#are that you're grounded

[bafflement]

Deaged Oz AU - You're Grounded, Tip!

Tip woke in a cold sweat, staring around at his surroundings, briefly unsure as to where he was. He’d been trapped somewhere cold and dark, alone, with no hope of rescue. But the room he found himself in didn’t match, it felt safe, familiar. It wasn’t that terrifyingly small place he’d been. The walls weren’t closing in. What was going on? As the nightmare faded slightly, he felt himself relaxing. He was safe, while that tiny cramped space had existed once, he hadn’t been trapped there in centuries. It wasn’t him who’d been trapped, not really. He wasn’t going to risk going back to sleep, though… he really didn’t like small dark spaces and he had a sudden feeling that that dream might have been a large part of why, but he was safe here. He was in the room he shared with Oscar, his brother still fast asleep in the bed opposite. Oh, but in so many ways, that was a blessing. Oscar could sleep through just about anything, so when James had stated that he would feel safer if Oz was in a room with someone else, just in case, Oscar had volunteered pretty quickly. He would have felt so horrible, had it been one of the others. They needed their sleep too, after all! He was aware that was slightly hypocritical, but everybody kept telling him just how safe Atlas was as opposed to the other kingdoms, surely him sleeping alone wouldn’t have been that bad? The others all did, after all, it had even been one of the perks that had convinced them to stay in Academy dorms.

Huh. Maybe he could convince someone to let him sit in on a few classes one day? Just so he knew how Atlas Academy worked, the place he might have even attended had things gone differently all those years ago. But then, if the stories he’d been told of his frail, sickly self before he was snatched were true, would he have done? Would anyone ever have allowed it? He knew, of course, that the main reason he was no longer that sickly child was because of his Aura, but for most people Aura... helped, but did not cure. He was different, there, too. Maybe because of that second presence, maybe not. He’d been far too young when all this started to ever really know the difference and the pre-merge memories of his predecessors were… hazy, at best. Sometimes, that was probably a blessing though.

He sent a fond look over at the still sleeping Oscar, but made no move to wake him. Let him sleep, at least one of them should be able to. Ah well, he was awake now, he might as well take advantage of that fact and get some work done. There were several things he needed to look up and the library wasn’t that far away. He loved that it was open all night, though that made sense with the amount of students Atlas Academy had. You never knew when someone would forget their homework until the last minute and need to pull an all night study session, or worse, have to cram for a test. He thought back to similar situations at Beacon and couldn’t help but smile, albeit slightly sadly. For so long, that place had been his home, but there was no going back now. He just hoped the students were alright, though he’d only heard of one death at the time, there was no guarantee the others were still safe now.

Oh, Pyrrha. She’d never been meant to die as his school fell, she should have lived a nice long life, been happy even if she wouldn’t have been safe. He tried to think about just why his adult self had decided that she was the best suited to be the Fall Maiden, but no matter how hard he tried, the memories wouldn’t come. It was probably the trauma from the fall, from almost dying and waking up as a ten year old, but that didn’t excuse it. She was just one more mistake, one more decision that should never have been made.

He needed to stop thinking like that. What was done was done, all he could do was try to ensure that it couldn’t happen again, that everybody else was kept safe. He wasn’t sure quite what he’d do if he lost his friends, his brother… Qrow. He wasn’t going to think about it, it hadn’t happened and it wasn’t going to.

Research would distract him. He scrawled a quick note and left it on the desk, better for the others not to think he was missing, but he really didn’t want to wake anyone this early. They’d see the note when they woke up, everything would be just fine.

The corridors were deserted as he made the familiar trek to the library, though he wasn’t expecting anyone to be around at this time of night. The lights flickered on and off again as he passed, one of the things he quite admired about Atlas. There was such a thing as too much technology of course, but in this case they’d got the balance just right. He just hoped the books he needed tonight wouldn’t be on too high a shelf. Oh, there were always a few librarians there on the night shift but he really hated having to ask for help reaching things. He couldn’t wait to be tall again, to be able to do all these things himself.

He knew that would take some time, but the part of him that was eleven was impatient and he had to admit to himself that everything was easier in a larger form. He thought he might be faster and more flexible like this, though, which helped in fights if nothing else. But sometimes people didn’t want to fight him, didn’t want to hurt the child he appeared to be and he hated that. He wasn’t actually a child, not really. He was more experienced at fighting than any of them, yet they couldn’t bring themselves to try.

There were a few people scattered throughout the library as he entered. Nodding to the receptionist, he moved towards the shelves purposefully. He tried to ignore the soft smile they always gave when they saw him, since he knew that was mostly down to his age. At least, he’d never seen them react that way to anyone else and he was pretty sure he wasn’t really that abnormal a person to find amongst books by now.

Oh good, the geography texts he was after were located on lower shelves, he wouldn’t need to make a nuisance of himself by asking for help. Carrying them to a desk one by one, he settled in to read, pulling out a notebook to make notes. He liked it like this, when he could relax and just read, take notes and forget to worry for a few hours.

Oscar was panicking. When he’d woken, it was to find Tip’s bed empty, though it did look slept in, there was no sign of his brother. He hadn’t been in the common room either, nor anywhere else he could think of to look. Oh no, what if he’d been snatched in the night? It might not even be Salem, there were quite a few other people who didn’t seem to like Tip very much, though thankfully his friends had mostly gotten over that. By the time General Ironwood entered, Oscar was far from the only one worried. Nora was pacing up and down the carpet, looking terrified for him and even Ren telling her that he was probably okay wasn’t seeming to help. Ruby was muttering to herself and Weiss was busy taking the common room apart, looking for her uncle. The note had slipped off the desk in the confusion, nobody had noticed its presence.

They’d tried scrolling him, of course, but there hadn’t been an answer, Sometimes Tip would forget to reply if he was busy enough, but it was a rare occurrence and usually, if he was that busy then the others would know. Tip was small, yes, but why would he disappear?

Technically he could and had pulled that trick in the past with his semblance, but that was mostly just to get out of playing games or, once, to win a fight. Vanishing like this, causing everybody as much worry as he had was something they all knew he’d never deliberately put them through. But there wasn’t anything to suggest that he’d been snatched, either. The tracker the General had woven into his hair was pinging as within Academy grounds, though he couldn’t really narrow it down beyond that. Ironwood’s eyes narrowed, he might need to correct that particular oversight. Tip knew he was being tracked, surely he couldn’t complain if the tracking got more efficient? The better they could get it, the more they could help others who became targets later on, or at least was the excuse he was planning to use.

They started to fan out, checking places they thought Tip might be. Wherever he was, though, he’d be in so much trouble when they caught up to him. He needed to realise that doing this worried them. They all knew he had a hard time believing that people cared, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t.

Tip, in the library, was too deeply engrossed in a book to realise he was being scrolled. He’d moved on to sciences, looking for ways to disrupt Watts while they still could. He was pretty certain that most of them would have been looked into, but it was always possible that they’d overlooked something simple by dint of assuming it needed to be complicated. That had happened far more times than he liked to think, over the millennia. It wasn’t even like this was a problem that hadn’t happened before, though he couldn’t fully recall how it had ended last time. They’d find a way, they had to.

He flinched, feeling a sudden hand on his shoulder and blinked up at James’ angry face. He swallowed, what on Remnant could he have done, to make his friend that furious with him? He couldn’t think of anything, but obviously something had to have happened.

“… James?” He ventured softly, looking up at him, eyes wide and confused.

James snarled. “Wintertip Pine, where were you. You went missing, do you know how worried we’ve been?”

“I left a note.” Even to his own mind, it didn’t sound like the best excuse. But he had!

“What note and where?” James didn’t sound amused, but there was a note of doubt to his tone. Oz wasn’t likely to lie to him, but if he’d been informed then he would have remembered.

“On the desk? I didn’t want to have to wake anyone, and it’s just the library.”

“You know damn well you’re a priority target, Oz. You don’t get to just disappear like that. Wake us next time if you need to be somewhere else!” The frustration in James’ voice was almost touching, though Tip really hadn’t meant to cause it.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try harder next time.” He admitted, trying to ignore just how scary James was like this. He might have been intimidated as an adult, but as a child?

“You’d better. Now get back to the common room. Oh, and you’re grounded by the way.”

Tip’s mouth opened to argue, but he thought better of it. Oh no, if his friends were that worried about him, what must they be feeling right now? What had he done?

On returning, the others made something of a fuss of him. Tip wanted to complain, but under the circumstances, discretion was likely the better part of valour. He resolved to wake James, specifically, next time. After all, if he was going to be grounded for leaving a note, then James could bear the consequences. He never had liked being woken up too early, but then this time he’d even asked for it.

The note lay undiscovered for almost two days. Tip felt rather vindicated when they found it, not that that got him out of being grounded. He had to admit, rather sourly, that James might have a point. Like this, he was rather vulnerable. He could look after himself just fine, under normal circumstances, but the possibility had existed that Salem might have had him snatched.

That would have been a very bad thing indeed.

[dredsina]

Ive said this before but swear the biggest skill to learn as an adult is how to resist high-pressure sales tactics. You do NOT have to answer questions with anything other than "Sorry I'm not interested." No matter how nice they are or no matter how many follow up questions they ask or even how agitated they get when you stand your ground. Just keep saying I'm not interested. Don't answer their questions. Don't give them an opening to try to push back on your reasons. Be a fucking brick wall of I'm not interested.

[demaparbat-hp]

She will (and he'll let her)

[sleepymccoy]

This is also a bit of a culture query, cos these are all in my house so I genuinely cook with these all (except chicken salt, that's been in my cupboard for ages)

But I'm not from the USA and most people here are, so I wonder if that's similar! Maybe your cupboard is identical to mine. Maybe we use the same stuff but call it something else. Maybe USA has a different relationship with pre mix spices and you use none of it. Maybe you've never heard of pre mix spices. I dunno. That's why I'm asking!

I use plain herbs and spices as well. Especially when making a complex meal I'll do it myself. But I use pre mixes other times, so I'm voting. Voting for a pre mix doesn't mean you don't also use paprika! If you genuinely have no pre mixes in the kitchen tho, then hell yeah, tell me!

Also, I know I haven't listed everything in the world. One, that's impossible. Two, this is a bit of a culture thing so I just checked my kitchen and used those. This selection is representative of me only

(you don't have to be from the USA to vote, obvs, we just all know that's how the results will end up. Please tell me about your spice mixes in other countries!!)

Morrison spice blend: Pepper, tumeric, ginger, cardamom, parsley, salt

Chinese five spice: Star anise, cinnamon, clove, fennel, Sichuan pepper

Chicken salt: Salt, chicken stock, garlic, paprika, pepper, onion, celery

Gluhwein gewurz: Orange peel, cinnamon, lemon peel, star anise, hibiscus, clove

Chimichurri: parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar, chilli, salt, pepper

Za'atar: thyme, cumin, coriander, sesame seeds, sumac, salt, chilli

Garam masala: coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg

[inkpotsprite]

Jason (buried underground): *panic, clawing, digging, catatonia*

Dick: *sings the beatles*

[casualavocados]

Learn from who? Learn from you?

Chen Bowen as CHEN YI & Chiang Tien as AI DI KISEKI: DEAR TO ME (2023)

[vaguely-concerned]

sometimes I think of all the on-the-surface warm, well-meaning but deeply ineffectual advice and attention john gives harrow through harrow the ninth (make some soup and get some sleep! get a hobby! don't be so hard on yourself! self care harrow! as long as I need take no actual responsibility in this relationship whatsoever I would have loved to be your dad!) set up against the stark truth that with his other hand he has been staging her attempted horrific murder again and again and again like a living nightmare on the logic that it will 'put her down or fix her'. and then I find that I wish there is a hell. a special hell where twitch streamers turned necromantic death emperors go

[chloemew]

The preview image for this listing is sending me

"HE STARTED IT" "NO HE STARTED IT!!!"

[quarkfancam]

i love the potential tragedy of jadzia's death but whyyy is the entire episode leading up to it written to revolve solely on her as an object of desire for other men. like oh yes it's so sad that these men who pined for her never got to be with her and it's so tragic that she could never have a child with this man. so much that her dying words are about how much she wanted to have a baby with him!!

like... this episode didn't even try to be about jadzia. or what her death could mean for her symbiont. or her friends. it's literally just about her potential as a woman. the only scene we get about her as a character is sisko's speech to her at the end. and that honestly sucks! you could have done so much with this and instead it's all about fucking quark and bashir and worf. and as much as i love them THIS IS NOT ABOUT THEM!!!

[dreamyluigi]

super sleepy brothers. the super snuggle bros. because i've been nothing but sleepy and cold lately

[starryeyed-seer]

me: I'm not a bat

Mr pages: (stuffing novels under its robe): I must abscond

[capydoodle]

have compassion for yourself and for others. it seems hopeless but any small amount of good you can do is just that much more love in the world

[aurantiumred]

jason should be allowed to nibble on his friends. he's just a little guy starting to unmask. chomp! he doesn't bite hard enough to draw blood or hurt don't worry. he also has stupidly sharp teeth.

he's like a dog he gets random moments with uncontrollable amounts of energy and before he just paced and now he runs circles in the backyard at full speed. leo made the fence rounded so he doesn't bang into it and hurt himself while bounding from one end to another. jason zoomies.

[novella-november]

Media Preservation Monday

Yeah, yeah, as of this original post it's actually only Wednesday but hey, take this as a sign to take some initiative, and keep to it each Monday at minimum if you're actively writing!

What's Media Preservation Monday, you may ask?

MPM is your reminder to back up your writing at least three ways at least once a week or whenever you make major changes to your document(s).

Here's some incredibly easy ways to back up your writing:

One your Master Document(s), put a date on the file name, and every day you make changes, "Save As" the Document and change the date. Do this every time or day you make major changes.

Example: You start writing your Novella November Story on November 1st.

You name your master document "Novnov Project 11-01-2024"

The next day, you write some more, and at the end of your writing session, you go to save your document, and instead of simply hitting "Save" you choose "Save As" and save the new copy of the Document as "Novnov Project 11-02-2024".

You now have two copies of your project, and if you keep this up throughout the whole month, you will have a live snapshot of your writing progress.

Each day or after each major writing session, open up the folder containing your document, and back it up. The Easiest and simplest way to do this is to simply email it to yourself, but you can also create multiple backups by:

Save a copy of your dated Master Document(s) to different locations on your Hard-drive, to an external hard-drive, to a thumbdrive, etc.

If you're writing offline on a writing program like Libreoffice, upload a copy of your Master Document(s) to your preffered Cloud-based Writing Program of your choice.

Vice Versa: if you write on a Cloud-based writing program, download it to various offline-based locations.

Download the base document as well as download it as various ebook formats and send them to your ebook library on your phone or kindle or nook or reading app.

Make a personal discord server and upload the document/epub form of your Master Document(s) there [this is also a good way of making a kind of personal journal / diary etc]

Whatever you do, do not be complacent and assume nothing can happen to your writing. Back it up. Preserve it.

Don't have all of your hard work go down the drain because of one tiny unforeseen accident.

When it comes time to clean up your hardrive, always assume you don't have it backed up. Before deleting anything always take the time to copy it over to another physical drive or a cloud drive.

[cinimuffin]

[modmad]

oh no i gtg afk and so many trick or treaters showed up in my inbox!!! uh okay kids

stand back im just gonna *throws a brick through the window*

GO GO GO GRAB ALL YOU CAN GRAB ALL YOU CAN CARRY

oh SHIT!!!!!

LEAVE THE DONUTS I REPEAT LEAVE THE D