#i have to teach outside my content area and it give me so much stress

[simple-and-cozy-life]

I know I'm always going to be busy, but I cannot wait until I can either just come home to a family, even if it's just my future husband and I and enjoy our time together, or stay at home and make our place a home worth living in.

Even with private violin/viola/cello/bass lessons that will most likely take place at my house, I am really looking forward to the solace of somewhere I can call home with a family.

Hopefully this will be my last big adventure before I settle down and marry the love of my life.

[strawberrylemonz]

Innit an Adventure

An addition to the AU, lol. Instead of chat being in his head, like Techno’s, Tommy’s chat are ghosts that follow him around :)

This one is dedicated to @ivorylin for being very supportive of my first post regarding this au. This is also dedicated to @petrichormeraki for being poggers and enjoying the first part of this series, as well as inspiring it.

Part 1

Part 2 [CURRENT]

Part 3

--------

“Brother!!! Pog!!!”

“Big brother returns!”

“HE CALLED HIM STARCHILD, I’M GONNA SOB”

“I just woke up, what’s happening?”

“GOODBYE SBI, HELLO HERMIT GRIAN”

”HERMIT HOMIES HOURS”

“HOLY SHIT, HE’S OUR BROTHER”

“I was getting a snack, what’s up?”

“DJLFKNGON I’M GOANNA   CRYSLK”

“BEST BROTHER EVER”

“I’m on the toilet, pog”

“I have tacos :)”

“BRGB SOBBING”

“GRIAN POGGGG”

“This makes me happy you didn’t do a double flip”

“ADIOS TECHNOBRO AND WILBRO, I ONLY KNOW BIG BRO G!!!”

“Anyone else have dust in their eyes?”

“CHAOS DUO RELATED POG”

Tommy let out a shaky breath as he rubbed his eyes. Chat was going crazy at the new news and, to be honest, he couldn’t blame them. If he was in their position, he’d be freaking out alongside them. Wanting to end both the silence that filled the cavern and the nonsense Chat was saying, Tommy let out a hoarse laugh before speaking.

“Chat really likes you, G.”

A smile formed on the teen’s face as his head bounced with the hefty laugh that came from Grian, whose chest began to rumble alongside the laughter. Finally lifting his head off his brother’s chest, Tommy allowed the remaining tears in his eyes to fall as he looked to Grian’s face. Grian smiled fondly back at Tommy, wiping away the tears from his little brother’s eyes. 

“I suppose I should say hello to all of them. Is Chat similar to Techno’s voices?”

Concern flashed across Grian’s face as Tommy flinched at the mention of Technoblade. It was small, and could have been easily overlooked if Grian wasn’t watching his brother like a hawk. He made a mental note to ask about that later that night, when they were around the campfire.

“Nah, he’s just insane. Psychotic or some shit like that. I’m just really fucking cool and can see spirits and shit.”

Eyebrows from the crowd (shit, they were still there, weren’t they?) and Grian were raised as someone Stress half heartedly scolded Tommy for his language. Tommy just rolled his eyes, knowing that they only scolded him as a joke. They had all grown accustomed to his wording, and were worried when he didn’t slip in a few curses into his sentences.

“Spirits?”

“Yeah, spirits. I call em Chat most of the time, but they have different nicknames, and they all have individual names. Clara explained that it was one of the many side effects to her marking me as a ‘Starchild’ in her name. They are the spirits of the lands, from servers all around, or some shit like that. I can see them all, but they make the choice to stick with me or not.”

This was...news. Grian, who was still processing that he his baby brother was alive, sitting right in front of him, as well as the fact that Clara was real, could only stare. He wasn’t so sure how to feel about his brother being indifferent to all the spirits, but he suppose that it couldn’t be helped. Spending pretty much your entire life seeing spirits would make him indifferent to the spirits as well. 

“So, Chat is...everywhere?”

“Basically, yeah”

Grian hummed as he proceeded to greet Chat, being polite to the beings he couldn’t see. Much to the annoyance of Tommy, Chat seemed to be loving Grian even more. Maybe a bit too much.

“HE’S SO POLITE”

“How thoughtful of him”

“HELOO HI GRI A  N HWAHT’S UP BRO”

“Grian bro supremacy”

“GRIAN BRO SUPREMACY”

“HERMIT HOMIE WOOOOOO”

“BEST BRO POG”

“holY SHIT I’M IN LOV E ADKNVOD”

“THE RACCOON HAS A POG BROTHER WOOO”

“HI GRIAN HI”

“Rodent brothers??? pog?????”

“HELLOHELLOHELLOHENSLO”

“TELL HIM WE SAID HI, CHILD”

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down. Chat says hi, Grian. And, hey, I’m not a child, what the fuck!? I’m a big man!”

Impulse snickered as Mumbo walked over to the two brothers. Smiling down at them, he helped the two back to their feet. Grian smiled as he set a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, squeezing it slightly. Tommy, in turn, beamed with pride at his brother and his friends. 

“Alright, we spent enough time being emotional and shit. Let’s get going, I have more cool shit to show you guys.”

Laughter filled the cavern as Tommy fixed his hair, his booming man child I’m not a child voice being drowned out as he led them back outside. Slightly huffing. He let out a yelp as he was nearly tackled to the ground from behind. Letting out undignified noises of protest, he turned to see the smug smile of Grian, who was ruffling his hair. 

“Alright, big man, show us your land of paradise!”

Barking out a hearty laugh, Tommy ducked out from his brother’s hand before grabbing it, spinning a few times, and pulling him forward. 

“Aw, look at them!”

“Wait, so Grian has two sections now?”

------

The traditional booth games in Tavern Town were fun. From balloon darts to milk bottles, to ladder climb and hoop toss, Tommy thought of it all. Unique designs decorated each booth, all holding an individual and unique look. Everything about the area was impressive.

“Where did buy get these for the games? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in the main server.”

Tommy peered over to Doc, who was inspecting the prizes neatly strung up on all the booths. There were plushies of different types of mods, some familiar, others not. They came in all types of colors and sizes, and were overall impressive. Walking up beside Doc, Tommy just shrugged his shoulders, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“I didn’t buy them, I made them.”

Scar perked up, before jumping right into the conversation.

“You what? Toms, that’s impressive! I didn’t know you could sew.”

‘Fucking hell,’ Tommy thought to himself. He didn’t expect to get praise for his simple hobbies.

“Yeah, I sew. I’m actually pretty crafty, being resourceful and shit. I also knit and crochet. It’s not much, but it’s really fucking therapeutic and all that jazz.”

Before anyone else could comment, a dinging noise sounded at one of the booths. Turning to look at the cause of the commotion, they saw that Stress and Impulse had won a game together. Giving each other fist bumps, they watched as a screen popped up, giving them prize options to choose from. After receiving their prizes, they hurried over to Tommy with smiles painted on their faces.

“You bet we’re gonna win one of each plush here.”

A high pitched laughter erupted from Tommy, who was starting to enjoy his decision to hand make all the prizes in his park. Wiping away a tear of joy, the teen I’m eighteen, I’m a fucking man! You’re a child, Tommy beamed at his friends, who smiled warmly in return. Tommy’s joy seemed to increase as more booth alarms were set off, many more prizes coming off the shelves. By the time everyone was ready for the next land, they all had at least two plush toys each.

———

“This is delicious! You baked these?!”

The group was currently sitting in the seating area in the Dream SMP section of the park, more specifically, L’manburg. They had gotten pastries from the duplicate bakery that belonged to Niki. According to Tommy, it was an exact replica to the real thing. The pastries sold there were the same ones Niki sold back at L’manburg. Tommy had used the recipes and techniques that Niki had demistrated to both him and Tubbo to create the dishes.

“If you think these are good, you should taste Niki’s. I swear, her pastries were sent down from Heaven by Jesus himself. They taste fucking amazing, godly.”

Grian smiled as he nudged Tommy’s shoulder with his own. Popping another sweet cake in his mouth, Tommy quirked an eyebrow as he faced the older boy.

“You should teach me some of your hobbies, Starchild. We can do a hobby exchange.”

Tommy visibly brightened up as he wiped some frosting from around his mouth. Smiling, he nodded his head happily.

“Hell yeah! That sounds fuckin’ amazing!”

The group ate with content as they looked around their area. They had already seen the rest of the Dream server lands. 

“It’s amazing that you’ve made all of this by yourself. You haven’t even showed us the rest of the park yet! Good job, for a child.”

“Hey! I’m not a fucking child! I’m turning 19 soon!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you were an Aries.”

“What’s wrong with being an Aries?”

“Nothing is wrong with being an Aries, Tango.”

“Oh shut it, you Librarian.”

“Librarian?”

“Yeah, the worst sign.”

“First of all, kid, I’m a Gemini.”

------

The rides and games in the DSMP were very diverse and unique. Tommy had really put a lot of effort and time into every attraction, no matter how small. From things as small as a scavenger hunt through the Badlands, water themed adventures in El Rapids, to fast paced coasters in L’manburg.

“Scoot over, bandit child, I’m sharing this ride vehicle with you.”

“What the fuck, man?”

“Oh, don’t act surprised. I know you made it to where two people share a seat just so you can spend quality time with your brother.”

“Oh, fuck off, I didn’t even know you were my brother until an hour and a half ago.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

The first ride the group decided to board was dubbed A Home. Entering a little shack, everyone boarded their ride vehicles and waited for the ride to begin. While they waited for the vehicles to move, Tommy explained how he managed to use the latest mods that were added to the server to his advantage. He managed to fit different tracks to different rides in the same builds, as well as add animatronics. Just as he was about to receive yet another wave of praise, the ride began.

“It’s like looking at a younger version of you!”

“That’s kinda the point, genius.”

Grian’s statement, as obvious as it was, was true. As the vehicles left the shack and entered the caravan, and animatronic Tommy, merely 16 years of age, welcomed the riders as they witnessed the beginning of a new home, L’manburg. They kept comments to themselves when they saw, yet again, the replica of Tommy’s old base. The ride track took them through different areas of the DSMP, following the young Tommy as he searched for a home.

“-the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and Tommyinnit!!!”

“What?!”

“What does he mean revoked?!”

Before Tommy could reply, the vehicles lurched backwards, keeping the vehicles facing the stage at all times as the animatronics turned to take aim at the riders. It wasn’t until the red stone to the dirt entrance revealed the entry way to Pogtopia that the vehicles did a 180, moving forward into the entry way before going down the spiral steps into the ravine. Laughter filled the air as the group saw animatronics of Tommy, Wilbur and Techno conversing together, joking around and teasing each other. Suddenly, the ride vehicles fell down to the next part of the track, the prime path. As they raced through the tunnel, they witnessed an animatronic Tommy and Tubbo embracing and conversing, their cheerful voices free from worry. The group could only sit in awe as the scenes continued to change.

“-goodbye, Tommy.”

“What does he mean goodbye?!”

“Oh my fucking god, shut up!”

The vehicles suddenly raced through the Nether, coming out to an island far from DSMP. The sign at the entrance of the area welcomed the group to Logstedshire. There, they could see an unhappy Tommy staring out towards the ocean, listening to Chirp as he mumbled nonsense to Clara. And just as quickly as they came, they raced out of the sunny area and into the snow. They raced around the inside of Techno’s cottage before racing outside, towards an empty area. There, an animatronic Tommy yelled out in shock as an animatronic Technoblade pressed a button, turning around as a secret lair was revealed.

“Welcome home, Theseus!”

For the final time, the scene changed. They entered, backwards, into a portal, coming out to face a replica of the spawn to Hermitcraft. There, in wonderous glory, stood an animatronic Xisuma, welcoming the group to Hermitcraft. Then, the track dropped, leaving the riders back at the entrance to the ride.

“Holy shit.”

“Haha! Holy shit is right!”

———

The group quickly learned that Tommy spared no expense in all his attractions. As they explored the different lands, they really saw the individuality of every land. L’manburg had fun rides, including Nation’s Legacy, Blood’s Ballad, Wither’s Wrath, and Creator’s Cabin. Nation’s Legacy is an underground ride that worked like a turntable to tell the history of L’manburg, ending on a grim and looming hint to the possible destruction of the nation. When asked about the fate of L’manburg, Tommy admitted that he appeared in Hermitcraft before he could witness the possible doomsday, so he wasn’t entirely sure what had occured afterwards.

Blood’s Ballad is an interactive ride that used a special red stone technique. The ride vehicles could seat up eight passengers at a time, each using special gloves that allow them to interact with the special ride elements. The goal is to get the most points out of everyone in the ride vehicle. The ride took the group on a journey with Technoblade, the Blood God. The group racked up points training alongside him, as well as fighting all sorts of mobs. By the end of the ride, Tommy was sulking as Stress managed to gather the most points. Stress was enjoying the victory, smiling happily as “SUBSCRIBE TO TECHNOBLADE” boomed through the speakers. 

Wither’s Wrath was more of a small scale ride to enjoy. There were only three ride vehicles, each shaped like a wither and able to hold three riders. Each rider sat in a wither skull. Grian smiled as he pulled Mumbo and Tommy into a a wither vehicle with him. As they strapped in, they were transported to a virtual world where the rules of the game were shared. The goal was to cause the most destruction in the virtual world than the other vehicles. Each player controlled their own skull, making it easier to gather points. At least, that was the case for-

“Fuck yeah! Team Kickass all the way! Check it Grian, Mumbo, we’re badass!”

Creator’s Cabin was simple enough. It was just a large cabin that held enchanted portraits of everyone who resided in the DSMP. The portraits could move within their frames. They could also interact with each other. When the group walked in, the portraits were chatting away with each other. Sam’s portrait seemed to be listening in on the conversation that the portraits of Tubbo, Tommy and Purpled were having, occasionally joining in when he saw fit. Fundy was chatting away with Eret and Niki, a bright smile on his face. Ranboo was timidly peeking over at the group with Tommy and Tubbo, obviously wanting to join in. The portraits of Quackity, Sapnap and Karl were deep in conversation, while the portrait of George was asleep sitting up.

“Hey, Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are there two portraits of Wilbur?”

“Oh, right. Grian, about Wilbur-”

“AHOY THERE! WHY DON’CHA BOARD ME SHIP AND CONQUER THE WATERS WITH ME?”

The group, aside from Tommy, jumped at the booming voice. Without hesitation, they all ran out to the water, searching for the source of the voice. There, out on the water, stood a lone animatronic. It was the animatronic of a petite woman, one with red curls dancing around as she swayed and spoke. Once more, her confident, melodic voice filled the air. 

“JOIN ME ON MY QUEST TO RIDE THE WONDROUS WAVES OF THE SEAS”

With that, she raised her right arm, hoisting a sword into the air. On cue, she began to rise as a ship emerged from the sea below her. Once it was no longer submerged, the ship rocked a few times before settling. A banner unraveled and blew in the breeze, the name of the area now visible for all to see. 

Sally de Mon’s Sea Voyage

“You like it? Creating the entrance for this ride was a fucking bastard. Kept me up all night and crap. Almost gave up completely on it.”

“It’s amazing! I was not expecting to see something like that!

“Hey, Tommy? Who’s Sally. I don’t think it was ever explained how you know her?”

“Really? I gotta fix that, then. Sally is my sister-in-law who-”

“I HAVE A SISTER-IN-LAW?!”

“Oh, shit...surprise?”

------

The Badlands was a fun, interactive section of the DSMP area. The various puzzles and mazes made it fun for all the participants. The muffin stand was also a fan favorite to the hermits. 

El Rapids was a water-filled adventure. Because he wanted to play around with the word rapids, Tommy made several water-based rides and activities, his favorite being the log ride. They just seemed to be the perfect addition to the area, adding a way to cool down to balance all the water-free rides. It seemed as if Tommy had thought of every type of ride for every type of biome and scenario.

SMP Earth was another large section of the park. It also held the only other largest ride in the entire park, one that led the riders throughout the Antarctic Empire, as well as its surrounding cities and towns. The area for the empire was beautiful decorated in colors of all kind. Flowers and banners decorated the buildings and streets, brightening up the area. Classic activities, such as the sparing rings and archery, as well as the axe throws and parkour courses were set up. It all felt familiar to Grian, who couldn’t help but smile at his brother. Grabbing one of the fliers, he inspected it before shooting his brother a look of uncertainty.

“You didn’t”

“On the contrary, brother dearest, I did!”

“Did what? What did he do?”

Grian laughed as he showed the group what the flier said. It was decorated in beautiful, hand-drawn flowers. Golden lettering perfectly spelt out the message.

Floral Festival of Spring

Join us in the weeklong celebration of Spring! Enjoy the festivities with friends and family as you explore the traditions held within our grounds. Finally, enjoy the wondrous Floral Gala held on the final night of festivities. Dawn your greatest fabrics as you dance the night away, before enjoy a magnificent firework display.

Signed by his royal highness,

Prince Thomas Theseus Minecraft

“He used his full name and everything!”

“Your middle name is Theseus?”

“Your actual last name is Minecraft?”

“Did you actually write this? It’s worded and written so…formally.”

Huffing a bit, Tommy crossed his arms. Fixing his posture, he stood up, tall and proud, as he puffed out his chest. It took everyone every fiber in their bodies to not laugh at the sight of him.

“I can be very formal, thank you very much. I’m not a fucking idiot, I remember the formality lessons the teachers put me through. And I take the offense to that writing comment! Do you know how many attempts it took for me to be able to recreate the stupid fancy font used back at the empire? And another thing-”

Grian playfully hopped on Tommy’s shoulder, startling the younger brother to his usual stance. Ruffling his hair, he assured his brother with a laugh.

“Calm down, Toms. You know that we’re messing with you. You did amazingly. How many more flyers do you have? We’ll set them up in the Hub to be distributed across the main server. It’s been a while since I’ve attended a royal ball, so let’s make it grand!”

Laughing, Tommy had no choice but to agree with Grian. His smile faltered, however, once realization sunk in. The next activity for the group was the campfire. The secrets of his time at the Dream SMP that he kept for over 2 years would finally be revealed.

‘Better late than never to prepare the waterworks’, thought a very nervous Tommy.

[kaijurakunsobs]

The Beauty in Empathy

master list

ya boi took all the time in the world writing this but here we go baby! also...yall get soft!Heisenberg content

⚠ Trigger: Panic Attack, PTSD

Summary: the travel to the village has left you shaken up and unsure of what to do with your life. You lack direction, an objective, something to anchor you give the sense of control, it doesn't matter what, you just need something to control.

It, almost, feels nice to come back to the factory, not carrying for the ache in your limbs or the blisters on your feet, you need to feel safe in any way shape or form, and the closest thing to a safe heaven...is the factory. Where no one can touch you, where Heisenberg's sole presence is enough to ward off unwanted visits, where you could run through the maze of corridors and find refuge in some empty room.

There was so much going on, the euphoria you got that morning over the small win against Heisenberg was gone now, replaced by uneasiness, fear of what you don't understand, of what you had gotten yourself into. But you don't let panic subdue you again, taking deep breaths, you run to the living quarters, crates creaking with the movement, fresh vegetables, and cans making so much noise, you were sure the Lord would come and yell at you, he never comes, not even when you almost throw down the door and begin to scream, he's not there.

It takes you a bit to calm down and regulate your breathing, you feel disoriented, suddenly everything is too much and you begin to get rid of the rope wound around your shoulders and hands, wincing when the crates and sacks do so much noise.

And there you stay with your head pressed against the door and eyes shut, remembering how your mother used to cook and clean when stressed, she said cleaning your living space clears the mind and keeps us sane, cooking fills the soul and your stomach with the warmth of your home.

That makes you get up slowly, moving to the kitchen to clean it and the fridge thoroughly, ignoring your aching and shaking limbs in favor of putting everything away and leaving out some ingredients to make a simple vegetable soup. Taking a cutting board and knife you start chopping and cutting vegetables, casting a glance at the clock in the wall and wondering, when will Heisenberg come back and if you should leave him something to eat.

You are done cooking, letting the soup boil, and slowly make the room smell deliciously, remembering how your mom used to cook this soup when you were distraught or sick, you are distraught indeed, but getting lost in memories of people that don't exist anymore feels...useless, painful, stupid.

All of your attention is brought back to the mess on the table and coffee table, all those blueprints and papers just laying around, feels wrong. Picking up every single one you do quick work of rolling it and placing it upright in one of the crates the Duke used to pack your groceries, carefully stashing papers and placing them with the prints, dropping the crate over the kitchen table, grabbing the broom and sweeping the small living room.

With a prideful smile, you stare at the much cleaner area, serving yourself a generous portion of soup and taking a seat at the table, it tastes just as good as your last meal last night, you feel pleasure by eating something this warm, feeling the heat go down your throat and radiate through your entire chest and bleeding down your body, it's nice a feeling. But the heat doesn't linger long and the cold of the world beyond the factory hunts you.

You lost it all so fast, everything stole away by Miranda and the creatures that attacked you, yes, you have a "home" here and a room, and Heisenberg's presence seems to guard off against anyone coming close to this place, but you have no control over anything anymore, and that's what scares you, the lack of control over something.

Routine...that's a way to control your life, something so easy yet so valuable right now, that you don't fight off the prospect of binding yourself to something as monotonous as routine. You were adventurous and brave, now you are scared and ready to find some resemblance of normality, it might be hard, seeing how Heisenberg seems to be more on the chaotic side, but, starting tomorrow you will need to work on that, you need to reclaim a bit of your life.

For now, the best you can do is rest, tame your emotions, abide by the contract you made this morning, maybe...if you play your cards well, you get more perks or small liberties.

Heisenberg drags you out the next day to finally help him with the ventilation, barely giving you time to eat anything and forcing you to chug your coffee, running after him to not be left behind.

The Lord can see you, scribbling something on one of his old note pads, stopping outside of certain rooms to scan the place and write down more notes, mumbling to yourself about what you will need to fix the room. So you are a planner, he likes that, you could also be faking it in favor of getting on his good side, let's see how well you do.

"Let me get this clear" you sigh putting on a pair of his gloves, looking at the rather shabby board connecting the railway and the hole in the wall where the ventilation duct is visible "I have to go across this, get inside and then find the problem?"

"Yeah, basically" he's looking at you, judging your reaction, half expecting you to back off and run away "Is there a problem, sweetheart?" he leans close to you, blowing smoke in your face

With a huff, you take the cigar from his hand and take a drag and puffing the smoke back on his face, jumping over the railing and swiftly balancing over the board towards the hole "You better find a way to pass me whatever I need, cuz im not doing the trave back and forth every fucking time!"

Karl grins at your boldness, smoking his Cuban cigar like it's nothing, raising a brow when you finish it "Will find a way, don't worry about it"

"You better do, Karl!" turning around you grimace looking at the duct, there's water and cobwebs "This is asinine..."

"You will do amazing, darling!" he screams with a lot of amusement when he sees you climb into the duct, enjoying the view of your ass "way better than I could do"

"Oh, bite me!" you yell back with a bit of humor, quickly crawling to the spot marked on the map he gave you the day prior, only stopping to wipe off the sweat from your forehead and assess the damage "Hey, Heisenberg! We have rats here...seems they been doing a number on the ventilators' wiring!"

"Fucking hell! again?!" there's a moment of silence and you use it to look around, definitely, there are rats here, he should think about acquiring some cats, "Think you can fix it?!" you hear him clearly as you make your way back

"If you have some electrical tape and new wires? I could do it today but the rats will come back and eat the new wiring!" he sees you come back, looking at him expectantly

He waves dismissively, turning around to dig through the toolbox, he swears he saw some spare wires here..."Oh don't worry about that, darling, you fix the wiring and I'll just let the lycans have a feast on the vermin" he says as if you knew what he's talking about.

"The WHAT now?" Heisenberg chuckles at your expression, smiling a bit when he tosses the tape and wire in your direction barely catching them.

"More fixing and less asking, you can meet the pack later after we are done with everything you need to work on!"

You hate the way he's smiling, it makes you shudder and feel weary for whatever he's planning.

And you are right in feeling apprehension, Heisenberg keeps dragging you around, helping you up when the repair it's too high, happily taunting you when he sees you stand on a piece of metal, watching your legs wobble and the slight terror when he screams for you to balance yourself because he's not going to save you if you fall, cackling when you tell him to shove it and balancing on the metal sheet.

At the end of the day, he's surprised at how unbothered you seem at being covered in grease and sweat, nonchalantly cleaning your face with your sleeve "And here I thought you were lying about being a mechanic, color me impressed"

"I told you, I'm a woman of my word, I would never lie to you Heisenberg~" something stirs inside him in the way you smile, cocking your hip to the side, he hates your guts but he gotta admit, you are a sight for sore eyes "This has been a beautiful day and everything, but! I'm in need of a shower and I wanna eat something"

"Not yet princess" you yelp when Karl grabs your shoulders and quickly pushes and guides you "You were curious about the lycans, yes? I think is only fair for you to meet them, seeing how you will be staying here for a long time, it's better if they understand that you aren't food"

"WHAT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" you try so hard to hold onto the door frames, make him stop by refusing to walk, try to walk backwards, only making him grow annoyed and throw you over his shoulder "HEISENBERG I'LL DECK YOU AGAIN, PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!"

"I would LOVE to see you try that stunt again, girly. It's quite clear your daddy never showed you to be more respectful, I might need to teach you so manners" he has the good forsaken audacity of slapping your ass with his free hand

Heisenberg grunts and chuckles when you trash in his hold, trying so hard to run away from him "HOW DARE YOU?! IM BEATING YOUR DUMB FACE WHEN YOU PUT ME DOWN!" you make him laugh when a yelp scapes you the moment the cold air of the outside hits your skin and at least has the decency of softly putting you down, raising his hands as if ready for you to pounce "DON'T you dare to do that again, got it!?"

"We'll see if you mishave and threaten to punch me again, there must be some punishment, don't you think?" he's all smugness when he speaks, puffing up with pride when you blush and begin to frown, getting ready to tell him off only to get cut off when he whistles.

The sound is loud and fills the still air with a disturbance that feels disrespectful, making you wince when he keeps whistling rhythmically, that reminds you of how your grandfather used to have whistle based commands for the digs in his farm, which means...that the lycans are dogs, probably, and Heisenberg just lets them roam around, there's a small chance that the dogs are trained to chase or hunt vermin.

You both stay outside, waiting, getting a bit excited at the idea of seeing a dog after so long. Karl lifts a brow at the eager look on your face, wondering if you even know what's going to happen or if you are that stupid. He's ready to see your reaction, heard you scream in terror, or try to run back to the factory, although, he hopes you don't do that otherwise the lycans might give change and end up killing you.

The cocky smile on his face grows when he sees you pale in horror when the lycans come running, snarling and snapping their fangs at each other. Heisenberg was ready to hear you scream and see you escape, but he is not prepared for what you do next.

All that eagerness, the small hope you felt, all die when you see those beasts, all running to you like it happened that day, the phantom pain in your side makes you choke and freeze, these aren't the same beasts that...killed you...but the memory is still fresh, a part of you tells you to run, to hide, you scream or fight! but the rest of your body refuses to move. The closer they get, the louder the voice in your head becomes, so...you run and hide.

Last time you tried to run to your home and that got you almost mangled, this time? you let instinct guide you, pulling Heisenberg's coat up and hiding behind him, like a child would do, both arms winding around him with crushing strength.

In another situation, he would have made fun of you, laughing and asking where all that bravado of yours had gone to! But he can feel your chest rising and falling so fast, your entire body is shaking so hard it's making his necklaces clink and your teeth clack, you are muttering something but he can't tell what, more importantly...you are crying. He knows the signs of shell shock, oh he knows them too well, whatever happened to you, the lycans triggered a flight or fight response in you, a very strong one.

You can't hear anything over the ringing in your ears, so it's impossible to hear when Heisenberg whistles and makes the lycans scatter again. You do feel his hands peeling yours off him, the weight of his coat covering you and how, strangely, careful he is when picking you up, barely able to register his voice telling you to put your arms around his neck, the firm hold of his hands on your legs and what you guess, was a huff when you locked your legs behind him.

He's beyond surprised when you willingly allow him to pick you up like this, a million questions running through his head over your reaction. Guilt taking a hold of his heart knowing he made you THIS scared, to the point of sobbing on his shoulder and refusing to let him go even after making it into the living quarters but he manages to convince you to let him go, sitting you where you can see him cook and barely hear him talk...something about helping him with a reactor? you are not sure.

Karl watches you eat slowly, looking for any sight you might throw up or if the shaking in your hands gets so bad you might be unable to eat. He goes as far as to escort you to the bathroom, leaving you a new shirt and alone. There are no words to be exchanged but you know, he will come back to check on your jittery self and take you back to your room.

Once alone, you let shame eat you alive, wondering if he thinks less of you, if he will make fun of what just happened, or if tomorrow he will relegate you to some stupid minimal task thinking you are some weak damsel in distress. Dread crush you, not excited for the next day.

Waking up is torture and dressing up is suddenly the toughest task you have been saddled with, the smell of coffee fills the kitchen and, to your disgust, you see Heisenberg dump what might have been three spoonfuls of sugar on his cup. The man perks up when you get close to the table,

"Alright darling, let me start by saying..." here he goes, he's going to laugh and humiliate you "I'm NOT your fucking delivery man" Heisenberg throws a utility belt at you, the weight of the tools on it make you tip back and almost lose your footing "I went to the Duke to see if he got me some new stuff and he said your tools and boots arrived early, I only brought all this back so you won't lose time passing you anything"

"Eat something, we have time" He knows he shouldn't bring back up what happened yesterday, giving you time to process it all and think about what his next steps should be regarding the lycans and your fear of them.

The day is just like yesterday, but you pick on the subtle differences, Heisenberg seems more aware of any sounds that might startle you, steering you away from areas where he knows the lycans are chasing after rats and having a feast on some other things. You don't comment on it, smiling inwardly at his attempts to prevent you from going into another panic attack.

You are sitting in front of a broken generator, judging the damage and sighing when you come to the sad conclusion that you might need to rebuild the entire engine, Karl is close by, two rooms down from where you are. Getting up and stretching is a small pleasure, hearing your back crack loudly, groaning over the stiffness on your neck.

"I got you bad news, backup generator number eight? dead as fuck! I might need to rebuild it which means I'll be doing a list of what I need" you say while entering the room, his back is facing you and he seems to be deep in thought hunched over something.

Getting close you can see him pulling pieces towards him the metal listening to his command and coming his way, a screwdriver in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other, he seems to be struggling to assemble something.

Smiling a bit, you are careful when putting your head on his shoulder, effectively making him jump "Whatchu doing~?" Heisenberg curses under his breath, looking at you to the best of his abilities

"Reactor, damn thing keeps exploding whenever I do test runs" he feels you hum and see your hand get close to the project without touching

"Maybe it's the material or the lack of a cooling system, but that's my opinion" you straighten back "And like I said, the generator is dead, gone, either replace the whole unit or we rebuilt it"

You hear him grunt and pat his pockets looking for something, soon the smell of tobacco fills the air and he too gets up, looking at you, clearly thinking something or how to say it "Princess, about yesterday..." you go stiff, immediately looking away "I don't know what happened before you were brought here, but I do know that it's important for your safety that the lycans learn that you are a part of my..." at this he hesitates, chewing his cigar "family, so if you ever need it, they will come and help you"

He waits for you to say something or to see if you panic again when he sees no sight of terror he continues "There's a small group of lycans that are a bit more tamer, and I was thinking about introducing them to you, one by one"

"You want me to just do what, play fetch with them, scratch their bellies!?" there it is, your panic begins to raise and before it explodes, he grabs your shoulders making you look at him.

"You won't be alone, I'll be there and if the lycans try to EVEN bite you, I'll kill them on the spot! I will even teach you how to control them, that pack will be your...personal guard, but I'll be there"

You relish in the feeling of his gloves hands over you, thinking slowly about this. You need routine and maybe training the beasts to obey you might be good...having control over another being could be good and Heisenberg said he will be there the whole time, something about his voice makes you trust him. "If you leave me alone even ONCE, I'm destroying your knees with a wrench"

And there's that wolfish smile and hearty laughter, with renewed joy he pulls your hand telling you about how you will have the right to do that if he abandons you ever after this, he's staying with you throughout the whole process. Heisenberg catches you off guard when he takes off his coat and drapes it around your shoulders, pulling you outside, standing next to you.

"Let's start with whistling, ok?"

You must admit, you have a lot of fun learning how to do the right whistle command to call this particular pack, laughing a bit when Karl squishes your face whenever you fail to produce the right sound, once you get the sound right, he teaches small commands, how to make one sole lycan come to you, have them stop dead in their tracks, among others and how to make each whistle sound loud.

He does chuckle when you jump the moment the pack comes bolting from the woods towards you, the grip on your shoulders return and that anchors you, giving the stop command and smiling once the small group stops, Heisenberg all but smiles proudly when you take control and pick one lycan to get close and dismiss the others.

"Once it's close enough" Karl whispers low enough for you to hear "take off your gloves and let it smell the back and palm of your hands" he sees you nod and waits for the lycan to get near you, his hands sliding up and down your arms, he can feel you tremble a bit when you take off his gloves and let the beast smell you.

The lycan looks up to you, then at Heisenberg, opting for keeping its attention on you, you called it after all "It won't bite you, it can smell that you belong here, it knows better" Even with his reassurance you are weary of the beast, everything inside asking you to run away, yet you stay put, dogs can smell feat and react to it and that never ends well.

"What else can they do?" Karl can hear the terror in your voice but feels proud of your bravery, quickly teaching you what other tricks the thing can do.

By the end of the day, you are rather surprised when he cooks dinner again, he's actually pretty decent, his cooking lacks a bit of salt but it's good and he's doing his best to have you well fed.

"May I ask...why are you being so nice?" you ask him looking at his back "I've been a bit of a brat"

He laughs looking at you over his shoulder "I suppose...I understand what you are going through" he says, turning his attention back to the stove.

You want to ask him what happened to him, what made him so emphatic out of the blue but the tone of his voice and the stance of his body is enough indicator that this time is not the right moment to ask about it, perhaps one day, you two can share the pain that haunts you both.

[bellakitse]

Batting Cages, Tacos and Midnight fun

“Alright,” Carlos says as he comes back with a smile. “You’re good to go, just step in and press the button on the wall when you’re ready for the balls to start flying.”

“I’ll be honest, not the type of balls I thought would be flying tonight,” he murmurs, smirking at Carlos as he stares at him.

+

When TK can’t sleep, he calls his friend-maybe boyfriend for some midnight fun. He’s surprised at what Carlos has planned for them.

Written for Day Two of Tarlos Corazonados Weekend- Late Night Hangouts @tarlos-valentine

Rated M*​ sexual content

TK Strand has always had a hard time getting proper sleep. He usually knocks out after a long and grueling shift, but if he’s had an easy day, the chances are once it’s time for bed, he’ll be wide awake staring at the ceiling like he is now.

He stays like that for a moment longer before letting out an aggravated sigh, reaching for his phone. He makes a note of the time. It’s after midnight, and he really shouldn’t be pulling up his contacts searching for a certain Austin Police Officer. Yet, despite knowing it might muddle their tentative friendship, he finds himself calling Carlos anyway.

“What are you doing?” he questions when Carlos picks up, giving him a groggy hello. He smiles, a little embarrassed at the knowing chuckle Carlos lets out.

“So we do this now?” he asks, and TK can hear the smirk in his voice.

It makes TK blush but also causes his stomach to clench in anticipation. He and Carlos have been in this weird limbo where he doesn’t know what to call them since their date playing darts. They’re friends, that much TK knows. He finds himself confiding in Carlos more and more these days. The cop has a way of breaking past his defenses until he’s revealing the not so pretty parts that make him whole.

But there is also the other side of their relationship, the one where TK can’t keep his hands to himself, wanting to touch and taste every inch of Carlos any chance he gets. He wants to keep him even without knowing what they are yet.

“I can’t sleep,” he tells him honestly, hoping it’s enough of an answer about what he wants even if he isn’t entirely sure what that is himself.

“I’ll pick you up in 20,” Carlos answers easily, and TK can hear the rustling of his sheets over the phone as he gets up from his bed. “I’ll see you in a few, okay?”

TK nods even though Carlos can’t see before answering in the affirmative. He feels both excited and thankful that Carlos is willing to accommodate him at the drop of a hat. He tries not to give it much thought to what it means.

He dresses in a pair of black joggers and a zip-up hoodie, not bothering with anything underneath; it’s not like he’s going to be dressed for long anyway. He quietly walks out of the house as not to wake up his dad and waits on his front steps for the familiar blue Camaro to arrive.

He doesn’t have to wait long. Carlos arrives before the time he promised, and TK jumps to his feet, quickly making his way to the car before it fully comes to a stop. “Hi,” he breathes as he closes the door behind him, reaching for the seat belt.

Carlos answers by running a hand through his hair, tugging him forward. TK goes smoothly, leaning his upper body over the console, moaning softly as Carlos gives him a thorough kiss. It makes TK dizzy in a way that only Carlos’ kisses can.

“Hi,” he whispers back, smiling against his lips before he pulls TK’s bottom lip into his mouth, giving it a suck that leaves TK gasping when he finally pulls away. The smug smile on Carlos’ face makes TK roll his eyes.

“I was going to apologize for waking you up, but,” he trails off, poking a finger into the corner of Carlos’ smile, causing Carlos to let out a chuckle, knowing where his comment is going.

“I don’t mind,” Carlos says casually as he takes his hand from his face and holds it on his thigh. “You can call me whenever you want.”

TK swallows, not knowing how to answer Carlos’ easy affection and sincerity. Luckily he doesn’t have to. Carlos seems to be satisfied with holding his hand while he drives, as TK responds by running his thumb over his knuckles. He gets lost in its motion and doesn’t notice right away they aren’t headed back to Carlos’ apartment. Instead, they pull up at a closed establishment named ‘Rocco’s batting cages.’

“Umm?” he turns to Carlos, questioning when he parks and turns off the car.

“You said you couldn’t sleep,” Carlos answers. “I figured we should work off that excess energy of yours.”

“That’s what your bed is for,” TK shoots back even as he follows Carlos out of the car, shrugging at the raised eyebrow Carlos gives him. They know each other well enough at this point to not be shy about wanting each other.

Carlos shakes his head in amusement as he pops the hood of his car, pulling out a bag with a familiar logo of the food truck TK knows he loves.

“When did you even have time to get that?” he questions bewildered, following Carlos toward the obviously closed door of the property.

“I called in an order after I hung up with you and picked it up before getting to your place,” Carlos answers as he pulls out a set of keys. “They like me, so they were quick.”

“And this place?” TK questions waving towards it when Carlos slides in the key.

“My buddy owns it,” Carlos says with a shrug. “I have a spare key. I texted him I would be using the place tonight; he’s pretty used to it. When work has me stressed out, I like to come and swing the bat around.”

He lets TK go through the door first, turning the lights as he steps in and closing the door behind them. He guides them through the place with the practiced ease of someone familiar with the layout. He leads him to the back, where they step back outside to a gated area.

“Stay right here, I’m going to turn on the rest of the lights,” Carlos tells him, leaving him alone with the food.

It takes a few minutes, but soon overhead lights turn on, illuminating five separate batting cages evenly spaced. Carlos comes back with a pair of bats and a helmet, extending them to TK.

“Here you go,” he says to him, waiting for TK to take the equipment, walking into the batting cage in front of them while TK starts to get ready. He puts on the helmet and practices a few swings while Carlos sets up the pitching machine.

“Alright,” Carlos says as he comes back with a smile. “You’re good to go, just step in and press the button on the wall when you’re ready for the balls to start flying.”

“I’ll be honest, not the type of balls I thought would be flying tonight,” he murmurs, smirking at Carlos as he stares at him.

“You’re shameless,” Carlos finally says with a resigned laugh, affection coloring his voice. He steps up close to him, tipping his chin up to kiss him. “This will help,” he says against his mouth. “Trust me, and afterwards, we can deal with other balls,” he finishes with a soft blush on his face that makes TK snicker.

“I haven’t swung a bat since middle school,” he warns as he steps into the cage, closing the gate behind him. “I might suck at this.”

“I believe in you,” Carlos answers from the bench he’s sat on, pulling out a taco and jarrito drink. He flashes TK a grin before biting into his food. “Hit three, and you get a taco.”

TK rolls his eyes at the offer before pressing the start button, quickly stepping up to the plate. He manages to get a piece of the first and second throw but misses the next three. Every time he misses, he sneaks a look at Carlos, scowling at the smirk he finds on his handsome face.

“I told you I would suck,” he calls out, swinging yet again, making a face when his bat doesn’t connect.

“You’re just a little rusty,” Carlos answers cheerfully.

TK chuckles despite himself at the positive attitude. He steps off the base to pause the pitcher machine and turns towards Carlos with a raised brow. “Why don’t you come in here and teach me how it’s done,” he challenges, letting out a  grin when Carlos takes him up on it and stands.

He keeps smiling as Carlos steps into the cage, half a taco in hand. TK opens his mouth, his eyes twinkling with amusement as Carlos scoffs.

“You still didn’t earn your dinner,” he says even as he hands him the half a taco.

TK shrugs, paying him no mind as he bites into the food, humming in approval as the barbacoa flavor hits his taste buds.

“Okay, so your problem seems to be the swing of your hips,” Carlos explains, moving his to demonstrate.

TK bites his lip to keep from saying what he wants to say, though when he looks up at Carlos’ face, he finds that he didn’t need to. The pointed look he gives him tells TK he heard his silent innuendo loud and clear.

“Come on! You can’t talk about hip motions and move yours like that and not have me think about the other times I’ve proven just how well mine move,” TK protests as Carlos continues to look at him unimpressed. He grins at the eye roll Carlos gives him before he swings, connecting his bat to the ball dead center sending it flying.

“Damn,” TK says, impressed. “Okay, if you’re going to play like that, sure, show me your hip motions.”

Carlos huffs quietly, smiling as he shakes his head. He swings the bat three more times, hitting the ball each and every time.

“Okay, okay, stop showing me up,” TK complains as he pushes the button to stop the machine once more.

Carlos laughs as he steps off the plate, coming towards him. TK holds out his hand to take the bat back, but at the last moment, Carlos drops the bat on the ground, along with his helmet. He puts a hand to TK’s chest, pushing him firmly into the wall behind him, keeping him there by the press of his body against his.

“Are we finally going to get to the hip motions I excel at?” he questions, already rubbing himself against Carlos as he presses his hard thigh between his legs.

Carlos shakes with silent laughter, his brown eyes shining with delight. “What am I going to do with you?” he murmurs as he takes hold of TK’s face, tilting it upward to give him a feather-light kiss. The words are spoken with such affection that TK has to bite his tongue to keep from blurting out ‘Love me.’

Carlos seems to hear him anyway as he deepens their kiss. It grows hot and hazy, desperate as TK moans into it, biting on Carlos’ bottom lip, getting a low needy groan in return for his efforts.

His hands are on TK, lighting fires over his clothes everywhere he touches before he’s pulling on the zipper to his hoodie. He lets out a gasp as the cold air hits his skin, and Carlos pulls back to stare at his naked chest, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I thought we were going to your place,” TK explains, feeling himself blush. “I didn’t bother with underclothes.

Carlos stares at him for a moment longer, his eyes narrowing before the hand he has on his chest slides down TK’s stomach, slipping inside his joggers.

“Fuck,” Carlos curses as he wraps his hand around TK’s hard and dripping cock.

TK tries to speak but can’t seem to form any words as Carlos starts to touch him in practiced strokes. He lets out a mewling whine when Carlos runs his thumb over the head of his cock, spreading the liquid gathered around.

“Fuck,” Carlos whispers again, staring into TK’s wide-blown eyes. He leans in, giving him a hard, bruising kiss. TK tries to return it, but it’s over before he can. He tries to put enough brain cells together to complain, but he blinks once, and in the next second, Carlos is gone from sight, going to his knees in front of TK.

“Oh,” he breathes, nodding fast when Carlos taps at the waist of his sweats and looks up at him in question. “Please.”

Carlos gives him a grin before he starts to roll down TK’s pants. The cold air of the night makes him shiver, but that’s nothing to the full-body shudder he lets out when wet heat encircles him as Carlos takes him into his mouth to his base.

“Jesus Christ,” he exclaims, banging his head back as Carlos doesn’t waste a second and goes to work. He sucks at TK with a single-mindedness that leaves him breathless and his head spinning. It takes almost no time at all before TK is at a razor’s edge. He’s been wanting this all night, and it’s Carlos.

Carlos, who makes him feel safe enough to share everything ugly he has inside him. Carlos, who leaves his bed in the middle of the night to come to TK’s aid just because he can’t sleep. Carlos, who distracts him with batting cages and food just to lighten his mood. Carlos, who goes to his knees and worships TK like he’s actually something worthy.

He signals for him to pull back as his orgasm builds, but Carlos just sucks him in deeper, making his intention clear.

TK lets out another helpless moan as he spills into Carlos’ mouth, shaking as he sucks and licks him through it, swallowing everything TK has to give. TK’s last thought before he goes completely mindless is ‘can I keep you?’

He is all but useless as Carlos takes his mouth off him, and gently pulls up his sweats before he stands with a proud smile on his face as TK looks at him through dazed eyes.

“Think you can sleep now?” he asks smugly, and TK feels more enamored by the second.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Carlos’ expression is bright at his answer. He touches the tip of his nose to TK’s as he lays his forehead against his. “Good,” he tells him with a sweet smile. “Should I take you home?”

TK bites his lip, hesitating for a second before he speaks. “Or we could go back to your place?” he asks shyly. “I think I would sleep better there.”

Carlos softens; his eyes are gentle and kind as he looks at him. “Even better,” he tells him. “That way, with you in my arms, I’ll sleep well too.”

[hopelesshawks]

History of Us Part 23- Game On

Summary: Once upon a time Todoroki and (y/n) were best friends. Now they haven’t spoken in years. When (y/n) is forced to transfer to UA, will she and Shoto reconnect or will their troubled past keep them apart? A childhood friends to enemies to lovers hybrid fic.

If you don’t want to see History of Us content blacklist #hopelesshou

Masterlist Kofi

When Shoto arrives in the common room you’re sitting on the couch rubbing your temples with a scowl on your face as Denki looks sheepishly at you and rubs the back of his neck. Shoto feels a twinge of jealousy ripple through him when he notices Sero sitting next to you trying to talk you down. He shoves it down as he calls out to you. “Are you alright?” he asks. You look up and your eyes immediately brighten when you find the source of the voice. “Sho-Chan thank god,” you groan dramatically, opening your arms wide in a silent request for comfort. It would be a lie for Shoto to claim he didn’t feel a small measure of smug satisfaction as he comes to sit on your other side and you immediately fall into his arms and groan into his chest. “They’re so dumb and unhelpful I want to die,” you whine. “Hey ‘they’ are right here!” Sero protests. “Did she stutter?” Shoto asks with a raised eyebrow. You jerk back with a surprised laugh. “Maybe I am a bad influence on you,” you cackle. “So what did they do to distress you so much anyway?” Shoto asks, his eyes silently challenging Sero. You immediately scowl as you recall what had soured your mood. Denki goes from amused at Shoto and Sero’s obvious competitiveness to sheepish again. “I gave Denki ONE JOB for this evening. Buy snacks. That’s it and he FORGOT TO DO IT,” you growl. “I’m sure Sato would be happy to bake something if you’d like,” Shoto offers. “Whomst the fuck is Sato?” you ask, blinking at him. “Y’know. Sato. Tall dude, pretty built?” Denki offers. “Sugar rush quirk?” Sero adds. “Never heard of him,” you shrug. “Don’t worry, I can ask him if you’d like. Our dorms are close to each other,” Shoto offers. “Seriously? Ugh you’re the best Sho, thanks,” you gush, much to Sero’s chagrin. “I’ll go help, I feel bad I couldn’t help you out more here pretty girl,” Sero offers. “You know how to bake?” you ask him with a raised eyebrow. “What, like it’s hard?” Sero replies easily. “Once when we were 7 my mom tried to teach Sho-Chan and I how to bake and he nearly set the kitchen on fire. He had to freeze the oven to stop it,” you confess, causing Shoto to blush with a scowl on his face as Sero laughs. “Hey no scowling,” you tell him, poking his cheek with one finger. He rolls his eyes and bats your hand away but that only makes you laugh. “That was a long time ago, I can certainly bake now. As Sero put it, it’s not as if it’s difficult,” Shoto scoffs. “Why don’t you help me and Sato too then,” Sero grins. “Fine.” “Fine.” “Good.” “Good.” “You two are so fucking weird but thanks! Denki and I will finish cleaning up in here and rally the troops. Class B should get here in like an hour. I’m counting on you two!” you tell them, interrupting their odd back and forth before they both give you a nod and then head off in search of Sato.

You and Denki have just finished cleaning up and texting the class A group chats to come down when you hear a loud clatter coming from the kitchen. Both of you snap your heads towards the sound only to see a frustrated Sato pushing Shoto and Sero into the common room, both of whom are absolutely covered in flour. “Please watch them. I’ll be done with everything soon but just..... keep them far away from the kitchen until I am,” Sato sighs before going back to resume his work. You immediately burst into full on, belly clutching laughter. The kind that hurts your stomach and makes your eyes water. Kaminari is similarly howling beside you, although neither Shoto nor Sero seem to share your amusement. When you’ve finally managed to contain your laughter a bit more you wheeze out “How? How did you two do this?” “It looks like you two got into a fight with the flour and it won,” Denki adds. Sero’s sheepish grin is a contrast to Shoto’s slightly grouchy look. “It turns out baking is that difficult,” Shoto admits, and your face softens a little when you realize he’s genuinely embarrassed. “People are going to be here soon you two should get cleaned up. Denki can you go light a fire under people’s asses?” you ask.

With a nod the boys all move towards where the rooms are but you catch Shoto’s shoulder to signal him to wait. You carefully brush some of the flour off until just the two of you are alone in the common room. “You wanna tell me what’s up with you today?” you ask. “What do you mean?” he asks. “Oh c’mon Sho, you seem so upset cause Sato kicked you out of the kitchen and typically shit like that doesn’t bother you,” you elaborate. Todoroki’s eyes scan over your face and he wonders, not for the first time, how even after a decade and all the changes you’ve both been through, you can still read him like a book. “I wanted to be helpful since I wasn’t here to help you before and all I did was make a mess,” Shoto finally sighs. “I’ve been stressing over this shit practically all day and you just had me cackling. That is helping Sho. You were busy training with Midoriya, it’s fine,” you assure him. “What do you mean training with Midoriya?” Shoto asks, cocking his head to the side. It always reminds you of a puppy when he does that but you shove the thought aside as you realize what he’s responded. “I was going to ask if you could come down and help but Sero told me you were out training with Midoriya and I didn’t want to bother you.” “I didn’t train with Midoriya today.” “You didn’t?” “No.” “Huh, weird. Sero must’ve been confused I guess,” you shrug.

The conversation ends when Denki comes skidding back into the common room to ask you if he looks ok. “Oh, am I interrupting something?” he asks, looking between you and Shoto. “Nah, Sho should probably get cleaned up anyway,” you reply easily. Even still you give Shoto’s shoulder a quick squeeze of reassurance before he sends you an appreciative look and heads upstairs. “What was that about?” Denki asks. “He felt guilty for not helping more,” you admit as you watch your friend head up to his dorm. “See, irl simp eyes,” Denki says, pointing at your face. You immediately scowl and punch his shoulder. “Hey! If I wanted this abuse I’d have called Bakugo,” he whines. “Aren’t you the one who always says we’re the same?” you point out. “You right. I should’ve known better, you two really are the same,” Denki sighs. You punch him in the shoulder again as you protest “No we’re not!” “You brought up the comparison first!” “You weren’t supposed to agree with it!” You and Denki’s bickering is interrupted by Sato’s arrival with various baked goods which he lays out on the table in the main area. Shortly after that both classes A and B start to spill into the common room.

As it turns out, wing manning for Denki is a full time job. He gets easily flustered and frequently requires moral support so even when he is with Shinso he frequently wants you there as moderator. He’s going to owe you huge for this one, but he knows it and seems genuinely appreciative so you don’t mind too much. Finally, finally Shinso and Denki seem to hit their stride on a topic so you quietly duck out and head outside to get some air. The air is crisp now as the sun starts to set but you still take in a long deep breath before slowly releasing it out. You sit down on the ground and stare out over the grounds of UA. You don’t think you’ve ever been this social your entire life. Soon a familiar presence sits down next to you. “Overwhelmed?” Shoto asks quietly. “A little, yea,” you admit. “I get that. It was a lot for me initially too,” he confesses. “Does it ever go away?” “Not entirely, but it does get better.” “Good,” you sigh as you lean over to rest your head on his shoulder. He brings one arm up to wrap around you as the two of you sit there in silence for awhile before finally he speaks up. “So you and Kaminari are getting pretty close,” he brings up. “Yea,” you sigh, “I’m trying to help him out with Shinso but I did not anticipate how much work that would be.” “Shinso?” “Yea, that’s the main reason he wanted to do all this.” “I thought Denki liked you,” Shoto confesses, and it shocks you a little that he even noticed. “Oh, maybe a little but not seriously and not lately. He’s like gone on Shinso, it’s cute,” you explain. You notice Shoto seems to relax beneath you at the words but before you can press him on it Sero pokes his head outside and the tension instantly returns to your friend’s body.

“There you are! I was wondering where the life of the party had snuck off to,” Sero greets. “That’s a new one,” you snort, reluctantly lifting your head off Shoto’s shoulder. “Come on back in, may as well enjoy the fruit of all your hard work right?” Sero encourages and it’s hard to come up with an excuse not to rejoin the festivities. “Give me a sec, I’ll be right in,” you tell him. His eyes flicker between you and Shoto briefly before he gives you a toothy grin and says “Don’t take too long!” and ducks back inside. “Guess that’s my cue to re-enter the fray,” you sigh as you stand up, “you coming?” “No, I think I’ll stay out here a bit longer before I go back inside,” Shoto tells you. You nod in understanding, a large part of you wanting to follow his lead. “Maybe another movie night tonight?” you offer cautiously, but the soft smile you get in response is enough to reassure you. “Sounds perfect,” Shoto replies. You grin back at him before heading back inside to rejoin the others.

A/N: No thoughts, head empty, just Grumpy Shoto and Soft Shoto.

Taglist: @sorrythatspussynal @miss-bakugo-writes @pixelwisp @larkspyrr @sokkaandzukosimp @akkaso @sunaispretty @shot0stea @todoplusultra @oliviasslut @lapysllazuly @immah0e4fictionalmen

[youngerdrgrey]

a choice for the choiceless // a Batwoman, post-2x15 fic

about: Post 2x15, the ladies of the Bat Team try to help their friend, who seems almost resentful to be alive. How do you help someone when they’re in a place like this? + read on ao3

Notes: there was a lot in 2x15 (“Armed and Dangerous”), and this is partially me processing my own feelings, as well as everyone else’s. Spoilers below for that episode, as it picks up close after. Features the whole of our Bat Team; some Hamilfox and hints of Wildmoore feels here as well

Content Warnings: brief talk of suicidal ideology, hopelessness, and systemic violence against Black people

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Luke stares out the window at The Hold Up. His shoulders cave inwards, and his neck strains to make up for the fact that he hasn’t totally turned towards the light. He watches it though. Tracks the people on the street while Sophie crosses back over to him with their coffees.

It’s been three days since Luke woke up from his coma. Sophie hasn’t spent a lot of time with him since then. Mostly, she talks with Jacob about what a new version of the Crows would require. She texts with Mary and Ryan, who swear that Luke will be back to his old self any day now. But Sophie wants to see for herself how he’s doing.

She sets his hot cup in front of him. The steam slips from the top of it. He glances over and nods his thanks in her direction.

Sophie starts light. “I’ve been meaning to congratulate you. You and Ryan really had me going when I ‘introduced’ you that day.” They’d pretended not to know each other, which gave Ryan a chance to poke fun at Luke. “I should’ve known you were joking. You don’t seem like a sweet drinks kind of guy.”

Luke picks up his cup. “I’m not.”

“Not the talkative kind of guy either?” she asks. Luke sighs into the top of his cup. Sophie offers a smile. “Hey, totally fine. I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“Probably about as good as you,” he says. His nostrils flare before he swipes under his nose. “Kate’s gone. Your mom won’t talk to you. The Crows are completely dismantled. In a few short months, you’ve essentially lost everything that you’ve spent your whole life working towards. How are you, Soph?”

On edge, with that list.

Sophie shifts back in her seat to get away from the cold facade that’s taken over Luke. She sips her own drink to buy a moment to process. He doesn’t mean to be blunt. He’s deflecting rather than talking about himself, but if Sophie can say the right thing, then maybe her words can help him out too.

“I’m… managing. I would much rather see all of this as a chance to start over.” At least that’s how she’s trying to see things. “Jacob’s getting clean. Ryan and I aren’t constantly fighting. She actually sat next to me on the couch yesterday without comment, so…. There's good stuff happening too. It’s not just a loss.”

Luke meets her eyes for a moment, but the warmth and curiosity that’s normally there is gone. Snuffed out. He takes another swig of his coffee, then sets the empty cup back onto the table.

“Glad to hear it,” he deadpans. “I’ll see you at the office.”

He pushes his chair back, and Sophie can’t find the words to tell him to stop. He walks off without another look at her. Sophie grabs her phone from her bag and calls Ryan.

Ryan speaks immediately. “Hey, how is he?”

Sophie sighs. “He’s still off.”

A walk sign beeps on Ryan’s end of the call. She says, “He came back from the dead. It can take a lot out of someone.”

“You bounced back pretty quick.” If Sophie remembers correctly, Ryan was back on the streets immediately. Sophie mourned Kate, and Ryan as Batwoman tore through the streets to try and take down the False Face Society. She didn’t shut down like this.

“I don’t think we can compare these. I said my goodbyes on that island, but Luke experienced one of the worst fears that we could have. Not to mention the constant think pieces and hashtags and infographics with him at the center. Give him some time. He’ll be fine.”

Luke has been a trending topic since the day of his shooting. Maybe he does only need time. Maybe he’ll snap out of it. But when Alice kidnapped Sophie nearly a year ago, Sophie would wake up from nightmares of being on that beam again. Nightmares where Batwoman didn’t swoop in, or the bomb went off, or Alice simply killed her. Sophie doesn’t have those nightmares much anymore. But sometimes, when she’s really stressed, or feeling extra alone, she can feel the winds whipping around her still.

Sophie clears her throat and clutches her phone a little tighter to her face. “Just keep an eye on him, okay?”

“I’m walking into the Tower right now. We’ve got him. Don’t worry.”

“Says the girl who cried in my arms last week.”

Ryan inhales sharply. “We’re not talking about that.”

Sure thing. They can just gloss over the fact that Ryan sank into Sophie’s arms like it was natural, or that they’d spent nearly ten minutes like that, just holding on and hoping that he would be okay. They’re still holding, even if they won’t admit it.

“Talk to him, Ryan. See if he talks back.”

“I will.”

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 Ryan puts off having a heart to heart with Luke for a few days. He’s clearly not in the mood. Every time she even tries to talk to him, he shuts her down like it’s her first week in the Bat Team all over again. So, she waits until he’s busy and tries to meet him where he’s at — beating the shit out of the punching bag in the Batcave.

The lights are barely on, so the Cave’s half in shadow. From the moment the elevator descends, all Ryan hears is the thick thud of the punching bag. The quick, hard hits of his bare fists. Luke hops from foot to foot in his fighting stance.

Ryan keeps her voice playful. “Try picking on someone your own size.” She sets him up with that. He’s got quite a few inches on her. He’d called her pocket size a few months back when she tried to show how threatening she could be outside of the suit.

But this version of Luke doesn’t even look at her. His whole body’s glistening with sweat at this point, and he grunts out, “I’m good,” before launching into a quick combo on the bag.

Ryan breezes down the catwalk to get to the training area. Closer now, he looks smaller than he used to. Like he’s not eating and instead spends all his time putting on tank tops and joggers and hiding out from the people who care about him. 

She pops into her own fighting stance a few steps out of the danger zone. 

“Well, I’m really good. I don’t mean to brag, but I am teaching multiple martial arts classes.”

He does a spin kick that sends the bag moving a lot further than it used to. How much time has he been spending down here? What’s he preparing for?

Luke steadies the bag. “I don’t want to fight you, Ryan.”

She takes the pause in his practice to grab the other side of the bag. 

“Don’t worry, I can go easy on you. Since you’re still healing and all.” She offers him a teasing smile. His cue to joke back. It might’ve taken them a while to get there, but Ryan and Luke normally play like siblings. She’s never had a brother before him. She doesn’t want to fight either.

He sighs. “Desert rose healed me all up. It’s like it—” He readjusts the wraps on his hands. Finally, he meets her eyes, and the rage in them contradicts how forcibly still his voice sounds. “It’s like it never happened.”

Ryan says, “That’s a good thing, right? You don’t have to worry about scars come summertime.”

Luke jerks his head to the side to tell her to move. Ryan reluctantly lets the bag go, and he gets back to punching. His breath comes out short, but the way he’s hitting feels emotional. Sporadic and pained.

She takes a shaky breath. “Okay, not a good thing. You seem angry. I get anger. You said yourself that I charge into fights that I know I can’t win, and maybe that’s what I’m doing with you.” She has to talk louder over his increased punching speed. “If you want to fight, then we’ll fight. If you want to scream, then we can scream. But this silent brooding thing isn’t you, Luke.”

His head whips around to face her. The bag nearly hits him back as he scoffs at her. “You’ve known me less than a year. You have no idea who I am. Or what I want.”

She reaches her hands out to him. “Then tell me,” she pleads. “Because I want my friend back.”

The fire in his eyes gives way to something hollow. Something aching. He gulps. “Well, you got him.”

“Don’t sound so sad about it,” she says. His jaw twitches, and his nostrils flare. “Wait…. Are you sad about being back?”

Luke starts unwrapping his hands. “I’m fine, Ryan.”

She crosses over to get directly in his face. “But are you happy? Are you upset? Are you—”

“I’m fine!” he yells. His voice echoes through the Batcave, and Ryan flinches. He takes a second to drop his eyes before storming straight for the elevator. He calls over his shoulder. “You can tell Sophie that too.”

Ryan waits until he’s inside the elevator to reply. “What about Mary? You want me to lie to her too?”

Luke’s face crumbles. Then he steadies it back to stone. “Tell her whatever you want. I can’t stop you.” He flips the switch to leave.

Ryan screams because she knows he’ll hear it. Throws her weight behind a punch that sends the bag rattling on its chain.

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 “See,” Sophie holds her glass up for Ryan to refill, “I told you.” She frowns as she says it, which does make her normal righteousness less pronounced. The fact that she’s curled into herself on Ryan and Mary’s couch also helps lessen the blow.

Ryan dumps the last of their shared wine bottle into Sophie’s glass before plopping the bottle onto the coffee table. She settles back into her half of the couch.

Mary speaks up from her seat in the comfy chair. “What else can we do? If he’s not talking to any of us, or a therapist, then how are we supposed to get Luke back?”

Sophie shrugs. 

Ryan suggests, “We could reach out to Stephanie. Maybe a nerd date will help Luke feel better.”

Mary says, “Just because you started dating Imani immediately after—”

Ryan cuts in, “I didn’t date her immediately after—”

Mary gets louder. “Yeah, you kind of did. Angelique left on the 3:15 train out of Gotham, and Imani came in at 3:30.” She rubs the tense spot between her eyebrows. “No judgment, but maybe that’s not the answer.”

Ryan glances to Sophie for a little support, but the ex-Crow finds her wine real interesting around then. Ryan should defend herself. She dated Imani to get out of her head. Angelique was her first love, but she and Ang weren’t meant to be each other’s only relationship. Waiting around wouldn’t have changed the fact that Ang was starting a new life. Ryan had to start one too.

She shifts on the couch, so her knees can tuck under her body better. Her leg bumps into Sophie’s, and neither of them make a move to shift away. Sophie stares down at their point of contact.

“Maybe he just needs to know we’re here for him. We keep showing up, and eventually, he’ll have to talk to us.”

Ryan nods. “In that case, you’re up, Mary.”

Mary sighs into her wine. “No pressure, right?”

 .

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Mary and Luke don’t hang out a ton in the real world. Usually, they’re in the Batcave when they spend time together. Or he helps her at the clinic. So, she figures that she shouldn’t exactly rock the boat too far.

Luke sits down on one of the exam chairs in the clinic. The whole space is empty, with the closed sign on the front door. He shrugs out of his jacket. She tries not to look as nervous as she feels.

“Thanks for coming down.” She wrings her hands before stopping herself and planting them firmly against her sides. “I wanted to see how the desert rose in your blood compares to mine, or Ryan’s. So, uh, it shouldn’t take too long to do the draw.”

Luke nods. “Sure thing.” He rolls the sleeve of his left arm up. “I’m all yours.”

“Right.” She chuckles, but it’s a breathless kind. The kind that she needs to clear her throat to cover.

The tray’s already prepped beside him with the needle and test tubes. She rolls her own chair to stop beside him. It’s honestly the closest they’ve been since he’s gotten out of the hospital. He probably doesn’t even remember her being there. Or what she said about needing him just before he came back. That’s probably too intense of a topic to start with.

She ties a band on his arm to make his veins pop. She wouldn’t need it normally. Luke’s got great veins. Great skin in general. Softer than she’d expect for a guy who spends all his time in the same suit. She actually hasn’t seem him in casual clothes that often, come to think of it. Does he own casual clothes?

Luke chuckles. “You’re thinking pretty hard there. First time?”

Mary springs for the needle. “Ha ha. I just… started thinking about… my dad. Because of veins! And Snakebite. He’s, um… doing better?”

He smiles at her, like actually gives a short glimpse of connection. “That’s really good to hear.”

Mary runs with it. “Yeah, and he’s talking about his feelings. And Alice even warned me that somebody might try to hurt me. It’s weird, and I don’t want Alice as my family, but it’s also nice to not feel super alone….” She pricks him then. His face scrunches for a second, and she watches the vial fill up rather than watching his face. “It’s why I’m so grateful to you and Ryan and Sophie. You’ve been my family through all of this. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Luke’s left arm twitches, but it doesn’t feel like a blood thing. More like he wants to reach out with it. She keeps her eyes low and unlatches the first vial. Grabs the second and lets that one fill too.

Luke says, “I guess it’s different for me. I have my mom, but…. Did you know she calls me every single day for check-ins?” He sounds tired but amused. “She sent me an Amazon link for a bulletproof vest yesterday. Never mind the fact that I run Wayne Tech and have literally made a better one in my sleep.” His jaw trembles. “But I get it. She almost lost me in the same exact way that we lost my dad. I-I almost did that to her.”

Mary scrambles to say, “You didn’t do anything.”

“I would have. If… if the choice were up to me, I would not have come back.” He turns to face Mary again. “A-and I love my mom. And I love our team. But I am so tired of being a part of a world like this.”

Her heart crumbles in her chest. The vial nearly overflows, and she has to grab the third one. Her hands shake as she goes for it. Her voice shakes too. “You sound kind of… schmuicidal when you say stuff like that.”

“I’m not going to kill myself,” he says. He sounds sure of that.

“But you want to die?” she asks.

“I don’t want….” He sighs and rephrases. “I just want to be somewhere else sometimes. And this whole thing has made anywhere else seem better. I mean, I was in a coma, Mary, and they were photoshopping a gun into my hand. Why would I want to be here?”

She stops the blood drawing to hold his hand. “I’m here. And Batwoman is here.”

He balls his fist beneath her grip. “And no one’s checking to see if me or Ryan are a part of the team. I’ve spent my whole life doing things the right way, and I am exhausted.”

Mary lifts her other hand to open his fist. She turns his hand so they can be palm to palm, so she can thread her fingers through his and let him feel where she’s at too. Because she might be exhausted for different reasons, but she’s tired too.

“I think it’s okay to be exhausted. And to want a break. But you can’t let all of this break you. And if it feels like it is, then I’d really like to help hold you together.” She smiles at him, and he glances away to blink some of the tears out of his eyes. She lifts her voice to add on, “Preferably with the help of a licensed psychological professional.”

“You’re not licensed, and you save lives.” He squeezes the hand in hers. “You saved me.”

Mary nods. “True, but an actual therapist could help you talk through this stuff without you feeling like you’re going to be judged, or a burden — which you’re not.” She practically scoots out of her seat to be closer to him. Her knees knock into the side of his chair, and she would totally feel ridiculous if not for the fact that he angles his body towards her too. “God, Luke, I am so glad that you’re talking to me. I want to know how you feel and what you’re going through. But I also know that a therapist can put this in a perspective that I can’t. So please consider talking to one?”

He holds her stare for a moment. “On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Next time you want to talk, you just take me to dinner instead of taking my blood.”

Mary laughs, and Luke laughs too. “Deal.”

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 Luke’s in the bathroom when Mary texts the girl group chat. 

Mary to 🦇 LADIES DO IT BATTER GC 🦇 He sounds better. We’re getting dinner and hopefully he’s getting a therapist.

 Sophie to 🦇 LADIES DO IT BATTER GC 🦇 Great job, Mary.

 Ryan to 🦇 LADIES DO IT BATTER GC 🦇 That’s my girl! Or Luke’s girl? 👀

 Sophie to 🦇 LADIES DO IT BATTER GC 🦇 Ryan, they’re just getting dinner

 Ryan to 🦇 LADIES DO IT BATTER GC 🦇 For now ;)

 Mary leaves them on read and stuffs her phone back into her purse. Luke comes back out of the bathroom, drying his hands on a paper towel. “Ready to go?”

Mary nods. “Yeah, we’ll find our way back.” It’s the only choice they have.

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a/n: The hopelessness that Luke feels in this episode and the near constant mix of emotions feel so true to my experiences over the last few years. one thing that they have gotten very right are different aspects of these Black experiences. There’s a lot to work through, and I’ve found that therapy and leaning on friends has been real helpful. Hope that Luke gets that too. Hope that you all have that as well.

Let me know how you’re feeling, re: this, or this season. Talk to me, Gotham. I’ll talk back.

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Dangerous Minds

Those of my readers who haven’t known me long may not know that I was once a corps member of Teach for America. I taught 10th and 11th grade English for about 5 weeks, then I was told on a Friday about my “involuntary transfer” to another school in the district, where I’d be teaching 7th and 8th grade English instead. I went from having about 110 students to about 190. My classroom had no books (textbook or otherwise), no pencils, no paper, no markers or chalk, but it DID have one of those folding lamps that come out of the ceiling at the dentist’s office. The kids had been in there for 5 weeks with a rotating roster of subs; they’d done no schoolwork of any kind. I was teaching in a very poor area of the city, and my students were predominantly Black and Hispanic. One of my 10th graders wrote his first personal essay about getting shot the previous year. I say all this to tell you that when Chad asked that I review Dangerous Minds, the 1995 adaptation starring Michelle Pfeiffer of the true story of Louanne Johnson’s experience teaching in inner city schools in California, I was prepared to laugh it off as a cringey, Lifetime-movie representation of my experience. Is that what I got? Well...

For the most part, what I got was a ball of anxiety in my chest. It’s well-worn territory, obviously. A teacher bonds with their students from the wrong side of the tracks, and ends up learning just as much from them as they learn from him/her. Usually poetry or music features heavily as a tool that can set the students free from the depressing circumstances of their lives. Depending on the rating, usually a student dies, and the teacher learns just how Important their job is, so they commit to it even harder even though it pays no money and garners no respect from the administration who just doesn’t “get it.” But these cliches and stereotypes and broad strokes exist because at their core, they’re true, and they make me anxious and uncomfortable and I can’t laugh at them or Michelle Pfeiffer being a Nice White Lady because I’m too busy being angry about the systems we put in place that straight up abandon so many kids, all in the name of white supremacy.

Some thoughts:

Oh we’re starting right off the BAT with “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Fantastic news. Two things I associate so strongly with this song is skating around the skating rink in 2nd grade and buying the Weird Al cassingle of “Amish Paradise” and wearing it out. 

Ooh, the score was composed and performed by Wendy & Lisa! Love that, you don’t see nearly as many film scores as you should composed by women.

God, the salary is $24,700 a year and Louanne acts as though that is appealing - I can’t tell if that’s because it was 1995 or because teacher salaries are so dismally low that this feels like a good salary?

This scene in which Louanne goes into her classroom for the first time and the kids are all shouting at her and getting in her face and sexually harassing her and throwing paper balls at her is giving me stress hives. 

Also her friend Griffith (George Dzundza) saying, “You wanna teach, so teach! All you gotta do is get their attention” is rather disingenuous. Trust me, you can have their attention, and still not be able to teach. 

I’m excited to see Sally-Can’t-Dance from Con Air as Raul (Renoly Santiago). He’s honestly fantastic in this, with a tough exterior but a sensitive and gooey inner sweet boy. All of the teens give pretty solid performances, but he’s a real standout.

I recognize this is based on a true story and Louanne Johnson’s lived experience, but I am not sure it’s wise for any teacher, regardless of grade or subject, to be teaching her students how to fight each other. Or taking them to dinner on what looks to outsiders like a date. I know some people have a problem with the bribery (giving her students candy for speaking up in class) but I have no problem with it - you get paid to do all the dumb stuff you don’t want to do at work, why shouldn’t kids be compensated for going to school if they don’t want to be there? External motivation goes a long way to building up internal motivation.

Mm I do love me some Courtney B. Vance, but he’s such a quiet, condescending ass in this. It’s a different vibe than I’m used to seeing in a principal in a movie like this. 

Ooh, Griffith grading papers and saying “What a fuckin’ idiot” is a real mood. 

“Since when has the Board of Education done anything for us? We barely get fuckin lunch” is legit. The lunches my students were served in summer school were some of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen. One day it was spoiled milk, white bread, and pickles. And one of my students put his in a microwave that was hidden in the back of my classroom behind some dividers and left it for a week. And just so you know, as stomach-churningly awful as that sounds, the day I found “pickle man” as my student called him, isn’t even in my top 5 worst days teaching list. 

I like Griffith, and I’m glad Louanne has a friend, but frankly I’m not that interested in these interludes between them - they really feel like they slow down the momentum from the scenes of her in the classroom slowly earning the kids’ trust. The pacing is kind of a mess, because the most dynamic sections all revolve around the kids in the classroom, and I feel like that only makes up about a third of the movie. 

One thing I know for sure is you do not get in the middle of a fight between students. I have a friend who worked in the same district I did who interrupted a fight and got punched in the face because of it. And her principal blamed her. 

Oh wow the way the soundtrack picks up when Emilio finally engages in the class is some kinda cheesy. And it continues through the rest of the scene to a distracting degree. Oh Wendy and Lisa, I hoped for better. 

Can I just emphasize that to reach these kids, Louanne uses her experience as a LITERAL MARINE by demonstrating she can kick all their asses, and then she bribes them by paying for 25 kids to go to an amusement park for the entire day with her?

Also, even if they like and respect her now, I call bullshit at any scene in which ALL of  the kids are A) sitting in their seats or B) silent, and especially C) both. 

Um suddenly feeling some weird vibes with Louanne and Raul having a dinner date at this fancy restaurant by themselves. Also, the double standard here is pretty telling - there’s no way this scene makes the movie if Louanne had been a male teacher and Raul was a female student.

Wait wait wait, she’s also loaning Raul $200? Like, is this why I didn’t make it as a teacher? Because I wasn’t a former Marine taking students to amusement parks and fancy dinners and lending them money? I was 25 and could barely afford rent. Maybe teachers who have enough money to take care of themselves are better equipped to take care of others. Idk, I’m just spitballin here.

Oh “Gangsta’s Paradise” is happening again! We already heard the whole song over the opening credits but now it’s happening again about 3/4 way through. I mean this song is definitely the best thing about the film, so I get it, but it feels weird that they think we wouldn’t notice it playing to completion twice.

Michelle Pfeiffer is doing everything she can to make this movie feel less cheesy and more real. Like, you can tell she’s really trying with her performance. Of course, it’s not like the character is a huge challenge acting-wise, but she is definitely committed to the part and can walk the line of both accessible and tough. 

This scene where Louanne tells her class she is not going to be there next year, that what happened to Durell and Lionel and Callie and Emilio made her too sad to stay has not aged well at all. And it’s certainly true to life, and I say that as someone who did the same thing. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s a reality - the fact that I’m a nice white lady is exactly the reason that I can choose to leave when things get too hard. Just because the kids convince her to stay at the end in this very rushed “all’s well that ends well” way doesn’t sweep this scene under the rug, and it shouldn’t. 

Ope, “Gangsta’s Paradise” shows up one last time in the credits for good measure. 

Side note: after the film, I researched Louanne, and she’s still teaching, which honestly made me emotional (in a good way). And I’d like to point out the racist ass bullshit the studio and screenwriter Ronald Bass pulled by changing the poems the students read to Bob Dylan lyrics when Louanne originally used rap lyrics from popular artists in ‘89-’90 to teach the kids about poetry. 

Did I Cry? No, but I did get heartburn from anxiety flashbacks.

This genre of film is easy to mock and parody because it tells the same story and hits the same beats to the point that they’ve become cliche. Ultimately, the truth at the heart of the movie (which is the un-nuanced and candy-coated depiction of Johnson’s real memoir, My Posse Don’t Do Homework) is that high schoolers crave someone who will see them and validate them, someone who is willing to put in the effort. The quality of the package that truth is wrapped in varies, and this one certainly leans in hard on stereotypes that feel like cheat codes rather than any real illuminating depictions of living teenagers. But as cringey as it is to watch, maybe it’s not a bad thing to remember that all people - including those who are trapped in poverty and all the cruel injustices that entails - want to be seen and valued for who they really are. 

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

[strangewhitegirl321]

Illusory (10th Doctor)

{Not my gif.}

(A.N. This was a request I got on Tumblr... literally over a year ago. I am @sorry for the wait. Oops. Now I can't even find the messages I had to see what the expectations are for the fic or to tag the person who requested it. I'm so sowwy! I had no clue how I was going to finish this fic either, so I apologise if the ending is sloppy, but I just absolutely had to get this out of my drafts.)

Words: 1621

    "I can't let you post it, you know," The Doctor stated, exasperation covering his face and seeping through his voice. "Too many people would recognise me. It's not a good idea."

    "Who said I was going to post it?" Turning to give him an amused grin, (Y/n) nudged his shoulder gently. "It's just something fun- and, a good way to keep memories alive!"

    The Doctor's brows raised, the left side of his lips quirking up in just the slightest smile as the girl stepped in front of him.

    "Whenever we want to remember what happened here and all the fun we had, we can just rewatch the video!" His companion exclaimed, excitement practically twinkling in her eyes.

    "I suppose so, but you have to promise not to post it." The Doctor pulled one of his hands from the pocket of his trench coat, pointing it menacingly at (Y/n) as she quickly nodded in agreement.

    Without a hint of hesitation, she proclaimed, "I promise!"

    The Doctor tilted his head, seeming to study her before tucking his hand back into his pocket. Seemingly satisfied, he pursed his lips and nodded.

    "Alright, then. Show me what you have so far." He requested, watching as (Y/n) whipped out her phone and opened up the camera app. "Aw, seriously, you used a standard phone app? That's just pitiful."

    Almost immediately, a frown covered (Y/n)'s face as she turned to give him a look, "I can't afford any big fancy cameras, Doctor. This is all I have. Besides, do you have anything better?"

    "Yes, I do, actually," Seeming contented, the Doctor began to roll around on the balls of his feet. "I have plenty of gidgets and gadgets that would do a much better job than that sorry machine."

    (Y/n) could only huff at him in annoyance, pouting as she whined, "Well why didn't you mention that earlier? That would have been so much better-"

    (Y/n) cut herself off, a thought jumping front and centre in her mind, "Would you be able to teach me how to use any of those machines? For future reference?" She turned to face him better, looking him straight in the eye with her knuckles turning white from the strained grip she had on her phone.

    The Doctor pursed his lips again, rolling his head around on his shoulders as he observed her before finally conceding, saying, "Well, when your eyes sparkle like that, I can't say no, can I?" His companion immediately began jumping with glee, before he raised his hands and swiftly calmed her.

    "But first, show me the video! You said you already have it edited and everything!" He exclaimed, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the sitting area nearby.

    "Oh! Right, right!" Swiftly, (Y/n) whipped her phone around in her hands and pulled out the video in a few short taps. Apparently, she had already watched it halfway through on her own- because the video immediately started playing at the twelve minute point rather than the beginning.

    "-if we get murdered, it will most definitely not be my fault-" The Doctor's voice chimed out, chiding the past version of (Y/n) who had claimed their murder would be on the Doctor's hands.

     The Doctor leaned forward in interest, hardly remembering his own words, before (Y/n) restarted the video. The first thing the Doctor's eyes were pleased to see was a horrible shot of the underside of (Y/n)'s chin as she badly hid the camera from his past self's view.

     "Alright, Doctor, where are we today?"  She asked, the footage shaky as she fought to keep up with the Doctor's long strides.

    "Well, I remember you saying you wanted to visit some place creepy- so today, (Y/n), we are in Atchison, Kansas, planet Earth, fall of 2019," He explained in the video with optimism.

    The girl in the video nodded, and quickly replied, "That explains the good wifi signal." The real Doctor started in his place on the couch as (Y/n) snorted at her own comment.

    "I'm already hilarious," She stated, knocking shoulders with the Time Lord. In reply, he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the video- just in time to see that his companion had managed to capture his previous eye roll at the first comment on camera.

    "Now- why are we on planet Earth, in Kansas, in 2019 when we could be literally anywhere else in the universe?" (Y/n) asked, a car siren going off in the distance. However, she quickly stopped where she was and gasped.

    "Oh, wow- this place is beautiful," She sighed, turning the camera around to catch the sight of a gorgeous mansion with a red roof and a beautifully groomed lawn bathed in the sunset's light. "Is this why we're here, Doctor?"

    The Doctor nodded, jumping on the balls of his feet and trotting over to one of the hedges that guarded the lot. When he was in front of it, he squatted down and sent himself flying over it with a huff. His long, skinny legs flew over his head before he smashed into the ground with an 'umph.'

    A bark of a laugh left his companion's lips, before she trotted over to him- and suddenly, her camera phone was tossed over the hedge, just barely managing to capture her graceless vault over the hedge and more so capturing her face plant into the lawn.

    "Well that's a great way to start off the night, i'nt it?" The Doctor laughed, standing to his feet and brushing off his trench coat.

    (Y/n) laughed with joy, grabbing the hand he offered her and jumping to her feet before smacking the grass and dirt off her legs, "Why didn't you just park the TARDIS in the yard?"

    "Because I like a good ol' jump every now and then! It's great on the calves," Without missing a beat, the Doctor defended himself.

    After the quick jests, the pair hurried up to the front of the mansion. The Doctor was quick to reveal his sonic screwdriver, opening one of the doors and quickly dragging (Y/n) inside. When her eyes spied the interior of the mansion, she made a sound that revealed the drop of her stomach.

    "Oh," She started, "This isn't quite as enchanting as the outside, I have to say..." Her voice trailed off, before the Doctor relocked the door behind them.

    "Yes, well," He began to explain, pressing himself against her as he looked around, "Welcome to the Winchester Mansion. If you think it's creepy now, wait till we get further inside."

    "Alright, seriously now, Doctor, why are we here?" The girl quizzically asked as the man moved past her to waltz down the hall. She followed after him quickly, refusing to lose track of him as he wandered the house.

    "We're here to visit an old friend of mine," He explained, "He's a bit of a hermit, really, likes to give people a right good scare- but, he's harmless. Totally harmless."

    "Why does it feel like you're trying to convince me this night will end well?" Exasperated, (Y/n) sighed, the camera shifting to view her rubbing the bridge of her nose in a faked stress. However, when the Doctor chuckled at her words, a small smile bloomed beneath her hand before she attempted to smother it. Her attempts were in vain, seeing as the Doctor's foot found the wrong side of an elegant carpet and nearly sent him tumbling to the ground. A howl of a laugh left her lips, before she gave up on her act.

    Recorded-(Y/n) gently put a hand on his elbow, helping him straighten up. When he was back on his feet, he gave her a cheesy, thankful grin before continuing down the eerie, dark hall.

    The Doctor and (Y/n) watched as their past selves ventured through the Winchester mansion. (Y/n) seemed to have watched the video several times before, seeing as each time something would happen she would intently watch the Doctor's face for his reaction. Each time he laughed, she laughed herself.

    There were moments in the video that the Doctor hadn't expected. Intimacy was plain between the two time travellers in the video- however, the Doctor never would have known he was so affectionate with his companion if it weren't for the video.

    He watched as his recorded-self encouraged (Y/n) to open a door and step out, laughing when she was shocked to find nothing but a sharp fall on the other side. She had turned to him with a gasp and immediately accused him of wanting her to fall, but her accusations were quickly hushed when she was wrapped up in his arms.

    The Doctor frowned at the phone's poor job of recording. In the embrace, although he could hear the giggles and quips between his past self and (Y/n), he could only see his armpit in the video. He wished he could see her face in that moment- wished he could see her smile when he embraced her. Something told him there was a smile reserved specifically for him, specifically for when he wouldn't see. The poor Time Lord was dying to see it.

    Suddenly, recording videos with (Y/n) didn't seem so bad anymore. In fact, as the video played on, the Doctor began to plan how he could record future adventures with (Y/n). After all, he wanted to see that smile that's just for him. And, he never wanted to forget what being with her was like. Somehow, even in a dark, creepy mansion with seemingly nothing eventful taking place, the pair of them together were able to entertain themselves with vast stupidity. That stupidity was worth the risk, he supposed.

    From that point on, the Doctor vowed to record every adventure with (Y/n).

[inthatverse]

hello! may i request a matchup for haikyuu? i. emojis: || ii. my mbti is ISTJ (though i really don't see myself as one? but it's the result i get everytime), taurus and a slytherin || iii. personality: i'm often perceived as cold and stoic, but on the inside i'm just *really really* shy (in all social aspects) and as a result, i prefer doing nice things behind the shadows or anonymously since i get embarrassed when someone sees me do nice stuff for some reason?? if i do get caught i downplay it

Haikyuu Life Ship for @mikupog

- thank you for requesting!! hope you find this enjoyable!! -

LOG 3

Door : Haikyuu!!

User Identity: mikupog

School: Nekoma

Lover: Akaashi Keiji

i. Akaashi is also an introverted guy, but he can get extremely close with someone he connects with and will do anything to make sure they're safe and comfortable around him. He's one of the most understanding people there is, and always makes sure that you know that he appreciates you. He notices you do all the small, secret nice things for others and finds it so so endearing but he never tells you when he does because he knows it'll make you awkward and shy. He truly loves and appreciates you for how and who you are in secret and would always give you a squeeze, be it a small one on your hand or a soft hug whenever you need it and whenever he senses that you feel insecure.

ii. Akaashi would always bring you to his house after school and you two would spend your time in his room where he set up lil Playstation/whatever gaming platform area for you two to de-stress after classes end. He keeps his place super tidy and you both hate bugs so you don't ever have to worry about seeing those there. He knows how much you hate doing your homework so he doesn't ever push you to do it but lets you spend all the time doing whatever you want as you two chill in his room while he helps you organize your homework into the different subjects and level of difficulty so that when you do start on them, they can be done quickly and efficiently. He's also always there to help you with whatever you need help with whenever you need it.

iii. 2am meetups with him is the best because he'll switch on some chill music and you two would just relax as you teach him how to play your new favorite video game and he'll always listen so intently and there's always this small smile on his face whenever you two spend time like that together which he thinks you don't notice but you and it always makes you feel so warm and cozy inside. Occasionally Bokuto would call and invite you guys out to the local pizza place where you three would hang out and that's when you two can be a lil louder and a lil crazier because somehow that dork can bring out that crazier side of both of you that's usually hidden to the rest of the world but which comes out whenever you three hang out together.

Best Friend: Komori Motoya

i. Komori would definitely be someone that you can 100% be yourself with. He makes you feel absolutely comfortable and you two have probably known each other for a very long time so understands you quirks the same way you understand his.

ii. He'll always accompany you to the release event of the newest edition of your favorite video game as you two camp out to wait in line with snacks, drinks and a tent ready. He'll always get out of line to buy ice cream or whatever snacks he can find as you two just talk about random stuff and share the excitement of checking out the newest game asap. Tbh he's probably lowkey a rich kid as well so you two would most probably end up napping in his car parked just beside the queue instead of the actual tents whenever it gets too hot outside which sometimes gets complaints from others in the queue but he's just such a nice kid that he'll apologize and get everyone else waiting in line ice cream instead as an apology.

iii. As a result you two would end up making some friends everytime you guys go on such escapades and which would bring you out of your comfort zone but you always end up feeling happy and contented at the end of the day because honestly these were some of the best and most fun times that can always get your mind of school or anything bothering you that week because it's all just fun and games and talking about stuff you love with people who share the same interests with you. Komori knows that and that's why he always plans these little gimmicks that'll bound to get both your hearts rushing and blood pumping whenever he senses that you're feeling down or overwhelmed. He always knows to what degree these things should be at as well like he never goes overboard so that he triggers your anxiety like it's always just the right amount of fun and social activity to make you feel relaxed, stable and in control again.

- that's it!! i'm sorry if it was a lil short and a lil messy aha but i hope you enjoy your journey as you wander the streets of tokyo with your designated s/o and best friend in this new haikyuu journey of yours!! do tell me if there are any parts you have issues with! have an amazing day! xx -

[irhyenglishdose]

Jan 13th: Response to: Is the Great American Teacher Dead?

Jan 13th: Is the Great American Teacher Dead?

I have many questions as a person involved in education.

Are we enriching our classes with what the new era provides or are we in the comfort of old teaching? 

Is every class beneficial for my student? 

Are we just spending hours in the class or learning as we implement new things?

"It is believed that Demosthenes stuttered and had great difficulty speaking. But he had a lot of will and the desire to improve his speech. [The] legend indicates that he spoke with stones in his mouth and also practiced speaking while running, strategies to help him control his voice and overcome his difficulties with speech." As Demosthenes, that rehearsed, researched, controlled... practiced, practiced, practiced, people who are in charge of education must rehearse and find ways to help students be involved. Poor education must not be allowed in the mind of someone that whats to emulate the great teacher. All that we deliver to the students must be consciously filtered, analyzed, and scrutinized. We have to worry about education, then we need to practice. We need to use technology that suits the need of our students. I think that a great teacher cannot be behind. I see teachers carrying out this work exploring tools and then teaching. 

Is technology in our hands sufficient to help our TESOL students learn? I think that we need to think about how to renew ourselves. Words that have been in my mind are disruption, adaptation, and divergent thinking. Education is in constant change, doing the same thing will not help. 

Disruption: people are afraid of changing because they wonder if it will work. I think that we need to be excited to fail and transform education. Failing once, twice, and then finding the successful way to teach will be marvelous. In simple words, we need to break something to repair it. 

Adaptation: A change to become part of an environment that is not suitable. Sometimes teachers want that students change and that unfortunately does not happen or will happen really slowly. It is us the teachers that need to swing and learn to flow in different environments. 

Divergent thinking: We need to think differently, sometimes use something that has been previously used is ok, but now is time to innovate, now is time to think, as others have thought about how education can be better. 

Have we thought of helping our students make a self-discovery? or "thinking about thinking", I think that this is a challenge. I would like my students to teach me, to dig into technology. Recently, I learned that many teachers took cell phones away from the students. Why don't they use this powerful tool?

 Sometimes, I have been taught technology and shortcuts by students. Let's make this era an adapted education getting rid of certain rules that limit even the teacher from learning. We need to see from the outside to the inside. Many forbidden things can be benefitial. Have you gone to unknown grownds using a technological tool and in the end you succeed in your class? If you do not try now, when? I see change and the use of technology as a challenge especially in Mexico where I teach.

To succeed in a technological class, which is not in the reading, but I consider this important to become a great teacher, those days especially in the conditions given by the pandemic that started in March 2020, I want to give you some ideas taken from a video to be sure that even being far away we can continue helping our students: 

-Anticipate barriers caused by using technology, do not let your students stress.

-Define the objective of the lesson and then choose our technological tool, think about their reaction.

-Build a personal learning network, ask for advice help, ask to observe a class. 

-Integrate technology into the assessment, be friendly, and do not overwhelm them with technology, it is not good as well.

-Discuss technology with our students, what worked and what did not, receive as much feedback as you can. 

 Because we are using technology in our classroom does not mean students are learning, so we need to focus on the content, placing it in a way that this technology will suit and help to cover the needs of our students. We need to create a great environment.

My challenge right now is that we are not in a face-to-face classroom, I am in a virtual classroom, I do not know how anxious they are, and I don't know if the students watch TV meanwhile wearing class because sometimes I cannot see the faces totally, and I want this to change so I say I'm teaching as it is planed with an objective in mind with the use of technology that I can have my students completely.

I think the teacher must be a guide, who understands every single kid's needs, knows how to connect in certain ways with them, and explores in a certain amount of time different areas in which all of the students can enjoy an interactive ambiance. Instead of insecurities, shame, and anxiety in the classroom, we need to create a secure, caring, respected environment that motivates students. I hope this to be beneficial. 

I loved once that I had a friend from the US and he talked about the Vietnam war. It let my students think differently, so as we change to be a good teacher we can help our students see the world differently too. I also like to tell stories about my travels, I try to teach with real examples, real problems, and now, I have learned to change the activity every 10 min, which I found interesting. I will feel like an effective teacher as I transform my classroom.

We need to transform education, see from the outside what is needed in our classroom, what do we need to change, how are asked to adapt in a classroom environment. We need to be disruptive, we need to adapt and think divergently. We need to help our students be curious so they discover things by themselves. We cannot be only providers, but people who ignite thinking. 

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity” – Dorothy Parker

#interactive ambiance #Education #EdTech

REFERENCES:

Demosthenes: Biography, Accomplishments & Quotes. (2017, September 14). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/demosthenes-biography-accomplishments-quotes.html.

Is the great teacher dead? file:///C:/Users/Soporte/Downloads/tesol103_Is_theGreat%20AmericanTeacherDead%20(2).pdf

[wellesleyunderground]

The Double Standard in the Wellesley CS Department: An open essay from former students of the Department

The following was submitted to us by former students in Wellesley’s Computer Science Department: 

The Wellesley Computer Science (CS) Department prides itself on preparing its students to take on both the technical and social challenges they will face in their professional futures. Questions of gender discrimination in the greater CS community are frequently discussed* with the Department’s active support evident, for example, in its funding for students’ attendance at the Grace Hopper Celebration, the conference known for being the “world’s largest gathering of women technologists”. However, the treatment of the Department’s junior faculty and lab instructors (non-tenure track positions) confers a contradictory message. 

This disparity is highlighted by the recent reappointment denial to Prof. Ada Lerner; the decision has surprised the student community given Ada’s status as a beloved professor, known for both their focus on teaching and inclusivity in the department, and their contributions to the field of computing more broadly.  We, a group of former students of the Department, question the rationale behind Ada’s dismissal and what it indicates about the treatment of junior, or pre-tenure, professors in the department.

(*We later discuss the fact that other forms of discrimination are not consistently discussed by the department, but we do note that gender discrimination in particular is frequently mentioned, owing in particular to Wellesley's status as a historically women's college.)

 A champion of all students

Prof. Ada Lerner joined the Wellesley CS faculty in 2017, immediately upon their graduation from the UW Allen School of Computer Science doctoral program, after receiving numerous tenure-track offers. Ada quickly became a favorite of students for their remarkable teaching skills, instructing students at a variety of levels, including Introduction to Computing, Data Structures, and an advanced seminar on Security & Privacy–their research area. Students frequently commend their flexible late policy, which carefully balances student mental and physical wellbeing with course content and academic achievement. A variation of Ada’s policy was implemented near universally by the Department at large.

Ada’s belief in and support for their students is further exemplified by their content delivery and expectations of students. One former student summed up their seminar course as “by far the most challenging elective I took as a computer science major, and while in any other context that might’ve been an incredibly stressful experience, Ada worked with me to make sure I could finish all the work. She by no means went easy on me, but she did give me the support I needed to finish the work.”

 “She definitely doesn’t let you off easy,” adds another student, “but she gives you the support so when it gets hard, you know you can ask questions without judgment. The material would go over my head in class and then Ada would explain it fifteen different ways until I felt comfortable.”

Ada’s research area reflects the same care and concern for the experience of marginalized populations. Their research was featured in Wellesley Magazine in Summer 2019, with the article “Online Safety for All” highlighting their focus on inclusive security and privacy, describing the field as “a subfield of security that focuses on specific populations, including marginalized or vulnerable groups like refugees or LGBTQ people, as well as groups with key roles in society, such as lawyers or journalists.” Their work recently garnered a prestigious $175,000 grant for “Understanding and Addressing the Security and Privacy Needs of At-Risk Populations” from the National Science Foundation and has been published in highly selective computing conferences, including the 2020 ACM CHI conference (24.3% acceptance rate). As former students, we note that her lab is impressively staffed with students from various grade levels who often serve as co-authors on lab publications and are actively involved in a variety of projects. A student who has worked with Ada as a research assistant jokes that they feel “almost spoiled” for having had the chance to work with a research mentor who is so considerate of student experience and learning.

Outside the classroom, Ada is an outspoken advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the Department. “Ada shows up,” one alum states. “They not only consistently attend events where students voice their concerns and celebrate their identities, they intentionally look for ways to uplift and empower marginalized student voices, asking all the right questions and putting in whatever work is necessary to aim for equity in all aspects of college life.” Ada helped lead a self-study that publicly disclosed the experiences of different student populations in the Department, with a particular focus on the roles of race, ethnicity, LGBTQIA+ identity and class, as well as the experiences of students with learning accommodations. While the results were conclusive that the CS Department, like many others on campus, had a lot of work to do, DEI efforts seemed to stall at the study’s conclusion.

Students were confused that the Department failed to implement student-facing changes the study suggested; some students noted the repeated absences of some professors and observed that some senior faculty members didn’t seem to buy in to the topic. We cannot help but wonder if some professors hostile to the DEI push led by Ada did not support her reappointment as a result of their feelings about the self-study.

All of the above leaves us puzzled by the College’s decision to terminate Ada’s tenure-track contract, making this their last year at Wellesley. The Committee on Faculty Appointments (CFA), which decides matters of faculty appointment, promotion, and reappointments on behalf of the College, handed down the decision leaving us both surprised and concerned about the integrity of the reappointment process and the potential factors affecting the decision. We note that the CFA states they make decisions based both on the recommendation of the candidate’s home department, as well as their own evaluation of a candidate’s quality of teaching, research, and service to the College. Given the information we’ve shared, we question why the College chose not to reappoint an assistant professor who is clearly beloved by students for her teaching, mentorship, support, and inclusivity.

To that end, we remind students that are bothered by the decision made regarding Ada's reappointment they can voice their concerns to the Committee on Faculty Appointments, who are ultimately responsible for reconsidering the decision. Information on that process:

You  can send emails concerning your impressions of Professor Lerner to the address: cfa@wellesley.edu.  If you want to send physical letters, they should be addressed to:

___________________________________________________________

Provost/Dean of the College

Chair of the Committee on Faculty Appointments

106 Central St

Wellesley, MA 02481

___________________________________________________________

According  to college policy, your letter will be shared with Professor Lerner and the  chair of the Computer Science department (Professor Takis Metaxas), as well  as all members of the Committee for Faculty Appointments. You may indicate in  your email whether you would like for your letter to be shared anonymously  with identifying wording removed, or with your name attached. Letters may be  submitted electronically as an email, or as an email attachment.

If  you have any further questions about this process, you can contact Jennifer Ellis, Clerk of the Committee on Faculty Appointments (jellis5@wellesley.edu).

Reflecting on departmental culture

We reflect on this decision in the context of the Department’s junior faculty at large; specifically, we are concerned by trends that we have witnessed as students in the Department interacting directly with junior faculty. We are frustrated with the way some of the more senior members of the department have handled the hiring and retention of faculty in general.

Junior faculty are held to extremely high standards that we believe the people imposing those standards wouldn’t necessarily have met at the same point in thei careers. Junior faculty are also much more likely to be approached by students, both because they teach many of the introductory classes that students will have taken by the time they must choose an advisor, and because their demographics are often more similar to those of the student population. While the formal advisor process has been restructured to take some of the load off the junior faculty, many are still approached for informal advice and guidance in a way their senior peers are not; it is also unclear if current tenure-track professors will have their research expectations reduced as a result of the excessive amount of advising they were previously providing. We also note that a particular source of emotional support for students – lab instructors – are mostly women and untenured, meaning that they do not have the job security that their peers do, and are not necessarily compensated for their mentorship in the same way.

We call on the senior faculty to make themselves more approachable to students, so that the load does not fall on junior faculty, who are also facing the pressures of research and teaching evaluations. There are existing models for this, including many adopted by Wellesley's own Math department, who host informal teas to build community and encourage interaction between senior faculty and students in various ways. We also note that along with Ada, Prof. Sohie Lee is a champion of D&I initiatives and has worked to implement new tutor training, yet she is one of the few faculty members of color and is technically a lab instructor, despite holding a PhD, This again reflects an onus of emotional and cultural labor on already overburdened pre-tenure and non-tenure track faculty.

 It is unclear to us why the Department is both unable to hire many faculty of color, and unable to retain the faculty of color that they do hire. We question whether the environment of the Department is perceived as hostile, and, if so, what can be done to change that. We theorize that, in part, the Department's hiring practices may be exclusionary, as the majority of candidates come from a small pool of highly selective CS programs, which are already known to have a host of systemic problems that make them unwelcoming environments to both people of color and those who are not cisgender men.

Moving forward

This letter has two main goals. First, we hope to make the Wellesley community aware of the double standard in the CS department, and especially encourage the upper levels of administration to investigate the treatment of junior faculty in the department. Second, we hope to encourage members of the department to reflect critically on the treatment of their peers and engage in self-reflection with regards to departmental culture. Ultimately, we believe that it is in large part these systemic problems in the department that contributed to Ada's reappointment denial, rather than official, concrete factors such as teaching, research, and service to the CS department and College at large.

We call on those involved to truly reflect on the concerns raised here and via other fora, and to commit to measurable improvement; in short, to do better, both for current students and faculty and for those to come.

[iwillgiveyoumyhappiness]

박우진, Park Woojin

anonymous asked:

I'm so glad I could make your day! Finding your scenarios made me super happy too ;u; AB6IX is so new so there aren't many fics for them yet but ahh I really liked what I've read from you so far. Could I make a request please? Something with Woojin with the themes of "coffee" and "camera"? Everything and anything else is totally up to you! I trust in your imagination~ I love the boy so so so much, he is so precious aaaaa ;u;

Group: AB6IX

Member: Woojin

.

.

.

She walked into the coffee shop with a sense of confidence. It was like a second home to her, so she knew her way around perfectly. 

She checked her watch. She was about ten minutes early, but that just meant that she could order beforehand. She didn’t really need to, though. The barista immediately recognized her. 

“I know you,” he chuckled. “Iced Americano and Matcha Latte, right?”

She flashed him a smile. “You’ve got me pegged,” she said with a shrug. 

The barista smiled, jotting down the order in a small notebook before slipping it shut. He glanced around. “Where’s your boyfriend?” he asked. 

“I’m early,” she explained. She gave a quick thanks before wandering off to the seating area. She pouted upon seeing that their usual seat was taken, but she supposed moving down a few tables wouldn’t hurt. 

She sat down with a content sigh, happy to rest her legs. She kicked her heels off under the table, hoping no one would notice. She had the brief thought of, “What if my feet stink?”, but luckily, no unpleasant scents came wafting.

She closed her eyes, taking in the quiet music that played over the speakers. She bopped her head up and down to the beat, her fingers joining in at some parts, tapping them rhythmically against the table. 

She was confused when she heard an off-beat couple of taps. She cracked an eye open, looking out the window, only to be blinded by a flashing light. It caught her off guard, but she wasn’t scared. 

There was only one person that would pull something like that.

Once her eyes readjusted, she immediately smiled. Outside the window, there stood Park Woojin, his eyes pushed up into crescents from his smile and a Polaroid camera in his hands. 

She shook her head at him, chuckling to herself. 

He blew her a cheeky kiss from outside before running (or as he would put it, ‘reasonably speed-walking’) off to the front of the shop. The brass bell at the top of the door rang gently when he pushed the door open. He stood at the entry way with his arm open for a hug, as if saying, “Come and get me”.

She covered her eyes. Why’d she have to fall in love with the most embarrassing person on earth? She looked at him, shaking her head. She gestured for him to join her. 

He pouted at her, huffily crossing his arms and raising a brow. 

She rolled her eyes. “I love you,” she mouthed to him. 

That seemed to satiate him enough. He rushed over to her, giving her a quick kiss before settling down in the chair opposite to her. He held up the camera. “Do you know what this is?” he asked, his voice thick with excitement. 

“The thing that just blinded me?” she suggested playfully.

He flicked her forehead. “Wrong!” he said. “This is something much more important than that. It’s gonna carry our memories with it.” He was beaming. He dug in his pocket, pulling out the picture of her that it’d already printed out. “Look at this,” he said.

She took it from his hand. “It’s actually not too bad,” she said, looking over the snapshot. There was a little glare from the window, but it looked more stylistic than anything else. Plus, he had managed to catch her at what she thought was her best angle: 3/4 view. “When’d you get so good at photography?” 

He shrugged, taking the picture back and slipping it into his wallet. “Natural talent, I guess,” he said. 

She nodded. “Sure,” she chuckled. “So, Youngmin’s teaching you, then?”

He huffed. “Nothing gets past you, huh? For the record, I’m already better than him.” 

She laughed, trying to muffle it a little with her palm. “You’re acting so strangely today,” she said. The waiter came over, setting their drinks delicately in front of them. “Thank you,” she said, giving him a polite nod.

Woojin did the same. “You already ordered?” he asked once they were left alone.

She nodded, taking a sip of her latte. “Of course I did,” she said. “We always get the same thing here—”

“Hold that pose!” he interrupted, pulling the camera close to his face. He squinted, trying to make it as steady as possible. “Don’t look at the camera,” he instructed. “It has to look candid.” She said something to him, but due to the glass in front of her mouth, it was garbled and indecipherable. 

He started counting down. “Three... Two... One.” The camera shutter clicked. 

She gingerly pulled the cup away from her mouth. “You done yet?” she chuckled, wiping some foam off of her top lip. 

Woojin waited patiently for the picture to print out. Within seconds, it did; a 3x3 black and white image from their favorite coffee shop. A memory that they’d keep forever. 

He held it up. “Look at that,” he said. “Beautiful.” 

You blushed a little bit, laughing in embarrassment. “You’re acting seriously weird today,” she said. “What’s the occasion?” 

He took a sip from his Americano. “I have a day off, and I want to spend it with someone special,” he said.

“Oh, yeah? Where is she?” she asked playfully. 

Woojin could tease right back. “She’s not here yet, I guess.” 

She kicked him under the table. “Jerk,” she said. 

He kicked her, but much softer. He still had shoes on after all. “Takes one to know one,” he chuckled. 

She stuck her tongue out. “So,” she started, “what’s on the agenda for today?”

He gave her a cryptic smile. “Fun,” he said simply. 

Their first stop was the arcade. 

They played so many games, blew way too much money on claw machines, and basically sunk back into their childhood days. They would come to places like this with their friends. They would come by themselves to relieve stress. 

But for sure, their favorite time spent there was now. Just being together. 

Woojin hadn’t been able to take as many pictures as he wanted since the lighting was pretty dark, but he still made the most of it. That including tickling her sides to try and get her to lose Pac Man. 

Yet somehow, she still got the highest score. He didn’t quite see the logic in that. He figured the universe was just trying to teach him a lesson about cheating.

They played air hockey for an unreasonable amount of time, resulting in both of them having an equal number of losses and wins, much to their chagrin. 

Next stop: the mall.

There wasn’t any particular rhyme or reason to that one. Just lots of wandering around, window-shopping and goofy pictures taken of each other wearing ridiculous hats and sunglasses. 

They basically had a fashion-show in the middle of a store. 

People were staring at them strangely, sure—but they didn’t feel any embarrassment. They told each other, “Let’s be shameless today”. 

She laughed, trying to steal the camera from him. “Let me take pictures of you, too,” she whined playfully. 

He held it above her head. “You have taken pictures of me!” he said. 

“Not as many as you’ve taken of me!” she said, trying to jump for it as they walked. 

He jerked it away from her, out of her reach. He trapped her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her flush against him. “I need these pictures more than you do,” he chuckled. “No stealing.” 

She furrowed her brows. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

He blew a puff air in her face, fluttering her bangs. “None of your business.”

She cringed, but he noted the smile playing at the corners of her lips. “You’re disgusting,” she said. 

He nodded with a smile. “I know.” 

After that, it was lunch at an awesome sushi joint they’d found together a while back. It was always a place they went back to. There were a lot of memories in there. 

Memories of cola spilled on white shirts, lots of laughter, lots of kisses shared behind the safety of a makeshift menu-shield, lots of resolves arguments—overall, a beautiful place to them, despite the run-down exterior. 

She slipped her hand into his, looking around the humble restaurant. “I love this place,” she said, heaving a satisfied breath. 

He squeezed her hand back. “Me too,” he whispered, pecking her temple. 

They took their first together-picture of the day there. It had to be one of their favorites. The both of them, printed in black and white, sitting at a table near the back of the restaurant. It was nice and quiet and the perfect setting for a sickeningly sweet couple-photo.

And that it was! Both of them smiling genuinely, the tips of their noses touching and a light flush to both of their cheeks. 

Finally, as the sun was setting dramatically over the horizon, they arrived at their final stop. It was a park they’d always talked about going to, but they never had the time. 

They wandered around for a few hours taking pictures of each other in the flickering sunlight. 

“You’re pretty,” Woojin said, pausing his picture-taking to just marvel at her. She was back-lit by the dying sun, all of her so-called ‘flaws’ illuminated in an exemplary way. If he wasn’t 100% sure that she loved him, he’d never take his eyes off of her, afraid that someone would steal his beloved, ethereal light away.

She smiled at him. “And you’re handsome,” she said. The way he looked at her set off butterflies in her chest, just like their first date. How did he always manage to do that? She was positive that he would be her first and last heart-flutter.

Sure, they would argue, and they would hate each other for a time, and they would sigh at each other and say cruel words that they didn’t mean, but they would always come back together. They would talk, apologize and resolve. 

Because even when they were mad at each and didn’t like each other, they still loved each other. 

After every argument, when they realized their feelings were still just as strong as before, they would fall back into ‘like’ all over again. It was a healthy addition to their lifes.   

“I know,” he replied. She smacked him in the chest for that, but it just made him laugh. He hugged her and gave her a look; the look he usually gave when he was about to ask if he could kiss her. She just nodded. 

With no time to waste, he leaned in and connected their lips, smiling into it. 

When he pulled away, he pet her hair and caressed her jaw. “I love you,” he said, voice barely above a whisper.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back. She paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip in contemplation. “I like you,” she finally said.

If he wasn’t such a tough guy, he might’ve gotten tears in his eyes...

Okay, maybe he did, but he’d never let her tell anyone that. 

He leaned his forehead against hers, losing himself in her presence. “I like you, too,” he said. “I like you a lot, especially right now.” 

.

.

.

*takes deep breath* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH- 

That goes on for another few centuries, so I won’t bother you with that. 😅 I hope you enjoyed it, 1102 Anon! The request was... I don’t know how to describe it. It was really pretty. Does that make sense? Like- as soon as I read your request, I thought: “Wow. That’s a beautiful thing”. 

Your request is one of the things that makes me think human-beings are really gorgeous. They can imagine stuff like that. So simple, yet so meaningful.

Thanks for entrusting me to write this! I hope it didn’t disappoint!  

[nananaptime]

Rain stops no one

It took me so long to decide who to write this for and since I never wrote anything for Kun, he won the spot ^^

Masterlist Rules

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 1 349

Summary: When those three important words slip from your one’s mouth...

”You’re pacing around as we speak, aren’t you?” I could hear the smirk in Kun’s voice as he asked me the question he already had an answer to. A small chuckle came from him at the lack of my response, alerting him of his correct assumption. It’s something I always do when I talk on the phone, I just can’t be still. Over the period of a ten-minute call, I find myself in rooms such as the kitchen, the living room and the bathroom multiple times even though the conversation started in my bedroom on the other side of the apartment. Kun always found that little quirk endearing and he often spent time following my moving figure around the area with his eyes, the small smile on his lips never faltering. I knew he was wearing that smile at the moment as well in spite of the fact that he couldn’t actually see me. “You should sit down and rest, I know you unknowingly get stressed if you’re moving around too much.” Knowing he was right, I sat down on one of the kitchen chairs but not even one minute later, I was walking around once again.

“You know I can’t help it.” Another chuckle was heard as he acknowledged my slight struggle as I laid down on the sofa in the living room, hoping that laying down would calm my ever energetic being slightly. During my small activity, I asked my boyfriend how his day had been as I knew he was extremely busy with NCT China’s debut right around the corner. He instantly dove into a story about how having Lucas and Chenle in the same room for too long would give him a headache and he had to tell them off for not focusing enough on the task at hand, but what could you expect, both of them are literal kids.

“I have the day off tomorrow, do you want to come with me to the carnival in town? I could win you something.” The thought of a potential date made my heart beat like crazy, we haven’t been on an official date for months due to his schedules and my university work. I found myself nodding and facepalmed once I realised that he couldn’t actually see me nodding. Giving him a verbal answer, I took the phone in my other hand before standing up and walking into the kitchen, realising my hunger as my stomach rumbled. Kun was going on about the new attractions they had this year and made promises of taking me on all of them, except for those that I found too scary, of course, always the gentleman.

Being too hungry to make anything time-consuming, I poured some pasta into the boiling water and started frying some sausages, knowing it would fill me up no matter the fanciness. The sound of the sizzling sausages reached Kun’s ear and he asked if I was hungry and that he would’ve taken me out for dinner had I just told him so. However, I contradicted the positiveness of that as an alarming amount of rain was pouring down outside along with the occasional thunder, I didn’t want him getting sick this close to debut. Making sure I got my point across, I told him that anything would do at the moment as I’m too hungry for anything that takes time to make, having to calm down his protective nerves slightly, I also reminded him that I am an adult that can take care of myself. He knew there was no way of winning this debate, so he just gave up, which is when I took the opportunity to change the subject back to his work and expressed my excitement for this new unit.

This time he dove into the story of how, when he had the time, he had taken Jaemin as a sort of cooking apprentice and was teaching him everything he knew, dead set on making a fine chef out of him. While he expressed some of the challenges of working with a Leo, I, once again, laid down on the couch, waiting for the pasta to be done as the sausages were now ready to be eaten. Apparently, Jaemin had his own tricks up his sleeves and there were times where they had different approaches to a problem in the kitchen, causing the two very stubborn people to but heads once in a while. I just giggled at his dilemma as I could imagine the scenario in front of me, both of them holding two different ingredients, trying to convince the other that their ingredient was the superior one. At my small giggle, Kun quieted down, determined to hear the sincerity in my laugh which he claimed was always evident. For a while it was quiet, neither of us saying anything but rather enjoying the presence of each other even though we weren’t by each other’s side at that moment. That’s when I heard it… the sound of the water overboiling.

I instantly sprung from the couch, trying to explain the situation to Kun as I, with one hand attempted to remove the pot with one hand. Realising this demanded both of my hands I tried telling Kun that I would call him back later.

“Honey, I have to go, but I’ll call you another time, okay? Love you.” I hung up before he had the chance to say anything back and successfully removed the pot from the stove and poured the content into a strainer. As I finished plating my meal, I realised what had left my mouth before hanging up on Kun.

Did I just say, “I love you”?

Trying to remain calm and not think about the fact that neither of us had uttered those words before, I brought my food to the kitchen table and sat down to eat. If I had not been so nervous over my slip of the tongue, I would’ve eaten a lot more than I did but the nerves had settled in my belly and made me feel slightly nauseous.

Did I just screw everything up? Was it too early? We’ve only been dating for two months, when do you actually say, “I love you”?

I knew I was overthinking, but it was inevitable as I stared at my phone, contemplating on if I should call him again or not. I decided against it and started getting ready for bed instead, leaving the problem for tomorrow morning. Brushing my teeth and pulling on an oversized t-shirt, I settled on my bed with a book in my lap, intending to distract myself from the thinking process going on in my head. I had not progressed more than three pages in The Fellowship of the Ring before my doorbell went off, causing my heart to jump to my throat.

It was 10.47 in the evening and with confusion evident in my expression, I made my way towards the front door, wondering who in their right mind would come to visit me in this rain at this hour?

You can just imagine my shock once I was face to face with my soaking wet boyfriend.

Without further thinking, I ushered a shivering Kun into my apartment and started walking towards my bedroom for towels all the while scolding him for not thinking about his health. No more than three steps were taken before he wrapped a hand around my wrist and pulled me back.

“You didn’t let me say it back.” Confusion was written all over my face.

“What?”

“You didn’t let me say it back.” A smile was no accompanied with the sentence and as I realised he was talking about the three words I had previously uttered, forgotten in the midst of trying to take care of my boyfriend, he leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips, a hand resting on my jaw. Pulling away slightly, he stayed within close proximity, our noses still grazing each other, an adorable smile decorating his lips.

“I love you too.”

[acuppellarp]

Welcome (again) to A Cup-pella, Jeanne! We’re excited to have you and Haley Sterling in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours. 

OOC INFO

Name + pronouns: Jeanne Age: 25 Timezone: EST Ships: Haley/Chemistry, Haley/Nerdiness Anti-Ships: Haley/NoChem

IC INFO

Full Name: Haley Nicole Sterling Face Claim: Virginia Gardner Age/Birthday: 23 / September 17, 1995 Occupation: Part-time acup barista, part-time level 1 instructor through NYC Ultra Gymnastics, part-time student at NYU, defender for April’s Showers Personality: Competitive, impulsive, determined, naive, ditzy Hometown: San Francisco, CA

Bio:

Oh, the Sterling family. If there was ever a group more fitted for a reality TV show on TLC, it was them. That’s how an outsider would see it, at least. For Haley, it was just her family. The first few years of her life were spent loving her parents and little sister, and then her second mom and her second dad came into the picture. Whenever she went over to her friends houses growing up, they introduced her to their parents. Haley did the same, it just so happened she had a few more parents than them. It wasn’t the picture that she saw on TV, but that didn’t really matter. She had a family that loved and doted on her, that’s what mattered. She was an incredibly content child - set her out in the backyard to run around and play, and she was a happy camper. Or set her up in her bedroom, playing with her little sister (once upon a time, Jemma really did play with barbie dolls properly). She was content, and she was friendly, always running up to strangers and asking if they wanted to be her friend. Needless to say, her parents had to have the stranger danger talk with her more times than she can count, but the fact remains that Haley has always been a people person, easily able to settle into a crowd.

Dedication isn’t a word many people would associate with Haley even today, and it never has been. She comes across as having her head in the clouds 9 times out of 10 and she wasn’t exactly a contender for valedictorian. She’s not the person you to go if you’re looking for reliability, and that’s why a lot of people are thrown off when they find out she’s been honing her skills as a gymnast since the age of 4. It wasn’t some kind of “love at first sight” moment, where Haley knew she wanted to make it her life from day one. On the contrary, she remembers crying in frustration when she couldn’t get a somersault down as easily as the other kids in her class (granted it was within the first week of classes, but Haley’s child mind didn’t care about that).

That’s why it was so invigorating when she finally nailed it by week two… Haley’s never been known for her patience, you see, but the one thing she’s got going for her is that she doesn’t quit. She doesn’t quit because of that same excitement she got when she perfected that first somersault right, followed by her first cartwheel, her first handstand, mastering her first forward tuck and everything over the next few years as she climbed up the levels. She was 8 years old, level 9, when she got her first first place award on the uneven bars, subsequently helping her team take home the win as well. That, my friends, is when Haley fell in love with the sweet taste of victory.

There wasn’t time for Haley to ever cultivate many other areas of extracurricular interest. She’d arrive at school an hour before classes started to make use of the gym’s empty weight room for strength and conditioning, and immediately after school she would make her way down to the gymnastics center for more hours worth of practice. Her dedication and prowess in the sport are what helped her lock in a scholarship offered by NYC Ultra, a gymnastics club located not too far away from NYU’s campus. The school itself didn’t have a gymnastics program, but NYC Ultra had scouted her during her final meet during high school and offered to help fund her higher education if she joined their team upon moving. And its a good thing they did, because her grades certainly wouldn’t be earning her any academic scholarships.

Leaving her family had her balling like a baby, but Haley found herself settling in to New York City life eventually. It was a much different pace than San Francisco, that was for sure. Still, Haley prides herself on never really feeling like a fish out of water, especially since she quickly made friends with the other members of her gym and then at school. Her decision to major in social work was based in her family’s own unconventional-but-still-good history, and as much as she struggled to maintain her school, practice, and work schedules, she did find herself liking the course she was on. She was a full-time student for her first two years, but recently after much debate and guidance from people significantly smarter than her, Haley made the choice to go from full-time student to part-time student.

At the same time, she also made the decision to retire from competing in gymnastics and try her hand at coaching, something she’s discovered a love for. She’s now certified to teach entry-level gymnastics, and she thinks she’s found a good balance to her life. It also lost her her academic scholarship, but with the time she’s freed up from her previously strict practice schedule and full-time course-load, it’s all been a relief. She can study without feeling pressured to make it a priority, and is able to both work and be involved in athletics at a pace that lets her enjoy herself rather than feeling constantly stressed. Sure her schedule is pretty packed, but it’s all things that bring her happiness, so it’s worth it.

See, the thing with Haley is that if she isn’t interested in something, it falls to the wayside. But once she finds her passion and groove, she is all in. That’s the reason why she can’t sit through an algebra class without daydreaming, but she’ll give you a point-by-point breakdown of why Laurie Hernandez should’ve taken the gold for the Women’s balance beam during the 2016 Olympics, or make an entire PowerPoint on why Digimon trumps Pokemon (she’s still gotta catch ‘em all though, make no mistake). She knows what she loves and doesn’t waste her time or energy on things that won’t end up bringing her personal happiness and fulfillment. Is that a good way to be successful in life? Probably not, but has it helped Haley get through the last 23 years with minimal sadness and reason to say she didn’t give something her all? Absolutely, 100%, a thousand times yes.

Pets: Haley has had iced coffees last longer than some goldfish. She’s pretty much given up on trying to keep any kind of pet alive at this point, so instead she has her bedroom windowsill decorated with succulents. They’re less likely to ruin her carpet and lose her her deposit.

Relationships:

Jemma Sterling — She’s the first person to admit that Jemma is far from perfect, but she’ll also attempt to rip anyone’s head off who dares insult or undersell her baby sister. Watch it, folks. Haley adores Jemma, even if she does worry her from time to time with just how… we’ll say just how “free” she can be. It’s probably not the best idea, but she trusts Jemma wholeheartedly. In a way, Haley is a little envious of how open her sister is with everything, but that’s a story for another time. She still loves her to the moon and back and then to the moon and back again.

Blair Anderson — Haley and Blair dated for a short time, but that didn’t make it hurt any less when the broke up. Or at least Haley calls it a break up — she won’t say it out loud, but a part of her felt completely jilted and forgotten about when Blair went on her cruise. It’s been months since they’re brief fling, and while Haley hates being anything less than UBER SUNSHINE HAPPINESS, she’s also still angry with Blair. Could she suck it up and just talk to her to get resolution? Of course she could. Has she? Absolutely not, Haley lacks that kind of foresight for common sense.

April’s Showers — Even though she replaced being on a gymnastics team with coaching, Haley did miss the extra boost of athleticism that came with constantly being in practice. She got the idea to join April’s soccer team from her sister, and it’s definitely been a big help in keeping her endorphin levels high and her laziness levels low. It feeds in to her competitive nature, and she digs almost everyone on the team so far. Being on the same team as her sister means they have to share the family brain cell at the same time, but Haley’s enjoying herself.

EXTRA INFO

mmmhalebop ☄️ / HaleyStorm / i’m secretly the fourth member of Hanson

Five latest tweets:

@HaleyStorm: @marvelstudios pls call my insurance company and tell them you’ll cover the surgery to have the heart you ripped out of my chest replaced @HaleyStorm: manny santos hiking up her thong will always be iconic #whateverittakes @HaleyStorm: #gymnastsecret - if you see me hold a position on the bar too long, it’s bc i 100% blanked on the rest of the routine @HaleyStorm: tba @HaleyStorm: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! guess who just saw a dog, me it was me you don’t have to guess

[yourkeeperoftherunners]

Doe Eyes, Dark Nights (Drabble) – NSFW

Characters: Incubus!Jungkook x Human!Namjoon, feat. Human!Yoongi and Incubus!Jimin

Rating: R (Incubus mythology, implied sex, flirting, language)

Notes: Based on this by @refrainbow. At this time it is only a drabble – wanted to run with inspiration while I have it. If you are under 18 or the legal age in your country, skip this one.

“Why are you getting mad at me?!”

“I saw him first!” the blonde fussed as he put his drink down a little loudly. “Kookie, you do this all the time!”

“When?”

Jimin rolled his eyes as he stared at the younger incubus, who was looking back with wide eyes. He began ticking off examples on his fingers: begging the teachers for snack first, approaching the cutest succubus on Valentine’s Day last, charming their professor after a bad grade.

“You’re upstaging me,” Jimin concluded. He picked up his glass and swirled the contents around. “You need to find your own human to seduce.”

“JOONIE!”

The taller male jolted upright on the couch, limbs going in all directions at the gravelly voice that addressed him. He sat up and pushed his glasses up on his nose, groaning when he saw the mess of undergrad tests he neglected, due to a short break he took. (Which turned into a relaxing nap while listening to whale sounds through his expensive headphones.) Speaking of which...

Namjoon looked around for his headphones, worried that he was sitting on them. He jerked his head and saw that his boyfriend was holding them in both hands, staring at him with an amused glance.

“You and your whale songs,” Yoongi chuckled as he put the headphones down on the table. “Sorry to bug you from your ‘exciting’ grading session, but I had a question about catering.”

Namjoon turned to face his boyfriend – scratch that – fiance, and prompted the other to continue.

Yoongi pulled out a notepad covered in scribbles and explained he spoke to three different caterers – their top choice was 99% booked, but if the couple was willing to pay a little extra, he’d make their wedding dates work, plus throw in the cake for free. “I talked to that guy from school – Seokjin?” Yoongi continued. “He said he’s never done catering, but he’s a good cook and he’s the cheapest out of all of the options. I know you thought the presentation was nice on the third one, but –”

“Seokjin then,” Namjoon interrupted him with a smile. “We can trust him, plus he likes doing things for friends – he told me he never went into the restaurant business for the money.”

The elder relaxed his shoulders and allowed a soft, gummy smile to cross his lips. He had taken charge of the planning, noticing that Namjoon, or Dr. Kim as he was known on campus, was preoccupied with teaching 2 undergrad classes, plus advising 4 seniors on their thesis presentations. It worked well, for Yoongi was practical and got things done in a timely manner. The wedding wasn’t until late summer, but it was better to get everything squared away now.

“It’s not my fault people look!” Jungkook huffed to himself as he wandered around, eyes roaming the area for a potential human.

He loved Jimin dearly as a friend, almost a brother, but sometimes the elder was prone to getting jealous easily and would sulk for days.

The incubus stifled a yawn and paused outside a coffee shop. He had trouble sleeping after last night’s argument with Jimin over the human they spotted in the nightclub. Partially to appease the other incubus, Jungkook persuaded the young man – a budding photographer – to go home with Jimin instead. Jungkook finished the bottle of soju at the table before leaving, dissatisfied with the other humans there. None of them smelled as good as the photographer, but he knew he’d have to feed soon.

His hand hovered over the handle and he hesitated for a few seconds. Caffeine sounded like a good idea for now.

He pulled on the handle and was about to step inside, but a taller male collided with him. The latter was holding a cup of coffee in a to-go cup, which sloshed the contents up and onto Jungkook’s white shirt.

The incubus hissed as the hot liquid hit his chest – minor pain, but still it stung. His eyes squeezed closed as he sucked in a sharp breath and he prepared what he was going to say to the klutz who walked into him.

“SHIT! I mean, I’m really sorry!” the deep voice uttered when he saw what happened.

Jungkook’s eyes flew open and he parted his lips, completely forgetting what he was going say to the other male. He blinked as the man ran back to the counter, grabbed a handful of napkins, and returned, dabbing frantically at the stain on Jungkook’s shirt.

“I’m so, so sorry!” the man babbled. “I’ll, I’ll pay for your coffee.”

Jungkook’s eyes drifted from the golden hand blotting at his shirt to the long neck, sharp jawline, and brown eyes belonging to the gentleman standing before him. A pleasant combination of coffee, honey, and a bit of sea salt hit his nostrils and his eyes widened. Score.

The incubus flashed a smile at the other male, catching the hand that was trying to wipe at the stain.

“It’s okay,” Jungkook reassured him. “I should have waited to open the door. Don’t worry – I own a lot of shirts like this one.”

The other male stared back and wadded up the napkins in his hand. “Are you sure man? I’m serious when I said I’ll pay for your coffee to make it up to you.”

“Actually, you cou–”

“Dr. Kim, is everything all right?” a female voice asked.

Jungkook looked over his shoulder to see a young woman in her twenties with a backpack slung on one shoulder. She hoisted the bag higher and asked, “I thought we said 11:35 but my bus came early.”

“Ah no it’s fine Jane,” Namjoon replied. “I was apologizing to this gentleman after my coffee spilled on him. I’ll be with you in a moment – you can wait outside.” He watched as the young woman excused herself to find a table to sit at and the incubus tilted his head.

“Doctor? You don’t look like a doctor,” Jungkook mused.

Namjoon flashed a small smile and extended a hand. “Dr. Kim Namjoon – I teach at the university nearby. I didn’t catch your name.”

Jungkook took the other’s hand in both of his and flashed his bunny smile at the other. “Jungkook or Kookie works too.”

“It’s nice to meet you Jungkook and again, please forgive me about the coffee – my boyfriend says I need to slow down before I hurt myself...or well, someone else, in this case.”

Jungkook froze when he heard the word, but he kept a neutral look on his face. “Boyfriend?”

Namjoon nodded as he let go of Jungkook’s hands, sighing as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Actually...fiance. In 7 months to be precise.” He glanced over at the line at the register and excused himself. “I almost forgot – let me get you your coffee.”

“Oh um that’s not neces–” Jungkook tried to protest, only to watch as the tall professor walked off to order him a coffee.

“You’re in love with a married human?! Oh you’re losing your touch baby boy!” Jimin chuckled.

“Hyung he’s engaged, not married!” Jungkook snapped as he pressed the phone to his ear. “Anyways, his fiance’s not doing his job right if the guy’s wound so tight.”

“Okay Kookie, so what does this ‘wound so tight guy with a fiance’ do?”

Jungkook took a sip from the cup of coffee Namjoon bought him before shifting the phone to his other ear. “He’s a professor at a university.”

The blonde whistled in the background, humming that university was stressful. “Well I won’t deny that you’re right about that,” Jimin concluded, “but you actually want to seduce a human that’s taken?”

“Why not? It doesn’t have to be serious!” Jungkook insisted. “Besides, isn’t that what we do? Give the humans a good time and take what we need to survive?”

“True, true,” the other incubus replied. “So, what’s your plan?”

Namjoon yawned as he stumbled into his apartment, hands fumbling with the switches. He dropped his briefcase by the front door and kicked his shoes off, wandering to the bedroom. His fingers brushed the switch and the lights flickered on, revealing the fair-skinned young man he ran into earlier, sprawled across his bed in nothing more than a white button-down shirt and a lacy pair of boyshorts. The professor blinked and flicked the lights off, thinking he was seeing things. Too much caffeine, too little sleep...he was starting to lose his mind – yes, that was it.

He flicked the lights back on, expecting to see an empty bed, but the young man was still lying there, eyes fixed on Namjoon.

“Wha–I mean, what are you doing here?” Namjoon asked as he approached the young man. “Ah man am I really that sleep-deprived that I’m seeing people I bumped into?”

Jungkook sat up and shook his head, scooting closer to Namjoon on his knees. He reached for the elder’s neck and tugged him closer, his eyes twinkling as a smirk crossed his lips.

“Hyung, did you think I was just a cute boy who accidentally walked into you at a coffee shop?” the incubus asked.

“Well yeah,” Namjoon confessed. “Oh shit, what are you implying? Wait, you’re not gonna kill me and suck my blood, are you?”

Jungkook laughed as he undid the buttons on his shirt, allowing the thin material to slide off his shoulders. His eyes darkened as he held his gaze with the professor’s.

“That’s a vampire and they’re not real,” he explained as he tugged on the other’s clothes, “Now incubi, we’re real and I think we could have a little fun tonight.”

“But...I’m enga–”

“One night won’t hurt anyone,” the incubus replied as a finger tapped the other’s lips. “Our little secret, Doctor. You’ve been working too hard and I think you could use a little help to unwind.”

[fionas-french-challenge-blog]

Blog 1 - Initial Challenge Planning

My challenge:

Vocabulary – Difficulty keeping up language practice  outside class. I have tried to combat this sporadically through use of  Duolingo, although it does not target specific vocabulary from my classes.

‘Thinking too much’ – Rather than trusting my  knowledge of the language and letting myself feel how to correctly use the  language I find myself grasping for particular rules and structures that I  should be using, therefore hindering my fluency and stressing me out further.  The best solution I have found for this is knowing structures very well so  they are second nature, though this becomes an issue when I am placed in  variable situations.

Getting confused about when to use different  conjugations – I get confused about which conjugations to use in certain situations  and find myself stressing and without knowing where to start if I haven’t  been specifically instructed to use a certain one. I have best approached  this in the past through memorisation, though I feel as if this knowledge has  not stayed in my memory very well.

My Learning goal:

Getting a 6 in FREN2010 throughout the regular  assessment pieces in the class and overall for the course.

Being able to differentiate and describe different  verb tenses + conjugations (present; past (passé composé, imparfait); future  (futur proche, futur simple); conditional).

Feeling more confident and relaxed in straying from  specific sentence structures/responses/questions, especially in class.  Decreasing my use of English in French classes.

Increase confidence in conversation (especially with  native speakers).

Retaining knowledge so that I can have a good base  for FREN2020 and speak functionally in France at the end of the year.

My learning styles and strategies:  

Very clear guidelines/rules for grammar – Purposed French  language learning Instagrams, Youtube, and Podcasts should help me with this  by providing definitions and explanations for difficult grammar concepts using  different learning strategies of which some will hopefully suit me.

Creativity – exploring knowledge through reuse which  is then subject to critique; application of critique and revision of problem  areas. – I will achieve this through interaction with French social media  (Instagram). This creativity is given much room for exploration in my formal  university class sessions and is therefore not a huge focus of mine for this  challenge.

Group settings/discussions. –  I can participate in discussions on  Instagram and YouTube posts aimed specifically for French learning.

Natural and practical applications for knowledge – Exposing  myself to French designed for native speakers (podcasts, YouTube videos,  Instagram, Netflix, etc.) should help me to be more comfortable with integrating  French into my everyday life, and therefore increase my familiarity with it  in a casual setting.

The technologies I am  going to test:

Duolingo:

Not very useful to actually teach me intricacies of  grammar

Good way to revise and improve vocabulary

Requires listening to and replication of  pronunciation

No options for experimenting with language knowledge  (e.g. creativity using the language and therefore challenging self to be more  independent with language – ‘thinking too much’ challenge)

Instagram: Following French Instagrams with language  teaching focus, as well as sourcing some French Instagrams with an aesthetic  I would like.

Exposure to native speakers of French and content  intended for native speakers – broad exposure to structures, vocab, and culture  I may otherwise be unaware of.

No output from me (unless I interact with the  Instagrams in French)

iPhone: Changing language on iPhone to French

Only useful up to a certain point (once vocab for  common phone notifications is learnt)

May be frustrating when I am trying to go about  daily activities.

Netflix:

Preserves interest/motivation as language can be  explored without focusing on the task as a targeted learning activity.

Native speaker speed and pronunciation, as well as  slang and culture.

Some English movies/programs can be dubbed with  French – expands content available and possibly means I can watch content  that I’m already watching in French)

Youtube:

Gives a larger variety of content with which to  preserve interest/motivation.

Good way to gain access to various teaching  strategies for particularly challenging aspects of language.

Very self-guided -> can be very basic or very  challenging.

Due to volume of content could be difficult to  successfully locate useful resources.

Podcasts:

Countless options offered from lessons,  news-readings, audiobooks, talks etc.

Many offered at various levels of French  (purpose-made)

Not currently a habit of mine – often use my phone  to listen to things when I specifically want to relax (e.g. after work or  class), meaning that in such an occasion I may have to force myself into  this.

CEFR language level tests:

Will be frustrating on top of usual class assessment.

Potentially not very accurate as the tests I have source  seem to have only 20-30 questions on which to base their results. Therefore,  may be necessary to take tests from multiple sources each time.

Tests may recycle questions so that it would be  unwise for me to take the same test more than once over the course of this  challenge.

My plan:

Trying to add activities into my day that I can  reasonably attempt to incorporate as habits. This involves evaluating  technology that I already use on a daily basis in terms of how my use of each  may be altered slightly to increase French exposure.

Incorporating 4+ 30 minute or longer French  listening activities into each week (May be Netflix show, movie, podcast,  Youtube video).

Duolingo: Reaching 50XP per day.

Instagram: Because I already check Instagram almost  daily, I will make sure to properly read through the content from the French  Instagrams that I follow, making sure that I unpack the meaning completely.

iPhone: Changing language to French so that exposure  every day is unavoidable.

My evaluation approach:

My goal of achieving a final mark of 6.0 or higher  will be evaluated from the grades which I receive in my FREN2010 course at  university. I will additionally record results from class assessment on my  blog.

At the start of the challenge and every following  fortnight I will take an online French placement test based on the Common  European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) learning levels. I will  change the source of such a test each time, and perhaps do multiple tests at  the same time, in order to increase accuracy of results.

Blog 1 Reflection:

I have intentionally designed my language learning challenge so that over the semester I can develop it in any way that I think is suitable. I have taken such an approach as this challenge must be incorporated into my daily life, and I want to go into the challenge from a practical perspective knowing that some aspects of the initial plan may be less realistic to fit into my lifestyle than others. Furthermore, I may discover that some aspects are less helpful for me in terms of achieving my learning goals than I thought they would be. Over the next week, I think it is important that I further evaluate my chosen technologies in terms of my goals and learning strategies, and do more research to explore other technologies which may be more useful for me in the context of this challenge. I would like to revise my plan for the challenge if necessary.