#anyway wear a mask and social distance

[casperillion]

biggest way i know twt keeps giving me posts that arent relevant to me is that i keep getting served posts saying people should still be masking and that you're risking so many peoples lives if you dont constantly mask

then i went outside today to a hospital and didnt see a single person masking, so i check my local numbers and no where within even like a 4 hour drive has cases over 0.2 per 100 people and no where within 2 hours has anything over 0.08 per 100

and its peak flu season here

[monotonous-minutia]

so for the last two years I went to see The Nutcracker live at my local performing arts center; but this winter COVID's been coming back with a vengeance in my city so I'm opting out. I'd still like to engage in it though and while I love the one I have saved on spotify I'd also like to watch it. does anyone have suggestions for a recording of a full performance of The Nutcracker that's on youtube or somewhere else online?

thanks in advance!

[suzukiblu]

Day eleven of fic NaNoWriMo, obligatory sugar daddy Tim/sugar baby Kon AU.

So Tim may’ve accidentally taken Superboy on a very public coffee date in Metropolis that hopefully no one sold paparazzi photos of and then slightly less accidentally asked him out on a shopping date in Gotham by doubling down on the “fashion show” joke, which he intends to spend gently wearing Kon down into having vast amounts of money spent on him by a grateful “stranger”. Kon didn't ever actually ask him how a Gothamite high schooler tracked down a Metropolis superhero to begin with, which is another thing to make sure to mention in the superhero stranger danger refresher course but is currently doing Tim a lot of favors. 

The situation isn't anything serious, anyway; just a little bit of friendly flirting. Kon's always flirting with someone new, after all, and Tim's fine with the idea of being an experiment for a date or two while he wheedles his way into rearranging Kon's entire life and reducing Cadmus to a smoldering pit and stocking up on anti-Superman weaponry. Actually he's probably a little too fine with that idea, but never mind that. 

Tim’s plotting how to most effectively convince Kon to let him buy him things without overwhelming him and scaring him off, which is a bit complicated since Kon’s socialization has been pretty weird, but that just makes it a better thought exercise anyway. Like a handicap in chess, kind of. 

As are the constant interruptions, because he’s currently doing said plotting in the Justice Cave, which means everyone’s been running in and out all afternoon and pestering him to come do increasingly ludicrous things with the rest of them. Most recently, Bart and Suzie had sixteen different Kool-Aid packets and a small armory’s worth of super-soakers and water guns. Tim had decided to take the better part of valor and not ask. 

Kon comes in after a few minutes dripping a rainbow and smelling like pink lemonade, so Tim is pretty sure he chose correctly on that one. 

“So Kool-Aid comes in way more flavors than I actually realized,” Kon says conversationally, plucking at his soaked-through S-shield. Tim just raises an eyebrow at him, even if the mask mutes the expression a little. He heroically does not notice how said S-shield is currently clinging to Kon’s very nice pecs like wet cellophane. Or anywhere else his costume is clinging, while he’s at it. 

That costume is very, very thoroughly soaked. Bart and Suzie must’ve caught him by surprise, otherwise he’d have probably kept himself from getting quite that soaked with his TTK. At least, Tim assumes he could’ve done that, considering. 

“I realize Impulse is incredibly determined when he gets an idea in his head, but how did you get that wet?” Tim says. “I thought they just had regular water guns.” 

“Bart turned up a pack of balloons somewhere,” Kon explains dryly–no pun intended. 

Well, that explains it, Tim supposes. 

“So is the whole base flooded, or . . . ?” he trails off. Kon snorts, raking his wet curls back off his forehead. Tim wants to lick the splattered black cherry Kool-Aid off the perfect arch of his cheekbone and stick his hands in his jacket pockets. He also wants to preserve his personal dignity and professionalism and appropriate level of distance as the leader, though.

“I’d start collecting two of every Super-Cycle if I were you,” Kon advises. Tim doesn’t laugh, because that wouldn’t be very professional of him, but he lets the corner of his mouth quirk up a little.

“How many Super-Cycles do you think there are?” he says. 

“Two, if it’s up to Bart and the great Kool-Aid flood,” Kon says, then glances back over his shoulder for a moment like he’s checking for something. Tim assumes he’s keeping an eye out for Bart and Suzie, though he should really know Bart’s going to outpace him no matter what, so it's not like he's going to be able to dodge him or–“Hey. Can I ask you a favor, man?” 

“A favor?” Tim blinks, a little nonplussed. “What kind of favor?” 

“A Bat kind of favor,” Kon says, stepping a little farther into the room. “Uh. If it’s not too weird.” 

“What do you need?” Tim asks, his attention sharpening. A Bat kind of favor implies Kon needs help with a supervillain or at least a criminal, though if he does need backup he’s not sure why he’s asking just him and not the whole team, that seems–

“I need you to look somebody up for me and make sure he’s not, I don’t know, a creep or a supervillain or a supervillain creep,” Kon says, folding his arms and looking a little awkward about it. “Like I don’t care if he’s maybe related to some supervillain creeps or something, that’s whatever, I just care if he’s one. And he’s from Gotham, he said, so I figured it wouldn’t be too much out of your way anyway.” 

Tim blinks. Tilts his head. Is Kon . . .

“His name’s Tim Drake,” Kon says. “Or that’s what he told me his name was, anyway. Again, he might be a supervillain or something, so who knows.” 

Tim . . . blinks. 

“I can do that,” he says, and–because he can’t help himself and also could use the intel anyway–“Why do you think he might be a supervillain?” 

Kon's face turns pink. Just barely, but still noticeably. 

“I just do,” he says, tightening his arms. “Just, uh–I don’t know.” 

Tim may’ve possibly made too many supervillain jokes at the café, he’s realizing. Or maybe he’d just looked too desperately thirsty when Kon had joked about him recruiting him for his evil plans. His plans aren’t even evil, okay, they’re just rational. And his actual recruitment strategy doesn’t have anything to do with anybody wearing a crop top, either! The crop tops were Kon’s idea! 

Still, Kon’s asking him to look up Tim Drake for him, and at least he actually is bothering to look up Tim Drake, so that could be worse. One less point to go over in the superhero stranger danger refresher course. Tim isn’t sure why Kon's only concerned now, but at least he's being careful. 

“Okay,” Tim says, figuring it's not a big deal either way. If Kon's asking him to check himself out, then all he has to do is provide him with just enough information to make him feel comfortable accepting money from him without worrying about who he might be accepting money from. And rent. And clothes and groceries and bills and–

Well, literally everything, ideally. Just, like–literally every single thing he can get Kon to accept, Tim's intending to give him. An apartment or a condo or a freaking house, if that's what Kon wants. Maybe a cul-de-sac, even. Tim's not above buying him a cul-de-sac. It'd take a little extra bank fraud, probably, but that's just more supervillain practice anyway. 

Kon deserves a stupid cul-de-sac, at this point. Kon deserves a whole neighborhood at this point. 

Tim could arrange that, probably. Especially once he's officially a supervillain, but also just like in general. Again, it'd just take a little bit of bank fraud at the most. 

“Thanks,” Kon says, shifting his weight a little anxiously, for some reason. 

“It's no problem,” Tim replies with a shrug. “I mean, it's probably just paranoia, given our propensity to run into supervillains. I wouldn't worry about it “ 

“Whatever,” Kon says with a shrug, looking–bothered, a little. Tim represses a frown, watching him consideringly. 

“You don't think you're being paranoid,” he translates. “Why?” 

“Uh, because . . . people don’t try to just hang out with me, usually,” Kon replies with an uncomfortable shrug, jamming his hands deep into his jacket pockets. “Not like this guy is, I mean. Usually they . . . want something, you know? Like to meet Superman or get in the tabloids or, uh, steal my DNA and make an asshole with a superiority complex out of it. But I don’t know what this guy wants at all. He just paid for my lunch and asked to hang out again. And like, all I did was save his ass from some dumbass robber, so it wasn't like it was a big deal or anything.” 

“Oh,” Tim says. That’s . . . an incredibly depressing answer, okay. Like . . . incredibly depressing. Wow. “Okay. I'll look into him and get back to you.��

“Thanks,” Kon says again, looking restless, then puts on a slightly forced grin. “It's no big, just keeping an eye out for stupid spy shit or weird undercover types, you know how it is.” 

“Yeah,” Tim agrees, watching him for a long moment. The answer is still incredibly depressing. Nothing that Kon has said has made it any less depressing. Actually, it's just kind of making it worse. 

A lot worse. 

“Thanks,” Kon says again, odd and abrupt, and then suddenly zips out of the room. He left Kool-Aid stains on the floor and they're going to get sticky, but Tim is a little bit too distracted to be annoyed by that fact.

Kon's never asked him to look somebody up for him before. They haven't been teammates that long, so that's not a surprise, but it does make Tim wonder who he asks normally. Actually, does he ask anyone normally, or did Tim just fuck up somewhere here and make Kon suspicious enough to ask a favor from a Bat? 

Fuck, he hopes not. That'll make it way harder to convince Kon to let him buy him a cul-de-sac. 

Tim goes back to his previous Kon-related plotting and also takes half an hour to type up a “report” on himself for him. Just the basics, nothing too damning or too invasive or too interesting. Definitely nothing to connect him to Bruce, for obvious reasons. Better safe than sorry and all, since he's decided to take the risk of involving his civilian identity with Kon. 

Honestly, he probably should've used this as a template for Caroline Hill. Put her in a situation and given Kon the opportunity to save her. He probably would've responded better to an older girl than a guy his own age anyway, considering. 

Tim's still surprised Kon responded to Tim Drake at all, considering. But maybe he really does just flirt with every civilian, no matter who he's really attracted to or not. That seems like something Kon would do. 

Really, for all Tim knows, Kon only flirted with Tim Drake to begin with because he didn't know how else to talk to him. 

Actually, considering how few civilian guys he's seen him talk to, that's probably actually true, isn't it.

[ooppo]

Me going back into the year 1346 in England explaining how to avoid the plague: Wear face masks and wash your hands often with soap and water. Oh, the water makes you sick? Uhh shit we'll go back to that. You should bathe often because it's spreading through lice and fleas. Also your population density is NOT helping. Social distance that shit. Anyways, back to the water...my brother, you have GOT to stop throwing your buckets of shit in piss into your fucking rivers

The 1300s villein boy: What the helle been ye eek talkynge aboute 😭

[summercourtship]

sway. (bruce's POV)

First half of the Sponsorship Gala, including Bruce and the Reader's dance. From ch. 3 of Stay to Burn (Only to Drown Instead)- this will not make sense if you haven't read that!! 2430 words |warnings: none

read on ao3 | stay to burn masterpost

Bruce was uncomfortable, to say the least. 

Even though he had willingly decided to become a public figure again, that didn’t mean he had to like it. And he certainly felt that his energy would be better used to patrol the city than stand in a building filled with the upper echelon of society and cheap wine, shaking hands and faking smiles. 

But he wasn’t at the event for social reasons, even though socializing would be necessary. 

His parents had often dragged him along to events like this, galas and fundraisers overflowing with opulence despite often being to raise money for those less fortunate. This, however, was just for the local university and he was only attending because of her. 

Bruce had replayed the contact lens footage from the second time he had gone to her apartment multiple times, his suspicions about her situation building with each detail he noticed. He doubted she suspected anything- she was probably barely even aware of the Scarecrow, as the media had dubbed him due to the mask he seemed fond of wearing. No, she was too concerned with her own life to realize that vultures were circling overhead, even as they swooped lower and lower. 

He had arrived late, not wanting to sit through the thirty-minute long presentation. He didn’t need convincing to be charitable, he was going to generously donate anyway. He watched as the crowd filed out of the auditorium, staying close to the edge of the room. But once one person noticed him, they all did. 

All around him, people were smiling, almost tripping over themselves to speak with him. He was polite with all of them, though he kept the conversations short. He hadn’t seen the girl yet, and he was starting to worry that she hadn’t actually attended when he spotted Dr. Crane, only a few feet away from him.

The man was standing with perfect posture, his demeanor closed off and cold as he spoke with a young woman. Then his icy eyes slid over her shoulder and locked onto Bruce. 

Bruce did not unnerve easily. But something in Crane’s expression raised alarm bells in his head. Suddenly uncomfortable, Bruce almost looked right past the couple until he did a double take on the woman. She looked much different here than the last time he had seen her- at first glance, she could almost pass for an actual socialite. But her eyes were much too lively, her energy much too excited. She didn’t have the airs of someone who lacked a soul. 

No, don’t approach, keep your distance- but before he could stop himself, he was approaching the couple, not caring that he was leaving a conversation unfinished.  

“Mr. Wayne.” Dr. Crane spoke first, holding his hand out. Bruce tentatively took it, overly conscious of how tense his body was, lingering unease keeping him rigid as he shook the man’s hand. “Nice to see you out tonight.”

He disliked how people talked to him like they knew him. Overly familiar just because his face was. But he remembered what his father would do at events like these and smiled, though he could feel how fake it was. 

“I needed some fresh air.” 

“I’m sure.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce noticed the girl looking from him to Crane, clearly intrigued. But she didn’t speak up. 

“My teaching assistant.” Dr. Crane gestured to the young woman beside him, who was becoming increasingly familiar to Bruce. He was already aware of her position as Crane’s TA, having learned it during his impromptu visit to her apartment. (Not that she knew that.)

It was that visit that had brought Dr. Crane to his attention in the first place, the syllabus on her couch and the papers she’d been grading about fear seeming too much of a coincidence to ignore. 

But she smiled, bringing him out of his thoughts as she reached out her own hand, saying her name like he didn’t already know that, either. But even if she knew he was the Batman, she would have no reason to suspect he knew her name- that was something he found out on his own time.  

“It’s very nice to meet you.” Bruce shakes her hand, clasping it in his own, smiling to match her own. It felt genuine this time, not the tight-lipped smiles he’d been dishing out to everyone else that evening. Did she see through him, was she able to look behind the facade he was wearing right now? 

Beside her, Dr. Crane was watching with an unreadable expression, his mouth tight and eyes slightly narrowed. Then he cleared his throat, as if uncomfortable with the prolonged contact of their hands. The girl dropped his hand, quickly looking over at the other man. A beat passed of the two staring at each other, a nervous smile on the girl’s face. 

What, exactly, was the nature of their relationship?

“Have a nice evening, Mr. Wayne.” Crane’s voice was short as he put his hand on the girl’s shoulder, leading her away. She followed willingly, as if she was unperturbed by the man’s behavior. 

“It was nice meeting you!” She called over her shoulder, her smile bright. He watched as she left, his eyes following the sway of her hips as she was led away. Then he frowned as he saw how tightly Crane’s hand was clenched on her shoulder, not unlike a claw digging into her skin.

Bruce continued tailing after the two, though at such a distance as to not arouse their suspicion. He doubted Crane would try anything tonight- Bruce didn’t even know for certain that Crane was the Scarecrow. 

But the most likely explanation tended to be the correct one, and there were too many coincidences concerning Crane for Bruce to not be suspicious. Who else in Gotham was an expert on fear and also skilled in chemistry? Crane was the only one who fit that description, and it was worth examining. 

He just hoped the girl wouldn’t make this more complicated than it needed to be. 

Bruce followed them into the ballroom, though the distance was much larger than he had planned due to people coming up to him and talking. Once again, he gave short answers, doing his best to not come across as rude but probably failing. By the time he escaped a particularly frustrating exchange about stocks, he had lost sight of them. 

However, it didn’t take long to find them again as they had not strayed far. 

Crane and the girl were dancing, chatting idly as they swayed back and forth. As he walked closer, he couldn’t help thinking that if he had planned better, he would have figured out a way to get to her phone and find a way to use it as a makeshift listening device. It would have been a better use of his time, standing at a distance and listening instead of waiting for opportunities to speak to them. 

He approached the couple, not oblivious to how they seemed to be in their own little bubble as they danced, speaking in low tones that Bruce couldn’t hear. 

But he could pop the bubble. 

“May I cut in?” 

The girl looked over her shoulder, her brief look of irritation at being interrupted replaced with a small smile when she saw who was interrupting her dance. 

“Of course.” Almost immediately, she let go of Crane’s hands, turning to him to speak quietly, “We can talk about it later.”

Crane’s hands lingered on her waist, flexing briefly as he clearly gripped her harder for a moment before he released her. He watched as Bruce took one of her hands in his own, his other going to her waist. Over her shoulder, Crane was staring at Bruce, the same unreadable expression from before on his face. 

Bruce simply nodded at him and led the girl away as the string quartet started a new song, something gentler and melancholic. 

Bruce had taken a few dancing lessons when he was a child, but anything he had learned was swiftly forgotten once he stopped going. He was lucky, then, that it seemed like she also didn’t know what she was doing and was perfectly content to just sway in place. 

“Well, Mr. Wayne, it’s nice seeing you again.”

“Please, call me Bruce.”

She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the sides. He never saw her smile like that before, certainly not when he was out on patrol. What reason would she have to smile when a vigilante showed up on her balcony? 

“Alright. Bruce. How are you enjoying your night so far?”

Her voice was unfamiliar, like she was putting on an air to seem more sophisticated than she thought she was. He knew what she actually sounded like, and wanted to draw her out. He wasn’t here to talk to a character. 

“Well, one of the last times I was at a public event like this a car almost hit me, so I think comparatively it’s going good.”

Panic flared behind her eyes, and for a moment he was afraid that his attempt at humor had backfired. Sounds about right. He gave her a small smile, hoping to convey that he was being light-hearted. She smiled back, but it quickly fell off her face as she looked down, clearly lost in thought for a moment, chewing at the corner of her mouth. 

He was about to say something else, change the subject because she seemed like her mind was stuck somewhere, when she finally spoke again. 

“I was there, too. At the funeral.”

He didn’t know that. He should have known that. He knew she was at the election party, her ticket stub on the corkboard giving that away. But how was he supposed to know that she was at city hall that day? He wouldn’t even be able to revisit the footage from that event because he didn’t have it- Selina had still been in possession of the contact lens at the time. 

He realized that his face must have shown his surprise before he controlled it. But to his surprise, she seemed relieved that he didn’t say anything, that he didn’t try to look sympathetic, and continued talking. 

“Mhm, I was writing a stupid paper and when all that started happening it was… Well, it felt important to document it.” She chuckled. “As if a paper like that would be important to the historical record.”

“You never know.” He disliked hearing her talk down about herself like that. She ignored him. 

“Anyway, I was waiting on the upper balcony with the crowd of normal people-” She smiled, quick, letting him know she was joking, “and had just moved to give someone else some space when the car came crashing through, so…” She sucked her teeth, making a tsk-ing sound as she trailed off. “Not as bad as, you know… almost being hit.” 

She was on the balcony? He wondered if she even knew she might have been rubbing elbows with Edward Nashton. It wasn’t public knowledge that he had attended the funeral, but maybe she had seen him and recognized him later when he was arrested. The idea of her being so close to him without knowing it made something twist in his stomach, something unpleasant. 

Her expression shifted at his silence and she cleared her throat before hastily changing the subject. He moved his hand from her hip to her lower back, unknowingly pulling her closer to him. The front of her body was almost pressing against his, the small space between them seemingly impenetrable by either of them. 

“So why are you here tonight?” She asked, her voice soft as she looked up at him. He didn’t break eye contact with her as he responded. “Enjoying the scenery.” It slipped out before he could stop himself, but by the look of gentle surprise on her face, she didn’t mind the unsubtle compliment. 

“And here I thought you were a shut-in with no social skills.”

He knew it was a joke, but the reminder of how he had failed the city before was sour. He didn’t blame her for bringing it up- he knew what people said about him, even if he didn’t care about any of it. But his refusal to acknowledge the city his parents tried to help led to multiple deaths, his negligence of their legacy almost ruined the city. 

Alfred told him he shouldn’t blame himself. But he did. 

“A lot has changed over the past year.” His voice was soft, and she seemed to take a moment to process what he said.

The song ended and the couples that were dancing parted to clap for the quartet. The violinist stood, announcing that the musicians were going on a break. She didn’t let go of him, and he didn’t let her go either. They stood, still joined, her eyebrows pinched together in confusion. 

“What do you m-” Her question was interrupted by an older man who, upon seeing Bruce, had decided that it was his god-given duty to speak with him at that very moment. 

“May I have a moment of your time, Mr. Wayne?” The man murmured into his ear, as if to keep the girl from overhearing. It took every ounce of self control for Bruce to not flinch away from the man’s hot breath, his words barely audible over the noise of the gala. “I would like to discuss your contribution to the university’s scholarship fund-”

The girl dropped his hand, pulling herself away from him. He allowed her to go, even if he desperately wanted to find a way to use her as an excuse to get out of another conversation about money. 

“Thank you for the dance, Mr. Wayne. I’ll leave you to it.” She spoke quietly, as if she expected him to not listen to her. He watched as she left, not paying attention to the man next to him. Though he wouldn’t be as obvious about it as he may have been a few years ago, he knew he needed to keep her in his sights. 

She was probably going to find Crane again, and he was stuck in another pointless conversation. But he’d find her again, think of another excuse to talk to her alone. 

After all, he hadn’t even asked her what he needed to, something that would affect everything if his hunch about Crane being the Scarecrow proved true:

What, exactly, is her relationship with Dr. Crane? 

bruce + reader's playlist | poll for next POV

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #234

It rained today!! It rained a lot!! And there was thunder booming outside and everything!!!

…SO I WENT OUTSIDE!!!! But I didn't get any pictures; it was raining so hard that I felt it best to leave both my glasses and my cellphone at home.

And I ran!! And I looked up at the sky and let the rain fall onto my hair and face!! And I let my shoes glide along the surfaces of puddles, spraying water everywhere!!! And I found some really deep puddles to stomp around in and I kicked the water up into the air, and I listened to the booming thunder in the distance, and…!! and…!!! AND…!!!!

Well, of course I got soaked. The insides of my boots got all squishy and weird, hahaha! My hair became a shaggy, sopping mess. My clothing was literally dripping wet.

And then there was the guy in the groundskeeper's cart. I wasn't expecting anyone to be around because it really was raining super hard outside. But still he was there, and… goodness, I felt more than a little self-conscious; I'm very well aware that it's not "normal" for a grown person to frolic in the rain with reckless abandon. The fact that joy is not considered normal in my world is beyond my understanding (and is probably a large part of what's fucking wrong with this place), but it is what it is.

…Still, who fucking cares? I only get one shot at making life awesome for the soft animal that carries my soul, and I am autistic; I am socially unacceptable by default anyfuckingway, so what do I have to lose? So after pausing to bow at the man, and after engaging in brief, but pleasant conversation, in my own mind, I waved a great big huge middle finger at the lingering echoes of past people who tell me I should be ashamed of myself, and I continued to fucking frolic, like a goddamn BOSS. Those old thoughts are terrorists, and we don't fucking negotiate with terrorists.

And you know what!!! After that, I found a particularly deep puddle!!! It was so deep that the water went all the way up to the middle of my shins!!! IT WAS FUCKING GREAT!!!! And so I jumped and splashed and twirled around and stomped and kicked the water EVERYWHERE!!!! It was WONDERFUL!!!

The man came by in his cart again, this time with another man riding in the cart. So I turned and bowed to them once more. They told me that pretty soon, they were going to try to drain the puddles; they wanted to let me know because they thought I looked like I was having fun, and they didn't want me to be sad unexpectedly. So I thanked them, and I bid them peace, safety, and luck, and I told them that I hope they find excuses to dance today. And then I went home. I took my time. I jumped in a few more puddles. I rolled around in some wet grass. But I went home. And it was good.

Of course, by the time I got home, I maybe looked like a bit of a sasquatch, hahaha! So J took a few pictures; I am at home, so in these, I am not bothering to hide the weird ways that the autism and the dyspraxia and the hypermobility make me move and hold myself (people get uncomfortable and unsettled when I don't mask...); for today at least, I do not fucking care! And for today at least, I think maybe these will make you smile, even just a little:

...In case you wonder why autistic people tend to do "t-rex arms"? It's because we're more likely to be hypermobile, and keeping our biceps partially flexed prevents the humerus from coming out of its socket from the effects of gravity. The more you know!

For whatever reason, J then asked me to do my "best impression of a cheese goblin." It's very silly, but he asked, and what he asks for, he gets!

...I, uh... I think I accidentally did a "Frankenstein" instead of a "cheese goblin". And I tried to be really scary, but I don't think I was very successful, because I couldn't keep a straight face while doing it for very long, as you could see, ahahaha~!

Anyway, so everything I was wearing was covered in rainwater. So I had to take it all off and put it in the washer and then change into dry things! And then I put it all in the dryer, and it should be mostly dry now, I think??? My boots might need a few more cycles, but that's okay. I don't mind.

The rain stopped just a little, shortly after I got home. But then, while I was writing this letter to you, it began again, although not quite as strongly as before! Sometimes I think maybe you might miss the rain, so I tried to snag a video of it for you:

Hey, Sephiroth!!! If you're in my neighborhood the next time it rains like this, let's go outside and dance, okay??? And let's go splash around in the puddles and run around with wet hair and dripping clothes and soggy boots, and let's yell and laugh right back at the thunder and give permission for the wind and the rain to caress our faces!!! And then let's go home and be cheese goblins or Frankensteins or whatever!!! And then we can get cookies or macaroni and cheese!! It'll be fun, I promise!!!

You know what, Sephiroth!! You know what! I think I'm gonna play some Dead Cells now; it has been far too long!! Come and join me if you want to!!

I will end this here for today!! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had fun writing it!!

I love you!!! Please stay safe and work hard out there, okay? But don't work so hard that you break, got it??? You wouldn't want me to come snatch you up and sentence you to a thousand years of cookies and milk and cartoons and macaroni and cheese and nature walks and yummy tea, would you????

...Who am I kidding? Of course you would! But please don't overwork yourself until you break, anyway, okay? I'm sure you remember what happened last time. I'm sure you don't wanna repeat your mistakes. I'm sure you wanna be able to make better choices.

Do your best, okay? I'll write again soon!

Your friend, Lumine

[coupleofdays]

A few years ago, I decided that I would make a real effort to become more social, instead of spending most of my free time sitting at home. I was going to find ways to socialize, byt finding local groups doing stuff I'm interested in, by visiting conventions, maybe try going to concerts or clubs. Maybe even *gasp* try dating. There's a part of me who often tries to push against these ideas, coming up with excuses to stay at home instead, but I was going to do my damndest to fight against it, argue against it, or simply ignore it, because I had a genuine longing to not just sit at home, alone.

Then the Covid pandemic started.

And now, that antisocial part of me has the perfect excuse, that I'm having a really hard time arguing against.

"Oh sure, you can join a group or go to a convention, but is it really worth the hassle? You wouldn't want to endanger anyone else, would you? You'll have to wear a mask constantly (and if you start to go out regularly, that's a whole lot of masks you gotta buy!), always make sure to wash your hands if you happen to touch it, always try to keep your distance, never letting your guard down for an instant. Oh, and try to make sure that all meetings you attend are outdoors too, because being indoors with other people increases the risk!"

"And even then, even if you do everything you can perfectly, if you take every possible precaution, you'll still have the nagging knowledge that it's not 100% safe, that you might be endangering everyone around you despite your best efforts (especially since most people around you doesn't seem to care about masking anyway, and your social anxiety makes it so you don't want to bring the mood down by arguing about it). Wouldn't it be easier to just stay home and play videogames all day, and then go to bed and fall asleep while worrying about dying alone?"

[ralphlanyon]

i was going through my notes and found an old write-up from 2020 of modern au headcanons for "the charioteer" characters during covid-19 quarantine (back when "how would fandom X characters handle quarantine?" was a tumblr trend). apparently this was how i was coping with the stress of peak corona times, lol. anyway finally publishing this, three years later!

laurie: his introverted homebody ass is THRIVING in social isolation and wfh. no more awkwardly dodging party invites from people he hates, being dragged to nightclubs, or having to see his stepfather. he gets to stay home all day with ralph and their dog and finish all the books he meant to read, and he is LOVING it. receives a lot of requests to show off his dog during his work zoom meetings.

ralph: is Doing His Duty by staying home on furlough but also going completely stir-crazy. tries to stay sane by feverishly working on dozens of home improvement projects and cleaning the house several times. basically the epitome of that ben wyatt “do you think a depressed person could do THIS???” meme. has gotten into numerous arguments with people at the supermarket who refuse to wear masks or are hoarding enormous supplies of toilet paper (one of these ends up going viral).

andrew: is very sad about being separated from the rest of his religious community now that the churches are closed, but tries to keep a positive outlook on things. shares a lot of resources online about how to help out and staying in touch with one’s faith during “unprecedented times.”

alec: overworked and sleep-deprived nhs junior doctor directly taking care of covid-19 patients. hasn’t physically seen most of his friends or family in months. writes lengthy screeds on social media decrying the dearth of ppe for health care workers and ranting about politics. frequently gets into online fights with strangers who think coronavirus isn’t a big deal. sends ralph unsolicited articles about self-care and mental health tips during a pandemic that ralph pointedly ignores.

sandy: also overworked and sleep-deprived, but much better at concealing it online than alec. has a popular medical instagram where he posts selfies of him and alec with lots of hashtags. obsessively binge-watches cooking videos on youtube in his spare time.

bunny: an essential retail worker who brings this fact up constantly in conversation. secretly flouting social distancing guidelines on his off days to go to parties and hook-up with men on grindr. has the most aesthetically pleasing cloth masks but can’t bother to wear them properly.

[jakethesequel]

I absolutely hate how 99% of media supposedly set in the "modern day" acts as if COVID doesn't exist and encourages ignorance, so Glass Onion including it at all was a breath of fresh air for me. They went above and beyond. Even though it's only relevant for the introductory scenes of the movie, it adds an incredible amount of depth to those scenes. They'd be great introductions to each of the characters even without it, but the way each character deals with it strengthens their characterization so strongly.

Claire Debella pretends to care about covid safety, maybe genuinely believes in its importance, but never takes the time to properly do it because her career and everything else that keeps her busy always takes precedence. She opens the door to recieve her package, and neglects to wear a mask to protect the man delivering it. When she realizes, she apologizes, but doesn't go get a mask, she just halfhazardly covers her mouth with an elbow. When she wears a mask later in Greece, it's below her nose and halfway off her mouth because she's carrying something between her teeth. She wants to do the right thing, but not enough to slow down and do it right.

Lionel Toussaint is a smart man, aware of the danger of covid, and taking every measure to avoid it, though that's often through offsetting the work to someone else. He does zoom meetings instead of in person. He has his assistants wear full hazmat jumpsuits and sanitize everything they bring to him. In Greece, he double-masks wears an N95 and puts social distance between himself and the others. [Corrected what mask he wears after rewatching the scene]

Birdie Jay pays lip service to caring about covid but does everything in her ability to avoid any restrictions. She's having a massive house party, but it's OK because those dozens of people are in her "pod." She wears a mask made out of fishnet that blocks nothing. She says "are we even allowed to hug" but doesn't wait for an answer before doing it anyway. She knows what she's supposed to say, but refuses to do what she's supposed to do.

Duke Cody don't give a shit at all.

[kaeyachi]

I have major brain worms for the big brother Alhaitham AU thank you 💛

How much of a difference is there in Kaeya's personality as an adult (since both still have that 'unsure if they're allowed to belong' childhood trauma up until the diverging paths of dead relative day) or would the Akademiya/unknown impending abyss take the place of Diluc trauma (to a lesser degree) and still give him some of that feeling of needing to wear a mask and keep some distance for protection?

OR! Emotionally awful bonus question I just thought of: Would the Kaeya in this AU still believe he is inherently bad and incapable of being good or would he understand that doing good things(even if it's to make people like you) is still acts of being good?

Thank you for the ask! And I'm glad this AU has given you some brainworms hehe

as for your questions, i have an answer, and having Alhaitham as an older brother can be a good and bad thing

(I just realized I typed a lot and revealed some of the plot in the bonus question! Sorry for the lengthy answer, I just got really excited!)

Q1: Good influence from Alhaitham! He is so self-assured and logical that he managed to help Kaeya on his sense of belongingness (it helps that Kaeya confessed younger (13) and thus was able to think better on these matters and discuss them with Alhaitham). What's left for him to fear, however, is the helplessness or the inevitability of his past catching up someday.

What he feels, instead of a sense of unbelongingness, is a sense of justice and righteousness for the outcasts. He is basically a poster-child for it, and he gets to experience discrimination first hand as he continues to live near the center of the city. He wants to prove that people who are different could still belong and find a home. (This is in correlation to Alhaitham's opinion on being different as well)

He, of course, still keeps his secrets and wears a mask. Some of the things he learned or found out about are not for everyone to hear, and some people are better kept in the dark *wink wink*

Q2/bonus: Alhaitham's reputation and Akademiya mindset+actions affected Kaeya's, unfortunately (though you will find that Alhaitham disagrees with Kaeya's conclusion).

He isn't a knight in this AU, and his brother here isn't exactly known for kind acts, so he has even less to fall back on other than him just doing something good. He was just Alhaitham's brother, then a scholar, and later on, an actor. It's not his job to be kind this time. He just is (not that canon Kaeya isn't, but he also likes a feasible excuse for his behavior)

The thing is, most people don't just freely "help" in the Akademiya- not as much as in Mond anyway. Those who do usually have ulterior motives, and if they seemingly do not, then they must be hiding something. Rarely are those who are willing to share their time and effort when it could be spent on their own studies and research. Odds are, when people help in the Akademiya, it is for an academic exchange.

An Akademiya scholar who used to be as anti-social as his older brother, suddenly willing to help out others with no equivalent value? That's suspicious... It could only be beneficial for him to be kind, according to his doubters. Thus, he was investigated on, trailed by the general mahamatra, and slandered by his peers, giving him even more trauma and self-doubt.

He got thru it all after the investigation led to nowhere, but the damage to his reputation and mental health had been done.

Every natural kind act, Kaeya would then think how it would affect him. Him thinking about how it affects him would then, in turn, make him feel guilty because what others may think should never have been any of his concern. He doesn't stop being kind, but he also doesn't stop doubting his kind actions too.

All-in-all, self-esteem issues Kaeya is thriving!

Again, Alhaitham does disagree with the conclusion Kaeya came up with, but he, of course, can not simply fix trauma with just his logic. He knows his brother has a natural kindness to him, a rarity in the Akademiya that they trampled on. Alhaitham was not happy after he found out and does feel like he failed his brother on this matter.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

But a lot of celebs were traveling and did weird ass stunts during the pandemic especially peak Covid. A bunch of them were also allegedly outspoken about things like social justice and etc. it wasn’t just Chris. In fact, him doing whatever he did was pretty obviously a stunt so the same should apply to Lily and all the other celebs going on yacht vacations and not wearing masks correctly during pap walks or not wearing masks or social distancing in peak pandemic.

Also..to not watch someone’s movies anymore because of who they married is IMO a very frivolous reason. Obviously, people are free to do what they wish, but if they weren’t going to watch a movie with an actor because of who he married, the actor doesn’t really or never truly had them as a fan or appreciator anyway. Because it’s such a fair weather reason to stop supporting someone.

I also think a lot of people coming here to say these things are clearly projecting a bias of how they personally feel about whatever is going on.

Why aren’t people coming to you talking about the good comments fans are giving Chris for his performance in Scott pilgrim? For every one person who’s annoyed he married Someone, there’s 5 more who don’t care what he does because they never noticed or paid attention. They enjoyed his movies and performances and that’s all.

Just a different perspective.

People are allowed to feel how they feel, and decide what they want to decide based on their feelings and perceptions. Please remember, "projection" cuts all different ways.

[magnoliamyrrh]

i know ive said this before but i keep seeing it so i keep thinking about it. i just dont get what people who are calling for everyone to wear masks still like,, outside even, or especially ppl who are calling for ppl to still socially distance and not visit each other and not go anywhere...... want?

i aint saying covid doesn't matter i aint saying its not still around and its not an issue (infact in places like romania where so much of the population didnt wanna vaccinate themselves the hospitals are a fucking mess Again). it is clearly an issue and a rough disease and an insane amount of people died and are still dying while others are living w long term consequences...... but. man im sorry. covid is not going Anywhere by this point. we will not eradicate it, we just wont, it spreads too easily, theres too many variations. vaccines dont fully stop its spread and transmission, they help tone it down some for sure but its not enough alone, and by this point most people have had it at least once. we did not manage to contain its spread radically enough in the beggining and now weve got to deal with it being widespread and forever. this disease is gonna be around every year going forward with our lives everywhere like others are. there wont be a "stop" to it. and i actually dont think its reasonable to expect everyone bc of covid for literally the rest of our lives to wear masks outside always and to always keep a distance from people and to not go to several things anymore and to not see friends and family and to not have gatherings. as if the modern world isnt horribly isolated and lonely in the first place anyway. if you think ppl now shouldn't be meeting up with people bc of covid and should feel guilty and horrible, than youre going to have to stand by than till the end of time

[gillianthecat]

The thing about ADHD is I never trust myself when I need to call out sick from something. Should I really not go, or am just avoiding it?

I did end up deciding I shouldn't go into either of my labs today. Which is the right choice. This cold is fairly mild, but I don't want to pass it on to anyone else. It's just complicated by the fact that it's also convenient for me to stay home, since it gives me four extra hours to study for my anatomy exam* that I'm not at all prepared for. So I keep questioning my judgement.

Also in lab today we were going to get daphnia drunk and caffeinated (different daphnia) and I'm sad to be missing that ☹️

*Different an anatomy exam. For some reason my professor decided to schedule the lab practical** and the lecture exam on consecutive days. But I did end up memorizing all the muscles I needed, plus many I didn't! Only questions I was unsure about were ones on blood cells and ligaments.

**The lab practical I did go to while sick. It's 1/6 of my grade so I didn't really feel I had much choice. At least the format of it kept me fairly socially distanced. (And I always wear a n95 mask anyway.)

[saltycharacters]

Can I be livid for a sec? Ive spent all these years in the pandemic being one of the few doin my part, vaccinating as much as possible and social distancing and wearing masks everywhere and not even leaving the house unless absolutely necessary. A sisyphean attempt to do literally anything about the spread of covid, because so few even care to do the bare minimum at this point. So I have to sit and watch while this small group of people on this godforsaken Earth are giving up opportunities and funtimes left and right to protect our loved ones, and the immunocompromised, and ourselves and everyone else, while the selfish majority don't give a shit and literally do whatever they want, passing strains of covid amongst themselves like its a game of hot potato and. Usually I can ignore any pings of jealousy and reassure myself that at LEAST. There's one less vector to spread the illness, and that keeps at least those around me safe, and I continue finding enjoyment in safe and quarantine-approved ways, but.

Today I got a text message from my dad, which is not unusal in itself, but opening it I realized it was a photo of my abuela. Sitting across the table from my dad in her rustic little house in spain, in the rustic little village that I've visited every summer for most of my childhood. The place I've considered my favorite on earth for most of my life and that I've held in my heart so fondly that nearly every night, I dream about being there again. The place I haven't been to in years as part of the many sacrifices I've taken to combat the pandemic. And yet my dad, part of the selfish and skeptical majority, took the risk without a second thought and unceremoniously come into contact with the disease-spreading, equally uncatious masses at the airport, sat in a largely un-masked airplane for 11 hours and is now having supper with family I've been trying to protect this whole tine. He doesn't consider whether he'll bring covid to them first before bringing it to his family back in the US, he doesn't think about the likleyhood of grandma, nearing her 90's, being able to survive such an ailment, and I just know that he will not give the fact that he couldve spread covid more to the hundreds of other people a second thought. He'll sleep soundly in my favorite room, he'll have fun in my favorite places, and he'll see my favorite people all while being so in-denial about the pandemic that his conciousness will remain clean the entire trip. And this time I'm dizzy with jealousy and rage, I'm sad and homesick and frustrated and worst of all, I can't express any of my feelings to my dad or mom or any family because they'll just laugh at me for being so paranoid and tell me to come over anyway. I'm not sure I'll ever see my beloved Requena ever again, nor any of my family nor resident friends because it seems that almost everyone in the world has forgotten that we're still in a pandemic, yet those self-entitled enough to participate in this collective amnesia can have fun and do whatever without a thought for the consequences they bring. I'll be huddled at home with thise large, gaping, emotional hole in my chest while people like Dad continue on like nothing's ever happened and we all have to suffer for it. It's not fair. I'm so close to tears, I'm just. So devistated and heartbroken. If you don't do your part to quarantine to the best of your ability and practice basic pandemic saftey when out, I hate you. You're awful and I hate you.

[gion-division]

With the COVID numbers slowly rising again (unfortunately), that's got me thinking of a question I wanted to ask...

If COVID took place in the HypMic universe, how would your OC's handle it? Would they slowly go insane from being trapped indoors? Would they develop an unhealthy drinking/smoking habit? Or would they be perfectly fine?

Koyumi herself is fine. She considers herself someone who can adapt to things pretty well, even if she is rather shaky at first. She’ll follow the regulations done to a T, will watch over Moriko and Honoka as usual, etc. She’ll be the one to go shopping for whatever the team needs to too. As expected of the Division leader, she’s got it all held together!

But what she is worried about is her profession. Her entire job centers around people; engaging in conversations, pouring tea and performing for them, etc. If she can’t do any of that, then what happens to her? Geishas are already becoming pretty scarce in the modern day because of a lack of interest, this is just making it worse…Sure she can take on some other jobs in the meantime to make income, but she definitely won’t enjoy it as much…

Honoka wouldn’t care that much to be honest. In fact, she’s the most unaffected about the pandemic. Yes, concepts such as ‘wear a mask when going outside’ and ‘social distancing’ are new and confusing to her when Koyumi first tells her about it, but considering the fact that she never went outside that much anyway, does she really need to worry?? All of Honoka’s hobbies are indoors too, so she’ll just be chilling honestly. Hana No Joō all live in the same home as well, so all of the important people in her life is right next to her. It’s not that bad!

Knowing this terminally ill child though, she’s probably gonna get COVID anyway despite all of this. Someone help her. When will she be free of this curse?

Moriko would’ve definitely had a harder time adjusting to the pandemic if she was still an actress, but now? Considering how many hours she needs to spend on drawing panels, she can’t really complain! At least she might be able to actually complete things before the deadline now since she can’t go outside much anymore; she keeps finishing her manga at the last minute because of how much she spends her time doing things outdoors. Besides, it’s not like she’ll be completely bored and only working! She can do some video game streams too whenever she’s on break, and her teammates can join in!

I guess the only thing she’s gonna miss is the in-person interactions between her and her fans…Seriously, those are so fun! She’s quite an affectionate person too, so the ‘social distancing’ thing is dreadful for her.

Yudai is DYING. Seriously, this is the most terrible situation he could imagine! He understands why these rules are established but he will continue to complain endlessly about it until his teammates distract him with something else—like gaming. He’s unintentionally the worst one out of everyone here due to his natural extroverted-ness; he gets all touchy/affectionate when greeting aka he doesn’t do social distancing, sometimes he pulls the mask below the nose, he sneaks outside anyway, etc. Get Fumio to whack him.

And you know what’s worse? You know what he hates the most? He can’t go to the fucking beaches. That’s literally what made him famous, his love for water and being a swimmer—And you’re telling me he can’t do it anymore?! Yeah his house in Enoshima has a pool that he can swim in but it’s not enough! Not enough at all!! Even the backyard lake he has back in Hokkaido is not enough for him and that’s significantly bigger! Fuck you Coronavirus! …….Maybe he should actually go into that pool to cool his head for now. Time to get mopey again.

…Well shit. Asuka is slightly distraught at the fact that he needs to stay inside. Being outside is literally his job, the whole point of archaeology is to discover ancient things, so this…sucks. It really does. He’s fine with the whole ‘online’ thing, he can definitely still teach people who are training to become archaeologists or just wants to learn history/culture in general, and he can still do part-time jobs online too but…He just doesn’t get the same energy.

…I mean, he was never a complete stickler for the rules anyway. As long as you stay away from people and wear your mask then you can be outside, right? Sooooo he can definitely go explore as long as he’s not near anybody, yeah? Yeeaahhh? :)

Fumio is hands-down the only sane person in the entire Solar Siren team when it comes this pandemic, he’s perfectly fine just being inside the household with his plants. Peace and quiet, his beloved. However, he’s looking at his teammates with the most scared look because of their feral ‘I-need-to-be-out-in-the-world’ aura. Unfortunately for his ass, he is still gonna get dragged around by Yudai whenever the olympic swimmer wants to leave anyway so someone pray for him please—Fumio doesn’t get as easily sick as Honoka does but he’s still the physically weakest out of the team so!

[m00n-sh]

Honkai: Star Rail thoughts.

Herta

ADHD Autism (personal experience).

The hyper-investment followed by loss of interest got to me. And the subjugation of personal interaction. And the acute social distancing.

Aro Ace (personal experience)

Her puppets remind me of L from early Death Note...

Important and slightly menacing digital presence, but then you look closely and it's Some Guy with a pc and a mic on a dark room.

くるくる～

クルリン

I like to imagine her puppets having the classic antenna with red ball/light on the top of their heads. Silly.

space Toph Beifong

^ but less funny

Sampo

Fool (Masked)

Fool (in general)

His gray shirt is just... some curtain????? How do you even wear that.

^ things to wear when you don't really want to wear a shirt at all.

^ despite living in forever snow.

May know how to operate CRT monitors and tube TV.

How the hell did he come up with Mr. Cold Feet. Of all possible names. Are you me or perhaps dead

Him being in the path of Nihility is very interesting.

Life is meaningless anyway so let's do whatever 🤠

Babygirl + wet dog.

hip wimmdows....

Sorry, can't help myself.

^ why the windows, mihoyo. who came up with it.

trying to keep this sfw

He should be scared of the tickle monster.

Love-hate him.

I would fall for his schemes in-person. Every. Single. Time.

And hate myself for it (increasingly).

^ (personal experience). fell to the same scheme like three times already in a span of 5 years. not cool.

But try me online and I'll make your phone unusable forever.

At the same time I think he deserves a kiss on the head. He should be cuddled and tucked to bed.

Just. Yeah. C'mere. *opens arms for hug*

He could use some genuine human connection....

I'm all for it.

^ if we can get beyond the scamming, that is.

Honestly if I didn't fall for scams I wouldn't even care he did that.

sorry, I know it sounds mean

(un)fortunately, I excuse the humor.

Only these two because they are my favorite. May add more characters later.