#high school isn’t the peak but it’s also not the worst | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hiraethwrote · 2 months ago

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there's a lightness in him

summary: finally, the day has come where you get the chance to meet gojo. but megumi doesn't handle it as well as you had hoped

[ loner!megumi x popular!reader ]

cw: college au, modern au, f!reader, fluff, gojo cameo, some angst, aged up characters, no use of y/n

word count: 2.9k

You really wanted to meet Gojo.

For reasons unknown to you, Megumi became even more quiet than usual whenever he was brought up — nearly blatantly refusing to talk about him at all.

Your curiosity was obviously peaked — who was this mysterious individual, who through unfortunate circumstances had ended up basically raising what had turned out to be your perfect boyfriend? Was this where Megumi had gotten his closed off demeanour from? Were shared dinners around the dining table spent in utter silence?

The few things you had gathered about Gojo: he was NOT Megumi’s dad. That was the most important thing you’d learned. Because how dumb were you when you simply assumed the adult man he lived with was his father?

You had also learned that there was a new level to Megumi’s frown that always grew deeper whenever he talked to Gojo on the phone. Granted, he was never happy whenever he was on the phone, but it was something entirely different when he talked to his… guardian?

“What do you mean you haven’t met his family?!” Kasumi exclaimed in pure disbelief once you told her, head tilting up from her doomscrolling.

“As far as I understand, there isn’t much family to meet. It’s mostly just this Gojo figure.”

“And that’s his dad?”

“God no, he’ll bite your head off if you assume so, but whoever he is, he’s the closest thing he has to a parental figure.”

She tried to blink away the worst of her surprise. “But you’ve been together since high school.” It seemed like she wanted the statement to be a question, but it definitely came out more as a judgemental remark.

“Look, his family situation isn’t ideal,” you trailed off, thinking about the few things he had actually opened up to you about — both his sister and his absent father, and you had quickly understood family was a fragile topic for him. So whenever you dared approach the situation about Gojo, you just wanted to be cautious in case there was anything serious he just did not want to talk about.

However, lately, the idea of anything seriously worrisome being the issue had slowly ceased to exist. Megumi genuinely only seemed to be annoyed with whatever it was Gojo said or did — nothing graver than that.

“Does that mean you’ve never been to his house?” Yet another shocked question fired at you.

“No, I’ve been to his house plenty of times,” you chuckled. “It just so happens that Gojo is never home. He’s apparently sent out of town a lot for work.”

She quirked an eyebrow, shaking her head and turning her attention back to her phone. “Your boyfriend is kind of a weirdo, not gonna lie.”

A small, smitten smile automatically grew on your lips. “Yeah, I guess he is,” you said, probably mostly to yourself.

“I have to go now.”

“What, already?” You whined, bottom lip sticking out in a dramatic pout as Megumi got up from his seat beside you. He met your pleading gaze, leaning forward to capture your lips in a tender kiss to ease his departure.

“It’s probably gonna take a while today,” he sighed, walking over to the door. Before his hand had even managed to clasp around the handle, you were already at his side, staring at him with doe eyes while your arms were tucked behind your back — like you always did when you wanted something.

“Then why don’t I come along?” batting your eyelashes at him.

Whatever your ulterior motive was, he was weak for the look you gave him — sucking in his cheeks to smother the smirk you were slowly pulling from him.

“You wanna come along?”

“I wanna be with you as much as possible!”

“You gonna help with errands, too?”

Your innocent smile was pushed into pursed lips instead. “I can watch?”

He instantly let out a taunting scoff. “Cute,” he sighed, placing a quick kiss on your cheek and opening the door to leave. Before he got too far, you already grabbed ahold of his wrist.

“So, you’re going home for these errands, right?”

And once you said ‘home’, Megumi immediately understood why you had suddenly decided to be so persistent in tagging along for his duties, when you always preferred he just get it over with so he could return to you once he was done.

And his body slowly started to tense up, because unlike you, Megumi really did not want you to meet Gojo.

Why? Well, Megumi could list hundreds of reasons why he wanted to shield you from the menace he had lived with most his life. But he knew those reasons were all superficial, and he never really dared put into words what really plagued him about the situation.

“Megumi,” you spoke his name softly, slowly letting go of his wrist. “I want to meet your family.”

There it was again, your genuine interest in him — somehow always catching him off guard despite you proving it to him from the very first moment. He just didn’t feel deserving of it.

It was written all over your features just how important this was to you — guilt striking him as he couldn’t understand why he had been so selfish as to deprive you of meeting his family, when he had no real reason to.

But what wasn’t he willing to do for you? With a clear of his throat, he tried to set aside his ever present anxiety about the situation, grumbling a low “fine” as he pulled out his phone to send a quick heads up to Gojo.

“Wait, really?” The fragile sentiment in your voice was replaced by an airy relief, not quite expecting him to surrender so easily — especially considering how long you’d bothered him about it all.

“Has to happen eventually, right? Might as well get it over with.”

The nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and the look in his eyes was all it took for you to feel your stomach tickle with butterflies — you saw he was trying to power through his stubbornness for you. He wasn't going to let his own struggles triumph how important this was for you.

“You’re just so-“ endless giddiness spilling over in your expression, unable to finish your sentence. You cupped his face and placed the sweetest kiss on his cheek, before you rather abruptly interrupted your own actions by yanking him after you towards his car.

For the entirety of the ride, you held a mostly one sided conversation, hoping your casual talk would calm him down — but it didn’t stop his knuckles from slowly turning paler when his fingers gnawed at the steering wheel, hoping you didn’t catch how his teeth were grinding against each other.

But he wanted to try — for you.

Pulling into the driveway, surrounded by the familiar scenery of the neighbourhood he grew up in, none of his nerves seemed to disintegrate. Even when he opened the door for you (like he always did) and you laced your fingers with his, the nerves remained knotted inside him.

“If you really don’t want to do this-“

“No, ‘s fine,” he interrupted you softly, reactively squeezing your hand to ground himself. “Let’s just get-“

A blaring voice shouting your name cut through the sad tension, both you and Megumi jumping at the sudden outburst.

Capturing your wide eyed glare, you were met with a freakishly tall man staring directly at you with the most intense blue-eyed stare one could imagine and untamed hair of the purest white — and lastly, a somewhat off putting grin that was overflowing with outgoing charm.

This was Gojo? The Gojo? The very same who had raised your stoic and quiet boyfriend? The one who seemed to have too much pent up energy in his body, despite the size of it? This was not at all what you had expected.

You were about to take a polite bow to introduce yourself, but Gojo simply waved his hand. “No need for formalities. Feel like I know you already.” His smile never wavered, even when he took a step back to let you in.

Megumi was already grumbling to himself, unable to stop how his fingers clenched harder on your hand as a reaction to Gojo’s first appearance — and heat was rising up his neck, slowly colouring the tips of his ears red with embarrassment.

“So glad you finally managed to convince him,” Gojo nearly sung, leading all three of you into the kitchen. “I’ve tried desperately since that day he first visited you. But Megumi never listens to me.”

He was so far from the character you had created in your mind, taking some time let the new impression replace the old one. He leaned so casually against the kitchen counter, while Megumi acted on instinct and pulled out the stool for you, taking a seat next to you.

“I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when he came back home that evening, and he smiled. You know how hard I try to make him smile?”

“Oh, it’s not so hard,” you laughed along, turning to look at your boyfriend only to see he was looking at Gojo with chronically furrowed eyebrows. The lump in your stomach formed immediately, hating just how displeased Megumi appeared to be — reaching out to grab his hand under the table, head turning to look at you, smoothing the crinkles on his forehead. You started to believe he wasn’t even aware of the way he was looking at Gojo, because all evidence of annoyance was gone when he shifted his eyes towards you. “He smiles plenty.”

“Hmpf,” Gojo pouted, arms crossing loosely over his chest. “Well, maybe you just share the same bad sense of humor.” The comment caught you a little by surprise before the genuine laugh slipped past your lips, while Megumi went back to shooting him an ugly scowl.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you too for a while.”

“Is that so?” His tone sounded accusatory as he met Megumi’s eyes. It didn’t take a genius to understand the subtext that Megumi had served him excuse after excuse on why he’d never introduced you.

“Yes, but my schedule is crazy busy,” the lie rolling of your tongue so easily, Megumi almost believing it himself. “Something always came up whenever we tried to make it happen.” It was a small gesture, yet Megumi’s heart fluttered lightly at how you tried to make this as comfortable as possible for him.

“I’m very pleased you finally got the time,” he beamed, seemingly buying into the lie.

And then the conversation flowed as smoothly as butter. He asked questions about your studies and your family, showing a real interest in your life. And he was funny — the clutching-your-stomach type of funny. You didn’t even notice when Kuro and Shiro walked into the kitchen, Shiro lightly nudging your hand for pets before both of the dogs laid down by Megumi’s feet.

But the conversation consisted mostly of your and Gojo’s voice, Megumi only contributing with a weak “hm” or “sure” whenever fitting, which definitely put a thorn in the atmosphere of the company.

“How about we get around to those errands?” You suggested, bringing an end to the constant rambling you knew Megumi had probably prayed would stop.

“Yeah, we probably should,” he mumbled lowly, quickly jumping out of the seat he had been glued to since you arrived. “I just have to get something upstairs-“

“Just go,” you giggled, knowing he was about to ask if you were alright with being left alone for a second.

Megumi hurried away, leaving you and Gojo alone. It didn’t take long before he broke the silence again.

“He’s not usually this cold towards me.” His tone had completely changed, now full of sentiment, one you could only assume came from genuine love for Megumi. “It doesn’t look like it, but I’m sure he secretly likes me. The death glares are at least kept to a minimum when it’s just the two of us.”

“He has a tendency to be a little cranky.” He smiled then, a small and almost shy smile.

“I’m going to make this quick, because he’ll be back down any second,” he took a deep breath as he straightened his posture. “After you came along… I’ve never seen him like this.” Your breath hitched in your throat at the slightly ominous statement. “There’s a lightness in him I’ve never seen before. You clearly mean a lot to him, which is why he exaggerates his frown. He’s just being protective.”

With further clarification, your shoulders found rest, starting to shuffle towards the front door, Gojo close behind. “Believe it or not, he brings me lightness too.”

“No, I believe it,” he smiled as Megumi came down the stairs, both of his dogs following him. “I see it in you too.”

“Ready to go?” Megumi asked in a monotone voice, already having put on his shoes and opened the door.

“It was nice meeting you, Gojo,” you bowed.

“Looking forward to the next time.” Megumi didn’t manage to fully conceal the quiet groan that escaped him, both you and Gojo deciding to not pay it any attention.

“I’ll be back in a few days,” Megumi sighed, already halfway down the pathway, simply waving goodbye over his shoulder.

“I’ll miss you!” Gojo yelled dramatically after him, your boyfriend never sparing him a second glance. While he opened the car door for you, you decided to pay Gojo the decency of a smile and a tiny wave.

Megumi did not hesitate to start the engine, his childhood home quickly disappearing behind you.

Then silence hit — thick silence, nearly suffocating on all the thoughts you could so clearly tell was swarming Megumi’s mind.

“I like him,” you breathed, leaning back on the headrest.

“Yeah? I’m glad.”

“You don’t sound glad.”

“Sorry.”

His eyes were glued ahead, as if there was nothing more interesting than the boring scenery and the asphalt going straight ahead.

“Megumi?”

“Hmm?”

“Why didn’t you want me to meet Gojo?”

He didn’t answer — he only let out a deep breath through his nose which you suspected had been trapped in his lungs since the moment you first pulled up in his driveway. Then he pulled over, the car slowly rolling to a halt.

Your pulse quickened, eyeing how his hands had left the steering wheel only for him to pick at the skin around his nails — a nervous tick you only saw him do when he was extremely anxious.

“I don’t want to mess this up.”

His confession was quiet, and had it not been for the fact that there was not a sound in the car or any distractions outside, you would not have been able to hear it.

“Meeting family… it brings expectations. And if I am to mess this up-“

“Don’t say that, you’re not going to mess this up!” You cut him off, hands cutting through the air to intertwine your fingers with his, stopping his bad habit.

“You don’t know that.” His voice still came out low, eyes directed at your hands. “After last time-“

“Stop it,” you interrupted again, bringing one hand to his face to force him to look at you, breaking your heart when his eyes had turned glossy. “We’re past that now, okay?”

“I know we are, it’s just-“ he took another deep breath, “for some reason, I just felt like that if I kept you from meeting him, I could contain the damage and disappointment if I were to screw it up.”

“I didn’t know you felt this way,” you sniffled quietly, fighting not to let the tears take over. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know,” he averted his gaze again, back to fixating on his lap. “Scared, I suppose.”

“You’re not in this alone. You can always talk to me about these things, okay?”

“Mhmm,” the weak sound was barely heard.

Once again you cupped his face, wanting his eyes on you when you said “I’m on your team, Megumi.” His nostrils flared, not wanting the tears to spill. “Please just let me be on your team!”

Yet again he took another deep breath to steady himself, slowly beginning to nod along before leaning into your touch. “Okay,” he whispered.

He didn’t say it, but you could sense how he had actively reached within himself to fint sparks of confidence to give himself over to your request.

Megumi was just used to doing things on his own, never depending on anyone but himself. And up until he met you, that had worked perfectly fine. But faced with a relationship, he had found himself between a rock and a hard place, where exposing himself emotionally to another human being was necessary for it to work — and you were worth every ounce of dedication. Every other aspect of his life had turned miniscule in comparison to you.

He hadn’t exactly made it easy for you to cooperate when it came to his feelings. But that stopped now, fully surrendering to the fragility one could not avoid in a relationship. He knew you’d be there.

“You want me to drive?”

“No, it’s fine,” he sighed, the evidence of tears gone as he sat back up in his seat. He removed your hand from his face to place a soft kiss on your knuckles.

“You’re not still going to run errands, are you?” Your pulse finally started to calm down when you spotted a small smirk lurking at the corner of his lips.

“Not a chance.”

“My place and order in?”

“Sounds perfect.”

tags (taglist is open)

@sad-darksoul @nyahctrl @ssetsuka @aceakariii @chxlexauriana

@ps-forgetmenot @thejujvtsupost @acowboykisser @rixo-19

@aestheticallyvini @iheartlinds @rory-cakes @tiffanyandrson

a/n okay idk what's happening but i'm not quite vibing with my writing lately... words aren't wording iykwim... however, did yall catch me teasing some angst in here tihi?? look forward to that

#— ଓ my creative corner #loner megumi x popular reader #dividers by cafekitsune #jjk #jjk oneshot #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen oneshot #jujutsu kaisen x reader #megumi fushiguro #megumi fushiguro oneshot #megumi fushiguro x reader #megumi #fushiguro #jjk megumi #fushiguro megumi #jjk fushiguro #megumi x reader #jujutsu kaisen megumi

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apomaro-mellow · 11 months ago

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Sunshower

Read on AO3

Written for @slavicviking for the @steddieholidayexchange !

When Steve Harrington had graduated, Eddie thought he’d be pretty much done with him. Not that they had a lot of face time before. He just thought, in the true fashion of guys that peak in high school, he’d fade into the town, get married young, show his face at the 20 year reunion. Maybe he’d catch glimpses of him around Hawkins, but not for very long. Eddie was planning on hightailing it out of here the moment the diploma was in his hands. So what if it would take another year?

The positive was supposed to be that he was NOT going to see Steve’s face in the hallways. It was a great misfortune to see him walking up from the football field with some kid. Eddie had just finished a deal by the picnic tables. Why Harrington was hanging with what looked like a freshie, he didn’t know.

Eddie would’ve known if he had a brother. So who was the kid? Curiosity got the better of him and he trailed a good distance behind them. He was a little surprised when Steve took him through the cafeteria’s kitchen doors, which had a broken lock. It was the school’s worst kept secret, but he never imagined The Hair sneaking into school during summer vacation.

So what could he do but follow?

What he saw as he crept behind them was Steve Harrington giving what must be a future freshman a tour of the school.

“Here’s the cafeteria. Honestly the food’s not bad. Their creamed spinach isn’t the best, but really who’s is?”

Steve led the kid with the curly hair out of the cafeteria and into the greater part of the school. “Here’s all the lockers. No you don’t get to choose one, but once you get assigned you can always switch with someone who’s got better real estate.”

“Does the location of my locker really matter?”, the kid asked, nose scrunching up.

“Do you want one right next to the bathroom?”

“....Boy or girls?”

Steve smiled. “Good. You’re learning.”

Eddie shadowed them for the whole tour, which ended up being about twenty minutes. Harrington was really showing this kid everything. And yet was giving him the most skewed tunnel vision of high school. Great, just what he needed his third time around as a senior. A mini-Steve. Steve was telling him which teachers would let him get away with coming in late, the best spot to sit in the classroom, what teams it was worth going for.

“Steve, it’s like you don’t even know me. Have you ever seen me dribble a ball?”

“I’m just saying that it’s a fresh start. You could be someone new”, Steve reasoned.

“Did you become someone new in high school?”

Eddie thought back to the proto-Harrington he knew in middle school. The answer was clearly no. He’d been on the baseball team back then and was pretty much just as self absorbed as he would’ve been in high school. Steve gave a non-answer about how everyone had different experiences and pushed the kid on. Eddie decided he’d heard enough. Enough to know this kid was under Steve’s wing, but clearly they had different interests.

So come the first day of school, Eddie wore his Hellfire Club shirt loud and proud. The air was still warm, which meant he did so without his jacket. That just allowed the emblem to show even more. He’d told the other members to also wear theirs. Normally Eddie waited about a week, scoping out the freshies before figuring out who he’d approach to join. But he’d already had his sights set on at least one boy.

Imagine his delight and surprise when said boy had two others hanging around. Eddie was hanging outside the school, his cronies surrounding him as they caught up from what happened over summer. The trio was loud. Very obnoxiously arguing over something. Freshmen tended to be more self-conscious, wanting to keep their heads down at first. Eddie noted the Weird Al shirt one of them had. These boys were the opposite of timid. Perfect Hellfire material.

Eddie waited until lunch to make his move though. Give them a bit of time to get acclimated and at least half a day to see where everyone stood. But when Eddie did get to them, he was glad to see both excitement and relief in their eyes. They were looking for somewhere to belong. And he could give it to them.

Screw any influence Steve Harrington had on them. Which was why Eddie made careful measures not to even mention his name. The guy had graduated. His reign was over. Actually, it had kind of ended back in 84 but who was keeping record? Dustin, Mike, and Lucas were great additions to the club. They had a passion for the game and a never-back-down attitude. Honestly, it was so great, that Eddie almost forgot that these kids knew Steve.

That is until sports tryouts started.

“You can’t honestly be thinking out trying for a team”, Mike said, practically slamming his lunch tray onto the table as he sat down.

“I’m not just thinking. I’m already training”, Lucas replied.

“Ugh”, Mike retched. “Don’t get me started on that. You spend more time with your dad than us now.”

“His dad’s not the one teaching him”, Dustin said. “Steve keeps bailing on driving me places because he’s coaching Lucas.”

Mike had a look of utter betrayal and was definitely about to say something in response when Jeff cut him off.

“You’ve got Steve teaching you? As in Steve Harrington?”

“Yeah”, Lucas answered, much to the jeers of the rest of the table.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen”, Eddie said, holding his hands up in a calming gesture. “We must not bar Lucas from his own choices. And as for Steve, well, let’s just be glad young Sinclair didn’t go to him for academic assistance.”

The others laughed at that and the subject was quickly changed to something else. The rest of them didn’t really want to talk about any of the sports teams, lest that get Eddie really going and off on one of his rants. Sometimes it was nice to have just a stress free lunch.

“He said that?!”, Steve shouted indignantly as he dribbled the ball around on the court. He and Lucas were at a public court. Lucas was getting some practice in with his dad, but whenever he was busy, Steve stepped in.

“He’s not your biggest fan”, Lucas said with a shrug.

“Yeah, well he’s no prize either. Don’t let him get in your head. There’s nothing wrong with the sports programs.”

“But they’re right about there being cliques. If I get on the team, can I even be friends with Dustin and Mike anymore if they’re gonna be in Hellfire?”

“You should go for whatever you want. High school only happens once.” Steve dribbled the ball a few times before giving a bounce pass over to Lucas. “Alright, show me your handling.”

Lucas followed Steve’s advice. He officially joined up with Eddie’s club. He loved DnD and he enjoyed playing with his friends. But walking around with a Hellfire shirt didn’t do good things for their reputations at school. The others took it in stride, but Lucas was tired of being called names and girls looking at him weird.

So as soon as the sign-ups for try outs was out, Lucas put his name down. He didn’t really announce it but he didn’t hide it either the first time the guys wanted to do something and he was busy. The reception was not so good.

“You actually wanna be on the basketball team?”, Mike was incredulous.

Eddie was leaning against the lockers, arms crossed. “I get the feeling someone put this idea in your head. Was it Harrington?”

“He didn’t put any idea in my head he just..encouraged me”, Lucas confessed. “He said I should go for what I want. You only get one life.”

“One life indeed”, Eddie nodded.

“And you wanna use it shooting hoops with Jason and his cronies?”, Jeff asked.

“They’re probably not all that bad. Steve wasn’t”, Lucas defended.

The opinions were mixed on that. Dustin, Lucas, and Mike knew what Steve had done that they couldn’t tell others. He had stood between them and certain death more than once. But they couldn’t tell Hellfire that.

“You guys don’t know what Harrington was like”, Eddie said.

“Are you saying Steve bullied you?”, Mike asked with a raised brow.

“Bullied? Pfft, no. Harrington and I barely crossed paths. I just know his type. I know what he’s about. And he and I couldn’t be anymore different.”

At first it was just a conflicting of ideals. Whatever Steve told them about high school, Eddie told them the opposite. And there was no telling one what the other said.

“Harrington’s an idiot.”

“Munson’s a loser.”

It made talking to either of them hard. Most of their days involved hanging with Eddie and when they saw Steve it was all they wanted to talk about. Sort of difficult to talk about Eddie without talking about Eddie, but they managed for now.

Well, at least they did until the party got super deep into Hellfire. The campaigns were really involved, to the point of needing rides home from Steve when they ran too late. It resulted in quite a bit of petty glaring across the parking lot. Mike and Lucas had resigned themselves to the status quo remaining, but Dustin wasn’t satisfied with that.

It took quite a bit of doing, but what else brought people together more than a missing child? Dustin didn’t actually go missing. He simply concocted a plan with his friends to make it seem like he did and only to Eddie and Steve. He wasn’t crazy enough to get the whole town looking for him. Steve wasn’t crazy about Eddie tagging along for the search but the priority was finding Dustin.

“Why do you need that to find Dustin?”, Eddie asked, reaching a hand out to touch the nails in the bat, just to see it they were real.

“Don’t ask”, Steve bit out as they entered the woods.

Dustin thought getting them to work together would ease the tension, and it did. But only after bickering like children for a little while longer. Steve didn’t like how Eddie was undermining everything he’d been saying about high school. Eddie didn’t like how Steve had been trying to lead his sheep in the wrong direction.

“Yeah well before they were your sheep they were my-”

“....They were your…”, Eddie urged him to continue.

“Nevermind.”

“You and Nancy must’ve been pretty tight when you dated to get so close to her brother and his friends.”

“Me and those guys bonded outside of Nancy.”

“Is there a story there?”, Eddie asked.

“Yeah-” Steve froze when he thought he heard a sound before continuing. The sun was still high in the sky, so they didn’t have much to fear just yet. It didn’t hurt to be cautious though. “I just…I guess I just know how high school can be for kids like that. I wanted to make it easy for them.”

Eddie shook his head. “Doesn’t matter what kind of cheat codes you give ‘em. There’s always gonna be someone who makes it harder than it needs to be.”

Steve thought about thanking Eddie for giving them a place right away, but didn’t. Eddie thought of saying how Steve seemed to have changed, but didn’t. When they finally found Dustin, they laid into him hard, especially because he wouldn’t stop smiling despite his lie being revealed. All Dustin cared about was the fact they weren’t arguing with each other.

Mission accomplished.

Mission accomplished a little too well.

Now instead of having two friends who hated each other’s guts, Dustin had two friends who reveled in being shitty older brothers to him. Any time Steve picked them up from Hellfire (which he did with a suspicious amount of willingness now) he and Eddie traded notes on whatever it was that Dustin did that week. It was like a Henderson Briefing and the main objective was to either embarrass him or annoy him, sometimes both.

“I regret ever forging this friendship”, Dustin said.

“I think it’s the best thing you’ve ever done”, Lucas beamed.

Mike was grinning too. “It’s definitely the funniest.”

It got to the point where sometimes Steve and Eddie would hang out on their own. And wasn’t that just bizarre? What did they even do together?? The answer was mostly smoking, drinking, and shootin’ the shit. Even though Steve wasn’t able to tell Eddie any of the grimier details of the past couple of years, he was still able to tell plenty. And Eddie had no NDAs to speak of.

They were sitting out by Steve’s pool one day in March, the weather just starting to warm up to be able to relax there without freezing. Spring would officially come soon and with it, maybe a day or two where they could actually take a dip.

“I’m telling you, the lunch ladies changed the formula. Something’s different about the meatloaf”, Eddie said, fully reclined in a pool chair.

”You’re implying that they actually cook that stuff in the school.”

“I’ve seen the vats of mystery meat stew, Steve. But some of the food is made on-site. And the meatloaf is one of them.”

Steve smiled up at the clear sky. They talked like this, high or not. Just the most inane things that he never wanted to end. What did he care about the food at a school he no longer attended? He cared when Eddie was the one talking about it.

“So you’re done with the loaf then?”

“I don’t even think it’s the same meat anymore”, Eddie said. “Or maybe they changed the seasoning…?”

Steve continued gazing up at the sky as Eddie mused on that. Suddenly a drop of water hit his head. Then another, then a third. He wiped his face and looked to Eddie, who was also blinking through drops. Wordlessly, they got up from their seats and went under the porch awning as the rain began falling in earnest.

“How is it raining? The sun is still out”, Steve said, reaching a hand out just to be sure it was still rain.

Eddie snorted. “Never seen a sunshower, Harrington?”

“No”, he answered honestly.

“Don’t sweat it. I’ve still gotta knock ball lightning off my strange weather checklist.”

“It’s just weird seeing it rain with no clouds”, Steve said.

Eddie watched the droplets fall in the sunlight. It was like liquid gold falling from the sky. He watched Steve’s face, no hard lines or sarcasm, just awe at seeing something new and wonderful.

“You know, some folks back where I’m from have a name for this.”

“You mean something other than ‘sunshower’?”, Steve tore his eyes from the rain to look at him.

“They say the devil’s kissing his wife”, Eddie stuck his tongue out. “Give you any ideas?”

He had been a hundred percent teasing. Eddie had just been talking. Flapping his gums. Doing his usual friendly flirtation style. He had no plan in place for when Steve actually kissed him. But when it happened, there was only one choice: to kiss him back. The rain provided some pretty romantic ambience in his opinion.

“So are you the devil in question?”, Steve asked when he pulled back.

“Only if that makes you my sweet, lovely little wife”, Eddie teased and then made kissing noises.

“Fuck off, Munson”, Steve laughed.

Feeling like they were on the edge of something, Eddie took the plunge and kissed him again instead of cracking wise. Steve softened so beautifully that Eddie wished he could go to the past and kick himself in the pants. He probably could’ve been doing this months ago.

“You know we absolutely can’t tell Dustin about this?”, Steve said against his lips.

“It’s none of his business anyway.” Eddie didn’t feel the need to mention that no one could know. He just put his hands on Steve’s hips and for once was thankful for the privacy the backyard gave them.

Weeks later, during the spring break from his darkest nightmares and the stroll through actual hell, Eddie would have an epiphany.

“That’s why you have that bat!”

#apo writes #stranger things #fanfiction #steddie #dustin henderson #i hope ya like it!#steddie holiday exchange

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simply-ivanka · 3 months ago

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How the Biden-Harris Economy Left Most Americans Behind

A government spending boom fueled inflation that has crushed real average incomes.

By The Editorial Board -- Wall Street Journal

Kamala Harris plans to roll out her economic priorities in a speech on Friday, though leaks to the press say not to expect much different than the last four years. That’s bad news because the Biden-Harris economic record has left most Americans worse off than they were four years ago. The evidence is indisputable.

President Biden claims that he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, but this isn’t close to true. The economy in January 2021 was fast recovering from the pandemic as vaccines rolled out and state lockdowns eased. GDP grew 34.8% in the third quarter of 2020, 4.2% in the fourth, and 5.2% in the first quarter of 2021. By the end of that first quarter, real GDP had returned to its pre-pandemic high. All Mr. Biden had to do was let the recovery unfold.

Instead, Democrats in March 2021 used Covid relief as a pretext to pass $1.9 trillion in new spending. This was more than double Barack Obama’s 2009 spending bonanza. State and local governments were the biggest beneficiaries, receiving $350 billion in direct aid, $122 billion for K-12 schools and $30 billion for mass transit. Insolvent union pension funds received a $86 billion rescue.

The rest was mostly transfer payments to individuals, including a five-month extension of enhanced unemployment benefits, a $3,600 fully refundable child tax credit, $1,400 stimulus payments per person, sweetened Affordable Care Act subsidies, an increased earned income tax credit including for folks who didn’t work, housing subsidies and so much more.

The handouts discouraged the unemployed from returning to work and fueled consumer spending, which was already primed to surge owing to pent-up savings from the Covid lockdowns and spending under Donald Trump. By mid-2021, Americans had $2.3 trillion in “excess savings” relative to pre-pandemic levels—equivalent to roughly 12.5% of disposable income.

So much money chasing too few goods fueled inflation, which was supercharged by the Federal Reserve’s accommodative policy. Historically low mortgage rates drove up housing prices. The White House blamed “corporate greed” for inflation that peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, even as the spending party in Washington continued.

In November 2021, Congress passed a $1 trillion bill full of green pork and more money for states. Then came the $280 billion Chips Act and Mr. Biden’s Green New Deal—aka the Inflation Reduction Act—which Goldman Sachs estimates will cost $1.2 trillion over a decade. Such heaps of government spending have distorted private investment.

While investment in new factories has grown, spending on research and development and new equipment has slowed. Overall private fixed investment has grown at roughly half the rate under Mr. Biden as it did under Mr. Trump. Manufacturing output remains lower than before the pandemic.

Magnifying market misallocations, the Administration conditioned subsidies on businesses advancing its priorities such as paying union-level wages and providing child care to workers. It also boosted food stamps, expanded eligibility for ObamaCare subsidies and waved away hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt. The result: $5.8 trillion in deficits during Mr. Biden’s first three years—about twice as much as during Donald Trump’s—and the highest inflation in four decades.

Prices have increased by nearly 20% since January 2021, compared to 7.8% during the Trump Presidency. Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings are down 3.9% since Mr. Biden entered office, compared to an increase of 2.6% during Mr. Trump’s first three years. (Real wages increased much more in 2020, but partly owing to statistical artifacts.)

Higher interest rates are finally bringing inflation under control, which is allowing real wages to rise again. But the Federal Reserve had to raise rates higher than it otherwise would have to offset the monetary and fiscal gusher. The higher rates have pushed up mortgage costs for new home buyers.

Three years of inflation and higher interest rates are stretching American pocketbooks, especially for lower income workers. Seriously delinquent auto loans and credit cards are higher than any time since the immediate aftermath of the 2008-09 recession.

Ms. Harris boasts that the economy has added nearly 16 million jobs during the Biden Presidency—compared to about 6.4 million during Mr. Trump’s first three years. But most of these “new” jobs are backfilling losses from the pandemic lockdowns. The U.S. has fewer jobs than it was on track to add before the pandemic.

What’s more, all the Biden-Harris spending has yielded little economic bang for the taxpayer buck. Washington has borrowed more than $400,000 for every additional job added under Mr. Biden compared to Mr. Trump’s first three years. Most new jobs are concentrated in government, healthcare and social assistance—60% of new jobs in the last year.

Administrative agencies are also creating uncertainty by blitzing businesses with costly regulations—for instance, expanding overtime pay, restricting independent contractors, setting stricter emissions limits on power plants and factories, micro-managing broadband buildout and requiring CO2 emissions calculations in environmental reviews.

The economy is still expanding, but business investment has slowed. And although the affluent are doing relatively well because of buoyant asset prices, surveys show that most Americans feel financially insecure. Thus another political paradox of the Biden-Harris years: Socioeconomic disparities have increased.

Ms. Harris is promising the same economic policies with a shinier countenance. Don’t expect better results.

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thatonebirdwrites · 4 months ago

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This chapter is long. It covers Kara meeting Jack and Sam for the first time. Which means Sam enters the timeline much sooner than in Canon. So readers can chew on that. It also starts Sam's Tale. Meaning we're entering the horror sections. Then we'll dig deeper into what the Superfriends decide to do in the present time to aid our Trio in their healing journey.

I admit, my homelessness experiences played a role in how I wrote Sam's Tale. I did not sugarcoat it.

As always, I have done my best to portray these experiences thoughtfully and well. My end-notes include thoughts, research, and life experiences to help readers better understand DID, C-PTSD, panic, and other heavy topics.

EXCERPT:

Sam Arias makes perhaps the worst decision of her life at age fifteen. A charismatic boy literally sweeps her off her feet at a party, and she learns that sex with boys is not really her jam. It’s not bad. She definitely can be attracted to guys, but the sex is just not that great.

So when over a month later nausea sets in and she misses her period, she starts to panic. She can’t be seen buying a pregnancy test. Her mother is already on her ass for going to the party instead of studying. Perhaps a terrible plan, but she has no recourse. She goes to the store, stuffs the test into her pants, and buys a candy bar. Her first theft and hopefully her last.

The test is positive.

Sam sits in the stall at her high school and stares at the test. She blinks a few times. Closes her eyes and counts to twenty, but each time she looks, it’s definitely positive.

She’s fucked. Majorly fucked.

She rubs her face and wishes she could call Jack, but he’s in England and they’ve only ever written each other since the penpal program matched them. Sometimes she’ll make a mixtape for him, and he’ll send his own. Even though he gave her a number, international charges would have her mother yelling at her for wasting money.

So she calls the only other person she knows might help.

“Yo, Sam, what are you doing calling during school?” Lucy Lane’s voice ripples into her phone. “Isn’t there like rules or something—”

“Luce, I’m pregnant.” Sam puts her face in her hand. The test’s plastic feels cold against her forehead.

“Oh shit.”

Sam isn’t entirely sure what she expects from the friend she’d made at a theater camp. Sam preferred the calculus of the mapping out the set and its measurements to acting. Lucy quickly took her under her wing, and Sam learned she’d ran off with some girl to National City, broke up, and now builds theater sets. Sam isn’t sure if Lucy ever graduated high school or not. Talking of her past isn’t a thing Lucy does.

So okay, maybe she does expect Lucy to pull a ridiculous feat like sneak her off school grounds without anyone catching them.

Sam doesn’t question it. She’s learned better. When Lucy sets her mind on something, she makes it happen, no matter how ridiculous the steps she takes to get there.

The wind sweeps Sam’s curtain of brown hair back, while Lucy shouts ridiculous jokes over the roar of her truck and the loud rap music. Lucy pulls onto the highway entrance ramp, probably way above the speed limit. Sam has no idea where they’re going, but who cares? Her mother is going to kill her when she finds out Sam’s pregnant, so why not take a moment for herself?

Lucy pulls into the Sierra State Park and drives up a narrow road to the mountain peak’s parking lot. She pulls to a stop, cranks up the brake, and turns to Sam. “So, uh, you really are…?”

Sam hands her the test.

“Damn. Was the sex good at least?”

Sam shakes her head.

“Well fuck. That sucks. I’m sorry, girl. Look, there’s a few things we can do.” Lucy taps her driving wheel, nibbles on her lips, then nods. “I’m getting out the beer.” She throws open her door and dives into the bed of her trunk where her cooler always is.

Sam steps out and walks to the edge of the gravel lot. Benches form a train of seats that overlooks a massive cliff. To her left, a trail winds up a rocky expanse to the fairly flat peak. She can see National City in all its glory with the ocean beyond, sparkling in the noon sun.

“Beer or Sprite?”

“Beer but only one.” Sam needs to take the edge off her sizzling nerves.

Lucy hands her a beer and guides her to a bench. She takes a swig and sighs. “So, uh, you got two choices. Abortion or keep it.”

Sam sniffs the beer and wrinkles her nose. “Couldn’t get the good lager?”

“Hey!” Lucy pretends to look affronted. “Best stuff I could buy on my stupid theater salary. Just you wait until I sign up for the Airforce. I’ll come home with the best beer you’ll ever taste.”

Sam hates the idea of Lucy going off to the military, but her friend seems determined to follow in her father’s footsteps. Considering how good she is at hand-to-hand combat already, Sam could see her excelling there, but it hurts. She’s one of Sam’s closest friends. She takes a long swig of the beer and grimaces. “Probably bad for any baby,” she mutters.

“Look, you don’t got to keep it.”

“And what if I do?” Sam snaps.

Lucy holds up her hands, the beer in her left. “Hey, I’m not saying you can’t keep it. But you’re young.”

“And you’re not?”

“I’m two years your elder, thank you very much.” Lucy takes another swig and wipes her mouth on the back of her hand. “Look, I’m just saying being a teenage mother is hard. You sure you wanna sign up for that?”

Sam wants to scream at her shitty luck more than anything else. “How much time do I have to decide?” she says instead.

#supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #supergirl #Sam Arias #Jack Spheer #lucy lane #lois lane #superfriends #samantha arias #We're gonna dig into Sam's past which canon only gave us inconsistent glimpses #So let's goooo #Sam's Tale is the third set of tales in this fic #Lena's and Kara's Tales we've gone through but don't worry more of their tales will appear

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kob131 · 2 years ago

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“There’s nothing ‘perfect’ about you.”

Well, I disagree Byakuya. Junko’s the perfect deconstruction of ‘Talent’ in Danganronpa.

For those of you who don’t know- Junko’s true talent isn’t ‘Super High School Level/Ultimate Fashionista/Gyaru/Whatever’ nor is it ‘SHSL/Ultimate Despair.’ The first is a lie and the second acts more like a title than a real description of her talent.

It’s ‘SHSL/Ultimate Analyst’. In other words, Junko’s talent is in looking at, breaking down and understanding information. In terms of pure ability, it’s the most broken ability in the entire franchise. Because just about every single non-combat, body or luck related ability can effectively be replicated by Junko’s ability. From Chihiro’s programming skills to Kyoko’s deductive abilities- Junko can match or even surpass them because her talent is in the essence of knowledge itself.

But in Danganronpa, each talent comes with something that screws over their representative, usually because being that hyper focused doesn’t make for a well balanced individual. The whole point of the Talents is that while they may be exceptional- they don’t fully lead to fulfillment. It’s why Makoto, Hajime and Komaru, the least talented people in their own games, are usually the happiest. They’re more well rounded people.

That’s where Junko comes in. Because Junko’s brain analyzes everything so efficiently, she will notice patterns in everything constantly. Thus it becomes predictable to her, leading to her always talking about boredom. And so she becomes obsessed with the concept of Despair- it’s the least predictable thing she can find. Her talent effectively ruined her life from the moment she was born and made it so she could never progress as a person.

It also makes sense why Makoto is the one to defeat her. If you really think about it- he defies all analysis. He’s physically one of the weakest students in Hope’s Peak yet always has people relying on him, to the point that Sakura compares him to her boyfriend. He acts flakey and scared but always pushes ahead. He’s no natural born detective but he’s capable of keeping pace with Kyoko, who has both natural talent and training. He takes the deaths of others the worst yet he handles it the best. Nothing about Makoto should be and yet there he is. The most ordinary guy countering the most extraordinary girl.

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mariacallous · 25 days ago

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According to U.N. projections, Russia’s population of around 146 million could shrink by 20 million people by the end of the century, with worst-case estimates predicting a dramatic decline of nearly 60 million people. In response to this looming crisis, the Kremlin has rolled out various initiatives to tackle the “demographic problem,” from promoting “family values” in schools to restricting access to abortion. The independent outlet Holod spoke with demographic experts to understand why these government efforts aren’t boosting birth rates, what could realistically slow the population decline, and whether immigration could be part of the solution. Meduza shares an English-language summary of their findings.

A 2024 U.N. report on demographic trends around the world puts Russia’s current fertility rate at 1.45 children per woman — well below the 2.1 needed to maintain population levels. According to the report, the country’s population has already peaked and is projected to decline, with estimates suggesting it could drop to 125–130 million by 2100.

Russian demographer Alexey Raksha has an even more pessimistic view. While U.N. experts predict that Russia’s birth rate could start rising as early as next year, Raksha is doubtful. “There’s no basis for that right now,” he said. “Given the current situation, the U.N.’s forecast for Russia in 2100 is overly optimistic. If nothing changes, the population could fall below 100 million.”

Fellow demographer Dmitry Zakotyansky argues that it’s difficult to even make predictions beyond 2050 due to the rapid pace of societal change. Scientists are working on breakthroughs like cancer vaccines, new treatments for heart disease and diabetes, and advances in reproductive technologies such as IVF and egg freezing. Zakotyansky believes that if these developments extend women’s reproductive years by even 10 years, they could significantly boost birth rates. “This could help ease the problem of depopulation,” he said.

The main driver of Russia’s population decline is natural attrition, explains demographer Aby Shukyurov. More people are dying than being born. Unlike Raksha, he considers the U.N.’s forecast of 125 million by the end of the century realistic. However, while some experts are optimistic that the generation born during the 2007 baby boom could improve Russia’s demographic outlook, Shukyurov believes this won’t be enough to halt the overall decline in the birth rate.

Death over life

Russia’s current birth rate can be attributed to the fact that a smaller generation, born in the late 1990s, is now reaching the average age to have children, says demographer Dmitry Zakotyansky. Even so, he points out that Russia’s fertility rate remains relatively high compared to many other regions. In East Asia, it’s around 1.1–1.2, and in Southern Europe, it hasn’t exceeded 1.4 in recent decades.

“For instance, during the crisis in the 1990s in East Germany, the fertility rate dropped to 0.7. In Russia, it’s barely fallen over the past two years — by just 0.1 child per woman, which is negligible,” Zakotyansky explained. “What worries me more is that society doesn’t seem to notice what’s really happening. Right now, the birth rate might be fine, but the mortality rate isn’t.”

Aby Shukyurov concurs, noting that while Russia’s birth rate is comparable to Europe’s, its mortality rate remains high. Cardiovascular diseases continue to be the leading cause of death, unlike in developed countries where cancer took over as the primary cause back in the 1970s.

The war in Ukraine has also impacted Russia’s demographics. Using open-source data, Meduza and Mediazona estimated that by the end of June, 120,000 Russian soldiers had died since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Meanwhile, Western intelligence puts the number of wounded around 400,000, according to The Wall Street Journal — and severe injuries can significantly shorten life expectancy.

Economic inequality is another key factor contributing to Russia’s low life expectancy, says Zakotyansky. Around 30–40 percent of Russians live in poverty, many of whom continue to smoke, drink heavily, and are more likely to be involved in or affected by crime. However, he believes this gap has narrowed somewhat over the past two years due to increased military payments, which have risen the most in some of Russia’s poorest regions.

Both Shukyurov and Zakotyansky believe the country’s declining birth rate is part of a broader demographic trend driven by scientific advances, vaccinations, and improved sanitation, all of which have greatly increased life expectancy. “No country has managed to bring back the birth rates of 20–30 years ago,” said Zakotyansky. “Russia’s ‘Social Support for Citizens’ program aims to raise the birth rate to 1.8, just to slow the decline. But I don’t think the current pro-natalist policies are enough to achieve that.”

All stick, no stork

In an apparent attempt to boost birth rates, Russian lawmakers are considering a bill to ban “childfree propaganda,” and many private clinics across the country have “voluntarily” stopped performing abortions. However, experts interviewed by Holod agree that these measures are more symbolic and politically motivated than effective in raising birth rates.

Banning “childfree propaganda” won’t make a difference, says Aby Shukyurov, explaining that research shows childlessness in Russia is often due to personal circumstances, not ideology. Alexey Raksha echoed this, calling the ban purely ideological, with no real demographic impact.

Shukyurov also pointed to other measures, like reviving the Soviet-era “Mother Heroine” award for women with 10 or more children, “Conception Day" in the Ulyanovsk region, and requiring both a doctor’s and priest’s approval for an abortion in the Belgorod region, as equally ineffective. “On one hand, these measures seem almost laughable, but on the other, they’re clearly damaging because they make women’s lives harder,” he said.

There’s also talk of reintroducing a “childlessness tax,” similar to the one from Soviet times. “It’s just another way for the government to collect more money,” Shukyurov commented. “People who don’t plan to have children aren’t going to change their minds because the government charges them 2,000 rubles [$21].”

Abortion bans and restrictions are another common talking point for Russian officials. However, with the spread of contraception, abortions are already less common in Russia, says Dmitry Zakotyansky. And history, he adds, clearly shows that these measures won’t stop people from ending unwanted pregnancies. When abortions were banned during Stalin’s era, maternal mortality skyrocketed — pregnancy-related deaths rose by 76 percent in the first year, and maternal mortality doubled within five years. After abortion was legalized in 1955, those numbers returned to previous levels.

Now, Zakotyansky notes, generations of Russian women have grown up with the right to abortion, and taking that away won’t be easy. And even though these rights are slowly being chipped away, “it’s clear this won’t improve the birth rate,” he argued.

Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, anti-feminist rhetoric has become increasingly common in Russia. Lawmakers have called for a “legal ban” on feminism, claimed the “fight for equality is relegated to the archives” and said young women should “give birth, give birth, and then give birth again.” The Russian Orthodox Church has also weighed in, with programs on the religious Spas TV channel arguing that women who become pregnant from rape should give birth, while priests lament that the world is in a “difficult period in history” where women are “demanding equal rights with men.”

The Russian government has now officially incorporated patriarchal “family values” into its strategy to boost birth rates. However, Zakotyansky warns that this approach could backfire. He argues that modern women are more likely to forgo having children if they can’t balance family life with their careers, fearing it will hold them back professionally.

A policy at odds

Despite the Kremlin’s professed concern over population decline, it’s been tightening migration policies and escalating anti-migrant rhetoric. After the March 2024 terrorist attack at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, Russian authorities ramped up raids on migrant communities and passed laws creating a “special deportation regime,” sharply limiting migrants’ rights and reducing the length of time they can stay in the country without a visa. By April 2024, more than 30 regions, including occupied Crimea, had banned migrants from working in key sectors such as transportation, healthcare, and education.

The threat of being drafted is another deterrent. In the summer, Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, announced that more than 30,000 migrants who had obtained Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service had been added to the registry, with around 10,000 already sent to the front lines in Ukraine.

All this this has predictably led to a steady decline in the number of economic migrants, even as Russia grapples with a historic labor shortage across various industries. Dmitry Zakotyansky notes that until 2022, immigration helped offset Russia’s low birth rate, with up to 300,000 people arriving each year. But this figure could soon fall to just tens of thousands. (He estimates that Russia has lost one to two million labor migrants over the past two years.)

Emigration has also taken a toll. It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of Russians left the country after the 2022 invasion — whether due to opposition to the war, concerns about its economic impact, or fear of being drafted. While some have returned, many have not.

In a country with high immigration rates (and minimal emigration), there’s no need to aim for a total fertility rate of two children per woman, Zakotyansky explains. For example, the U.S. population is growing due to immigration, even though birth rates there are falling simultaneously.

Shukyurov concurs that migration would be the best way to counteract Russia’s shrinking population. However, as he points out, the country is taking the opposite approach: “The government is doing everything to boost birth rates, but at the same time, it’s restricting migration.”

Still, with Russia’s current fertility rate of 1.4, even immigration can’t fully offset population decline, Zakotyansky says. The country would still need a rate of at least 1.7 to see growth.

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cashoffercompany · 2 months ago

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The Best and Worst Time To Sell A House

When it comes to selling a house, timing is everything. The real estate market is influenced by various factors, and knowing when to sell can significantly impact the speed and profitability of your sale. In this blog, we’ll explore the best and worst times of the year to sell a house, offering insights into when you might want to list your property. We'll also consider the worst times to sell and how companies like Cash Offer Company can help if you need to sell your house fast, regardless of the season.

The Best Time of Year to Sell a House

Spring: The Peak Selling Season

Best months to sell a house: March, April, and May are generally considered the best months to sell a house. As the weather improves, buyers are more motivated to shop for homes. The market is typically more active, with more buyers looking and higher prices being offered. This period is ideal if you want to sell quickly and at a good price.

Advantages: During spring, homes often sell faster and for more money. The curb appeal of homes is at its peak, with blooming gardens and pleasant weather making properties more attractive.

Summer: A Strong Contender

Best time of year to sell a house: June and July are also excellent months to sell a house. Families looking to move before the school year starts often search during the summer, creating a robust market.

Advantages: The long days and favorable weather conditions make it easier for buyers to attend open houses and viewings. However, competition is high, so pricing your home right is crucial.

Fall: A Strategic Window

Best months to sell a house: September and October can still be good months to sell, particularly early in the fall. The market starts to cool down, but there are still serious buyers looking to close deals before the holiday season.

Advantages: With less competition than in the spring and summer, your home can stand out. Motivated buyers during this time are often ready to make quick decisions, which can lead to a faster sale.

The Worst Time to Sell a House

Winter: The Slump Season

Worst time to sell a house: December, January, and February are generally considered the worst months to sell a house. The holidays and cold weather keep many potential buyers indoors, leading to a slower market.

Disadvantages: Fewer buyers mean less competition, which can result in lower offers. Additionally, winter weather can make homes look less appealing, and open houses are less attended.

Holiday Season: A Tough Market

Worst month to sell a house: December is often the worst month to sell a house due to the holiday season. People are preoccupied with family gatherings and holiday expenses, which means fewer buyers are looking to make big purchases.

Disadvantages: The market tends to slow down, and you may find it challenging to attract serious buyers. If you must sell during this time, be prepared for longer listing periods and lower offers.

Mid-Summer: A Cooling Off Period

While early summer is a good time to sell, mid-summer (late July and August) can see a slight dip in buyer activity. Many people are on vacation, and the intense heat in some regions can deter buyers from attending showings.

Disadvantages: Although the market isn’t as slow as in the winter, there may be a noticeable decrease in buyer interest compared to early summer and spring.

Factors That Influence the Best and Worst Times to Sell

Local Market Conditions

The best time of year to sell a house can vary depending on your local market. In some regions, summer might be more competitive due to favorable weather, while in others, fall might be better because of less competition.

Economic Conditions

The economy plays a significant role in determining the best and worst times to sell a house. In a strong economy, buyers are more confident and willing to invest, making it easier to sell at a higher price. Conversely, during economic downturns, the market can be sluggish, regardless of the season.

Interest Rates

When interest rates are low, buyers are more likely to enter the market, as they can afford more expensive homes. This can make traditionally slower times more active.

How to Sell My House Fast, No Matter the Season

Even if you find yourself needing to sell during the worst time of the year, there are strategies you can use to ensure a quick sale.

Price Your Home Competitively

Setting the right price is crucial, especially in a slower market. If you’re looking to sell my house fast, pricing it slightly below market value can attract more interest and lead to a quicker sale.

Enhance Curb Appeal

Make sure your home stands out, even during the off-season. Simple upgrades like a fresh coat of paint, landscaping, and decluttering can make a big difference in attracting buyers.

Consider Selling to a Cash Buyer

If you’re in a hurry and need to sell your house fast, working with a company like Cash Offer Company can be an excellent option. Cash buyers purchase homes directly, eliminating the need for financing and the lengthy closing process. This option is particularly appealing if you need to sell my house fast for cash, regardless of the season.

Conclusion

The best time of year to sell a house is generally in the spring and early summer, when buyer activity is at its peak. However, the worst time to sell a house is during the winter and holiday season, when the market tends to slow down. Understanding these seasonal trends can help you plan your sale for maximum benefit.

If you find yourself needing to sell during the off-season, don’t despair. By pricing your home competitively, enhancing its appeal, and considering alternative selling options like working with cash buyers, you can still achieve a successful sale.

For those looking to sell quickly and without the stress of the traditional market, Cash Offer Company offers a hassle-free solution. We provide fair cash offers and can close deals in as little as seven days, making it easy to sell your home fast, no matter the time of year.

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purplesurveys · 4 months ago

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1901

What song reminds you of being in middle school? All Time Low, The Maine, The Summer Set, You Me At Six, Sleeping With Sirens...save for ATL and SWS who I actually liked, in summary these were bands that the cool kids obsessed over; and wanting to be just as cool and to fit in, I tried to listen to their music only to find it all unimpressive and boring.

What was the first thing you learned how to cook? The only things I've ever learned how to make are eggs. For baking, cookies.

What does your hair currently look like? It's in a low ponytail.

Who’s the worst driver you know? In terms of never knowing how to brake properly and making all of his passengers dizzy, that would be my mom's younger brother.

In terms of...well...denting the car and never knowing when it's too close to a street post or a concrete curb, me. Bless my dad for being ever so patient and never getting mad at me even if I've given my car several souvenirs over the years :((

What are some wild animals commonly found where you live? Just...birds tbh. The occasional snake but I've never seen one myself.

Does it take a lot to make you cry? No. PMS-ing or not, it's pretty easy.

If the last dream you had came true, would that be a good or bad thing? I can't remember my last dream.

Have you ever had a lucid dream? Nope.

How long did your last car ride last? All of, like, 3 minutes. The typhoon was already in full force that morning but my mom and I wanted to just try taking our chances and see if our roads are still passable, or if there's even a flood at all in the village – long story short, it didn't take long for a village guard to stop us mid-drive and be like, "don't even try, [the flood] is way too high already" lol so back to the house we went.

Isn’t it disgusting when people chew with their mouth open? Sure but I don't find it as annoying as others do. I have other pet peeves to be more irritated with lmao.

What’s your most prominent memory from 2009? Watching fancams from Beyoncé's world tour at the time (and waiting >1 hr for 3-minute videos to load, because the internet was still such a new concept here at the time) + getting into Twilight.

Do you think there will ever be world peace? No.

What’s your biggest problem at the moment? Nothing.

Has anyone ever told you you’re too emotionally needy? No.

Has an ex ever told you that they want you back? No.

Have you ever turned down a job offer? It's more 'chickening out' then turning it down; and it wasn't even a job offer yet. Basically, I was a fresh grad who got an interview opportunity at this company, but the interviewer was going to be this high-ranking, CEO-level guy from another country. As someone who was still completely inexperienced and new in Grownup World, it gave me stomach-turning anxiety more than excitement for my first potential job, so I ran away from it. I didn't ghost – I just lied and said that I was going to be unavailable due to a prior commitment or whatever and that was that.

In retrospect, amusing and kind of endearing to think about now. I've forgiven myself for it, haha. Apart from the position being not even something I wanted, I was also like 3 days away from the breakup that nearly killed me so just imagine how much my relationship had deterioriated by that point. I wasn't in the right state of mind, and had I pushed through with the interview I'm fairly confident I would have flunked it horribly. It was also peak Covid, so having to learn adulting during such a restrictive time felt very frustrating.

What’s the longest hospital stay you’ve had? For what? I've only had one hospital stay and that was overnight. I had a dengue scare which just turned out be a general low platelet count. No clue where it came from; my sister got diagnosed with the same thing and we were admitted to the hospital at the same time. My mom visibly lost a few pounds in the span of 24 hours out of worry.

Do you know anyone who doesn’t know the basics of using a computer? My grandma.

What was the last snack you ate? I'm currently having cinnamon breadsticks and a few Cheetos I fished out of its bag. Healthy living!

What’s something really basic that you’re terrible at? Cooking, riding a bicycle.

Is it just me, or are tv shows/movies getting to be really dumbed down? Well, no. There's many great ones out there still.

Do you know any same-sex married couples? Yeah. They were wed in the States, of course; but yeah I know one.

What was the last appointment you scheduled? Dentist.

Are you happy with the person you have become? For the most part I am, but sometimes I'll get challenged about it. When I feel like I'm starting to feel sucky about myself again, I'm usually immediately self-aware about it and scramble to fix things.

What year were you born? 1998.

What does your favorite watch look like? I don't wear watches.

Did you have one of those Tamagotchi things as a kid? I had a fake one because we never could afford the real thing.

What’s your favorite kind of wine? Idk the differences between Merlot and Chardonnay and whatever and am generally not knowledgeable about wine at all – all I know is that I gravitate towards red.

When was the last time you felt lonely? Wednesday.

Are your parents still together? Yup.

Have you ever been so broke you didn’t know how you’d keep a roof over your head? Fortunately I have never had to think about that.

Do you know anyone who believes that vaccines cause autism? Not autism, but that they can kill...wasn't a fun day learning someone I know personally thinks that way.

What was the last piece of furniture you bought? Can't remember; it's been a while.

What’s a new skill you’d like to learn? Another Filipino language.

How did you celebrate your last birthday? I just had an intimate dinner with family.

Do you have any great housecleaning tips? Not really.

What’s your favorite cocktail? Long island iced tea or espresso martini.

Did your favorite movie come out before or after you were born? Before. 31 years before.

Is there anything you need to do before the end of the day? Help entertain relatives who've flown in from the States and will be coming over anytime soon.

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frankymca · 10 months ago

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A year ago

When I think back about who I was a year ago all I remember is being a mess. I remember the girl that cried in the crowd of a concert because she missed her ex. I remember the girl that skipped meals and hid in her car for lunch breaks at work. I remember the girl that was sick of trying and failing, so she only did what was easy. I wanted to be liked by people whose opinion I did not care about prior, I wanted to fit in with my friends, to have natural hair and wear skinny jeans. I wanted to not be me.

I realized how self-centered I was for months and years before that. How I put myself on a pedestal and “how dare you talk shit about me, you’re just jealous because you peaked in High School and I’m peaking now“.

Good for me I did not peak at 19. I was a bitch at 19.

When my ex broke up with me I thought it’s her loss, I’m great and she’s missing out on that. Now I know that I was far from great. I was toxic and terrible and everything I thought I wasn’t. What I am trying to say is; If I would have been my ex, I would have ended things way sooner, gosh, if I would have been her, I would have never started thing off with me in the first place.

This is not about her, though. Although lately, everything is about her again. So, hey Augs, if you’re seeing this (and I know you will or at least that’s what I’m telling myself), how’s things going? Everything sitting tight? February is kicking butts again, as usual, you know how it is with me and that time of year. But besides that I’m a lot better now. Have you seen what I’m up too lately? Lots of cool shit… totally… 100%… definitely not just saying this to appear cool. Well, I guess I still can only dream to be half the person you are. I really don’t know if you’re happy and it is not my place to ask but I’m glad the fighting with your friends seemed to have found an end, I’m glad you and your sister get along better now, I’m glad you finally dropped out of school. Not because I want you to have a miserable life, just because I know how much school took a toll on you. I hope you find something that’s more your cup of tea.

I’m losing my focus again, something I try to allow myself to do lately. Not everything always has to be straight forward and thought through till perfection.

What I was trying to say, I only remember the bad parts of me from a year ago. I always only remember the bad parts of my life. Isn’t your brain psychologically supposed to forget the bad stuff and hold onto the good things? I wouldn’t know, I stopped reading about psychology about the same time I stopped buying clothes at least twice my size and call half a cucumber a “healthy lunch“. I cannot be my own therapist, and I cannot be anyone else’s either.

I only remember the bits of my past that make me roll my eyes in cringe so far back that I can see parts of my brain that I can name since Junior High but never admitted because being good in biology is not the emo-punk-alt-mix image that I wanted people to have about me. Turns out just because you listen to Fall Out Boy religiously, wear black jeans and keep a skateboard in the trunk of your car at all times does not make people think you’re cool and edgy and alternative. Bummer.

What I’m trying to say is, not all of me sucked a year ago.

I just went through an old Pinterest board to find ~the perfect playlist cover~, (as one does), and I have gotten flashbacks of the person I was a year ago. And damn, was I a sick little bitch. And not the kind of bitch I referred myself as earlier in this text, but the female empowering kind of bitch. The way Hayley Williams, Melanie Perkins and Michelle Obama are sick little bitches!

Not that I could compare myself with any of those women, not that I would even stand a chance to be in the same room as any of these women.

But I was badass. A little at least. While I was in the worst period of self-consciousness ever, since I was 12, or 14, or 16, I was also the most confident I ever was. I might have treated myself like absolute garbage but I sure as hell did not let anyone else just look at me with wrong intentions. While I always had thick skin for peoples comments (quite literally, because the most people were talking shit about me was my weight), I never stood up for myself. I simply did not care about any of that enough. And now finally I did? That’s a change I did not expect in my last months of being a teen girl.

All I’m trying to phrase with this one is that sometimes I guess I do need to cut myself some slack. I did outrageously stupid things like going to a concert 200 miles away from home while continuously telling my mom that I went with my ex – who she didn’t know I stopped talking to approximate a year prior (some day I will tell her the truth, maybe) – but I did some epic shit like going to a concert 200 miles away from home while continuously telling my mom that I went with my ex. To keep this short and simple, my vision board around that time is something I can only dream about now, but then again, isn’t that the whole purpose of a vision board? Whilst my hair was chocolate brown, a color I haven’t seen on my head since I stared 7th grade, I was living my best life as a natural red. You can take the hair dye away from me, but you cannot take the color red out of my soul. I was courageous, I was bold, and I was fucking red. So although I was being an insecure pain in the ass for everyone that had to hold a conversation with me, I was the absolute definition of rockstar girlfriend in my dreams and behind the curtains. And now that I do not have a 9-to-5 that requires me to keep my hair, well, not crazily colored, and I have no tears left for peoples that I want in my life but who do not want me to be in theirs, I think it is time to let the curtain fall and let the world get a glimpse of who they have been missing out on. It is time to let Fran be the center of my consciousness again. After all, it is hard to be the fun aunt if you have no fun stories to share. Oh wait, did I say too much now? Hm, no time for explanations, I think I’m reaching the word limi-

#fran writes #im not interested enough to end it like this #but I wanted to post on different social but its too long for that

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conflictandscotchblog · 1 year ago

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A Long Overdue Salute to the Colonel

Recently, I received a friend request on FACEBOOK from a woman whose name I did not recognize.

She then sent me a message that she worked with me at the COLONELS GARTER (trust me, it’s a name of a bar name from the eighties) and I immediately accepted. You don’t ignore a voice from the past.

After a short text message exchange, I thought about my time in that job. Made me think, ‘I should write a blog post about it’.

So, Carol, thank you for the inspiration; this blog’s for you.

Author’s Note: What follows is my memory, it may be right, it may be wrong, but it’s mine. In addition, I may not use names for two reasons:

One – to protects someone’s anonymity.

Two – I just don’t remember their names.

In the late seventies, early eighties, there were a string of bars that peppered New Jersey, they all began with the name Art Stock’s (insert name of bar here).

Art Stock, as far I as knew, was a school teacher, that somehow became the ‘name’ of a series of bars in the state. I worked in two ‘Art Stock’ bars, the Royal Manor North, and the Colonel’s Garter.

By far, the better bar was the Colonel’s Garter.

To be clear, I was a bouncer, not a bartender. Worked the door, roamed the floor, stood by the stage while the band played (maybe that’s why I have lousy hearing). It was a very casual atmosphere. For instance, even though the drinking age was still eighteen, sometimes patrons would enter who ‘forget their IDs’.

My reply?

“Just open your wallet,” I would say, “show me something. A picture of your dog, your favorite Aunt, I don’t care, just show me something’.

To which they would, and I’d let them in.

Air Guitar was big back in the early eighties. For those unenlightened, basically you stood on stage while a song played, and mimicked playing a guitar. Each week, The Garter (as we called it) had an air guitar contest.

Some would get into it, jump up and down on the stage, one arm circling the imaginary instrument.

However, that was nothing compared to what a friend I’d known since high school did one night.

He walked up on stage, the music started, and he played air guitar. When the song ended, he took a bow, then pulled up his shirt, pulled down his pants (and underwear) and raised his arms in triumph.

During this display, my manager, Ray, stood next to me on the floor.

He laughed, then asked, “Isn’t that your friend?”

Yes, I tentatively replied.

“Well, tell him he’s banned for a month.”

Exactly one month later, with the banned lifted, my friend went up on stage – and did it again.

To my knowledge, after the second ban from the club, he retired his air guitar act.

There is a slight addendum to his action, during his ‘act’ he started a chant about a body parts (one which everyone could clearly see) but I can not, and will not, repeat it here.

Just know, there was chanting.

The best part of working in a bar, also the worst, was closing time. It is so hard to get drunks to leave a bar when the lights come on. Around and around I’d go, tell people to leave, and they just didn’t get the hint. In reality, we just wanted them out so the staff could drink while the band of the night broke down their equipment. While the band did that, we’d drink for free and play video games (usually PAC-Man and Ms. PAC-Man – don’t judge us, it was the eighties).

Sometimes, we didn’t leave the bar until the sun peaked over the horizon.

Did you know, when bartenders cleaned their stations, they would serve us a drink called a ‘Jim Jones’?

What is a ‘Jim Jones’? Glad you asked.

Quick history lesson: Jim Jones was a cult leader that killed his followers with a lethal concoction of cyanide and fruit juice.

It’s where the phrase ‘Drink the Kool-Aid’ comes from.

For us, it was a concoction of all the alcohol run-off collected in the rubber mats underneath where the bartenders mixed their drinks (Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Scotch, mixers, soda, etc).

We would end up doing shots of this conglomerate of liquids (Amazed we are still alive).

During one of these after-hours meeting, my manager, Ray, said to me, “Al, before I hired you,” he laughed, “I would order one case of Tanqueray every three months. Now, its a case a month.”

My drink of choice during work hours? Tanqueray and club soda.

I think it was just a coincidence.

It wasn’t all just business, of course, their were also affairs of the heart.

Well, almost.

There was a woman that worked the Imported Beer Bar that I liked. Back then, it didn’t take much for me to like a woman, but it took me to move a mountain to actually tell her.

I did, I asked her out, and she said yes (cue the fireworks montage).

The next night, as I walked into work, this woman came out to meet me in the parking lot. How sweet was that? Her she was, greeting me before work started.

Turns out, not so much.

She came out to tell that she could not go out with me because she liked someone else.

Side Note: It’s always High School.

I guess (well, I know), that I don’t handle rejection well. The rest of the night was a drunken blur, and because we took care of each other during trying times (well, I’d find out later what might have happened during these ‘trying times’) I was given a ride home.

The next night, when I made it back to work, I was told that there was a discussion, with me in my inebriated state, they wanted to put me on a plane to Boston, as a joke (this was the eighties, you could actually do that).

But, instead, they drove me home.

I’d like to thank those that voted against this absolutely horrible idea, because I don’t think I would have done well, drunk and alone, (new reality show?) in Boston.

When it was over, and the bar was sold, the new owner decided that what South Amboy needed was a New York City-style Night Club (it did not).

On the last night of the Colonel's Garter, the band Flossie played. Flossie was the lead singer and she wore tight red leather pants.

Pure Rock’ N’ Roll.

The night the new re-imaged bar opened (City Lights), and was now like a New York Night Club, Flossie (also re-imaged) stepped out on stage in an evening gown.

Neither the bar, nor the band, worked.

A few years later, the bar became a strip-club called ‘Delilah's Den’.

After that, who knows if the building still exists, but all I know is...

...it was fun while it lasted.

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rotten-whispers · 2 years ago

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Odd things happen in the desert

A creepypasta based on the mysteries of the Desert Southwest. Tales of death and uncanniness follow.

Those long, hot days really get to you after a while.

I’ve lived in the desert all my life.

Usually, when people think of the desert, they imagine rocky cliffs, sand, saguaros, lizards, and the worst sunburn that you can imagine. Those are all true.

Other people think of sudden, violent storms; strange howling in the darkness; or maniacal people driven mad by the heat. Those are also true. But the everyday lies somewhere in between.

Let me start by saying that I’ve moved around the Southwestern United States for a few years, but it is generally the same everywhere. Occasionally, the lizards change. The saguaros disappear. The temperatures peak at 108F instead of 125F. But the general aesthetic of each area does not differ.

Nor do the warnings.

I love hiking – I have always been a huge fan of the woods. On my visits to the Pacific Northwest, you couldn’t get me out of them. But hiking in the desert is obviously very different.

For example, no amount of water that you bring is ever enough. If you go hiking at sunrise, you will have drained your canteen within a few hours. Hiking around noon is enough to leave you with heatstroke if you visit the trails during the wrong time of year.

The wrong time of year, unfortunately, coincides with most people’s time off from work, or school. Plenty of people visit the Southwest believing that they know what they are getting into. Believing that they have enough water, and that the temperatures are not too high.

Every year, dozens of people from other habitats brave the hiking trails and never return. They die of heatstroke, or dehydration, or fall from a cliff after a mistimed step. Occasionally, their bodies are recovered by helicopters, search parties, other hikers. Generally, they are never found. Picked apart by wild animals and bleached by the sweltering sun.

Even the locals underestimate the violent environment and meet their demise.

I knew a young couple who were experienced hikers. They had gone on the same hiking trail dozens of times before. The day wasn’t that hot, they knew what they were doing. But somehow, during the two-hour hike, they both succumbed to heatstroke and were found dead.

Nobody quite knows how it could have happened. But this hiking path was famous for catching people off guard. You see, the desert isn’t always hot. Often, it will be quite cold here, especially if you head out early enough in the morning. The official story was that the young couple set out early enough in the day that it was still cold enough to hike. But the trail veered into higher altitudes, away from shade entirely. Leaving them exposed to the bare sky overhead, the sweltering sun that came out of nowhere, rising the temperature to the late 90’s before their hike had even finished.

And they were gone. Just like that.

It happens often in the desert. We go hiking, go to a carnival, walk to the store – and overlook the sun.

Heatstroke is a funny little thing. Just as dehydration is at its highest, your body will force itself to throw up, further ridding yourself of necessary liquids. I never quite understood the point of it.

It isn’t uncommon to find dead animals, either, even in the middle of the city. I have walked over dead cats, dead rodents, and dead birds on my way to class. However, the worst corpses to find are the ones that are in pieces.

Yesterday, on a hike, I stumbled across the intestines, kidneys, and liver of a small creature. The parts had been perfectly removed, and were still assembled as though inside the animal’s body. They were cleanly set on the dirt, and there were no tufts of fur, flesh, or even blood beside the entrails. It was as though the creature’s insides had been transported outside of its body without damage.

It never feels normal running into these corpses. You learn to ignore them, to turn aside and keep hiking higher into the hills. Closer to the ever-burning sun overhead. But you have to ignore them.

We never talk about these things, either. They are a part of everyday life that everyone quickly gets used to.

The majority of people, however, just don’t notice. And the darker areas of our world remain hidden.

But once you begin to notice, you can never go back.

While I was hiking yesterday, I had the sensation that I was being watched. It isn’t uncommon to run into wildlife in the mountains that I was walking across. I try to remain vigilant and scan the outcrop of rocks for the head of a cougar, or the snout of a distant coyote, but it really is hopeless. The camouflage of wildlife in the desert is outstanding – you will not notice them until you have wandered directly into their path.

But they will notice you. As I made my way higher and higher into the mountain, I had the sensation that every living creature in this park knew exactly where I was, although I would never even know that they were there.

It is difficult to keep an eye out for everything that could endanger you. My eyes rarely strayed from the trail, to avoid stepping on a rattlesnake, or turning my ankle on a rock. Stumbling could lead to ripped pants or a pitch over the side of a cliff – the gamble was far too great.

So you are in the mountains, and you are watching where you step. You are keeping track of your water, you are ensuring that you have enough to last the journey back. The mountains know that you are there, but they are leaving you alone, and you are lucky enough not to have run into another person. People are often more unpredictable in the desert than anywhere else, especially after they have been fried a little by the sun.

But then you get lost. All the rocks look the same, and there aren’t any trail markers to keep track of.

I tried not to panic. After all, I still had enough water for a little while longer. And my phone battery wasn’t dead. There wasn’t a signal, but at the absolute worst, I could just scurry in a straight line until I met back with the road.

Then I made the one mistake you are always told never, ever to do – I left the trail.

It was an accident – my feet wandered from the path, thinking that I found a shortcut, and then I was gone. Lost off-trail, my feet being tangled by cactus pods, which have an uncanny ability to claw through your shoes.

If you have never seen a jackrabbit up close, they look like otherworldly creatures. These are skeletal, elongated beasts – far from the round, fuzzy bunnies that most people are accustomed to seeing in pet stores. A large jackrabbit can be taller than your knees, with piercing eyes that seem much too human.

I startled a jackrabbit, and it scared the living hell out of me. One second the ground was a settlement of rocks, and the next, it was escaping into the distance like an apparition.

But I didn’t start to panic until my water dropped below the halfway mark. This is the time that you are told to turn back, to always leave yourself enough hydration to make your way home. I felt the flutterings of panic, then. Just barely beginning to build in my chest.

Because it is all too easy to make a simple mistake – one misplaced step, one wrong turn – and end up as another missing person.

There was the distant sound of a donkey braying, which momentarily distracted me from my fear. Feral donkeys live in our national parks, they are often seen wandering into town or standing outlined against the horizon. But I had never heard one bray before.

Fascinated, I remember tracing the rocks for the donkey. However, the curiosity quickly gave away to confusion as I realized that I could not tell where the sounds were coming from.

The braying began on my left, but sounded a second later from my right – close enough that the animal should have been visible. Yet, it simply wasn’t. There was nothing at all surrounding me on the mountains.

And there was no noise, either. No birdsong, or wind, or even the rushing of cars in the distance. Only the mournful cry of a donkey, twisted as though in pain.

As soon as I stumbled away from the noises, I found the trail again. It just appeared out of nowhere, but I was too grateful to question my good fortune.

I didn’t hear the donkey at all on the way back home.

Occasionally, I will talk to my other friends who enjoy hiking, and we will exchange stories of our encounters. It isn’t uncommon to find yourself completely lost, but there are other, more interesting tales of the rocky outcrops.

You will find lizards in the desert. They are everywhere – some with long, blue tails; others with blue throats; or shimmering scales in a multitude of colors. But one of my hiking friends, a graduate student named Laura, told me about her strange experience with lizards.

She was an amateur wildlife photographer on a stroll through a hiking path, when she also found herself completely lost.

“It was the weirdest thing,” Laura told me. “One minute, I could see the parking lot in the distance, the next there was nothing but rocks.”

As she wandered through the mountain, searching for the trail, she wandered by the same lizards that all desert dwellers are accustomed to. But the deeper that she went, the larger they started to become.

“I saw a Sceloporus that was larger than my torso,” Laura said. There was an otherworldly expression on her face, halfway between curiosity and fear. “I never saw anything like it before… But when I pulled out my camera, it disappeared into the rocks.”

She eventually returned to the same hiking path, but could never find the same trail that she had wandered onto. And she never saw the gigantic lizards again.

I had a similar experience myself – of straying too deep into the mountains and finding that the local lizards were steadily increasing in size. But I never followed them off the trail.

My other friends have withdrawn from hiking altogether, but they have sobering tales of the city. Stories about days spent in the sweltering heat, melting asphalt that stuck to their shoes, and birds that were falling dead from the sky.

“It was horrible,” One of my friends told me. He was a quiet man named Skylar who couldn’t afford a car, so he used the local buses to get around. This was especially difficult during the summer, when the short walk to a bus station could end up dehydrating you severely.

“I heard something hit the ground behind me,” Skylar said. “I thought that it was a piece of trash at first, that somebody had thrown something at me from their car. It wouldn’t be the first time. But then I realized that it had feathers.”

He pursed his lip.

“Sick bird, you know, you don’t think much of it. Until the second one fell. And the next. They were falling from the sky like hail, littering the ground with unmoving bodies.”

Skylar lowered his voice, nearly turning away from me. “The asphalt was so hot. Sticky. For a moment, I thought that it moved beneath my feet. I thought that my mind was playing tricks on me – you know, from the birds. But when I turned around again, all of the birds were gone. There was this sucking noise, and all the bodies were gone.”

He stared into the distance, with a little shrug. “Take from that what you will. But I haven’t left the sidewalk since then.”

My friend Elena told me to always lock my doors.

“I know that it’s common sense, but you have no idea how many people leave their front doors unlocked during the day. You don’t want to be visited by the Meat Man.”

I immediately asked her what she was talking about.

“You’re looking for unusual stories, right?” Elena lowered her tone to a secret, conspiratory whisper. But there was something serious about her expression.

“My mom leaves the front door open during the day sometimes, but only when we’re home. She told me that she was making dinner, when she noticed a strange man in our doorway. Apparently, he let himself in through the open door.”

Elena shakes her head. “Didn’t knock, or ring the bell, or anything. And he asked her if she was interested in buying meat.”

“Meat?” I asked.

“Yeah, like fresh meat that he had to sell. He just kept staring at her, asking if she was interested in buying meat. Fresh meat, whatever you want. Allllll kinds of meat.”

“What kind of meat?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say, and my mom didn’t ask. She was really freaked out – she demanded that he leave, or she was going to call the police. He left quietly after that, but she noticed that he had this weird cart outside. It was full of red, raw pieces of meat. He was going door to door, trying to sell people meat. It was the weirdest thing that I ever encountered.”

“He was probably just crazy,” I offered, but Elena didn’t seem convinced.

“Maybe. But after he came by, my neighborhood started complaining about strange noises at night. Scratching at the doors and windows, weird markings in the dirt outside. The man continuously coming back, ringing the doorbell and trying to get inside. And you know, the weirdest thing is that my mom swears that she did lock the door on the first day that the man came inside our house.”

My friends’ stories unsettled me, but I heard many similar ones through the grapevine. From a friend of a friend of an acquaintance. About the strange things that happen here, that we all overlook and ignore.

When I told my friend CJ about the giant lizards, they twisted their expression in disgust.

“Giant ants. I’ve seen the world’s largest ants building colonies on the side walk. They are the biggest ants that I have ever seen, I swear that they could carry off a hamster. But I’ve… I’ve had more trouble with the little ones.”

The Southwestern United States has several species of fire-ants that found their way here from Africa, as well as many other insects that can make your time here very painful. We tend to be very careful about insects. But sometimes it’s impossible to keep them out.

CJ looked very uncomfortable. “I’ve always had trouble with bugs,” They tell me. “I feel like I’m cursed. When I go outside, they fly at me, drowning themselves in my water, or pitching straight down my throat while I am walking. But the worst experience was last week. I woke up to a strange, itching feeling, like something was walking on me. When I turned on the light, I realized that I was covered in ants. Entirely covered in ants, from my toes to my head. They were all over my sheets, all over my skin. I don’t think that I’ve ever felt that itchy in my life. But they weren’t anywhere else in my room. Not on the floor, not even on the food that I left on my desk. Just my bed, just on me. And I never figured out how they got inside.”

After shuddering, CJ began to scratch themselves, flicking a small insect from their skin with a horrified, disgusted expression.

“Always,” They said, hollowly. “No matter how many times I get rid of them, they always come back.”

The last story was from my friend Tim. It was about Dust Devils – those random dust storms that appear out of nowhere, like miniature tornadoes. They can cause zero visibility while driving and are actually quite dangerous, but they are generally accepted as a factor of life. But my friend Tim told me that he was trapped inside one once.

“It was a normal day, there wasn’t a whisk of wind or a cloud in the sky. I was just walking around the block. And you know that I live in the city, right, not near the foothills or anywhere rural. Just in the middle of the city, walking around the block, and I notice that it’s starting to get a little bit windy. Before I even have the chance to think any more than that, I am suddenly trapped in a whirling column of sand. Tiny rocks and sticks are hitting me, my hat is clamped tight in my fist so it doesn’t fly off. And I’m thinking, Oh my god, I’m inside a Haboob.”

His eyes widened with the memory. “I was scared shitless, I had no idea if I was going to be carried off, or hit by something really heavy. And you know you can get Valley Fever from those things. But before I have the chance to fully panic, the damn thing passes over me, and I see it turning around the corner. Craziest shit that I ever experienced.”

When I first listened to the stories from my peers, I didn’t know what to make of them. I knew my own experiences in the desert were strange at best – otherworldly at worst. But I didn’t realize how much of our everyday lives were overlooked as being mundane occurrences.

I don’t know what I seek by compiling this list, but I suppose just to let the world know what happens beneath their noses. That the dark, endless woods can be frightening, but there is an uncanniness to the sweltering cliffs of the desert Southwest that you cannot find anywhere else on earth.

That while you are here, the desert knows who you are, and it is watching you.

Waiting.

#writing #short stories #shorts #creepypastas #creepy pastas #creepypasta #creepy pasta #horror #horror stories #desert southwest #southwest #desert #desert horror

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taigertea · 2 years ago

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Kotetsu and Subaru: a look into “if things were different”

Immediately into S2 we're meant to associate Subaru and Thomas with early Kotetsu and Barnaby with how the two show more rivalry than camaraderie. @the-fried-rice-symbolism did a great take on how Barnaby and Thomas are, despite the push to show their similarities, are different at their core, and progress through the series. I’ve been itching to do a Kotetsu and Subaru version for a while so here’s my take under the cut.

Despite their surface-level similarities of loudness, brashness, complaining, obliviousness, growing up in smaller towns, and leaning towards justice, there are fundamental differences in who they are and how/where they act.

I think the biggest difference here comes down time, in a lot of ways. The age they manifested their powers, the year/era they manifested their powers and the culture around it, and obviously their actual ages. If I actually had to make a broad statement about Kotetsu and Subaru, I might go as far as to say that Kotetsu could’ve been Subaru in another alternate universe if the circumstances around his power were different.

Breaking it down, Kotetsu got his powers before the age of 10, when NEXT discrimination was at its peak. Not to mention 100 power is probably one of the worst powers to have little control over. In contrast, Subaru in the manga is stated to have manifested his powers two years ago, so by math, 15. It’s also during a time where heroes seem to be more popular and recognized. His power is also in a way, the opposite of Kotetsu’s incredibly offensive powers, a defensive barrier technique. It seems like Subaru also was able to control his powers quickly, since he was already a hero in his town.

But for the most part, seems like Subaru lived a normal life, and being a hero wasn’t really much of a career choice for him until he got his powers vs Kotetsu who basically made it his sole purpose in life after meeting Legend. Wild to hear that he was choosing between high school and being a hero at the last minute. At Subaru's age, it sounds like Kotetsu was more of a delinquent/black sheep, probably a continuation of his childhood of being outcast for being NEXT. Luckily Subaru outside of his family had Rodrigo who if anything was jealous of Subaru for getting NEXT powers.

With the manifestation of Kotetsu’s 100 power, he also gained a fun debuff of low self-esteem and awareness of the people around him, probably to an excessive degree, which Subaru isn’t shown to have as much of. And granted, Kotetsu will have moments of obliviousness, but he’s shown to try and be considerate of boundaries (which is ironic considering Kotetsu’s the crusher and Subaru is the one with the barriers) so the way the two act when it comes to sensitive topics differs pretty far.

Of course age is a pretty big factor too. Despite Thomas’s “old man” comment, he’s closer to Barnaby’s age than the range between Subaru and Kotetsu. Kotetsu’s lived through a lot and seen a lot, it’d be weird if he wasn’t more calmer and considerate about things at least in general.

It’ll be interesting to see how all these factors manifest themselves in season 2 cour 2, not only with Subaru’s relationship with Thomas but how Kotetsu and Barnaby will end up “mentoring” them. It sounded like there were ideas of Kotetsu and Barnaby teaching new heroes for S2 before it was scrapped with the buddy system but having them kind of still set an example. Don’t personally have any predictions for it but I await with bated breath.

#tiger and bunny #tiger and bunny 2 spoilers #kotetsu kaburagi #subaru sengoku #kotetsu t. kaburagi #anyways idk if this really went anywhere #i just wanted to talk about it after seeing some #subaru is the younger version of kotetsu

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sl-walker · 2 years ago

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A couple of things I have learned of late (coupled with things I’ve known forever):

Despite Jimmy Doohan having lovely hair (and a gorgeous widow’s peak), Star Trek actually did the second worst job of styling it out of all the stuff I’ve managed to dig up that he acted in. Which is a fucking lot.

(The first worst isn’t worth mentioning because I believe it should be considered an actual war crime committed by the Canadian government.)

But for real, the stylists for Trek dropped the ball; maybe they were worried if they did it too well, certain peoples’ toupee would have been outclassed. >.>

The man really didn’t age in any normal fashion from like-- twenty-one to almost forty, and even then, it’s really only that furrow between his eyebrows that starts to stick, and his face gets a little harder. You can’t take a look at him at thirty-five without thinking, “Jesus, he looks like he’s in his mid-twenties.”

No, really, I managed to find something he was in when he was only thirty, and while the video quality was awful, he was so baby-faced in it that he looked a little like a teenager in a high school play with his pencil-thin mustache. I can see why he was given a hard time while he was in the military.

He can for real display six emotions in under three seconds using only his eyebrows (which are also fucking perfect, let me tell you, I know because I also have perfect eyebrows and we can smell our own) and while that might not come as a shock, it’s still worth noting and admiring. (Also, Trek writers didn’t give him nearly enough red meat; he actually can act. I know, it was a different era, but still.)

#i have been looking at this dude my whole life #and i am still not even slightly tired of it

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dawnoftheeverlight · 5 years ago

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tl;dr my country is literally on fire and the politicians refuse to help

I know there's a lot going on in the world, but you probably haven't heard about what's happening in Australia.

we're on fire.

approximately 1/4 of australia’s population is in catastrophic fire danger. A catastrophic fire level means your only chance of surviving is leaving before it’s too late.

it’s Spring in Australia, and rainforests aren't meant to be dry enough to burn, yet at the time of writing this (11/11/19) there are 71 active fires in NSW (43 out of control), and 51 active fires in Queensland - not including those that have already burned before now, and there are more in other states. Sydney is already rated "catastrophic", the first time this rating has ever been used there since its creation in 2009. That's right, we had to add yet another level of destructiveness, because "high", "very high", "severe", and "extreme" were no longer adequate. To quote the Fire Danger Ratings, "for your survival, leaving early is the only option". conditions tomorrow will be the worst they have been, and people are evacuating as we speak. the fire fighters are preparing as best they can.

This isn’t just about people losing their homes; people have died and will die, countless animals have already lost their lives and many more will still perish. our land, our lives, and our hope is up in flames and will soon be nothing but ash. the annual fire season has not even begun yet. this is only the beginning. my native land is burning, and there is nothing i can do to stop it.

the government refuses to acknowledge that we are in a climate crisis. the fires have never been this bad. we have been in severe drought for more than a year which has only contributed to the force of these fires. the Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done nothing but send his “thoughts and prayers”. He will not accept aid from other countries because he is too egotistical to admit that we need it. All the while the people of this land are suffering. Climate change needs radical human change to be combated. we are already seeing the results of years of indifference, and this is barely the beginning of something that will only get worse the longer government’s and big companies refuse to act to counteract climate change.

Our government has also cut funding to Fire and Rescue NSW by 35.4%, the Rural Fire Service by 75.2%, and QLD Rural Fire Service by 26.42%, resulting in closures of services; they don't have the resources to cope. We are fighting a losing battle against the results of climate change. and this is only the beginning.

12/11/19 UPDATE

At least 6 million people today are prepared for evacuating. There are strong winds, low humidity, and high temperatures which will only exacerbate and encourage the fires. Authorities have warned that there aren’t enough fire trucks to help everyone, so unless you are prepared to the maximum, you need to leave. 600 schools and TAFE’s across NSW have been closed due to the fires, with others in Queensland closing due to air quality being virtually unbreathable due to smoke. Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said the state was as prepared as it could be, with military aircraft on standby to rescue people from fires if needed. Smoke from these fires have reached as far as New Zealand and New Caledonia.

As Queensland and New South Wales deal with these unprecedented bushfires, there is a lot of talk about how to stop, or at least reduce them. David Bowman is a professor of environmental change biology at the University of Tasmania and he says the short answer is that climate change is making a bad situation worse.

But it’s also much more complex than that. Much of Australia’s natural biodiversity has evolved to withstand and even stop bushfires due to a multitude of species being in one area. Eucalyptus trees encourage fires as they help spread seeds, but other species are naturally flame retardant and help to curb the fires. The issue is that so much of the native bush has been cut down for farming and agriculture that the natural fire defence has virtually been destroyed. Australia is the leading country in mammal extinction, as well as one of the worst 7 for biodiversity loss.

There have already been significant harmful impacts to wildlife, with entire ecosystems up in smoke and individual species affected, including around 350 Koalas presumed dead – all before the fires have reached their peak.

my heart goes out to the victims of the current fires, which we know have been exacerbated by the decline of native biodiversity. Australian conservation efforts need a radical overhaul. Mitigating the intensity of these fires, mostly set by humans and their activities, can be achieved by restoring our native ecosystem engineers, such as bandicoots, bettongs and potoroos.

These species help to maintain healthy forests by continually turning over and breaking down forest leaf litter, thereby drastically reducing fuel load. In their absence, fires are more intense, often reaching the treetops, which can affect populations of species already on the brink, like the Koala.

Slow growing and ancient Australian East coast temperate forests are of global significance, as these forests have some of the highest carbon storage on the planet. Fires of this intensity threaten their very existence but managing wildlife to reduce fire intensity and protect forests is under-appreciated for its importance in reducing the release of carbon into the atmosphere.

If you wish to donate to the NSW Rural Fire Service, follow this link. I’m not sure if it works for countries outside Australia, but if you can spare some money, please try

http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade

Or you can donate to the Red Cross who have set up many shelters and are providing first aid, and are trying to fund small kits to provide families with basic necessities

https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-bushfires

#climate change #fire #bushfire #catastrophe #natural disaster #man made disaster #australia #climate justice #auspol #climate emergency #please share this #scomo and the libs can all suck my big toe #they care more about coal and oil than they do about the climate and the australian people #please send some good thoughts prayers and vibes to the firefighters tomorrow #theyre really gonna need all the help they can get #the world is burning

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years ago

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5e Taliyah, the Stoneweaver build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Evan “Somnicidal” Monteiro. Made for Riot Games.)

Taliyah rework let’s gooooo!

Taliyah has always been a character I was kinda scared to try. She just seemed way too complicated; one of those “tryhard onetrick” champs that’s only played by dedicated mains or Challenger players like Aphelios and Rell... This is the point where I make a side mention that I play Aphelios and Rell.

But her mini-rework has peaked my interest, and much to my surprise no one (coff Doran’s & Dragons lol) have tried their hand at making Taliyah yet. So it’s about time I took a crack at an earth-bender, hm?

GOALS

Throw another rock! - We need to throw a lot of rocks. Man if only there was a way to throw a bunch high damage magical rocks at once.

Never dismiss what's beneath your feet - Uprooting the ground beneath your foes feet is a good way to trip them up and deal some heavy damage!

You can run from a landslide; I prefer to ride it! - The only thing more efficient then a big wall is being able to ride that big wall into the middle of the fray!

RACE

I would love to make Taliyah an Earth Genasi, but for one she’s a human and for two earth genasi sucks. So we’re going to make her a Variant Human with +1 to your Charisma and Constitution (but feel free to put any of those +1s in your uneven stats if you roll for them), proficiency with the Perception skill to see dangers coming up on the sands, and whatever language you like. (But Primordial works well as a stone weaver!)

For your feat we’re actually going to change it up a little and take the Crusher feat. This isn’t a feat I talk about much: it gives you +1 to your Constitution but more importantly if you hit someone with Bludgeoning damage you can move them up to 5 feet in a direction of your choice. Additionally if you happen to crit with your Bludgeoning damage, all your allies have advantage to hit them until the start of your next turn!

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Charisma is both force of personality and magical ability, both of which we’ll need!

14; DEXTERITY - To surf along the rocks we’ll need to be light on our feet!

13; CONSTITUTION - You need to be sturdy to survive in Shurima, and by that I mean we don’t need the other stats much.

12; WISDOM - Earth-weaving is about knowing the earth and its surroundings.

10; STRENGTH - You need Strength to lift up big rocks, even if it’s with magic.

8; INTELLIGENCE - You’re more naturally-taught instead of school-taught, which is to say we need everything else more.

Feel free to put the +1s from your race / feat into any stat you happen to roll an uneven, if you decide to roll for stats. Also grabbing Moderately Armored if / when you can isn’t the worst idea but this build is rather feat starved.

BACKGROUND

When you travel around for long enough to meet the wandering Ronin himself you must be some sort of Outlander. You gain proficiency with Athletics and Survival as well as a musical instrument of your choice (ask your DM if you can perhaps swap this for Weaver’s Tools? Idk) and a language of your choice.

You picked up the Way of the Wanderer from your mentor, which is good for orienting yourself with the land and finding food and water for you and your friends!

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Legends of Runeterra by Riot Games. I don’t exactly have a lot of artwork of Taliyah to work with.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - SORCERER 1

Starting off as a Sorcerer for... yup; saving throws. But proficiency with Persuasion and Insight never hurt anyone. You’re probably wondering what Sorcerous Origin we’ll be going with since Stone Sorcerer is still UA (and doesn’t fit Taliyah well): well truth be told there isn’t really any Sorcerer that makes sense so I’m going to be grabbing good ol’ Aberrant Mind for more Psionic Spells as well as Telepathic Speech to keep to team-chat.

You know Mind Sliver innately, which yeah is a bit weird for Taliyah but it’s a good spell so I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. You can also add more Divination or Enchantment spells to your spells known, which basically means you’re going to be the resident Detect Magic monkey. And I mean... Hex is always a good spell to have.

You also get 4 more cantrips and 2 regular spells. For your cantrips Mending and Mold Earth are kinda mandatory, Mage Hand will let you manipulate earth to grab objects from afar, and uhh... well Light is helpful. I’d love to take Magic Stone if only for the meme value but we’ll be getting something far better than any Sorcerer cantrip next level, so keeping to Mind Sliver is good enough for now.

The main reason we’re going into Sorcerer first (other than saving throws) is to get an early form of your E with Earth Tremor. Although yes Shield is rather necessary for Survival as a d6 hit die class early on.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

Isn’t it hilarious that Genie Warlock is the literal only Earth elemental caster we currently have, since the Dao Genie Kind will give you the ability to do Bludgeoning damage with any of your attack rolls thank to Genie’s Vessel. In addition to Genie’s Wrath you also get Bottled Respite for a small, safe place to Short Rest. You may say that this doesn’t fit Taliyah but I think if you reflavor it as a small rock hovel for you to chill in underground it makes perfect sense, and as a DM I’d gladly allow your Genie’s Vessel to be your stone cloak!

You may be asking why we took the Crusher feat at level 1: Genie’s Wrath allows you to apply Bludgeoning damage to any attack roll you make once per turn, which means you can push people around with Crusher every turn regardless of what you cast! As long as it’s an Attack Roll, Crusher will work! This will have some great synergy with other parts of your kit later on but for now you can shove your foes around a bit during combat by hitting them with heavy stones!

Other than that you get Pact Magic for 2 cantrips and 2 leveled spells from the Warlock list, as well as Pact slots that come back on a Short Rest. Eldritch Blast isn’t quite throwing rocks but it’s the best you’re going to get for multiple blasts of ranged damage, and Prestidigitation will let you do all sorts of minor stoneweaving tricks. As far as leveled spells go there really isn’t much I want from 1st level of Warlock, so grab whatever you think will be useful until you get 2nd level Warlock spells.

And to top it off: you get proficiency with Light Armor! Despite Mage Armor making sense for Taliyah you genuinely don’t have the spells known / invocations to spare, so I’m going to suggest leather under the context that it’s “good enough.”

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations like Agonizing Blast to agonize your blasts, and Repelling Blast to push your foes around with a Seismic Shove!

Again: I don’t have any 1st level spells to recommend, so I just suggest waiting for those 2nd level spells.

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 1

But we’re going to very quickly dip into Rogue first. Currently this just means proficiency with a new skill (take whatever you want from the Rogue list really, but maybe you should have Stealth proficiency idk) and Expertise in two of your skills: I’m going to recommend Perception and Survival but again you can take whatever you think makes sense for Taliyah.

You also get Thieves’ Cant and Sneak Attack but I will tell you right now: you likely won’t use either of them much.

LEVEL 5 - ROGUE 2

The real reason for the Rogue dip is to get Cunning Action, which is how I’m going to flavor Taliyah’s Rock Surfing passive. Use your Bonus Action to Dash or Disengage (or Hide) as you dance along the rocks!

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Legends of Runeterra by Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - SORCERER 2

Taking a quick value Sorcerer level for two reasons. Firstly Font of Magic will let you turn your spare Warlock spell slots into Sorcery points which can then be refunded later in the day for more 1st level spell slots (currently.) Secondly I want the big Catapult rock from Taliyah’s mini-rework!

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

3rd level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and truth be told none of them particularly fit Taliyah or impact or build, so I’m actually going to suggest Pact of the Talisman to weave gifts for your friends! Of course pick what you think will be useful (can’t go wrong with a familiar I guess) but Talisman arguably fits the best.

More importantly however you can learn 2nd level spells like Shatter (to split some rocks), Earthbind (which isn’t the greatest of spells but fits Taliyah), Misty Step (for Flash), and most importantly from the Dao Genie list: Spike Growth! You now finally have Unraveled Earth in the form of Spike Growth which (in combination with Crusher and Repelling Blast) unlocks a rather disgusting cheese-grater combo with Seismic Shove. Repelling Blast lets you push a foe 10 feet back and Crusher lets you move a foe 5 feet in any direction; Spike Growth will do 2d4 damage to a foe for every 5 feet they move on the warped ground.

Are you starting to see the picture? By pushing an enemy 15 feet along your Unraveled Earth you’re doing 6d4 damage with no save! And since Repelling Blast has unlimited uses per turn you can activate it with both your Eldritch Blasts for even more shoving and even more free damage. That isn’t even mentioning the Difficult Terrain you make, meaning that every time you shove your enemies back it’s all the harder for them to approach you. Perhaps the only downside of this combo is that it doesn’t scale too well with your spell slots, but throughout all stages of the game this bread-and-butter combo should be your main source of DPS for most fights.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

It’s about time to get our first Ability Score Improvement, and seeing that Charisma controls basically everything we do currently increasing that by 2 should be a top priority.

You can also learn another Warlock cantrip like Minor Illusion to make shapes with the stones to fool your foes. As for leveled spells I’d suggest waiting for...

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation, and sure you could take something like Tomb of Levistus for a Zhonya's Hourglass in case of emergency, but I’m going to double down on Seismic Shove with Grasp of Hadar. Yes this means more moving foes along Unraveled Earth: depending on your DM (who’s probably going to be pissed with your cheese-grater strats by now) you can hypothetically move a foe 10 feet forward before moving them 15 feet back for a grand total of 10d4 damage with no save. Just hope that your DM isn’t ticked enough to start permabanning Taliyah.

If you don’t want to be a prick with a cheese grater you can also grab Meld into Stone to ride along the walls of the jungle, and Create Food and Water. Because you know what’s fun? One party member completely negating the need for food. But it’s okay because the food tastes bland and unappealing.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Genie Warlocks have an Elemental Gift: for one you now resist Bludgeoning damage, which is pretty good considering that Bludgeoning damage is one of the three most common damage types.

More importantly however you can give yourself a 30 foot flying speed (with a hover!) for 10 minutes! I’d consider this a very advanced version of rock surfing, which is to say “you get this ability from Genie Warlock so don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

And finally I’d recommend grabbing Counterspell for no particular reason other than “we don’t need any other spells on this list and it’s a good spell to have.” Block some incoming damage with a stone wall or break a foe’s concentration by kicking up dust in their eyes: flavor is free and flavor is great!

(Artwork by u/QT0ri on Reddit.)

LEVEL 11 - SORCERER 3

Finally going back to Sorcerer to be able to cast some of your lower leveled spells, and for Metamagic. Use your Sorcery points on Quickened Spell to throw another rock, or Heightened Spell to give enemies disadvantage on saving throws against your spells, of which you will have a lot of saving throw spells.

Speaking of spells: for a start take See Invisibility and Locate Object as your Psionic Spells. Sure there are probably more useful options (such as Hold Person and Tasha’s Mind Whip) but these are the ones I could most easily justify as stoneweaver spells. And also take Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp as probably the quintessential low-level earth manipulation spell. Yeah I realize I’m saying “low level spells” when you’re total level 11, but that’s the nature of multiclassing as a beginner stoneweaver.

LEVEL 12 - SORCERER 4

4th level Sorcerers get another Ability Score Increase which means we can finally max out Charisma, so that even if our spells aren’t the most spectacular they’ll still pack a punch!

You can also learn another cantrip like Shocking Grasp to give yourself some defense in melee range. (Yes it’s not stone based, but you gotta work with what you’ve got in a pinch.) As far as spells known go there are some good ones at 1st level, but I’m going to suggest waiting until you can learn...

LEVEL 13 - SORCERER 5

3rd level spells like Erupting Earth to (again) perform a Seismic Shove on your foes! I’m also going to suggest Tidal Wave, which yes isn’t inherently stone-based but you could reflavor it as an avalanche on your foes.

Sending is actually a pretty nice spell to have from the Aberrant Mind list, but there isn’t much else that really makes sense except for... Clairvoyance, I guess? Put some wards down at a distance and accept that I had to take some form of Sorcerer and Aberrant Mind was the best one on offer.

And finally Tasha gave you Magical Guidance, allowing you to spend Sorcery points to reroll failed ability checks.

(Artwork by 백업 on Tumblr)

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 6

Granted it wasn’t really for Psionic Sorcery. Being able to cast your Psionic Spells with Sorcery points (without any components) is nice but most of the spells I opted for from Psionic Spells are utility based.

The main reason I went for Aberrant Mind quite honestly is that every other Sorcerer gets level 6 abilities that don’t fit Taliyah. If you’re either never going to hit level 14 or don’t mind some weird abilities I could suggest Clockwork Soul (getting Aid is just that good, although more Transmutation spells are nice) or Storm Sorcery (the mobility when casting spells fit Taliyah well but Storm Guide completely didn’t fit.) I also considered Draconic Bloodline just for the innate AC if you want a stronger character at the lower levels.

At least you get Psychic Defenses for resistance to Psychic damage and advantage against Charms and Fears, as well as Sleet Storm for another area control spell to fight casters and keep enemies at bay by shoving them aside!

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 7

Back to Warlock you can now grab another Eldritch Invocation like Tomb of Levistus, because now’s a good time to get Zhonya's. Why yes I am taking invocations from lower levels because that was the main reason for the Warlock multiclass in the first place.

And hey look at that: Stone Shape! If you want to slowly make a wall of stone this is the spell for you!

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 8

We got another Ability Score Improvement, and we’ve been sitting on an uneven Constitution score for awhile now. Sure you could take Skill Expert (or like, Durable I guess) but Chef fits Taliyah’s flavor personality and offers up some fun roleplay. Increase your Constitution by 1, share good food with your friends during Short Rests to let them heal an extra d8 when using hit die, and make snacks for your friends to give them some temporary hitpoints in a pinch!

Oh and you can grab Dimension Door in a pinch to teleport back to base, or anywhere else you can surf to. And you can even bring a friend!

(Artwork by Jean “Curing” Go. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation, and what if I unironically suggested Otherworldly Leap? Okay jokes aside (since you can fly) feel free to grab any Invocation you think will be useful. Or like, just grab Eldritch Mind I guess for advantage on your Concentration checks.

And finally you get Wall of Stone! About time eh? Do exactly what it says on the tin and make a wall of stone in a variety of ways to surf along and block your foes!

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Genie Warlocks can weave a safe place for their friends to stay thanks to Sanctuary Vessel! You know that Genie’s Vessel that you could go inside? Well now you can bring your friends! Sure the most flavorful way to handle this would be to dig yourself a hole to keep your vessel in while your party rests, but by total level 18 there’s a lot of neat tactics you can take with a Bag of Holding the party can hide inside. As long as someone can send you on your way you can easily sneak around wherever you want.

Well that’s enough of me nerding about Genie Warlock. Did you expect more spells known? Nope you only get cantrips. And I suppose there’s no harm in Chill Touch by this level for some Grievous Wounds.

If you want you can replace some of your old spells known with new 4th or 5th level spells. Counterspell and Create Food and Water (and maybe Shatter too, now that you can get Fireball as a Sorcerer) could be replaced with Creation, Hold Monster, or Synaptic Static. Teleportation Circle could also be a fun spell, given that you’re level 18.

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 7

Taking our last few levels in Sorcerer for more Sorcery points, although Evard’s Black Tentacles is certainly a good spell to have if you reflavor it to stone magic. Summon Aberration is a little harder to reflavor however so I’d suggest Raulothim's Psychic Lance instead for an actual damage option from your Psionic Spells.

And finally you can grab a spell like Storm Sphere, because it does Bludgeoning damage! But jokes aside the amount of stone spells at this level are few and far between, so you’ll have to settle to reflavoring Storm Sphere as a storm of rocks. Or just use Evard’s Black Tentacles instead because that’s a really strong spell.

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 8

Our final level is the 8th level of Sorcerer, mostly to increase your maximum number of Sorcery points and spell slots. This does mean you get one last Ability Score Improvement and by level 20? You can take whatever you think will be good for your character. Similarly you can take just about any spell at this level, as long as it makes you happy.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

You're not a problem, you're a learning opportunity - Mixing Sorcerer and Warlock is always a potent combo for spell slot melting and Sorcery point shenanigans. Your lower level Warlock spells are still good even at high levels, making casting them with your Sorcerer spell slots a good tradeoff!

Problems should be broken up into little pieces - Remember the Spike Growth cheese grater strats from early levels? Yeah pushing foes around will always be a useful asset, especially when you can shove them into all manner of dangerous AoEs and keep them at bay by uprooting the earth beneath their feet!

This world is a tapestry of our own making - Even when not ripping apart dungeons at their seams you still have more than enough power, with quickfire damaging spells and even a good amount of utility magics and good skill checks to help outside of combat. 23 passive Perception is always nice!

CONS

If I stumble, I have the earth to catch me - In the pursuit of rock surfing we miss out on the potential investment in Medium armor, or just more Dexterity. Cunning Action is useful yes but at higher levels there’s simply better things to be using your Bonus Action on.

My father always said I was a shepherd's nightmare - Your party members might not appreciate all the Difficult Terrain you’re creating. You don’t exactly play nice with melee allies and depending on the arena you’re in they might end up sitting out while you dance along the rocks.

That may have gotten away from me - It did kinda take us awhile to get Stone Wall, huhn? If you want Taliyah’s abilities first and a flexible character second perhaps rushing through Warlock levels would’ve been the better idea.

But remember that "True learning is just a stone's throw away." Every mistake is a chance for a new opportunity, and everyone you meet has a thousand stories to tell. So don’t be afraid to mess up, and have those around you catch you when you fall! Build a world for you and your friends to experience together! Or maybe just focus on living in the world your DM created.

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Legends of Runeterra by Riot Games.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd warlock #dnd sorcerer #League of Legends #Taliyah #League of Legends Taliyah #stone #weaving #weaver #stone weaver #stoneweaver #rock #surfing #earth bender #earth bending #throw another rock!

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