#i honest to god have no idea how women do this stuff

[limpbizkitmutual]

I need to stop shaving parts of my body just to see what it feels like because I regret it instantly every time. I feel so naked

[deepseawave]

obsessed w the tags on ur last reblog

Omgg, thank you haha, it was a quality post so I just had to appreciate it in full force 😂❤️

Can‘t believe someone would actually enjoy my yapping :,D

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Okay Alder so I thought of this while studying and I must share (and concentrate, dammit). Anyway I started randomly thinking about TOA but with one of the female goddesses, because I feel like it could be a really interesting exploration of feminism and the lack of autonomy for women and stuff, and I was like "Well which goddess would it be?" and then I was like HERA.

Hear me out. So like idk why exactly it happens, maybe Zeus just got fed up with the fights or something, but anyway Hera is forcibly removed from Olympus and stripped of her powers, turned mortal, etc. She meets Meg, who I feel like she would honestly like a lot, despite being a demigod. I can see her trying to teach Meg manners and how to be a lady and Meg just being like "Nope. I must pursue my destiny of being a chaos gremlin." I would still have her at least try Percy's apartment, because while of course he would tell her to fuck off, I think Sally would have some sympathy and I think they could have a really interesting conversation woman-to-woman, especially as survivors of abusive marriages.

I'm going back and forth between Hera being a middle-aged mortal (because I doesn't really matter to her what she looks like), but I think it would also be really interesting if she was a teenager, because teenage girls have far less power than grown women, and it would be really interesting to have her be the same age as many of Zeus' victims.

Anyway thought?

OKAY. SO. THIS IS ACTUALLY SOMETHING I'VE TALKED ABOUT WITH CHRONIC ON DISCORD. A WHILE AGO.

the main difference is that we were discussing how ToA would go if Apollo was joined by Hera in punishment, and by god it was a god-tier idea. spoiler: the moment they figure out what is going on, they immediately turn on the other and blame them XD

CUE THE FORCED STEPMOTHER-STEPSON "THIS IS OUR GET-ALONG ROADTRIP" ACTION!!!!!!

and even in this version, I do agree that this would be a excellent opportunity to really dig into woman's struggles in today's day and age, and even compare/contrast them with the ancient world's! because let's face it, there were pros and cons in both times. tho i'd say we have more pros nowadays, but that ALSO depends on where you live and all that. very complex but also not if you really try :3

BUT. your mention of Hera & Meg bonding REALLY made me excited because Chronic and I have talked about this too! This would be SUUUUCH an interesting dynamic!! Hera could help boost Meg's self-esteem, not only just helping her feel comfortable in her body when she's wearing more "fancy" clothes (because those are the clothes usually forced onto her by Nero, so Hera helping her essentially "reclaim" them for herself can be Female Empowerment whoop whoop!), but also just by gaining more confidence in herself.

On the flip side, I feel like Meg would be a GREAT person to get Hera to "loosen up" per say. You can't convince me Hera was Stone-Cold her whole life. nuh-uh. and you bet I think Meg could draw that old Hera out from that mask.

not to mention that Hera knows Demeter quite well. that would be an very interesting conversation between her and Meg, especially since Hera may be a bit unsure what to say since Meg was left to suffer under the thumb of an abusive emperor for years without her mother ever knowing. I think Hera might struggle with balancing making Demeter look good (perchance this be an opportunity to dig into Hera's toxic idea of "perfect families"? making them look good even when you really shouldn't?) and being honest with Meg. Even though Hera is a crafty goddess, I don't think she'd be very comfortable with straight-up lying about her family- she values that bond far too much.

Chronic and I discussed this AU as if Hera was in a middle-aged mortal body, mostly so we had that aunt-niece bond with Meg, and stepmom-stepson one with Apollo, but also because of our thoughts on "what would Hera consider to be undesirable in a mortal form?", much like how Apollo was horrified to be in a normal teenage boy body. So we thought "wrinkles, probably. don't even need that many, just a few would probably make her freak out." because she is a god, and is def NOT used to normal things like wrinkles lol there were other ideas too i just can't think of them at the moment lol

I can see teenage Hera working for an AU where it's just her and Meg, or even with Apollo still! It would be extremely funny if at some point, Apollo just turns around on Hera and says, deadpan, "Okay, Mom." to a literal sixteen year old.

not. not to mention. how The Burning Maze could go. explore that Juno-Jason relationship/dynamic. Chronic once suggested that Hera could get seriously injured saving Jason, so there's food for thought >:3

also. can you imagine the Triumvirate's panic when they realize they don't just got one ex-god to deal with. they got two now, and it's the fucking Queen of Olympus herself.

boys i'd start running if i were you mwhahahaahah!!

[yuri-is-online]

hi, i'm not the same anon but i would like to hear more about the fyuuture kid au 👉👈 especially about riddle!!

hello new friend, you picked someone who is having a real bad time in this au (ﾟωﾟ；)

I am going to give some general information about Yutu and then move on to some Riddle specific stuff.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, general au explanation can be found here, and the posts can be found on my masterlist under the series section.

General Yutu Facts

"Yutu" is supposed to be a fake name fyuuture kid is using to help hide his identity, but I am open to suggestions on that. Originally he didn't remember his name and Crowley picked it out for him, but I like the idea of "Yuu two" being a nickname he had in both your world and Twisted Wonderland and picked as his alias to honor his parent. Yutu really admires Yuu, he has nothing but empathy for your situation and respect for your strength, and while he certainly fought with you from time to time (some Yutus more than others) he wants to be like you.

That desire was very much cemented when he heard about how you won against the overblot phantoms. Yutu's unique magic changes depending on who his dad is, but all Yutus have extensive experience in combat magic and have fought a lot of monsters. Including overblot phantoms, same as you. His fights didn't go as well though... he's extremely afraid of the Great Seven's phantoms and has regular nightmares about them.

Back to the names... I didn't have names picked out for every version of Yutu, but Riddle does happen to have been one of them. His real name was supposed to be March, yes like the march hare but if I'm honest I was more thinking about the saying "in like a lion out a lamb" because I thought that described Riddle's temper pretty well.

The other ones I picked out I still like are Merrin (I swear I found it on a list of mountain themed names??? But it means sea born or pearl of the sea), Laurie (yes like little women, his unique magic was supposed to something to do with painting), and Roland (I have an unironic love for French peerage ok please do not judge me).

Some of the Yutus were meant to have older siblings who stayed behind in Twisted Wonderland (Riddle! Yutu wasn't one of them), but that was very much an idea I didn't develop extensively since it was more left over from Fire Emblem Awakening. I wanted there to be a Lucina type older sibling character who was very protective of Yutu and wanting a future where he gets to stay in Twisted Wonderland and they get to be a happy family. But again I didn't cook this idea extensively so idk how to feel about keeping it as a part of the ayuu.

Anyway on to the Riddle specific stuff ¬‿¬

So that bit about Yutu's real name coming from a description from Riddle's temper: I like to leave what Yutu looks like up to the reader, but Riddle! Yutu if nothing else took two things from his father, his (lack of) height and his temper. His facial expressions when pouting and angry are eerily similar, and they both have a strong affinity for fire. Riddle! Yutu is a lot like Riddle Tsum now that I think about it? Very high energy and likes to jump around all over the place, but determined to be at least somewhat dignified.

Since traveling back in time Yutu has been "studying" with Grim to try and get his flames hot enough to burn blue to flex on his dad and to bond with the monster. He usually just ends up watching him though, the mental image he had of Grim vs what the little guy is actually like is really wild.

Back to the temper, unlike Riddle Yutu wasn't home schooled so he got into a lot of trouble for losing it on other students. He had a chip on his shoulder about not having a dad, having a parent with amnesia, and especially about being short oh god he is so spiteful about that. He got sent to detention a lot, and shamefully it made him fight with Yuu a lot too. Not that he hates Yuu, he was just very emotional and not always the easiest to deal with. His last few interactions with Yuu before they died were very strained, and he is filled with remorse for a bunch of stupid things he said.

When he gets to the point where he has to admit to Yuu who he is there is going to be a lot of crying and begging for forgiveness. He was a stupid, angry kid who just wanted to know who he was and didn't feel like he belonged lashing out at the one person who he knew wanting nothing but the best for him. He doesn't really feel the need to ask for forgiveness from his dad (yet)... by the time Yutu was isekaid into Twisted Wonderland Riddle had been corrupted by his overblot phantom and was wrecking the Queendom of Roses so he never really met the real Riddle until he traveled back in time.

He also got compared to Riddle a lot, Yutu isn't stupid by any means but because of all that time spent in detention he is a bit behind on the fundamentals. Not to mention all Riddle has done up to this point is practice magic and Yutu only just found out it was real so of course there was going to be a skill gap! But still, he's Riddle's son and Riddle was a very memorable student for Crewel, so Yutu was guaranteed to hear some comparisons. It didn't help the daddy issues though...

Speaking of Yutu's time at NRC, he did get placed into Heartslabyul by the Dark Mirror and he does know all 810 rules of the Queen's rules. He's not as obsessed with them as Riddle is but he still knows what he's supposed to do and tries to be on his best behavior. He was not interested in being dorm leader and wanted to instead focus on the things Yuu always encouraged him to do, like controlling his temper and getting good grades.

I sort of like the idea of his unique magic being the ability to grow/shrink because in the book Rule 42 of the Queen of Hearts says “All persons more than a mile high to leave the court" and I like the idea of him trying to use his spell to get out of arguments with his dad.

Riddle has no idea that Yutu hates him... at first. This is partially because Yutu is usually very polite to him and partially because he is utterly unaware of how much people are afraid of him in general, but he starts to pick up on it when he tries to interact with Yuu. He wants to have a private tea party with just Yuu? Well Yutu immediately starts acting like this is somehow scandalous and calls him out on his feelings in front of the prefect and he wants to lose it so badly- Yuu agrees anyway and Riddle immediately gets unreasonably smug while Yutu pouts. Take that sucker! He's going to study with the prefect all alone and since it's Riddle you know you really are just going to study.

I don't think Riddle really considers Yutu a rival for Yuu's romantic attention, partially because he isn't fully aware of what it is he feels for Yuu, but even if he was. Riddle knows that Yuu sees Yutu as someone under their care similar to Grim, they actually talk to him about it quite a bit and he has no issue with that. He is actually sort of grateful for Yutu's existence since it has given him an excuse to talk to Yuu more and let them know how he respects them.

Yutu's academic struggles are something that actually bring him closer to Riddle ironically enough. Riddle has created study guides for Yuu and Grim before, he has no problem doing that for Yutu and inviting himself over to give instructions.

"Did you not get a lot of help from your parents?" Riddle sounds nervous, and he should it's an invasive question to ask. Yutu wants to be angry, but when he looks at Riddle, he just feels sad. "Not that it is any of my business really but well. I just noticed you never really talk about them, even to Yuu."

"My dad wasn't really around." He forces himself to look at Riddle when he says it, but it doesn't make him feel any better. If anything it makes Yutu feel worse, he knows about as much about Riddle as Riddle knows about him now that he's forced to look at him. "And my other parent... they tried really hard. But I wasn't always willing to accept it."

"I can't say I understand what that would be like." Riddle looks like he is trying to and that should be what he wants, right? "My mother home schooled me so it's hard for me to understand that someone's parents wouldn't be a constant figure in their schooling."

"You were home schooled?"

Yutu didn't know anything about his grandmother, it didn't even really occur to him that he had one and once he learns about her... well it certainly makes things make a lot more sense. He doesn't want to meet her, but he is curious about what she thought about his parent. What would she think about him? Does he even want to know?

My last concrete thought is that Yutu doesn't really get the whole horse girl thing. He is sort of afraid of horses actually, but I can see him maybe wanting to ride with Riddle once their relationship gets a bit better just to do something with him.

I like the idea of Riddle! Yutu being very into baseball for some reason and there's no way he's going to convince his dad to do that with him ha. Well not in this timeline anyway, I can see good timeline Riddle doing a bunch of research on baseball so he can talk to his kid about it. And showing up to all his matches to scream in support of his kid instead of at the coaches. He is breaking the cycle we love to see it.

[sturniololuv08]

On The Fifth Day Of Nickmas....

Day 5 of Juno's 12 Days Of Nickmas (posting late!)

Nick had just fallen asleep a few hours before being woken up to start their early day. He spent most of the night thinking about his situation with Jared. He was grumpy and tired. During the three-hour drive to the airport, he couldn't get comfortable enough to try and take a nap. Then, TSA was hell to get through because it was one week before Christmas. Everyone was starting to travel out while they were just trying to get back home. Nick wished they could have Christmas with his parents on the actual day, but they knew it would be less of a headache to do it early. Once they were on the plane seated Nick got comfy and was hoping to try and take a nap. The way the flights worked out meant as soon as they landed he had to go straight to the warehouse to start prepping for the campaign. Jared was sitting next to Matt on this flight.

"Are you coming with us to the ware house?" Matt started conversation.

"I don't know. I assumed not since its business and all." Jared was honest.

"You should come." Matt smiled and rested his head back to get comfy.

"If Nick is fine with it, sure." Jared was fine letting Nick be the deciding factor. It was his campaign, and he was in charge. The rest of the plane ride, Jared sneaked a glance at Nick's profile from a few rows behind. He noticed his jaw was a little sharper than usual. He couldn't help but smile every time he peeked over at his best friend. Once the routine travel experience was over, they found themselves outside at the warehouse.

"I'll see you later." Jared smiled.

"Wait, you aren't coming?" Nick asked, shocked.

"Can I?" Jared further explained his confusion. "I know it's like business stuff. I didn't know if friends were allowed to come."

"Yeah, come on." Nick took his bag from him and walked inside the warehouse's double door. Jared followed him in. Chris and Matt stayed behind in the cab to take the ride home.

"Doesn't look like how I remember it." Jared walked doing a 360 turn.

"Well, yeah. We have to change things for new posts, themes, and also for our solo projects."

"Speaking of, does Matt even have one?" Jared chuckled.

"At this point, probably not." Nick dropped their bags on the floor.

"Nick, are you here?" Someone's voice yelled from up the stairs.

"Yeah." Nick jolted up the stairs. Jared noted how exhausted he indeed looked. "Coming?" He looked down and gave a weakened smile.

"Yeah." Jared followed him up the steps. Once he broke the floor level with his head he saw how tiring their job really could be. There were people moving props around, a few people with a rack of clothes discussing outfit ideas, a lady with a clipboard pointing and directing, and a group of men and women who were getting directed.

"Thank god you are here." She stopped talking to everyone else to focus solely on Nick. "You first outfit change is ready for you. I figured we'd get you dressed and then do the models first. Then you." A fake Christmas tree passed us. "Where are the lights?" She yelled at the men carrying it.

"They haven't arrived yet." One shrugged.

"What?" She seethed and looked at her clipboard.

"Laura, breathe. It'll be fine. It already looked amazing in here." Nick put a hand on her shoulder, and she took a few breaths.

"Who is this?" Her tunnel vision widened, and she saw Jared.

"This is my friend -"

"Jared." She finished cocking her head to the side. "You auditioned for the Pool Club Pack." She bit her pen.

"Yeah, horrible audition but -"

"But I liked it. I liked your aura." She smiled and put out a hand. "I'm Laura, the boy's manager." Jared shook it lightly.

"Thank you."

"Anyways. Nick, outfit." She directed. Nick grabbed Jared's hand, knowing he wouldn't know where to go or what to do without Nick taking charge. Nick was handed some clothes and Jared followed him to the bathroom.

"Do I -"

"Sure." Nick held the door open. He knew Jared would feel too uncomfortable sitting out there with strangers. Jared crammed in the tiny bathroom with him. Nick took off his shirt and Jared saw all of his tattoos. He had seen them before but in this proximity they held a richer black hue than usual. "Can you hold this?" Nick handed Jared his old clothes. He was down to his boxers and socks. Jared nodded, feeling a lump in his throat. Being this close to Nick, with him mainly being exposed, made him feel warm. Nick finished dressing quickly, and when he opened the door, Jared felt the cold air spill into the room, filling his lungs. He licked his lips and tried to forget what Nick's tattooed body looked like in front of him.

"Perfect." Laura's voice boomed loud enough to clear Jared's thoughts. Nick was in a pretty pink polo and some khaki shorts now.

"What do I do?" Jared whispered.

"Just watch." Nick winked, and Jared immediately felt embarrassed. He couldn't help but think Nick had caught him staring in the bathroom.

"This is the candy cane flavor," Laura announced to everyone. "Think spicy and fun." A couple of people laughed. Some cheery Christmas music started up, and Nick walked over to be with the models. He started talking and laughing, all of which looked forced and exhausted. Jared liked the way he looked in pink, but the khakis were a miss. Jared found himself looking through the racks of clothes. He found some white jeans, draped them over his arm, and kept looking. He walked over to a wall with shoes lined up and found some brown loafers. He nodded and carried it back to where he was supposed to be stuck. He noticed Nick was eating and displaying the candy cane cookies he had baked with his family in Chicago. Jared's mouth dropped open a little bit at the surprise.

"What's this?" Nick asked, walking over. Jared looked down at the clothes he was caught holding.

"I don't think the khakis are right. So I just looked around and found this and -"

"Sweet. Thanks." Nick grabbed it without asking any questions and went to the bathroom without Jared. He emerged and looked breathtaking.

"What is this? This isn't the second outfit they -"

"It is now." Nick looked down at himself and back up to Laura.

"Okay." She didn't fight him. He flashed Jared a smile and followed her to a corner with a white backdrop. Jared sighed, realizing his mistake.

"He is going to blend in too much." The photographer said. Jared wanted to fix his mistake, so Nick was in trouble or embarrassed for taking his friend's style idea. His eyes darted all around the room until his eyes settled on a bright red throw blanket. He walked over and grabbed it fast. He approached the three, discussing the outfit issue confidently.

"Try this, Nick?" He handed it to him.

"Jared, this is great." Nick laid the blanket out and sat on it. He pulled out his new unreleased candy cane-flavored lip balm and looked at Laura and the photographer expectantly.

"Okay." The cameraman started taking shots of Nick posing with minimal directions.

"Nice work, Jared." Laura stood back by him as they watched Nick smile and laugh. "He seems more comfortable," she noted. Nick came over after the shots were done.

"Can I do a few with Jared?" Nick puppy dog-eyed Laura.

"No. No. I look so bad." Jared humbly refused.

"Sure." Laura saw all of Nick's exhaustion turn into enthusiasm. Nick grabbed Jared and rushed them over to the clothes.

"You are going to do so good." Nick started looking for something to fit Jared.

"Nick, I'm literally the worst. It's why I didn't get chosen before."

"You have modeling experience, right?" Nick looked at his worried friend.

"So I lied on my application." Jared owned up to his flaw.

"You did what?" Nick busted up laughing.

"I really wanted the gig." He flushed red, exposing himself.

"Okay, well, this is really easy. This isn't like Matt's Prada gigs." Nick rolled his eyes and handed Jared a makeshift outfit based on the color scheme of the next shoot. Jared went and changed, noting that the clothes weren't a perfect fit but unnoticeable.

"We'll have you over here. And Jared can do this." Laura planned to involve Jared. "I know it's not my job to get in your personal lives too much, but as your manager, I do want to say one thing." Laura took her chance to speak to Nick alone.

"Yeah?" Nick braced himself for the lecture that wouldn't mean anything since they were just best friends.

"There is a difference between just friends and best friends, Nick. Just friends don't look at each other the way you look at him. And best friends never stay just friends." She smiled. Before Nick could give his usual speech to her too, Jared emerged. "Wonderful. Remember, just be yourself."

"I'm nervous," Jared whispered to Nick so only he could hear.

"Come here." Nick wrapped an arm around Jared's waist and pulled him in close. Nick's action was meant to make him feel safer, but it only made him feel flustered more. Nick handed Jared his product to model with, and the flashes started popping off. Jared felt a sensation similar to sleeping; he only moved and went with the flow with no control over his body. "Try this." Nick started to apply the balm to Jared's plush lips. Nick looked deeply into the green eyes he never cared for before. This time, he saw the twinkling staring daringly back at him. Jared started pressing the tube to Nick's lips and watched as the pressure slowly pulled his bottom lip to the right. Jared licked his bottom lip slightly from the unexpected tingly sensation the candy cane flavor had to it. His eyes never left Nick's.

"I think we got everything," the photographer announced. The boys both looked around, trying to see who saw their shared moment. The only person Nick caught a glimpse of was Laura, who smirked knowingly.

"You only did one flavor?" Jared leaned against the prop counter.

"We only planned marketing for the candy cane one so far. I'm sure by tomorrow, I'll have an email to go over plans for the gingerbread and hot cocoa flavors." Nick fully applied the test tube to his lips. "Besides, I'm tired. I've spent the last five days traveling. I'd like just to go home and relax with Matt and Chris." Jared wasn't sure if he was just sharing or if that was a subtle hint to wanting some space from him specifically.

"I appreciate you letting me come to your family's Christmas, and thank you for coming along to mine." Jared and Nick grabbed their travel bags.

"You know you are welcome at any time, and I'm glad you invited me. Those candy cane cookies were amazing," Nick gushed.

"I saw they might have made a special appearance in some photos." Nick paused for a second.

"I hope that was okay?" He looked nervous. "I just wanted something to make it not look so staged and fake." They waited for the Lyft.

"Totally fine. I thought it was cute." Jared smiled down at Nick to show him he was being genuine.

"Do you want to hang out tomorrow?" Nick looked up at him. The car pulled up to take him home.

"I can't. I have some work stuff I need to do before Christmas." Jared didn't want to decline, but he knew that since they were back in LA, he needed to try to focus on a few other things.

"That's fine, just text me." Nick got into his car and closed the door. As the car drove off, all he could do was think. He wondered if Jared was thinking as much about that moment in the car as he was? He wanted to know what he was thinking about that moment, but most importantly, he wanted to know what was Jared thinking of him.

Taglist: @trevorsgodmother @strnilolover @chrissbug333 @kirby0strombolli @abbilmao @ksturnz

@thenickgirl for reminding me to post though 🫡🫠🫶🥰

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Noticed something about zutarians: for people who claim to be "THE femist ship" they spend too much time praising Zuko for doing chores, being empathetic, supporting women and other stuff he didn't really do in canon all that much.

Like, feminists would consider these a basic level that any normal person, man or woman, should do for their own's sake without any praise. Oohing and aahing "look, he spends time with his own child!", "oh, you washed the dishes, my hero!", "where would I have been if you didn't do the laundry, my knight in shining armor, you really are a savior!" is... very sexist, actually! And zutarians do just that. It’s not enough for them to write him doing chores, they have to emphasize this, compare him to Aang/Sokka/anyone else who of course doesn’t do chores (because no one except Katara and Zuko ever does anything chorelike in these fics it seems), or just outright praise him for that.

Of course, zutara never was a feminist ship, so my observation doesn't add anything new. I understand that zutara kinda fits "female gaze" or whatever, though, it's a women's dream about a perfect partner, which is totally fine by itself – it just has nothing to do with Zuko (and, dare I say, Katara – I doubt she would be so ecstatic about a guy doing "women's chores", she is used to dividing the work around camp and takes it for granted). And that's why I cannot read even relatively harmless zutara fluff – it very often is very focused on this exact subject. I like Zuko for who he is and the truth is 1) he's flawed even after his redemption and 2) a huge part of how he sees himself is his prince title. Nothing of it matches zutara fantasy of a male housewife, so they have a whole other character named Zuko to fit into their imagination land, and I just have no interest in that.

I'm still impressed by that one fic (not in English) where Fantara was 100% sure that Fanfic-Firelord-Zuko will never ever "force any hapless woman" to take care of his newborn daughter (as opposed to her awful, awful husband, Fanfic-Aang who can't even feed his son, who's still eating only breast milk, for several days while Fantara decided to be away). Sure, girl, he's a fucking ruler, he has a whole country to think about, tons of very important shit to do every single day, a full palace of servants, of course he will always personally change diapers, no doubt. I bet he'll even do all the breastfeeding by himself, since his wife died at childbirth and forcing other women is out of the question.

I'm bitter now, and maybe taking it too far but what if – just "what if" – there are very few people who actually ship Katara and Zuko? Because it seems that most content creators in zutara fandom actually ship their two OCs who are very loosely based on these two characters (but don't I dare tell it to their faces, haha, they are under impression that their image of Zuko and Katara is somehow the only correct one).

Just one little disagreement: Zutara doesn't fit the Female Gaze because there's no such thing in the first place. There's not a single trope, way to direct a scene, or romance formula that universally appeals to women, and the same thing can appeal to different women for radically different reasons.

"Male Gaze" and "Female Gaze" were supposed to be a way to point out sexism (and sometimes straight up abuse) in film-making, but it honest God became some bullshit gender-essentialism nonsense REALLY fast. We gotta let that "That is for boys, this is for girls" mentality die.

Aang does chores with Katara. That is completely irrelevant to me shipping Kataang. Aang is not sexist. That doesn't even reach my top 50 reasons to love him as a character. Aang does a lot of things that don't match the idea I was raised to have of a "manly man" and I could not give less of fuck about it. It doesn't bother me, but doesn't particularly appeal to me either.

But for lots of people that is HUGE and some of the main reasons why they love his character and his romance with Katara. And notice I said people, not women.

I like plenty of enemies-to-lovers ships - I don't relate to a single meta/analysis I've ever seen of "Why women like bad boys/enemies to lovers/redeemed villains so much." It all rang hollow to me. But to plenty of women it hits the nail right on the head.

Hell, 50 Shades of Grey is a "romance/erotica" full of accidental misogyny, abuse-apologism, and slut-shaming yet the fanbase is 90% women from all kinds of demographics, and the main thing they praise about these goddamn books/movies is that it did NOT make them feel like they should be ashamed of wanting to have kinky sex with a hot guy.

The Female Gaze isn't real.

[olichat-reads]

Mrow | Part Four

Bakugou x roomate!reader

Summary: you finally get answers on how to break the quirk & return human

Words:

A/n: yall i fucked up :D this isn't the last chapter

Part Three

🌟

Zigzagging through the crowd you kept your eyes on your target, little legs racing as fast as they can, determined not to lose sight of what might be your key to undoing this quirk.

Having not notice the tiny ball of fur barelling towards her, the girl in question yelped in surprise as you launched yourself onto her leg, determined to latch on like a fucking leech until you had answers.

"Its you!" She cried out, big doe eyes looking down at you, snarling & fur bristling.

Yeah its me! Now turn me back human for the love of god!!

You honestly doubt a small furball yowling up at a full grown person was even the slightest bit threatening but the girl looked as if she might keel over in fear. Her wide eyes darted around to uncaring passerbys before returning to peer down at you.

"Please can we go somewhere less, um, crowded first?"

🌟

You ended up at the park not far away, not completely empty but a definite upgrade from the bustling streets.

Wait. You understand me?

"Um. Yeah. Kinda comes with the quirk," she started, fidgeting with her hands before the floodgates burst open with her rambling. "I'm so, so sorry for turning you into a cat. And- and about the other day! I don't do those kinds of things. I was just being stupid. I knew it was a bad idea even if my friends said otherwise-"

You watched the girl as she went on a tangent, babbling on frantically. You sighed, she was young, probably a highschooler.

Alright, alright. Calm down, kid, you're gonna scare yourself into a panic attack. I'm not turning you in, okay? I get it, you made a mistake. And honestly I don't think you could pull of a crime even if you tried, kid.

The girl cracked a nervous smile at that.

"Thanks Ms Y/n." You smiled at the use of your hero name. You didn't mind not being a big shot like Bakugou, but it felt nice to be recognized every once & a while.

Nah, I get it. I did stupid things too when I was your age. Oh. What's your name?

"Its Miyo."

Miyo. You smiled at that, lifting a furry paw to pat her knee. So now, can you turn me back human please?

"Oh, um," she stuttered, her entire demeanor dulling again. "I can't actually."

You felt your fluffy ears droop at that. What do you mean?

"The quirk breaks when you have an unbridled want to turn back human. To be honest, I thought you would've returned human by now. But I guess its not the most predictable, I'm sorry," she said remorsefully.

I just need to want to turn human? You ask, confused. Did you not want to return human this whole time?

"Sort of. But it has to be a very, very strong feeling to override the quirk. Most of the time it helps to feel extreme emotions that associate with needing to be human again. Like intense desperation, fear, stuff like that. Ultimately its all on you though, Ms Y/n," Miyo explained with apologetic eyes.

You sighed at that. Well, at least it was something. Thanks, Miyo. I-

You were interrupted by a loud explosion that made the ground beneath you shook. Switching into prohero mode, your body kick started into action, racing into the streets. Though you skid to a halt before disappearing into the sea of people, throwing one last glance to Miyo.

I'm going to be naked when I turn back human, aren't I?

"Yeah! Sorry again, Ms. Y/n!"

You sighed internally at that. Well. Nothing you could do about that.

Another explosion sending the ground shaking tore you out of your thoughts & had you throwing yourself into the crowd, darting towards the direction of the commotion, the adrenaline in your veins guiding you through the chaos.

"YOU FUCKING PSYCHO-"

You hear his booming voice before you caught sight of the explossive blonde. You took note of the two women that were apparently the cause of all the commotion & Bakugou's arms that covered in frost. You watched as one of the villains aimed for his arms again, creating chunks of ice that engulfed his hands all the way over his elbows. Bakugou blasted them off but you could tell he was struggling, his explosions smaller than usual.

They were aiming to weaken his quirk, you realized.

Bakugou didn't have his gauntlets. Added with the cold weather & the nature of the villain's quirk he was at a massive disadvantage.

Bakugou! You yelped as the other threw your roomate into a wall, her attack reminding you a lot of Nejire's wave motion.

Fuck. Fuck. What do you do. What do you do?? You didn't have your quirk. Even hand to hand combat was out of the question. You were a cat for god's sake!

You felt your heart drop when when you watch the shockwave wielder take aim for another attack.

Yea, no, fuck it.

You let the adrenaline take over & before you know it, you're rushing forward, little claws & teeth digging into the flesh of the villain's calf, eliciting a pained yelp from her. Distracted, she missed her shot, just barely missing Bakugou, her blunder allowing him to dodge.

You didn't have time to feel relieved though, having her attention turn to your little self, uselessly hanging off her leg.

Fuck.

"Sunny, get away from there!" That was all you heard before familiar hands intercepted you as Bakugou dove in for cover with you, narrowly avoiding a hit from the ice quirk's partner.

Having decent cover, those glaring red eyes looked over at you. "Are you insane?! What the hell is wrong with you??"

Bitch, I was trying to save your ass! Fuck off with the name calling-

You were interrupted with another blast that sent the two of you crashing into a boutique, the display of clothes cushioning what would've been a painful slam to Bakugou's back while you flew out off his hold, landing with a thud a little distance away.

Bakugou!

Dread filled your veins as you watched the pair tag team your roomate. You scrambled to get to him despite knowing there is little you can do. You couldn't just watch! But before you could even get close an explosion was sent your way, forcing you to hop backwards to avoid it, stopping you from getting too close.

Bakugou, you bastard!

"Fuck off, pipsqueak. I can handle this on my own," he growled out, eyes ahead but you could tell was directed to you.

Aiming a blast at the ice wielder, Bakugou risked a glance at you. "I mean it, Sunny- FUCK!" he got cut off as the other villain caught him in her wave motion, slamming him into a wall & pining him there.

No.

No no no-

Human. You needed to turn back human.

Now.

C'mon. C'mon c'mon c'mon please.

You wanted to. You needed to. Please. Please.

Please.

You gasped at the sudden shock that rushed through your body. Your sight glowed pure white, before everything stopped.

You dropped to the ground like a ragdoll.

You couldn't move.

You couldn't move. You couldn't open your eyes. It felt like all the energy was zapped from your body. Your heart seemed to beat in your ears. Once. Twice. Faint yelling seemed to seep into the black. You recognized that voice.

"-nny! Wh s wro ith ou-"

The cotton in your head made it hard to hear. But you knew that voice. You were sure of it.

"SUNNY!!"

Bakugou. Its Bakugou, right? He gave you that name?

That's right. You need to help him.

But you couldn't move.

Move, dammit.

You mustered everything to will yourself to get up, to fucking move, but your body didn't listen to you. Even a finger felt too heavy.

"HURRY THE FUCK UP, SHITTY HAIR!"

Bakugou is calling for help? Bakugou? Fuck, things must've gotten bad.

C'mon get up.

You needed to get up. You needed to help him.

"FUCK-"

You heard Bakugou's voice cut off as if he had the air knocked out of him.

You haven't thanked him yet.

He had to be okay.

You still owe him that hug you vowed to give him.

He HAD to be okay.

You felt your heart clench at every pained groan the villains beat out of your roomate. Your throat tightened up with guilt.

COME ON GET UP!

You'd cry if your body worked right now. Unshed tears burned the back of your eyes. You were begging at this point.

PLEASE.

Then, everything came rushing back.

Your eyes snapped back open, before immediately fluttering shut from the bright contrast. Pulling yourself up, you groaned as you reached a hand up to your pounding head. Wait. Hand. Hand!

A rush of victory tore through you, making you force your eyes back open to confirm your suspicions- only to have your heart drop immediately.

Fuck. Thats right. You changed back naked.

A/n: thank youuuu for being so patient with me. i know i take a WHILE to cough out fics but i'm doing my best i promise 🥺. i hope you enjoyed this part. hope the 'action' portion isn't too scuffed. AND I HOPE THE NEXT AND LAST (I SWEAR IT WILL BE THE LAST) CHAPTER WON'T TAKE AS LONG.

🌟

Part Five

Series taglist: @deadpoolsvodka @zbeez-outlet @fixed211 @arael-asuka @sadcookie365 @phrogfungi @trash-heichou-kacchan @sad0ni0n @woodzonesworld @mushi42 @yappydoo @kazxtora @nnubee @chuugarettes @voidsatoru @freakyundercover @momdisappointment @simp4rengoku @yaskna @zane2408 @lynn-writes-things @dinodumbass @jihyuniepark @julietdelamare @captainchrisstan @atrainb @wannabewolf @cupidcole @atsushiki @trashbin-nie @mothmanuwu @skyesayshi @nezykoi @theredtater06 @lanaxians-2 @alextheknight707 @vollkornpraline @misakik28 @carnationhcs @some-ryvant @blubearxy @dangerousluv1 @seokjin-bby @slytherclaw1227 @tjmaxx556 @kuleo26 @answer-the-sirens @stxrrielle @call-me-drartemis @ouch-thats-harsh @coodoritoss @thychuvaluswife @dynakats @naneko-nakooooo @letharue @sleepylittlebarista @moonbinnie0983 @ninashellhole @lovra974

[nerdragenewvegas]

Thinking a lot today about how despite my insane thirst for Joshua Graham, looking at him logically for 35 seconds made me realise that my years in the Mormon church were effectively years in a cult and how projection seems to change how people experience Honest Hearts a lot.

Like there's a huge subsect of people who credit the character with reconnecting them with their faith and I mean hey if that's a positive life change for you that gives you grounding, cool. But I really struggle to kind of understand that perspective of in to be honest because the point of the arc (at least to me) is that Joshua was using faith to project his own feelings and traumas and bias in a way that allowed him to somewhat avoid blame or responsibility in the event he learns he's wrong - he even admits this much depending on your ending.

First time around he did this with the Legion taking that place of a "higher power" once he was out on his own and seperated from the accountability that the other New Canaanites gave him, and when we meet him, he's doing the same thing with his Faith. And believe me when I tell you that scapegoating like this is so common in Mormonism that it's actually hard to clock once you've been in for a while, and Joshua is so good at romanticising what he's doing that we spend a lot of the DLC willing to believe him until he's about to actually do a genocide for real and we realise what's happening here.

This happens a lot in Mormonism with things like LGBTQ+ and gender stuff, where nice things like the Plan of Salvation (which can genuinely be quite reassuing and warm in a spiritual sense) are co-opted to justify homophobia and transphobia and misogyny. "I, personally, don't have an issue with trans people at all! But the plan of salvation is so clear about our bodies and how we need to respect gods choices in our design!" - despite the Plan of Salvation saying nothing about gender identity or expression and honestly kind of validating the idea that transitioning etc is also part of gods plan for some people. "I love lots of gay people and so does the church, but the word of God is clear that temple marriage is for men and women only." That kind of thing. "The whitelegs are gods children, too, but the bible is clear about how we handle those who would seek to harm this Zion we've built! I don't enjoy murder, but it's what God wants, it's a chore."

Realising this and then looking at times in my life where I saw this happen in the Mormon Church is what took me from "gently deconstructing and still believing some of it" to "I was brainwashed and in a fucking cult." So i always kind of struggle to see how anyone can get "I should seek God again" from this, but at the same time? I think that's the best part about Honest Hearts and a lot of Fallout NV in general: it forces you to learn not about yourself than anything else in the actual game. It's such a wonderful game when it comes to getting players to self reflect - maybe this is why it's so known for being the "omg I'm trans now" game.

What a special fucking game, huh?

[wooziorgans]

About hoshi: this is such a spat on your face when you realize that women in korea are still fighting tooth and nail for their rights. and yet these men actively choosing to collab happened. And i know hybe has lots of power, but at this point of their career svt must have a lot to say about what they do too, they always worked on their stuff from scratch, are rich af, so don't say that hybe forced them... After today, as a women, with friends from Palestine i unstanned hoshi

if I remember from nana tour,,,, I think seungkwan said something about “svt doesn’t have to work on something if they don’t want to”,,? So I am hoping that this decision was made to collab with djk before anyone was aware of anything,,, and by the time they realized it was too late to pull out of the collab.

because im gonna be totally honest, i have no idea how the kpop industry works from the inside but i know how the American music industry works and pulling out of a collab is a MASSIVE no. with djks history of being super shady towards ppl he’s collaborated with,,,, it’s super risky to pull out Now when the album is so close to release.

I understand that it’s realistically,,, not an option. they could just redo the title track without him, sure, but it’s a very risky move to make. And im sure royalties have already been paid to djk so,,, that’s another very very complicated thing that has to be dealt with.

im just,,, super fucking disappointed in hoshi. there was absolutely no need for him to double down on the collab when (with how chronically online a few members are,,,, some of them have to have seen) carats are so against it. they Must know. but again,,,,, kpop industry level censorship is god awful for any idol to speak up about a situation like this. if they can’t actively speak up about anything (gay rights, Palestine, women’s rights) they’re definitely not allowed to bash someone they collaborate with.

but this was a conscious decision both svt and hybe made so im,,,, idk. i think i sometimes live in a little bubble of ignorance about specific women’s rights issues because ive been living as a man for most of my life. so i don’t really understand the gravity of how bad things are,,, especially in Korea,, but i cannot imagine having a sister and a mother (like hoshi) and doubling down on a collab with someone who actively hates women the way djk does. the more i think about it,,, the more horrific it is.

as much as I would hope for svt to say something,,, anything,,, i know they can’t without god awful repercussions on the group. and they most likely won’t explicitly say anything. but they absolutely do not need to over promote this collab.

the most i expect from them is to say silent on it. that’s really all we can expect because of how things are in the music industry. this would be an industry wide blow to woozis career as a producer if he said anything,,, especially against someone as big as djk,,, whether djk is a good person or not. realistically,,, it would completely sabotage svts chances of collaborating with anyone in the western music industry and it would almost entirely ruin their credibility.

the more i think about this,,, especially as someone who knows how things work in depth in the American music industry,,, the more complicated it gets.

but there is absolutely no excuse for hoshi doubling down on the collab. that’s absolutely horrific.

[enthusedbambi-jjba-au]

monster au fun facts (OOC)

diavolo keeps having to try to prevent doppio from summoning any more demons

Thanks to the monster hunter's guild, italy doesn't really have prominent lycanthrope packs.

I'm sure someone could figure out how to make a drug out of moondust and im sure it's very likely to fucking kill you

ghiaccio is mildly allergic to himself, at least according to melone

squalo can't swim in his land form

tiziano makes accessories out of his own moulted and preened feathers. this is actually a sphinx tradition!

melone never met his father but was raised with constant reminder that whoever he was, he was pretty horrible, and growing up in that 'shadow' made him swear to himself he'd never turn out like his father. this is why melone acts sort of 'fatherly' towards babyface and often avoids actually even touching most women

i dont know if pesci actually knows hes undead assuming we go with idea 2 about him. he does kinda black out every full moon but nobody including himself addresses this. he knows well and good that prosciutto is undead but he assumes he himself is a normal human and that the Necromancy Doses that prosciutto uses for their form upkeep is just a Magic thing he doesn't Understand

Prosciutto literally has no beef with illuso illuso just keeps calling him a fucking bitch for having the nerve to zombify himself when illuso didn't really have a choice in becoming a ghost

illuso appears if you say his name 3 times in a mirror but says he does this by choice.

melone is immediately drawn to the sound of his own name (as in 'melone', not his real name) but conversely implies this is involuntary

my two ideas with cioccolata (hang on give me a few seconds for the rage to pass) and secco were 1. cioccolata is his own frankensteinian creation and experiments with other cryptians, secco is a werewolf and 2. suggested by others, secco is the frankensteinian creation but honest to god he still gives me werewolf vibes.

Ghiaccio always curls up to sleep and everyone who has seen him do this wonders about his spinal health

i cant tell whats the funniest way to go with gelato and sorbet: 1. Gelato is human, Sorbet is nonhuman (perhaps was once human). Gelato is insane and just a monsterfucker because of course he is. 2. sorbet is a human, gelato is a fucked up monster thing. unfortunately, sorbet is into that. 3. werewolf vampire romance. 4. gelato is a demon yet his stand is still angeleyes and sorbet still calls him angelface. 5. gelato is a turned being of some kind and sorbet is the one who turned him and gelato voluntarily let him do this because he thought it was hot

i had a thought that Limbo (my OC) could work at libeccios as like. a waitress and thats why (other than her being with narancia) she's super close with the bucci gang

squalo knows nothing of capitalism and relies completely upon tiziano

babyface glitches when going up against giorno

Fugo might have magical lineage, but it's been surpressed

Pesci knows a lot about the other members of la squadra due to Beach Boy's ability; in the monster au, rather than just hooking hearts and stuff, Beach Boy also just goes right for the soul and hooks the aura. unlike mista pesci knows well and good that hes surrounded by nonhumans but like what do you want him to do about it

animals are pretty much naturally alarmed by Formaggio's presence. ghiaccio tends to fluff up when Formaggio is too close to him.

prosciutto's eyes don't follow movement but he can still see

gelato is afraid of seagulls, chickens and most fowlbirds. this isnt monster au specific i dont know why but i imagine gelato is STUPIDLY fearless but when a seagull comes after his sandwich or a bird starts strutting towards him a little too fast he starts screaming and grabs a knife

regardless of what he is, gelato bites without warning whenever he gets the impulse

Narancia isn't too careful with hiding his formshifting from Mista but as long as he doesn't take a lupine form mista just assumes narancias weird like that

The bucci gang 'have' a 'cat' that's named narancia. it's actually just narancia in a cat form that he takes when he wants to seek physical affection or just be a weirdo, but mista doesn't know that

squalo knows how to write but can't spell or read. so he doesnt actually know how to write he just knows how to copy the letters.

narancia WILL tear up the couch if you leave him alone too long

along with turning blood into metal objects, in monster au, metallica also works the other way, allowing risotto to turn iron into blood. he eats a very iron-heavy diet to get his fix of blood without needing to directly drink it.

i also had the idea that he can drink your blood through your aura

melone and ghiaccio possibly have known each other for a really long time, and assuming ghiaccio is a turned ailuranthrope, melone might have known him before he was Turned and helped console him after the Incident.

bruising is common in physiological shifters like narancia, ghiaccio and limbo. Narancia, unlike the other two, though, is in semi-complete control of the way his cells assemble, so he's able to un-bruise himself, though the spot is usually still a bit sore. since he's been able to formshift most of his life, he's used to it, and doesn't really react beyond his weird 'teething habits.

with limbo and ghiaccio, they're more unfortunate, and often look bruised upon shifting back from theriomorph. most zooanthropes have 'morph hangovers' when a night is particularly bad, but they often learn to cope with it and carry on with their normal lives regardless.

MANY cryptians experience moon hangovers after the full moon.

though many aquabound maricrypt don't have lungs, maricrypt like sirens are able to take in air for the sole function of mimicking human speech.

selkies retain human vocal chords in seal form, and can seaspeak as well, but have a "seal" accent

most seafolk are sleek and pretty (in their water forms, at least) and that's why many seafolk are mistakenly thought to be all-female, because a lot of the males look twinkish or have "breasts" (breast-like organs which serve non-breast-like functions, usually).

limbo and narancia developed a stupid ass greeting of barking at each other in human form. they blame this on the adhd. they also blame the fact that the barks are REALLY convincing on the adhd.

honestly soft machine arc is just fucking disrespectful

squalo used to sleep with his eyes open until tiziano got too freaked out by it

[nevermore-ocs]

Dravakin with a chubby fem reader maybe pls?

-Lemme start this full out, completely transparent and honest: Dravakin LOVES himself a big, plus-sized and chubby woman.

-He prefers it over anyone thinner, cause pushing it too far like that, to him, can just make a person appear unhealthy and too weak to go on. Having that certain agenda on women nowadays is something that he particularly loathes about the modern world.

-Being bigger will always be beautiful to him, and his love should never be ashamed of that, he'd happily go on for hours onto hours about just how effortlessly capable you are to felling a literal vampiric God-King simply by being.

-Proud and confident but not an asshole about it, Dravakin adores to show you off to the denizens of his domain, walking through the streets of Bludhaven, he holds out a bent arm for you to rest your hand on his bicep and grasp onto him for as long as you wish, always referring to you in the most painfully obvious in love tone he can muster as his wife/his mate whenever addressing you to someone, his, and his alone to have and hold and cherish till eternity itself is extinguished.

-Absolutely being betrothed to a king does result in being lavishly spoiled on a regular basis. However, it is, rather hilariously easy that noticeable portion of his gift giving to you consists of dresses that are, a couple sizes smaller than what you're used to, or if they are the correct size, they also show off more than you're used to as well - an exposed back, a deep v cut over the chest area, sheer sides.

-"You know, Drav, you can just like, ask me to wear smaller stuff if you're gonna keep sneaking stuff in like this, you dork-", "I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what you're talking about, my light-"

-The main reason, although, why he does gestures like that is because you deserve to feel beautiful, and gorgeous, as wondrously breath-taking as he always sees you. The last thing that he ever wants you to do is feel like you have to change yourself to fit the standards of other people who don't matter.

-Are you content with the size that you are? Then he will be your biggest fan in your corner that will be searing the heavens themselves with how much he'll be belting out. Do you want to lose weight? Then by all means, you have a personal coach in the shape of him, but he wants you to do it for you if that's what you wish, not for anyone else, not for your family, and certainly not for him, cause to him you're already perfect.

[deusexlachina]

Cheesage Exocolonist Age 11: Ruin Valentine's Day as soon as it is invented by blorboing so hard that it becomes existentially horrifying

In which Sol tells Tangent about her other lives for free candy and uses fashion to save people's lives before they are in danger.

Age 11 is kicked off by Marz inventing Valentine's day for free candy - you have to pick your Best Friend. Normally, I would do something sensible, like weigh all the different options to see how to maximize Friendship points and choose the Best Friend most optimal for my run. Unfortunately, Tangent is my blorbo and my shameless favouritism cannot be suppressed.

This is the first time I've picked Tangent after completing a run, so I only just now discovered this rather unsettling wormhole dialogue: when she asks for a reason you should be friends (Tangent being one of the harder characters to befriend, you do need a reason!), Sol can tell Tangent about the timeline where they were married.

Obviously this ruins your friendship completely, and...wait, she thinks it's cool? She gives friendship points?

"Grow old together" is a bit of a stretch - in the timeline Sol is referring to, my first playthrough, the marriage dissolved quickly because Tangent can never keep a relationship going with anyone, and also because Tangent lost her brother, had a supervillain phase and burnt out in like her twenties. (God forbid trans women do anything). Canonically, future memories aren't 100% reliable, but this still feels like burying the lede.

Despite this being one of the weirdest dialogues in the game, which is a very high bar, this is one of very few options where you can be completely honest about your other lives without being diagnosed as Delusional. (The twins are both very open-minded).

I really like the wormhole dialogues, because they start out awesome but the more of them you pick, the more you realize just how horrifying this whole situation is. This poor kid just trying to deal with having numerous other lives and no idea what to do with them with PTSD from stuff that hasn't even happened yet. They just get more and more detached from the world around them the more they loop. And they keep looping forever.

Marzipan gives me -2 Friendship for picking Tangent instead of her. But I like to think the penalty is really for ruining Valentine's Day by being 11 and reminiscing about married life/the only life Sol ever lived organically. I mean, she doesn't mention that. But would you? Really, this was a suboptimal choice, but I want to share some neat Easter eggs along the way.

Most of the year proceeds as usual, by which I mean neglecting my studies in favour of deckbuilding. I get Marz's friendship high enough for her to give me her jacket. Unfortunately, because she's my coworker, she knows how much money I have and, seeing I have more than 50 kudos in the bank, she will instead sell me the jacket. I take the L; it's fair for ruining Valentine's Day.

Besides that, the jacket is crucial. Tammy's dad Tonin is living on borrowed time - late this year, he will be killed in a manticore attack. I could go out and save him just in the nick of time. But that would be traumatic for him and poor Tammy. More importantly, it would give me more cards [bad]. Another route is persuading him to stay home, but, having neglected my education, my persuasion is at 0. Fortunately, I have Marz's jacket, which makes me cool enough to persuade him to babysit instead. Tonin joins his daughter in being saved without any idea of the danger they were in.

A couple months later, I save Hal. This is the first time I've saved someone and gotten recognition for it. This is a sign that these mortals will eventually bow to me as their ruler.

[lxve-and-lxght]

funny honey

pairing: thomas shelby/ reader

warnings: afab! reader, jazz, booze, murder, all that fun stuff. eventual smut perhaps?? slow burn?? mean! tommy.

a/n: hyperfixating on chicago and peaky blinders at the same time. also this is not proofread so i'm sorry for any mistakes.

pt. 1

the long night that followed your arrest at the garrison, could ONLY be described as tedious. inspector campbell was nothing but a ruffian with a badge. no better than tommy, but unlike tommy, inspector campbell really did have no fucking manners. you were a heathen whore in his eyes despite the fact you were a married, working, woman. wasn't that enough? of course it wasn't.

you'd spent the night being interrogated by campbell.

"i've already told you, i don't know," you said to the inspector and sergeant moss, a man who'd been on the peaky blinders payroll for quite some time now if you were remembering his face correctly. "i must've blacked out, i don't remember a thing."

"so you don't remember taking a bloody gun into the garrison tonight?" sergeant moss asked, an eyebrow quirked at you.

"i have no idea what you're talking about..." you were stonewalling them. what did it matter if your sister and bastard husband were dead? it's not like they had money or power, just a poor couple of suckers who'd gotten the kinder end of the deal in your opinion, truthfully you would have much rather been dead than stuck here listening to these fucks debate your innocence and whether or not you were as good in a bed as you were on stage.

after enough time had passed and campbell could say he at least tried to pull a confession out of you it was the wee hours of the morning and you were taken back to a cold, grey holding cell till the bus could take you to a women's jail, apparently only god knew how long that was going to take. so you lied on the hard, uneven, concrete and waited.

did you really have to shoot them? yes. when you found them together in the hotel bed that the money you earned paid for, you saw white. your sister was a dummy for thinking charlie was smart enough to avoid getting caught and charlie was just the same for assuming that of her.

all that time busting your ass, working as many shows as you could, travelling all throughout europe with them. how many times had they done it? how many times had he kissed you after he'd had your own fucking sister in his mouth? stupid son of bitch, you thought. how you ended up with such scum you'd never know.

"l/n! time to go." you sat up from the ground and saw sergeant moss standing with john shelby through the bars. your brow furrowed. moss opened the cell door and gestured you up.

"ya'd better move if you wanna make it to the garrison before tommy leaves." john said. you stood up and walked to him, he had a coat to cover up your show dress. "christ, you're freezing." your dress was covered in whatever dirty muck had been on the floor and your stockings were torn from the brawl that transpired at your arrest. " go on." john nodded.

you walked a couple feet away, peaking over your shoulder to watch moss and john share a sly handshake. john withdrew first and approached you, putting his arm over your shoulder. the two of you didn't speak till you were out of the jailhouse and settled into the motorcar.

"be honest, john, i'm fucked aren't i?" you said quietly, eyes darting to his.

"agh hell, don't ask me, y/n. i'm just the driver." he chuckled, blowing smoke out the window. "but we both know tommy prefers you to that bastard inspector. you make us money."

"great," you sighed, arms crossed in disdain. "now i owe the shelby's a debt."

"that you do, love." john laughed.

when the car finally stopped in front of the garrison john didn't waste anytime pushing you out to the curb.

"he's still in there." john called out as he pulled the car away. you bit down on your tongue in frustration and then stepped inside the pub. it was still so early, it must've only been harry and tommy in there.

you didn't even have to ask after him, the second you were passed the threshold, the private room's door opened and thomas stood waiting for you. he didn't say anything. just nodded his head, telling you to step inside.

"mr. shelby--"

"stop." tommy spoke finally, putting a hand up to silence you. "what'ddya say to him?"

"... nothing." you said, "i blacked out, i don't know what happened." thomas choked on his cigarette when he chuckled.

"and that's what you've told him? that you don't remember?" you nodded. a little blown away that he was laughing in your face about the situation.

"mr. shelby, i can't go back to him," you said firmly, talking about campbell, "he'll string me up or he'll make me a whore. i refuse to do either, so cut him up or cut me."

"ya want me to cut you?" he asked, taking a seat at the table.

"it's not about what i want, it's about what i don't want, and i don't want that pathetic excuse for an officer to have any say in my future."

"well sweetheart, you've managed to create a cluster fuck of problems for me in a matter of a night, i've already lost one of my showgirls because you seem to have a fuckin' temper and now i have to find someone to pin her and your husband's murders on."

"why?" you scoffed. "what good would that do you? or me for that matter? they already think i did it."

"that's cause you did do it." thomas said snidely, taking a sip of whiskey. "and i can't afford to have harry looking for new acts while i'm trying to conquer london. he needs to mind the pub and you need to mind the crowds of men that come here to gawk 'atcha."

you bit down on your tongue again.

"do we have an understanding?" he asked. you sat with it for second, thomas was offering to get you off the hook for damn near free, it was too good to be true.

"i'm not working for free." you countered.

"course you're not, you're working to dig yourself and me out of the hole you've put us in."

"three shows a week." you said. yeah beggars couldn't be choosers, but that didn't mean you had to starve and sleep on the streets especially because if there was one person who could get you the fuck out of this mess, it was thomas shelby. his eyes narrowed at your half-assed attempt to negotiate, like he was at least pretending to think it over.

"five shows a week, you get three hundred and i keep your bonny ass out of the jailhouse." he said finally. you sighed and sat down to shake his hand. tommy put his cigarette out and shook your hand. "you better get ready." he said. you nodded going to leave till he spoke again. "and i'd take a bath, love, you've got a show tonight and not even the soldiers will want to touch you smelling like that."

you scoffed. what a fucker.

[theageofsims]

1,6, and 7 for simblr story asks :D

Hi, thank you for asking me these questions. :)

[ONE] I answered this question already so I'll link it: here :)

[SIX] Oh yeah. Every time I find random moments to go back into my Age of Sims story, I always want to re-write William's relationship with his ex girlfriend Elizabeth. I can not STAND Elizabeth… I can't stand her as much as I can't stand Curtis, but what makes it worse is that Elizabeth used William… and HE LET HER. So I've pretty much got beef with William about that more than anything else that Elizabeth did or what she's about.

Dare I say disappointed? I don't know -- lmao. I mean, I wrote it. It was normal and fine and understandable at the time when I wrote those scenes, but looking back? I'm like really, Will? Like I hate to think he fell for her shit because she was beautiful and she had brains -- I mean she was a scientist just like him, but at the same time I'm well he's only as human as the next man and then I'm like THAT'S TERRIBLE WILLIAM DO BETTER! LMAO. I think I find it more of an issue now because he's in a relationship with Gloria and I'm like…? I don't know, but I'm like how are you going to explain to her why you were with someone like Elizabeth? Not that it's any of Gloria's business because it's part of his 'past', but it also get brought up in the 'present' which she's very much a part of so I'm like what are you gonna tell her, Will? That you were infatuated like a jackass? Is that what you're going to tell her?

And then I try to calm myself down because I'm like the real bitch here is that YOU WROTE IT THIS WAY. LMAO. Like don't blame William and the other characters -- this was YOU that did this to them. IT WAS YOU.

But yeah -- I just admitted this very real and harsh truth though I'm sure others have seen me say something because I'll sometimes reblog scenes with William and Elizabeth and leave harsh words for both in the tags, lmao.

As for my Powhatan Legacy story... I always want to go back and change everything I made happen to Lani and Timothy. I mean don't get me wrong, I find it wild and interesting... but I'm also like God, this was supposed to be something else and look what you did. You tore them apart... and he's a vampire who became best friends with the damn grim reaper... WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Lmao. But I can't go back. The story has been told... and will continue to tell!

[SEVEN]

Okay to be honest -- I don't even know if I have any readers. LMAO. I mean that literally. I know people see my posts and they give a 'heart' when they can, but for all these years I've been writing The Age of Sims, only one person reached out to me through private messages to tell me how much they loved what I had written so far (that was in the beginning) because of a number of things that they saw through my writing and images I used in the story.

So I'm always under this impression that nobody reads any stor(ies).

If I had to pick though, it'd be Gloria. She has a got a lot going on internally. I think she handles it well… or as best as she can, but she has this like much more broad way of thinking about things or at least I try to get across.

It's like William clearly showed interest and she was like well you're white so it'll never happen because of x,y,z. Clearly she's got a lot that stems from her upbringing and so forth (things that William would probably have as well, but he married in his 20s and stayed married for so many years so it's like he wasn't out there in the world actively trying to avoid just 'black' women… he was avoiding all women, except his wife -- you know?)… and then when he told her he doesn't think about the outside world when it comes to them (before they officially got together), she's like well that's good and well, but she thinks of the community she comes from and what her decisions reflect on the community and the people within it.

So that's what I mean by her having this much more broad idea about stuff, but I also feel like that makes her seem difficult and I don't want her to be seen that way… but I feel like she's seen that way.

I feel like she's always trying to prevent William for doing what he normally wants to do towards her just because she's got pride issues and just because she comes from an entirely different world than him.

As much as they are the same or the fact they both are natives to Oasis Springs, he's about 10 years older than her, he's white, and he was pretty much brought up with a great roof over his head and went on to college to become the scientist he always dreamed of being when he was just a kid.

For Gloria she's still struggling to complete at last one life goal and she knows what it's like to not have enough money to find something to eat and the struggles of finding a decent roommate that will pay their share of the rent and be respectful and so forth.

She's also never been married so she has no real idea of what marriage is like and she's never been in a committed relationship either so sometimes I feel like she's doing all she can to remain who she was before she met William without realizing like hey… you've got to dial it back a bit or include him in some more parts of your life. I know she's still working -- extremely hard at that, but I don't know…

I just feel like whenever William tries to say something about them she's always pressed for time or "I've got to go to work" which pretty much just leaves him waiting around and then when they finally get time, she has found an issue with something.

But it's not just her. William gets this way too, but I just feel like he's better accepted than she is for doing so for a number of reasons… and that sucks because I really actively try to make Gloria has understandable and lovable as I possibly can, yet always wonder if I'm doing her justice…

But yeah -- nobody I know actually reads this story so I'll just live in mental torment about Gloria by my damn self LMAO -- and that's a-okay with me! :)

[im2tired4usernames]

@oceanlaceagate

Well ok you asked for explaining so I'm so sorry about the rant that's bound to happen I have beef with this woman like many many MANY homeschool co-op mothers I would like to meet her IN THE PIT

uh I guess trigger warning possibly would be like food diets and possibly eating disorders I'm not sure but I would rather be safe then accidentally harm you friend?

my mother was a crunchy homeschool nutter and her entire social group was crazy homeschool mom cultists.They were all obsessed with clean godly eating and losing weight they constantly kept repeating that they needed to treat their bodies like temples and it really wasn't healthy or good for so many reasons.

well one of the women in that group for as long as i can remember (I've know this lady since I was a lil kid) she believes it's impossible for European women to get fat because of *spins the wheel*

She just has some fucked up made up facts about Europe in general like WARNING SHE'S ACTUALLY ON PURPOSE STUPID

like she has for as long as I can remember believed with E V E R Y FIBER in her body (i have argued so much with her she will not budge in her world this is fact) no one once they hit preteens in france eats bread.

France home of the croissant, baguette and many other carbs bready bakery wonders...

Yeah no one there eats bread that is why French women are so thin and healthy they don't eat bread or any kind of sweets! (She and my mom then tried to make me do that for a bit they were always "suggesting" diets on me it sucked in expecting the thm diet and the melted butter+coffee+ apple cider vinegar diet to have fucked up my body somehow)

Apartly in her world no one in Ireland uses any kind of fat when I asked her to explain wtf that meant she said no one in Ireland uses oil or butter which like..

No that makes no sense where did she even come up with that?!I

Once I took a picture of like some fancy imported butter from Ireland at the store to show her and she and the other moms all straight up walked away and would not look at it. They would not talk to me kept actually doin the "talk to the hand" thing and covering their ears and telling me I'm wrong and stupid and to shut up they will not look at the evidence.

This woman is in her late forties to early fifties she has convinced half the homeschool mother cult that no one in France eats bread with no evidence other then she said so!!!!!

They honest to God believe it also!!!!

Recently she was trying to tell me that no one in the UK eats chicken that it's "looked down on as a disgusting poor man's food" she just went on n on on this long crazy rant that made no sense at all but she acted like she was very intelligent and cultured for knowing this.

My best friend and wife is from the UK and frankly i quickly asked them and they were able to point out this lady is just batshit insane.

Like my wife mentioned there's Nandos everywhere in the UK and that serves chicken mainly I have no clue where she's getting her info or ideas.

She got super angry amd defensive and has gone off saying she has two sources "two very reliable very real and very British people who totally aren't made up there her real Facebook friends that told her yup no one in the uk eats chicken only the USA makes fried chicken poor England is missing out on chicken because they're a bunch of snobs who think it's poor people food" so that's what she believes despite a lot of common sense and evidence to prove otherwise but "how dare I question an elder?!'

I really can't explain it like there's no logic or facts in it I myself don't understand it? I have gotten into many fights with this women.

So many fight

so so so many fights

Stupid amounts of fights

not just over this but like over everything under the sun I swear this woman is living a different reality then everyone else.

she just makes stuff up on a fly and then somehow convinces herself and like a dozen other women in they're 40s-50s that everyone in Europe is significantly skinner because they just happen to not eat the food that one lady dislikes...

like I can't really explain more then that this woman has no evidence, refuses to listen to evidence and has the firmest faith in stupidity I've ever seen it's truly kinda terrifying i wish i had her self confidence but also just wow....

I don't think that she's normal I think a lot of American children do actually learn about other countries? I learned about other countries when I was really young my mom would focus on one a month and then I'd have to do a lil presentation at the end of the month in front of my grandad and we'd cook a meal with some traditional foods from there if possible I had a lot of fun learning recipes from all over the world and we'd get a monthly cd with music from all over the world it was so cool! one of my favorite games when I was little with my grandad was he'd spin the globe point at random n then i had to say thw county, the capital, a famous food item from there and one history fact is famous person if I knew one and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

maybe it's a new homeschool thing or a church thing or maybe this lady is just straight up purposely stupid I'm not sure? I have no fuckin clue this woman is insane I avoid her every chance I can.

[sweetheradevil]

AUGUST COURT REPORTING THOUGHTS

Hiii :3 since court reporting takes up most of my time, I wanted to do a monthly write-up on my thoughts. I have a lot to say and I feel bad for subjecting all my friends to my yammering about it HAHAH

Current Speed: 140-160 WPM

The 2024 summer quarter has been the most challenging by far. This is the longest I've been stuck in a speed level (June-September) and I have had many, many frustrating moments with my typing abilities. I hit a wall for most of July, so I am currently two levels behind where I want to be. Fortunately, it looks like I'm just about to exit my 140s.

Despite my exasperation with my typing, I feel like this wall presented me with an opportunity to slow down and actually engage with the court reporting community as a whole and learn things about this career I wouldn't have considered if I had just continued speeding along.

In my stupor, I began talking to other reporters to learn why they pursued this career, what they struggled with as students, and also how things will start looking once I go out there and start working myself.

But before I get to that, I kind of wanted to talk about a realization I had about court reporting as a whole. I never doubted that this was the career I wanted, but I feel like being a court reporter in the era of misinformation takes on an entirely different meaning. With the rampant use of AI by people on the internet, peddling of malicious/false ideas, and the intake of large bodies of information, there's a distinct charm about being able to take down something verbatim. This is by no means me condoning the justice system (because as we all know, there are so many issues with it); however, I am glad that I'm a court reporter because should I come across injustices in court, I am taking that down on paper. I am preserving the history of the courtroom and in a time of rampant misinformation and downright manipulation of information, that is so important to me. I plan to work as an official in a courthouse (because to be so honest being my own boss sounds like hell on Earth) so I'll be present for so much stuff that happens.

The internet was once an endless source of knowledge, but now its function has been severely limited by incorrect information, censorship, and paywalls. I used to be in awe at the vast amounts of knowledge I had in the palm of my hand, only for it to be rendered insufficient by all of this bullshit that's out there. It almost feels integral to my values that I will be sitting and preserving a vital part of history in the justice system. Perhaps my efforts will be useful for someone who needs to look back on the record for evidence of various misdeeds, because god knows we need it.

Having to go through court reporting school is hellish, but because I believe it's for a good cause, it's worth it. It also pays handsomely, which I'm very happy about due to financial strife my family has in my adolescence, but that's a topic for another day.

That is one of my biggest inspirations for trekking through school. Another is the fact that this almost feels like a refuge from the horrible job market most people are at the whim of right now. Most reporters chose court reporting as a second career after they were made miserable by their previous jobs. Most of the court reporters I've spoken to are single mothers who had a better opportunity at life after pursuing this career. I'm on the young side for going through court reporting school (most of my schoolmates are middle-aged) but I'm glad to see that there are opportunities for people beyond university. I'm kind of relieved I'm not in a field dominated by men that will undermine my abilities, but rather with other women I have a lot of solidarity with. I really do love this community and the path I'm on.

I'm so, so excited. I think I am just about to pass out of my 140s, so let's hope I can make it to my 200s by the end of the year. Yippeee!