#i am fighting for my life in february

[dewitty1]

Saturday Six (Stuff)

Cats woke me up too dang early. It was mostly Reggie, of course, so I chucked him out (don't @ me about it - he's and indoor/outdoor Boi) because that's what he wanted anyway. I didn't realize it was that cold until later, when I actually got up, thanks to Leeloo. So, I went out and called Reggie several times, with no luck. He decided to wait to come back after three + hours of being outside (not too unusual, but random enough) and I give him the Molly Weasley "Where *HAVE* you been?!" he just looks at me and gives a "maow" like "Whassup mom? Wassall the hubbub?" Crazy damn cat. Gotta love em. (^・ω・^ )

I'm really getting upset about the business situation. Idk what to do. It's bad, bad. And I've looked at jobs. Nothing much but nursing really. Ugh.(;*´Д`)ﾉ

I find it funny that I identify as aromantic, but I love reading romance novels (not as much as I used to, but I have some old faves), Drarry fic of course, and I love RomComs, and shows like Love is Blind and Indian Matchmaking lolololololol. I guess I just don't feel it for myself. Idk, it's weird, to me anyway.（*´▽｀*）

I really hate asking people for help. It really feels like failing to me. I guess I have my parents to thank for that one. But I've been asking people to share my business posts. Mostly on Fb because that's where the old people with money are. I don't love it, but this is the world we live in.(o;TωT)o

As if things weren't bad enough, I also got a jury duty summons in the mail for my birth month. But at least it wasn't for my actual birthday.

Anyway, I'm just trying breathe. And I keep hoping that something will come through. I'm still swimming, even though life is trying to drown me. p(*＾-＾*)q

BONUS - Mom tested positive for covid! So life keeps giving! (•̀o•́)ง

[ranafami1]

✅️✅️VETTED✅️✅️

Help my family befor late 😭😭🍉🍉

Save my children from the Gaza war

My name is Rana, I am 37 years old, and I hold a master’s degree in statistics

I am married and have 4 children

Two girls 👧👧 and two boys 🧑🧑, their ages (12 / 5 /5 /2 )

My husband works as a teacher and has a group of educational centers for teaching English in Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Rafah

I live in Gaza

At the beginning of the war, our educational center, Gaza branch, was destroyed and bulldozed.

It had been opened one month before the start of the war. The war on Gaza continued, and I am still residing in my home despite the danger and threat, but I left my home on 24/1/2024 because the Israeli army requested the evacuation of the city of Khan Yunis, and for fear for my children and my husband, I went to the city of Rafah, the safe place, as the army says, and I lived in a narrow and small place.

Iam and four children, my husband, and a group of displaced people suffered from many diseases and epidemics due to lack of food. And lack of water

Then the threats began to the city of Rafah, so I left for Hamad Town, a safe area, as the Israeli army said about it, and I stayed there with my relatives, and on February 25, the second educational center, Khan Yunis branch, was completely destroyed and blown up 😭😭

On 3 March , the army besieged Hamad Town, and Iam and my children, and my husband left under gunfire and the sound of shells✈️✈️ ✈️ And the fire belts🚀🚀 We left in the middle of the night on foot and continued walking for a whole day while tanks and soldiers surrounded us and we were displaced for the third time.

We returned to the city of Rafah again, but without any of the necessities of life , no clothes, no bedding, no luggage 🧥🧥

On 13 March , I received information that my house was completely destroyed. My home, my dreams, and my memories were destroyed 😭😭😭 I became homeless 😭😭😭

On 5 January , 2024, we left Rafah after the army threatened it, and we went out to Al-Mawasi and lived in a tent. Now I live in a small tent in a camp full of diseases🤧🤧 and epidemics🤮🤮

The last branch of the educational centers, the Rafah branch, was destroyed

Now I live in a tent

I fight for a living We no longer have a source of income other than aid and assistance, which are of no use

My children were deprived of education because of the war. They are now without schools

Please Help my children to escape from the hell of war in Gaza. Please help me to leave Gaza, educate my children and protect them from diseases and epidemics.

[maimohssen-mh]

My Voice to You: Mai from Gaza

I am Mai, 28 years old, and my life has completely changed over the past 13 months. The war has taken everything from us—our home, our safety, and even our health. Today, I live amidst unimaginable suffering, but I am still trying to stand strong for my family. • My mother: She underwent a complex heart surgery and had a heart device implanted. She needs medications costing $350 weekly, but the skyrocketing prices have made it nearly impossible to afford them. • My brother: He was severely injured during the bombing, with 80 stitches in his hand. Now, he requires physical therapy to regain full use of his hand. • Me: Due to contaminated water and poor nutrition, I developed hepatitis. My health has worsened, but I’m fighting to provide for my family. • My father: He has been living in Egypt for the past 4 years due to critical health conditions after multiple heart surgeries.

We have no home, no income, and no security. In February, I launched a fundraising campaign to cover my family’s needs. My goal was to raise $40,000, but I’ve only reached 14% of that amount so far.

In just 15 days, it will be my birthday, but I don’t have the luxury to celebrate. All I wish for is to see my family safe and to reach at least 20% of my campaign goal.

Can you help change my life and the life of my family? Every small contribution means the world to us.

To donate, visit the link: [donate what you're able to or 5$ AT LEAST to my gofundme or my paypal is also available and they accept any transfer amount. and i know you all afford to give away at least 1$ !]

Help me make this birthday the beginning of a new hope for my family. campaing vetted by : @90-ghost @bilal-salah0 @gaza-evacuation-funds The ButterflyEffect Project number : 1197 @dlxxv-vetted-donations @a-shade-of-blue

@irangp @blaxploitations @knuckls @sibella @genlosscharliie @rosemarybleeds @guiltycrunch @xxx-sparkydemon-xxx @raytoroinmybackpack @boypussydilf @slimeybread @imjustheretotrytohelp @ultravioletbread @justmaghookit @treeen @sayruq @the-cryptid-is-loose @finnicksbf @calmmyfears @of-science-and-stars @cipherinator @dragoncarrion @faacethefacts @lana-baumgartner @hehemechief @evergreen-femme @sylvianritual @mobiused @magic-can @myceliacrochet @isuggestforcefem @evillesbianvillain @cherry-shrimp @chokulit @g0at0ad @ankle-beez @lirulua @lespetitestortuesdemer @lesbianmaxevans @pien-art @taxi-distance @tamamita @dlxxv-vetted-donations @dia-tou-amphistomou @scummrevisited

[komsomolka]

Fritz Schmenkel was the only German national who became a Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions during WWII.

Fritz Schmenkel was born in Stettin (today Szczecin, Poland) in 1916. His father, Paul Krause, a brickyard worker and communist, was murdered by Stormtroopers in 1932. This caused Fritz to join the Young Communist League of Germany to fight his father's Nazi murderers.

In December 1938, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht but refused to serve citing illness and other excuses. He was imprisoned for evading conscription. In July 1941, after the beginning of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Schmenkel volunteered to fight on the Eastern Front so he was released. His true intention was always deserting which he did in November 1941. But he couldn't hide in Belarusian forests forever so there was a dilemma. How not to get killed on spot by comrades because of his German uniform and communicate without knowing Russian language? The shivering and hungry Shmenkel knocked on the doors of local village residents, using a simple set of words: "Lenin, Stalin, Thälmann" - and the doors opened. In exchange for help in a simple peasant household, Fritz received food, a place to sleep, and moved on.

One day Shmenkel came across a patrol of German military police and was arrested. Fortunately for the deserter, fighters from the partisan detachment "Death to Fascism" descended on Germans some time later. After a short but stubborn battle, the garrison was routed, and the partisans learned from local residents about the strange German. Not having time for serious investigation, the fighters simply took him with them. That's how Shmenkel ended up in the partisan detachment.

Of course, at first Soviets were very wary of Fritz, they feared that he was a Nazi spy. But they still decided not to act rashly and give him a chance. And soon such an opportunity presented itself. In one of the villages, the partisans came across German detachment. A fight ensued. Shmenkel did not take part in it - he had no weapon. Since there were too many Germans, the fate of the partisans seemed to be predetermined. Fritz asked for a rifle. Realizing that they have nothing to lose and an extra fighter was now worth its weight in gold, the unit commander took a risk. And he was right. Shmenkel started successfully shooting at Germans. The partisans won that battle. Fritz was then accepted as a member of the partisans. He quickly gained the respect and affection of his unit, his comrades started nicknaming him Ivan Ivanovich jokingly adding "Why call a good person Fritz?".

Schmenkel led German military units into ambushes arranged by the partisans. This helped the partisans capture entire units of Wehrmacht soldiers, as well as ammunition and food. Schmenkel quickly rose through the ranks of the partisans. In March 1943, he traveled to Moscow at the behest of the Red Army, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and received further military training. He was appointed deputy commander of a special operations (sabotage and intelligence) unit that operated in a German-occupied area north of the city of Orsha.

Germans put a reward on Schmenkel's head - 8 hectares of land, a house, a cow, and two thousand German marks. Later, the reward was raised to an astronomical sum for those times - 25 thousand marks.

At the end of 1943, contact with Fritz Schmenkel was lost. Only after the war did it become known that he had been captured and tortured by the Gestapo, but Fritz had not changed his views. He was sentenced to death and executed in occupied Minsk in February 1944.

His last wish was to send a letter to his wife Erna Schäfer. He wrote: "Forgive me for the troubles I have caused you by going my way to the end. I did not renounce my views even in the last hours of my life. I am boldly going to my execution because I am dying for my convictions." He left behind three children in Germany.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 October 1964, Fritz Schmenkel was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union "for active participation in the partisan movement, exemplary fulfillment of command assignments during the Great Patriotic War and the heroism and courage displayed in doing so."

The memory of Fritz Schmenkel is immortalized in the names of streets in the cities of Nelidovo and Bely in the Tver region. And in Minsk, a memorial plaque is dedicated to him. One of the streets in East Berlin also bore the name of Shmenkel. However, it was renamed in 1992.

[ifyoucandaniel]

Cards on the Table by @wesslan 🔮

now that wes has their copy i am so happy to be able to share this bind!! when i started this bind back in like february, it was because i saw another binder on instagram (peachybinds) use halo laminate on her dust jackets and i immediately thought to myself i need to do that right now. my second thought was it obviously needed to be completely pink, duh! 🎀🌸💞

i really leaned into the tarot/witchy vibes (this is a theme with me if you can’t tell. i take a theme and i R U N) and ofc the pink. i ran into the small issue of wanting a very pink tim with specific themes from the story so i just wound up drawing him myself so pls do not zoom in, my skills do not lie in art 🫠 i gave him all my jewelry though so that was fun!

this fic is genuinely just such a fun, good read i had such a good time working on this :) the chapter titles are my favorite of probably any fic i’ve ever read and making individual little tarot card-esq headers was fun, but i was fighting for my LIFE drawing them, so i had some help from canva with the sun rays 😩 digital art hates me </3

also?? WHY is taking pictures of my binds the hardest part of binding….. guys i can’t get a good picture to save my life :’) i also only took one (1) photo of the authors copy so i have no proof of its existence 😔✋

if you haven’t read it yet, definitely give this fic a chance, it is so much fun and tim is such a little liar it’s great <3

[lwtqts]

BASICS

i wanna wanna wanna take it to the basics !

pairing: student!eunseok x fem!reader

y/n is low-key a loner at her college and her dearest friend tells her to hang out with his friend, what happens when she entangles herself with him ?

warnings: eunseok is a red flag, swearing, angst, unhinged, mentions of smoking, based off my love life except the ending</3

im in high school while writing this so please be patient with me! english is also not my first language so feel free to correct me !

none of the boys or any of the idols mention behave this way in real life, i do not know them personally, i am just writing off of my experience and making it a happy ending since i never got one!

status ; on going !

began ; february 11th of 2024 !

finished ; tbd !

#ballsmymouth | talking saxy

the stranger phase !

01. meeting

02. hes so sweet

03. rip me to shreds

04. outrageous behavior

05. heart eyes

06. mission abort

07. her

08. a chance

the friend phase !

01. midnight call

02. oh my god

03. new girl

04. good friend

05. for awhile

06. a joke

07. she what

08. break up

the talking phase !

01. finally

02. square one

03. eye twitch

04. careful

05. girls are fighting (1.1k)

06. alone

07. yikes

08. can she back off

the dating phase !

01. closer

02. HES FLIRTING

03. he wants me sooo bad

04. a date?

05. seok my dick

06. d-day

07. basics

08. finale

taglist is closed sorry :(

[azriels-shadowsinger]

No. 13 for Azriel please ❤️❤️🤌✨

“Everything reminds me of you, it's driving me insane”

Azriel x Reader

wc: 1.4K

a/n: kinda inspired by cardan’s letters. if yall read the cruel prince series then u know. get ready for some angst yall.

prompt list

“This is the last straw Azriel. I can’t handle not being a priority in your life! You always choose Rhys, Cassian, Elain, work, or literally anything else over me. I have only seen you once in the past week, and we live together for Cauldron’s sake! I feel like I live with a ghost. You’re gone before I wake up and you return after I fall asleep!” You yell between tears. “I can’t do this anymore. I love you, but it is too painful to keep living like this.” Azriel realizes where this is headed.

“Y/n, please. I’ll be better. I promise!” He begs, desperation in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Azriel. You had your chance, multiple actually. It’s too late.” You turn away, unable to look at his heartbroken face without potentially giving in. You can feel his shadows attempting to reach for you as you walk out the door.

———

January 7th

Dear y/n,

Rhys won’t tell me where exactly you left to, but promised he would deliver this. I understand that you are angry with me and that you need some time to calm down. I hope that you will return soon so we can work this out. I love you and I’m sorry.

Sincerely,

Azriel

———

January 29th

Dear y/n,

Point taken, dear. I know I messed up, but it’s been weeks and I miss you.

I know you are getting these letters. Rhys said he ensured they would be delivered. I guess that doesn't guarantee that you will read them. Nevertheless, I am sorry for my actions and I am taking steps to create boundaries in my life so that I can have more time for you. I can prove it, if only you would just come home.

With deepest apologies,

Azriel

———

February 14th

My love,

I had hoped you would return before Valentine's Day. You always loved celebrating this holiday. I know you won’t see them, but I still got you flowers. They're on your nightstand.

It's been over a month. I miss your voice. Please come home.

Azriel

———

March 7th

Y/n,

If this is your way of punishing me, then consider it a success. I’m a wreck without you. Please come home.

-Azriel

———

March 30th,

My heart,

I am begging you to come home. Come home and yell at me, come home and fight with me, just please come home. I love you and I’m so sorry.

Always with love,

Azriel

———

May, 15th,

Y/n,

I understand what you meant about feeling like you were living with a ghost. Everything reminds me of you, and it’s driving me insane. I am haunted by these traces of you around our home. Please end this torment and come back to me.

-Azriel

———

June 7th

I’m sorry.

I love you.

Why are you doing this to me?

I hate myself for causing this and pushing you away.

Do you still love me? Do you even miss me?

Please come home I can’t take it anymore.

I love you I love you I love you I love you

I miss you.

———

Y/n,

This is my last letter. I won’t bother you anymore after this. I hope that wherever you are, you are happy. I will always regret taking your love for granted.

Eternally yours,

Azriel

———

It was another sleepless night for Azriel. He was plagued with the memories of every single time he chose something or someone else over you. He’s past the point of beating himself up over it, but rather, he considers this the worst punishment of all. Being forced to relive each memory over and over, unable to change it. Hating himself and drowning his sorrows in whiskey.

He hears a knock at the door. It’s probably Cass or Rhys, doing their weekly check on him, since he rarely leaves the house anymore. Azriel chooses to ignore them.

They knock again.

“Fuck off, I’m not in the mood tonight guys.” He barks in the direction of the door, taking another sip of his whiskey.

Another knock.

Cauldron boil him, his brothers were relentless. He was going to open the door, but only to yell at them to leave. He grumbles angrily to himself all the way to the door.

“I said I wasn’t-“ It's not Rhys or Cassian on his doorstep. Instead, he sees you, holding a stack of letters. His letters.

This is another dream, he thinks. He must have fallen asleep on the couch. When he wakes you will be gone again, having torn the rip in his heart even wider. But until then, he lets himself indulge in the dream. Azriel doesn’t hesitate for another moment before pulling you into a tight hug.

“My dreams must be especially cruel tonight because somehow I am able to smell your perfume. I can feel your heartbeat.” He mumbles, face buried in your hair. His shadows encompass you two, whispering in Azriel’s ear y/n, y/n, y/n

“This isn’t a dream, Azriel.” You say softly, pulling away to look at him and placing a gentle hand on his cheek. It takes him a moment to realize what’s happening, but as soon as he does, he pulls you back into a hug, even tighter than before. You feel hot tears fall onto your shoulder as his shadows surge around you.

“My love, my heart, my star. You came back to me.” He sobs. Your heart breaks at the pain in his voice. You had known he was probably upset about the breakup, but in an attempt to heal and move on, you never opened his letters… until last night.

After several long minutes of intense bear hugs, he finally manages to let go. Well kind of, he can’t seem to let your hand go yet.

“We should talk, Az.” You say nervously.

“I will do anything you want if it means you will stay.”

Gods, you were the worst person in the world. This poor male, who you still love desperately despite your best efforts, is so broken over you leaving.

“I’m not going anywhere, Az.” You reassure him. He finally loses a small bit of tension in his shoulders a the words, but his hands seem to hold tighter. You take a deep breath, trying to prepare for what you have to say.

“I didn’t read your letters until last night. I was trying to get over you, and so I avoided reading them. In an attempt to move on, I had convinced myself you were happy without me. But I couldn’t move on. I couldn't stop loving you. When I finally read your letters, I realized you truly had changed. I should’ve read them months ago. I should've never left. I’m so sorry Azriel. I understand if you need time or if you can’t forgive me but-“ He cuts you off.

“I forgive you. I don’t need time. I only need you here.” He’s so quick to dismiss every mistake you made, it breaks your heart. It will take a long while to reassure him that you aren’t ever leaving again, maybe a lifetime, but that’s okay.

You take notice of his dark circles and how skinny he has gotten. Gods, has he eaten at all since you left, you wonder.

“Let me make us some dinner, then we can talk more, okay?” Azriel nods and reluctantly lets go of your hand, following you to the kitchen like a lost puppy.

———

After several long hours of tears and brutal honesty, you and Azriel lay in your bed, embracing each other.

You spent the next week holed up in the house, reconnecting and reigniting your love for each other. You even took extra time to apologize to his shadows. They were very happy that you were back and made sure to show you so.

True to his word, Azriel never took your love for granted for as long as you both lived. And true to yours, you never left again.

I think I may do this prompt again later with someone else in more of a rivals to lovers type scenario, but I kinda just felt like this was fun for this one and wanted to try it idk

prompt list

taglist: @fxckmiup

[batboyblog]

https://www.tumblr.com/batboyblog/763234650399424512/the-recent-chappell-roan-thing-is-why-i-absolutely

I frankly also get the impression that a lot of these people genuinely think another Trump term will just be “business as usual” or “it’ll only hurt the people who deserve to suffer” and that they’ll just be able to hide away from the consequences for four years before someone comes along and fixes the mess for them and they get to benefit.

I don’t think they have any realization of just how bad this is gonna get the second time around, because the first time Trump was metaphorically behind a chained fence and held back by strong rope. This time he’s being let loose alongside his fascist theocratic friends.

I've puzzled about this for some time, because like do people honestly not remember what it was like? what those 4 years were like? the fear, the chaos, the national embarrassment. Every day waking up and going "oh god! what did he DO! while I was asleep!" and how often you'd wake up to some story that he'd tweeted something scary and dangerous at 4am. I believe him threatening to nuke North Korea (the "Fire and Fury" tweet) was one of those very early AM specials that we all woke up to.

I mean for people like Chappell, its hard to remember, but Trump has been the more or less national main character for 9 years, since the fall of 2015. I mean an 18 year old first time voter could have been 8 years old when Trump came down the gold escalators told us all that Mexicans were rapists and he was running for President. So for anyone under 30, Trump is normal since every election they've been able to vote in, he's been the Republican nominee. I've spent 9 years of my life, across 5 elections fighting Trump directly or indirectly. Depressing thought that.

but past that there's been a national effort to gaslight us all into thinking "yeah no it was normal" I mean I remember the media coverage of 2017, the first year or so of Trump's Presidency, every few weeks or so there'd be some "is it time for the 25th amendment now?" story about if Trump's weird behavior this time for his cabinet to step it and remove him. (A quick google turned up CNN Oct 2017, New York Times May 2017, The Guardian July 2017, and Vox February 2017) compare that to coverage today? The term "Sane-washing" has been coined where when Trump says something bonkers it gets characterized as "sometimes meandering" rather than "incomprehensible" and "worrying"

figures in the media have gone so far as to claim there's just no point to covering new Trump scandals because "they won't move the needle" which really should not be a journalist standard. And we see that they do, take North Carolina's Mark Robinson. Caught in a massive scandal, involving sex, porn, and being a Nazi, he's now down massively in the polls after nation wide coverage. Trump just had new court documents opened that showed he wanted a riot on January 6th, that his reaction to a mob threatening the life of his Vice-President was "so what?" and they he knew full well that he had lost but was going to "fight like hell" any ways. And its not much of a story, indeed I'm seeing more news about a NY Republican Congress having worn black face (new story today) than Trump's effort to over throw the government and kill Mike Pence.

past the media's gaslighting of course there's been a major and on-going campaign to effect how we see reality. I know that sounds very woo-woo, but to step back for second, most of what we know about the world is stuff people tell us, so you know Joe Biden is the President because other people have said so, most likely you've never met him or even seen him in person. Well as more and more people turn away from traditional media, and traditional media turns more and more to making of money by confirming the bias of people, it becomes easier and easier to slip things that are not real into "facts we are told". So for example "Joe Biden is President, and also in decline" there's never been any real evidence of that, but if on social media you are bombarded with it 4,000 times a day... you start to take it as understood wisdom.

people are also getting worse and worse at not just taking what they're told if it confirms biases they already have. Former Vice-President Al Gore wrote a book nearly 20 years ago now, called "The Assault on Reason" which had a ton of very interest neuroscience about the ways that moving images, TV he was talking about, by-pass the logic centers of the mind, the way we relate and trust someone talking to us in a way the written word does not. I can't help but reflect on that with the rise of TikTok and short form video as a "source of information" (lol)

any ways this is a long winded way of saying bad faith players, Republicans, left wing grifters, and agents of chaos, have been very good at flooding the zone all through the Biden Presidency with stuff "student loan debt" remember when that was SO! important SO big and Biden "not doing anything" (untrue) was the biggest deal? well yesterday his newest plan got unlocked in court and 3 out of every 4 people with loan debt will get relief.... oh you're just now hearing about that from me? huh... funny... I thought it was the number one issue and reason we should never trust Biden and the Democrats... weird....

but there have been other issues pushed up as THE! issue, its all misdirection, its all meant to get natural Democratic voters to feel frustrated, upset, and hopeless, and not to vote their interest. The world is a big complex multi moving machine, and anyone telling you that one issue either fixes every other issue or totally totally outweighs everything else and should for everyone, is most likely BSing you and doesn't have your best interests at heart.

and lets be clear, Trump is a Rapist he's a lot of things, traitor, racist, scumbag, criminal, scab, tax cheat, fraud, etc but for me any ways, I'm not gonna vote for a rapist to be President and if other people aren't gonna do everything they can to stop a rapist from being the President I don't want to hear how much they care about progressive issues.

[jinnieboosworld]

Ho Phase

Sunwoo x Reader

@deoboyznet @a-dream-bookmark @k-labels

Genre: Smut, RomCom

Part of The MeetCute Series

Summary: Y/n a college freshman catches her boyfriend of 4 years making out with a girl in their shared apartment. So after moving in with her best friend she decides to go through a hoe phase. So when she goes to her first college party she’s extremely upset when she meets a guy who makes her forget about her hoe phase completely.

Word Count: 5986

!!Minors Do Not Interact!!

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

The apartment smelled like betrayal and overpriced candles—lavender and eucalyptus, her ex’s favorite combo. Y/N didn’t even need to see them to know. The telltale sounds of a Netflix drama playing faintly in the background and the muffled giggles from the bedroom made it crystal clear.

She opened the door to the bedroom slowly, not to give herself time to think, but to give them time to scramble. Predictably, her boyfriend—scratch that, ex-boyfriend—was tangled in the sheets with someone she vaguely recognized from his office party.

“Oh,” Y/N said, leaning casually against the doorframe. Her face betrayed nothing, though her pulse roared in her ears. “Am I interrupting?”

“Y/N!” he yelped, scrambling to cover himself. The girl next to him let out a shriek and disappeared under the duvet like a groundhog on February 2nd.

“Relax,” Y/N said, waving a dismissive hand. “I’m not here to fight. I’m here to pack.”

“Baby, I—” he started, but she held up a finger, silencing him with the same energy as a teacher about to hand out detention.

“Let’s not make this awkward. You cheated. I’m leaving. End of story.”

As he stammered out excuses, Y/N grabbed a suitcase from the closet and began filling it with essentials: her favorite jeans, skincare products, and that hoodie he always tried to claim but was way too good for him.

He was still talking—something about “miscommunication” and “it didn’t mean anything”—when she paused, holding up a pair of lacy underwear that definitely wasn’t hers.

She arched an eyebrow. “Miscommunication? Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Y/N, please—”

“Save it.” She stuffed the mystery lingerie into the suitcase, purely for dramatic effect, and zipped it shut. Turning to leave, she glanced back one last time, her lips quirking into a sardonic smile. “By the way, you should really wash those sheets. They reek of desperation.”

She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment, letting out a deep breath. The anger was manageable, but the hurt? That was going to take a while.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Fifteen minutes later, Y/N was sitting cross-legged on her best friend Lia’s couch, inhaling greasy pizza and venting like her life depended on it.

“And then he had the audacity to stammer like he was the victim!” Y/N said, waving a slice of pepperoni for emphasis.

Lia snorted, handing her a glass of wine. “Men are predictable. You date a loser; you get loser behavior.”

“Four years, Lia. I wasted four years of my life on that guy.”

“Well,” Lia said, tilting her glass toward her, “here’s to starting over. Clean slate. No losers, no drama, and definitely no more ‘boyfriend’ nonsense.”

Y/N clinked glasses with her. “Amen to that.”

Lia grinned, leaning in conspiratorially. “You know what you need? A ho phase.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow. “A what now?”

“A ho phase,” Lia repeated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve been playing housewife since you were eighteen. It’s time to cut loose. No strings, no commitments—just fun.”

Y/N took a sip of wine, mulling it over. “A ho phase, huh?”

Lia nodded, her eyes gleaming with mischief. “We’ll start tomorrow night. There’s a party at Zach’s place, and trust me, it’ll be crawling with eligible distractions.”

Y/N laughed despite herself. “Alright, fine. One party. But if it’s lame, I’m bailing.”

“Deal,” Lia said, raising her glass. “To your ho phase.”

“To my ho phase,” Y/N echoed, clinking glasses again. But as she stared into her wine, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was really cut out for this.

Still, one thing was certain: her ex was the past, and the future? Well, the future was wide open.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

The Beginning: The Heartbreak

The apartment smelled like betrayal and overpriced candles—lavender and eucalyptus, her ex’s favorite combo. Y/N didn’t even need to see them to know. The telltale sounds of a Netflix drama playing faintly in the background and the muffled giggles from the bedroom made it crystal clear.

She opened the door to the bedroom slowly, not to give herself time to think, but to give them time to scramble. Predictably, her boyfriend—scratch that, ex-boyfriend—was tangled in the sheets with someone she vaguely recognized from his office party.

“Oh,” Y/N said, leaning casually against the doorframe. Her face betrayed nothing, though her pulse roared in her ears. “Am I interrupting?”

“Y/N!” he yelped, scrambling to cover himself. The girl next to him let out a shriek and disappeared under the duvet like a groundhog on February 2nd.

“Relax,” Y/N said, waving a dismissive hand. “I’m not here to fight. I’m here to pack.”

“Baby, I—” he started, but she held up a finger, silencing him with the same energy as a teacher about to hand out detention.

“Let’s not make this awkward. You cheated. I’m leaving. End of story.”

As he stammered out excuses, Y/N grabbed a suitcase from the closet and began filling it with essentials: her favorite jeans, skincare products, and that hoodie he always tried to claim but was way too good for him.

He was still talking—something about “miscommunication” and “it didn’t mean anything”—when she paused, holding up a pair of lacy underwear that definitely wasn’t hers.

She arched an eyebrow. “Miscommunication? Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Y/N, please—”

“Save it.” She stuffed the mystery lingerie into the suitcase, purely for dramatic effect, and zipped it shut. Turning to leave, she glanced back one last time, her lips quirking into a sardonic smile. “By the way, you should really wash those sheets. They reek of desperation.”

She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment, letting out a deep breath. The anger was manageable, but the hurt? That was going to take a while.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Fifteen minutes later, Y/N was sitting cross-legged on her best friend Lia’s couch, inhaling greasy pizza and venting like her life depended on it.

“And then he had the audacity to stammer like he was the victim!” Y/N said, waving a slice of pepperoni for emphasis.

Lia snorted, handing her a glass of wine. “Men are predictable. You date a loser; you get loser behavior.”

“Four years, Lia. I wasted four years of my life on that guy.”

“Well,” Lia said, tilting her glass toward her, “here’s to starting over. Clean slate. No losers, no drama, and definitely no more ‘boyfriend’ nonsense.”

Y/N clinked glasses with her. “Amen to that.”

Lia grinned, leaning in conspiratorially. “You know what you need? A ho phase.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow. “A what now?”

“A ho phase,” Lia repeated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve been playing housewife since you were eighteen. It’s time to cut loose. No strings, no commitments—just fun.”

Y/N took a sip of wine, mulling it over. “A ho phase, huh?”

Lia nodded, her eyes gleaming with mischief. “We’ll start tomorrow night. There’s a party at Eric’s place, and trust me, it’ll be crawling with eligible distractions.”

Y/N laughed despite herself. “Alright, fine. One party. But if it’s lame, I’m bailing.”

“Deal,” Lia said, raising her glass. “To your ho phase.”

“To my ho phase,” Y/N echoed, clinking glasses again. But as she stared into her wine, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was really cut out for this.

Still, one thing was certain: her ex was the past, and the future? Well, the future was wide open.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

The bass from Eric’s party was so loud it practically had its own gravitational pull. Lia was already dragging Y/N through the front door before she could come up with an excuse to leave.

“Okay, ground rules,” Lia said, gripping Y/N’s arm as they weaved through the crowd. “No sulking in the corner, no long rants about your ex, and absolutely no turning down free drinks.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Got it, Mom.”

“I’m serious!” Lia said, pausing to adjust Y/N’s top, which she claimed needed to show “just a little more clavicle.” “Tonight’s about you. Fun, freedom, and maybe a little chaos.”

Y/N laughed, shaking her head. “Fine. Fun, freedom, chaos. Got it.”

They made their way to the makeshift bar in the kitchen, where Lia handed Y/N a solo cup filled with something suspiciously blue. “What is this?” Y/N asked, eyeing the drink.

“No idea,” Lia said, taking a sip of her own. “But it’s strong, so drink up.”

Y/N took a tentative sip, grimacing as the sweetness hit her tongue. It tasted like regret and gummy bears, but she wasn’t about to back down.

“See? You’re already having fun,” Lia said, grinning. “Now, go mingle. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Before Y/N could protest, Lia disappeared into the crowd, leaving her alone in the chaos. She sighed, leaning against the counter and sipping her drink. Maybe this whole “ho phase” thing wasn’t for her after all.

And then she saw him.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

He was leaning against the wall across the room, a red solo cup in one hand and an easy, confident smile on his face. His dark hair fell perfectly into place, and his eyes had a mischievous glint that made him look like he was always on the verge of saying something outrageous.

He caught her staring and raised an eyebrow, his smile widening into a smirk.

“Uh-oh,” Y/N muttered to herself, turning back to her drink.

A moment later, she felt someone step up beside her.

“Deer in headlights,” the guy said, his voice low and teasing.

Y/N glanced at him, narrowing her eyes. “Excuse me?”

“You’ve got that look,” he said, leaning against the counter next to her. “Like you’re wondering how the hell you ended up here.”

“I’m wondering how you ended up here,” Y/N shot back.

He laughed, and the sound was warm, like honey drizzled over a snarky comment. “Fair. I’m Sunwoo, by the way.”

“Y/N,” she said, taking another sip of her drink.

“Y/N,” he repeated, like he was testing the name on his tongue. “So, what brings you to the circus tonight?”

“My friend dragged me here,” she admitted. “Apparently, I need to ‘cut loose.’”

Sunwoo raised an eyebrow. “And how’s that going so far?”

“Well, I’m talking to you, so… mediocre at best,” she said, her lips twitching into a smile.

He grinned. “Ouch. Guess I’ll have to step up my game.”

Before she could respond, someone called Sunwoo’s name, and he glanced over his shoulder. “Looks like I’m needed,” he said, turning back to her. “But I’ll see you around, Y/N.”

And just like that, he was gone, disappearing into the crowd like a magician after the big finale.

Y/N shook her head, trying to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat.

“Fun, freedom, chaos,” she muttered to herself. “What could possibly go wrong?”

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

The music in the party was pounding louder now, the bass vibrating through the floor as Y/N stood alone by the counter, nursing her drink. She couldn't get Sunwoo out of her head. The way his smirk lingered when he looked at her, the playful way he talked—it was all too much.

What had just happened? One

conversation, and she felt like her whole night had shifted. She didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or excited.

Then, just as her mind began to race, she saw him again.

Sunwoo was making his way across the room toward her, his confidence unmistakable.

When he reached her, he leaned in close, the scent of his cologne making her pulse quicken.

"Back again, huh?" His voice was low, teasing, but there was something in it that made her heart race.

"Couldn't stay away," she said, surprised at how easily the words slipped from her lips. "You must be getting desperate."

He grinned, eyes twinkling.

"Not desperate. Just interested."

"Interested in what exactly?"

Y/N couldn't help but ask, arching an eyebrow.

Sunwoo's gaze dropped to her lips for just a second before flicking back to her eyes. "In you."

The words hung in the air, heavier than anything she could have imagined.

Y/N's breath caught. She

swallowed, trying to focus on something-anything-other than the feeling of his

presence overwhelming her.

"I'm not really the kind of girl who does this kind of thing."

He smirked, leaning a little closer. "Lucky for you, neither am I."

Y/N couldn't resist the urge to glance at his lips again, her heartbeat thundering in her chest. Was this really happening? Could it be this easy? She had sworn off relationships, but this... whatever this was with Sunwoo, felt like an escape.

Before she could say another word, Sunwoo closed the gap between them. His lips brushed lightly against hers, a tentative touch that sent sparks flying through her. Her pulse spiked. She hadn't expected it to feel like this, not with someone she'd just met.

His hand found her waist, pulling her closer, and she didn't resist. The heat between them intensified, and before she knew it, she was kissing him back, responding with the same urgency. His lips were soft but insistent, and Y/N felt something unfamiliar stir inside her-something she couldn't quite name but wanted to explore further.

She pulled away just enough to breathe, but Sunwoo wasn't having it. His lips found hers again, this time deeper, hungrier.

One of his hands slid to her back, pressing her body against his. The chemistry between them was undeniable.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, her body already responding to him in ways she couldn't control.

Sunwoo's grin was sly. "Are you?"

Y/N closed her eyes, shaking her head. It didn't matter. The night had already taken a turn she hadn't planned, and part of her wanted to see where it went. She wasn't just going to let the moment slip away. Without thinking, she kissed him again, deeper this time, pulling him in even closer. He responded immediately, his hands roaming as his body pressed against hers, both of them forgetting about everything else in that moment.

The noise of the party, the people around them, it all faded into the background as Y/N allowed herself to focus on the only thing that mattered right then: the way Sunwoo made her feel.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

The sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting a soft glow across the room. Y/N's head was spinning, a mix of alcohol and the lingering heat of the night before. She groggily blinked, her body aching in all the right places, and for a brief moment, she forgot where she was.

Then, she heard it—a soft snore.

Her gaze shifted to the bed beside her, and there he was, sprawled out next to her.

Sunwoo. His dark hair was a mess, his lips slightly parted in sleep, and his arm was draped over her waist, pulling her closer even in slumber. It didn't take long for the memories of the previous night to come rushing back.

The kiss. The way their bodies had moved together in perfect harmony. The heat. The connection.

She exhaled sharply, guilt flooding her chest. What had she just done?

Y/N gently shifted away from Sunwoo, careful not to wake him, and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. The harsh reality of her situation settled in-she'd really gone and done it. And she had no idea what this meant. Was this just a random hook-up?

A one-time thing? Or did it mean something more?

Her thoughts spiraled as she swung her legs off the bed, feeling the aftermath of their passion in the soreness that radiated through her limbs.

As she stood, trying to steady herself, she froze when she heard Sunwoo shift behind her.

"Morning," he said, his voice still rough with sleep but warm and inviting.

"Where are you going?"

Y/N turned around, trying to play it cool. "I was just... getting some water."

Sunwoo grinned sleepily, pushing himself up onto his elbows. "Sure. Water. You're running away already?"

"I'm not running," she lied, her voice tight as she grabbed the glass from the side table and took a long sip. Her hands were shaking, and she couldn't understand why.

The silence between them was thick, and Y/N couldn't decide if it was awkward or just... new. Sunwoo didn't seem to mind, though. He sat up fully, stretching his arms over his head, revealing the toned muscles of his chest.

Y/N's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly looked away, trying to regain some semblance of control.

Y/N bit her lip. "It was just... a thing," she muttered, her gaze flicking to the window. "A one-time thing."

The words left her mouth, but they didn't feel right. The way she'd felt in his arms— there was no way it could've been just a "thing." But she wasn't ready to admit that.

Not to herself, and definitely not to him.

Sunwoo was silent for a moment, and for a brief second, Y/N wondered if she'd said too much.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Sunwoo’s lazy grin never faltered as he watched Y/N, sensing her unease but not pushing her to explain herself. He sat up fully now, stretching his arms above his head, his toned chest catching the morning light. Y/N’s gaze instinctively dropped to the defined muscles of his torso, and she quickly averted her eyes, trying to regain her composure.

He seemed to find amusement in her discomfort, but he didn’t tease her too much. Instead, he let the silence hang for a beat, the air between them thick with something neither of them were quite ready to address.

“So,” Sunwoo said, breaking the tension with his usual playful tone, though there was a glint of something more serious beneath the surface, “If it was just a ‘one-time thing,’ it must’ve been a pretty damn memorable one, huh?”

Y/N’s heart skipped at his words, but she quickly masked her emotions with a shrug. “Yeah, it was memorable,” she muttered, not quite meeting his eyes as she stared into her water glass. The words felt wrong coming out of her mouth, but she didn’t let herself think about it too much. She wasn’t going to let herself feel anything more than what she was willing to admit.

“Right,” Sunwoo said, his voice still teasing, though now it had a hint of something deeper. “And what happens now?”

She shook her head quickly, her words coming out almost too fast. “Nothing,” she replied with a tight-lipped smile. “It was just… fun, you know? No need to make it complicated.”

Sunwoo raised an eyebrow, a knowing smirk tugging at his lips. “Complicated? Who said anything about complicated?”

Y/N could feel her pulse quicken at the way he looked at her, but she ignored it, forcing herself to stand up. “I need to get dressed,” she said, her voice more clipped than she intended. She wasn’t going to let this moment become more than it was. She wasn’t going to let him become more than just a one-night thing.

Sunwoo didn’t press her any further, though the disappointment in his eyes was subtle enough to make Y/N’s chest tighten. But she wasn’t going to deal with that. Not now.

As she grabbed her clothes from the floor, she heard him mutter under his breath, “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

The words hung in the air as Y/N dressed quickly, trying not to let herself dwell on the emotions that threatened to rise up inside her. She wasn’t going to let herself fall for him. She wouldn’t.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she finished dressing and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. Sunwoo still sat on the bed, his eyes following her, but he didn’t say anything else. He didn’t need to. Y/N knew what he was thinking, but she wasn’t ready to admit it.

“Thanks for… last night,” she said, her voice clipped as she moved toward the door. It was the only thing she could think to say without letting her emotions show.

Sunwoo didn’t respond immediately, but as she reached the door, he spoke, his tone softer now. “Anytime, Y/N. But you know, it doesn’t have to be a one-time thing.”

Y/N didn’t look back as she stepped into the hallway, the words echoing in her head. She wasn’t going to let herself believe it.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Y/N was grateful for the crisp autumn air that greeted her as she stepped outside Lia’s apartment complex. Her thoughts swirled like the golden leaves at her feet, but she didn’t stop walking. She needed space, clarity—anything to quiet the noise in her head.

The night before was unforgettable, but she was determined to reframe it as just a night. Nothing more, nothing less. A mistake she wouldn’t let happen again.

“Why does he have to be so…” she muttered to herself, her boots crunching against the pavement. “So smug. So charming. So… Sunwoo.”

The very thought of him made her heart race, which only frustrated her more. This wasn’t part of the plan. She was supposed to have fun, be carefree, and maybe kiss a cute guy or two. Not whatever this was.

She turned the corner onto campus and was immediately met with familiar chatter and bustling energy. Students crowded the sidewalks, clutching their coffee cups and rushing to classes. The normalcy of it all was oddly grounding.

Until she saw him.

Sunwoo, leaning casually against a lamppost just outside the student center. His dark hair was still messy from the morning, but now it looked intentional. He was talking to someone—a girl, smiling and laughing at whatever joke he’d just made.

Y/N’s stomach twisted.

“What the hell is that?” she muttered under her breath. The jealousy hit her before she could rationalize it, and it annoyed her to no end. She had no right to feel this way. It was one night. One damn night.

Still, she found herself ducking behind a nearby tree, peeking around it like some lovesick teenager.

“What are you doing?” a voice whispered behind her.

Y/N jumped, spinning around to find her best friend grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

“Nothing!” she hissed, trying to compose herself.

“Oh, please,” her friend said, crossing their arms. “You’re staring at him like he hung the stars in the sky. Didn’t you say this was supposed to be a one-time thing?”

“It is!” Y/N insisted, though the heat rising in her cheeks betrayed her. “I’m just… making sure he’s not following me or something.”

Her best friend snorted. “Right. Because he’s so obsessed with you that he’s hanging out with other girls just to get your attention.”

“Exactly!” Y/N said, before realizing how ridiculous it sounded. “Wait, no. That’s not what I meant.”

“Uh-huh.”

Before Y/N could argue further, Sunwoo’s voice carried over the noise of the crowd. “Y/N!”

Her heart dropped. She turned to see him walking toward her, a lopsided grin on his face. The other girl was gone, and now it was just him. And her. And the increasingly smug expression on her best friend’s face.

“Hey,” Sunwoo said, his tone casual but his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah, funny how that works on a campus full of students,” Y/N replied, trying to sound indifferent.

Her best friend coughed something that suspiciously sounded like liar and wandered off, leaving them alone.

Sunwoo tilted his head, studying her. “So, did you sleep okay?”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Why are you asking?”

“I don’t know. Just being polite.” He shrugged but didn’t stop smiling.

“Well, thanks for your concern. I’m fine.”

“Good,” he said, stepping closer. “Because you seemed a little… tense this morning.”

Y/N crossed her arms, determined not to let him get under her skin. “I’m fine, Sunwoo. Really.”

He leaned in, his voice dropping just enough to make her pulse quicken. “You sure about that?”

“Yes,” she said firmly, though the way her voice wavered betrayed her.

Sunwoo didn’t push further, but the look he gave her was enough to send her thoughts spiraling again. There was something about him—something infuriatingly magnetic—that she couldn’t shake.

“Anyway,” she said, clearing her throat and stepping back, “I’ve got class. See you around.”

Before he could respond, she turned on her heel and walked away, determined not to look back.

But she felt his gaze on her the whole time.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

The music pulsed through the dimly lit house, the bass reverberating in Y/N’s chest as she nursed her second drink of the night. Lia had dragged her out again, insisting she needed to stop moping and have some actual fun.

“You’re supposed to be in your ho phase, not your hermit phase,” Lia had joked earlier, handing Y/N a cup before disappearing into the crowd.

Y/N leaned against the wall, scanning the party with a mix of boredom and apprehension. That was when she saw him. Sunwoo. Of course, he was here. He seemed to be everywhere lately, infiltrating her thoughts and now her weekends.

He was standing across the room, chatting with a petite girl with long, wavy hair. She laughed at something he said, her hand brushing his arm, and Y/N felt her stomach churn.

“Why do I care?” she muttered to herself, taking a bigger sip of her drink.

But no amount of rationalizing could stop the jealousy that bubbled up, uninvited and undeniable.

Lia appeared out of nowhere, a sly smile on her face. “You’re glaring. It’s kind of terrifying.”

“I’m not glaring,” Y/N snapped, too quickly.

“Oh, totally,” Lia said, leaning against the wall beside her. “You’re just admiring the decor. Very intense admiration.”

Y/N groaned, tipping her head back against the wall. “I’m not jealous.”

“Did I say you were?” Lia teased, grinning.

“Go away,” Y/N muttered, though there was no heat in her voice.

Lia patted her shoulder. “Relax. I’ll be back later to pick up the pieces of your denial. Have fun!”

Y/N rolled her eyes as Lia disappeared again, leaving her alone with her thoughts—and her drink, which was disappearing way too quickly.

Before she knew it, Sunwoo was standing in front of her, that infuriatingly charming smirk plastered on his face.

“Hey,” he said, leaning in slightly to be heard over the music. “You’ve been avoiding me all night.”

Y/N’s heart skipped a beat, but she played it cool, crossing her arms. “I’ve been busy. You know, doing my own thing.”

“Sure,” Sunwoo said, his tone light but his gaze unwavering. “Your own thing involves staring at me from across the room?”

“I wasn’t staring,” she shot back, though her cheeks betrayed her with a faint blush.

Sunwoo chuckled, stepping closer. “Right. Just like you’re not jealous right now.”

Y/N scoffed, trying to ignore the way her pulse quickened. “Why would I be jealous? You can talk to whoever you want.”

“Good to know,” he said, but the teasing lilt in his voice was gone. He tilted his head, studying her with an intensity that made her want to squirm. “What’s wrong? Seriously.”

Y/N looked away, the sudden sincerity in his voice throwing her off. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine,” he said, his voice quieter now.

“Why do you care?” she snapped, the alcohol loosening her tongue more than she intended. “Go back to your fan club.”

Sunwoo frowned, his brows knitting together. “Is that what you think? That I’m just messing around?”

She didn’t answer, and that seemed to frustrate him even more.

“Y/N,” he said, his voice soft but firm, “you’re jealous.”

“I’m not!” she insisted, but even to her own ears, the words sounded hollow.

“Then why are you acting like this?”

“Because!” she started, but the words caught in her throat. She had no good answer. At least, not one she was ready to admit.

The tension between them crackled like static, and before she could think of something else to say, Sunwoo leaned in, his lips crashing against hers.

Her cup slipped from her hand, forgotten, as she grabbed his shirt to pull him closer. The kiss was heated, desperate, and all the feelings she’d been trying to bury came rushing to the surface.

When they finally pulled apart, both breathless, Sunwoo rested his forehead against hers.

“You don’t have to say it,” he murmured, his hands still on her waist. “But stop lying to yourself.”

Y/N swallowed hard, her mind racing. For once, she had no witty comeback, no sarcastic remark. Just the sound of her heart pounding in her ears and the weight of his words sinking in.

Still caught in the heat of their argument-turned-kiss, Sunwoo grabbed her hand, leading her out of the party. Y/N followed without hesitation, her emotions spiraling somewhere between anger, attraction, and confusion.

Back in Sunwoo’s room, the tension between them spilled over, escalating into another round of feverish kisses. Sunwoo’s usual teasing demeanor was replaced with a raw vulnerability, and Y/N found herself letting her guard down in a way she hadn’t expected.

Their intimacy was both passionate and tender, the playful edge of their earlier encounter now replaced by an undeniable connection. In this moment, Y/N couldn’t deny that there was something deeper between them—something she wasn’t ready to name but could no longer ignore.

Afterward, lying tangled together, Sunwoo broke the silence.

“You’re not just a fling to me, you know,” he murmured, his fingers brushing softly against her arm.

Y/N, still trying to steady her racing thoughts, whispered, “Don’t ruin this by talking.”

But her walls had already begun to crumble.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Over the next few weeks, Y/N’s life became a whirlwind of accidental run-ins, teasing banter, and stolen moments with Sunwoo. He seemed to be everywhere—at the coffee shop she frequented, the campus quad, even the library during her late-night study sessions.

“Fate, maybe?” he would say, his signature smirk making her stomach flip.

“Or just bad luck,” she’d retort, though her flushed cheeks always gave her away.

Lia, of course, noticed immediately.

“You’re acting like a teenager with a crush,” Lia teased one evening as they lounged on the couch.

“I do not have a crush,” Y/N insisted, her voice rising an octave.

Lia raised an eyebrow. “You literally turned down a guy at the bar last night because he wasn’t Sunwoo.”

Y/N groaned, throwing a pillow at her friend. “That’s not what happened.”

“Oh, it is. You’re basically doodling his name in your notebook at this point,” Lia said, laughing.

Y/N crossed her arms, glaring. “I don’t like him. He’s… annoying!”

“Sure,” Lia said, rolling her eyes. “And I’m Beyoncé’s backup dancer.”

Meanwhile, Sunwoo wasn’t making things any easier. Every time he saw her, he would grin like he knew something she didn’t.

“You’re cute when you’re in denial,” he said one afternoon after catching her staring at him during a group study session.

“I’m not in denial,” Y/N shot back, her face heating.

“You keep telling yourself that,” he said with a wink, before returning to his notes like he hadn’t just derailed her entire focus.

Despite her protests, Y/N couldn’t shake the growing warmth in her chest whenever he was around. But she refused to acknowledge it. Admitting it would mean accepting that she’d broken her vow of no attachments, and she wasn’t ready for that.

“Denial,” Lia would sing-song whenever Y/N tried to change the subject.

But deep down, Y/N knew there was only so much longer she could keep lying to herself.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

It was late in the evening when Y/N found herself wandering the campus courtyard, trying to clear her head. The events of the past few weeks had her spiraling—Sunwoo’s constant presence, the teasing, the way her heart betrayed her every time he smiled.

She spotted him across the courtyard, sitting on a bench with his headphones in, scrolling through his phone. For a moment, she considered walking away, but Sunwoo looked up, as if sensing her presence. He grinned and gestured for her to come over.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said, his voice light.

Y/N crossed her arms, standing a few feet away. “We go to the same school. It’s not exactly a miracle.”

“True. But you don’t usually come looking for me.”

“I wasn’t looking for you!” she said, too quickly.

Sunwoo tilted his head, his smirk softening into something gentler. “Why do you always push me away, Y/N?”

Her heart sank. His question caught her off guard, and for once, she didn’t have a snappy comeback.

“I don’t…” she started, but her voice faltered.

“You do,” Sunwoo said, standing and closing the distance between them. “It’s okay, you know. You don’t have to keep pretending.”

“Pretending what?” she said, her tone defensive.

“That you don’t like me,” he said softly.

Y/N’s breath caught in her throat. She opened her mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn’t come.

“You’re infuriating,” she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Sunwoo chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I didn’t say yes!”

“But you didn’t say no,” he pointed out, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Y/N groaned, covering her face with her hands. “Fine. Maybe I like you. Happy now?”

Sunwoo gently pulled her hands away from her face, his touch warm and grounding. “Ecstatic,” he said, his voice sincere. “Took you long enough.”

Y/N rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t fight the smile tugging at her lips. For once, she stopped resisting the fluttering in her chest and let herself feel it fully.

“You’re such a pain,” she muttered.

“And yet, here you are,” Sunwoo said, leaning in closer.

She didn’t pull away this time.

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Dating Sunwoo wasn’t something Y/N ever expected, yet here they were, strolling down the campus quad hand in hand. Lia had teased her mercilessly that morning, recounting how Y/N had finally admitted to liking him, but Y/N ignored her best friend’s jabs. She was too busy replaying how Sunwoo had kissed her after her confession, how his smile hadn’t left his face all night.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Sunwoo said, glancing at her with a smirk.

“Just thinking,” Y/N said, rolling her eyes when she noticed his expression.

“Thinking about how great I am?”

“Hardly,” she replied, though her heart betrayed her by skipping a beat when he laced their fingers tighter.

Stopping by a campus bench, Sunwoo tugged her down to sit beside him. His usual teasing demeanor softened as he looked at her. “I know this is new for you. For us. But I meant what I said—I’m not going anywhere.”

Y/N’s chest felt lighter than it had in weeks. “I know,” she admitted.

“And just so we’re clear,” Sunwoo added, grinning now, “this means your ho phase is officially over.”

“Who says I’m done?” she teased, nudging him playfully.

“You did. The second you confessed.”

Y/N laughed despite herself, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Guess you’re right. But don’t let it get to your head.”

“No promises,” Sunwoo said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

[theshiftingwitch]

"We're limited beings"

Disclaimer: this post is about the law of assumption. If you do not practice / believe in the law, then this post is not for you.

If you know anything about the law of assumption, then you should know by now that its first and only rule is that your thoughts create your reality. You hear that sentence all the time, and most of you understand it to a certain point.

So allow me to be as clear as I possibly can:

• If you believe that there's a certain higher power out there holding your manifestations from you because you don't deserve it or it's not the right time or it's not meant for you... That is a limiting belief.

• If you believe that astrology is anything other than a map you chose for yourself before you came into this reality, and it is dictating how your life will go and if you veer off the path or do anything outside of your chart limitations then the energies of the planets will punish you, that is a limiting belief.

• If you believe that the rules of this reality are the only ones that exist and that they are the reason you are not getting your manifestations, or that you are a limited being in any way, that is a limiting belief.

• If you believe that anything or anyone outside of yourself is the operant power in your own reality, rendering yourself a victim in a reality you chose, that is a limiting belief.

• If you believe that your guardian angels, guardian demons, spirit guides, or anything of the sort are withholding what you want from you because they know better and they are protecting you, that is a limiting belief.

• If you believe that the universe is not giving you what you want despite how many times you have affirmed or visualized or scripted, that is a limiting belief.

I do not claim to know everything about the universe because like most of you I am also here to learn, to grow, and to love. But this is coming from a practicing witch, astrologer, and shifter. Hear me when I say, the only limits that exist in this reality are the limits you put on yourself.

At the end of the day, the only law that matters is the law of oneness. You can practice the law of assumption, you can practice the law of attraction, you can practice the law of detachment... the only thing that matters is truly understanding that you are one with everything. You are one with the universe, you are one with spirit, you are one with God, you are one with your guardian angels and demons and spirit guides... you are the beginning and you are the end.

If you read this post, and you got this terrible lump in your throat or this aching feeling in your chest or this train of thoughts in your mind telling you that this is wrong and this is blasphemy and this is pure bullshit, you have a lot of limiting beliefs to work through. Do your Shadow work. Stop procrastinating, stop waiting for someone to come and hand you your manifestations, stop waiting for someone to come and save you. The only one who's going to save you is yourself because you are the only ONE.

Everything always works out in your favor because you said so.

PS: I'm sorry if this post or others before it sound like I am in a shitty mood or I'm being a bitch, Mars is in retrograde and I'm feeling confrontational and I never back out of a fight. (See what I did there? 😉 ) However I truly apologize if I did come off as anything other than kind and understanding throughout my previous posts including this one. I'm truly, sincerely only trying to help but some people keep pushing my buttons and I hate to see new shifters and new manifesters being exposed to wrong information and losing hope and motivation instead of learning their true power. The retrograde ends in February and I can't promise that I won't be confrontational ever again, I do have a Mars in Aries after all and that bitch is my chart ruler, (or pluto if you're a modern astrologer) but I do promise to take a deep breath before I engage in any sort of conversation whether here or on tiktok. I would hate to give you the assumption that I'm not here for you, or that you can't ask me anything, but truly understand that as long as you are being respectful I will answer whatever question you have and I will debate whatever matter you have on your mind. Thank you for being here, I love you guys so much and I hope you get everything you've ever wanted and more.

[jenneyquinn]

𝐢 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞

in which the pine tree and llama are the epitome of soulmates (continued) w/c: 10.6k words *not proofread* (actually 2 words shy of 10.6k, but hey, who's counting? masterpost

once winter had its fun, spring rolls around, and so does that one day that everyone either looks forward to or is dreading with past trauma.

for mabel and dipper, they are one of both outcomes; respectively.

it was so uncharacteristic of mabel to not be excited over a holiday that spreads so much joy and love—regardless if it's platonic, familial, or romantic. as for dipper, he was never really much for luck in that department (love, that is), though not as sociable, let alone well known as his sister, he is very much content with being alone for the most part—especially knowing, deep down, he is grateful to have a family who loves him.

however, dipper felt that this year would be different. he didn't know why, couldn't put a finger on it, but he noticed that something would be stand out amongst the other years as the boy realizes that is isn't as disgusted with valentine's day as he commonly was before.

"duh—it's obvious why you're thinking about that, bro-bro."

"huh? oh, it's because we're technically teenagers and we're at that embarrassing phase in our life where romantic pursuits are more irrational and desperate to compensate for our lack of self-confidence?"

mabel rolls her eyes before answering.

"no, it's because you have a cru~sh! and you just can't wait to call her on valentine's day~"

"what?! that's—"

"don't worry, because being the matchmaker that i am, with the resume of skilled expertise, i can proudly say that i—mabel pines—will get you the valentine's date of your dreams!"

"but—"

"you can't say no, it's already happening."

"no."

"ALREADY HAPPENING!'

given it was already the first of february, it was going to take mabel less than two weeks to pull this off; presuming that she could, that is.

so, on that wednesday night, dipper lies awake at night, thinking about that special someone, despite fighting his feelings for so long. he doesn't want to admit it out loud, but dipper knew, subconsciously, that his sister indeed saw through him, and he is crushing on someone; bad and hard.

the first time dipper had ever lied awake at night, it was about wendy corduroy, the girl he ever seriously crushed on. though, as time passed after his confession, he stopped thinking about her that way. it look him time, fighting all those thoughts during the day while they continued their friendship, and many nights as she remained in his dreams; if he wasn't dreaming about his parents, that is.

however, when dipper lies awake this night, he isn't thinking about wendy. not at all. on the contrary, he's up all night, thinking of another girl—one he knew was perhaps just as (if not more unattainable) than wendy.

eventually, the guy gets some sleep, and mabel has already come up with a whole list of ideas to help her brother in his otherwise, lack of romantic expertise.

however, dipper fights mabel every step of the way, insisting that he has a plan of his own. though he is grateful for the support, the kid genuinely had a clear idea of how he wanted valentine's day to go, and as long as he's got his confidence—dipper is sure he'll have his first good valentine's day yet.

finally, when the big day comes, mabel's nothing short of estatic.

"oh my god, what are you gonna wear? please tell me you're going to wear something good?? what are you planning to do for your date??? it better be something fun! you don't wanna make a bad first impression by doing something lame—in that case, i have to make sure you avoid anything remotely boring!!"

dipper simply blinks, getting everything but also none of the words that just left mabel's mouth right now.

"uh… i guess i'm just going to wear what i usually wear. i mean, i didn't plan to go anywhere fancy anyways. saves time and energy for later, right? i even put together this nice gift and everything…"

"aww, dipper~" mabel coos, clasping her hands together at the last part of her brother's reply, "whatcha get her? actually nevermind, you can tell me later. i'm sure she'll love it anyways!"

then, she takes a quick look up and down at her brother, inspecting his outfit before continuing: "are you really going to wear… that?"

"what's wrong with what i'm wearing? i wear this every day!"

"i know, it's not bad, but that's the point—" mabel pinches the bridge of her nose with impatience, taking dipper by the hand, "look, we still got a couple hours before you're going. surely, there must be something presentable in that closet of yours… that's hopefully been washed."

so, thanks to mabel, dipper was able together a simple, but clean outfit for his first valentine's date: a marine-blue unbuttoned oxford shirt with a cream-white tee underneath, paired with a casual pair of black jeans and his shoes; completely gaining the latter's approval.

"now go on, enjoy your video-chat date with pacifica~"

"w-wait!" dipper exclaims. "how did you know—"

"oh, would you look at the time? candy and grenda must be waiting for me to join their call bye~"

"mabel!"

"look, i apologized, didn't i? i've been trying to be nothing but a do-gooder; no more evil business for me. even gideon is trying to give me a chance. so, sunshine, what is your deal?"

growing impatient with pacifica's rejections, dipper finally corners her at the ballroom of gleeful mansion—speaking in a hushed tone as to not draw any attention from anyone else.

the former, on the other hand, narrows her eyes; frowning deeply.

"you wanna know why i haven't forgiven you, gleeful? i was the first person to trust you, and what did you do with that?? you toyed with my feelings, deceived me—all for your personal gain?! how dare you think my feelings can't be justified when you suddenly decide to turn things around!"

dipper was baffled, to say the least. so, pacifica continues talking.

"what if will decides to return to you guys? what then?? is it the end of you and your family's redemption arc???" she asks, her facial features now beginning to soften as her eyes start to water and her nose going red as she sniffles.

"i don't want you to hurt me again. i'm not going to let you hurt me again."

as pacifica begins to run off, dipper instantly goes after her.

"pacifica, wait!"

then, out of the blue, the blonde is halted in her tracks. a ray of blue flames stike her, thereafter transforming pacifica from her authentic human state to a wooden statue of her likeness.

dipper gasps, reaching out to her: "pacifica!"

"gideon!"

mabel cries, redirecting her brother's attention to the now-wooden gideon pines; taking the mage aback even further.

suddenly, the gleeful twins hear a bellowing laughter, the source of them coming around the fireplace. a grandfather clock tolls, as the duo take sight of the ghost staring at the gleeful family portrait.

"a forest of death, a lesson learned, now the gleeful manor will burn!"

as the ghost of nathaniel southeast continues laughing, setting the family portrait aflame, mabel calls out to the entity.

"hey ugly! over here!"

the ghost seizes his laughs, spotting the gleeful twins.

"you want us to let in the townsfolk?" dipper asks, "'cause we'll do it! just change everyone back!"

nathaniel scoffs, "you wish to prove yourself? pull that lever and open the grand gate to the town! fulfill your ancestors' promise!"

pointing to the lever which opens the main gates, dipper looks from the lever to the wooden pacifica. then, for a moment, her voice rings in his head.

"i was the first person to trust you, and what did you do? you toyed with my feelings, you deceived me—all for your personal gain!"

you deceived me.

"she's right," dipper admits to himself.

"huh? who's right??" mabel asks, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"mabel, our family has been nothing but liars and cheats. how about we do something right for a change?"

without saying anything further, mabel simply gives dipper a nod in the affirmative; grabbing onto the lever with him.

the twins share a look, then look back at the ghost as they pull down the lever together.

nathaniel gasps as the main gates which once divided gleeful mansion and the commonfolk of the town swing open. as the townsfolk swarm into the manor in waves, the ghost is finally appeased.

"YES, YES, IT'S HAPPENING!" the entity rejoices, "MY HEART, ONCE AS HARD AS OAK, now grows soft, like a birch or something."

as the gleeful twins look up at the ghost with satisfaction, the latter looks back down on them, equally satiated.

"dipper, mabel, you two aren't like the other gleefuls." nathaniel says as his spirit begins to ascend, "i feel… lumber… justice…"

with that, everything in the mansion returned how they used to be: the portrait showed no signs it being previously engulfed in flames, all the resurrected animals were back in their deceased state, and most importantly, all the people originally in attendance had been free from their wooden prisons.

even pacifica, who takes a breath of fresh air as soon as she's freed.

"pacifica!"

dipper runs to pacifica, visibly worried as he pulls her close to him in a tight, protective embrace.

"dipper?"

"you're… you're actually safe…" he exasperates, pulling back to look at her, "look, you were right. i was being selfish and i did mess with you just to get what i wanted, but i didn't fully realize how much i've hurt you until now…"

"dipper…"

"when you were encased in wood, i… i thought that i lost you. i… i… don't want to see you like that again. i don't ever want to make you sad again."

before he could even notice, a single hot tear runs down dipper's cheek, still holding his gaze at pacifica.

"i… i know it's too late for you to trust me… and i clearly don't deserve your forgiveness… but i do wanna try. i want to be a better person."

while pacifica listens to dipper's impassioned confession, she couldn't help but to focus onto the tear that runs down his face. then she looks back into his eyes—which she finally took in for the first time. though it was a glowing blue when they first met, she noticed how the loss of the amulet and will's emancipation from the gleefuls had effected dipper's eyes from the absence of power.

they were brown. it was nothing special, but it was like pacifica was actually seeing him for the first time. if she thought there was good in him before, it finally shown in his eyes now.

so, pacifica does the only sensible thing she could think of.

"oof!"

holding onto him tightly, pacifica buries her face into dipper's shoulder; trying not to cry.

"thanks, dipper. i… i forgive you."

"wait! where are you all going?! we're supposed to look for dipper pines, remember?!"

when pacifica sees all the government vehicles backing up and driving away from the mystery shack, she's enraged. after all this time, she finally thought that she would be getting him back—but why were the government guys leaving?!

"ahh!" pacifica yelps in shock as a pig runs past her, chomping on a drive labelled 'PINES'.

so, she looks up to the source of where the pig came from, back to the mystery shack, and simple to say the least—she could have never expected what, or rather who, would be standing before her eyes.

"great-uncle mason, that was amazing!"

pacifica's eyes widen at stan's words, as he approaches the aforementioned man with his brother. but whatever happened to—

"let's not go crazy; it was serviceable."

well, speak of the devil, the blonde thinks as the con-artist walks into the scene with the shack's handywoman, lita. welp, time to get over there and give that lady a piece of my—

yet, the man's chuckles cut off pacifica's thoughts: "thank you kids, but please, call me dipper."

dipper?!

"dipper..."

his eyes crack open the slightest bit before shutting again.

"dipper..."

he hears the voice once more, but the weight of his eyelids win another time, drawing him back to unconsciousness.

"wake up, dipper!"

he shoots up, fully awake at the sound of mabel's shouts.

"gah! mabel!" dipper frowns, turning to the digital clock atop his bedside table before shooting her a look. "this better be worth waking me up at seven in the morning for—you know it's apring break, right?"

"exactly—it's spring break, bro-bro. the first day of spring break."

mabel points to the calendar hung on dipper's bedroom wall; specifically on a date that reads 'pacifica visits'.

"yeah, yeah, pacifica's visiting." dipper mumbles, tucking himself back to bed and pulling his covers back up.

it takes him a second to realize the words that just left his mouth, then he really wakes up.

"pacifica's visiting!"

he throws his blanket aside, bolting right up from his bed, scanning his room left and right.

"oh my god, my room! i need to- i gotta-"

"stop hyperventilating, dippingsauce," mabel says, amused at her brother's behaviour, "that's why we're up early. we've got six hours before pacifica, candy, and grenda's bus arrvies at the stop. so, as your personal matchmaker, i'm here to make sure your room's spotless—as well as you. i'll never forgive myself if i let you talk to your girlfriend without taking a shower first."

"a shower? i'm fine, mabel," he rebutes, lifting up his arm to take a sniff from his pits, which he immediately comes to regret, "besides, pacifica's not my girlfriend."

"not if you don't take a shower, she won't." she jokes, poking him. "blop!"

so, after taking a shower while his sister gives him a head start on spring cleaning, dipper rushes to get ready and look decent for his crush special friend.

unbeknownst to the twins, three visitors had already made their way to the pines residence.

"ah, pacifica! so nice to see you again, sweetie." mrs. pines greets, giving the girl a welcoming hug.

"and i believe you two must be candy and grenda," mr. pines points out, also giving a warm welcome to the two girls, "of course, mabel's friends are always welcome here."

"as well as dipper's friends." mrs. pines winks, playfully nudging the blonde's arm; causing the latter to blush.

candy and grenda also giggle, making pacifica more flustered.

"but seriously, our kids have told many stories about you three," mr. pines says, gesturing them inside as he picks up the girls' bags, "pacifica and mabel's golf tournament, grenda's prince boyfriend in austria, and even candy's little crush on dipper."

"oh!" pacifica says, then she leans towards candy, continuing in a teasing tone. "well, i didn't know about this."

another day of weirdmaggedon dawns upon gravity falls, not that dipper gleeful minds. in fact, it's just like another regular day for him: he gets up from bed, changes out of his pajamas and into his turquoise suit, and walks out into the town.

just as he promised, he makes his way to the giant floating bubble in the sky—the pink one that's branded with an illustration of a llama.

good morning, sunshine, dipper greets pacifica in thought, looking up at the bubble; eyes half-lidded and smiling gleefully.

pulling out the key from his vest pocket, dipper unlocks the bubble and enters the spherical-shaped prison.

"ah! dipper, you came back!" the blonde cheers, donning an off-the-shoulder, spaghetti-strapped turquoise dress and her hair done up in a simple, but cute messy bun.

"sunshine, looking as radiant as ever," dipper replies, "as if i should've expected any different."

he takes her by the hand, pulling her close to him. swinging her along the floor, which has shifted from a bedroom to a ballroom setting, dipper looks into pacifica's eyes with adoration, feeling complete bliss.

"hey, dippington? can i tell you something?" she asks softly.

"anything, sunshine," he answers without hesitation, "shoot."

"i'm so happy here." pacifica confesses, smiling brightly. "being here, in my dreamland, with you... it's like everything i could ever want. i don't ever want to leave... i just want to be happy here, with you, forever..."

dipper returns her smile, looking down at her as she rests her head against his shoulder.

"i'm happy to be here with you too, pacifica," he admits wholeheartedly, "i don't think i'd want to be anywhere else, too."

so, the pair slow-dances in silence, letting the soft melody of the ballroom music fill the space instead.

ever since dipper's return, pacifica had intended to catch up with her old friend, but she knew that he already had a lot of catching up to do with his own family.

at least she had her own family to tend to, as well as her own career as gravity falls' top realtor, making her way to becoming the ceo of northwest realty from the past twenty years.

although she hated to admit it, pacifica kind of wished she was able to bond with her grandson preston as easily as dipper's twin sister and their two great nephews.

so, while preston is out on a date with his girlfriend priscilla, pacifica is left to her own devices as she finishes up paperwork for her recent client.

that is... until she hears the ever so familiar ring of the doorbell.

"heh... h-hey, paz," dipper greets; in his own, typical, awkward way, "l-long time, no see, huh?"

pacifica blinks once... then twice... three times, even.

"uh... pacifica?" he waves over her face; worry rising in his voice. "are you alright—"

dipper gets cut off abruptly was pacifica leaps toward him; wrapping her arms over his shoulders and enveloping him into a crushing embrace.

"dummy... don't leave me ever again."

"wait, what?!"

dipper stands in his now-clean bedroom proudly, his hands to his sides.

"you heard me: by the end of spring break, pacifica northwest will be my girlfriend."

mabel clasps her hands over her mouth, trying her best from squealing.

"oh my god, dipper! that's amazing!" she cheers, but then her face blanks—as if she's seen a ghost. "oh no."

"huh? what 'oh-no'? i don't like that 'oh-no'."

"look, it's great that you want to ask pacifica to be your girlfriend and all but.. how do i put this... when it comes to girls... sometimes, you tend to get in your own way."

"mabel, i promise," dipper says, placing a hand to his chest while raising the other, "no lists involved. maybe a plan to reference to from time to time, but no multi-phase lists i need to be following closely."

"okay..." she says hesitantly, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips, "so... what's the plan then?"

"well..." he starts, rubbing his hands together.

"first, i figured there would be no harm in taking everyone mini-golfing. i can't impress her, but at least it's something she likes to do. pacifica will have a good time, so it'll definitely get things running in the right direction."

"um... mini golf?" pacifica asks, a bit weary.

"i guarantee you, there's no lilliputtians involved."

looking at him quizzically at first, she chuckles right after.

"okay, nerd. i've been looking forward to having a rematch with mabel anyways. she owes me a fair game, anyways."

"next, we'll go to the mall—it's full of stuff that pacifica likes, right? fashion and deep-fried foods!"

"here you go," dipper says, plopping down a tray of food onto the table before pacifica, "an order of french fries with a vanilla milkshake, just like the lady ordered."

he mimics a bow, gesturing to the fast-food before taking his seat: "just like home, huh? um... you still have a butler, right?"

the blonde giggles, nodding as she picks up a single fry and dipping it into the shake.

"only the one, though. we had to let go of a lot of staff after... you know."

"oh yeah..." he says, remembering the previous video-calls they've had, "it seems you've been adjusting well, though. oh yeah—how's greasy's? lazy suzan able to hold fort without you?"

"definitely. i miss her, though." she answers, twirling her straw. "between you and me, it's nice working at the diner. lazy suzan is more like a parent to me than my actual parents, and it keeps me distracted from thinking about home..."

looking up from the tray, pacifica looks at dipper with a gentle smile: "at least things in your home is better, right? i'm totally jealous of your parents."

"i guess you could say that..."

but it wasn't better. things at the pines' residence wasn't getting better at all. though there was still some sort of harmony in the household, it doesn't mean that his parents weren't still fighting almost every night.

but this didn't mean that things wouldn't be different with pacifica. sure, dipper's parents have been together for over almost two decades, and their marriage has still been on the verge of collapse even after their children had come back from their summer vacation in gravity falls, but it didn't mean—

oh, who was he kidding.

"hey, hello~" his friend snaps her fingers in front of his face, "anyone in there? you've been zoning out, wanna tell me what's on your mind?"

"um... heh, heh! you know what? how about we hit the arcade?? lost my appetite, anyways."

before she could have any input, dipper already grabs pacifica's hand, running down and out of the food court.

"there was also the arcade... but i don't know how she'd take it, but hopefully she'll come to like it. i mean—pacifica loves winning, right?"

"gleeful!"

"hm?" dipper gives a hum as he opens his eyes, peering up. somebody from the outside is calling.

"hey, sunshine, i gotta take care of something real quick." he explains, pulling away, his hands still on hers. "stay put, alright?"

she nods, still smiling: "okay, just... be careful, dip."

"you know i will." the brunette winks, causing his prisoner princess to giggle.

then, he finally departs, exiting the bubble.

"what the heck, dipper?!" gideon exclaimed. "i thought you turned a new leaf?! you said you were going to change!"

"oh, if it isn't lil' gideon—"

"don't call me that!" the small boy snaps back.

"never mind that! i'll have you know that i did, in fact, change," dipper continues, "i promised my sunshine, pacifica, that i wasn't going to hurt her, and i intend to keep that promise."

he then points to the bubble, wrapped in chains: "in that bubble, pacifica won't be hurt. never again. i was willing to let bygones be bygones, but she told me what you've done—and if you think i'm letting you in there, think again!"

"you can't do that, dipper!" robbie shouts. "you think you're protecting pacifica, but you're only imprisoning her!"

"valentino." dipper grimaces, his eyes narrowing and a threatening glint twinkles in his brown eyes. "you can't be any more wrong—pacifica told me herself! i am her protector! thanks to will, he granted me the power to create a dream world for her. in this world, i can shield her from anyone and everyone who can hurt her! even you!"

"but, dipper..." gideon speaks, his voice softens as he tries to empathize with the brunette, "do you really think this is the right way to protect pacifica? just because she's in that bubble, doesn't mean she'll be safe forever. eventually, one way or another, you'll hurt her too. so, when that happens—where will she go? who will protect her, then??"

dipper's cold expression slightly cracks, allowing his former enemy to reach out to him.

"we know you care for pacifica, we all do, too," the white-haired boy gestures between himself, robbie, and melody, "but we're still human. we make mistakes, and eventually, we will hurt each other—whether we mean to or not."

pulling out the slip of paper from the front pocket of his pants, dipper unfolds the paper to look back at the cut-out newspaper article; staring into the old picture of himself and pacifica.

she gave me another chance... even when i didn't deserve it.

"do the right thing, dipper. if you want to be pacifica's hero, please let us rescue her. please let us make it up to her."

"so, let me get this straight..." pacifica speaks, pinching the bridge of her nose in a mix of concentration and confusion, "this whole time, you had a twin sister? but you didn't tell me about her because of she wronged you about thirty years ago?? and then ten years later—she accidentally gets you sucked into this portal that you made??? so you've been stuck in there for the past twenty years until she reactivated said portal—in which she fixed, for the sole purpose to bring you back????"

dipper simply stares at pacifica, still struck by her beauty after all these years. yet, when he realizes a tad late that she had stopped speaking, he shakes his head; getting a hold of himself.

"y-yes. that's exactly what happened."

the blonde blinks once. then twice. then takes a long sip from her coffee; setting it down before slamming the empty mug onto the table.

"you never told me you had a twin sister!"

"well, i didn't think it was relevant..." he mumbles, annoyed.

"of course it's flippin' relevant!" she spats, "whatever mabel did to you in the past, she's still your family! i thought i knew everything about you, but you've been still hiding stuff from me!"

dipper sighs, looking at his old friend with a guilt-ridden expression.

"you're right, paz. i should've been more open with you, instead of being all mysterious and keeping stuff from you. i'm really sorry that i scared you and kept you in the dark all this time."

"ah, forget about it," she waves off, no longer upset. "you're lucky that i'm too old to be fussing over small things. besides, i guess i should be used to it by now, right? you never really trusted me, anyways."

"but i do trust you, pacifica," he says, placing a hand over hers, "i was just being an idiot, thinking that i was protecting you by not letting you into my world, but that's not fair. not when you've trusted me with your secrets. i truly am sorry, paz."

as pacifica looks down at his hand on hers, she looks back up to him; her diamond-blue eyes meeting his doe-brown ones. a twinge of pink spreads throughout her cheeks, letting her old feelings for the awkward man resurface; if only for a small moment.

for the first time in twenty years, her guard is let down again, baffled and stammering by the same guy who caught her heart two decades ago.

"it's alright, dipper." pacifica replies, the smallest hint of a smile graces her face.

"you're here now."

"SUGGESICA WIN!"

"ha, yeah!" pacifica cheers, pumping a fist up in victory, "in your face!"

though dipper wasn't happy at first that he was once again bested by her, he did have to admit—pacifica looks pretty cute when she gloats over a win. it's rare to see her geek out over an arcade game, after all.

"so, what was that again? didn't you say arcades were for nerds??"

"they're only nerds if they can't win," she corrects, poking his chest, "like you."

"yeah, yeah, you beat me," dipper says, rolling his eyes, "now enter your name for the high score so we can start heading back home. dad must've hooked up the karaoke machine by now."

pacifica giggles, inputting the name 'PAZ' before leaving the arcade with dipper; hand-in-hand.

"so, lovebirds..." mabel teases as she, candy, and grenda reunite with the pair, "ready for some karaoke?"

dipper blushes as pacifica rolls her eyes, smirking amusedly: "yeah, whatever. you wish i was dating your brother, it'll give you something to brag about."

"oh, definitely," mabel replies, "because i'm sure there's a lot of girls out there who are dying to say 'pacifica northwest, walking one-dimensional beached blonde valley girl stereotype, is dating my brother!'"

pacifica gasps, feigning offense...

before she laughs along with her former arch-enemy; walking out of the mall in a side-hug.

"look, after you said you weren't going to leave with me and move in my parents and i at the end of the summer, i wanted to hide in my sweater forever."

as pacifica explains her choice to stay in pacificaland, gideon feels the guilt rise within him as he is reminded of his promise from the beginning of the summer.

then, the melancholic expression on her face turns into one of resolve as she finishes her story.

"but then i woke up in a place that gives me exactly what i wanted: an endless summer where we'll never have to grow up! here, the sun shines all day, the party never ends, and now that you guys are here—it's finally perfect!"

"listen, pazzy," gideon speaks, "we're not here to party. all of this is crazy!"

yet, the blonde groans, disagreeing with her cousin's sentiment: "ugh! i figured you might say something like that, gid. would it kill you to be more like dipper sometimes? at least he's supportive of me!"

"sunshine..." dipper calls to her softly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "maybe you should go with gideon and the the rest..."

"huh?" pacifica's eyes go wide, suprised by the change in his demeanour.

"what are you talking about, dipper?"

"wait! hold on..." pacifica pants, trying to catch her breath after doubling down in laughs, "you... dated... a siren?"

blushing madly, dipper frowns: "is it really that hard to believe?"

apparently so, since the woman before him couldn't help but keep laughing; unable to control herself.

"uh—yeah?" she answers between cackles, "whew... oh my god, i'm gonna cry... that's hilarious... hah..."

"but you had two failed marriages!" he points out, still red as a tomato.

that doesn't stop pacifica from laughing herself breathless, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she finally starts to settle down.

"true... but i'm an heiress, dipper."

she had a point. twenty years is an awful long time, and it was like pacifica was getting any younger. it was inevitable that her parents wanted to secure their fortune by any means necessary—especially if said means was to marry their daughter off to another rich family.

hence, her two unsuccessful unions with marius von fundhauser and gideon gleeful.

"you never told me... how did you get out of them, again?"

"well, marius and i split because he fell in love with someone else..." pacifica answers, reminscing on her relationship with the austrian prince, "no hard feelings, though. it was for the best."

from the look on her face, dipper could tell that she was being genuine. he always loved seeing her soft side.

"and... gideon?" he winces.

"not as sweet as the papers put it." she replies bluntly. "he was just... too show-ey? even for me, which is crazy. i was able to find an out when i took the reigns on northwest realty—i got the chance to prove to my parents i was more than a pretty face, after all."

dipper chuckles, "as if there was any doubt."

"disco girl!"

"coming through!"

"that girl is you~!"

ooh-ooh's ring throughout the living room, followed by giggles and more of the musical works of dipper pines and pacifica northwest.

"more punch, kids?" mrs. pines asks as she enters the room; a tray of filled glasses in her hands. "gonna need something to drink so those singing voices won't be strained."

so, without any objections, the five kids take a break—drinking punch and catching up on town gossip.

"what?! you broke up with marius?!"

mabel's jaw drops nearly the same time the news drops, but everyone else remains indifferent. sure, candy and pacifica would have already known about this, but dipper was just plain uninterested.

"it wasn't a big deal, really," grenda explains. "there was only so much clinginess i could take!"

"speak for yourself," pacifica chimes in, checking her nails, "sounds to me like you could've been set for life. you were dating the prince of austria!"

"yeah, and it was a long-distance relationship, too!" mabel exclaims, "emphasis on distance!"

"what's distance if he wanted to fly me out to austria every weekend?! the guy just couldn't leave me alone!"

"yeesh," pacifica cringes; her facial expression in her signature look of disgust, "when you put it like that, maybe dumping the guy was right move. i can't imagine dating someone hovering over me like that, laughing and agreeing at every single thing i say."

"ha-ha!" dipper chokes out, blushing madly, hovering over pacifica, "you're totally right, paz!"

as the blonde in question raises an eyebrow, confused, the three remaining girls shares looks of mischief amongst each other; smirking slyly.

"speaking of your dating life, paz..." mabel begins in a teasing voice, "have you... say, got yourself any boyfriends, lately?"

now, it was pacifica's turn to blush—her cheeks a tinted pink.

"uh... no?" drawing out the confused 'no' in her reply, pacifica looks puzzled once more. "mabel, what—"

"AH-HA-HA-HA-HA~" dipper's forced laughs come out more obnoxious this time around, taking his sister's hand as he leads them out of the living room.

"mabel!"

"no... no... not you, too..."

"pacifica, you know in your heart that gideon's right. summer ends."

"but... i don't want it to end! i don't want to go back and... and..."

losing her words, pacifica looks back into dipper's eyes. deep down, she agreed with him wholeheartedly. she knew he was telling the truth.

but they were in pacificaland now. and the truth is not what she wants. especially if all the truth has done was hurt her and continued to do so.

"you said you wouldn't hurt me, dipper."

then there it was. the ache in his chest had returned. it didn't make sense, though! he was so sure that the guilt had been resolved after that night of the party at his mansion... so, why did it come back? he didn't so anything wrong. dipper made a deal with will so he could be granted full guardianship of the bubble and keep pacifica from harm.

she was all fine until that know-it-all gideon pines got in the way... he thinks he knows what's best for pacifica, and look what that go him—after all, he was the reason why the joyful blonde had felt so down in the first place! dipper didn't hurt pacifica, it was all gideon!

turning away from pacifica, dipper looks into gideon's eyes. if he could glare into them long enough, maybe daggers could materialize out of his brown eyes, shooting straight into gideon's blue ones.

what he didn't expect, however, was for gideon to stand his ground; staring back at dipper with the same amount—if not, more—determination than the once-evil psychic.

then, all at once, dipper's own words have struck him, remembering his promise to pacifica.

"i… i know it's too late for you to trust me… and i clearly don't deserve your forgiveness… but i do wanna try. i want to be a better person."

if i want to be more than pacifica's hero... he thinks to himself, i have to be someone worthy of loving... i have to do the right thing...

i have to be a better person.

"but, paz, you don't get it... mabel had cost me my dream school."

dipper repeats for the umpteenth time, lamenting over what could have been. he knew better than to be holding resentment over his twin sister for so long, but he just couldn't shake it off.

pacifica clearly notices this, which motivates her all the more to get her old friend to see sense.

"dipper, mabel and i haven't been on good terms this whole time, but after telling me the whole story, i've begun to see her in a different light." she confesses, laying a freshly-manicured hand atop inter-dimension traveller. "what baffles me is that while you can recall having a rich history with her, but it's only the two instances that she's done you wrong that keep a hold in your heart."

"but mabel was the reason i couldn't get into my dream school! she ruined my whole future in the blink of an eye—"

"she ruined your future, huh?" pacifica cuts him off, cocking a brow. "you want to know what i think, dipper?"

"paz—"

"no, maybe that big head of yours has influenced you in the past twenty years, and now it's got to your mouth—but i'm not going to stand for this. mabel is your twin sister. you guys sounded like two inseperable peas in a pod, but you've let that wrinkly brain of yours ruin probably the greatest friendship you've ever had."

pacifica pokes dipper's forehead for effect.

"sure, woe is you that you didn't get accepted to west coast. i'm sorry you didn't get to go into your dream school, but you went to backupsmore. you did the same work you hoped to accomplished at your first choice of school, but you pushed yourself even harder. if anything—you've probably found more success at backupsmore than west coast!"

"but mabel can't just get off scot-free—"

"your parents threw her out on the streets, dipper!" pacifica exclaims, utterly baffled by his sheer audacity, "things might've not have gone your way, but if they did back then, would you have been happier?"

hot tears begin to well up in the blonde's eyes, trying her hardest not to let them fall.

"you would have never come here! you would have never met... me..."

realizing that perhaps he did let his grievances get the better of him yet again, dipper had easily forgotten that he was only wanted to catch up over coffee with an old friend (maybe even get a second date afterwards), but he's blowing it.

blowing it big time.

"pacifica, of course i'm thankful for the way things turned out. meeting you was one of the best things that's ever happened to me."

"well, it sure doesn't feel like it..." she remarks, refusing to back down.

"look, i understand why you would be upset with mabel. sure, she ruined your chances of getting to your dream school, and got you trapped in another dimension for like, two decades, but she didn't mean to hurt you on purpose—and i think, deep down, you know this too."

though he wouldn't admit out loud, dipper did agree with pacifica's words. maybe it was just easier to stay mad at his sister because some part of him, subconsciously, knew that he was also to blame for where he ended up—especially getting himself sucked into the portal that he built himself.

"besides, if mabel was really as bad as you claimed her to be, then she wouldn't have spent all this time fixing your portal—just to get yourself out. in retrospect, what she did would typically require a prayer and a miracle to do: mabel self-educated in sciences, paid off your mortgage, and kept secrets to protect herself and her family. she did all this, her determined solely based on the very slim chance she could fix her mistake and bring you back home."

he wanted so badly to tell her that she was right. his mouth was already open, but with no words coming out, left speechless by the blonde's truth, he disappointed her; yet again.

"you know, i really missed you, dipper—but it turns out i didn't know you as well as i thought. call me when you decide to stop listening to your head and listen to your heart for a change."

with those final words, pacifica pulls out some bills from her wallet, before getting up from the booth, and out of the diner.

"what?!"

mabel yelps right before her brother frantically slaps a hand over her mouth, then peering over his shoulder to see if her loud reaction drew any attention from their guests.

with dipper's head turned, the other twin takes a chance and licks his hand, causing not only him to retract in disgust, but her as well; forgetting in that brief moment how sweaty her brother really was.

"mabel, seriously?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

spitting out and blowing raspberries with her tongue, she spats: "ugh! when do you ever not sweat?"

"whatever, that's not the point!" dipper replies, still hushed.

after blowing the last raspberries, mabel continues, whispering as well: "you haven't asked pacifica to be your girlfriend yet? spring break's almost over!"

"i know, i know, it's just..." he turns back to the living room, looking solemnly at the blonde; currently laughing along with candy and grenda. "i thought i was ready, i really did..."

seeing the gloom in her brother's face, mabel puts a hand to dipper's shoulder.

"so, what happened bro-bro?"

turning back to face his sister, dipper draws a deep sigh before asking: "mabel, do you think, if pacifica and i start dating... we'll end up arguing more than mom and dad?"

"huh?" she questions, her face puzzled.

"i mean, pacifica and i are just so different... and it's only been almost a year since we've met..." dipper explains, "on the other hand, our parents have known each other for almost twenty years... but that didn't stop them from those big arguments last year... do you think—"

"dipper, let me stop you right there," mabel interrupts, holding her hands up in a 'stop' gesture, "you and pacifica are nothing like mom and dad—and that doesn't have to be a good or bad thing! you guys have an awesome dynamic, whether as friends or as a couple—nudge nudge! the point is, you should ask pacifica to be your girlfriend when you feel you're ready. don't rush it, and definitely don't let other relationships like our parents get to you. after all, there's always summer!"

after giving it some thought, dipper looks away from mabel, turning to pacifica once more, then back to his sister; smiling.

"you make a good point, mabel... thanks. 'sides, there's always summer, right?"

after breaking free from the bubble in which will has imprisoned pacifica, she—along with the company of dipper, mabel, gideon, melody, and robbie—have made their way back to the tent of telepathy.

though found seemingly empty at first, the battle cries of the townsfolk taking refuge in the shack provokes the group of people who had just came from weirdmaggedon.

that is, until one of the folk—the six-fingered one in particular—had spotted their great niece and nephew, almost immediately standing down.

"kids?"

"grunkle ford!" dipper and mabel cheer, rushing to hug the old man.

"i can’t believe it! i thought i lost you two.” he says, capturing the twins in his arms.

“did you really?” mabel asks smugly.

“no,” ford answers, returning a smug grin back at her, “i was looking forward to not being bothered by you deliquents anymore.”

“you can always try again, grunkle ford.” dipper says.

“so, how did you all get here?”

ford then proceeds to recall the events from his perspective as weirdmaggedon unfolded, noting how the tent was the only place unaffected by will’s powers due to the protection of the unicorn hair.

“eventually, all these injured stragglers show up needing a place to stay. since the mayor got captured, i elected myself de facto chief. the plan's to stay in here and eat brown meat until we run out, then eat the gnomes."

as ford finishes explaining to his niece and nephew impassively, a nearby gnome immediately picked up on the chief's plan and gasped in utter disgust.

"hey! i'm short, not deaf!"

glancing from the kids to the gnome, ford remains indifferent.

"survival of the fittest, pal. sucks to be you, i guess."

"grunkle ford, we can't all just hide inside the tent," mabel reasons, "we have to save the town! gideon, stan, and i tried to do it, but grunkle stan ended up getting captured by will."

"serves that jerk right, it's what you get for trying to be a hero." ford remarks, then gestures to the townsfolk taking refuge in the tent. "besides, look at these people. the reason why they're here is not from the kindness of my heart, they're here out of fear—because people blindly following me would be less torturous than following some all-powerful space demon."

"so, you're really going to let will win?" gideon asks.

"kid, we got the best deal we could possibly get." the elder gleeful says, lounging back on his recliner. "be lucky that my niece is all sweet on you, otherwise i'd be kicking you and your cousin out on the streets with whatever townsfolk were unfortunate to not take refuge."

gideon frowns deeply, disgusted and frustrated with the six-fingered man. pacifica, although offended by the remark, is saddened on her cousin's behalf; considering that her uncle and aunt—despite their significant lack of quality parenting—are still out there amongst the chaos.

so, understandably, mabel is furious, and dipper places a empathetic hand on pacifica's shoulder—sharing in her lament.

she couldn't believe it... pacifica had waited for so long... she's waited twenty years, just to see him again.

though she would never admit it out loud to anyone else, pacifica's had dreams about reuniting with her former partner, many of them just a grasp away from a happy ending... that is, until she gets pulled back to consciousness at the final moment, and she realises...

he's not there.

after years of hoping, asking whatever external forces in the universe, just for the chance to see dipper pines one more time.

yet, after that lunch at greasy's, when pacifica finally got the chance to catch up with her old friend, she got to really know who dipper actually was... and it was just like in those final moments before she woke up each morning for the past couple decades.

he's still not here.

so, though it pains her heart to do this, pacifica needs to give dipper space. as long as things between him and his sister remain unresolved, how could she begin to think about having their own relationship mended?

but she's waited for twenty years... she won't mind waiting a little bit more.

take the rift...

"huh?" she scans the town around her. "who's there?"

nobody was nearby. in fact, she doesn't remember seeing the town in such a... monochromatic state. it was chilling, to say the very least.

after confirming nothing was behind her, pacifica shook her head rather wildly, trying to get her vision back. she didn't even summon him... she's fully awake... so, how did pacifica end up in the dreamscape?

suddenly, a being manifests before her. yellow, triangle-shaped, demonic. the blonde recognized him from the pages of the notebook, as well as the numerous tapestries she's locked up in one of the many closets in her mansion. after inheriting the property, stowing those demon-tapestries away was just about one of the first thing's she done to northwest manor.

"stay back!" she roars, standing guard.

"oh, llama, i'm sure your family raised you to be more poised than that." bill teases, swarming around her.

"you're nothing but bad news, you triangle goblin." pacifica spats, folding her arms, her hip cocked to one side. "i know you're like some sort of massive psycho, but you'd have to be even more mindless to think i'd make some deal with you."

"no need to be hostile, llama." bill says, backing away and giving her space. "i noticed that you had a lover's quarrel with pine tree lately, and i just want to give you something small to lift up your spirits."

"dipper and i don't have anything together." she states bluntly, clearly uninterested. "and i'm well off on my own, so if you're thinking of making me like, the richest person in the world, forget it."

"what if i gave you a better pine tree?" he offers, floating about and around her again. "in a snap, i can re-wire the old geek..."

with a snap of his fingers, a phantom of dipper appears before the two, walking towards pacifica with a smile on his ghostly face.

"a pine tree that isn't self-absorbed and all-consumed by science."

though he is a phantom, the animated dipper is able to take pacifica's hand in his. bill's probably controlling me, isn't he?

"a pine tree that can listen to his heart."

using his free arm to circle her waist, this dipper pulls pacifica close to him, his ghastly eyes seemingly consumed by her.

maybe, pacifica can't wait any longer. after all, she is getting old. besides, with dipper being the same age, she knows that he's getting old too. he's finally back home, so perhaps he ought to finally get some rest.

but it's not right. if she let herself sank this low, dipper would never forgive her. heck, she doesn't even think she could forgive herself. he wouldn't even be the dipper she fell in grew to like.

"all i need is this galaxy-looking globe of your boyfriend's. it's nothing big, so he won't miss it. so, whattaya say?"

looking from 'dipper' to bill's hand, ready for a shake, pacifica's determination returns to her; hitting her stronger than ever.

"my pine tree is perfect the way he is."

"what?" bill sputters in disbelief.

"you heard me," pacifica pulls away, staring into the demon's eye, "no deal."

"YOU FAKE BLONDE IMPENDING PATERNITY TEST! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I CAN UNMAKE YOUR FAMILY'S LEGACY AND YOU'LL BE LEFT WITH NOTHING—"

"i don't care. i have preston, and i have dipper."

"YOU WORTHLESS WASTE OF STOLEN INCOME! IT’LL BE EVEN EASIER TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM YOU! MAKE THE DEAL, LLAMA."

without hesitance, she raises a fist; completely all out of patience.

"NO!"

"wait, so if the answer to the equation is zero, then why can't x also be zero?" pacifica asks as her eyebrows knit together, staring from the homework spread on her desk back to the dork on video call from her laptop. "anything that's multiplied by zero has to equal zero, right?"

"yeah, but if you applied zero in place of x," dipper explains, amused by the blonde's annoyance. "you'd have two multiplying negative one, making the answer—"

"negative two, yeah, yeah." pacifica cuts him off, waving it aside. "lemme try again, but i need you to shut up for a bit."

on screen, dipper looks deadpanned, but he knew that pacifica was really trying. the school year was almost over, and thanks to insufficient funds to keep her original tutor, pacifica was left to her own devices.

the thing was, he has helped her all year, and she was perfectly confident with her grades... so, why are the stakes so much higher now?

"x equals negative two or one-half!"

"see, i knew you could do it." dipper smiles at her through the monitor.

chuckling at the dopey expression on his face, pacifica feels her cheeks grow warm, smiling back at him. "thanks dipper... but i couldn't have done it without you. actually... i think i might've needed to repeat the eight grade if it wasn't for you."

"you kidding me? you're great at practically anything you put your mind to!"

heh, i hope you're right about that, dip.

what pacifica isn't telling him is how much of a big deal her final math exam really is for her. as far as he knows, it's just her first final exam that she's gotten without an expensive tutor nor the safety net of her parents' fortune to get her into the ninth grade.

"bro-bro! tell your girlfriend ya gotta go! dinner's ready!"

mabel's off-screen call promptly causes her brother to be fully red in the face, momentarily losing his cool; to which pulls a giggle from the other end of his video call.

"sounds like i gotta let you go, bro-bro." pacifica teases, reaching for her laptop, over the sheets and textbooks. "same time, tomorrow?"

"heh, of course." dipper replies, chuckling nervously as he rubs the back of his neck. "sorry about mabel, you know how she is—"

"you don't need to apologize for anything, dork. catch ya later."

the dopey, awkward grin on dipper's face is the last thing she sees before she clicks on the 'end call' button, butterflies swarming in her stomach as she's temporarily allured by the goofiness that is her crush—not that she'd admit it to anyone else, though.

soon enough, those butterflies turn into rumbles, her stomach calling out for food as well.

after shutting her laptop and abandoning post at her desk, pacifica begins to make her way down to the kitchen.

"it's about time you showed up."

preston speaks bluntly as he and his wife are sitting on the dining table, with no food before them.

"we're starving, darling." priscilla says. "we thought we were going to have to wait forever for that... pines boy... to finally end your tutor session."

taking in a deep breath, pacifica sighs just as heavily, walking towards the fridge: "what are you guys going to make me prepare tonight?"

after viewing toby determined by turned to stone, soon to join will’s throne of subdued townsfolk, the remaining people in the tent of telepathy are finally pushed to the edge—the drive of freeing the town overruling their fear of will’s tyrannic takeover.

led by the team of gideon, pacifica, and the gleeful twins, all of the refuged individuals desperately assist tad mcgucket in turning the tent of telepathy into a force for battle.

days later, their combined efforts resulted in the completion of the remodeled tent of telepathy; much to ford’s dissatisfaction.

"thanks for these apocalyspe sweaters, pacifica." melody praises, physically snug in the cashmere. "the end of the world has never felt so comfortable."

"you were always a girl of many talents, sunshine." dipper chimes in, proudly showing off the sweater with a pine tree in the center.

the rest of the refugees are in agreement; nodding and humming.

hearing a shiver from behind her, pacifica shoots mabel a look as she notices she's still sweaterless. desperate to just warm up.

"ugh!" she whines, caving in as she pulls out a pink sweater with a shooting star in the center. "fine i'll wear it," she says, putting it on, "but i'm not gonna like it."

"admit it, this is the best day of the end of the world." pacifica says, taking a seat between dipper and gideon. "i think we actually have a chance to defeat will and win back our future."

"yeah," gideon adds, "can't believe i'm saying this, but i would much rather want to live to see mabel and dipper turn thirteen."

mabel gives gideon a soft smile, something that not even her twin brother has ever seen from her—and surprisingly, gideon even smiles back at mabel.

"if we're lucky, sunshine, i guarantee we'll throw another party at the manor and invite everyone in town."

though she knew dipper was certain about it, pacifica still raises a brow in suspicion; purely out of testing him.

sighing, he places a hand over his chest: "i promise, pacifica."

hearing the approaching footsteps from one of his two nephews, dipper sighs, putting aside whatever work he was currently tending to, now tending to his nephew instead.

"let me guess: stanley didn't take it well."

the young stanford pines shakes his head, regret and doubt starting to spread across his face.

"i don't know, maybe i'm making the wrong decision." ford replies, looking up at his grunkle. "i need to think about this."

"ford, right now we need to focus on the mission." dipper says, trying to pacify his nephew's gloom. "now come on, i've got the glue—hand me the rift and let's make history."

turning his frown into a smile, ford reaches into his supposed backpack, only to pull out—a birthday flyer?!

"what? oh no! the rift!"

it's the last day of exam week, and the weight of the world is on pacifica shoulders... or at least that's how she's feeling right now.

pulling up to the front of the school, the blonde unbuckles her seatbelt, picking up her bag, and is just about to open the door before her father halts her.

"pacifica," preston calls to his daughter, causing her to turn back to him. "you are a northwest. remember, if you don't get a perfect score on that final exam, you can say goodbye to your inheritance."

suddenly, pacifica's taken back to the day of the golf tournament between herself and mabel—and it only makes her feel worse.

so, she doesn't give anything to her dad but an affirmative nod, steps out of the vehicle, and watches as the family car drives off.

once the car was out of view, pacifica rushes into the school and in the washroom, locking herself in a stall.

hyperventilating, the distressed blonde holds a hand to her chest—though it doesn't do anything to slow her breathing nor stabilize the rise and fall of her chest. before she knew it, hot tears stream down her face, and the choked sobs that barely escape from her are just a cork from a full-on piercing cry.

get it together pacifica! she begs in her mind. stop being so weak!

feeling hopeless, the floor in the stall might as well turn into a black hole and swallow pacifica whole. it's still early in the morning, maybe she can just play hooky... and just catch the next bus to piedmont. it's not like her parents would miss her, right? especially when she won't get that perfect score they were hoping for. maybe he was right...

YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING.

YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING.

YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING—

it was only a single ringtone that pulls pacifica from her mind. rubbing her tears away and taking a sniffle, she pulls out her phone and reads the caller id from the screen.

𝗠𝗔𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 💫

pacifica thinks about answering, she really does, but what could she say? the only person she's ever been vulnerable with was her brother.

before she knew it, pacifica lets her phone ring for too long, letting her enemy-turned-frenemy-turned-friend[ish?] go to voicemail.

"hey pacifica! dipper and i are just about to head to school, so we wanted to give you a call and wish you good luck on your math final! remember, no matter what the result is, our support for you is as long as pi! ha! get it? 'cause it's endless?? eh??? anyways, we'll always be proud of you, paz!"

pacifica rolls her eyes, chuckling at the shooting star's oh-so familiar cheesiness.

"mabel's right," a different voice enters the message, "you've done so well in school this year all by yourself, so don't sweat it, pacifica. you're going to nail that final, and even if you're not happy with the score, you should be proud of all the work you've put in this year."

"psst! dippingsauce!" pacifica can hear mabel call out to him, but her voice is rather hushed, likely due to her being some distance away from her phone. "tell paz you less than three her!"

"'less than three her'? what do you mean, 'less than three'..." dipper's voice dies down at the end, dead air follows the voicemail as he figures out what his sister meant.

"MABE—"

just like that, the voicemail ends—or rather, cuts off. pacifica sniffles, but she finds herself smiling. chuckling, actually.

who was she kidding? of course they were right! she's pacifica northwest. the only northwest that ended her family's curse. the same girl who showed up to a family photoshoot because she stopped caring about what others wanted her to be. the llama of bill cipher's zodiac!

bill was wrong, and after all she's done to save their lives—her parents no longer get the privilege to boss her around and treat her like a butler.

so, when pacifica finally cleans herself up, then walks in the classroom to take her final math exam for the school year, she's filled with nothing but confidence. she's pacifica, after all. as if she was going to finish the eight grade with anything less than an A+.

but, her mom and dad can keep that stupid inheritance of hers, she can make her own fortunes.

"this whole plan is insane, but no one asked the chief what he thinks. after all i've done for everyone!"

"hey dipper? mabel?" pacifica calls to them, but looks in the direction of the twins' grunkle. "shouldn't you guys talk to your grunkle? he doesn't look alright..."

"oh, we already know why he's acting like that," mabel brushes it off, only looking at ford for a second before staring back at pacifica, "don't worry about it, pacifica. he's always been this stubborn, but he'll come around. just needs to blow off some steam, that's all."

then, when mabel turns away to continue chatting with gideon, dipper shakes his head and rolls his eyes before talking to the blonde.

"to make a long story short, sunshine: mabel and i have been helping grunkle ford rescue grunkle stan ever since we could remember. after discovering that will had a connection to stan's dissappearance, understandably, we've tortured him enough to surrender and be subservient to us—using his powers and the tent of telepathy to steer suspeciting eyes away. once we got stan back, he only ever expressed gratitude to mabel and i—holding his grudge against ford."

"oh..." it wasn't pacifica, but gideon reacting to his former enemy's story. "so you guys weren't really evil, after all—just misunderstood?"

"nah, with stan's smarts, and ford's con-man skills, we could've easily turned the falls into gleefulland—ow!"

dipper holds a hand to his side, turning back to pacifica, who looks at him with a dissappointing pout.

"jerk. if neither of you are going to talk to ford, then i will."

"so, this is how the world ends. not with a bang, but with a boop-boop."

"weirdmaggedon." ford says, he and his grunkle looking up to the x-shaped rip in the sky—which the younger pines could only assume would be the portal to the nightmare realm.

"the rift is shattered." dipper says, lifting his nephew up as he gets run over by various animals and creatures. "bill's world is spilling into ours and every minute his powers grow stronger."

"stanley!" ford panics as eyes go wide. "the rift must've cracked inside his backpack. he must be in danger. i have to go and find him."

rushing towards the walkie-talkie, ford calls out to stan: "stanley! come in, stanley! stanley!"

"ford. listen to me." dipper calls to the boy sternly, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "we can find your brother soon, but right now, we need to stop bill. if we could blast him back through the rip he came out of, we just might be able to stop him before his weirdness spreads across the entire globe."

"are you sure defeating bill is even possible?" ford asks, a hint of uncertainty rises in his voice.

"no. i'm not sure." dipper confesses, but with every bit of courage he could muster from within himself, he looks down at ford. taking a knee down to his nephew's level, the elder pines looks into the eyes of the six-fingered boy—hoping that the next words that leave his mouth transfer a spark of a fight in ford. "but being a hero means fighting back even when it seems impossible. will you follow me?"

"to the ends of the earth."

a/n: omg FINALLY part 2 is done! i just want to take this moment to thank every single one of you for all the support and praise you have given me since i released the first part. i just want to give a heads up that since school is starting again for me, and balancing that with my job, i clearly won't have as much spare time to be working on this fic—but i'll try my best to have the final part posted within two months from now.

writing ilyieu has been so great for me, not just in terms of engagement and the traction i get from other users, but also for my writing. usually, i don't think i would be posting this much writing in such a short span of time... i haven't been this proactive in my writing since 2020 when all i had was quarantine and wattpad, if i gotta be honest.

i hope that this part is just as good as the first, because the next part is going to be last—as it wraps up the stories i have between dipcifica in all thre au's. your ongoing support means so a lot to me, so please send me lots of likes, reposts, and even asks my way! just about any engagement will likely inspire me to keep writing! here, how about i answer some of those future asks right now:

q: jen, your writing is so awesome! do you think alex hirsch will hire you to help him write any future books for gf?

a: uh—i don't have a degree in english or any related subjects, but if he's still willing to pay me—I SURE FRIGGIN HOPE SO

q: do you actually like gravity falls or are you just writing this because the book of bill came out/you just started watching the series/you know gf is trending on tumblr/you wanted to join the gf hype while it's still trending?

a: yes. definitely. absolutely. (stan pines would be so proud of me :,))

q: ur writing sucks/u take so long to post/u copied [insert name here] so unoriginal

a: this is definitely not a rick roll

anyways, thanks a bunch again for your guys' support! you’ve gotten me my first 200+ notes, my recent dipcifica drabble has already surpassed 100 (despite only writing and posting it yesterday), and i’m actually gaining a following (even if it’s small!) i’ll be posting more soon!

taglist: @wwwritererm @a-messy-flower @stormcloudsarepretty @marii-iana @whosbex @seukymin @vegas96 @caro2004 @ghostlyvisiting @frozzuwuwu @cyanside @mcmymuffin @poorlittlerichgirll @invisible-vampire13 @tielmamon @optimussy @hoatzin2 @janis01127 @platonicallyalone @raccoonchild333 @kagura15 @suckerfordylansstuff @cosmic-peonies @ashisuniverse @automaticpandaoperatorpizza

follow #jw: i love you in every universe for more content!

[ninadove]

AO3 reading year in review 📚

Tagged by @teafig! Here’s a fraction of the fics I enjoyed this year! 💖

JANUARY: Of Wishes and Feathers by @trishacollins {Miraculous 🦚}

Little Felix spends an afternoon being entertained by his aunt.

Trisha wrote this for me because I am the most spoiled girl in the world! 💜 We need more Felix and Emilie in the world urgently. Someone make it your 2025 resolution. I demand it

FEBRUARY: my wings and my eyes by @bittersweetresilience {Honkai: Star Rail 🚂}

Jing Yuan is tired, but he has been tired for a long time now.

Sunny gets February for no reason other than it is Official Shipping Month and its prose single-handedly got me into Renjing. This fic in particular is so loving and tender… 🥺 There is nothing Sunny cannot write and these two idiots have helped prove it time and time again!

MARCH: I miss you more than anything by @sillyangstfic {Miraculous 🦚}

Felix reaches out to Adrien a few months after his mother's death to see if he would like to come visit. Adrien thinks that this is a great idea! Gabriel, not so much.

This was not yet published in March but WHO CARES THE VIBES FIT. Felix cares so much and the Adrien/Dandelion angst is, as the youth say, fire 🔥

APRIL: thirteen by @anna-scribbles {Miraculous 🦚}

The house was never something that belonged to him, and it still isn’t, no matter how many documents boast his name in bold print. Adrien has always belonged to it, though, like a dog tethered to a chain, like a ghost to its unfinished business.

//

The end of the world began on the day Adrien Agreste turned thirteen years old.

What can I say about thirteen that hasn’t already been said? I picked it for April because reasons, but it’s been a highlight of my entire winter and spring. The Adrien Fic Ever 🌼

MAY: love thorns all over this rose by @thevioletthread {Miraculous 🦚}

there's a boy knocking on her window. she lets him in.

[Doodles a tiny heart on your window]

[Kisses you in front of the sunrise]

[Gets down on one knee]

Alexandria, will you raise a hamster with me? 💜🦚❤️🐉

JUNE: Of Broken Bones and Promises by @bright-thehawksflight {Cyrano de Bergerac 🪶}

Christian had a leg amputated, and the two loves of his life manage to simultaneously save his life, plan for the tough times to come, and pine all over the Arras battlefield.

Lisa is the reference when it comes to Cyrano and Greek mythology fanfics. I think about the amputation-hug scene three times per week 🥺

JULY: Candle In The Wind by @phieillydinyia {Miraculous 🦚}

Someone was screaming. A horrific, guttural sound that infected the entire night with sorrow. He wondered if it was the ghosts of the people he'd just killed. He wondered if they'd come back to haunt him, to follow his every waking move, to never let him forget the way he'd demolished them into dust.c

The sound pounded through his head, threatening to burst open his eardrums, determined to push him to a breaking point. Collapsing to his knees, Chat Noir had to pause to draw in a deep breath.

It was only then that he realized the person screaming was him.

The highlight of my summer! A role reversal AU of the movie that includes the songs. How cool is that. (The answer is very cool. Mwah 💖)

AUGUST: If I hold you too close by @bbutterflies {Miraculous 🦚}

Paris didn’t come to a screeching halt for akumas anymore. They were so commonplace, so frequent, no one stopped their lives unless they were in danger. They trusted the heroes to fix everything if something did go wrong, save them if they got hurt. Adrien was still fighting the urge to find Plagg and go running into battle.

Plagg wasn’t here, though.

ADRINO ANGST MGRRRGRRRRR

SEPTEMBER: Luminous strike by @faiirygrahamdevanily {Miraculous 🦚}

Orders controlled the younger twin

Like a bird with a clipped wing

Silver metal out of his hand

The peacock at the monster's command

MY BIRTHDAY GIFT!!!! THAT CAME WITH ITS OWN MOODBOARD!!!! HELL YEAH!!!! 🎂💜🎉

Everyone should check Clara’s works out!!! The Sentikids are great for exploring themes of otherness and rarer forms of fanworks, and she does it extremely well! ❤️💜💚

OCTOBER: the monster who loves you by @purplecatghostposts {Miraculous 🦚}

Mum nods, clapping her hands together. “Your brother is finally feeling better and is coming home today! Isn’t that so exciting?”

Félix pauses mid-bite, processing her words. Mum waits expectantly, as if expecting him to jump for joy, or his equivalent of it.

But… Félix doesn’t have a brother.

(Or Félix’s brother is a monster, but only in the most literal sense. Félix’s father is a monster despite being very, very human. He learns to navigate the world through these two truths.)

SOAP SOAP SOAP SOAP I am eating you. I am eating you forever. You spontaneously appeared in the tags one day and literally haven’t stopped blessing us since but THIS FIC IN PARTICULAR. OH GOSH. OH WOW. THIS ONE IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE. You know how much I love Adrien being cast as the monster (rawr rawr rawr 🦖)

NOVEMBER: Emmy Altava and the Situationship from Hell by @drowsybadger {Professor Layton 🎩}

Or: Clive, Janice and Their Mutual Ex. Or: Emmy Altava and the Great Year that started off really, really, awful. Or: How To Overcome Your Past Mistakes

Basically, 22K words of people fixing their past mistakes and being lovingly awful to each other. Also, Clive is single-handedly responsible for London rent prices actually being affordable for the next half-century in this universe.

Drowsy infected me with the Clivejan QPR bug… My life has never been the same since…

DECEMBER: Me and You, We're Roses of Blue by @adastra-rising {Miraculous 🦚}

For centuries, the blue rose has represented mystery, royalty, and that which is unobtainable.

Why?

Because the blue rose is artificial. Unnatural. So close to being real, but not quite. The unfortunate, disappointing result of humanity daring to challenge the natural order.

And for some reason, Felix Graham De Vanily can't stop thinking about it.

Meanwhile Kagami Tsurugi, despite everything, thinks they are wonderful.

And Adrien Agreste, who prefers his roses red, is just here for a good time.

(A story in which Felix reflects on his childhood, his relationships, and the nature of what's artificial and what's real.)

(Alternatively, a story where the ideal date is destroying a dead man's property in the name of art, and two cousins who are actually brothers' bond over one truly terrible joke.)

Because excellent characterisation and flower imagery are always a gift! 🌹

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Aka works that didn’t quite fit but that I really wanted to feature:

Icarus by @dragongutsixofficial {Dumas Cinematic Universe ⚔️}

The year is 1630. The Cardinal of Richelieu won. Mme de Fargis is banned and has to leave the Court.

She has a few people to say her goodbyes to.

DRAGON STARTED WRITING AGAIN THIS YEAR AND I COULDN’T BE PROUDER. They have a real talent for emulating Dumas’ style while making the story uniquely theirs! 💖

time marches back by @asukiess {Miraculous 🦚}

The Loveybug AU was one of the highlights of 2023-2024, and this fic? This fic. It’s great, man. Definitely won’t break your heart or anything.

Everything in The Félix Zine! I have a particularly soft spot for @mostmagical’s Bridges and @nemaliwrites’ A Graphite Heart, but everyone slayed so incredibly hard! Please also contemplate our amazing artists’ pieces! 💜🦚

@beezonia’s Miraculous Mons AU. Bee, you know it, I’m the target audience for this universe. I love your ficlets, your team line-ups, your designs, everything! 💙🩵🧡

cringe origional works collection by @isdisorigionalenoughforyou

The kind of poetry that will haunt you. Discovered by accident after reading their Aroace Analysis of Jayvik, which you should also check out! 🦋

And my beloved AO3 collections (recs + my own works):

Felix | Adrien | Kagami | Senticousins | Feligami | Clive | Literature and mythology

Tagging… anyone who wants to do this, because I forgot who was and wasn’t tagged by my fellow writer friends. Go wild.

Happy 2025, everyone! May it be kind and filled with excellent stories for us to share! 💚💜❤️

[telesilla]

So something came up on Bluesky, a question:

legitimately why are you here (on social media)? i am asking myself the same (other than because of addiction).

And it’s kind of wild, because when I did the math, it is literally 30 years since a very cold night in January of ‘95 when I figured out how to venture from the safe and tame world of AOL out into the wilds of USENET. I spent several hours on a newsgroup dedicated to the works of one of my favorite fantasy authors from my teen years, having a discussion about magic and Christianity with a software engineer in Rotterdam and it was like, oh this is a new thing. I was seriously struggling in those days, figuring out my identity and also the mental illness was coming to the surface more and more, but I knew I’d found a new and important place.

In the last 30 years, I’ve experienced the best and worst of the Internet. I’ve started two relationships online that led to marriage—one disastrous and one happy—and I’ve been through countless flame wars and endless wanks. I have met some amazing people and, to paraphrase, some insufferable people who also met me. And I’ve written. 3m+ words of fiction and who knows how many words of just me talking to people and, sometimes, just yelling into the void. Before February of ‘95 I had never finished a story, because why bother? Writing on paper is hard for me and I only got my PC that Christmas and anyway, I’d told myself stories my whole life. But now…now, I had someone to share them with.

The Internet is younger than I am, but it fits into a long line of brilliant human inventions, from the spoken word, to writing, to printing, to instant communications like telegraphs and telephones, each one seemingly requiring faster and faster adoption. We’re still dealing with the ramifications of instantaneous communication and that was over 100 years ago. No one reading this will be alive when we are able to look back and see how the Internet and social media shaped us as a species.

It’s so easy to look at Elon throwing a Nazi salute and think, “the Internet was a mistake” but tbh, it’s too late for that. I’m sure at least one person looked at the violence and chaos of the Reformation and thought, goddam Gutenberg, this is all your fault. And idk, man, maybe I’m just a naive optimist, but right now, on a cold January night, when the world feels dark, Mongolian horse ranchers are bonding with USAmerican horse girls, and people are watching videos of snowball fights in New Orleans, and someone somewhere is coming out to their online friends using words they might not have had when I was born, and all around the world conversations are happening between people who would never meet face to face—so many flickers of light. Maybe, just maybe, the real Internet is the friends we made along the way.

Happy Internet Anniversary to me.

[a-d-nox]

web of wyrd: best months for weddings and potential issues that could arise

ever wonder why may is such a popular month for marriage? why you rarely see people who marry in september staying together? the date you select for your special day matters according to the matrix! in honor of my best friend getting engaged, i will be a little more focused on love and romance posts than you typically would see from me. reminder the post is focused on the WEDDING EVENT MONTH (this is the highest outcome - but the energy can be out of balance which is why i am including negatives (which usually are part of the karmic tail)). in order to see future dates, use gollov's site and the "personal" calculator!

january (1 - the magician)

positive: couple is capable of making the life you really desire together come to fruition.

negative: might be an elopement that goes south (shotgun wedding or an annulment is needed). getting stood up at the altar vibes.

february (2 - the high priestess)

positive: having a very deep connection long term - that goes way beyond topical concepts.

negative: a big secret comes out and ruins the day and/or a scandal occurs.

march (3 - the empress)

positive: a very fruitful relationship, a loving partnership, likely to create a large family when the union occurs.

negative: MOB or MOG makes the wedding all about her and is overbearing about the event.

april (4 - the emperor)

positive: a very stable relationship where both partners are protective of one another

negative: FOB or FOG might be a buzz kill or has a tangible dislike of someone in their new married family.

may (5 - the hierophant)

positive: makes for a committed and traditional relationship.

negative: there are likely a few guests who are all on their own and/or there might be a few people how have known beef with one another. maybe the bride doesn't like one of the groomsmen or the groom doesn't like one of his bride's guests...

june (6 - the lover)

positive: having a marriage full of love and partnership; makes a soulmate tie.

negative: someone could interrupt the ceremony by opposing the officiant because they can't "forever hold their peace". otherwise, there might be doubt or drama surrounding the coupling.

july (7 - the chariot)

positive: might have had a lot of relationships obstacles to get to the point of marriage, but the determination to be together and stay together makes for a lasting/enduring relationship

negative: there could be a car accident or break down that slows down or ruins the day

august (8 - strength)

positive: resilience is what holds the coupling together along with understanding and compassion for one another

negative: a physical fight may occur among the wedding party or the guests.

september (9 - the hermit)

positive: this is likely to be a small/private ceremony. the couple is on a spiritual journey with one another and they know it.

negative: cold feet might occur regarding marriage - could be left at the altar. there is also a greater likelihood of divorce with this energy as the hermit is on a SOLO journey.

october (10 - the wheel of fortune)

positive: marriage is part of this couple's destiny, but so are the inevitable ups and downs within the relationship.

negative: something unpredictable is likely to occur/happen that can ruin the event itself.

november (11 - justice)

positive: there is likely a prenuptial agreement in place or this might be organized and arranged by the parents of the couple which speaks for the relationship long term...

negative: another high stakes month in terms of staying together - legal matters are part of this marriage (divorce is likely). or someone may have a legitimate reason to object the marriage.

december (12 - the hanged man)

positive: the couple is prepared to let go of the past and enter a life long marriage with an open mind.

negative: someone in the partnership is likely to feel trapped in the relationship - growing to resent one another is pretty common with this month given the theme.

like what you read? leave a tip and state what post it is for! please use my "suggest a post topic." button if you want to see a specific pac/pile next. if you'd like my input on how i read a specific card or what i like to ask my deck, feel free to use the ask button for that as well.

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© a-d-nox 2024 all rights reserved

[scotianostra]

On February 24th 1303 the Scots, under Simon Fraser and John Comyn beat an English force at The Battle of Roslin.

Now most of my history is self taught that I have picked up over the years, I was brought up near Roslin and my mum did take us there as bairns and told us all about the Chapel, the Apprentice Pillar and The Holy Grail, this was 30 years before Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code novel, so with all that you would think that I will have been told all about The Battle of Roslin?

Nope not a thing, I knew about Stirling Bridge, Bannockburn and Culloden, as well as other battles but I can't recall my mum ever telling me about Roslin, so what I know is all learned over the past 20 years or so.

Fought between the Scots and English during the Wars of Scottish Independence and was a Scottish victory, but it does not figure in many history books and few people up until lately have even heard of it, yet the figures involved, especially on the English side, make it one of the biggest battles ever on Scots soil.

This was during the Wars of Scottish Independence, according to the stories I have read it was more of a fight over the love of a woman rather than a pure Scotland v England "match".

Lady Margaret Ramsay of Dalhousie, who had become betrothed to the handsome Sir Henry St Clair, they of the Knights Templar folk. Enter your typical English arrogant guy in Sir John de Segrave, a seasoned campaigner in many a Scottish battle. Sir John is said to have fallen in love with oor Lady Margaret on may visits to Dalhousie Castle, on hearing of the impending marriage in a fit of jealousy decided he wanted the Lady for himself so sought out to sweep her off her feet and defeat the Scottish army all in one fell swoop.

It's a great tale and sounds like a Hollywood film, but there never was any Lady Margaret Ramsay and we know that Sinclair married one Alicia de Fenton. So that's the romance bit debunked.

What I have also read out about the battle is that Segrove split his army, of 30,000 troops, into three groups, to me this is more believable, well splitting the army, the numbers in my mind will have been a lot less. Anyone who knows the landscape of Roslin Glen will know that it lends itself to the theory that in battle on big force would find it difficult to gather there. The English army in three divisions was also common in armies at the time. The terrain in Roslin in the middle of winter would have made it very difficult for a large army to manouevre, so with that I am pretty sure the numbers have been exaggerated, put it this way, if 30,000 English were defeated at Roslin it would be bigger than Bannockburn.

This brings me to my third point about the battle, why are no accounts of it from people present at it? Well that is easily explained in the fact that one of the commanders of the Scots was John "The Red" Comyn. It's a well know fact that history favours the winners, and we all know that The Bruce and Comyn were bitter rivals so it would be natural for any records of the battle to have been erased by Bruce. Well that's my take on it.

A couple of other details often written about the battle is that William Wallace was present, Wallace by this time had given up the Guardianship and at some point was said to have been in France, when captured he was in possession of a "safe passage" letter from The King of France, so was he there? Again I refer to my local knowledge in that along the River Esk that runs through Roslin Glen, towards Hawthornden Castle is a cave we know as Wallace's Cave, so there is a connection somewhere down the ages with our favourite Scottish patriot.

One as wee story regarding The Battle of Roslin is about the Cistercian Prior Abernethy of Mount Lothian to the west of Balantradoch, the Templar headquarters in Scotland, it was about 5 miles from Roslin, Abernethy, the monk, had been a Templar, a warrior, who had off his armour and lay down his sword to spend the remainder of his life praising God. Now the warrior priest's blood rose again. The life of prayer, compilation of Gregorian chants was abandoned. God had called the Prior to the defence of Scotland. As men prepare for battle each pray to whatever God he knows "let us be victorious."

Monks on horseback were sent to raise the alarm and warn the Scots of the danger facing them, they would have said a prayer for the Scots troops before the battle, as was normal, but another legend is that as the Scottish Army grew tired during the third stage of the battle. Abernethy is said to have been crucial with his local knowledge of the Glen, he also directed the Monks to erect a huge St Andrews Cross on the Pentland Hills, as the Scots tired the Cross was set alight and the Abernethy pointed towards it, saying it was a sign from God, it rallied the troops and the Battle was won.

You will have maybe heard other versions of The Battle of Roslin, a lot of this is my own take and by no means historical.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Kelly Betts

People can’t see my disability from the outside. I worry that in this current political climate and with the new law, it may not end at the comments and harassment I already face.

On Thursday, officials in Nassau County, New York, where I live, signed a mask ban into law, one of the first of its kind in the country. And while to most healthy adults it doesn’t mean much, to those with serious health conditions, like me, it makes getting out into the world a lot harder.

The ban was touted by lawmakers as a public safety measure after reported antisemitic incidents and protests at various New York universities, many involving people wearing masks. Those who violate the new law face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. And while there are exemptions for people with religious and medical reasons, it’s not dealing with the law that I’m afraid of. It’s dealing with the “citizen cops” of the world who will be using their discretion to enforce it.

I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in February 2023. It’s a fast-growing type of blood cancer. I underwent more than five rounds of chemotherapy, and the following July, thanks to an amazingly generous donor, I had a stem cell transplant, something I knew nothing about until I got sick. I was given some of the most powerful chemotherapies to kill my old immune system and any remaining cancer cells. Then I was given my donor’s stem cells to help build a brand-new immune system.

There are a lot of risks that come along with the transplant, especially in the early stages as the stem cells are engrafting and you have no immune system. The first 100 days are the riskiest, and you must watch everything from what you eat to how it’s prepared, and most of all the people around you. Your body is starting from scratch, so you have almost no immunities. Any vaccinations you’ve had over your lifetime have been wiped out. For the last year since my transplant, my immune system has slowly been getting stronger. But building a new immune system takes years, and I have a long way to go. So, wearing my face mask whenever I go out is essential.

That brings me back to the new law. I wear a medic alert bracelet and would hope that showing it to the police, should it ever become an issue, would be enough. But that’s not guaranteed, because anyone can just order one. Would I be forced to show up in court to prove my medical condition to a judge? And what cost and time could that take, all to protect my health? And what about my family or people who act as caregivers, who don’t technically have medical conditions of their own, but still wear masks to protect me? Would there be an exemption for them?

Most of all, I worry about those who have strong feelings against masks. As we know, many people read headlines and not always the full story. And just reading most of the headlines, all someone will know is that there’s a mask ban in Nassau County. Even at the height of my illness, with no hair and really looking like I had cancer, I still got comments like “Covid is over” or “that’s not protecting you.” And while the few comments hurt, especially while I was battling for my life, I could shake them off. I had a bigger fight ahead of me.

Now, healthier with hair again and 43 years old, the comments continue. But I worry that in this current political climate and with the new law, it may not end at that. People can’t see my disability from the outside. It’s been hard to get back out in the world, as many can relate to after going through a global pandemic. Even being as careful as I am and just starting to let my guard down a little in outdoor settings, I caught Covid. And it took my body and immune system down hard. Luckily, I’m recovering and back to wearing my mask diligently, even outdoors.

I want to be able to return to my normal life. And go out with friends, see a Broadway show, and one day get back to my office in the city. But now with New York City considering passing its own mask ban, I don’t know when I would feel safe enough to do that. Is this law really protecting the masses?