#for the record she did do it correctly afterwards

[the-siphonophore]

Me: the hokey pokey is optional, I just added it because I thought it was fun

Mum: actually it's not optional??

Me: oh geez ok I don't even know the hokey pokey

Mum: Oh! Let me show you! *immediately does it wrong*

I love her so much 🥹🥹

[zylophie]

🔮 .巫术 — pleasant surprise | featuring: robin

🪄 ★ ₊˚𝙎𝙔𝙉𝙊𝙋𝙎𝙄𝙎꒱ ₊˚⊹ Robin has always been looking into the crowd eagerly for [y/n]. However, due to their busy schedule, Robin could never find them in the crowd. Only to find a pleasant surprise one day..

🦋★ ₊˚𝘾𝙒꒱ ₊˚⊹ a little suggestive(?) 🔮 ★ ₊˚𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙍𝙀꒱ ₊˚⊹ fluff 💫 ★ ₊˚𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀꒱ ₊˚⊹ I love robin so much, I was in literal tears(of joy) when I found out Chevy was her singer. I have been such a fan of Chevy for a long time skbdksndkdjd. Also, I can't believe I'm willingly writing fluff on my own record.. 💌 ★ ₊˚𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉꒱ ₊˚⊹ If you'd like to request click 'here!' and read the rules~ 🐈‍⬛ ★ ₊˚𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙆꒱ ₊˚⊹ hsr masterlist 🧹 ★ ₊˚𝙉𝙊𝙒 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙔𝙄𝙉𝙂꒱ ₊˚⊹ pleasant surprise | featuring: robin

★ Whenever Robin was doing her shows, she would always desperately try to look for [y/n] in the crowd.

★ However, every single time Robins' eyes were darting eagerly around the crowd.. [y/n] was never there.

★ Robin slowly stopped trying to find [y/n] in the crowd eventually, but there's still a part of her that wishes that [y/n] would be there during one of her shows

★ Until one day.. She came across something which immediately brightens her mood for her upcoming performance..

'I didn't see [y/n] in the crowd again.. It's been a long time since they've been to my shows.'

Robin sighs as she dabs more makeup removal onto her cotton pads, before bringing it up to her face. She was feeling exhausted from performing for so long, as well as getting interviewed by her fans.

She remembered how she would always ask [y/n] if they are able to come to her shows, but was always left with a vague answer.

After she was done with removing most of her makeup. She tied her hair into a low lose bun, intending to take a bath afterwards. When suddenly..

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Robin's wings perked up. Knowing who it is outside, Robin couldn't contain her smile. Already feeling more energized than before, she went to go and get the door for whoever was behind it.

"Robin~! I'm back, how was your performanc-"

Usually [y/n] would often visit Robin a few hours after her show is done, so that they could spend a bit of time together. Expecting Robin to still be in her performance outfit still, however, when [y/n] opened their eyes. They saw Robin with a completely new hairstyle. It was also the first time they saw Robin look so disheveled, not only that, [y/n] didn't expected to be greeted with Robin in her lingerie too! [Y/n] immediately closed their eyes and faced to the ground.

"A-ah, Robin! I bought y-your favourite f-food! P-please e-enjoy it!"

Before Robin could even reply, [y/n]'s figure could be seen getting smaller and smaller, as they ran through the hallway after leaving their things behind.

'Ah.. Did they not like what they see? I guess I did look pretty untidy..'

Robin sighed, before shaking her head. Before shutting the door to take a shower, she'll talk to reader later.

THUD!

"Huh? What was that sound?"

As Robin turned around, she saw a notebook had fallen from her desk in her room. Robin moved towards the item to pick it up.

'Strange.. I don't remember this in my room..'

Robin flipped to the first page to see a familiar handwriting of the name who the book belongs to. "[Y/n]'s personal sketchbook".

'Ah, so it is [y/n]'s! I'm a little bit curious of their work since the last time I saw their art it was a few months ago.. Maybe I'll just take a peek, surely they won't mind, right?'

She flipped to the next page. Robin's eyes widened when she saw a fully colored illustration of herself in her performance outfit today! Many thoughts went through her mind.

'Wow, [y/n]'s artworks are always so spectacular!'

'I'm really happy they drew me'

'Wait.. How did they see me in this outfit? It's my first time wearing it and all the details are drawn correctly.. Today's live hasn't been published publicly yet too..'

Robin continued to flip through the notebook, only to find drawings of her only in all of her past performance outfits, until a few pair of words on the back of her today's performance caught her eye.

'Dear diary..'

Oops! Robin realised she may have accidentally stumbled into the wrong area, however, her curiosity was peaked and wanted to continue reading to see if she can get answers from how [y/n] was able to get her outfits drawn to a tee.

'Robin's outfit today was really pretty. It was sparkling, but not as bright as she was! I wish I could talk to her after her performance asap, but whenever Robin is in a new outfit in general. I'll just be a blushing AND stuttering mess! I won't be able to talk to her properly.. I'm so glad I got a seat at the very back! Since the performance was 2 hours, I got plenty of time to ready myself before I see her. Gotta finish this drawing fast!'

Robin's wings flutter in joy. One, because she was glad that [y/n] does come to her shows. Secondly, she realised the reason why they looked towards the ground earlier, she giggled before playing the book down with an uncontrollable smile.

"I'll return it to them later~"

© zylophie 2024. do not steal, copy, repost, edit, translate or use my works.

[voidsentprinces]

See a few people on the tweets and tumblr wondering if previous expansions got this much flack at their launches.

So, let me reiterate from my own experiences. Even before I was actually IN the fandom. There was a ripple of complaints and memeing about Raubahn (Savage) and Raubahn (Extreme) because the launch was so hard on their servers. That you could literally get stuck on the Raubahn instance battle at the beginning of the expansion. Entire lines of people rose up and was taken pictures of. In addition, there was a small but vocal debate on people being down on Zenos thirstiers. While there were a couple posts here and there disappointed about how neither Doma nor Ala Mhigo were fully fleshed out being too little after cut on different sides of the expansion. Some people questioned Hien's actions in the Azim Steppe as forcing the secluded Steppe Tribes to save his fallen empire and bursting in on a sacred tradition for his own personal gain. But, I wasn't really in the fandom back then. Thats just the stuff that rippled out and brushed across me like a wave on the shoe coating your toes as you walk on the beach.

When I finally DID join the fandom proper in the waning days of Stormblood. Shadowbringers hype was about to be in full swing. The fandom had gotten a few things here and there. The Call had just happened, I think. People were speculating about Solus and getting excited about a possible full fledged war with Garlemald. But then the Shadowbringers cinematic teaser drop. And there were a lot of questions, why was Y'shtola now called Master Matoya? What is Minfilia doing alive again? Holy shit, Gunbreaker hype! Hopes for Healer Dancer arrived. Why the fuck is Urianger so sexy? Etc. Blue Mage in coming.

At launch, Shadowbringers, if I recall correctly, was actually widely acclaimed. Soon after the same people who rained on the Zenos lover brigade also came down on Emet lovers. Some people felt G'raha was kind of a creep. For a small portion of the community, the Hydaelyn is evil circles became somewhat vindicated by the reveal of Hydaelyn and Zodiark being the eldest of primals. Thinking she might be tempering us and the story of light also being as bad as dark in excess leading some to believe she would be the final boss of the series with Zodiark. In addition, there were a few people here and there where Shadowbringers just ruined the entire story for them and they just did not like the direction the MSQ went. As the expansion progressed people lambasted Gaius for going through what they described as "man pain" instead of actual redemption. The NieR raid ending left people a little miffed. But the end of Eden left people happy. And bringing up the 'flat and emotionless' performance people are throwing at Wuk Lamat. There was even a period of time where people complained about Aymeric and Cid and a few others sounding weak cause they were most likely recording from their own bedroom closet due to COVID having shut every motherfucking thing down.

At Endwalker launch, it was kind of excited and mixed. Queues ruled the world as people desperately tried to claw their way in. Some people were mad we didn't raze Garlemald to the ground ourselves. In From the Cold was divisive. I, myself, was on a one Void crusade about being indifferent and even bewildered by the Fandaniel = Amon reveal and lukewarm on Krile being around but being Hydaelyn's sock puppet for cutscenes. The first part of the expansion feeling like a 5.6 rather than an actual expansion and then after Zodiark is when Endwalker actually did feel like it hit its stride. The people who felt vindicated in their Hydaelyn is Evil conclusion bent over backwards and tried their hardest to say she WAS evil the entire time. Some posts about being kind of iffy on Emet returning after Seat of Sacrifice gave him a decent send off. Hythlodaeus and Venat otherwise sweeping people off their feet. And it was mixed on the treatment of Ahewann in particular. And afterwards posts about Relics not being this long tedious grind, the Post-Endwalker Void stuff kind of taking the mystery out of the Void and kind of lackluster. Myths and Pandaemonium meanwhile were praised widely, far as I can tell. And in one single patch poster, an entire section went from called Lahabrea a Bread Loaf to a D A D D Y.

So with Dawntrail launching and getting mixed reaction. I can safely say this has always happened. Expect years of posts from different retrospectives either defending or lambasting Dawntrail as we see with Stormblood and certain sections of both Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Not everyone will like everything in the story. People have their own perspective on things. And they will voice their opinion on things cause people want to be heard. My thoughts on Dawntrail? At time of posting, I still haven't played the MSQ. But I did see a spoiler. So my opinion is that death is an illusion and so are pants.

[benwvatt]

RE margo giving the info to sergei… If I remember correctly, he would be tortured or killed if she didn’t give him any information. I think this was s3 when they were in the hotel room

yes! thank you for the clarification! I do like their storyline. I suppose my struggle with the story right now is that the gravity / extent to which margo is sending information to the soviets is not really shown onscreen for me.

like, I'm supposed to believe that she did this for a very long time and sent a lot of information, but what I see is several discussions on the payphone at the records store. And I also don't fully understand how she worked and lived after she engineered the escape with sergei's family -- like, did margo owe the soviets extra information afterward to "make up for" the transfer of his family to germany? did she HAVE to keep giving them information after sergei and his family escaped, or did she CHOOSE to give the soviets information?

For such a monumental and heavy storyline, I like all the margo screentime dedicated to this, but I want more illustration of the heaviness and severity to which she has given them government documents. More showing, less telling, I suppose. Hope I'm making sense.

[princesswithabraidedcrown]

I posted 4,343 times in 2022

48 posts created (1%)

4,295 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dimondlite

@biconic-rosa-diaz

@softcannoli

@lynati

@vyther15

I tagged 330 of my posts in 2022

#for future reference - 17 posts

#the blogger rambles - 16 posts

#the blogger watches - 15 posts

#kinnporsche - 14 posts

#about the blogger - 9 posts

#kinnporsche the series - 8 posts

#the untamed - 6 posts

#anyway - 6 posts

#jeff satur - 5 posts

#wow - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#anyway my mom’s thing makes me twitchy because i mostly just try to remember to eat enough in a day and don’t fuss about the contents

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The streaming session of the KinnPorsche world tour I was participating in kinda fell off the rails during the English version of Why Don’t You Stay, which was very sad. Hopefully it turns out okay for the rest of it tomorrow.

My thoughts in no particular order:

Dang, Slot Machine is awesome and I should go look them up. (We amazed a random discord member who randomly wandered into the stream about Mile having previously been just a filthy wealthy dude that played the guitar)

Oh my goodness, Jeff!!! Said multiple times, by multiple people.

The VegasPete scene was chef’s kiss. Gonna wax dance show critic here but Bible has some amazing physicality and charisma. Like I’m pretty darn ace and I still can tell that he’s hot and does amazing work as Vegas. I’m in the middle of episode 10, so I haven’t fallen headlong for Pete/Build yet…but it’ll probably happen.

So highly amused that Barcode made up for the clothing deficit amongst everyone else singlehandedly. Pretty sure I missed the main brouhaha about the song he performed to, but nobody mentioned it was a cover of a Blackpink song! I love Blackpink!!!

The chat punched the air when Tay slapped Time. It’s possible to do polyamory ethically. Whatever Time’s deal is…isn’t it. On a sidenote: more Tay centric fics please.

I was highly amused that the mom got a sarong for her little thing with Chay/Barcode. The subtitles were on a horrendous delay, so I don’t actually know what all went on, but it’s cute that she was momming him.

As for the KimChay…I don’t quite see how that ending was horrible? Slightly more open ended than it could have been. But the flipside of forgetting the bad times is remembering the good ones. Obviously there were some good times or else Chay would not have been devastated by Kim’s betrayal. And…then there were technical difficulties and we had to stop the stream in the middle of Jeff’s performance. So that was lame. But Jeff did a good job before technology decided to pitch a hissy fit.

I concur with the person that said they hoped Jeff had gotten cleared to sing by a doctor. I’ve only listened to a few of his live performances and I could tell his range was a little rough. Don’t let them force you back into singing before your vocal cords have healed!!! That’d be awful if you permanently damaged them.

Anyway. Looking forward to the final half and all the Magic Mike bits.

14 notes - Posted July 31, 2022

#4

I’d like to give Jackson Wang and whoever else is on his creative team congrats for having an excellent track record on music videos. I just watched the one for Cruel and my gosh that was neat. I like the through line of vapory lifeforce from Blow. That was cool.

My writing fingers might be slightly inspired…so who knows what’ll come.

17 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

#3

Finished the second half of KPWT!!!! Once again in no particular order.

Would it have killed them to fix the subtitles before releasing the rerun tickets??? Like seriously, I thought youtube subs could be iffy, but these were…special. They could have held off on letting people do the rerun viewings long enough for them to fix the timing and the quality. Yeah, live subtitling is super labor intensive…but afterwards…you get to pause and rewind to make sure you’ve got it correctly.

Anyway. The Minor family thing was entertaining. I would probably strain something in my back if I had to do flips in the air. It’d be fun…but yeah…I’m not nearly as athletic as Bible.

Build playing the saxophone amused me to no end.

I’m excited for the MileApo flick and hopefully they plunk it on iqiyi or something so I can support BOC with my watching.

I’m very impressed at how many parents were there…because if mine were at such an event…I’d change my name and move to the Southern hemisphere.

I must give JJ’s arms and shoulders an honorable mention because he has obviously worked hard on them. I certainly would not want to get tackled by him.

I snickered when I saw how tall the heels on Jeff’s boots were during the final…clubbing moment…or whatever we are calling it. Finale of some sort. Anyway…Jeff is tiny and Barcode is definitely taller than him and I am delighted. I say this as if Jeff isn’t possibly taller than me by a couple inches. Crap. I’m gonna have to look that up. Anyway, Jeff is all the gender in a pint sized package. Except for where he’s still probably above average height.

Ahem. Lovely experience, would watch again if they fixed the subtitles.

22 notes - Posted August 1, 2022

#2

Oh dear lord, if the infantilization of Apo that’s going on on twitter by some people also has a side of ableism…I will riot.

I haven’t exactly watched a lot of interviews with him but the ones I have watched screamed possible adhd. He could just be very energetic. But if he does have adhd…infantilizing the grown man is doubly aggravating.

Anyway, glad I don’t go searching for stuff on twitter.

24 notes - Posted August 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I wish I remembered who wrote the fic with Kinn comparing his accent in English to Vegas’ and lamenting the fact that nobody was gonna send a second son to an international school and that’s why there’s a difference. Because it lives in my brain rent free and I wish I’d made a note of the fic.

26 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sunny6677]

Ramble about my day again

@catsockpuppet since ya enjoyed my rambles last time if I remember correctly

I kinda overslept this morning since I turned off my alarm without realizing—and ended up being woken by my half sisters dad cuz it was about time for the bus to show up. So i rushed through the polls this morning, did my usual stuff and got ready, and in a half-asleep state I went down to the bus stop. I had a weird ass dream tho. It's kinda gross, so even if it doesn't make me too phased, I know it may gross some other people out. But all I'll say is that something fell out of my body and that afterwards there were weird translucent sticky tree roots like sticking out of me.

I rode on the bus like I normally do, took some photos and drew some stuff. And then once the bus arrived at the school, I took a few more photos cuz of how pretty it looked and sat with my friends at breakfast for a little while. I just had apple juice and that was kind of it. Then when it was time for Psychology—I went on down there and took some more photos cuz it looked pretty still.

Psychology was kinda funny today tbh. We were going over dream stuff since that's what we're supposed to be studying and I wrote the stuff about my dream on the assignment we're gonna be doing for the next few days, but we just got kinda side tracked cuz we all kept talking about out weird sleep walking or dream experiences. Some girl said she apparently writes on a board what she dreams about anytime she wakes up, and another dude told us about a sleep walking experience he had with his dad.

Spanish rolled around, and I think it mighta been cuz I was sleepy, but it felt a lit mess active than usual as we just took notes and everyone around me just sorta talked and talked. I participated in what we were doing as well obviously, but I was too exhausted to really speak.

And then when Chemistry came, my friend who usually sits with me wasn't there—so I just cut out and glued in a bunch of stuff in quietness as my teacher let us take some notes and occasionally got onto the other students.

Then in Technology, he gave some of the other students time to work on their animation concept thing—and I wanted to play Roblox, but my mind was dead set on drawing what I was voted to draw for, so I spent the entire time just drawing random stuff that popped into my head. Hypergraphia thingssss. Got a hug from my friend toward the end though and watched a bunch of Spooky Month tiktoks as I headed to lunch. And also recorded some of the scenery.

I ended up playing Roblox as my friends just kinda joked around during lunch the whole time, and just ate some chips and I drank some coca cola like I normally do. I did talk a little more with them this time though and they kinda laughed at some of my jokes.

And when English came around, we did an activity on different fictional villains based on who was the worst—I think my group ended up doing the best out of them all. And we also ended up reading some more and just discussing our book, but that was kinda it.

In Theater, we learnt about non-verbal expressions and acting. And as of now, I've been paired up with two others for a skit we're supposed to be writing/planning out. We didn't have much time today, so we'll be planning the skit out tomorrow.

Geometry was just kinda boring and I had to listen to my teacher mess with other students or scold them as I kept trying to work the entire time. Geometry, while easy, can be kinda boring sometimes. And I think whenever I'm especially bored, I do worse on it.

And finally when World History rolled around, we finished taking some notes and had some light hearted banter about some of the stuff. And also laughed because this dude kept going on about asking the teacher what her 'favorite method of ancient killing/punishment' was. That was kinda it for today though.

And then on the bus I got kinda stressed at the thought of writing, so that was when I asked if I should take a break as soon as I got home. It also mildly rained tonight, and right now, my brother and his girlfriend are kinda visiting with their new cute lil dog named Violet kdndndn

Photos I took today:

[cru5h-cascades]

(folks who followed me for Serafina series crap y'all might want to read this!)

Bridge to Terabithia.

So I had to read this book for 6th grade and I vividly remember what's up with this book (probaly because I frequently watch the movie but also because the unit we had for the book was interesting, especially towards the end of the unit!). I have LOTS of thoughts about this book, especially for the last parts of it, and the movie adaption from 2007.

Yup. This is another semi book rant.

First off, the positives. I liked this book as a kid. Not because I related to it, but because of the events of the book and how the kids in my grade reacted to Leslie's death. Personally, I kind of saw it coming. If I recall correctly, I think I might've figured it out by reading the back of my copy of the book somehow (it was the 40th anniversay edition copy, like the one pictured above). The day after I read the part where Leslie died, I blabbed this to some of my fellow classmates because I was so suprised I was right (I suprisingly have a good track record when it comes to predicting stuff in books I have to read in class!) and then soon enough My entire 6th grade class found out about the death of this fictional girl we were reading about. It was just interesting to see the story unfold! Like at one moment it's pretty nice, you know kids just usin' their imagination and finding creative ways to survive school as social outcasts but then BAM one of them dies and the other kid just kind of loses himself I guess.

With the book's sequence of events comes my gripes with the book. Case in point: how Jess goes on living after Leslie's death. Here's some stuff that Jess does after Leslie dies.

Blaming his teacher who took him to a field trip outside of school hours (more on that in a bit because I got stuff about to say about that) for Leslie's death because she never asked if Jess wanted to bring Leslie DESPITE THE FACT Jess did think about bringing Leslie with them but never said anything.

Punching a kid because he was mocking him about his friend dying.

Dump the art supplied Leslie gave him into the river she drowned in (without any concern for the local wildlife and marine life, might I add)

All of this presumably over a short amount of time and once he makes the bridge he's all a-okay??? BRO IF YOU'RE ACTING LIKE THIS CLEARLY YOU'RE NOT OKAY. I vividly remember this from 6th grade but we had what my 6th grade teacher called a socratic semenar about if the way Jess is coping with this loss is okay or not.

Unanimously, we all agreed that kid needs help. Ain't no way a bridge can solve your problems, lil' man.

Now, it isn't specified how long it's been from Leslie's death to the end of the book. But nowhere is it specified that Jess got some time off school to process all of this or anything like that and the movie doesn't do anything to clarify that, which leads me to assume that all of this happens over the course of a week or so. Give the kid a breather. My. God.

The 2007 movie isn't any better, either.

Same story beats. The bridge fixes everything for Jess again. My. God.

I haven't re-read the book recently, but for some reason I think Jess' dad is a bit more of a dick in the flick? I dunno. Hell, maybe some of this post is me confusing some stuff from the movie for stuff that came from the book. But damn. The oppertunity to fix the book's weaker points was right there but nah.

If there's another adaptation of Bridge to Terabithia in the future, I hope that it shows Jess really recovering from Leslie's death. Make it clear how long it is between Leslie's death and the end of the story. Let Jess get help. Something. Just handle the effects of how the death of a friend might affect a child better. Actually show the healing process and don't resolve everything by having Jess build the bridge. Build up to that point. Jess' previous negative coping mechanisims can stay but at least show some positive ones afterwards. Show him growing as a person.

So that's my lil rant about Bridge to Terabithia and how it handles mental health. These are just my opinions, so take it easy on me. If I ever make that post about the Spiderwick Chronicles I promise it's not gonna be a rant 'cause I loved those books (at least the og ones, anyways) and I don't have a lot of negative stuff to say about them (again, at least the og books).

[publicrelations-spectra23]

Victory on the pitch but Tragedy off the pitch – The Story of the Spanish Women’s Football Team

Every 4 years the world of football holds its breath for the much-awaited FIFA Women’s World Cup. A world cup tournament filled with rich history, glory and iconic moments; this is the arena where champions are born. Regarded as the holy grail for any football enthusiast and players. The World Cup is the most coveted title in world football, The Women’s World Cup is the perfect platform for women to showcase their talents and prove to the world that women in sports are a force to be reckoned with. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was held from 20 July – 20 August. Spain was crowned champions after a hard-fought victory against the reigning European Champions England and the tournament was regarded as a huge success. Unfortunately, the events following the World Cup final tarnished the entire image of the World Cup, Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish player Jenni Hermoso all due to the stupidity and immaturity of Luis Rubiales. Luis Rubiales is the former president of the RFEF and has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. During the post – match ceremony of the final, Luis grabbed the Spanish striker Jenni Hermoso and forcibly kissed her. Hermoso said shortly afterwards that she did not expect nor did she like the kiss when asked about why it happened to the Spanish radio and television. In a social media video recorded in the locker room, we can clearly see she saying "I didn't like it" and "but what am I supposed to do?" After this, Rubiales entered the players' locker room, reportedly throwing his arm around Hermoso and joking about marrying her in Ibiza. Luis was also spotted grabbing his crotch while standing next to Queen Letizia and his 16-year-old daughter Sofia. When questioned about the incident, he termed it as “an unimportant gesture of affection” which was done without any ill intention in a “moment of the highest exuberance”. This incident correctly received a lot of backlashes against the Spanish Federation and the Spanish Prime Minister, Sports Minister, members from both the men’s and women’s Spanish team demanded action against Rubiales. Rubiales was expected to announce his resignation on August 25, 2023 but instead refused to acknowledge his mistakes, did not step down from his mistakes and called the reaction against the incident as “fake feminism” and as a “scrouge” of society. As of now, Rubiales has been suspended by FIFA and he was forced to step down due to rising pressure and scrutiny.

Task at Hand: You are the PRO of Luis Rubiales, explain the actions of your client and provide suitable defence and PR strategies. Prepare a video of not more than 4 minutes justifying all the allegations and suitable strategies to mitigate the damaged reputation.

Deadline for this task is 1:30PM and email it to spectra23.pr@gmail.com. (ppt is also appreciated)

[princeofcyberpunk]

that is actually insane to me

what could POSSIBLY be that bad that it would get a Z (im assuming it would then be ESRB M and PEGI 16 elsewhere) rating holy shit. ive been following this game and have been hyped for it literally since second 1 of its reveal nearly a year ago now so it makes me wonder what they're not showing us that would make it rated so high lmao. I'm kinda worried but also intrigued by what Hino exactly means by "karma and revenge". seeing with how Harvard has been slowly revealed to be kind of insane in recent trailers im incredibly excited to see how his character will play out in relation to these themes.

i just hope if its something super serious that they handle it correctly. Level-5 doesnt really have the best track record at portraying things like mental illnesses (specifically DID in Inazuma Eleven) very well so i hope if they'll include that, they've done their proper research.

however i am worried they'll add something particularly unsavory like they did in one of their previous IPs. heres why:

(tw// fictional CSA mention from Megaton Musashi) (i think this is considered a spoiler from that show but idk i stopped watching shortly afterwards cuz i was so grossed out)

Megaton Musashi had an episode (im not sure if it appeared in the game, ive never played it) where there was an NSFW scene between an adult woman (Minami) and a 16 year old boy (Teru). Not only was it completely unnessecary and weirldly abrupt in context of the rest of the story but its also shocking and fucking gross because Teru is a minor (very obviously, as the entire main cast is in high school and Teru literally wears an unaltered school uniform as his casual outfit when not in battle lmao) and Minami is not only an adult but also has authority over him, being the commander of the military and also being revealed to have saved his life when he was even younger which is when its implied he started having feelings for her (if i remember correctly). This would be fine if she rejected them, but the problem is that she didn't and the show treats this as if its a normal relationship between two consenting adults when it clearly isn't.

basically I'm worried that they'll make another scene of CSA but in this game instead. While i don't think they would be able to do it as on-screen as the scene in the anime was (video games have more restrictions than anime does to my understanding), im still worried they'll make another gross """"relationship"""" between an adult and a child and play it off as fine like they did in Megaton. hate to be that guy but all it would take is for them to reverse the genders (with Minami being male and Teru being female) and people would be rioting at Level-5 for including it. but ig Level-5 thinks its ok if a woman does the assaulting. what a world.

tldr: i really hope that they dont pull a Megaton Musashi again and put a CSA scene in Decapolice. if they do, i hope they actually treat it like the heinous crime that it is and give it the tact it deserves when using it in storytelling.

other than that im incredibly excited for the silly funny detective game with the fucked up catboy twink protag :3c

About DecaPolice's possible 18+ age rating (TGS info translation)

*Image above is from Level-5's official website's TGS Report Day 1.

So, back in September during TGS, Akihiro Hino (Level-5's President/CEO) had a stage interview with Danganronpa & Rain Code's creator Kazutaka Kodaka.

The video has since been deleted from Level-5's official channel (since they had said they'd only archive it for 3 months).

But I've rewatched that video so many times I can almost rewind a section of their conversation back in my head 😅.

And that section is about Decapolice's age rating.

Basically, what happened was:

Hino: I like the games made by Western people, it makes me feel like we Japanese people should band up and do our best as well.

Kodaka: Speaking of Western, I know Level-5 usually make family-friendly games, but don't you want to try making a CERO-Z (18+) game like them?

Hino: Well, to be honest, it's not a proclamation or anything, but the game we're currently making, Decapolice, might actually be CERO-Z (18+).

Kodaka: Seriously?

Hino: Yes. It looks cute on the outside, but the inside's just messy (dorodoro). It's hard since, when developing it I'm always told "No, you can't. That's impossible for this country and that country." (As in impossible to sell in some countries AKA banned). When faced with that, it makes me feel like, "Well, should we not then?". But still, I want to stay true to Decapolice's original essence as much as possible.

Kodaka: Then, do you like brutal scenes too?

Hino: No, no, I don't really like brutal scenes. But, I made those scenes so they could in turn elevate other better, more beautiful, scenes.

Kodaka: I've played the demo, but it feels like a team game, full of fun and light-hearted.

Hino: Oh no, the actual thing is super dark. It's filled with things like 'revenge', 'karma', etc.

Kodaka: Is that so?

Hino: Yes, this time (TGS) we're pushing it as another one of Level-5's family-friendly game. Although, in the upcoming future we'll be revealing what the game truly is, little by little.

Kodaka: I see, I'm pretty interested now.

And that's it.

I have confidence in my memory & translation ability, and you can also find the same info from both JP & ENG twitter accounts that were watching the interview, all shocked 😂.

Also, this Famitsu news article that basically wrote down their convos (in Japanese & shortened): https://s.famitsu.com/news/202309/23318239.html

One more thing...

I just want to mention that Decapolice's use of puppet forms is because Level-5 wants to sort of 'side-step' the age rating system, by making them cute puppets and dolls.

Here's a link to that bit of info's translation by user @DartsEnthusiast on twitter (they also post the original article's link there): https://twitter.com/DartsEnthusiast/status/1636145350749704194?t=R9lBFMpto7vC6qUjPqAt8Q&s=19

...And with that, see you guys later 👍🏻

[aquanova99]

Still the One (Felix Volturi x Reader)

➽───────────────❥

Summary: y/n suddenly leaves the castle. Felix isn’t the same afterwards and after admitting to himself he can’t handle her absence goes to find her.

Felix POV

Felix stared blankly at y/n. He wasn’t sure if he was hearing things correctly.

“You—you want to leave?”

“Yes, I’m sorry Felix.” You could see she was holding back tears.

“Wh-why?” You couldn’t think straight. Someone had to messing with you.

“I don’t like it here anymore. You told me this life was dangerous and I shouldn’t want it. Well, I don’t want it anymore.”

“You don’t want me anymore?”

“Of course I do. Just not like this. Maybe once I’m changed I can come back.” So she had already asked the kings to leave. Y/n had never been one to hide things from you. Something had to have happened.

“You can’t leave.”

Y/n sighed and steeled herself, “Felix. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to leave.”

The words hit you like a ton of bricks. You felt every muscle in your body tighten, and your jaws were clenched.

“Why?” You heard your voice crack with the question. You never got a response. Y/n had rushed out of the room as quick as she could, you on the other hand had never felt like a statue more in your life. If you could sleep you would have thought this was a nightmare.

————————————————————

Few months later

“Fe, relax. The poor guy didn’t even say anything.”

“Well he looked like he was trying to challenge me.”

“You know damn well he wasn’t. The kings won’t be happy if you keep ripping apart every new recruit.”

“D, I could care less.”

You heard Demetri sigh as you headed off to your chamber. Part of you knew he was right but you didn’t really care about much of anything at that point. Even the twins kept their distance now. You heard Demetri follow close behind you. You laid on your bed and covered your face with a pillow.

“D, I just want to be alone .”

“I don’t really care what you want. You need to get it together. I’m serious the kings are on edge, Caius has half a mind to use jane to snap you out of this.”

“I don’t know how much clearer I could make it but I don’t care.”

Demetri scoffed, “You and y/n need to talk she’s not doing that much better.”

You snapped up. “How do you know? Have you seen her?”

“I check in from time to time.”

“And you just didn’t think that was relevant information to disclose?” You could feel your anger rising again

“She asked me not to. She’s my friend too. But—“

“What?” You appeared in front of him, “Is she okay?!?”

“Like i said she looks about the same as you but when I told her how you were doing, she seemed genuinely surprised. She said it wasn’t supposed to be like that.”

“Why would she think that?”

“I don’t know why don’t you ask her?” God he was so smug sometimes. She’d wanted to leave. If you went to try and get her back and she said no….you might not be able to handle that.

“No. If she wants to come back if she wants to, or whenever she’s supposed to be changed.”

Demetri breathed an exasperated sigh, “you both are impossible.”

“FELIX!”

“Ugh what now?” Heidi came in dragging Afton by the neck.

“Tell him. Or I’ll rip you apart myself.” Heidi wasn’t one to pick a fight, Afton should have been embarrassed honestly. But whatever he did must have been bad to get Heidi upset.

“I didn’t do anything. I just gave y/n some advice.”

It was your turn, you grabbed him by the throat, “WHAT did you tell her?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readers POV

You kept hearing those words over and over again. Afton and the others talking about the human being dangerous. Making Felix weaker. Was going to get him killed because he would get distracted. Making the Volturi seem soft. An exception to the rule. They were only keeping me around because they can’t undo a mate bond.

‘If you actually cared about your mate you’ll leave us all alone.’

‘Useless human.’

You replayed all of those insults in your head. Over and over like a broken record. You hadn’t realized how strong the mate bond would affect you when you were away from Felix. You figured since he had been without you before your absence wouldn’t bother him, but then Demetri came to check on you. And apparently Felix wasn’t doing well, that hadn’t been the plan. But if you went back now, the volturi’s reputation might still be affected.

You hoped that Felix wasn’t as bad as Demetri said. He always did have a flair for the dramatic anyway. You had to believe that. You missed your little family. The days seemed to drag on and you could barely sleep.

It was sometime after 2 in the morning. Sleep continued to elude you. You decided to trudge to the kitchen and make some tea in hopes that would help. You were drinking and snacking on whatever you could find when you heard the door knock. The sudden noise making you jump and drop your cup. The glass shattered

“Oh damn it.” You grabbed some paper towels and put them over the glass and tea that was now all over the floor. You stepped over everything when you heard the knocking return a little more frantic this time. You really should be more careful about opening the door this late but you could blame it on the lack of sleep.

“Felix??”

“Why are you up this late?”

“Why are you knocking on my door this late? What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.” The two of you stared at eachother for a beat before you stepped to the side. You let out a sigh and gestured for him to step inside. He looked around for maybe 2 seconds before disappearing to the kitchen and coming back after quickly grabbing all the glass off the floor.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“The last thing I need is for you to cut yourself on something.” You bit your lip at his response, you felt like you were dying to touch him. The stillness in the room was suffocating. After what seemed like forever Felix finally broke the silence.

“Why didn’t you tell me what they said.”

You looked down, “you would have never let me leave. They—“ you tried to take a breath to steady yourself, “they weren’t wrong Fe, I’m just a human. I get in the way of things. You’re always having to take care of me what if you got hurt because you had to worry about me? It’s better if you wait until I’m changed.”

“Shouldnt I have a say in it?” You winced at his words, you’d assumed that he would somewhat agree with the some of the other members if the guard. It gutted you to think that he thought you couldn’t care less about his opinion.

“I didn’t mean—I’m sorry.” You were to determined to keep it together and waited for Felix to continue. You were surprised when he appeared in front of you

“I’m sorry.”

“Wh-what?”

“You didn’t feel like you could come to me about what happened which means I was not doing my job as your mate, I sho—“

“No. Felix stop. I never thought I couldn’t come to you. I knew you would do everything in your power to make sure I was fine. I didn’t want anyone to get into trouble, or make the guard seem like a joke for having to babysit a human. I’m-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just left or even thought that was my only option. That was dumb…”

Felix cupped your face in his hands suddenly and kissed you. You found yourself melting into him. You couldn’t help the emotions that overwhelmed you when you were done.

“Does this mean you’ll let me take you home little one?” He chuckled as he wiped a tear from your eye

You let out a broken laugh, “yeah, let’s go home.”

Felix stopped before heading out, “why don’t you sleep first, then we’ll head out in the morning.”

“You’ll stay with me?”

“Of course,” he grabbed my hand as I led him to the room, “y/n I just have one question…”

“What is it?” You asked sitting down

“Afton? Really? Of all people you let him get inside your head?”

“Please tell me you didn’t do anything to him.”

“No promises.”

“Felix! It wasn’t really his fault—“

“Don’t even start. Besides if I hadn’t done anything Heidi would have. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her angry before. You’re going to have fun with that later.”

“I’m excited to see her again.”

“So? Why did you leave little one?”

“I told you… I don’t know I guess I just don’t see what you would want to do with just me.” You opened your arms for him to come settle in next to you

“Oh little one, you’re the reason I can survive. I’ve waited an eternity to find you. So if appreciate it if you would stop trying to run from me.”

“No more running. I promise.”

“Good. Because being without you has been a living nightmare.”

“Yeah no kidding, have you seen the state you found me in? I’ve been a mess.”

Felix laughed and pulled you in tight, “rest your eyes little one, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Not fair.” You mumbled already succumbing to sleep, “you don’t need to rest. And technically it is morning.”

“Believe me, I may not be able to sleep but now I can finally relax.” You smiled and buried your face into his chest before falling asleep in his arms.

Taglist: @adaydreamaway08 @artaxerxesthegreat @aunt-pipie @avyannadawn @imtoanonymousforyou @lacychick @minghao3o @quarthly @xcastawayherosx @volturiwolf

[1000sunnygo]

Hello! I would love to hear your thoughts about these 5 lovely women. If thats ok. Sorry for randomly asking.

I love them sm i wish we got to know more about them. Also, I do apologize if i accidentally spoiled you.

Hey shobi-enzo!

The Sisters! I thought they're great from the little we've seen of them. Unlike others, the four sisters know who their children are, their existence gave these women a reason to rebel. What happened afterward? Did they personally meet and talk to their kids? Where are they living now anyway? It could be great if we knew more about them.

I dig Matilda's character design! We often talked about her whenever she appeared. I don't know if you'd been around the fandom during serialization but Matilda was part of "Sister-Minerva supporter collaboration to take down Ratris" theory, if I remember correctly, because she's a Sister who appeared in chapter 23 and again in one of the fallen cast scripts in ch. 118 color page.

Which is interesting, because we assumed the fallen scripts belonged to characters who died. She was there either because it wasn't yet decided if she'd remain alive or dead, or Shirai (and Posuka) just wanted the readers to pay attention to this particular character so we can remember her when she becomes relevant.

Shirai once again brought her up in the fanbook, which released a couple of months prior to the release of Isabella side story.

It seems giving focus to sisters was a part of Shirai's old plan, I'm glad he could pull it off eventually.

I don't think Matilda is Norman's mom, by the way. I HC that his mother was highly intelligent and demons wanted more children with her DNA, but she was physically weak and eventually died. Norman was her only child and was deemed extremely valuable, thus was sent to the best plant in spite of his unusually poor health.

Sienna is very likely Sherry or Carol's mom, given red hair is rare and recessive (although we don't know her hair color for sure). She's the "docile and submissive woman hence valuable" meaning suitable for reproducing, probably birthed numerous "high quality" children who were selected for Isabella's plant.

I liked her most tbh, probably because her silent resignation was relatable somehow :')

I'm pretty sure this image is hers and if so, she's even younger than Cecile and there are ~100 children born between her and Isabella. So I don't think she's Emma's mother.

Scarlet being Don's mom is somewhat likely, because her immediate reaction was "I thought s/he died long ago!" -> likely birthed one of the older kids.

I don't have any theory about Jessica but I remember finding her character description funny lol.

As for Cecile, I'd totally eat the theory of her being Norman's mom if I could. But she's a lot younger than Isabella, it's probably not possible.

I think the novel portrayed her better than the side chapter. (Shoutout to @/14thNeah on Twitter and @standreamy for their amazing translation!) This story becoming a side chapter was unexpected because it didn't have to exist in two different versions (novel+manga), it gives me hope that Shirai would write side stories about every major character/faction including the Demons, Ratris, Yugo/Lucas and Lambda.

Whenever we get a new volume that records these side stories, I hope the Sisters will be drawn in color.

Random fun fact: when Shirai wrote Isabella and the Sisters' rebellion against Peter, he was playing P!nk and Lady Gaga's songs for the "female rebellion" inspiration-burst. [S]

[robertsheehanownsmyass]

Song of Sway Lake Interview with Ari Gold

A RobertSheehanOwnsMyAss exclusive!

Over a year ago I had the pleasure of exchanging some messages with Ari Gold and he agreed to a short Q&A. I just had some questions about the story and the production, in part because I'm very familiar with the area in which the film was shot, but also, it's a movie that makes you think! It has taken me forever, in part because I went on hiatus shortly afterward, but I've finally gotten around to transcribing the answers from a voice recording. Enjoy!

Q: I'm super curious about filming locations because I actually spend a lot of time in the area. On instagram you tag a lot of your production photos as "Lake George." Did you do any filming there? (side note: Lake George is a really popular tourist destination in upstate NY and a lot of people come up from NYC to weekend there.)

A: Thank you for watching! We always say “Lake George” to catch more attention - to get the word out about the movie! 95% was Blue Mountain Lake except the bar scene which was on Long Lake. 

Q: What is the significance of Nikolai's necklace? It looks like a chain with a wedding ring on it. He was wearing it early on before he started stealing things from the house.

A: It is a necklace with a wedding ring on it. If I remember correctly, we just liked the look of it. I don't know that we had anything more than that.

Q: Nikolai is a vivacious extrovert juxtaposed with quiet and withdrawn Ollie. Ollie seems unimpressed (if not repulsed) by his family history where Nikolai covets it, yet both men come from some degree of dysfunction. Do you see them as opposite sides of the same coin?

A: I do see Nik and Ollie as opposite sides of the same coin. Basically both of them are stuck in the past; Ollie wants to erase his past and Nikolai wants to steal his past, but both of them have the same problem in that both of them can't seem to live in the present.

Q: Was that a real functioning Chris Craft you got to film with? (Side note, these are really cool antique boats and there aren't many of them left.)

A: Yes! It was, we borrowed it from a family across the lake and Mr. Culkin crashed it into a rock. Lightly! He bumped into a rock which caused a pain in the ass repair.

Q: Did you hike up Blue Mountain and visit the fire tower?

A: Yes, we visited the fire tower and I've hiked up Castle Rock dozens of times, yeah.

Q: Did Robert Sheehan stick to his script at all or did he ad-lib a lot of his lines?

A: He did not ad-lib, but he would try things in advance for me to approve. Actually wait...he did ad-lib! One of my favorite lines that he did ad-lib was: "Cupid was a naked baby. Make me feel uncomfortable." And also: "Operation silence is when I put my penis in your mouth." Both of those were ad-libbed and were amazing.

Q: Does Mary Beth Peil actually sparkle or is that just how she looks onscreen?

A: Yeah she kind of does sparkle. And we gave her a sparkly dress!

Thanks for reading! If you haven't seen it yet, check out The Song of Sway Lake wherever you buy or rent movies. You can also watch it free on Tubi with ads.

[midgardianweasley]

Build-a-bear adventures

Build-a-bear adventures.

Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Summary: A top trained assassin, her girlfriend, and a build-a-bear workshop, what better way to spend a day off. 

Word count: 2.1k

Warnings: Agonisingly fluffy.

I was planning on posting angst, but, decided on a fluff instead<33 

“But babe. Babe. Babe.” You poked your girlfriend, fully aware that with every prod, you were only contributing to the headache worthy eye rolls she had been giving you for the past hour. You were joking, of course you were, she knew that, but she also knew that it was possible you were about to be single in 0.2 of a second if you didn’t stop poking her. 

With a sarcastic smile and a deep breath, she turned her head towards you, momentarily stopping your movements as you returned a sickeningly sweet smile back. 

“Yes?” 

“I don’t think you understand.” 

“I do understand.”

“This is life or death.” You spoke with a poker face, a weak attempt to try and make your point valid. 

“I think that may be exaggerating just a little bit honey.” She chuckled lightly at your tone and the way you moved in your spot on the sofa, now having your legs crossed in front of you, hands enthusiastically moving in front of you. 

“No. No, see, you don’t understand! We need to do this!” 

“Is my unconditional love not enough?” 

“No.”

“Ouch.” She dramatically placed her hand on her chest, a smirk plastered onto her face as she watched you rile yourself up with every sentence.

“Okay, sorry, I didn’t mean that, your unconditional love is more than enough, and while I unconditionally love you too, that doesn’t change the fact that this is a necessity.” 

“Like the ones from the jungle book?” 

You groaned loudly, throwing your head back as the assassin teased you. 

“Baby, please!” You moved once again, now clambering onto her lap with your hands interlocked behind her neck, your faces mere inches away from hers. Her hands immediately went to your waist to steady you, pure energy coursed through your veins as you tried to convince Natasha to go ahead with your idea and she wasn’t certain you wouldn’t fall off of you if she didn’t hold you down.

“You seriously want to?”

“Yes.”

“Today?”

“Yes.”

“Instead of cuddling in bed with movies?” Her eyebrows raised in question, not faltering as she watched you pretend to ponder, stroking an imaginary beard on your chin.

“Yes.” You smiled, your inner child shining through. 

Knowing she wasn’t going to win, she sighed gently, running a hand through your hair and giving you a quick kiss on your temple before tapping your thighs to signal for you to stand up. 

“Alright. Get ready and we’ll go.” 

“Really?” You squealed, clapping your hands together as you rocked back and forth on your heels. 

“Really. Now hurry and get your shoes on, we don’t want to get stuck in traffic.” 

She watched with nothing but adoration as you whizzed off to get ready to leave, swearing that she’s never seen you move so quickly in her life. Despite her playful protest, she walked over to the kitchen counter to pick up her car keys, swinging them around her pointer finger as she walked over to the doorway of the compound living room. 

‘I can’t believe I'm doing this.’ She thought. 

Although she’ll deny it to anyone that asks, she’s absolutely whipped for you. 

“I’m ready!” Your voice called out, encouraging Natasha to shrug her leather jacket on and walk towards her smiling girlfriend, taking her hand as they walked out together with content smiles on their faces. 

‘Let’s do this.’ 

_______________________

It didn’t take long to arrive at your destination, your eyes immediately drew themselves to the store windows filled with stuffed bears in a variety of different outfits, some bears were dressed up to fit a theme, some bears were characters from loved movies, some were just bears in dungarees. 

That’s right. You’ve managed to bring a trained assassin to a build-a-bear workshop. Why? 

To get matching bears. 

You looked towards Natasha, a huge grin on your face, only faltering slightly as you were met with her hands and forehead on the drivers wheel. You tugged on her sleeve, ignoring her disagreement, her head not leaving the wheel, but turned to face you.

“Stop being silly, c’mon, you’re looking forward to it! I know you are!” 

“Babe. We’re parked outside of a teddy store.”

“Exactly! It’s fun, you’re excited, I'm excited, let’s go!” 

You didn’t hesitate to open your car door, jumping out of the car and shutting the door behind you, the redhead not far behind you as she once again took your hand, reminding you how lucky you are that she loves you. Your response was a simple kiss on her cheek, a small blush following shortly afterwards.

“You’re cute.” You pinched her cheek.

“Yeah yeah, let’s go get our bears.” 

_______________________

“So, that’s both of your bears stuffed, do you guys want to put voice boxes in them?” The kind staff member asked the pair of you. 

You glanced towards Natasha, silently asking if she’d like one or not. She gave you a brief smile before looking back at the woman helping you with your bears. 

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” She winked at you before following the woman over to another station within the store. There were rows and rows of different shapes and coloured voice boxes to choose from. 

You had the option of choosing a pre-recorded sound, like animal sounds or a bunch of different ‘i love you.’ in different voices. You didn’t mind what voice you had, honestly, you would’ve been content with an ‘i love you’ from Elsa at this point. However, you saw your girlfriend make a beeline for the ones that you record your own message into. 

“You’re gonna do your own one?” You asked, moving over to stand beside her. 

“Nope. I’m making one for yours.” She said proudly, holding two of the small items in her hand, holding it out for you to take one. You couldn’t help but feel your heartbeat quicken at her words. This is the sweetest thing you’ve ever done with someone else, and to think she wasn’t even that eager to come in the first place. You knew she’d have fun. 

Taking the small blue speaker from her hand, you were instructed to press the button on the back of the plastic, hold it down to speak, and release it when you were finished, but it can only be a short message. The both of you tucked your bears under your arm, bringing the box to your mouth and cupping it so that it would come out loud and clear, and so the other couldn’t hear what you were saying. 

Once your messages were done, you handed each other the speaker to place in the paw that had a ‘press me’ sign sewed into it. The woman ensured it was inserted correctly before taking them elsewhere to be sewn up, leaving you both to look at the racks of tiny clothes hung on the wall. 

It was almost as difficult as choosing clothes for yourself, there were too many options, and every single one was adorable. How did literal children do this? 

“Please tell me you can’t decide on an outfit either.” The Russian spoke from beside you, her gaze focused on the fabrics, styles and patterns in front of you. 

“It’s easier trying to take a pop tart off of the demi-god at home than trying to pick a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for a stuffed animal. What the hell?” Your arms gestured to the wall in front of you, exasperated as you tried to decide whether you wanted the blue jeans or black.” 

“Hi guys, here are your bears, just letting you know, there’s also some dresses over there if you want to check them out.” The woman smiled, watching as you and Natasha shared a glance of horror. 

The two of you were gonna be here for a while.

______________________

Finally, you and Nat had dressed both your bears. You chose a pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket for yours, and Natasha had chosen a Y/F/O. It appeared as though each of you had made ‘mini me’s’ of the other, and they seemed pretty damn accurate too. 

After successfully creating and dressing your bears, it was time to name them, pay, and then you could both go home and relax. You had no idea building a bear could be so exhausting. 

Both you and Natasha had to pick a name. You thought it over, whereas Nat had just rushed right in, choosing to call her bear ‘honey.’, the nickname she always reserved for you. Gripping your bear tightly, you observed the birth certificate being printed out, the name, the owner’s name and the date clearly written in bold, black letters. You could’ve sworn you saw Natasha’s eyes light up when she was handed the sheet of paper. 

“What about you, miss?” The woman asked, ready to type in whatever name you gave her. Glancing behind you quickly, you caught the eye of your girlfriend behind you, immediately knowing what to call it. 

“Snoopy, please.” 

You heard one loud and short laugh erupt from Natasha’s lips, her hand shot to cover her mouth, not intending to be so disruptive when she heard what you had called it. 

‘Snoopy’ is the name of a cartoon character, which was probably what people would think you named the bear after. In reality, it wasn’t that at all. 

When you first met the team, you were informed of what everyone’s roles were and how they contributed to the group. There were supersoldiers, scientists, a god, all different kinds of people, including the incredibly attractive spy. When you went on your first mission, she had to hack into a computer to retrieve some stolen data, but took her time to also look at some other things they had on there too, just to kill time. 

The first words you said to her on that mission that wasn’t to do with what direction you were running in, was ‘Alright, hold off Snoopy, you can do that in your spare time, hurry up.’, and at first she was annoyed with the nickname, claiming she wasn’t snooping, nor does she ever ‘snoop’, but she soon took it in her stride. It was still a running joke between the pair of you 2 years down the line, and you never let her forget it. 

“Nice name, babe.” She coughed, unable to fully settle down from her laughing fit.

“Why, thank you! Yours isn’t so bad yourself.” You spoke as you blew her a kiss that she grabbed in thin air and pretended to shove into her jean pocket, earning a small shake of the head before you took your printed certificate and went to purchase the bears. 

_______________________

Once you got back to the compound, the both of you were completely shattered, unable to keep your eyes open to watch some TV before bed. Eager to get some sleep, the two of you just ended up changing into your pyjamas, following your shared night routine before collapsing onto your bed. 

You lay beside her, still able to smell her perfume after so many hours, the scent making your eyelids feel like rocks. Grabbing your bear, you put it in between you, Natasha doing the same thing, before snuggling up close together under the covers. She reached over to put some fallen hair behind your ear, smiling gently at you as she did so, the gesture lazily returned. 

“Thank you for suggesting today, baby. I really enjoyed myself.” She whispered, a murmur of agreement following her words.

“Thank you for taking us Natty, I had fun.” You mumbled with closed eyes, sleep quickly taking over. 

“Get some sleep, my love.” 

You nodded once before responding. “G’night Nat.” 

“Goodnight baby.”

And that was you, out like a light. 

Natasha reached over to give you a kiss on the forehead as her final goodnight, not realised that she’d leant on the teddy in the process, only noticing when she heard your voice in a non sleepy state. 

“I’m madly in love with you, Romanoff.” She heard you laugh, followed by an excited “I’m done!”, obviously you forgot to let go of the button after you recorded the initial message, but it had made it even more special. She couldn’t help but adore you with every bone in her body. 

You weren’t awake now, but when you were, she hoped to see your reaction when you listened to her message in your bear, the words spoken in Russian, but you’d heard them before, so you’d definitely know what it meant.

“Moye serdtse tvoye, lyubov' moya.” (My heart is yours, my love.)

She was right. 

She’s absolutely whipped. 

 Taglist: @natashas-favourite-knives @eilarch @natashaswifey @lostandsearching​ @wandaromanova​ @pottahishotasf @d14n4ol @xxromanoffxx 

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Is it wrong to lie to children?

A personal essay on reconciling with a shitty childhood and the question: is it wrong to lie to children?

It’s perplexing to have a shitty “unorthodox” childhood because initially I tried to throw out everything about It. Toss out the plumping and the rafters and the roofing, dispense of every single part of my upbringing I could get my hands on and not look back. Naturally, this approach didn’t work. It wasn’t even a real possibility. You’re still haunted by it, a ghost in the bones of a house, a foundation that remains long after the builders have left. That’s part of recovery too, to look at that ghost, to look at those bones, and keep saying: I see you, I see. I let you in. You sit with it and accept, accept, accept.

The really terrible part of this, the part where I don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater, is that you then have to raise the thing, deal with it. You have to do the hard work of parsing through the endless bits of self and placing them in “keep” piles and “discard” piles. I want to keep my mother’s kindness. I want to keep my father’s sense of humor. I want to discard the isolation. I want to discard the delusions.

But then there are these weird . . . “I don’t know” things. The things I am unsure if they helped me or hurt me. As I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten more and more of those “I don’t know” categories piling up. I’ve worked my way through most of the more obvious ones and now it’s all grey and mushy and as cloudy as a London winter. Recently, more than anything, I’ve been grappling with the fact my mother believed it was wrong to lie to children. She believed, in her flower-child way, that it was unethical in all forms.

I never believed in Santa Claus. I’m sorry to say I was a pretty obnoxious kid too because I would preach on the playground about how there was no Santa and there had never been any Santa. Which was a bit harsh, but in my defense I was under the impression these people were suffering from some sort of collective mass delusion. They were being lied to. And lying was wrong.

Is it wrong to lie to children?

I’ve known about sex since I was around 5 years old. I don’t remember why I asked, but it was something about where babies come from and so on. Most parents talk about a stork or love or some other abstract side-step. My mother described the anatomy to me and showed me a scientific diagram of the process. She told me that a sperm meets an egg and fertilizes it so the baby can grow. I learned most of this in scientific terms and was surprised when none of my middle school friends knew how a penis worked.

Is it wrong to lie to children?

When I was 9 or so our cat was eaten by a coyote. I asked my mom where he went and she said that he accidently got out the night before. She said they looked for him all morning, but it was too late. She didn’t use the word “gone” or “passed on” or “he’s in a better place now.”

She said he was dead. I said oh. She asked if I wanted to see him. I said yes. For the record, I am not actually sure if 9 year-olds should see corpses. That is neither here nor there. It was something that stuck with me though, the body of my cat with his tummy ripped out. I had never seen intestines before. His eyes were open.

But there was something cathartic about digging the grave. About helping pick up his little stiff body by the feet and placing him inside. There was something about piling on the red dirt as the sun set and letting the tears fall.

People on sitcoms hate talking about death. It’s understandable, it’s not funny, it makes for good dramatic irony when the kid asks “Where’s Socks?” and the parents go “Uuuuuh. He ran away.” I’ve never felt more alienated at those points. My cat died. He was eaten. I saw his body, and I buried it. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t want to be told he ran away-- that he had a choice in whether or not he left me.

Is it wrong to lie to children?

For a long time I thought the entirety of my childhood was wrong and bad, because I was miserable and broken at the end of it. I will assure you, my parents fucked up time and time again. But sometimes I have to stop and keep asking: Was this the wrong part? Was this the part where they fucked up? Was any part of this valuable? It’s a hard process to comb through an entire life and decide which bits are worth keeping, and if there are any silver linings.

So here is one: I am an honest person. I am a crooked person too, unsure of where to place my feet in social situations, picking my way through others normalcy. I do not readily share information, I am not forthcoming, and it’s a slow burn for me to open up about anything.

However, I notice time and time again that strangers will share personal things with me. I don’t mean for it to happen, but there’s just this pattern in my life. I once went on a car ride with a girl I barely know from my debate team. She described how she wanted to lose her virginity, she wanted it, but was scared God would be angry. That she’d be dirty afterwards. I told her that that was impossible, sex was just an act, it had no eyes, it had no priestly robes, or bearing on her soul. She cried. She said she hadn’t told me anyone this before.

I had a friend in high school who was struggling with an eating disorder, people had tried to get her to talk about it before, but I was the first person she admitted it to. In the hallway, sitting, just discussing nothing, and out it comes: I’m scared to eat sometimes. I was on a city bus and an old woman struck up a conversation with me. Over an hour or so, and she ended up telling me her fears for her own daughter going away to college. Her fear of growing old and passing on. Her problems with sleeping as she lay awake and dreaded it.

People have told me about their problems with substance abuse, their struggles with sexuality, and childhood trauma. People spill to me and I sit there thinking: Why? Sometimes I think it’s my gender or just how people are, but it always feels like I’m missing some part of the picture. Why do people open up to me, unprompted, all at once? Why me?

Is it wrong to lie to children?

Recently, I was reading a memoir set in 2001 where two young kids ask the narrator, their mother, about 9/11. They asked what happened to the people on television who were jumping off the building. Where did they go? The mother says this: They were caught. There are people-catchers that flew and saved them. Everyone is okay.

This story was meant to be heartfelt and lyrical, relatable. It ended like this: It is the job of mothers to offer gentle lies.

I had to stop reading because I was suddenly lost in a white-hot rage, unexpected, knee-jerk. How could she do that? I found myself frothing. They trusted her with answers and she lied. How could she? I knew it was irrational. It was silly even. This was a sweet story. It was meant to be heart-warming and framed in a way that suggested this is what all mothers do. This was what they needed to do. 

I felt my own mother, pumping through my veins, furious that these elementary school students were being betrayed. I stopped myself of course, I knew it wasn’t reasonable. I wasn’t raised “correctly.” I had no legs to stand on.

But still, is it alright to lie to children?

I am once again faced with that unending dilemma: how to throw-out those parts of myself that don’t work and keep the ones that do. It’s difficult to say, because in some ways I agree with my mom. How can I not? But death is cruel. Sex is weird. Santa Claus is a beautiful lie.

And what’s wrong with lying? I still don’t know. What’s wrong with letting them never hurt? Never knowing the pain or gross parts of the world? What’s the harm in letting them make-believe?

But sometimes I think about all those people who have cried to me. All these unprompted confessions come with an unspoken plea: I hurt. I am afraid. I am so scared. It’s all so heavy, these painful truths.

And some part of me stands there, the part my mother raised and says: there is nothing in this life that is too shameful. There is nothing in this world that is unnatural. There is nothing in this life to lie about, even to children.

Is death too painful? Is sex too gross? Would you tell an adult that a man lives in the North Pole and watches them?

I asked my mom, years later, when I was less furious and able to talk with her again without screaming, about why she believed all this. She had told me about it since I was very young, but I never asked why. She shrugged. She said: children are people, aren’t they?

I still don’t know what to do with this.

Children are people, but they are not adults. They shouldn’t be exposed to “adult” things, right? But is that line so concrete? Is the word “adult” just a mask for the greater word, the one we really mean? We all agree: honesty is good. Lying hurts. But it’s alright to lie to kids, because in many ways they aren’t people yet, they aren’t people yet, they don’t count.

I am admittedly an argumentative person. I was on the debate team, mock trial, United Nations, I studied political science in college and fought with every single one of my professors I thought was wrong. And I stood in that playground, age 6, and told every single one of my classmates Santa wasn’t real and I wouldn’t stop. The truth was important. And my mother, no matter what, thought I disserved it.

I often felt tiny and powerless as a kid. Terrified and holding myself together by shoestrings. I often felt there would be nothing better in the world than to be grown up. Not for the money or the dating or the job, I just wanted to feel like the hurricane would end. That one day I could stand on solid ground again. My friend often says: I wish I could be a kid again, ya know? No responsibilities. Just bliss. I want to be a kid again.

I can’t relate. I never have. I’ve been busy weeding through the pipes and lighting and the carpentry of my upbringing and asking myself: is any of this worth keeping? Is any part of me built correctly? There are no right answers.

But still, I am haunted. I sit and ask myself in circles: is it alright to lie to children?

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

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[qvietspvce]

okay so i’ve eaten my celebratory ice cream and seen the sea and i’ve got my thoughts in some kind of order so i’ll put my experience under the cut for those curious but tl;dr my surgery date is confirmed for 27th march

1. arrived early (8.30am), sat in the car for 45 minutes while my friend lewis talked me down from bolting because i got weirdly nervous. (i was convinced that i’d be refused surgery based on a weird nightmare i had a few nights ago)

2. checked into the reception at 9.15am, thought i’d have enough time for a nervous wee before my appointment at 9.30am. i did not. i was immediately swooped off to be weighed, height recorded for BMI purposes (you’ve got to have a BMI of 35 or lower at this particular hospital), blood pressure taken and my resting heart rate measured.

3. i was then walked to a very nice waiting area with free tea, coffee and water (still and sparkling) and told to wait to see the pre-operative nurse. the nurse that did all the measuring offered me a cup of tea which i politely refused. (i still needed my nervous wee)

4. at 9.32 i was collected by the nurse who was very nice and incredibly apologetic for being late. frankly i’m baffled that 2 minutes is considered late, i was expecting to wait for like 20 minutes. i digress. i went through a very lengthy medical questionnaire with her and she was exceptionally cool and non-judgemental. be honest when you’re doing your pre-operative assessment. don’t fudge how much you smoke, how much you drink and if you take drugs recreationally. also be honest about if you’ve had unprotected sex that could result in an STI/HIV/pregnancy/or any of the hepatitises. after 20 minutes i was taken back to the waiting area (via a gender neutral bathroom that said “toilet” on the front - no gender marker or signage so i could finally have my nervous wee). i was told to wait so a phlebotomy nurse could take some vials so i could have my blood group crossmatched and then i’d go in to meet my surgeon.

5. the exceptionally lovely practice manager came to find me to thank me for coming down on short notice. she offered me a cup of tea, i said no. we had a chat and then she went off to find my surgeon.

6. a brief verbal tussle ensued between the practice manager and the phlebotomy team about who called dibs on me first. the practice manager won so i was ushered in to see my surgeon, alex.

7. alex is very cool. i was offered another cup of tea by his assistant. he went through the risks of surgery. he went through the benefits of surgery. i had an examination of my chest and pre-operative photos taken. i have consented to have those shared and i consented to having my post-op photos shared with the reminder that i can withdraw my consent at any time (when i know they’ve gone up on the website i’ll link it here). i was handed a massive packet of information about my surgery, pre-op care, post-op care, diet, mobility, consent forms for blood transfusion, emergency contact details and some other stuff that he also emailed to me. all in all i think that took 15 minutes? he did also refer to reattaching nipples as similar to turfing a lawn.

8. i was then walked over to the phlebotomy team to have bloods drawn. it was genuinely one of the least painful blood draws i’ve ever had. the two nurses cracked jokes with me and let me sit in the chair with a rich tea biscuit afterwards because i was feeling a little bit wobbly then i was free to go!

all in all i was only in for my appointments for about an hour and at every step of the way everyone asked for my pronouns and used them correctly. i wasn’t misgendered. i wasn’t called by my previous name. i was offered so many cups of tea.

9/10 experience (1 point off for unexpected bloods, if i had know i would’ve made sure to eat beforehand).

okay i’m the good kind of stunned and i’ll expand later but right now i’m going to the beach and eating an ice cream to celebrate

[cactusnymph]

Prompt fill #4 for @dimension20alphabet:

Dares

“Hey Fig”, Fabian hears the Genasi girl—Romilda? Rowina? Ronalda?—say after their latest Bard class on Tuesday. He’s breathing heavily after finishing his latest dance routine and he’s not actively listening to their conversation, but Fig stopped beside him to ask if he wanted to try dancing to one of her new compositions.

 “I wanted to ask if you could—uh. Maybe give me the crystal number of your friend?”

 Fabian grins down at his battle sheet, trying to remember if Romilda—or whatever her name was—is pretty and whether or not he wants Fig to give her his number.

 “Which one?”, Fig asks, which is honestly ridiculous. He is easily the most attractive one—

 “Umm... Riz?”

 Fabian stops folding his battle sheet and blinks before straightening his back to turn his head. Rowina is twirling a very pretty, blue curl around her index finger. She’s very attractive and Fabian is not sure he heard correctly.

 “Oh, sorry. He’s not available”, Fig says with an apologetic smile and Fabian feels his stomach knot into something very unpleasant. Which makes sense, because first of all, The Ball always insists on him and Fabian being best friends. If Riz has a girlfriend, why wouldn’t Fabian know about it?

 Second, Fabian is offended because it’s completely preposterous that The Ball is supposed to be in a relationship while Fabian is not. That’s just absurd.

 Sure, The Ball is endearing and smart and funny and loyal. But he’s The Ball. Tiny, skinny, nerdy, socially awkward.

 “Oh... Oh, sorry, I didn’t know”, Ronalda says and seems very embarrassed before she turns around and rushes out of the classroom. Fig watches her leave and shakes her head before pulling a cigarette out of her backpack to put it behind her ear.

 “Since when is The Ball not available? And why the fuck would a girl like that want his number?”, Fabian asks Fig the second they step out of the classroom to head to the cafeteria.

 “Well, I just know that Riz just wouldn’t be interested in someone like that. And also, what the fuck Fabian, why are you being such a dick?”

 Fabian wants to know what Fig means by ‘someone like that’. He also wants to ask further questions but he’s sure that it might sound weird to get so defensive about something like this. It’s not like he’s actually interested in The Ball’s love life. Or who he’s potentially kissing. Because that would be weird.

 Plus, Fabian could get all the kisses that he wants. He just so happens to concentrate on his dancing right now. And if the whole thing with Aelwyn turned out to be a disaster, then that has nothing to do with him or what a great catch he is. That was simply because they weren’t actually as compatible as they originally thought.

 “I’m not being a dick, I’m just saying that it seems wild that someone would want The Ball’s number instead of mine!”

 Fig rolls her eyes at him.

 “She’s not the first one to ask, you know. Riz has gotten pretty popular after the whole Goldenrod thing at prom”, she says and looks at him with raised eyebrows. Fabian snorts disbelievingly.

 Sure, The Ball has changed a lot since they first met. And since, after their Spring Break, he stopped wearing his weird hat maybe Fabian would even go as far as to call him kind of handsome. If he thought about guys like that.

 Which he doesn’t.

 But the thought that all of a sudden people want to date The Ball is just ridiculous.

 “Oh yeah?”, Fabian asks and snorts a little louder than was maybe necessary. “And who else is interested in The Ball?”

 Fig narrows her eyes at Fabian and raises her hand before she starts listing names.

 “Theo from Barbarian class. Kat from clerics. Ragh said that Riz is cute just yesterday. And Gorgug keeps getting questions about Riz from the Bloodrush team.”

 She looks at him as if she’s expecting a very specific reaction from him. Fabian’s first thought is that he somehow feels like he should run every single guy on the team into the ground who asked Gorgug about Riz.

 Then he wonders why people never ask him about The Ball.

 Then he wonders if The Ball likes guys or girls. If Fabian remembers correctly Baron was a guy, but he was also a nightmare came to life and doesn’t count. Probably.

 Then Fabian gets annoyed again because he feels like he doesn’t know all these things.

 And then he thinks that maybe Ragh should stay in his lane.

 He tries to imagine Ragh and The Ball on a date together, getting their kisses in with each other and it’s ludicrous, completely insane, but his skin feels way too tight for his body all of a sudden and there’s a rush of heat in his abdomen that has nothing to do with dance practice.

 “You okay, dude?”, Fig wants to know as she carries her tray over to a table where Kristen, Adaine and Gorgug are already sitting.

 “What? Yeah. Sure. Whatever”, he snaps, sits down next to Gorgug and starts poking at the atrocity on his plate that is supposed to be lasagna but looks weirdly like something that might come alive and attack him at any moment.

 “What’s gotten his panties twisted?”, Kristen wants to know after one look at him.

 “He’s pissed because people want to date Riz”, Fig says and Fabian considers grabbing a handful lasagna and throwing it at Fig.

 “Why would you be pissed about that?”, Gorgug asks, confused. There is a beat of silence that makes Fabian raise his head just in time to realize that Adaine has cast Message to tell Gorgug something telepathically.

 Gorgug makes a face that shows way too much understanding for Fabian’s tastes because there is really nothing to understand about this whole situation. This is ridiculous. His friends are being ridiculous. And the idea of The Ball being popular is—

 “Hey guys”, a voice says and The Ball slides into the seat next to Fig.

 Did The Ball always have so many freckles? And hair that looks way too soft to be legal?

 Fabian stares at him.

 Riz stares back.

“What?”, he asks.

 “Nothing”, Fabian snaps and starts eating his lasagna. It tastes just as terrible as it looks. It’s hard to ignore the pointed looks that Gorgug, Fig, Adaine and Kristen exchange meaningful looks with each other.

 “Anyway”, Fig says, ignoring Fabian and turning to the others. “Theo is throwing a party this weekend, do you guys wanna go?”

 “Sure”, Kristen says.

 “Is it one of those parties where people drink way too much and then throw up all over the house?”, Adaine asks.

 Fig shrugs.

 “I don’t know. Theo is pretty chill and his parents aren’t home, but I guess it would be cool if we just. You know. Stayed in our group and chilled with some beer or whatever. And he said we don’t have to bring our own booze because I gave him one of our records for free.”

 “Sure. Yeah. We can like. Hang. Who knows, maybe I’ll even drink a whole beer this time”, The Ball says in the same voice he tends to use when he says the words ‘hooking up’.

 “No hard drugs though”, Gorgug says with a look at Fabian.

 “Hey! That wasn’t my idea! That dude just came up and kissed me straight on the mouth!”

 “Wait, you kissed a dude?”, Kristen wants to know.

 Fabian glares at her.

 “I didn’t kiss a dude. He kissed me, okay? It was during our boys’ night and I was very high afterwards.”

 “Must have been one hell of a kiss”, Kristen says with a smirk. Fabian is ready to throw his tray through the cafeteria but he doesn’t get the chance because at this point a dude he’s never seen before steps up to their table.

 “Hey Riz. You coming on Saturday? I invited Fig and you guys over to my party.”

 The Ball smiles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head.

 “Uh—yeah. I’ll be there, I guess.”

 “Sweet. See you then!”

 Fabian stares at the guy who is at least as tall as him, fucking jacked—probably because he’s in a damn barbarian class, and he has a damn eyebrow piercing. What a tool.

 Kristen wiggles her eyebrows at Riz and he has the nerve to blush darkgreen.

 “Stop it!”

 “Soo... Theo, huh?”, Kristen says.

 “Kristen”, Riz says and buries his face in his hands. Fabian wonders if Theo is the person who Fig was talking about when she said that The Ball is not available. And not interested in people like Romilda. He wouldn’t be, of course, if he’s into guys.

 Guys like Theo.

 The Ball is interested in guys. And Fabian didn’t know.

 *

 “Fabian, bro, you alright, dude? You seem a little on edge”, Ragh says on Friday while they’re out on the field throwing some balls—the irony doesn’t escape him.

 “Did you know that The Ball is into guys?”, Fabian asks before he manages to stop himself. Ragh throws the ball to him and Fabian catches it without issue before throwing it right back at Ragh, maybe a little harder than the ones before.

 “I mean, kinda? I don’t think Riz knows what he’s really into. Especially because he’s super freaked out about the whole sex thing, you know. But I guess he’s not not into guys. More into guys than girls. Why? That bother you?”

 Fabian isn’t sure how to explain to a gay guy that he’s offended about The Ball being into dudes without sounding like the worst homophobe. It’s not that he minds. He’s just pissed because he didn’t know. Because they’re supposed to be best friends—and okay, maybe The Ball was always very insistent on that and Fabian never actually confirmed it. But if Fabian is The Ball’s best friend, shouldn’t Fabian know about this?

 Doesn’t The Ball trust him?

 “I mean. No. Obviously not. I don’t give a shit”, Fabian says and watches as Ragh raises his eyebrows at him.

 “Dude, remember how we talked about feelings and letting them out and like, being truthful about our emotions and stuff?”

 Fabian does remember, but he refuses to acknowledge it.

 “Fig said that you think The Ball is cute”, Fabian says instead and Ragh shrugs, the ball still firm in his hands

 “I mean, yeah. He’s cute. He’s smart and super fucking badass. He has dimples when he smiles. Pretty adorable, if you ask me.”

 Fabian feels a rush of anger again and he doesn’t know where it’s coming from. Whoever invented emotions should be hunted down for sport and shot.

 “Well, I suppose, if you’re into stuff like that”, Fabian says. Ragh throws the ball at him, also a little harder than before.

 “Yeah, stuff like that. Like guys, dude”, he says.

 “Yeah. Like that. I wouldn’t know”, Fabian answers.

 Ragh opens his mouth to say something but he seems to decide against it and shakes his head.

 “Whatever, man. You’ll get there eventually”, Ragh says and Fabian has no idea what the fuck that is supposed to mean, but the next ball he throws flies wide.

 *

 Theo’s house is way smaller and less impressive than Fabian’s house—which is to be expected, but he still feels smug about it when the Bad Kids arrive at a red brick building with a garden full of sunflowers and a trampoline in the backyard that multiple people have already started using.

 Loud music, laughter and voices spill out of the open windows and onto the street as Fig pushes the small garden gate open and saunters up to the front door to ring the bell.

 “Damn, bro, you look sleek as fuck”, Ragh says to Fabian and hits him on the back with one his giants hands. Fabian manages not to stumble and grins. Ragh doesn’t have to know that Fabian took way longer than usual to get dressed because he is ready to get his kisses in tonight.

 He doesn’t care about Theo or about the fact that The Ball secretly likes guys. He can like whoever he wants and it’s of no concern to Fabian. For all he knows The Ball can kiss half Elmville and Fabian wouldn’t care one single bit about it.

 He keeps telling himself that as he follows the others into the house where people are already scattered in different rooms, many of them already drunk. There is a beerpong table set up in the living room where all other furniture has been pushed aside.

 “Hey guys”, Theo says as soon as he spots them and Fabian refuses to notice the way he grins down at The Ball  as if they were good friends. Which they are not. Since Riz already has a best friend and, in fact, an entire group of good friends, who are all here right now and of which Theo is definitely not a part.

 Now that Fabian stands in front of him he can see that Theo is in fact taller than him, half elven, half orc with light green skin and pointy ears, dark hair and wearing a black muscle shirt which Fabian finds endlessly offensive.

 “The guys were just talking about playing some old fashioned party games, do you guys wanna join?”, Theo asks and grabs some bottles of beer from a nearby table to hand them to Kristen, Riz and Gorgug. Fabian considers if it would be appropriate to deck Theo in the face because he didn’t offer Fabian a beer as well.

 “I’ve never really played any party games. What kind of games?”, Adaine wants to know. She’s holding Boggy with a look of mild concern on her face.

 “Oh, you know. Spin the bottle, truth or dare, that sort of stuff. Should be fun. Come on, I’ll introduce you!”, Theo proclaims and he throws an arm around Gorgug and waves all of them over to what seems to be a dining room that has been filled with a ton of pillows for people to sit on.

 Fabian doesn’t really know any of the people sitting here—Fig and Gorgug on the other hand know some of them from Barbarian classes. It turns out that Theo also participates in Druid classes, which Fabians finds weird.

 But he doesn’t have time to think too much about how much Theo sucks for various different reasons, because Ragh hollers excitedly, flings himself down on one of the pillows and pulls Fabian down with him.

 “Fuck yeah, dude. This rules! Here, have a beer!”

 Fabian has never played truth or dare before and he’s not particularly sure if he enjoys it. Adaine seems very on edge and picks truth every time, Fig on the other hand is delighted about giving people dares and picking dares herself. Kristen still has a hard time holding her liquor and insists on daring people to kiss each other. Then she starts crying because she misses Tracker.

 Riz is biting his nails as he watches people play and sips on the one beer he’s had since the beginning. Fabian doesn’t actually want to look at him for more than a few seconds, but The Ball is sitting directly next to Theo who is sprawled on one of his dumb pillows and seems to have the time of his life watching two of his buddies stick their tongues down each other’s throats.

 Someone dares Ragh to do a prank call on the vice principal and Ragh apologizes to Fig before he dials Gilear’s number to tell him that he won the lottery.

 “Fabian, bro! I feel like I should make you kiss someone”, Ragh shouts after he’s done and throws an arm around Fabian’s shoulder. Fabian laughs and considers all the girls sitting in the circle to figure out which one he’d like to kiss the most.

 “Make him kiss Riz”, Kristen calls and Fabian is confused for a second until what she said sinks in.

 “Kiss Riz! Kiss Riz! Kiss Riz!”

 Fabian’s eyes find The Ball’s face.

 His big, yellow eyes have grown impossibly wide and he stopped biting on his nails only to start chewing on his bottom lip in a way that looks dangerous with those sharp teeth.

 This is absurd. Fabian would never kiss The Ball.

 “What?”, he says with a half laugh. “No!”

 Fabian feels like this must be some kind of joke. He elbows Ragh in the ribs and says “Don’t be ridiculous.” and it takes him a few seconds to realize that the group of people around him has fallen silent.

 “Riz?”, Adaine says quietly.

 “I’ll be—uh. In the bathroom. Where the toilet is. To pee”, Riz stammers before fleeing out of the room as if the Nightmare King was chasing after him.