#i really liked them as a middle and high schooler but watching them now is very different like there are so many shots that get crammed into

[pupkou]

the editing pace in marvel movies is kind of terrible

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

the cool mom's countdown

pairing: pre-re2!leon s kennedy/milf!reader

content: age gap, older woman/younger man, edging, sub!leon, excessive use of the word 'ma'am' (by leon)

word count: 2.6k

summary: your son's friend, leon, comes over for nye and you play a 'game' (edging) during the countdown to midnight

a/n: should've posted this on new years, but i didn't really intend on posting it at all

You’re the neighborhood ‘cool mom’ - moms hate you, their daughters envy you, dads try not to stare for too long, and their sons, they love you. Your son’s friends have been flirting with you since they were middle schoolers, and their actions only intensified once they learned the word ‘milf’. They'd probably watched every video on pornhub with the word in the title based on the way they stared at you. Almost creaming their jeans, drooling like babies, it was pitiful. 

You became an empty nester young, young enough that you still had the body of a Victoria's Secret model. When your son came home after his first semester of college for winter break, his high school buddies came around almost daily. You were the cool mom, so you let them drink and smoke a little bit, you’d rather have it under your roof where you could control it. 

Your favorite young man came over on New Year’s Eve for a little get together your son planned. You tried to stay out of the boys’ way for the majority of the night, only coming down from your room to offer snacks and drinks. Later in the night, your son asked if they could go out for a bit – another kid from school was having a party. You said, yes, of course, and off they went. You assumed you were alone, so naturally, you walked downstairs in your nightgown, not expecting to see a handsome young man in your living room. 

“Leon?” you said. 

“Sorry, ma’am, I-I wasn’t sure if I should leave or not, and I can just - I’ll get going now,” he said. 

“You’re welcome to stay, honey, you know that.” You flashed him a smile. 

“I don’t want to- to keep you up.”

“It’s only 10:30, Leon. How old do you think I am?” you said, playing coy. 

He blushed, “I-I didn’t mean that I think you’re old, um, you’re not, or - or you’re very pretty, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Honey, I was just playing with you. No need to get nervous around me.” You placed your hand on his shoulder, and surprise washed over his face, but his muscles relaxed. 

“Why didn’t you want to go with the other boys?”

“They, uh, well I was worried that they might be drinking alcohol or smoking,” he said, reluctant to meet your eyes.

“I forgot - you’re in the police academy now, huh?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“All grown up now, but you’re still a good boy.”

His ears flushed pink and he began to fidget in his seat, hearing the words good boy. 

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“How ‘bout I turn on the New Year’s broadcast?”

“That sounds good.”

You sat down beside Leon, grabbing a blanket from the other side of the couch to cover yourself a bit, not wanting to show too much skin yet, especially when he looked so nervous already. 

“Do you want anything to drink or eat, hun?”

“No thank you, ma’am.”

You watched out of the corner of your eye as Leon tried to be subtle when he snuck glances at you. You noted them, but decided not to comment, knowing he’d die from embarrassment if he knew you’d caught him.

Eventually, you decided to strike up a conversation, getting tired of watching TV. 

“So, how are things going with you?” you asked.

“Pretty good. The academy is good. I like it.”

“That’s nice. Got any friends there? A girlfriend?” You made sure he heard the last question. 

“I’ve made a few friends, but I’m still working on fitting in with the guys… and no girlfriend.”

“No one’s snatched you up yet? Such a handsome young man.”

“Th-thank you, ma’am.”

“Always my pleasure, Leon.”

You pretended not to notice the way Leon shifted in his seat. You’d always paid attention to the way his jeans fit - tight enough to show off his pert ass, but still loose enough that there wasn’t an ever-present bulge on display. The fact that you could see a tent in his pants forming meant he was unmistakably aroused. Poor baby, you thought, too much friction to get it to go down, but not enough to get off. 

“Have you ever had a New Year’s kiss?” Leon asked all of a sudden. 

“Yes, I have. Why do you ask?” You tried to downplay your interest.

“They were just talking about something related to kissing at midnight… I’ve already forgotten what exactly it was…” He gestured to the C-list celebrities on TV who were droning on and on about the ball that was about to drop in Times Square.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying much attention. Got lost in my thoughts back there,” you said.

“S’okay. It wasn’t that interesting.”

“It’s the same old thing every year, isn’t it? Well, I guess when I was your age it was more fun. Going to parties and such, you know how it is. You are more well-behaved than I was at your age. Unfortunately, it means that you’ve ended up at a boring old lady’s house on New Years.” 

You laughed off the last part, but you were only half-joking. You did feel like a boring old lady sometimes. 

“You’re not boring,” he said, vehement in his assertion, “or old.”

So as not to allow yourself to get flustered, you changed the subject, “I didn’t get a chance to ask you, have you ever had a New Year’s kiss?”

You assumed his answer would be 'yes'.

“No,” he started, thinking hard about the question, “well, maybe when I was a lot younger, but I don’t think it counts when you’re both in elementary school. I’d like to think that someday it’ll happen again.”

You turned to him, eyes alight with mischief. Of course this was morally dubious, but it wasn’t illegal. You could surely be doing worse, right? At least you were keeping him from drugs and alcohol.

When you looked into Leon’s eyes, they were glossy, drunk on lust.

“Do you want-” you began, but were cut off by Leon’s lips against yours. 

He was quick, but not forceful. His lips were pillowy soft, so easy to mold yours to them. 

“Sorry,” he pulled back, “I got carried away.”

He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“It’s okay,” you said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, coaxing his gaze back towards yours. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, it was sweet.”

“Does that mean you want to do it again?”

The hope in his eyes was so pure, it made you want to melt. 

“If that’s what you’d like, then, yes.”

His bashfulness made you giddy, too. 

“Yes, ma’am.”

You cupped his chin and brought him closer, so that his mouth could meet yours again. Your tongue met his, tentatively gliding over the tip of it, and he reciprocated the gesture. The kiss gained fervor as he became eager for more. You scooted closer to him until your knees were touching. 

“It’s not even midnight yet,” you joked, breathing the words into his mouth. 

“It is somewhere in the world,” he said, with an adorable grin that had you smiling like a little girl. 

You intended to reach for his thigh, but landed a bit further up. Feeling his hard-on, you pulled your hand back, slowly, so as not to embarrass him. 

“Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean to. It does that on its own.”

You laughed. “It’s okay. I know how those things work.”

“Oh o-of course, you do. I forgot…”

“Forgot what? That I have a kid? Which means I’ve done much more than kissing.”

“Yeah. You probably have a lot more experience than me.”

“Maybe, but I’m older than you, so that’s natural.”

“Well, most guys my age have had… you know, sex, before, and, uh, I haven’t really done that much, yet.”

“It’s not a big deal to be a virgin. I think it was probably not my wisest decision to have sex in high school and get pregnant. Of course, I love my son, though.” 

Your son was the one to thank for Leon ending up in your living room, so really, you couldn’t be mad that he’d cockblocked you more times than you could count, just by virtue of his existence. Turns out, most men your age who don’t already have kids, don’t want ‘em. Guess robbing the cradle really is your only choice. 

“Yeah, yeah, definitely don’t want to get pregnant - not that I would get pregnant, but I don’t want to get anyone else pregnant, I mean.”

You laughed lightly. “I’m glad you know how it works, at least.”

“Sort of, yeah, the general stuff. We learned it all in health class, so…”

“Have you ever done anything? Besides sex, I mean. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, of course.”

“Just kissing.”

“Please tell me I wasn’t your first kiss.”

“No, no.” This time he was the one laughing. “I’ve made out with girls before.”

“Just making out, though?”

“Yeah. Well, one girl let me see her boobs… and touch them.”

“What is that considered these days? Second base?”

“Not sure.”

“Have you ever wanted to do more?”

“Yeah, oh yeah, definitely, but I always get nervous.”

“You shouldn’t be nervous, but you should wait until you’re ready.”

“I’m definitely ready.” he said, looking down towards his obvious erection. 

“Yeah,” you held back a laugh, “I noticed.”

“It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“It shouldn’t be. I’m flattered, really. I’m not as young and pretty as I used to be.”

“You’re really pretty. Really, really beautiful. And I think everyone thinks that.”

“You’re very cute. I’m sure not everyone thinks that, but thank you.”

You noticed he was fidgeting, debating probably. 

“I should probably go,” he said.

“Have somewhere else to be?” you asked.

“No, well, I just, I mean, I have something to take care of," he stumbled over his words as he put his hands in his pockets, pretending as if you hadn't already acknowledged the obvious.

“Leon, are we talking about what I think we’re talking about?” You asked with an eyebrow raised. The signature, knowing look that all mothers have.

“It’s possible," he shrugged, trying to play it cool, though his breath was quickening.

“Do you want some help taking care of that?”

“Really?” his head perked up, surprised, delighted.

“Yes, really.”

“Oh, thank you, ma’am. That would be- I’d really like that.”

He was so precious you could cry. 

“Sit back for me, then,” you whispered. 

He relaxed into the couch as best he could, but it was obvious that he was tense. You couldn’t blame him. All you could do was help him. 

“Is this okay?” you asked, when your hands reached his zipper.

He nodded repeatedly, gulping back excitement. 

You made quick work of his jeans and his boxers with his eager assistance. Taking in the view, you thought, pretty cock for a pretty boy. It made sense, really. You almost pitied all the girls his age who’d missed out on the chance to see it before you got your hands on him. When you spit directly onto his dick - for lubrication, not degradation (you’d never do that to a poor virgin like Leon) - he gazed at you, slack-jawed and hands twitching, unsure of where to place them. It only took a few pumps of your hand down his length to make him whimper. 

You stopped - much to his dismay - and looked at the clock. It was getting pretty close to midnight. The two of you had already shared your New Year’s kiss - the novelty had already been savored, so you needed something else, a new game to play.

“Leon?” you asked.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Do you want to play a little game with me?”

“Sure. What kind of game?”

“How about this,” you started, running your hands up his thighs, beginning your teasing routine, “I start touching you again, and then when you think you’re really close to cumming, you tell me and I’ll stop… and then start again.”

It sounded as torturous for him as it would be, but you flashed him a sweet smile, one that promised you’d take good care of him. 

“You mean like edging?”

Well, when you put it like that, yeah, Leon. He must not be as innocent as you'd assumed.

“Yes.”

“But do I get to cum at all, like ever?”

He was already giving you a pouty face, fearing the worst. 

“Yes, at midnight.”

Leon looked at the clock, preparing himself for the amount of teasing he’d have to endure.

“All right,” he agreed to your proposal. 

“Good boy,” you said, not intending much by it, but it was well-received by Leon - the sharp intake of breath was so distinct. 

Your hand made its way back to his dick, beginning with languid strokes. He was quick to stop you after what felt like only a few seconds. It could've been a minute, maybe, but no one was counting yet.

“‘M getting close,” he mumbled, grabbing your wrist.

“Really close?” you asked, not wanting to stop pre-emptively.

“Yeah,” he said, looking away in an attempt to hide his embarrassment, but you could see the redness rising to his ears. 

“Are you always this sensitive?” you asked, a little bit self-indulgent, but genuine, still. Not too teasing.

“No,” he said quietly.

“Is it me?” 

“I think so.”

You considered kissing him to keep him entertained, but you’d forgotten what it was like to be with such a young man. All the men in their 40s needed help keeping their dicks hard, you couldn’t play like this or they’d go soft.

You gave him a minute to relax before you went back to touching him. The cycle continued until the countdown. You watched the TV flash the numbers counting down the final minute. 60, 59, 58…

“Think you can make it?” you asked, your faith in him was quickly waning as he was clearly on edge.

49, 48, 47…

“I hope so,” he said through shaky breaths.

39, 38, 37…

“Do I have to stop?” you took your hand away briefly.

“N-no, no, no.” His tone wasn’t terribly reassuring, voice cracking when he spoke. 

29, 28, 27…

You slowed down but didn’t stop fully. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t get it out. 

19, 18, 17…

Labored breaths turned into moans, so focused on not cumming early that he couldn’t find the space in his thoughts to hold any shame.

“You’re doing so well, honey,” you cooed.

9, 8, 7…

“Thank you,” he said - or at least, tried to, though his lower lip trembled, making it difficult. 

You looked up into his teary eyes. 

6, 5, 4…

He leaned his head back, like his muscles were giving out, all the blood having rushed between his legs. His eyes were closed, but his lips were parted to let out a stream of ‘ah’s’ and ‘oh’s’. 

3, 2, 1…

With a strangled sob, thick ropes of white ran down your hand. You leaned in to kiss him just like all the people in Times Square. You felt the pulsing sensation continue, almost more intense when your lips met his. His lips were pliant, as was his whole body after the release of tension. 

“Happy New Year,” you said as you pulled back.

For a moment, all you received in response was his heavy breathing - if it weren’t for that, with the way he was splayed out before you, his body completely limp, you’d think he was dead.

“I’m not sure whether to say ‘thank you’ or ‘I’m sorry for making a mess,” Leon said finally, still looking blissed-out. 

You laughed. “Neither. The correct response is ‘Happy New Year’.”

“Oh,” he said, as if he’d lost all sense of time and space, “Happy New Year”. 

[winterrrnight]

secret admirer (rafe's pov)

PAIRING: high schooler!soft!rafe cameron x high schooler!fem!reader

SUMMARY: the reader has a secret admirer who drops letters, flowers and some other little souvenirs in their locker.

WARNINGS: so much lovesick rafe, fluff and fluff and fluff, extremely cute moments between the two

EDITH SPEAKS: and it's here!!! let's completely ignore the fact that it's been months since the original post :p please make sure you've read the original one first, because it's a bit more detailed and includes what rafe's letters say (you can find the original fic directly linked in my navigation or through the series masterlist!). I hope you all really enjoy this; this is a big piece of my heart in the form of writing 💓 please like and reblog and comment all your thoughts!!! 💘💘

navigation || requests || join my taglist || series masterlist

I walk in the school gates after my soccer practice, still in my sweaty clothes from the intense training. I look at the lockers on my left, carefully seeing the numbers on each of them so I don’t miss the one I’m looking for.

I finally find the one I’m looking for. Through one of the three little slits in the middle of the locker, I slide in my envelope. It has a letter and a little daisy in it. She’s like one; so delicate that I want to protect her from the whole world and only want her to be mine.

Because I do. She comes in my dreams every night, where she so delicately holds my hands and kisses my skin. I feel so lightweight that I will just melt right in her touch.

I look around the hallway, making sure no one sees me. When I notice no one, I take in a deep breath of relief and walk out of the school.

She needs to know how much she means to me. She needs to see how much I appreciate her.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

I now try to send in an envelope as often as I can. I send one in every few days, and try to mix it around with the little souvenir that accompanies the letter. So far, I’ve sent her flowers, chocolates, and a small bracelet which I made for her.

But today, I woke up so late, I had to miss my soccer practice. My clothes aren’t on properly, and I didn’t even have any time to do something to my hair. I look like I just rolled out of the bed.

I have to be so discreet each time I put in the letter in the locker. I don’t want anyone catching me. That’s all I am: her secret admirer. The one who admires her from afar. The one who sends her little letters to remind her how beautiful she is, and how she deserves the whole world.

I have put in the letter without anyone noticing. I’m now standing right behind the turn of the hallway, where I have a clear look of her. She’s opening her locker. I notice a bright smile on her face when she sees the letter.

Suddenly, the bell rings, cutting through my thoughts. I notice her cursing and rushing to the class, the unopened letter in her bag. I have the same class as her: it’s English and there’s no way our teacher will let us in the class.

I rush to the class too, and by the time I reach, she’s already at the door, the teacher giving her an earful. Just as I stand right behind her, our teacher notices me.

“Oh looks like we have another late comer,” He says, glaring at me. She realizes my presence, and turns around to look at me. We make brief eye contact, and I feel my cheeks heat up. We’re standing close to each other, so close that I can hear her breathing.

“I’m so sorry, I swear I set an alarm but it didn’t ring and-” I start to ramble, but the teacher cuts me off.

“DETENTION! Both of you!” He suddenly yells at the two of us. I watch her flinch, and just for a second, I have the urge of breaking the teacher’s face. He signs two detention slips and hands those to us, and then he dismisses us by closing the door on our faces.

She looks down at the slip at her hand. She hates getting detention. She’s the nice, intelligent student of our grade, and she tries to stay out of detention as much as she can.

She looks up to me and we make brief eye contact again. Oh her eyes. I find myself drowning in them each time I see her.

“Shall we go?” I ask her, wanting her to look at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. But she doesn't lift her head up, and only gives me a nod. We both start to make our way to the detention classroom.

When we reach inside, we only see our PE teacher sitting. He’s too busy reading his magazine and doesn’t realize we both have walked in until we sit down.

“Just two of you?” He looks at us, and she nods in response. “Well that's going to be a waste of my time.” He shuts his magazine close and leaves it on the desk, starting to make a beeline for the door.

“I’ll be here in an hour to let you both out. Don't do anything dumb, you're being watched.” He says and quickly leaves the room, me and her being all alone.

A silence wraps around the two of us, and it feels very serene. I pull out one of my books to read, but I falter at keeping my focus on the words because of her sitting next to me. I can’t help but steal a glance of her after every few seconds, and I swear with each passing second, she just gets more beautiful.

When she opens her bag, she pulls out the letter. I intake a sharp breath, and watch her open the envelope and read the words written on them. A smile graces her lips as her eyes wander over the words, and I feel my heart skip a beat.

“What’s that?” The words leave my mouth so quickly, I don’t realize I’ve spoken them. She snaps her head towards me.

“Nothing,” she says, focussing on folding the paper back again and putting it back in the envelope.

“Looks like a love letter, someone's been writing you love letters?” I pose the question, wanting not to show I’m the one who wrote it.

“Maybe?”

Why is she not as happy as I thought she would be?

“What do you mean, maybe?”

She sighs. “I’ve been receiving these letters which have poetry in French written in them. They usually come along with a little gift, like a small flower or some chocolate. But, there’s no name on the paper whatsoever, so I have no way of knowing who it is, if it’s legit or if someone is playing a prank on me.”

“I don’t think it’s a prank, you know.” She looks back at me, her eyes wide as they sink into mine.

“You don’t?”

“Someone maybe likes you a lot, and is, I don’t know, scared to admit it to you.” I say, shaking my head.

“But, why do you think it’s not a prank? And how are you so sure it is an actual love letter?”

I feel myself almost starting to get riled up; angry because why does she refuse to accept something like that?

“Why is it so hard for you to believe that it can be an actual love letter? That someone actually likes you a lot? You're an amazing person, don't decline the thought of someone being your admirer so easily.” I blurt out, and just the second I finish speaking, I realize I’ve said too much.

I look away from her the next instant, and try to direct all my focus on my work, ignoring the heat rising in my cheeks.

I hear her whisper a small thank you, and as much as I try not to, I steal a small glance at her, her head bent down as she's looking over her school work.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

With the incident at the detention, I decide I have to send her letters every single day, with more gifts in them, my love hidden in each one of them safely, but surely.

I see her opening her locker and finding the letter. I included a daisy chain which I learnt how to make from Sarah, more chocolates and two new bracelets.

I had to stay up overnight to finish making the chain and the bracelets, but it’s all worth it.

It’s for her.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

It was one of the first days of last summer, when I was biking around, waiting for some of my friends to meet up with me. They all had decided to meet up at a new place which I had never been to. Taking different roads and turns, I found myself in unfamiliar areas of the island.

As I continued to bike, I found a big field which I didn’t even know existed. Curious, I got off my bike and went inside the field, and found out it’s actually a huge strawberry field. Strawberries were growing on low lying plants, a bright red color making them pop out from the green of the leaves.

I was completely amazed by them. I followed their path to find a huge opening in the field with a huge tree in the middle. But before I could take any steps further, I saw her sitting under the shade of the tree, protecting herself from the bright summer sun as she was eating the strawberries. She looked so serene; sitting cross legged and biting into those strawberries, sighing as their sweet taste completely encompassed her.

Since then I always see her going on the little road which leads to the huge field, biking her way to it. Now that strawberries are back in season, I have decided to put some of those in her letter next time, and even spend some time there as I try to write some new letters to her.

I decide to go around at least 2 hours before her usual time, so she doesn't see me there at all. With my notepad, my fountain pen, ink bottle and my basket, I find myself in the strawberry field again, taking a deep breath to inhale the sweet smelling air surrounding me.

I sit under the tree, taking my notepad and my pen to begin writing, but, much to my dismay, I don't feel inspired and no words come to my help to write something. Even with a big inspiration right in front of me, I just can't think of something to write.

Frustrated, I leave my notepad under the tree and decide to gather some strawberries. I make my way in between the plants, trying to pluck only the ripest of the ripe strawberries.

Having to walk around in the dirt for so long results in dirt over my face and my clothes, but that doesn't matter to me.

“Just a few more,” I whisper, bending down at one of the bunches of strawberries to pluck them. I look at my basket, which is quite full, but I know I can get some more.

I find myself satisfied with my collection as I look at my full basket. The strawberries shine under the evening shade of the sun, the golden rays making them glow.

I start to walk back out to the tree, but just as I come back out, I spot her looking at me.

Oh shit.

I spent way too much time than I intended and now she's here.

“Oh, hey,” I say awkwardly, as she looks back at me with the same confusion as me.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, what are you doing here?” She questions me.

I can’t tell her why I’m here. I have to make something up.

"Nothing, just... just getting some of these strawberries. I've heard they're really good," I say, walking towards her. I try my best to exude confidence, to show her I’m firm in what I’m pretending to do here.

“How did you... how did you find out about this place? I come here almost every single day and I never see you here. Why suddenly today?”

I see it.

I see the hunger to know everything in her eyes.

I know she has seen my notepad and my pen, just lying there under the shade of the tree.

I know she suspected it when I said too much during the detention. She's set on knowing the truth about everything, about me being the one who drops little words of love in her locker each day, and proving her own assumptions right.

I'm standing silently in front of her, trying to find the right words to start with, and she's looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to start speaking.

“Why do you have that notepad with you, with that fountain pen?” She prompts.

We’ve come too far.

It’s time I tell it all to her.

“For you. It's all for you. It's all always been for you.” I whisper. “These,” I say, motioning to the basket in my hands, “these are for you too.”

"But... why me?” She mutters, her eyes directed towards everywhere but at me.

"Because," I walk closer to her, and with all the confidence in me, I place my finger under her chin and gently push it up so she can only look at me. I feel my hand almost shaking from getting to touch her. “I want you to know how special you are. You deserve nothing but love, and this is just me showing you that.” I move my hand towards her cheek, placing it comfortably. When I see she doesn't show any signs of discomfort, I feel myself starting to get relaxed, my heartbeat taking control over its speed. I feel her cheek radiate heat through my hand.

“But-” she starts, but I cut her off.

“No buts. I told you this before too, why are you not willing to believe that you are so worthy of being loved and appreciated? That there is someone who’s ready to do this all for you, but that wouldn’t be special now, would it? That’s what everyone does. And then my purpose of showing you that I’m not like everyone else and how I will shower you with love every single second of my life is defeated. I will bring you the moon, all you have to do is just ask.”

I say it.

I say it all in a single breath.

Every single emotion I experience when I see her is out in the open for her to see. I feel vulnerable, as if my protective top layer has been scratched away, but not roughly. It’s peeled off carefully, like we peel an orange for a loved one.

But for some reason, she doesn’t seem completely satisfied with all I have to say.

“Why me?”

I sigh, knowing we're both about to take a trip down memory lane.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

I was playing in the sand all by myself, trying my best to make a castle out of it, but my attempts failed me. I was bored; sitting all alone in the sand pit with no one with me. I watched everyone else in the playground, running and laughing with their friends, while I was left all alone.

My attention was directed towards the swings, and a huge smile graced my face when I saw it was empty. It was nearly never empty, always being hogged by the rest of the kindergarteners. I rushed to it and sat on one of them, starting to swing back and forth.

I had just started to enjoy the swing, when a huge group of bullies made its way towards me.

“Hey, give us the swing!” Greg, their leader, demanded. I felt myself getting scared, almost trembling, but I didn't want to give the bullies the satisfaction that they had made me scared.

“No!” I said, tightening my grip on the swings and trying to glare at them; to show they didn't scare me. But that only seemed to anger Greg more, because with just one motion of his head, all of his friends charged towards me. They pulled me away from my swing and threw me on the ground with a loud thud, and I screamed at the pain inflicted to me. I started crying as I helped myself up with all my strength to see Greg laughing at me as he sat on his swing.

I felt lost. No teacher came up to help me, despite there being many in the playground to oversee everything. I sat up properly, sniffling, and I noticed my bruises covering my knees.

But suddenly, I felt the sunlight being blocked in front of me, and I looked up to see you.

You were standing in front of me, a gentle smile on your face as you let out your hand for me. My eyes were wide seeing you being so gentle towards me. I took your hand and you pulled me up, and led me to your teacher in your classroom.

I remember her being shocked at my condition. She took me away from you and started to apply an antiseptic on my knees, which spread a burning sensation. I whined at the feeling, wanting it to end at that instant.

She very carefully applied band aids on my wounds, and gave me a little pat on my cheek, and called me a ‘strong boy’. She left me, and you came in just the next second, taking me to your table in the classroom.

I saw you curiously as you opened up your bag and rummaged through it. You pulled out a lollipop, and handed it to me.

“You are so brave,” you said, and I felt my heart racing at your comment.

“Thank you,” I said, taking the lollipop from your hand.

It was strawberry flavored.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

“From that day, I've never stopped looking at you. As we grew older, I knew you were the one I wanted to be with, and I wanted to reciprocate all that you've done for me. It's not just the lollipop, throughout all the years you've been there for me when no one else was, I just don't want you to think that your efforts go unappreciated.” I finish.

She's looking at me with wide eyes, her breathing getting heavier.

She knows why she means the whole universe to me.

She knows why I would travel to the other side of the world to get her her favorite kind of flowers.

“Rafe,” she starts, but tears start to blur her eyes. I move my thumbs to her cheeks to quickly wipe them off, before they fall off her face.

“This is nothing compared to what you've done for me, those chocolates, little verses of poetry, bracelets, they don't amount to the things you've done for me in any way. But I just want to show you how amazing you are, and how you deserve the nicest things in the world.” I whisper.

Before I can process what is happening, her lips are pressed against mine, my eyes shut close as I feel her so close to me. My lips move against hers gently, and I feel her pull me closer to her with her arms around my neck.

She pulls away and gently rests her forehead against mine. My eyes are still shut, and I'm afraid if I'll open them up, I'll wake up from the most serene dream I've ever had.

"Je t'aime. Aujourd'hui. Ce soir. Demain. Pour toujours. Su je vivais mille ans, he t'appartiendrais pour tous. Si je vivais mille vies, je te ferais mienne dans chaacune d'elles." I whisper, taking in a deep breath to let the moment settle in me.

“I love you. Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever. If I were to live a thousand years, I would belong to you for all of them. If I were to live a thousand lives, I would want to make you mine in each one.”

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @saccharinesammie @maybankslover @totalswag @madelynie @chenslucy @ietss @elle-mp3 @viawritesstuff @wallsdreams @tahliac11 @sadfury @newsies-pape-girl @jamesbuckybarneswify @xxxlaura @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @callsignwidow

[causenessus]

love notes

part 0.20. EPILOGUE

"you deserve a good life i hope we stay together i want this to last forever"

from a good life by eyedress, left in okayama, japan

CONTENT WARNING: a little suggestive :)

her breathing slows the moment she sees him.

he’s pushing his way past a group of men, lines forming at the corners of his hooded eyes as he gives them a smile and nod before he's making his way towards her again. 

he looks a little funny in his formal wear. she knows he hates it, and has probably been tugging at his stuffy collar all day. but it’s the same collar she grabs when he’s close enough, pulling him down to her level and crashing her lips against his.

his hands immediately find their way onto her body, roaming maybe a little more than they should in a room full of important people and coworkers, but that’s never mattered much to them. they’re acting like they haven’t seen each other in months, when in reality they woke up in the same bed this morning, legs entangled and hands intertwined even in their sleep.

“took you long enough,” she teases. she’s holding him close, her hand still fisted around his collar and she’s looking up into his eyes as he stares back down at her, a stupid grin on his face.

“i made it and i found you, didn’t i? that’s all that matters,” he shrugs before he looks behind her, standing back up straight as his face drops.

she turns her head to see what he’s looking at and smiles sheepishly when she makes eye contact with her best friend, his face covered by a mask as he looks at them in disgust. “in the middle of an entire crowd? really?” he says in disbelief, shaking his head as he walks closer and she removes her hand from rintaro.

neither of them have an excuse, so they only apologize to him in unison before he sighs. 

“should we go find osamu?” rintaro asks now that the three of them are together.

she nods, walking forward and taking lead of the group as they start to push through the crowds again, “he should be ready by now. or we’ll just bother him if he’s not.”

she waves to the people she knows and smiles at the ones she’s only seen in passing, trying to be polite. her status in the place has come in equal parts from her job and relationship with rintaro. in her last year of college, she'd decided to look into jobs within the sports industry. pulling in favors from old contacts, she had landed a job in publicity and taking photos of sporting events, along with akaashi. under kuroo’s management, they both followed multiple volleyball games. she tried her best to stay with rintaro’s team and akaashi often stayed with bokuto’s team.

when she had the time, she’d pick up a few portrait requests to keep things from getting mundane, although that was impossible anyway with rintaro in her life. they were nearly inseparable; you could always find them at each other's side. even as they tried to navigate through the party they were at now, he eventually caught up to her, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep them from getting separated while omi followed behind them.

they’d get stopped by old faces she hadn’t seen in years and new faces she’d never seen, but that rintaro apparently knew. he’d introduce her as her wife, and sometimes the name still got to her. she’d feel her ears burn as he reached down to hold her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and rub his thumb across the wedding ring adorning her finger–a habit he had picked up and would likely never get rid of.

really, he’d been by her side for longer than just in these past few years. she’d been at his side since they were high schoolers, through the small lunch boxes she made for the four boys she had known closest then, and he was by her side through all of college. he was by her side watching her develop photos, listening to the stories behind them, and her stressors. then, they had been by each other sides officially the moment they had put that heart lock on that fence; a mark that would last longer than the both of them, even into their next life, where they’d find each other once more and fall in love with each other all over again.

prev. | m.list

extras <3

that's a wrap ? ! ?

most likely a few bonuses! which i will continue to tag people for but just dm me if you don't want to be tagged for them <3

i think this is obvious, i tried to explain it a little bit in the written part but y/n did end up going into sports photography again!! she kind of missed it and thought it'd be fun to work closely with rintaro <3

idk what else to say! love notes is my child i will love her forever :) i hope you all enjoyed reading!

mbb and inked references always!!

taglist: @0moonii @iluvmang @bluebeanbee @wyrcan @oyasumeii @zumicho @gyuijns @nbcvs @milkteade @eggyrocks @guitarstringed-scars @makkir0ll @mylahrins @cherrypieyourface @vivian-555 @sharkerino @r0seandth0rns @staileykout @lunavixia @thvvluvr @elliott0o0 @wolffmaiden @rockleeisbaeeee @toges-cough-syrup @cnnmairoll @ryeyeyer @hibernatinghamster @localgaytrainwreck @lemonocity @bows4life @sereniteav @madiexuberant @eclecticeggknightpsychic @phoenix-eclipses @sonicsolos @httpakkeiji @brkfclub @snail-squasher @starry-magicshop @cr4yolaas @kitnootkat @zzzlevislothzzz @iluv-ace @iluvaquaphor @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21 @applepi25 @twiishaa @girlkissersco @sleepystrwbrryy @encrypta

[zoe-oneesama]

Less of a question and more of a comment? But your most recent ask about your Angelic Layer AU. which I love btw big AL fan, reminded me just how jarring the choices between the anime and manga were, that honestly, the anime probably gave the series a better boost in popularity overall just by way of HOW it handled everything, including the juggling relationships, because the way the manga pairs everyone off it strange

It was baffling to behold...uuuuuntil I looked at the manga vs anime release dates. Then it made sense. The manga started first...then then anime caught up but the manga wasn't done...so the anime went off and did it's own thing.

And it's own thing was insane. 🙃

I guess I get it because in most anime when they catch up to source material they'll add in tons of filler so the manga can make more material, but that only really works if the anime and manga are...popular. And Angelic Layer is most decidedly not. Though hilariously that didn't stop them from trying with stuff like a beach episode. A BEACH episode with MIDDLE schoolers and their dolls.

Now You might not like the way the middle schoolers got paired off at the end (seriously, who saw Tamayo dating the pervert high schooler who guesses people's underwear prints, like, wut?) but at least Misaki and Kotaro had build up. Boring, milktoast build up, but build up.

The anime's decision to go along with that build up, catch up to the manga, and then completely ditch all that to suddenly make Misaki oblivious to Kotaro despite for like 12 episode having a clear crush on him, give Ohjiro a crush on Misaki's mother just to turn around and pair him with Misaki, making Ichiro ALSO have a crush on Misaki's mother, and then suddenly reframe all of Tamayo's endless beatings on Kotaro and teasing him about his feelings for Misaki be a sign that she had a crush all this time...

Yeah big yikes. I usually root for the childhood friend in anime, so, way to go Angelic Layer for breaking that rule for me.

Not to say all the changes were bad. I liked the expansion on the game, including the kinda team/pit crew idea they threw in for the National Tournament, and the longer episodes made all the upgrades that were introduced to the game feel better paced and more monumental than they did in the manga. I definitely felt the tension and drama much better between Misaki and her mother in the anime. It was the only time I cried watching and the first time Misaki felt like a rounded dimensional character. And while I took a jab at Icchan getting a crush on Mama Shuko, with their backstory and the way it directly effected the development of Angelic Layer the game, I was kinda into it in the vacuum of the show.

(Though my Chobits loving heart kept shouting about how he has a WHOLE ASS WIFE-!)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for saying my family shows favoritism towards my baby cousin?

(This is copied from my Reddit drafts because my partner told me tumblr would be better for this and I trust them)

Okay this is a long one so I’m just gonna throw out fake names for everyone and everyone is white middle class Americans

I, Op, 20M, I’m a trans man not accepted by my family. This is relevant

Renee, 20F, my twin sister

Bea, 16F, my younger sister

Lee, 35F, my aunt on my father’s side

Lucas, 2M, my cousin, son of Lee

Suzie, 5F, my cousin, daughter of Lee

My father, 44M, the patriarch of our whole family

My mother, 45F

Grandpa, 76M, paternal grandpa, previous patriarch

Grandma, 74F, paternal grandma

So I’m sending this in on Christmas Day of 2023. For some context, I still live at home, but it’s more of a roommate situation now that I’m an adult. Renee lives on her out-of-state college campus but visits for holidays, and Bea is still a high schooler. Lee, her children, and her husband who isn’t relevant to this (I love my uncle, we just literally never talk) live across the country. My father is losing the battle with cancer and can’t travel, so we had two separate christmases this year, one with my immediate family and one with Lee. Grandma and Grandpa went to Lee’s, which was awesome for me because that meant I got to avoid them this year!

As the character list above states, I’m (one of) the oldest of the five grandkids with my cousins being born a lot later than me and my sisters. My family is a traditional WASP family and staunchly conservative with Aunt Lee actively being a cop right now while my parents and Grandpa served in the military. Growing up undeniably queer was hilarious, I know. But the family dynamic wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, my family did a good job of trying to hide the fact that Renee was the favorite child lol, but that was more on the basis of her having the same traditional values that they do until Aunt Lee had Suzie, then she obviously became the favorite. Fine by me, she’s an adorable girl and I love spoiling her. Also, ACAB does apply for Aunt Lee for being complacent in this system, it’s not just the most relevant part of the story besides explaining how she fits into the family dynamic

But then Lee had Lucas a few years later and the focus in the family shifted to him. At first, it was baby fever making everyone dote over him (and I’m guilty of this too) but after a while, I realized that the fever hasn’t died down. If we had family reunions, everyone would flock to Lucas and I would be the one watching Suzie. For a toddler, she’s a great conversationalist, but it was still sad to see all her aunts and uncles and cousins showering her baby brother with attention and not her. And then the comments started. That my father would only refer to Lucas as “my nephew” even when talking directly to Lee (unhinged to witness in person). That Grandpa was so happy to finally have a grandson (felt great). The lady-killer comments and guessing what profession he’s gonna go into based on how chubby of a baby he is (the money’s on Linebacker, little dude is built like a truck). Stuff like that

None of these comments were ever made about Suzie when she was born, and I really don’t want to admit that it’s because Lucas is a boy, but thats the only answer I can think of when trying to understand the favoritism. Lucas is showered in gifts and love and while I know newborns need that, Suzie received nowhere near this much attention. Lee’s husband doesn’t go to family functions because he works full time, but I heard Suzie mumble at Thanksgiving last month that she wanted to go home to daddy. It broke my fucking heart, so I called him and she got to FaceTime with my uncle until my phone died

At this point, I’m not even upset that the family ignores my obvious trans-ness as I’m over a year on T (paid for by myself too) in favor of my boy cousin. I’m upset that Suzie is getting left out of the fawning while she’s still super young and she could grow up resenting Lucas because of it.

Anyways, so this morning we opened gifts as an immediate family and I got to FaceTime my significant other as they unboxed their gift from me and we were having a good time until my dad FaceTimes Grandpa. Grandpa answers and Dad immediately asks how his nephew is. Lucas is pushed in front of the phone and all I can hear is asking about how Lucas is, is Lucas talking yet, is Lucas reading yet. I manage to squeeze my head in and ask about Suzie and Lee’s voice off camera says that “oh she’s fine, just snobbish.” Snobbish? A five year old?

And here’s where I’m probably the Asshole. Honestly, I’m looking between ESH and JAH here, but would perfectly understandable if tumblr decides YTA. My response to Lee’s comment was: “well maybe she wouldn’t be if everyone didn’t pick Lucas as the family favorite.”

My dad smacked me upside the head, Renee and Bea got really pissed off, and the FaceTime went quiet until it was cut off and Grandpa called back to talk to Dad privately. Bea called me an asshole and while my Mom got onto her for her language, Mom agreed that I was.

My dad came back from the phone and did the silent point towards his bedroom, y’all with shitty parents know the one. Because I’m twenty fucking years old and pay RENT here, I shook my head, grabbed my keys, and went to go hang out with my significant partner and work friends. We had a great time and I’m currently in the car with my significant other while typing this. I’m gonna spend the night at their place and go back in the morning to see how bad the damage is. My significant other says I was justified in what I said, but two of my work friends (one who’s a Cishet guy who grew up in a similar household and another who’s a new dad with his own son) say that what I said was uncalled for and rude. They explained that I had no right to weaponize Lucas and Suzie like that and I understand that. I’m just tired of Suzie being neglected and, selfishly I know, I’m tired of how my identity is ignored as well

So, tumblr, AITA?

TL;DR, My two year old cousin is the “only” grandson in the family. The family ignores my male identity and my baby cousin’s five year old sister to fawn over the two year old. Am I The Asshole for pointing this out point blank in front of the whole family on Christmas morning?

What are these acronyms?

[vanderbilt-draws]

pleaseee...draw devwinn interacting... plssss

ok sorry it took forever for me to answer i may have gone slightly overboard with the doodles but I REALLY LIKE DEVWINN AND MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A WHOLE UNWRITTEN FIC ABOUT THEM IN HIGH SCHOOL AND LIKE 7 MILLION HCS ABOUT HOW THEY MET AND THEIR FUTURES AND UHH UHH hcs/all the stuff leading up to my unwritten fic are all below the cut if youre interested ✨✨

winn moved to dimmadelphia in the fourth grade

pretty much instantly dev "befriended" them and started being really clingy with them. he had a MASSIVE crush on them right from the start

winn wasnt actually all that big a fan of dev at first because yk he was mean to most of the other kids, but they didnt want to hurt his feelings so kind of went along with him

(side note i hc that dev has literally been wearing pretty much the same outfit since forever. hes so autism)

dev and winn only got to being real friends once hazel and dev became friends (bc yk shes got the balls to actually tell dev when hes doing something mean, so thats rlly when dev started improving as a person)

winn and dev had the same homeroom in sixth grade and ended up sitting right next to each other, which was when they really started becoming a Duo

winn broke their arm in a skating accident during the winter break of their sixth grade year, dev was the first one they got to sign the cast :] winn never stopped skating but they did do it a lot less + more carefully after that (by order of their parents)

dev started growing his hair into a mullet in the seventh grade because he "thought it looked cool" (<< started noticing his gender dysphoria and wanted longer hair in an attempt to quell it)

winn thought they were bi for all of seventh grade and most of eighth grade bc they had a crush on dev

SPOILER ALERT dev is a trans girl, she comes out in the eighth grade and her chosen name is devine. she still goes by dev but all her friends know what its short for

dev doesnt want to come out to her dad bc she doesnt know how hell react. (tbh if she did come out, her dad would be super supportive and good with prns and names and terms in public, but slip up a ton in private bc he doesnt care as much when people arent watching)

obv winn told jasmine and hazel about their crush right when it started developing, so it became kind of an inside joke between the three that winn has "transbian senses" after dev came out

just before ninth grade, winn decided to get a buzzcut, and theyve been growing it out ever since (this is mostly bc as much as i love dyed hair undercut enby/trans characters THERES TOO MANY PLEASE CHOOSE A DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLE FOR YOUR FICTIONAL TRANSES AND ENBIES SOBBING)

they bleached it blonde when it was about two inches long, and never bothered to cut off the blonde so now they just have blonde tips

winn ended up being 6'5" and joined varsity basketball in the tenth grade because they didnt wanna waste that height

dev stole their original varsity jacket because it was comfy (and because it was winns and it brings her comfort) and then paid for their replacement jacket

jasmine started learning how to sew and embroider clothes over the summer between ninth and tenth grade and so helped devine sew on her own name tag (dev just told her dad jasmine was a bad speller and tbh dale didnt care and was like ok son whatever)

dev ended up stuck at the spectacular height of a middle schooler (5'2") and winn thinks its adorable. theyre strong enough to pick her up whenever they hug her. sometimes when they get excited they spin her around

dev also started wearing her hair curly occasionally in the tenth grade bc winn told her she looked pretty with it like that. her dad doesnt like it when she doesnt slick it back and gets passive aggressive about it whenever he sees her like that

winn started getting panic attacks from all the pressure of high school after joining the basketball team, and dev usually ends up talking them through it, although jasmine and hazel are also good at helping them

they dont think their anxiety is bad enough to be a disorder so they never get a diagnosis/help (until Things Happen in my fic :]]] )

hazel and jasmine are both aroace (in this timeline at least, ive got a few other fic ideas where hazel is bi) and in a qpr. they are also fandom girlies and fic writers, so when dev finally tells them in the middle of tenth grade that she has a crush on winn (and has for a while) theyre both like OOOOOOOHHHHHH I SHIP IT and they, along with cosmo and wanda, start trying really hard to get them together

unfortunately hazmine and coswan have literally no idea how human teenage romance works irl SO. shenanigans ensue :]]]]]]]

anyways yeah thats my buildup to my fic/my personal hcs, no peri mention because hes ✨elsewhere✨ when all this is happening

[dukeofdelirium]

In complete honesty, I kind of wish that Stranger Things would have just been two high quality seasons. They should have let El die in S1, and then focused on Mike, Will, and the origins of the Upside Down in S2. At this point, the story has been dragged on for so long, and, if S5 fails to recontextualize a lot of things from S3 and S4, there was a lot of unnecessary filler that just weighed the entire show down.

I agree with this pretty heavily. It’s obvious that they dragged storylines out and didn’t have everything completely plotted by how dysfunctional s3 and 4 are in comparison with s1 and 2. It almost feels like two completely different shows. When s3 first aired, I almost didn’t finish it because I hated it that much. S4 was pretty similar tbh… the NINA plotline and the Russian shit was so terrible that me and my sister debated skipping the scenes I’m not even kidding lol. Literally the only thing that kept us watching vol 2 was any crumb of Mike and Will scenes and then seeing what happened with Max. That was fr it. The second we finished vol 2 we immediately turned off the tv and then started shit talking it 😂 we were NOT impressed lol.

The Russian plot was dumb as fuck in s3, and it was even worse in s4. Literally the dumbest thing this show ever tried to pull and comes across as more unbelievable than inter-dimensional monsters lol. Idgaf about the Russian fuckery. It’s fucking stupid as hell and I can feel myself losing braincells in real time whenever I have to rewatch scenes of it. Idgaf about the NINA bullshit, when the hell are we gonna move on from this dumb lab/rainbow room/Papa nonsense and get to shit that really matters?

The whole Russian thing is actually what makes the Hawkins lab and stuff dumb lol bc it went from the American gov being the enemy to now suddenly it’s evil Russians like stfu get out of here with this nonsense I cantttttt

And don’t even get me started on the dumb relationship drama in s3. If I wanted to watch a show about middle schoolers making out I wouldn’t be looking for it in stranger things, that’s first of all. Second of all, none of this has any depth and the only reason it matters in any context is to develop Byler and their rain scene is one of the only memorable scenes of the season. Idgaf about hopper and Joyce acting like 12 year olds. Idgaf about Billy’s wack ass redemption. Idgaf that El raises her hand and screams for the billionth time or that she loses her powers cuz guess what… she gets them back. *pretends to be shocked*

Fr, s5 has to recontextualize multiple seasons or else this show will have been a huge disappointment. S4 was ok. But as I said, that’s all it was. Okay. Not great. Not even necessarily good. Just meh. The only good parts were the Hawkins group with Max (she was the best part of the season) and then Mike and Will’s scenes. That’s literally it lmao. The Russian plot? Dumb. El and the NINA shit? Dumb. Yawn, don’t care. Let me spend time with characters I care about please and thank you.

I long for the return of s2 quality….. when Mike realizes Will is compromised and that he’s the spy and Will sends all those soldiers to their gruesome deaths…. come on that was peak cinema. Bring it back. I miss it…. we were a country once

[londonfog-chan]

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader: Rite Here, Rite Now Part 1

This two shot fic is dedicated to that poor soul on TikTok getting shitty comments about a headcanon of Eddie liking Ghost. Fandom has become so damn toxic bro. Who cares about what an imaginary character likes or dislikes?? We are cringe, we are legion. We make out of pocket headcanons sometimes. Like come on, Eddie might “theoretically” dislike Mary On A Cross specifically for various reasons, but I could see him having some favorites. You can’t say he would entirely hate Ghost when fucking Year Zero and Mummy Dust exist. Or the whole of Prequelle as an album. I had to laugh at one person saying he liked Avenged Sevenfold (it didn’t exist in the 80’s and neither did Ghost like we are literally arguing about shit he wouldn’t have known about be so serious rn). But I digress. I’ve even gotten a couple hateful comments on a fun little TikTok I made and I honestly have just been deleting them and blocking. Don’t even want to deal with people’s bullshit anymore. Please enjoy this spite fic and continue writing and having fun babes. Go against the flow and make Eddie proud.

Part 1 (You are Here), Part 2

***

Every member of Corroded Coffin could tell when you arrived to a function. Eddie knew the sound of your car like a cat that knows when its owner is home, and he’d be waiting outside the school to greet you first. That and the car make and model. Someone always called it if not Eddie. He’d been off his game today though, definitely the excited nerves. Jeff called out your 1979 Volkswagen Beetle heading up the driveway by slugging Eddie hard on the bicep, Gareth and Dougie immediately following up with calling “no tag backs” as they rushed to hit each other and Eddie like a bunch of middle schoolers. Eddie almost got nailed by Dougie’s beefy fist until he nimbly dodged out of the way, cradling his prized Warlock like it was a newborn.

“God dammit, easy asshole!” Eddie laughed. “Don’t be hitting my baby! I need her intact if I’m going to impress our songstress.”

“Trust me Ed, she doesn’t need more impressing. You had her in a tizzy when you asked her to write a song for you. I wonder what she came up with.” Gareth said, leaning forward so his hands were settled on both his high and medium toms, he was watching your approach intently with a gleam in his eye. “She didn’t even make it to campaign on Friday. Must have really been in the zone.”

You parked the car against the side of the driveway, emerging looking as though you’d just swallowed a whole mouthful of cry baby sour gum. Your lips were pressed tightly together, clutching your fat Trapper Keeper to your chest as you approached the group.

“Hey sweetheart!” Eddie called, waving you over enthusiastically. “You okay?”

“Eddie… God it’s so bad… It’s worse than I thought.” You said, grimacing.

God you looked delicious. He couldn’t help himself but to stare and smile like a dope. With each step your flowing gray skirt swished enticingly side to side, and with a bit of pride Eddie noticed you were wearing the Twisted Sister shirt he’d distressed for you, looking like an adorable snack of a metalhead with your black clothes, black opaque tights and dirty Chucks.

Eddie’s smile faltered only slightly when he heard your self depreciation.

“Oh come on, can’t be that bad. Not with those grades you’ve got in English. Let me see…”

“Fuck no! No seriously… it’s worse than you think.” You insisted, shaking your head and pulling away from his outstretched hand, “It’s so… God dammit! What the hell was I thinking…?”

Gareth, Jeff and Dougie left their instruments to approach you, Eddie putting both hands on your shoulders to comfort you.

“Hey, hey… come on, don’t be like that.” He said, smile gone and a more serious look on his face. “I get it, I really do. It comes with the territory of writing your own songs. Trust me, I’ve done it for years. You won’t pick it up overnight, and whatever you think is weak we can work on it together. I’m a DM honey, I can have my pen out faster than you can blink and help redraft as many times as it takes.”

“Oh… god dammit… okay, fine…”

You reluctantly handed Eddie the trapper keeper, the velcro making a harsh rip as he pulled it open to the first page where your lyrics neatly sat waiting for him to peruse. Eddie’s eyebrow raised when he saw the title, “Square Hammer”, outlined in red ink.

“ ‘Square Hammer’? … Huh… I like it, that’s good.” Eddie nodded, and continued to read on.

The lyrics were certainly unique to say the least. It was obvious you’d tried to go with a theme based on the prompt he’d given you: something that oozes the brooding dark metal he envisioned Corroded Coffin would croon to thousands of fans. You certainly had an affinity for the macabre, and he knew he could trust you with everything he wanted in his vision. Then again you could have written the cheesiest, poppy trash in the world and he would have loved it. He was extremely biased, far too sweet on you for his own good. But these weren’t bad at all. The lyrics reminded him of old Hollywood vampire movies, echoing the work of Doctor Faustus with the thematic element in the song. The voice of the lyrics seemed to be coming from an otherworldly entity, one summoned to offer power and prestige to the listener.

And Eddie was obsessed with every word the further he read on.

“Woah, woah…”

His eyes widened with every sentence he read.

“Holy shit…”

Powers clandestine, solving a crooked rhyme… Every line, no matter how simple, packed a lot when combined in the collective.

Eddie finally looked up at you, completely bewildered.

“You wrote this by yourself?!” He croaked.

You were embarrassed to hell, curling in on yourself and looking like you wanted to die.

“Ye… yeah… I… When you asked me to write for you, I got really stuck on what I wanted to do. But I remember you mentioned Black Sabbath was one of your first covers, and then I couldn’t get the image of the coffin out of my head because, you know, “Corroded Coffin”… and then we were reading Faustus in Mrs. O’Donnell’s class and I thought since you asked me to do you this favor and Faustus is all about favors…-“

You were rambling. Not even paying attention to Eddie’s continually growing grin. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet the longer you ranted on, until his untamable outburst silenced you.

“THIS IS AMAZING!” Eddie was screaming, scaring the shit out of everyone. “Holy fuck sweetheart! Are you bullshitting me?! This is… fuck! We’ve been stressing for new material for next month’s gig at The Hideout and you just gave it to us on a silver platter?! Jesus H.!”

“Bwha-?!”

“Check this out…!” Eddie turned away to show his friends while you quietly protested, unable to speak as he passed the paper around. The guys crowded around, each one shouting out when they saw a favorite part, “hammering the nails into the sacred coffin” quickly became a favorite, because they immediately began trying to work out how they could fit the lyrics to sound.

“All we gotta do is work out a melody and we’re in business baby!” Eddie said. “This is bitchin’!”

“But it doesn’t even make any sense!” You argued. “Like seriously? The entrance to the shrine part does not fucking fit, I only wrote it because I couldn’t come up with a better rhyme with clandestine!”

“Who cares?” Eddie cried. “It’s badass as hell! The imagery is absolutely savage… ‘Hiding from the night, sacrificing nothing’, and don’t let me forget about the little tongue in cheek line you added about hammering nails into a sacred coffin!”

“It’s fucking great!” Echoed Jeff.

“You should be proud. You managed to take our style and give it a unique spin, that’s not something anyone can do.” Eddie praised. “God dammit… I’d have been a millionaire by now if I could write like this.”

“You… you really liked those parts?” You asked cautiously.

“Of course I did sweetheart! This is real metal shit right here. And the part with the ‘crooked rhyme’? That really captured the creep factor I was looking for. Shit… what’s more metal than summoning a demon for a deal? That’s exactly what Corroded Coffin needs in its material. I love this little brain of yours!”

“Don’t forget Ed!” Dougie cut in. “ ‘Are you ready to swear right here right now before the devil’?!”

“Bitchin’! Keep this up, and I’m gonna wanna make you write all of Corroded Coffin’s songs from now on!” Eddie beamed happily.

“We gotta get the melody worked out!” Jeff said, “Any ideas? I could come up with a few…”

The boys began gabbing together, Eddie unable to help himself as he began to strum his precious 1984 BC Warlock, his black beauty. Without a doubt he could already envision how he could make his baby purr for you, impress you, take you out finally.

And then you changed his world forever.

“… I had an idea for a melody already…” you said quietly.

All eyes turned to you. The guys were thunderstruck.

“Seriously?! Lyrics and a melody?! You’re spoiling the shit out of me sweetheart! Jeff, let her borrow your…-“

“No… no I… I don’t know how to play guitar…” you said, cutting off Eddie sheepishly, “But I… I brought my Casio with me…”

“Where is it?!”

“In the trunk of my bug…”

“Well go get it! Show me whatcha got sweetheart!”

Eddie followed you to the front of the Volkswagen. Everyone always thought the front trunk was the coolest shit ever and he was no exception. The cool car only added to the many things he liked about you. You took out the obnoxiously large keyboard and the stand, fumbling to close the trunk until Eddie stepped in with an “easy… I got it”, slamming the trunk shut and helping you lift the Casio like a gentleman. You were shaking, vibrating with embarrassment so hard that Eddie had to help you plug everything in and adjust the sound, hovering and reaching over you on purpose hoping you’d notice and feel his burn for you.

“Alright sweetheart? Show us what you’ve got.”

You turned on the Casio and fingered the keys gently, warming up with a few chords as you tried to soothe the shaking in your fingers. Fiddling with the settings, you stalled as long as you could while the boys waited patiently. Once you found the setting you wanted, you went for it.

It was like a demon had possessed your body. The melody was quick, but it packed a hell of a punch. It was in the key of D minor, and you had ironically chosen what sounded like a combination of 1960’s psychedelic sticky rhodes and Transylvanian organ to achieve the effect you wanted. The sound overall was eerie, yet enchantingly fun all at the same time. And your singing! You were singing softly under your breath, rocking yourself to the melody on the tips of your worn out sneakers, and you had quite the set of pipes! Despite your shot nerves, you’d clearly come up with something truly special that no one else in the entire world could have conceived of.

It wasn’t the traditional metal Eddie had in mind, more avant-garde, theatrical even. Whereas he had expected a sound more like Black Sabbath, you played something not out of place at a theater performance of Dracula. But this sound… there was something that nagged him about it. It was a sound that Eddie could imagine playing to arenas of screaming, adoring fans.

“Gentlemen… that’s our fucking song!” Eddie cried, “That’s our song, it’s a goddamned masterpiece!”

The Casio halted, and your mouth was hanging open mid play.

“What?! How-…” you began.

“I can already hear the riff, Ed what do you think of following with standard tuning instead of going to D minor?” Jeff picked up his Gibson and began to play, mimicking what he heard on your Casio by ear. “If you move it, the sound is way off from what I’m envisioning. But if you keep it at standard you leave it easier on the fingers with the couple of open notes when you start stretching.”

“Yeah, yeah! If you tune it down it’s going to sound off with her playing when you hit the chords.” Eddie agreed, immediately looking back at you. “Play it one more time sweetheart?”

You cautiously complied, going through the melody one more time as Jeff began to follow with you. Eddie was completely absorbed in your music, listening to both you and Jeff play and following along quietly. The warlock in his hands eventually couldn’t be helped, humming to life when he started playing a chord at a time by ear. As he played, he kept you repeating the melody over and over, both Eddie and Jeff deep in concentration on the sound. It was getting almost exhausting trying to continually repeat the sound until they got it right.

“D minor.” Eddie said, playing a note.

“Then she does B flat there.” Jeff played.

“A minor.” They said in unison.

“C. And that’s what I’m thinking your rhythm guitar can do, meanwhile, I’ll keep the root of the chords for the riff so I can follow her keys.” Eddie said, and he began to perfectly copy your melody. “Okay sweetheart, just one more time… and then let’s bring everything together.”

[swisccfinds]

Preteen mod by ItsKatato & adeepindigo

Original mod adopted from ItsKatato

The original website to this mod and the link to download has been taken down but I did some digging because I really want to try this mod out. I found adeepindigo's website about the preteen mod and seen that the mod had been adopted from the original creator.

Creator's notes-

"Welcome to being a pre-teen! For the next couple of years you're going to be experiencing some changes. Don't worry, it's completely natural, you'll do just fine!"

Now introducing my Sims 4 preteen mod! First of all the teens in this game look too grown. Sims go from a little kid to looking like they pay taxes. So that's why I created this mod to give us a good in-between phase.

How does it work?

When a child ages up into a teenager they get the pre-teen trait. They are automatically enrolled in middle school and are automatically made shorter than adults. Pre-teens go through phases more often than children & teens and the phases happen pretty quickly. They can also experience voice cracks.

Simple Hygiene System

I added a basic hygiene system to the game which is available to all sims. If you click on your sim you will have the option to apply lotion, body spray, and deodorant. Use the lotion after your sim gets out of the shower or they will have dry skin. The bodyspray gives your sims a confidence boost, but watch out, if you spray too much they get dizzy. The deodorant slows down hygiene decay and gets your sim smelling nice and fresh.

Middle School/Junior High School

There are now two versions of the mod. The Middle School versions allows for Preteeens to be younger and attend Middle School. The Junior High School version allows for Preteens to attend a new branch of High School, Junior High School. Junior High allows Preteens to attend active school with High School teens if HSY is installed. Otherwise, they attend the HS rabbithole.

The middle school acts exactly like the grade school & high school that's in the game. In the school-focused pack for this mod, I'll be adding some cool features for middle school, but for now, it's pretty basic. Middle schoolers do get their own homework book so make sure you use that. Junior High School functions exactly like High School.

Why doesn't the teen I made in CAS have the pre-teen trait?

A sim will only get the pre-teen trait if they age up in the game from a child to a teen. If you make a teen in CAS they are going to be a teen when the save starts. If you want to turn the teen into a preteen click on the teen and find the "preteen" pie menu. In this menu, you'll have the option to add the pre-teen trait, which removes them from high school & enrolls them in middle school. It also will automatically change their height.

Will the teens already in my save turn into pre-teens??

No, but if you want to turn them into a pre-teen you can use the interaction in the "preteen" pie menu on your teen to turn them into a pre-teen.

I don't want this sim to be a pre-teen!!

Okay cool, just go to the "pre-teen" pie menu on your pre-teen and choose the option to remove the pre-teen trait. This will change their height back to the default and enroll them in middle school.

Why can't my pre-teen be romantic?

I disabled the romance menu for pre-teens. I plan on making my own romance options in the next pack for this mod, so please be patient.

Changes to the original mod by me:

I have eliminated the need for a separate compatibility file for Education Overhaul.

There are two versions of the Preteen Base. Choose only ONE.

Middle School: This functions just like the original description above. Your preteens attend a separate Middle School and function as younger preteens.

Junior High: This functions differently in that your preteens will still attend regular High School but will be older preteens. This also allows you, if you own HSY pack, to follow your preteens to high school, but HSY is NOT required. Romance interactions are still restricted to other preteens and only expanded by the First Crush pack.

Pack Requirements:

Packs Used

Snowy Escape (if you don't have it you'll be missing animations)

Parenthood (only for the Phases package)

Mod Requirements:

Lumpinou's Mood Pack Mod

Compatibility:

Education Overhaul - Still Fully Compatible but No longer needs compatibility file!

Mod Conflicts:

Zerbu's Go to School Mod

Install instructions

There are two versions of the Preteen Base. Choose only ONE.

Middle School: This functions just like the original description below. Your preteens attend a separate Middle School and function as younger preteens.

Junior High: This functions differently in that your preteens will still attend regular High School but will be older preteens. This also allows you, if you own HSY pack, to follow your preteens to high school, but HSY is NOT required. Romance interactions are still restricted to other preteens and only expanded by the First Crush pack.

I do recommend showing love and support to both ItsKatato and adeepindigo for making this mod happen they both did a good job.

download

[we-are-inevitable]

Infodump about the frat au. Literally everything I’ve never come across you before. Pretty please and than you <3

i feel like i’ve shared so so much about this world but here are some fun things that aren’t important to the actual story but that i love!!:

technically davey is the middle sibling. he was born 12 minutes after sarah and she never lets him forget it! (oddly enough, the number 12 shows up a lot in his life. he thinks it’s a fun little reminder. he considers it his lucky number because it always makes him think of sarah, and sarah always makes him feel better.)

jack speaks fluent spanish because he’s half mexican, and davey speaks fluent spanish because it’s one of the 5 languages he knows outside of english! (he’s only fluent in 2 of the 5, but he’s passable in the other 3 and can have conversations with minimal struggle)

charlie is a HUGE sports nut. he’s really into hockey and plays sled hockey recreationally! he’s really competitive and brutal about it. in the fic, he has multiple sclerosis and primarily uses forearm crutches, but he has a black and green wheelchair kitted out in stickers, patches, and pins that he uses at least three times a weak.

charlie, albert, and jack all watch hockey games together and try to go to at least two games a season once they get closer.

davey loves live music but it can be a lot for him sometimes— he tends to stay in the back and uses noise canceling earbuds, but loves people watching and loves the atmosphere. gay bars don’t bother him as much because the noise level- albeit loud- is less so, but he always carries his ear buds on him. he keeps them on a carabiner clipped to his belt or crossbody like the fag he is.

(jack doesn’t think he’s allowed to say “fag.” davey assures him he is. jack has issues and he’s working through them.)

davey works at a public library close to campus, and spends most of his time with youth and teen programming. (he loves his job.) jack works in the fraternity and sorority affairs office as a student leader; he talks to current high schoolers about joining greek life. (he hates his job.)

davey likes horror movies and jack doesn’t like horror movies but he likes being able to hold davey’s hand through it.

jack drives an jeep cherokee from the early 2000s. medda helped him get it when he decided to go to college outside of the city, bc public transportation isn’t as easily accessible. jack got his license at 18 and thinks it’s stupid that he has to drive places now but he really likes his shitty little car. her name is Rory like the gilmore girls character but he swears there’s no relation

on campus, jack usually skateboards, and davey rides his bike everywhere. davey’s car is a little 2014 corolla named Miss Priss and she’s decked out in bumper stickers and trinkets inside.

race and albert have been together since high school. they SHOULD never have time for each other but they somehow never leave each other’s side. it’s kind of disgusting actually.

race starts learning how to do drag about a month before he meets jack!

katherine and spot work as waitresses at the same restaurant. they should not get along. they are best friends.

[pink-tk-a-latte]

HAPPY (late TT) BIRTHDAY KAI @emiefluff !!!!!!

Thank you for being my first moot, friend, and collab on this app!! You inspired me to start playing HSR and I’m so glad I had someone to share the Project Sekai experience with!!!!!! Your writing is so soft and fluffy and your hurt/comfort fills me with yearning 💕💕 You’re always so silly and it’s been a joy to meet you <3 /p And now you’re 16!!!!! Crazy 🤯

I know I'm late I’m so so sorry, I couldn't finish it before your bday bc I got sick and I was high on NyQuil, and then I wanted to change like everything that I wrote, but here we are!!

ALSO I LITERALLY could not decide between MizuKana or RuiNene. I went with RuiNene (you may recognize this draft. Or you may not) and this is so sappy and cringe, they're troubled middle schoolers here what can I say 😭 Hope you like your awfully belated gift!! (I have the MizuKana one in my drafts, might post it later)

♡ ♡ ♡

Nene stared at the side of Rui’s head, listening to his fingers tap on the green wooden table. The smell of ash seared her nostrils from the kitchen adjacent. Slowly, he turned to face her with a sideways expression.

“Sorry, Nene.” He pulled his fingers through matted purple hair, snagging on tangles. A smile crept guiltily onto his face. “I think I burned the rice.”

Nene just sighed and pushed her laptop out of the way. “It’s okay, Rui.” She really shouldn’t have trusted him with such a complicated meal. Especially after seeing his attempts to modify the rice cooker.

“Ah, at least we still have lots of soda candy!” He threw a handful at her as if they were rose petals.

Nene managed to catch one, which was impressive enough. “We must be doomed to never eat healthy.” Fidgeting with the wrapper, she freed the candy and touched it to her tongue, letting it fizz on her taste buds.

Rui laughed, rather pathetically, and his eyes trailed down to his lap. Nene glanced at him, then down at her homework, worrying her lip.

Rui was… well, Rui was as usual, these days. He used to be the only person Nene could talk to comfortably, now the air was cold and heavy, even with him.

She knew Rui had a hard time feeling normal. Even now, in middle school, his classmates still thought he was eccentric, dangerous even, and it was getting to him. Nene could feel he was slowly fading. Or maybe it was she who was drifting away.

Either way, what they were had changed since she joined her troupe, and she was lost on how to help him.

Nene stood to throw the candy wrapper away, passing behind Rui’s chair. She’d never been so conscious of the space around her in his house; it had always felt like an extension of her home.

The tension must have affected Rui too, as he fussed with the strands of hair that had escaped his short half-up ponytail. He pushed them behind his ear, only for them to fall into his eyes again. After watching him struggle for a few beats, Nene huffed and pulled his hand away.

“You’re getting it messy.” Combing through knots that had coiled around the hair tie, Nene gently loosened his ponytail. She put the tie around her fingers and started to gather his hair in the back.

Rui stilled at her touch, and his hands settled in his lap. “Thanks, Nene.” His leg bounced against the weirdly colored tiles that Nene had always made fun of.

You should take better care of your hair. The remark stuck on her tongue. Of course. I care about you. Nene’s mouth felt dry. All she could manage was a weak hum.

The silence dragged on. Nene began to question what she was even doing, clammy hands only mussing up Rui’s hair more.

As she pulled some of the wispy hairs on his nape into the bundle, Nene’s nails skated across his neck unintentionally. A yip and a shiver from Rui alerted her.

“Sorry, did I scratch you?” Nene shifted to look at Rui’s face. His eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth crooked. When Nene dragged a finger over his ear to tuck a hair behind it, he made the same squeaky noise.

As though a door had opened and a fresh breeze swept into the room, a smile pulled at Nene’s lips. “Aw, you’re still ticklish?”

Rui’s eyes popped open with a look of mild fear. “Uh… no?” he said, like a liar.

“Uh huh. Sure.” Nene flicked her nails up and down his neck. Rui jolted like he’d been shocked.

“EEHehey! Neneheaha!” he shrieked. He hiked his shoulder up to his cheek and tried to reach for Nene’s quick fingers.

Nene chuckled by his ear; Rui’s real laugh was far more boyish than his personality would make it seem. “I forgot how much you sound like a fox.” She wormed her fingers under the collar of his shirt, making him yip again and proving her point.

“I dohohon’t! Ahaha Neneehee! Nahat the eheahahears!” He shook his head, melting against the back of the chair.

Nene sighed fondly. “I’m just talking, Rui,” she breathed while she leaned in closer to his ear, now red and warm. “Your ears are too sensitive.” He wailed and rubbed his ear on his shoulder.

Nene’s hands scaled down his spine and crawled between his shoulder blades. Rui barked and jumped, scrabbling for her assailing digits and pleading for a timeout. Nene ceased only when he threw his head back over the top of the chair, and she was exposed to the full display of his broad smile and rosy cheeks.

Becoming aware of the smile that had grown on her own face, Nene quickly wiped it away.

Once Nene unhanded him, Rui slouched forward until his head landed on the desk. “Ha… Nene, you’re crueler than you look.”

“Sorry.” She rested her hands on the back of Rui’s chair. “I guess I just haven’t heard you laugh in a while… I missed it. A little.”

Rui hummed, surprised, and Nene felt her face grow warm. “Is that so?” He sat up and turned around to grin at her. “Hehe, the same goes for you!”

“Huh?” Nene tilted her head.

Rui wiggled his fingers, so childish but somehow… “I haven’t heard you laugh in quite some time either.” Rui dug into her sides, squeezing and squishing. Electricity that fizzed from his rough fingers like soda candy shocked a squeak out of Nene. She curled into herself and dissolved into bubbling giggles.

“N-Nohoho! Ruhuhihihi!” Nene lightly gripped Rui’s wrists, trying to squirrel away from the hands scribbling up her sides. A fuzzy feeling flooded her nerves as she squealed and laughed more heartily than she had in a long time.

“There it is, the laugh of a little mermaid.” A cat-like smirk lifted Rui’s face. “Are you still ticklish here, Nene? Here too? Oh wow, I’m barely moving my fingers and you’re laughing!”

“AHAhaha! Ruhuhihi you suhuhahahuck!” Nene shoved at his face and kicked at his knees. She managed to hit him once, and he winced as though really in pain.

“Ow ow ow, that hurt!” He pouted ridiculously. “You’re such a meanie, Nene.” Evilly, he kneaded his fingers into her ribs, and Nene squalled and tightened her grip on his wrists.

Her face was warm with joy, and her ribs were starting to hurt from her laughter. “You’rehahaha the mehehehean one! PffftaHA hypocrihite!” Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, finally escaping Rui’s evil fingers.

Heaving in air, Nene clutched at her ribs. Rui laughed at her from above.

“You’re winded already?” Rui smiled. Nene whacked at his leg.

“You’re, hah, no athlete either.” As she shifted to glare up at him, she found Rui kneeling in front of her, wearing a candid smile and a glimmer in his canary-yellow eyes that spoke of nostalgia.

“Nene,” called Rui, suddenly solemn. “Did I tell you how happy I was for you when you joined that theatre troupe?” He glanced down and bumped their knees together. “You made your dream come true.”

Nene inhaled. She counted the clover patches on her cardigan sleeve and picked at a loose thread. Breathing out, she faced Rui directly. “It’s thanks to you. If… If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with theatre.” I’m sorry I left you alone. Rui looked up at her. Nene found herself staring into the same eyes she’d known since childhood. “It’s our dream.” You’re not alone.

Then their eyes broke apart. Eye contact was too much for either of them.

Rui laughed. “Well, when you put it like that...” He brushed back his loose hair, which Nene realized she had forgotten to fix.

She giggled. “Your hair. You need to cut it.” She reached for a lock and tucked it behind his ear. Instantly, Rui stiffened then melted into the ground, squeaking and giggling at the simple touch.

“Neneheheehee! You’re beheing a buhuhully ahahagainaha!”

“I’m not even doing anything,” she said, fluttering her nails against the shell of his ear.

As she laughed in tune with Rui’s cadence, Nene forgot to worry about how small the space they shared was. All she cared about was this pocket of time that belonged only to them.

[hasufin]

You've probably seen clips from this. This is Sen. Josh Hawley's speech to the RNC, in which he directly calls for Christian Nationalism.

I watched the entire thing. It's... it's a ride.

The weird thing is, sandwiched in the middle of his ahistorical bullshit and his Christian Nationalism, is an economic proposal which would fit right in at the DNC. It's weird.

Anyway, below is my complete reaction to it:

So, against my better judgement, I did listen to the speech.

Now, I’ve been reluctant to do so. It has been my experience that American Rightwing Christians tend to speak in a sort of dialect; that they tend to say things which – to an outsider such as myself – seem terribly incendiary, aggressive, and deeply unpersuasive. I’ve had Christian friends explain to me, of preachers “Yes, I know that sounds horrible to you, but that’s just how they talk in the Church”. And thus, I did ask this question [on Quora] to among other things give those within that community an opportunity to explain his words. I have, I confess, been disappointed: what I’ve received instead has been dismissal; just refusal to acknowledge that the things being said would reasonably be interpreted as threatening to one not steeped in that culture. Dismissal, I will say, serves to affirm our concerns: it’s like how Kavanaugh claimed that Roe was “settled law”… until he voted to overturn it. We don’t trust dismissal, because it has been a lie in the past and we expect it to be a lie in the future.

Now, the first few minutes of Hawley’s speech present me with a conundrum.

You see, he gives a brief historical recount of the fall of the Roman Empire, and of the Puritans (whom I have never before heard referred to as Augustinians, but again, I’m just not fluent in this particular patois.)

And the problem here is, his narrative is simply false. I mean, he pinpoints the early 400s as the fall of the Western Roman Empire – fair enough – but that’s also when Christianity became the majority religion of that empire; characterizing them as pagans as that point, and “paganism” as the cause of the fall of the Empire is quite ridiculous. But I’ll come back to that later, and why it’s deeply disturbing to me.

And then the Puritans. Again, I’ve never really heard them called Augustinians but that’s reasonably an oversight on my part – I’m of the opinion that their influence on the American colonies is somewhat overstated, but that’s just my opinion. His characterization of them is I think somewhat lack in nuance and reality, but the how and why of that seems important.

So I’m left with a bit of a conundrum. Do I assume his actual knowledge of history is that of a disinterested high schooler? Do I assume he just plain doesn’t know what he is talking about? If that’s the case, I – and everyone else - really ought to disregard whatever he says of policy: he is a fool, and we oughtn’t be led by fools.

But, perhaps he does know better? Yet, that’s worse. If he knows that the Roman empire did not fall due to “Paganism”; that the Puritans were a particularly intolerant sect of Reformationists who found freedom overly threatening and ultimately declined largely due to the infighting which is characteristic of rightwing authoritarian groups. If he knows this, and offers an ahistorical alternative instead, then he is a liar, and should be directly opposed.

One can slice that Gordian knot by realizing he offers these not as history, but as mythology. It’s not whether they’re true, but what they’re meant to communicate. However, as a non-Christian, that’s… that’s actually worse.

His decision, then, to attribute the downfall of Rome to corruption, to loving pleasure and self-indulgence, is important. Now, I think we all know that Rome did not fail because their soldiers were just too busy drinking and having sex. But that claim appeals to a disgust-based morality: it indulges in a visceral hatred of those excesses. And that same disgust-based morality can be used to justify any number of horrors. It’s a disgust-based morality which ties a gay man to a fence and leaves him to die; that beats a transwoman to death; that decides Jews are baby eaters and condemns them to ghettoes and them to death.

His ahistorical account ignores the entire history of Christian internal warfare. It pretends that the Puritans were an inclusive society – rather than one which executed their own on the mere allegation of them being people like me.

And I’m hearing him proceed further, to claim all things good… indeed, the utter ridiculousness of claiming specifically secular achievements as Christian. This is a fact-free speech, which is intended to appeal to a particular audience of which I – and any other non-Christian – is not a member. He proclaims that as a non-Christian I should embrace Christianity… after having lied and said many of distinctly non-Christian things are Christian. I mean, if you define Christian as “the stuff I want to claim” and non-Christian as “everything else” then sure… but that’s not what those things mean, and we’re back to that conundrum: is he a liar or a fool?

And then he gets back to his disgust-based morality, his appeal to hatred, his lies about his opposition, and just outright about what is going on right now.

Ah, and here we are: “the left” is evil, “the left” wants to destroy. And… wait, did he just claim that liberals like Ayn Rand? What??? And Milton Friedman? How… how does anyone buy this? I’m sorry, what the hell is this?

He is literally saying that the left is against god. This speech very literally demonizes his opposition. He lies about people, and and paints them as simply being against good. I wonder how anyone considers this as acceptable at all. This is Blood Libel.

Now, wait, he’s deriding other republicans? And saying that it was republicans who spearheaded DEI? I’m just confused here. Basically, it seems like he’s saying literally anyone who opposes him is evil, and he will make up Any Damned Thing to paint them that way.

Being honest, I’m not sure I am all that interested in the second half of this. Hist first half, in which he very literally calls everyone who isn’t on his side evil; in which he says the left is against love and god. I recognize that he doesn’t directly say “let’s put all the liberals in camps and kill them”, but this is the rhetoric which is used to justify these things. The policies he puts forth afterwards are less incendiary – and it’s kind of weird that he had to open a policy proposal which matches rather well with the liberal platform, with demonization of liberals, and I don’t know how anyone can reconcile that. But, y’know, he also claimed that liberals like Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, so there’s a lot of contradiction there.

Oh, wait now he’s directly speaking against religious liberty. He’s saying directly that religious liberty is only valuable because it lets us all practice the same religion, and that Christianity is our national religion. So we’re back to Deeply Disturbing here. “More civil religion, not less”. Atheists are evil, they hate Christianity, this other not-religious thing is religion, trans people are evil… yeah. And he wants direct endorsement of Christianity. Now, I don’t think that taking down a pride flag is directly oppression, but I definitely see it as a first step: establishing that not-Christianity is a religion, and should be supplanted with Christianity by the state. So, having listened to this… I would dismiss him as a madman if he weren’t giving a speech at the RNC. But he is. And I see what he’s saying as setting the foundation for much worse. There’s nothing good to come of defining Everyone Else as being evil.

[textfromthelookout]

Did you hear of the news?

I have. :(

Everyone else has their tributes so, here, a summary of my experience with Dragon Ball.

I was in fourth grade art class. A kid had the February 2005 issue of Shonen Jump, back when Shonen Jump was still physically printed here. I recognized Atem on the front cover because the Blockbuster around the corner from our house had DVDs (I think they were DVDs and not VHSs then since I distinctly remember it having a menu and special features) of some of the later episodes of Duelist Kingdom and my brother and I watched them on repeat. So I was like oh, hey, what's this? They make books of that stuff? I don't remember the conversation but the kid ended up giving me that issue, and I took it home with me.

There were a LOT of significant, groundwork things happening in that issue, now that I think about it. We were just beginning to see Sanji truly in action against Pearl. The Dark Tournament was in it's early stages still with Roto fucking around and finding out against Kurama. Sakura shears off her hair in a move that rearranged sexualities the world over. The reason Atem was on the cover was because Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World was just debuting its first and second chapter. Bleach wasn't even serialized yet. And Dragon Ball, of course, was also there, about a hundred and fifty chapters ahead of everybody else.

Keep in mind that this was my first experience with manga, period. So my very first experience with Dragon Ball opened on this:

and ended on this:

Yeah. Truth be told, at the time Yu Yu Hakusho piqued my interest more than Dragon Ball (a guy fighting with plants? how creative!) but I never did forget these chapters. I thought the art style was so different from the others.

At some point after this, probably between several months and a year and a half, the TV happened to be on one evening when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z. Oh hey, I said, I recognize that art, I know those characters. So I hung around and watched some of episode 281. Two things about watching that episode stick with absolute crystal clarity in my mind to this day. Firstly: Buu choking Vegeta out with his arm freaked me the FUCK out as a child. I could not tell you why I had a fear reaction to it but hey, there you go. The second is this:

Specifically I remember 'You died once. If anything happens to you now, you won't exist anymore. There'll be nothing I can do to bring you back.' Not precisely word for word over the years, but Schemmel's tone of voice on this particular lineread. If I had to guess I'd say it was because at that point in my life, uh, death was kinda permanent? So wait, what do you mean died ONCE. Doesn't that apply to everyone?

This still wasn't enough to get me super invested in it though, it just didn't seem like something that would appeal to me that much. So a couple years go by, I don't think about it all that much, and then of course, TFS hits the scene and drops DBZ Abridged. So you know. As a shithead middle schooler with a shithead sense of humor I thought it was the best damn thing since sliced bread. (My biggest character flaw is that I still think a lot of Season 1 is genuinely funny)

And that was really the extent of my interaction with the franchise for the next several years. Say what you will about DBZA but they did manage to put it all together such that someone who had a nonexistent concept of what the original context was could grok it with not a lot of effort. Some time in high school, I think I was around 15, I decided to bite the bullet and read all the manga, as much to increase the funny factor of DBZA as sheerly for the sake of being able to say I had. Stick it to the other weebs, y'know. Now they can't say I didn't know anything about good anime. This was unfortunately at a time when all that was available online were dirty poor-quality scans and questionable translations, but read it I did. I went 'yep, that sure is about what I expected', and proceeded to get on with my life. GT came and went, I looked up and saw Battle of Gods coming out and went 'oh hey that's still a thing huh', kinda was peripherally aware of all the divisiveness of Super as it was happening, didn't really pay it much attention, just stuck to DBZA and quite a lot of wiki-ing.

And then, this time of year about three years ago now, in the middle of conversation with @prophecydungeon, Dragon Ball somehow came up. Something to do with 'Even though I'm not hugely into DBZ's story or whatever Toriyama does have some great character designs' (yes I was referring to Vegeta and Future Trunks at the time, no i will not stop being predictable, yes i am a parody of myself). They eventually brought up the DBS Broly movie and said, and i quote: 'that was a solid 1.5h of unbelievably fun and wacky animation'. Having seen the Gogeta vs Broly part of it on twitter and been like 'damn that animation's kinda off the hook actually, good for them good for them', my response was to be like. Oh word? I've got a spare hour and a half to kill, sure, fuck it, why not, time to watch DBS Broly.

I think that movie was precision crafted to hit me in the hyperfixation, if we're being honest. Opening on a solid 20 minutes of Lore and Worldbuilding and then having most of the rest of the runtime being mindless slobberknocker fun by way of some of the hardest animation flexes ever? I was done for.

In summation. I have been aware of Dragon Ball for a lot of my life, in that its presence was pervasive and enduring as I grew up. I may have been late to the game of actually wholeheartedly enjoying it, but enjoy it I do. Dragon Ball is the roots of a vast tree of anime, and in reading it I began to understand why that is. I respect it for that, and I love it for that. My current fixation may have shifted, but as far as time devoted to one individual thing goes... it took me a year and a half to watch my way through all of the anime and read all of the manga. ALL of it. So there's something good in there, I'd say.

[almoststedytimetravel]

Please oh please may I hear a scrap more of your thoughts on the Arena designs?

Well I mean if you insist...

First Ken and Koromaru. Koromaru design is peak and not just because he's a dog. Koro is wearing Ken's old hoddie which is peak but also does a little bit of story telling via design since it had to be Ken who adjusted the old hoddie and sewed on the wings, telling us that in between Persona 3 and Arena Ken has developed some sewing skills (and has likely worked on more practical skills because he doesn't have anyone who can do it for him).

Now Ken himself... His design is just the Gekkokan uniform with the student council arm band and evoker+holster. Which is boring, Ken's design is boring however, if I am to play devils advocate for a moment, I can kinda get what they were going for. Ken is doing his best to act like a normal middle schooler who has never experienced the horrors, meaning the lack of customisation in his uniform is reflective of his trying in fit in. Now, everyone has seen this design.

This is one of Ken's concept designs and while this graphic only points out the Shinjiro Peacoat and the Akihiko Sweater Vest, you may also note that Ken has a pocket watch around his neck (a reference to the pocket watch from Shinjiro's portable link). While the way his collar is open is the same way Junpei's was in P3. his jacket is also undone which is a trait shared by both Makoto and Junpei (since neither Akihiko nor Shinjiro wear the school jacket in the fist place). This design also has Ken wearing gloves like Akihiko. This concept design is peak but if I has to guess why they didn't go with it, that's likely because the large coat would make Ken's animations really hard to read, specifically, it'd be really easy to lose track of Koromaru since Koro would blend in with the coat that would also cover the screen. Ken and Koro are already one of the best fighters in Arena they don't need to be made even more difficult to fight.

Now then Akihiko Sanada, he needs to be put down. That's the only adequate way I have to describe him. First of all, why does he have a knife? Second, Why is his evoker on the right side of his body in his offical art but on the left in his actual battle sprite? Third, and this one isn't character design related but, WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE HASN'T CALLED KEN IN ALMOST A YEAR?! I can get over his yapping about body building like, god forbid men have hobbies, (half of the examples people get mad at isn't even Aki talking, it's the illusion the "Protein, protein, and more protein" line is just Naoto hearing things). But, why does he look like that?! you're telling me that mr Dorky sweater vest wearer who halls around his blazer instead of wearing it is going to start dressing like this?!

Oh and he is also supposed to be 65kg. If you want my 2 cents on how I would redesign Akihiko, personally I would put him in his epilogue clothes but with his blazer over his shoulders (and made a little longer to be both reminiscent of a cape and of Shinjiro's coat, heck maybe even make it Shinji's coat).

Yukari, Junpei, and Fuuka all look great but I don't have much to say about them, since there is nothing egregious about them. Like I said, Junpei's cross necklace is a gift from Chidori and it's a really cute reference. Junpei and Yukari are both in their "work clothes" since they both came straight from their jobs, while Fuuka is in more casual clothes, because she was with Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis.

Mitsuru... She's in a skin tight battle suit with a fur coat. She's in high heals, her rapier's blade is blood red, if anyone else was dressed like that they's look so fucking ridiculous but Mitsuru pulls it off. She's serving cunt and I respect it.

Aigis switching her ribbon for a tie is kinda funny but I didn't even notice it in my play through of Arena and only noticed it when I was watching a playthrough of Q2 and the Robot who was modeled after Aigis was called Ribbon and I went "Wait a minute" and booted up Arena to check, only then did I notice the tie

[just-a-shark333]

I have so many kunikatai headcanons so I thought I'd share them!

-they met in middle school

-started dating first year of high-school

-got married(illegally, kunikidas idea) in the autumn following graduation

-it was a very small wedding, consisting of the two of their parents, and a few friends from school

-it was in katais favorite Cafe, a very small place that not many people know about

-they don't live together for safety reasons

-only yosano, ranpo, and fukuzawa know

-kunikida doesn't often wear his wedding ring in fear if it getting damaged

-sometimes katai will force him to play various video games with him

-kunikida really likes stardew valley and similar games

-kunikida let's katai braid his hair sometimes

-katai sucked at first but he's surprisingly good now

-T4t kunitai

-kunikida had a 'rebellious phase' type thing in high school

-and a short emo phase in middle school

-his teachers liked him for being a smart student but hated how often he got in trouble

-he would beat up anyone who made fun of katai

-katai would always tell him not to bother doing that but would absolutely do the same if anyone made fun of kuni

-kunikida helps katai cut his hair

-katai visits the agency one day and ends up telling everyone about kunikidas high school years

-everyone is absolutely shocked (minus ranpo ofc)

-kuni frequently gets kicked out of libraries for arguing with the librarians over how the books are arranged

-They meet at the school nurses office!!-katai had a very bad panic attack and kuni got into a pretty bad fight

-school nurses kinda suck tbh so kuni helps katai with his panic attack

-they become good friends after that

-or they could meet in a school counselors office for the same reasons

-they'd probably bond the same way too bc school counselors suck more than school nurses(Like seriously though, once my old school counselor told me that I was being selfish/a selfish person for being suicidal)

-kunikida is totally the type of guy to just throw random compliments into any sentence he can

-katai let's kunikida sit under his futon with him

-pillow forts!!!!!!

-autistic kunikida

-katai does his best to help

-like, talking for him as best he can when kuni goes nonverbal

-and offering him looser clothes when his feel bad

-MOVIE DATES!!!!

-And arcade dates!!

-Kunikida frequently has to drag Katai away from those because he keeps destroying little kids in games

-Dazai and Chuuya were on an arcade date of their own and ran into them once

-it turned into a double date where Katai tried to beat Dazai at every game possible and the other two just watched and cheered a lil

-katai hates pda

-kunikida also doesn't like it much, he thinks it's weird and unprofessional

-they cuddle a lot at home tho

-they both confessed at the same time

-kunikida said that he had something very important to tell katai

-katai said that before that he had something to give kunikida and hands him a letter

-kuni reads the love letter and is just like.."i...I was going to say the same thing.." and looks away blushing

-kunikida proposed

-he took katai out to a very small Cafe that hardly anyone knew about

-they ordered food and talked a bit and once katai got comfortable being there he proposed

-katai obviously said yes

-they got married (illegally) a few months later

-Katai said that he loved kuni first

-kunikida would have said it but he got too nervous about making katai uncomfortable

-katai didn't mean to say it but it accidentally slipped out

-Katai has social anxiety

-Kunikida helps as best he can, bringing Katai things so he doesn't have to go out and talk to people as much

-He still forces katai outside

-They go on walks every evening or so

-Kunikida does most of the cooking

-Katais not bad at cooking, but he just doesn't

-They lay in bed and listen to music together

-When kunikida was a teacher Katai would stop by and bring him lunch after his missions sometimes

-Kunikida taught advanced middle schoolers algebra and paet timed at the agency after

-his students were shocked when they found out

-Kunikida got arrested for protesting and breaking off those spikes cities put up to prevent homeless people from sleeping a lot

-Katai bailed him out every time

-Kuni became pretty decent friends with a couple of other people who frequently got arrested for similar things and some of the cops who repeatedly arrested him

I probably have more but that's all I can think of right now!