#dfl writes

[dragonflylady77]

Steve's Pick

Billy/Steve | Teen | 1.5k

No Upside Down, First Kiss, Flirty Banter

Square: A2 - Love At First Sight for @billyhargrovebingo

Summary:

Steve heard the bell chime when a customer walked in so he looked up and who the fuck was the sex god who’d just walked into Family Video?

Steve was barely paying attention to whatever Henderson was saying anymore and only barely remembered to warn the kid with a distracted, “Sorry, customer, gotta go,” before he clumsily put the receiver down, his eyes still on the hot stranger. 

Read on Ao3

***

“So you’ll do it?”

Steve sighed, wishing his shift would end already so he could go home and crash, instead of listening to whatever issue Dustin had had with Mike fucking Wheeler. Again. He looked at the clock. Half an hour to go. Wednesday afternoon shifts usually dragged but this one had to be the worst one ever.

“Steve? Are you even listening to me?”

“Yeah, yeah, Dustin, fine, whatever.” He rolled his eyes, never happier that the shop was currently deserted. He guessed that everyone was at the movies, catching the new releases. Lucky them.

“Steeeeeeeve!”

Henderson’s whiny voice pulled him back into the present.

“Oh my god, what? I’m at work, you know that right?”

“I am aware. But I also know there is no one there. It’s Wednesday, Steve. So will you tell Mike you agree we should let Max in the Party?”

Steve heard the bell chime when a customer walked in so he looked up and who the fuck was the sex god who’d just walked into Family Video?

Steve was barely paying attention to whatever Henderson was saying anymore and only barely remembered to warn the kid with a distracted, “Sorry, customer, gotta go,” before he clumsily put the receiver down, his eyes still on the hot stranger. 

He looked like he was around Steve’s age and was wearing the familiar Hawkins Community Pool fire engine red shorts, matched with a black button down with weird flowers that vaguely looked like figs on it. But he’d only buttoned the bottom two buttons and Steve was absolutely failing in his effort to tear his eyes away from the guy’s golden chest.

Steve was so glad it was Robin’s day off and that Keith hadn’t bothered to come in today. He wouldn’t have been able to deal with either of their ridiculing remarks at the amount of unabashed staring he was doing right now.

The most perfect chest Steve had ever seen stopped on the other side of the counter and Steve lifted his eyes to take in the face of an angel. Blue eyes like the ocean he’d only seen on TV, a dusting of freckles over his nose, curls of the lightest brown, almost blond, and a mouth made for kissing. 

Fuck.

“Hey there,” the beautiful stranger said. Goddamn if his voice wasn’t just husky enough to make Steve’s dick stir in his pants from that one word.

“Hi, welcome to Family Video, I’m Steve. What can I do to you, um, I mean, for you?”

Steve felt his cheeks heat up and half expected to get punched for his slip up but the stranger laughed instead—the most enchanting laugh ever heard in Hawkins, Indiana, for sure. Then the man smiled and Steve worried he might just jizz in his pants from it.

“Well, hi, Steve. I’m Billy. I just moved here from California with my sister and her mom and I—”

“Oh god, why?” Steve couldn’t fathom swapping sunny California for Bumfuck, Indiana.

Billy laughed again and Steve fell in love. “Long story… could tell you over a beer sometime when you’re free.”

“I’m free every night,” Steve replied before he could stop the words from escaping his mouth.

Billy grinned and leaned forward on the counter, crossing his arms and making his biceps bulge a bit. Steve wanted to sink his teeth into them.

“Is that so, pretty boy?”

“Uh huh, it gets awful lonely too, just me in that big house, day after day, night after night. I mean, my parents didn’t even bother showing up when I graduated high school last year so yanno, who can say when they’ll come back and thank god they’re happy to keep paying the bills because there’s no way I could afford the bills…” Steve was aware he was word-vomiting but couldn't make himself stop as Billy looked at him with an increasingly amused smile. “And then I’d have to move and like, live under a bridge or something, because there’s no way I’d even be able to afford a tiny trailer at Forest Hills with what Keith pays here and oh my god, I need to shut up, I’m sorry.”

Steve stopped rambling and hid his face in his folded arms, banging his head onto the counter in the process. He’d for sure hear the bell now, as Billy ran away as fast as his feet could carry him… 

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Aw, babe, don’t say that, you’re not stupid,” Billy said, his fingers gently tangling into Steve’s hair. “Come on now.”

Steve froze. He’d said that out loud? Shit. And Billy was still there? 

Billy’s hands dropped from his hair as Steve slowly lifted his head to find Billy was now leaning halfway over the counter, his gorgeous face a few inches away. Steve watched, entranced, as Billy swiped his tongue over his bottom lip. He wanted to kiss that boy on the mouth if it was the last thing he did.

“Am I dreaming right now? Did I make you up with my mind? Is that why you’re so perfect?”

“Aw Stevie, I’m flattered but I’m far from perfect, just ask my sister.” “Okay, I will.” Steve paused. “Who’s your sister? What’s her name?\”

Billy grinned. “Max. Small, red head, bit of a bitch.”

“About fifteen, rides a skateboard?” Steve was pretty sure he knew who the girl was, a recent tentative addiction to the Party, much to Mike’s vocal dismay

“You do know her. I don’t know if I should be impressed or creeped out.”

Steve let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Billy, it’s a small town and I work at the only video store.”

“Duly noted. Anyway, Heather at the pool said you were the guy to talk to about where to go for a good time.”

“Heather Holloway? Oh boy. She was definitely pulling your leg.”

“Truly?”

“Yes. Billy, I’m sorry, I have no clue what the cool kids are up to these days.” 

Dammit, now Billy would leave and Steve would never know what it was like to bask in the attention of a god.

“That’s okay,” Billy said, his grin getting wider.

What?

“It is? But a second ago you said—”

“Steve?” Billy asked, moving slightly forward, narrowing the gap between them.

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Steve replied, leaning towards Billy, mesmerised by how his blue eyes now looked nearly black. He smelled so good up close, Steve wanted to wrap himself around him and never let go.

“What time do you get off?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On you.” Steve couldn’t believe he’d just said that but he wasn’t taking it back. What was that saying his dad kept throwing at him? Fortune favours the bold? Well, Steve was being bold as fuck right now, because he didn’t want the golden stranger—Billy— to leave. He’d seen the light and he wanted to follow Billy, wherever that led.

Billy chuckled. “Smooth.”

Steve shrugged. “They didn’t call me King Steve in high school for nothing.” “I heard they called you that for another reason,” Billy replied with a knowing smirk.

“Ah, that.” Steve felt his cheeks heat up. 

“Yes, that. Any truth in that rumour?” Billy asked, his face now a couple of inches away from Steve’s.

“Would you like to find out?” Steve’s eyes dropped to Billy’s mouth then back to his eyes. He grinned.

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On you.”

Steve decided he didn’t want to wait any longer to find out what kissing Billy tasted like. He didn’t even look at the clock, Keith would just have to deal. Wednesday nights were dead anyway. “You know, I think my shift just ended.”

“Brilliant,” Billy whispered, his hands cupping Steve’s elbows now. “Isn’t it just?” Steve whispered back, leaning closer.

“Can I kiss you?” Billy asked, his mouth now so close that Steve could feel Billy’s breath on his lips.

“Yes.”

The word was barely out that Billy’s mouth was on his, his tongue eagerly licking into Steve’s mouth. They moved sideways to the end of the counter a foot away, still kissing, then the second they could, their hands were all over the other. Steve buried his fingers in Billy’s golden curls while Billy’s hands went lower, sliding down sides, before grabbing handfuls of his ass and pulling him closer.

Steve moaned out loud when he felt Billy’s dick pressing against his and he wished they were in his bedroom instead of his place of employment.

“Oh my god, Billy! Gross! I leave you alone for two seconds and you’re already sucking face with the first guy you find?”

Billy ended the kiss and moved his hands to Steve’s waist before turning to face his sister. The look on Max’s face went from grossed out to surprised.

“Steve?”

“Hi Max.” Steve waved at her, feeling rather embarrassed at having been caught like that.

“Shitbird, apologise to my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfr—” Max rolled her eyes and stomped her foot. “You’re unbelievable. I bet you didn’t even get the movie Mum wanted.”

[dragonflylady77]

I ACTUALLY WROTE TODAY!

First time since my surgery 6 weeks ago... It felt so good.

Pizza delivery boy Steve is about to get lucky...

[lavenderleahy]

between my stupid parks & rec fic, my current 911 bee fic, and the destiel fic harmony & tess inspired me to write (tfw gets trapped in a pizza vending machine, it's fine), I think my trademark as a writer is just going to be crack fics.

[roylustang]

I have finally started writing the next chapter of my fic 🙌🏻

[dragonflylady77]

Oh! Oh! Oh!

So a few years back I wrote a short fic that takes place after Buffy and Spike close the doors and leave the Potentials to fend for themselves...

It's called A Bold Move For A Slayer and it's pretty much the only time I wrote Spuffy fanfic (in my years of beta-ing for Spuffy authors...)

7x12 POTENTIAL Buffy The Vampire Slayer

[pctaldrunk]

it's a headcanons night baby (they're only sort of related, so, different posts, shh). After months (maybe literal years), we have returned to Ro's series on J.in G.uangyao.

I was thinking about how in a great deal of circumstances when J.in G.uangyao likes someone - the less likely he is, almost, to accept any promises from them. Which - sounds counterintuitive, and it is, but - he knows he can't handle the emotional ramifications of someone he genuinely cares for and believes in go back on or retract their word, as they inevitably sometimes have to (and I do think he knows better than most that there is a circumstance for everything). Like everything with him - it's kind of a trust thing, though I feel even the people he trusts...will have to deal with this some, until something can resolve. Because he carries these walls with him from the beginning of his narrative - maybe from the beginning of his life.

The tragedy of his mother and the rather violent rejection from his father begins this thought process - and arguably I think, the events during, following, and after s.unshot, cements for him - that it only hurts worse and puts you in a worse position when you allow yourself to have any expectations or to believe in things that are subject to change. It's pessimistic but I think he genuinely prepares for and accepts it when people do turn on him...relatively quickly. He may or may not take measures, dependent on his level of panic and ability and energy availability to care about the outcome - but he accepts it very quickly. You can see that in G.uanyin T.emple - never let it be said that he wasn't shocked, because truly he was played, but he rolled with it, you know? Whether or not that screams repression - is a different headcanon, truly.

Likewise, I think it's hard for him to accept or consider someone's regard for him as the Solution to His Problems (tm), the sum of his worth or even a viable backup plan - feelings are fickle, feelings change, feelings can be acted - when you're stuck in a brothel, it's better to earn money yourself than to hope for someone to buy your contract. A relationship, whether that's platonic or romantic, is not a safety net he's willing to fall on. Barring his mother, he has accepted that it's easier if love is conditional, even if he is exhausted by it, because fulfilling his end of the bargain when he knows what it is is easier, safer and eons more reliable than counting on the ever elusive and easily changed thing known as human hearts. He's known to be eager to please - or rather, he's eager to bring something more substantial and demanding, shall we say, of attention and admiration, to the table other than being the blurry and mystifying concept of "a person another person likes."

[bobcatmoran]

Just because I wanna get it down before I forget, stuff from working as an election judge yesterday:

167 new voters registered, in a precinct that had ~2900 registered voters when the polls opened.

Lots and lots of kiddos who came to the polls with their parents and got "Future Voter" stickers, which they were almost always pumped about, though a few asked for the same "I Voted" sticker that their parents got.

A few hostile voters upon being told that their precinct had changed since they last voted, but they all took the directions to their actual new voting spot and left without more than being like, "This is BS, I voted here last time, how dare you."

Only one actual freakout that I saw, from a voter who, when he put his ballot in the tally machine, was told that he'd overvoted (voted for more candidates than allowed) in at least one race. He was given the standard option of choosing to have his ballot count for all races except what he'd overvoted for or to have his ballot returned, have that ballot spoiled, and get a new one to fill out, hopefully correctly. He decided to get his ballot returned and then yell at the ballot judges, at which point I, who was on the greeter/troubleshooting position, nudged the Head Judge to use his deescalation training. It worked, thankfully.

A woman a couple decades older than me who came in and said she'd never voted before. I congratulated her for coming in once I got her registered.

Another woman who asked which parties Trump and Harris belonged to, because she "wanted to make sure [she] was voting for the right one." (the answer was that their parties were listed next to them on the ballot)

1000 voters reached by 3:30. An overall turnout, including the 1/3ish of the registered voters who'd voted abesentee, of about 84%.

Having to join an election judge of the opposite party in emptying out the ballot bin of the voting machine mid-afternoon (with a sign posted to explain what we were doing — fortunately the machine design let folks continue submitting ballots while we scooped them out) because it was in danger of filling up since it's only built to handle about 1000 ballots. We filled one of our two cardboard ballot boxes to the brim and then sealed and signed it, per procedure.

The owner of the donut shop across the street dropping off a couple boxes of unsold pastries for the election judges once the store closed for the day

High drama with both the DFL and GOP poll challengers, the former having a LOT of questions to the point where our Head Judge was like, "I have other things I have to do, why do you not know this," and the GOP challenger being grumpy at being moved to a plae where he couldn't see what we were all entering on the tablets we were using to sign in/register ballots.

Later on in the day, both the DFL and GOP poll challengers expressing thanks that our precinct was run like a well-oiled machine with friendly and helpful election judges, and they didn't have to deal with any drama

Almost a dozen new voters being registered by the — as far as I know — uniquely Minnesotan procedure where a registered voter in the precinct can vouch for a new voter, signing a form where they basically say, "Yes, I swear this person is legally able to vote and lives at this location in the precinct, and I know this personally."

Recording the write-ins and running into two separate ballots where they filled in "Mickey Mouse" and "Donald Duck" for pretty much every judicial race

The family who came in with their kids in school uniforms with a private religious school's logo embroidered on their uniforms, and complained while waiting in line that this precinct had a voting location located at this particular church while the affiliated church for their children's school was not a voting location.

Voting locations here are based on wherever is willing to offer a polling place with no cost to the city. There are some municipal voting locations (the library, civic center, fire stations), but they're not enough for all the precincts, and since schools are in session on Election Day locally and don't want a bunch of strangers around the kids while churches are generally not used on Tuesdays, a *lot* of voting locations are at churches that volunteer for it.

In other words, this couple's complaints about not having a voting location at their church is entirely the fault of their church board.

Big shout-out to my fellow Election Judges, regardless of party — I know 1/2 of them were not from my party, but aside from one gal who had some questions that I side-eyed, but still did her job, and another I was assigned to do something because we're registered from different parties, I had NO idea which party any of them were registered for, because we all genuinely worked to ensure everyone who came in could cast a ballot if they legally could and worked with them to find as many possible solutions that we could. Lots of, "can this person vouch for you?" "Do you have any of these documents? Can you show me one on your phone, that's perfectly ok, it just needs to have your name and current address!"

So glad that our briefing about where the fire extinguishers were located was never used.

[hellsfryingpan]

30dtsc - Day 1 - Lieblingsepisode

-> Das fleißige Lieschen

Nachdem ich jetzt schon ein paar Posts von anderen zu ihrer Lieblings-Spatort-Folge gelesen habe, dachte ich mir, ich verliere auch mal ein paar Worte zu "Das fleißige Lieschen".

Meiner Meinung nach ist die einzige Sünde dieser Folge, dass der Titel nicht ins Titelschema passt, aber das bin ich angesichts der Tatsache, dass es zum Zeitpunkt der ersten Folge noch kein Titelschema gab, gewillt zu verzeihen.

"Das fleißige Lieschen" hat es mir wirklich angetan. Von "Was bist du denn für'n Schlappschwanz?" bis hin zu "Vater ist aufgewacht" ist einfach jede Zeile Dialog in ihrer herrlich-hölzemännischen Art ikonisch und lebt mietfrei in meinem Kopf.

Außerdem liebe ich die Neben-/Krimiplotfiguren sehr. Die Hofers und ihre Kaputte-Dynastie-Vibes, besonders aber Konrad und Rosa, Schwarzer-wie-Weißer und seine etwas lächerliche, klischeebehaftete Art (das Mittelfingertattoo???) und allen voran natürlich Lida (they could never make me hate you). Und DfL ist die einzige Episode, in der wir Caro sehen! Bring back Caro 2025!

Am Ende der Folge kriege ich auch immer Gänsehaut, wenn Lidas Geschichte gezeigt wird und man Mytros Flehen im Hintergrund hört. Und natürlich auch, wenn der Spaten-reveal kommt. (Die Musik in der Szene ist auch so *chef's kiss*, wenn jemand da die Noten hat, immer her damit!)

Und dann gibt es einfach noch so viele andere Dinge, die mir so viel Freude bereiten, weil sie einfach auch so ein bisschen "was zur Hölle hat Hendrik sich dabei gedacht?" sind. Random beef mit dem Pförtner, my beloved. Nicht ganz so random beef mit Esther, der uns "Halt einfach mal deine Fresse" bescheert hat, Pias merkwürdige Kalendersprüche, die ganze Verhörszene mit Schwarzer-wie-Weißer (Schnatterentchen?, Rainer von der Steurfahndung? Da wird auf ganz hohem Niveau gearbeitet, ich sag's euch!).

DfL war nach "Kälte der Erde" die zweite Spatort-Folge, die ich gesehen habe, und auch die, die mich so richtig gehookt hat. Wie könnte sie nicht? Und deswegen wird sie einfach immer einen ganz besonderen Platz in meinem Herz haben.

-english version under the cut-

After having read a couple of posts by other people about their favourite spatort-episodes, I thought, I should lose a couple words about "Das fleißige Lieschen".

In my opinion, is the only sin this episode commits not fitting the title pattern, but I am willing to forgive the offense, by virtue of this episode most likely being written, before the title pattern even existed.

"Das fleißige Lieschen" really resonates with me. From "What kind of wimp are you?" to "Father woke up", every line of dialog is iconic in that delightfully-hölzemann way and lives rentfree in my head.

Furthermore, I love the side-/crime-plot-characters dearly. The Hofers and their broken-dynastie-vibes, but especially Konrad and Rosa, Schwarzer-like-Weißer and his slightly ridiculous, clichee-riddled state of being (the middle-finger-tattoo???) and above all Lida of course (they could never make me hate you). And DfL is the only episode where we see Caro! Bring back Caro 2025!

At the end of the episode I also always get goosebumps, when Lida's story is revealed and you hear her brother's pleas in the background. And of course, when the spade-reveal is happening (The music in that scene is also *chef's kiss", if anybody has the score, feel free to share them with me!)

And then there are still so many other things, that bring me so much joy, because they are also a little bit "what the hell was Hendrik thinking writing this?" Random beef with the doorman, my beloved, not nearly as random beef with Esther, which gave us one of the most iconic lines, Pias weird calendar sayings, the entire scene where they question Schwarzer-wie-Weißer (Schnatterentchen?, Rainer von der Steurfahndung? (no clue how to translate these. gadwall-duckie? Rainer from tax investigations?) They are working on the highest of levels, I'm telling you!)

DfL was after "Kälte der Erde" the second episode I watched and it was also the one that really got me hooked. How could it not be? And therefore, this episode will always have a special place in my heart.

[perfectlyvalid49]

If Trump wins, and I hope to G-d he does not, the only possible way to keep him from enacting all the shitty things he wants to do is to have congress stop him (hypothetically the supreme court could, but this particular supreme court won't). We've seen a Republican congress shut down Democratic presidents - heck, look at the stuff Republicans refused to pass this year alone. A Democratic congress could help mitigate a Trump administration, and help a Harris(?) administration, y'know, actually do stuff.

And as for down ballot races - Minnesota had a blue state senate by the slimmest of margins last year (34 to 33) and they managed to pass laws providing paid family leave, free breakfast and lunch to ALL K-12 students, protections for women's health care, protections for trans healthcare, requiring employers to give paid sick leave, and so much more. If you don't care about the president, you should still vote locally, as it can have a HUGE impact on your own quality of life.

even if you're resigned that trump is going to win, 1/3 of the country lives in states with competitive senate elections. if democrats win the senate, there is very little that trump can do (can't even appoint supreme court nominees)

the following states all have competitive senate elections:

arizona

florida

maryland

michigan

montana

nevada

ohio

pennsylvania

texas

wisconsin

even if you don't think your state is competitive at all, THESE SENATE RACES STILL ARE, SO IF YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THESE STATES, MAKE SURE TO VOTE

and even if you don't live in one of those states, you could live in a competitive house seat. if democrats win the house, then trump can't pass any bills

and even if you don't live in a competitive state or district, your local elections matter even more than federal ones because they have a much more direct impact on your life

so VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

[chuluoyi]

I love your sylus/zayne x non-mc!reader so much!! my guilty pleasure is the angst & the absolute GROVELING they must do to win her back...maybe I just want to see them bullied a bit haha.

Keep up the great work—your writing is my highlight for the fandom!

aww hello nonnie thank you for liking them 🤍 and so true i want them to grovel at my feet too— especially zayne in not and dfl🙂‍↕️ it’s satisfying to see how he and the reader finally get their ending after the angst train🙆🏻‍♀️

[dragonflylady77]

Pizza my heart

ch1 - alphabet buddies

Billy/Steve | Mature | 413 words

Enemies to Lovers, College AU, Billy Hargrove is a Little Shit

Square: A1 - Hate Sex for @billyhargrovebingo

Present for @shieldofiron (because she's amazing and the title was her idea)

Summary:

Steve still can’t fucking believe he’s willingly standing in Hargrove’s dorm room. Somehow, because they’re alphabet buddies, Professor Byers decided it was a good idea to pair them up for an assignment. Hargrove has a brain for English Lit apparently, while Steve is close to failing the class, so yeah.

Read on Ao3

***

Steve still can’t fucking believe he’s willingly standing in Hargrove’s dorm room. Somehow, because they’re alphabet buddies, Professor Byers decided it was a good idea to pair them up for an assignment. Hargrove has a brain for English Lit apparently, while Steve is close to failing the class, so yeah.

Ugh.

And, yes, fine, Hargrove is put together like a Greek God, with blue eyes and bouncy curls, the tightest ass ever seen on a man, and a chiseled chest the asshole likes to show off by keeping his shirts undone to his belly button… Steve’s not blind, okay? But Hargrove’s also as obnoxious as he’s hot and he’s got it in for Steve—constantly berating him for his low grades and stupid answers in class. Steve can’t fucking stand him.

“You brought your book?” the dickhead asks him as soon as he steps into the room.

“Of course, I brought the book,” Steve replies, closing the door before getting his copy of The Portrait of Dorian Gray out of his bag, along with a notebook and a pen.

Steve settles at the desk while Hargrove reclines on the bed with his back to the wall, and they get to work. Steve is doing his best to remember the plot and tries really hard to give ideas for the essay, but writing really isn’t his strong point, even less so than reading.

He internally curses his brain and Robin for tricking him into taking this class. Even with Hargrove’s reluctant help, he has no chance to pass, especially when he keeps getting distracted by the douchebag’s posters, mostly metal bands he’s never heard of.

About an hour in, Steve remembers something.

“Oh I know this, he falls in love with an actress. Told you I read the book.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great. Tell you what though, Dorian Gray has a bit more interesting tastes in partners in Penny Dreadful. That Ethan Chandler... Damn.”

Steve tries to process this new information, blurting out, “You're gay?” and immediately regretting it when Hargrove’s face turns to stone and he glares at Steve.

“I don't like labels, Steven.” Hargrove snaps his book shut before and stands up from the bed. “You know what, I think that’s enough for one day. You should go.”

Taken aback, Steve goes with it and packs his stuff. It’s fine; he’s got work later anyway. “I’ll see you later, I guess. I’m sorry, didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Whatever, Harrington. See ya.”

[tomorrowusa]

Another reminder that every vote counts.

In Minnesota House of Representatives District 54A, DFL incumbent Brad Tabke has apparently beaten GOP challenger Aaron Paul by 15 votes. In Minnesota, DFL = Democratic.

This was determined after a hand recount. If Tabke had lost, Republicans would have flipped the chamber. But with Tabke's victory, the DFL and GOP would likely be tied in the House and must work out a power sharing agreement.

In a race that could determine control of the Minnesota House, state Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, has won reelection after narrowly defeating Republican challenger Aaron Paul by 15 votes after election officials recounted thousands of votes by hand on Thursday. The results are unofficial because 4 ballots are still in dispute. Tabke’s margin of victory widened by one vote from an earlier count.  A lawyer representing Paul suggested that he may challenge the results in court but said he wants to discuss the matter with Paul first. Paul asked for the recount after election officials rescanned thousands of ballots days after the election because they discovered a ballot screening malfunction. Election officials are also investigating the loss of 21 physical absentee ballots. Scott County elections officials spent Thursday hand counting thousands of ballots under the watchful eyes of campaign representatives for Tabke and Paul. As election judges sorted and reviewed ballots at eight different tables, partisan representatives disagreed four times with the election judges’ assessment.  Those so-called challenged ballots will be reviewed on Monday when the Scott County Canvassing Board meets to certify the election. Tabke’s victory means there’s an even greater likelihood that Republicans and Democrats will share power in the Minnesota House. After this month’s election, the two parties won 67 seats each pending recounts in Scott County and another legislative race in Sherburne County. 

That race alluded to in Sherburne County is House district 14B. DFL candidate Dan Wolgamott has 10,005 votes (50.36%), Republican Sue Ek has 9,814 votes (49.40%) and there are 48 stupid write-in votes. The DFL is likely to win the recount there.

Historically, hand recounts don’t result in a meaningful change in votes because the scanning machines are very accurate. As the recount was occurring, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders met to discuss their plans for the upcoming session. Since Democrats will no longer control the House, there will have to be bipartisan agreement to pass a two-year budget next year.  [ ... ] Democrats hold a one seat majority in the state Senate. The Legislature is scheduled to convene on Jan. 14. 

[rlyehtaxidermist]

going to put my political data science hat on: if you don't vote, every candidate will assume you never would have voted.

american politics - outside of local level races where people actually might have novel ideas before the federal level parties crush them out of them - runs on the assumption that you are either Always On One Side, or a Persuadable Centrist. if you don't vote, you are assumed to Not Care About Politics, or to be On One Side but suppressed by the (very real not downplaying that) legal efforts to curtail voter participation among certain demographics. in either case, Not Voting is not going to register as anything that merits a change in the platform. if anything, they'll look at the drop in participation and think "we need to be more centrist"

i'm not telling you to vote for biden. i'm telling you to vote in a way that biden's stats people have to look at the results and say "well shit buddy we lost votes of people who vote, because of this thing specifically".

a friend of mine has already said he'll be writing in Rachel Corrie in the DFL primary. idk if that's the best option - I'm always leery of turning a person into a political symbol, especially posthumously - but it's going to take something like that, not just "all options bad no vote", to actually impact the political environment

[ussenterpeen]

TED LASSO characters wanted for @denouementrpg

denouement is a post-to-play pan/multifandom roleplaying game built on a world of unique lore, constant sitewide and personal plots, and a strong member base. Members are able to write traditional, novella-style threads on either the Jcink forum or the Discord, engage in real time group roleplay via Cbox or Discord, or supplement character interactions with rapidfire Discord threads, one-shots, and communications (texts/group chats).

Hi! I'm Jeebies and I write Ted Lasso on Denouement. I would love to see some more Ted Lasso characters on the site! I think there's a lot of potential for new storylines, unexpected character growth, and new relationships.

rebecca welton (platonic, antagonistic, or romantic) jamie tartt (platonic or antagonistic) roy kent (platonic or antagonistic) keeley jones (platonic) coach willis beard (platonic)

Click to view the application I've written for Ted. Right now, he is a coach in the Euros region, working for the Denouement Football League (DFL), a football league founded by Rebecca (who was formerly written by another member).

I've taken Ted from his (more or less) last appearance on the show, but what's nice about Denouement is that characters can be pulled from any point in their timeline, meaning that there can be any number of interpersonal clashes depending on when you take any of the above characters from. Imagine season one Jamie squaring off against season three Roy, or season three Rebecca trying to reestablish her friendship with season one Keeley.

Above, I have noted potential dynamics I'd be interested in exploring with the respective characters. I'm super open to almost any kind of plot -- angst, fluff, silly goofs, or serious stories -- with any of the above characters. I am a fan of Ted and Rebecca, but I don't need the romantic aspect if you're not interested! Their friendship is so important to me.

If you're interested in chatting, or checking out the site, feel free to swing by the official Discord and say hi!

[birdylion]

AU asks: Hörk SM AU & Pferdehof AU bc I will literally never stop thinking about them!

For this ask game.

These are both Tatort Saarbrücken fanfiction WIPs.

Pferdehof AU

This story is set in the summer before the all-defining shovel incident. Leo has to take care of his sister's horse while she's sick, and of course takes Adam with him. Leo discovers that he might be attracted to guys, Adam has the horse girl adventure we all used to dream about, in which he befriends the most notoriously difficult horse in the stable and learns some self worth.

written in collaboration with @shakespearerants

Here's some background headcanons for the story that didn't make it into the story so far, but are in the back of my head when I write it:

For this story, Leo comes from a rather bourgeois home: a family of academics, mother teaches at the uni, children are supposed to get a good education and go to uni as well.

Both parents work a lot and aren't available most of the time. There's a grandfather who takes care of Leo and Caro.

I imagine that adult Leo won't have a close relationship with his parents; his grandfather probably dies some time between this and the first episode.

I remember from the Spatort Audiopsie that the school they used for filming the flashback schoolyard scene in DfL was the Ludwigsgymnasium and I used that as a headcanon for this story's version of Leo and Adam. The Ludwigsgymnasium focuses on classical languages (Latin, ancient Greek). I headcanon that Leo goes there because his parents are academics in the humanities and approve of this profile. He doesn't live in this part of town and has to take the bus to get there.

Meanwhile, Adam does go there because he lives close, even though his father would rather send him to the Rotenbühl Gymnasium (which has a focus on sport), but that's too far away / not practical, so … well, Roland has to make up for this lack in education by "helping" with Adam's "training".

Adam absolutely speaks dialect. His parents speak it, he learned it, and he had to take care to learn high standard German in school. Leo's family doesn't speak dialect at home, even though both his parents speak it. But being academics, they went away for their studies and for work, so they trained themselves out of it and that stuck. Even now that they've been back in Saarland for at least almost two decades, they both speak standard high German at home and that's what the kids learned as a first language. They both learned speaking dialect in kindergarten and primary school though. In Gymnasium, both Adam and Leo speak standard high German, so they speak it with each other too even though they both know how to speak the dialect.

Caro's foster horse / shared horse (Reitbeteiligung) is in a stable in the region Bliesgau, so their grandfather always drives her there after school. Now that she's sick and he takes care of her, he can't drive Leo to the stable, which is why he and Adam have to take the bike. This is the landscape in which their summer adventure takes place:

SM AU

inspired by @shakespearerants and @evolutionsbedingt

This started out as a spanking kink PWP. It is still "PWP" … if we change the definition to "porn with plot" and define plot as "character development". Basically, after the events of Die Kälte der Erde, Leo and Adam have very much under-negociated but mutually wanted kinky sex in which Leo spanks Adam.

Headcanons and background for this story (and its related stories, as this is growing into a series in which they pine after each other and learn to communicate):

Leo is very repressed and doesn't dwell on his desires. He wears an armor of "should" and "must" and acts how he's supposed to be, and fails to recognise that this is not all he wants to be and do.

As an older teenager and young twenty-something, he used to be fascinated with BDSM and regularly attended meetings of the German BDSM youth association (SMJG). He correctly identified that there was something in it that spoke to him, and even took part in a workshop or two.

I hc him as hetero-leaning bisexual, but when Adam disappeared, he shoved down any feelings and desires he might have had for him (consciously or not, I haven't decided for this story). That in combination with period-typical (early 2000s) casual homophobia means that he mostly ignored his attraction to men in his teens and early 20s.

That also means his experiences in the BDSM community were through a very hetero lense. He was interested, fascinated even, and he didn't dislike it - just, he never found his place in the community, never found a kink he could claim was his. He liked trying things out, so he's not exactly inexperienced, but also when he had kinky sex, it wasn't due to his own desires, but out of an desire to make his partners happy. His own happiness never factored into it, and so there wasn't anything he could say he desired. He acted very much as a service top, and eventually stopped going there because apparently (so he thought) he just wasn't that much into it. Well.

For this story, Adam was unhappy in Berlin. He had superficial acquaintances and was never alone, but he was still lonely and didn't have truly close connections. There was nothing holding him there, and the more he noticed that, the more he idealised the connection he used to have with Leo in their youth. So when the opportunity arose, he didn't hesitate to move, because there was nothing that was hard to leave behind.

I do imagine that he used to have a pretty active sex life in Berlin. Meanwhile his first few months in Saarbrücken are the longest dry spell since he started having sex. He already knows that he likes it rough, but I hc that it always stayed rather vanilla in practice.

I didn't set out to do it, but the way I'm writing him, this story features an aro-spec Adam.

When he was in Berlin and hadn't set foot into Saarbrücken in 1.5 decades, it was easy to think that everything was well now, that his past didn't still haunt him. He genuinely thought that he had dealt with it. Perhaps even that he would be glad to be back - because Saarbrücken has Leo. But coming back there just brought everything up again that he had buried but not dealt with.

Apparently unpopular headcanon, but my interpretation of the films and especially my headcanon for this story is that when Adam came back to Saarbrücken, he and Leo were not instantly 100% in sync. The beginnings of it are there, but there's no stability in it. Adam's sudden reappearance throws Leo off track, and Adam doesn't deal well with being back in Saarbrücken, trauma-wise. So they have to find each other again.

In the early days, I imagine the following between them: familiarity, insecurity, erotic tension, uncertainty, cautiousness, curiosity. They're pretty good at instantaneous nonverbal communication, but never talk about the big questions, so the tension rises until it all comes crashing down in the PWP after KdE.

[vynmin]

╰┈➤Announcement for Chapter 2 DFL

: ̗̀➛ CH2 Drop : Hey guys I know it's been a while since chapter 1 of DFL came out but I wanted to let you guys know chapter 2 drops next Friday (2/24/23)! Writing the story line for chapter 2 took a bit longer because of school and its length but I promise it’s much longer and waaaay more interesting than chapter 1. I am working on finishing up and editing the chapter for the Friday release, but I hope you guys really enjoy the chapter. 

: ̗̀➛ Taglist : If you guys want to be added to the taglist for the series give the announcement a comment or go over to the taglist page and like that post.

ꕥ I also want to express how surprised and grateful I am for all the likes and attention chapter 1 has gotten and all the new followers from the fic just dropping. I hope you guys continue to enjoy the fic and if you guys have anything you guys would want to read, asks are always on and please let me know!  - Ღ Vynnie

・❥・