traditional houses here are made of stone with thick walls (up to one meter of thickness). I attach pictures of houses in the North of Spain. Southern houses are full white, no wooden structures to be seen from the outside.

A village in what looks like the North of Spain. There is a lot of vegetation, you can see some white and brown houses in a grass field. There is a tower at the back. We see a town square with houses made of stone, red roof and wooden balconies. Most of the walls are painted white, some aren’t and you can see the stone itself.

- Physical contact: in the movies, people rarely hug. It seems to me that maybe in the 80s-90s people hugged, touched more on screen. At some point in the 2000s it stopped and now you have people crying their eyes out and their best friend just standing there. We stand closer to each other and touch each other to show care, interest and affection very often. Some people in Spain are not very tactile (and thus, really like Northern Europe) but generally speaking, if someone cries, you hug them (unless you know they don’t want it, in which case you stay nearby). Heterosexual men also hug and also hold each other by the shoulder, for instance. I know this is a shock for some foreigners (don’t know if in the US it would be). From the times I’ve met US people, they’re not only surprised but sometimes actually scared that people touch them. Not even Asians react the way US people do to physical contact in Spain. BTW, when I say “touch”, I mean “the arm, shoulder” mainly. Other places require closer levels of friendship. However, you may kiss your partner/lover anywhere in the street, it’s ok, usually goes unnoticed by people. Even my parents grab each others asses occasionally in the street.

This picture is from La Torre de Suso, where 4 friends gather after 10 years of being apart because an old friend died. It also touches on drug addiction and the 80s. It shows 4 men in their 40s wearing a jacket and a tie, smartly dress, smiling and about to hug each other in the middle of the street of what looks like a small town.

- Welcoming someone to the neighbourhood: apparently, people bring cakes to the new comers. We don’t, you’ll eventually meet your neighbours. Or not. But you have to say hello to the people you see on the stairs of your flat, in the street you live. In small towns/villages, you have to greet everyone you know, at least say “hi”, ideally actually stop for small talk (I’m terrible at this but getting better now that I live in a small town).

- Church: it seems to be a big part of people’s lives. Very often, people are going to church, all ceremonies seem to be religious (marriage, death...) and they tend to be Christian (sometimes Jewish but they seem to be less involved in their religious life?, or maybe the movie is done by non-religious people?). In Spain, everything is Catholic and at the same time, it isn’t. Many traditions are Catholic and people enjoy them but they aren’t Catholic themselves. There are churchgoers, of course. There are Catholic cults with massive power in politics and society (Opus Dei, mainly). But we had a fascist Catholic dictatorship and many people got very tired of it. To give you an idea of how things usually go: everyone in my village eats the same meal (fish and garbanzo beans for lunch, potato omelette for diner) on Good Friday (even my family, where nobody has ever been religious willingly). Only old people and some very Catholic families go to church. Most holidays are related to Catholic Saints (this gives us lots of long weekends and days off during the year) and they are often celebrated with a town fair that lasts several days.

In theory, Spain has no religion. In reality, it is Catholicism. In schools/high schools there is a subject called “Religion” and almost always it’s about Catholicism (teachers of this subject, even in public schools, are related to the Church somehow). It is not mandatory but often there is no alternative if you don’t want to take it (I was the only child who didn’t attend and had my own homework during that time that my mother chose for me: Ethics).

The image is from El Rocío, an important religious fair that takes place in the South of Spain. Many local fairs look similar to this. Lots of people are gathered in a small temporary white hut, decorated with garlands (white and red) and the flag of Andalusia that is green and white. There is a bar with small glasses of white wine and some plates with food on them.

This said, it’s very frequent to get married at the Town Hall with a couple of witness and it’s also very frequent for burials to happen in the Tanatorio, where people can say goodbye to their loved one but it’s not in church.

And even many church goers are not devoted Christians, are open minded about LGBT issues or other, for instance.

- Prison: We don’t have death penalty but people can spend their life in prison if their crimes are massive and they add years and years to their sentence. Prisons here are public and as far as I’ve seen in Spanish movies, there are no uniforms, you wear your everyday clothes. You will only go to prison if you committed a serious crime or if you have several small crimes. Often, the first time it’s a reduced sentence that can be made into paying a fine. The second time you will go to prison. This happens even for domestic violence/rape which usually causes great controversy in society. You can leave earlier if you behave well (very earlier actually) and sometimes you can leave the weekend and the come back to prison, or leave for x hours and come back to sleep. It depends on the sentence and behaviour, etc. I’d say terrorism is the hardest charge and right now, they are using terrorism as an excuse to sentence activists (there quite a lot of political prisoners in Spain).

I mention crimes because you have to have LOTS of other offences to go to prison. They usually are just fined.

The picture is from the movie Cell 211 which is an excellent movie. Do watch it. It shows the main character, a bold man with a goatie wearing a sweater whose sleeves have been cut off. He looks serious. On the background, many men wearing everyday sports clothes cheer and look in the same direction as him.

- Laws: I don’t know Spanish law very well (it bothers me to say that I may know better what to do with the police in the US than in Spain) but it seems to me, from the movies, that many things are made into a massive deal in the US. Like jaywalking is apparently an offence of some kind? Here you can just cross the street wherever. People respect the crossing path for safety but it’s not a crime to not do it. People also don’t sue companies or other people as often and it’s usually not that big of a deal maybe? In any case, it’s a completely different legal system.

. The 50s: The 50s in the US are fancy and colourful. Society seems to have been thriving, everything was getting better. In Spain, the hunger years were starting to be over but many people were poor. We were in the worst of the Franco dictatorship, it was quite a rural society that had been destroyed by a civil war (the effects of which are still being felt). Rich people were fascist, poor people could be anything (many were actually communists, republican or other leftist). This is not a happy time in Spain. Many people had left to be refugees in other countries, many were leaving illegally to work in Germany or France. The music we listened to at the time was definitely not Elvis Presley (look for Lola Flores or Miguel de Molina, even though he ended up fleeing the country because he was openly gay and republican and they almost killed him once).

This image is from the movie Los Santos Inocentes, based on a book of the same title. A classic of Spanish modern literature and cinema. This is the way most people looked in the 50s in Spain. Even now old people look like this in villages.

It is like a family picture in front of a white house. Everyone is wearing black, dark blue, dark green or grey. From left to right, there is a boy sitting on a bench that is situated next to the door. Next, it’s a young girl wearing a long grey skirt and a dark green jacket. By the door, the mother holds a very thin boy who seems to be either deeply sick or dead. She wears mostly black and gray. The boy has the brightest green in the scene. Next to her, there is a man wearing a gray jacket and a bonet and finally, there is an older man that seems to be smiling (the only one smiling, everyone else has a serious and gloomy face).

And that’s what I can think of right now.

[sleepypeaky]

a rabbit named elephant

request: prompt #15 "you sleep with the stuffed animal I got you" "of course" for Finn? love your work angel 💛

word count: 243

a/n: thank you so much!!! btw i changed like 1 word to fit my idea

again on the ages-- fin was born in 1908 so in the first part they’re 4 and the next theyre 18

1912

“give it back!” You screamed, jumping as high as your small legs would allow.

They just laughed and held it further out of your reach. 

Eventually, you fell and the taller children left you sat and crying in the mud of the school yard.

Presently, a voice sounded behind you.

“Wha’s wrong?”

You turned to see a little boy no bigger than you.

“They took my elephant.” You sighed.

He frowned, “thats mean, it was a good elephant.”

You got to your feet and shrugged, wiping the mud off your clothes.

“well here.” He held out an arm. Grasped at the end was a stuffed brown bunny,

“I got it for christmas, but you can ‘ave it if you like.”

You gave him a toothy grin. 

“really!? thank you!!!!” You let him place it in your hands.

One of the teachers trudged through the yard and rang a small tin bell.

“I guess we have to go in now.” He said, “my name is finn.”

“my name is (y/n).” And you held up the rabbit and mimicked its voice, “And my name is elephant.”

“You cant name a rabbit ‘elephant’!” He said.

“Yes i can!”

~~

~

“Finn where’s your rabbit?” ada asked as she walked him home.

“he shrugged, “I dont ‘ave it anymore.”

Ada sighed, “thats why you don’t bring toys to school finn, you’re bound to lose them.”

Finn nodded, knowing what really happened. “ok”

~~~

~~

~

1926

A few weeks ago you had reconnected with finn. 

I mean, technically, you have never unconnected–you both still lived in the same area. But as he because more involved with the shelby company,,well you can see how you might keep your distance.

But he had come into the shop where you worked and you just got to talking again. You could see in his eyes that he wasnt like his brothers, he might play the part well, but it was just an act.

So for the past weeks you and finn would meet and go on walks, not to any particular locale, just talking and wandering.

Today you and he had just gone for a short jaunt and he walked you home. As you stood on your doorstep you invited him in,

“You want to come in? My parents aren’t home, but they wouldnt mind anyhow.”

He casually accepted your offer and followed you inside.

His first thought was how different it was from his home. Granted, at the moment he lived in a hole in artillery square, but this was compared to home on watery lane. It shocked him that two places so near could be so vastly different. Your house was bright, neat, and well, didnt smell like smoke and whiskey.

He watched you take off your shoes at the door and mirrored the action. Then you led him upstairs.

“That over there is my parents room, and this is mine.” You said, opening the dark wood door.

Finn entered after you and scanned the little room, noticing all the trinkets and books you had on your shelves. Eventually, his eyes came to rest on a tattered, eyeless, and threadbare stuffed animal on your bed.

He gasped, "you sleep with the stuffed animal I gave you" He stared at it in amazement, “i cant believe you still have it. 

You smiled. "of course" 

You went over to where it was sitting on your bed and lifted it up.

“ ‘ello! my name is elephant!”

Finn laughed,

“Hello elephant! It has been a very long time!”

You grinned and placed him back down on the pillow, 

“It’s my prized possession.” You said.

He smiled,

“It doesnt even have eyes anymore, how can it be your prized possession.”

You took his hands,

“Because a very special person gave it to me.”

You smiled at him and then looked away a little embarrassed, but he kept your hands in his.

Suddenly, your reserve left you and you leaned in and kissed him. He leaned in to meet you, at first. But he broke away,

“(y/n)...”

“Whats wrong?” You were suddenly very afraid.

“its just.... elephant is watching.” Finn started to laugh.

You slapped his arm, 

“Finn! you bastard!”

He laughed and kissed you again.☾ ✧ ☾ ✩ ☾ ✧ ☾ ✩ ☾

☾ ✧ ☾ ✩ ☾

☾ ✧ ☾ ✩ 

☾ ✧ ☾ 

☾ ✧ 

☾