#i thought i sent in an application in march

[planetkiimchi]

okay so i spent four hours yesterday and today scouring tumblr for ANY form of life on nctblr (read: networks) and found almost nothing?? so for the sake of anyone else who wants it, here are some multi and nct networks i found (please please expand it, i didn’t want to clog anyone’s dash)

i also found some theme-makers: @seyche , @taezsthemes and they have wonderful theme recs on their blogs as well for the struggling newbie (me)

active

nctinc: an nct network for gfx, gifs and art (doesn't reblog fics, but you can join the network anyway) [visual content]

k-labels: multi kpop network, for content creators of all kinds. [active]

kflixnet: multi kpop network, for content creators as well. hosts events [active]

nctsworld: not a network but cee tracks #itsnctsworld for gifs and edits! no writing though [active]

k-vanity: multi kpop network for content creators, applications open but 20+ only. [active]

kpop content creator’s club: open network, tracks #kpopccc and if you send it to their admin they’ll reblog it too [active]

nctzenart: art based network to promote artists and expand the nctblr circle [active]

jaehyunnet: open network that tracks #jaehyunnet. [active]

haechannet: open network that tracks #haechannet. for visual content (fanmade and official) only. [active]

semi-active

czennienet: sent an ask + contacted one of the admins to check if it's active, pinned post doesn't say anything and i can't see a navi linked anywhere. i assume it's a nct writing network? seems to track #cznnet and people are still using that but their last post was in 2022 [semi-active?]

nct-writers: an nct writing network (members only) that tracks #nct-writers. applications closed. contacted the admin to check if it's active but the last post was in dec 2022, and neowritingsnet (affiliate) is officially closed, so i'm not sure if they're open. [semi-active?]

yangx2net: open network for visual creations, multi-fandom blogs are welcome. tracks #yangx2net. written works can use the tag but will not be reblogged. admin looks very much active but i don't know if the blog is... [semi-active]

wayvwriters: self explanatory. said they’re on semi-hiatus due to inactive members, might reactivate if enough members (current and potential) want to reactivate it [semi-active]

archived

neowritingsnet: was a writing network [archived]

koffeenet + koffeenet-archive:  was a k-network for k-fanfic creators. recently been declared "closed" (thank you to kaira and moon for clearing that up lol) [archived]

ficscafe: was a k-network for k-fanfic creators. closed bc of drama. [archived]

nctcreations: visual creations network, members only that tracked #nctcreations and #nctcreations18. says archived but no explanations, head admin left tumblr, but i see people still using their tags?? idk [archived]

others: 

the internet is dying (advice)

[fanaticsnail]

To the ends of the earth

I am so sorry, I let the words run away with me again. I had no idea how much I had in me for this plot until it sprung onto the page.

Word Count: 6.814 (Again, I apologize but I truly couldn't resist!).

This is angsty, and I am sorry. This is my first time writing for Koby, at the request of @bonedaddi3. (I hope you and your friend enjoy!)

If you enjoy my writing, please let me know. It really encourages me to continue honing in on my little hobby.

As the sails lay rustling in the breeze directing the large, sea-worn ship into Shells Town. You closed your eyes and relished in the scent of the salt-riddled water engulfing your senses. Seagulls shrieked above, directing your attention to the beams supporting the crows nest. You squinted your eyes and smiled at the sight as you continued to bring the vessel into harbour.

“Lieutenant!” you heard Vice Admiral Garp call, addressing you by your formal title. You snapped your head towards the direction of his voice and stood to attention as he briskly made his presence known to you.

“Sir!” you sharply responded from your place adjacent to the helm, saluting to welcome him to the deck.

“At ease,” he directed you while raising his right hand and nodding his head. You responded by separating your legs and releasing the hold of your firm posture, pulling your hands behind your back and resting them with interlocked fists. You trailed your eyes over your Vice-Admiral before looking behind him to acknowledge commissioned Officer Bogard, nodding to him.

“We’re going aboard shortly,” Garp said, bringing your attention back to fall before him, “as you had been informed yesterday evening, things have been slipping here for some time.”

You nodded at him as he continued to instruct you in your duties.

“As discussed, I am relieving the Captain of his title and issuing a formal reprimand for his behaviour,” Garp added, looking to the approaching shore, “I may even string him up in the stock-yard for losing the map to the grand line.”

You noticed a small smirk appear on Bogard’s face at the thought of knocking Captain Morgan down a few paces.

“I’ll be leaving my ship in your command, Bogard will join me in Shells Town,” he added, nodding to the man behind him. You accepted his orders with curt, “yes, Sir.”

“From what I’ve gathered, he’s got a volley of cadets in dire need of training,” he smirked slightly, his eyes twinkling in thought, “I’ll be bringing them aboard for you to train.”

You smiled at the new command broadly. Your current title of lieutenant was thrust upon you at a hastened pace; as your renowned battle-ready and iron-clad will were the topic of many dinner conversations with the higher-up military generals. This was part of the reason why Vice-Admiral Garp requested you personally to join him on this particular voyage. Your military expertise at running drills until your underlings either passed out from exhaustion, threw up the contents of their stomachs or withdrew their applications from the Marines in service would break in the most successful cadets Garp had seen.

“Yes, sir,” you responded, prompting him to smile and turned on his way towards the dock where you steered the ship to make port.

Vice-Admiral Garp and Bogard exited the ship, leaving you with a bare-bones crew to continue to maintain the vessel against the port. You sent off your Boatswain to collect enough ingredients for the chef to prepare rations for the new recruits, leaving you to your duties as Quartermaster.

You maintained an air of formality while instructing your crew to create enough crew-quarters for the new arrivals as they were brought aboard.

After several hours of preparation, the Vice-Admiral and his Brigadier returned aboard the vessel with twenty fresh-faced recruits trailing behind them. In acknowledgment to Garp’s arrival, you marched down the steps atop the deck to welcome your leader to his ship.

“Vice-Admiral,” you stood to attention as you did hours prior., saluting him in respect.

“At ease, Lieutenant,” he responded with a curt nod. He used his beard-whiskered chin to nod for you to follow him away from the new recruits with Bogard following along silently.

“Quite the array you’ve managed to claim, Vice-Admiral,” you acknowledged the troops with a downward nod, prompting Garp to follow your gaze.

“That I have,” he agreed with you with a slight, downturned smile, “I can’t wait to see what you’ll mould them into.”

You smirked at his compliment before asking him, “how did the formal reprimand go with Captain Morgan?”

“As well as you could expect,” he chuckled, “I’ve instructed the newly branded Captain to leave him tied in the stocks for a week or so.”

You hummed in response, turning again to look at the cadets as they climbed aboard your ship. Your attention was immediately drawn to a small cadet with circular broad-rimmed glasses who was slightly drowning in his oversized uniform. You quirked your brow at him slightly, prompting Garp to follow your gaze.

“Ah, that one,” he acknowledged, prompting you to return your sights to your superior officer, “he’s the newest recruit.”

You nodded in response before furrowing your brows.

“And you are certain you desire me to train this troop exactly as I would back at base?” you asked him before looking over the young recruits. Vice-Admiral Garp paused for a moment before leaning in close to your ear and issuing one final command.

“Break them,” he voiced above a whisper and clapped his left hand atop your left shoulder before turning back to address the cadets.

“Cadets, you had better prove yourselves if you are to sail under me!” he ordered in a booming voice, “the pirates who attacked Shells Town have a head start, but once I sink my teeth in; I won’t let go.”

You turned your head slightly to the right to release a sharp crack from the joint at the nape of your neck.

“Am I understood, Marines?” Garp barked.

You joined the ship-wide singular voice responding to his question, a loud: “Yes, Sir!”

He smiled at his crew before gesturing to you to step forward to begin an introduction.

“This is my Lieutenant,” he boomed as you stepped forward into view. You held a determined look adorning your features as you assessed the twenty young members of crew.

“She is under my direct instruction to train you and rid you of any inadequacies you had learnt under the former Captain Morgan,” he continued sharply, “she has my sanction to use any means necessary to break you in, understood?”

“Yes, sir!” echoed throughout the deck as the cadets began to bring their attention to you. You rolled your shoulders back began issuing your first commands.

“Fall in, recruits,” you sharply ordered, prompting five rows of four cadets per row. You wove between them, sharply assessing each of them as they stood. You noticed several cadets had their cravats slightly skewed, prompting you to reach up and firmly readjust them with your hands. Stalking their forms and trailing your merciless gaze over them, not uttering a single word as you began your trial of intimidation. You flicked a loose button on the vest of a cadet with your index finger, prompting them to trail your gaze to your administration.

“Repair that,” you ordered under your breath.

“Yes, Ma’am,” they responded sharply, holding their gaze ahead. You continued your stalking assessment through the final two rows, noticing two mismatched individuals at the head: the smaller cadet with glasses and a tall blonde with a ridiculous hair cut and what appears to be a fresh blackened eye.

You focussed your gaze on the smaller of the two, looking him over as you assessed his presentation.

“You need a new uniform,” you commented in a monotonous voice, “this one is far too large.”

“I-it was all they had, Ma’am,” he quietly managed to stutter out while not making eye contact. You noticed the tall blonde snicker at the comment made by the cadet you formerly addressed and snapped your gaze over towards him.

“Something amusing, cadet?” you sharply asked him, prompting a small smirk to disappear at the corner of his mouth. He looked at your sharpened gaze, eyes wide at your immediate attention.

“No, Ma’am,” he responded quickly in a hushed tone.

“What was that, cadet?” you asked him with hard direction, narrowing your eyes and sizing him up.

“No, Ma’am!” he responded withholding no hesitation in his voice.

“Disrespect your fellow cadet again with something as atrocious as a snicker, and you will be dealing with more than just a black eye, understood?” you threatened him, prompting him to again reissue a resounding: “Yes, Ma’am!”

You returned your attention back to the pink-haired recruit with a sinister gaze. He continued to stair ahead, a slight quiver from his shoulders did not escape your attention.

“What’s your name, Marine?” you asked him, bluntly.

“Koby, Ma’am,” he responded in a quiet tone.

“When I give you an order, you respond with ‘Yes Ma’am’, understood?” you reiterated.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he responded quietly, fixing his gaze at the floor and quiver slightly under your direction.

“Eyes forward, Koby!” you barked at him, prompting him to jolt his shoulders slightly before bringing his gaze up to meet your unrelenting aura of authority.

“Cadets, what are we?” you barked.

“Marines, Ma’am!” you heard them respond in unison.

You nodded your head and began to pace the front of the five rows silently before beginning a small monologue.

“We are Marines,” you confirmed, pacing the rows and staring out into the open sea with slight pause.

“I have been instructed to break you,” you continued, again pacing the five rows, “and believe me when I tell you, I will.”

Several cadets appeared to be slightly rattled at your threat, but continued to fix their gaze ahead.

“There will be pain,” you said, stopping in front of the right-most front facing cadet, “there will be sweat and blood pulled from places you never thought you could sweat and bleed from,” you said, continuing to stop in front of the leaders of the lines.

“And you will take every inch of training I bestow upon you until you feel yourself break under my authority, is that understood?” you directed at them in a firm voice.

“Yes, Ma’am,” they responded, keeping their eyes fixed on the horizon line before you.

“I do not care who you are or where you’ve come from,” you halted in front of the blonde who snickered moments prior before moving on to the circular glasses-clad cadet in front of you, “you are mine.”

You saw his Adams-apple visibly bob as an indication of him swallowing a wad of collected saliva behind his lips. His eyes flittered between your hardened gaze, before triangulating down to rest his sights momentarily on your lips before hastily returning them to your eyes.

“Do I make myself clear, cadets?” you fixed your gaze, baring directly into his eyes.

“Yes, Ma’am!” their confirmation resounded in unison, but your sights were continued to be fixed on the small cadet in front of you.

“Good,” you said with a small smirk and an arch of your brow. Up closer to the small cadet, you accidentally assessed his features. Your attention was brought to the semi-frightened intensity displayed freely from his blue irises before your eyes flickered down to rest slightly on his supple, parted lips before you hastily returned your gaze to his eyes once more.

“Boatswain!” you called suddenly to your coworker.

“Yes, Lieutenant!” he responded, stepping forward with a salute.

“Assign the the cadets their chores,” you ordered, turning to face your boatswain, “I will be watching them very closely.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he responded with a salute. You nodded your acknowledgement at your coworker before returning to your cadets.

“Dismissed!” you said, prompting the twenty newcomers to fall in line to receive their orders from the boatswain. You remained stationary as your eyes trailed the cadets as they eagerly scurried to receive their orders from the boatswain, paying particularly close attention to the smaller, pink-haired individual you intimidated moments prior.

You watched him as he, even before receiving instruction from the boatswain, began checking the rigging for faulty knots, moving any hazards from the pathway between the arched corridors of the large vessel. You narrowed your eyes in thought, almost not hearing the approaching footprints of your Vice-Admiral.

“Nicely executed, Lieutenant,” Garp complimented you, prompting you to angle your body towards his without breaking your gaze from the small recruit; nodding to him in gratitude. Garp followed your gaze to the small recruit and arched his brow before bringing his sights back to your form.

“Impressed already?” he asked you, prompting you to tear your sights from watching Koby successfully undo a slipknot you had purposefully rigged and retied it skilfully before he turned to receive his orders from your boatswain.

“The cadet, Koby,” you began, looking slightly behind Garp to address Bogard, “who is he?”

Garp let out a small chuckle at your question.

“He was travelling among the Alvida pirates as their prisoner until arriving in town with the leader of the Strawhat pirates,” Bogard informed you monotonously.

“A pirate prisoner?” you asked him with your eyes slightly widened.

��I thought you said you didn’t care who they were or where they came from,” Garp taunted you slightly, prompting you to bring your attention back to him, “do not relent your training on his accord.”

“Yes, sir,” you responded with a curt nod, “may I be dismissed so I may supervise the cadets, sir?”

“You are dismissed,” he nodded at you, prompting you to salute and turn on the balls of your feet to supervise the newest members of your vessel.

“I was initially hesitant at your request to bring her along,” Bogard addressed the Vice-Admiral and stepping beside him, “she seemed far to young to undertake this task, but after that little display; it’s safe to say I’m impressed.”

“I wouldn’t let her youthfulness dissuade your confidence, Bogard. I’ve seen the marines she trained, and her results speak for themselves,” he confirmed with his underling, which prompted him to nod in response.

Over the course of several months, the marines would only eat when you allowed them to eat; slept when you permitted them to sleep and you trained them in combat until exhaustion would overcome their bodies. You taught them to maintain their uniforms to an appropriate standard; teaching them to maintain their stitches and polish their brass buttons with ample discipline. You continued to monitor the progress of Koby as he quickly rose to become one of the best cadets this particular allotment produced. It also did not escape your notice that he hastily became the starred protégé of Vice-Admiral Garp, who called him into his office for intellectual challenges.

One evening, Bogard came to fetch you while you were leading a particularly heavy cardio and combat-intensive training exercise for the recruits.

“I know you can give me more than that, cadets!” you taunted them with a smirk, prompting them to make their movements harder, sweat dripping from their faces at your command. Koby flicked his eyes over to you while panting hard through partially open lips at the drill you were instructing him. His face was flushed partially from the over-excursion of the drill and the fact that you were focussing your eye contact with him as you continued to taunt them.

“This is the final stretch, cadets,” you called to them, stepping closer to Koby as he continued to push himself at your command, “make me proud.”

Koby wanted nothing more than to push himself beyond the point of exhaustion to satiate your desire for absolute excellence. He adhered to your taunt and strenuously pushed his body to complete the spirited task you had appointed all of the cadets. You smiled in response at him with slightly surprised eyes before turning your attention to another recruit. Although your eyes no longer focussed solely on him, he continued to push and push, tasting the familiar metallic twinge of blood over his tongue as he exhausted his body for you.

“Lieutenant, the Vice-Admiral requests you join him in his office immediately,” Bogard interrupted your instruction to inform you. You growled slightly at the interruption, but relented.

“Alright, Marines,” you addressed your cadets, “that will be all for today. Cool down your bodies so they don’t seize up. Focus on your arms first, they’ll need it most.”

A collective, resounding sigh of relief could be heard passing through the lips of the marines, after acknowledging your instruction with a: “Yes, Ma’am”.

This prompted you to laugh slightly in response to their relief. Over the past few months, you successfully broke the young recruits in and eased up on your hardened exterior; forming friendships with several of the newcomers. Although you continued to hold an air of authority over the troop and never engage in inappropriate conversations with them; you were closer in age to this lot than any you had trained prior, and it showed.

Garp would often watch you engage with the recruits and smile at how organic you were with this collection. After he requested your attendance on his vessel, he grew very fond of you and the rapport you engaged with him.

“Don’t be too relieved,” you said with a small smirk, “I will be pairing you up in size and skill tomorrow and lead you in sparring against one another. You are not to hold back, only stopping once your opponent is either unconscious or otherwise incapacitated. Is that understood, cadets?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the cadets responded in unison.

“Dismissed, then,” you said to them with a small salute and a warm smile, “I’ll see you all at dinner.”

You turned to bring your attention to Bogard and grinned at him before stepping forward to greet him. You walked in step with one another towards the office of your Vice-Admiral, blissfully unaware of the eyes baring into your retreating form.

“Alright, out with it,” Helmeppo prodded his fellow cadet with a roll of his eyes, “What is it, Koby?”

He noticed Koby’s eyes were continuing to focus on the lieutenant as you finally fell out of sight beside Bogard.

“N-nothing, Helmeppo,” he responded, turning back around and readjusting his uniform to be as pristine as he could make it.

“Are you sure it’s not the fact you have a little crush on our commanding officer?” he teased him slightly with a nudge from his shoulder to Koby’s. Koby’s eyes widened and his face immediately flushed a warm pink tone.

“I don’t have a-,” he stuttered slightly, “-a crush on the Lieutenant.”

Helmeppo smirked broadly and felt as if he finally had a leg up on Koby. Although he had the history and knowledge of someone who grew up on a marine base under the command of his father; he did not foster favour with any of the authorities on this vessel. He needed to use this to his advantage somehow, hoping sharing this moment with Koby would grant him favour with at least one of the commanding officers.

“Oh yes you do,” Helmeppo reiterated, “I’ve seen the way your beady little eyes trail her when she’s ordering us around. I know you push yourself hard to impress her in physical training, even though you absolutely suck at it.”

Koby gulped the saliva he collected in his mouth and nervously flickered his tongue out to dampen his lower lip. Helmeppo widened his sinister smile at the reaction he managed to bring from Koby at his sudden taunt.

“The sooner you come to terms with it, the sooner you can do something about it,” he advised off-handedly. Koby didn’t grace Helmeppo with a response, choosing to kneel down and undo and retie his shoelaces.

You made your way throughout the hall to meet with your Vice-Admiral, knocking lightly on the doorframe to alert Garp to your presence.

“Enter, Lieutenant,” Garp called to you, prompting you to open the door. You pushed on the frame to reveal your boss seated at his desk.

“Sir,” you addressed him, clicking your heals and offering a salute, “you asked to see me?”

“That I did, Lieutenant,” he responded, “at ease.”

You widened your stance and laced your hands behind your back at his direction. He reached down to a draw beneath his desk and retrieved a bottle of rum and twin crystal short-glasses. You knit your brows together at his movements, prompting him to smile.

“Come and sit,” he gestured to the chair in front of him. You nodded your head and made to walk over to the chair before him. You pulled it out and took a seat, keeping an alert posture as you watched him pour the liquid into the glasses.

“You have done a more than excellent job in training the recruits,” he said, placing one of the glasses in front of you, “they have made me proud.”

“Thank you, sir,” you said, accepting the glass he placed before you.

“They are a direct reflection on you,” he continued, “which means you, in turn, have made me proud.”

You smiled slightly at his comment, before adding another; “thank you, sir.”

He smiled, clicking the side of his glass against your own and raising it to his lips and taking a small sip. You followed his example and brought the liquid to your lips and taking a sip, savouring the smoky and burning liquid on your tongue before swallowing it.

You both sat in comfortable silence as you sipped at your rum.

“What do you make of the cadet, Koby?” he asked you with a small twinkle in his eyes.

You searched your mind for an adequate response, thinking only of words of absolute praise. You can admit to only yourself that you harboured more than the feelings of comradery for the cadet, but you would never express those to a commanding officer.

“I was taken with him immediately, as you recall,” you said, nodding your chin to the Vice-Admiral.

“Yes I do remember that,” he confirmed, bringing the glass again to his lips.

“His strength has improved,” you added, “he pushes himself further in physical training than any of the others, although they all give me their strength. He’s determined, experienced in sea bearing activities and eager to learn.”

“That he is,” Garp smiled into his glass.

You finished your glasses and reflected on the various months of strenuous training you had provided to break in the cadets for several more minutes before Garp dismissed you to retire for the evening meal.

“There looks like there’s a storm brewing,” Garp said, gesturing out his window towards the grey clouds eclipsing the once clear sky, “go get some dinner before making sure everything is fastened to brace for some choppy waves.”

“Yes, sir,” you said as he dismissed you.

You walked down the corridor of the large ship towards the dining quarters. The waves began to pick up, clashing against the wooden frame of the ship and rocking you slightly as you walked down the hall. You held onto the side of the ship to brace yourself against the hull, steadying your movement over as another choppy wave flung itself against the ship. After pausing, you continued to make your way towards the dining hall. Turning one final corner, another large wave seemingly threw you from your feet. You attempted to brace your body, in the process colliding your form directly into the chest of the circular glass-wearing, pink-haired cadet.

“Apologies, Lieutenant,” he said, stepping back from your close proximity and saluting to you to the best of his abilities. You smiled warmly at the cadet.

“At ease, Koby,” you chuckled slightly at his immediate reaction, “it was my fault. I was miles away and these waves don’t help either.”

He released a nervous chuckle from between his lips and smiled at you. You collected yourself and used his arms to steady yourself and rode out the final reverberations of the wave as it quietened.

“I don’t think I have ever expressed this to you before,” you began, bringing his blue irises to rest on your own, “I’m truly proud of you. You’ve come so far and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching you flourish under my instruction.”

He gasped slightly at the affirming words you were bestowing onto him. You released his forearms from your grip with a light chuckle, nodding to him in thanks for allowing you to brace yourself against him.

“Thank you, lieutenant,” he said with a warm smile, eyes shining brightly at your compliment. You smiled warmly at him as you watched him beam in the ambiance of the compliment.

“I-I can honestly say,” he stuttered with a smile, “I have enjoyed having you break me. I-I’d do anything for you.”

He froze after speaking those words, his smile dropped and a tinge of red overcame his features. You widened your eyes at his confession.

“I didn’t mean it l-like that,” he spluttered out his words hurriedly, “I mean, I would follow your commands. I would do anything to continue to make you proud-.”

You creased your brows with a small smile as you watched the cadet continue to use a hypothetical shovel to dig a deeper hole for himself, choosing to remain silent; giving him all the time he needs to find the correct words he wished to express toward you.

“-The marines, Ma’am!” he continued to correct himself, “-to make the marine’s proud. I would follow you to the ends of the earth to make the marines proud.”

You broadened your smile at him, enjoying watching him squirm slightly while falling over his words. As he continued to depict his affections for you, and you refused to smother the growing feeling of affection rising in your chest for the pink-haired cadet. As he continued to spur words of adoration for you, the well seemingly erupted as your body tingled with an almost giddiness you had not experienced prior.

“I just-,” he halted his words, “I just want you to know how much you mean to me-.”

You giggled slightly at his words. The waves began to swell again and clash against the wooden ship once more, your bodies both swaying slightly as you rode through them together, interlocking your knees to steady yourselves against the impact.

“-to all of the cadets, Ma’am,” he furrowed his brows and avoided your eye contact by looking all throughout the empty hall; focussing on anything other than your gaze. The waves began to dissipate once more, allowing you to steady yourselves. Koby continued to blink sporadically around the cabin and avoid your gaze in an attempt to stifle his flushed emotions.

You reached up with your left hand and placed it on his right shoulder, immediately bringing his rose-tinged attention to fixate on your face. He gazed into your eyes, triangulating down to your lips and holding his attention there slightly as he did the first day he met you before bringing his blue orbs back up to your knowing eyes.

This was not the first time a subordinate had developed feelings of affection towards you, especially as you trained them over the course of several months. It was, however, the first time you felt yourself reciprocate the affections of a crewman; and a cadet at that.

“It’s ok, Koby,” you reassured him with a fond smile, quirking your head to the side in amusement. You allowed a momentary softness in your formal demeaner as you gazed into the affectionate, timid eyes of the pink-haired cadet. He flittered his sights to the placement of your hand against his shoulder, feeling the warmth you offered so freely to him before looking back to your face.

He switched, flittering his eyes between focussing on one of your irises before swapping to the other nervously.

The waves again began to swell aboard the vessel, prompting you to release the cadet from your grip and look to your surroundings to ensure the rigging to be completely secure in the lower decks. He followed your gaze slightly, focussing on the rattling chains adorning the walls as they shook in sync with the waves.

“Lieutenant?” he asked you suddenly.

Your face adorned a slight amount of unease at the large swell of the waves breaking against the hull of the ship. You reached again to Koby’s shoulder and brought his body against yours while you both braced for the swelling impact of the approaching tidal waves. You frowned in determination and fixed your sights to the stairs leading to the upper deck. You saw water begin to flow down the steps and enter into the lower decks, indicating an object not correctly fastened above the chambers below.

“Stay below decks, Koby,” you commented before releasing your grip from his shoulder for the third time since you interacted with him.

“Ma’am?” he asked you, focussing on fixating his gaze following your own.

“Cadet, I need to go and secure the loose object above decks,” you said, turning to look directly in his eyes, “stay below deck and stay safe,” you emphasized your final instruction.

You began to brace yourself against the walls as you were thrust into them from the swelling waves brought onto you. You wiped stray hairs falling into your face that became damp with offensive seawater away from your vision and pulled your body above deck by the ropes adorning the walls.

While maintaining a blissful ignorance to your surroundings, you were unaware that the cadet you instructed moments prior to remain secure within crew quarters disregarded your orders and followed closely behind you.

As you brought yourself above the deck, you noticed several weighted cannons had become loose at their rigging, prompting you to spring into action to resecure them in place. Squeezing your eyes shut between sprays of sour seawater as they splashed onto your face, you paid them no mind as you continued to make safe the cannons by securing them with complex knots.

While securing the last cannon in place, you felt the true weight of the object as it barrelled into you, successfully trapping you between the polished wooden frame of the ship. Freshwater sprayed onto your face as the clouds above swelled the substance over your face, combining the with the prior saltwater from the swells to successfully shield your vision from any approaching figureheads.

The surrounding bellowing clashes of thunderous clouds combining with the swelled waves provided no response from your struggle against the weight of the final cannon. You felt yourself begin to panic slightly under the weight of the cylindrical object as it pressed you against the side of the deck.

You witnessed a large wave begin to swell, your eyes widening at the sheer size of it. Before you could utter a sound of plea for rescue, you noticed a truss of candy-pink damp hair field your vision. You felt the cadet audibly strain against the weight of the cannon, utilising all of his strength to pull the object from its hold on your body.

“Koby, what are you doing here?!” you barked at him in surprise, “I ordered you to remain below deck!”

“With all due respect, lieutenant,” he said while grunting, pulling the cannon from your body by issuing all of his strength, “you can’t do everything alone.”

You nodded at him, still with a frown adorning your features as you both utilised the reserves of your strength to pry the weapon from crushing your body.

You managed to feel the cannon pull away from your body, meeting each other’s gaze with a laugh of relief. The relief, however, was short lived as the large swelling wave thrust itself against the stern of the ship and managed to sweep you from your feet and carry you overboard into the dangerous waters.

“Man overboard! Lieutenant overboard!” reverberated in your ears as you felt yourself be pulled beneath the surface, your senses becoming overwhelmed with the pressure of the water below. Although you were a confident swimmer, you felt yourself continually be pulled beneath the surface of the water; unable to claim a breath of air to sustain your lungs. As your vision began to spot with darkened circles, you saw a small object join you beneath the surface of the water; an arm claiming your body and bring you to rise to the surface. Your vision became clouded and you found yourself succumbed to the darkness the water had desired to bestow before you.

Before your body could comprehend what was happening to it, you found yourself suddenly thrown back against a hard surface. You had no idea if you were dead or merely unconscious for some time. All you were alerted to was a pair of soft lips against your own as you felt air enter your lungs as water sprayed onto your face.

“Breathe, lieutenant!” you heard orders being thrust onto you, “please breathe!”

You coughed slightly, ridding your lungs of the toxic seawater. You rolled onto your side as you continued spluttering up the liquid consumed by the chasms within your chest. You heard a sigh of relief from the form above you while you gasped for breath and continued your coughing.

After you inhaled a burning breath into your chest, you rolled onto your back as you felt the waves subside. You watched a small eye in the clouds above begin to form, flowing beams of warm rays from the sun onto your skin as you continued to inhale the air surrounding your body. You shut your eyes and focussed on deeply inhaling life-sustaining oxygen before reopening your eyes and focussing on the cadet kneeling in front of your reclined form.

You narrowed your eyes, noticing the pink-haired cadet no longer supported his spectacles on his face and his uniform was incredibly damp.

“Koby?” you breathlessly asked him, confirming the individual was exactly who they presented themselves to be. You searched his eyes for security, noticing his waterline was slightly red.

“Lieutenant,” he gasped, eyes wide and an air of anxiety pronounced over his features.

“You disobeyed a direct order,” you reprimanded him sternly, bringing your elbows up below your torso to rise your chest from its reclined position below you, “why did you disobey my direct order?”

He immediately bowed his head before you in apologies, bringing your attention to a slight sniff from his nose as his shoulders began to shake slightly.

“Because I couldn’t let you go,” he murmured while maintaining his concentration on the wood below you, refusing to bring his sights to gaze upon your own.

You brought your fingertips to your mouth and traced the outline of your parted lips. You noticed a slight swell beneath your fingertips, indicating a pressure had been applied to your body.

“I was down, wasn’t I?” you asked him, eyes widened in shock.

“Yes, Ma’am,” you heard him confirm in a low tone above a whisper.

“How long was I down?” you asked him, releasing your lips from beneath your fingertips.

“Twelve minutes, Ma’am,” he uttered, continuing to keep his head bowed to you. You coughed slightly before lifting your body into a seated position, feeling the weight of your lungs that you believed to be priorly weighed down with seawater.

You gazed to Koby’s form, noticing his bent knuckles as he grasped the polished wooden floors beneath his fingers, his face shrouded by his candy-floss pink hair. He appeared to be trembling slightly at the shoulders, whether it be from the cold water dampening his clothes or from the adrenaline spiking his senses as he brought you back above deck; you were unsure.

“Koby,” you whispered, bringing your hand to his chin, claiming it between your fingers. He stifled his shuddering slightly, his shoulders solidifying at your sudden touch. You lifted his gaze to meet your own, noticing tears had began to well at his glazed-over eyes.

“Why did you dive in for me? The sea could’ve claimed you, too,” you said, releasing his chin from your grip and tracing them gently against the line of his jaw, prompting him to inhale sharply and shut his eyes, leaning into your caress.

“I told you, lieutenant,” he whispered into your palm before reopening his eyes and looking beneath his long eyelashes and baring his blue orbs into your own, “I would follow you to the ends of the earth.”

You upturned your brows at him and offered him a half-smile at the corner of your lips. He looked away from you, turning to the righthand side of the deck.

“Koby-,” you began with a deep sigh, releasing his jaw and cheek from your caress.

“-and I know it’s inappropriate, lieutenant,” he interrupted you with a slight sigh, “but I couldn’t leave you. I-,”

He paused, bringing his gaze back to yours before again declaring; “-I-I love you.”

You felt the air hypothetically this time flee from your chest at his sudden declaration.

“A-and I don’t care if you don’t feel the same way-,” he began, halting his words only at your sudden outburst of adoration. You claimed his shoulders in a warm embrace, holding him against your torso and smoothing over his back.

“Koby,” you again whispered into him, bringing your cheek flush against the side of his pink hair.

“Ma’am,” he responded in a breathily whimper. You released his shoulders from your embrace before bringing your forehead to rest against his own, your eyes closed. You inhaled through your nose, breathing in any anxiety he continued to hold, feeling the waves of his unease dissipate with each passing moment.

You felt him snake his arms around your waist and bring you closer against his body, continuing to press his forehead against your own for as long as you would permit him to do so. You opened your eyes and brought your forehead away from his own, keeping only a few centimetres between you.

“I owe you my life,” you whispered into his face with a warm smile, “and I am willing to spend each moment of the rest of the life I could’ve lost just now to show you just how much love I truly have for you.”

You heard him inhale sharply first before you witnessed how wide his beautiful blue eyes were, beginning to brim slightly at your declaration. You giggled slightly at his reaction, scrunching your nose; teasing him slightly.

“Does that mean I can kiss you?” he innocently asked you in a hurried voice, prompting you to giggle in response.

“Koby,” you half laugh-sighed deeply before hooking your elbow behind his neck and suddenly bringing his face flush with your own. You leant your lips into his and pressed a deep kiss upon him, filled with the adoration you truly held for him. You were apprehensive to express yourself further to deepen the kiss than what he was comfortable with, noting his anxiety in your prior interactions.

His enthusiasm was quickly expressed through his administrations, bringing both of his hands to your lower ribs as he pulled your torso against his own with a small whimper falling between his lips. You smiled into the kiss and gasped into his lips as you unhooked your elbow from behind his neck and opted to cradle his cheeks within your palms. You could feel his body begin to shake with all of the emotion he was holding back, prompting you to respond empathetically as you continued to hold him against.

Koby nearly lost you; not only his superior officer who had trained him so vigorously in his quest to achieve his dream of becoming an elite marine, but the woman he came to truly love. He administered chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth to your unresponsive body for twelve whole minutes before you sucked in a shaky breath and ridded your body from the salt-water your lungs had filled beyond capacity. He cried for you, willing every fibre of his being to bring you back from the brink of death to be at his side.

You felt warm tears freely spill down his cheeks as he continued to press his lips against your own, exchanging angles to deepen your kiss between gasped breaths.

You broke from his lips only to bring your thumbs up to his cheeks and soothe over the free-falling tears he released from his eyes as he was overcome with a tirade of intense emotions. You opted not to speak, but continue to administer a gentle touch over his skin as his body trembled. You kissed his cheeks softly as he whimpered into your touch, bringing his hands to your wrists and gently holding them against his face as he continued to enjoy your touch.

Masterlist is here.

He pressed his lips into each of your palms before looking deeply into your eyes with a broad smile after he worked through the complex emotions, emitting a laugh from his lips in absolute joy as he processed the fact you were returning his affections.

You returned his laugh with a small chuckle of your own as you gazed affectionately into his eyes before bringing your lips to press against his once more as to seal an unspoken promise made between you both.

[lurkingshan]

✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @dribs-and-drabbles, thanks dribs! It's kind of fun to go back and see what I was on about at various points this year.

January

This blog was a mere bebe this time last year and I hadn't started posting anything substantial yet, so nothing of note here.

February

most popular — Making fun of Hira in Utsukushii Kare 2 (affectionately)

favorite — Praising Moonlight Chicken's character writing

March

most popular — The Glory does revenge right

favorite — Whining about people using the friends to lovers label wrong

April

most popular — Celebrating Queen Ae Ri from The Eighth Sense

favourite(s) — Making sure people understand Ji Hyun is a drama dork, helping to kick off the most batshit week of discourse in T8S fandom, and of course the first (of many) appreciation posts for Porsche's sweater

May

most popular — On Step By Step removing a scene critiquing BGP because of fan outcry

favorite(s) — 10 Things I Love About WDYEY and 10 Things I Love About Khun Chai (please watch them if you haven't yet people!)

June

most popular — Having a ball with King the Land

favorite(s) — Breaking down Pat's effect on Phupha in Our Skyy 2, the complexity of family trauma in Our Dining Table, and Jeng's reaction to his failed confession in Step by Step (ugh remember when this show was good). And of course this was the month that the La Plue meta round up was born.

July

most popular — Bitching about romance discourse (it was about King the Land at the time but it's quite widely applicable lol)

favourite(s) — Hysterical praise for La Pluie's conflict writing, kudos for Be My Favorite's character work for Kawi, breaking down where Step By Step went wrong

August

most popular — Ah the good times when we were still so amped about Only Friends

favorite(s) — Every moment of the My Ride rewatch, great moments in subtitlery from Laws of Attraction, and praise for Sing My Crush

September

most popular — That one time I actually liked a Mew thing in Only Friends

favorite(s) — Trying to get y'all to watch Love in Translation, comparing Someday or One Day and A Time Called You, clarifying the differences between Boston and Brian Kinney

October

most popular — Boston and Nick my beloveds (it would be shocking if they didn't make this list they are responsible for many of my most popular posts)

favorite(s) — A couple I Feel You Linger in the Air breakdowns: why the romance works despite being underwritten, and Fong Kaew's excellent character arc

November

most popular — Goofing on the unseriousness of Kiseki: Dear to Me

favorite(s) — Breaking down how the writing choices in Only Friends sent toxic messages and final thoughts on the IFYL finale

December

most popular — Japanese BL starter pack

favorite(s) — Simping over Mohk simping over Day in Last Twilight, yelling about Cherry Magic Thailand, kicking off bl superlatives 2023

--

In addition to all the people dribs tagged that I am double tagging because I want to see your answers (@wen-kexing-apologist @grapejuicegay @btwinlines @twig-tea @rocketturtle4 @waitmyturtles @telomeke and @respectthepetty) I am adding some other folks I know wrote/created a lot this year because I'm curious what stuck with you most: @bengiyo, @ranchthoughts, @jemmo, @chickenstrangers, @chicademartinica, @slayerkitty, @my-rose-tinted-glasses, @colourme-feral, @blmpff, @liyazaki, @wanderlust-in-my-soul, @troubled-mind, @benkaaoi.

[project-pidw]

Hello everyone who's followed me here! The poll ended a while ago and it looks like people are interested in doing this so here's the blog where all further information about such a project will be placed!

Due to the fact that I've never run a fandom event before, this is going to take me quite a bit of time to organize, plus I've currently got a lot on my plate irl right now (such as writing and producing a musical from now until the end of the year which I am very hyped about but also I assume it's going to take up a lot of time) so bear with me as I organize my own thoughts before bringing more people on board

In short here's a generalized timeline for things off the top of my head (and is by no means all inclusive or a hard and fast timeline, this is just to give people general expectations)

Now (June 2024) - October 2024: Organizing all the feedback from the comments on the original post, coming up with organizational structures and outlining how many roles would be needed in order to put an event like this together

November 2024-December 2024: Mod applications and interest checks open

January 2025: Interest Check results are released and Mod application results are sent out

February 2025: Mods look over organizational structures, give feedback for how the event is organized, finish getting everything ready for people to contribute to the project

March 2025-April 2025: Sign ups are sent out for writers/artists/betas, distinguishing between people who would like to write pre-blackening arcs and post-blackening arcs (in my mind there would be an application process similar to that of a zine for writers and artists thay would like to create hard and fast canonically referenced events in PIDW but EVERYONE would be open to write general wife number whatever chapters OR Binghe gets massive power up chapters, for those that want to participate but don't wanna write smut, including people that don't sign up within the "event" time frame, allowing PIDW to be an ever changing living document that essentially never has to end however this system would remain open to changes depending on what people would like to see most)

May 2025: Results are sent out for people writing pre-blackening arcs and discord invites are sent out to all participants in the project

June 2025 - March 2026: Creation period, potentially longer or shorter depending on interest check results since the goal would be to create chapters with ridiculously long word counts for the sake of the bit

April 2026-???: Release of the project to ao3, with a new creator's work being posted each week at first and then speeding up to a daily reveal until all works are revealed in the collection, functioning similarly to a hypothetical Airplane's writing schedule

Once again this is all just... REALLY vauge outlines and the speculation of someone that has no idea how long it takes to put on an event like this, I would imagine that in actuality it would take much longer to do so, and life tends to interfere in things in mysterious ways so I would not be surprised if this does not end up accurate to the actual timeline, but just to give people a general idea of when a large scale project like this would be able to take place!

[buildarocketboys]

Ten Years

A little thing I wrote for the 10 year Black Sails anniversary celebration/artbook run by @tobys-walrus-crew - definitely go check it out, it's such a cool project with some great art and other lovely stuff!

James and Thomas celebrate ten years since they were reunited.

[here on AO3]

Thomas pours them both a glass of whisky.  Neither of them drinks much these days, but Thomas insists it's a special occasion.

"What's the occasion?" James asks, confused. It's not their anniversary (which they celebrate in March, the night they had first kissed, after James had thrown Alfred Hamilton out of his own house, a lifetime-no, two lifetimes-ago now). Nor is it either of their birthdays.

Thomas raises his eyebrows. "Don't you know?" he asks. James shakes his head. Thomas sighs, but the smile in his eyes makes it clear to James that he's not annoyed with him for his ignorance. "Ten years," he says softly. "Ten years since you came back to me."

James's mouth forms a soft round oh. He's not surprised he didn't know - as far as he's aware, he's never known. The journey to Savannah, all those days after Silver had betrayed him, chained him up, sent him away, is a blur to him. And his reunion with Thomas, sweet though it had been, was tempered with bitterness - now they were both trapped, he'd thought at the time. So he hadn't paid much attention to the date.

Thomas had, though. For Thomas the blur was all the days before, the ten years separated from James and Miranda, first at Bedlam and then at the plantation. The backbreaking work hadn't seemed so hard once he had James by his side. Plus, with James there, he had known that his days trapped on the plantation were numbered. The two of them together could do anything - escaping a slave plantation for unruly sons of lords was hardly the most remarkable thing they'd done together.

So Thomas had marked the date and sworn to remember it. A blessed day.

He had rarely, if ever, brought it up to James - he knows that time wasn't quite so sweet for him as it was for Thomas. But tonight, well, it's a special occasion.

"Ten years," James repeats, voice soft in wonder. He looks up at Thomas. "Does that...that means we've been together now for longer than we were forced to be apart."

Thomas nods. "Quite," he says. "And I think that's something worth celebrating."

James nods, his eyes glassy. A lot has changed in ten years; they're both very different people now than they had been ten years ago on the plantation, let alone twenty years ago, meeting in London for the first time. The one constant has been their love, and even that has grown and changed as they have. He raises the glass. "To us," he says, voice catching in his throat.

"To ten years," says Thomas. "And many, many more, I hope."

James smiles, his eyes shading into sadness. "To Miranda," he says. 

A shadow passes over Thomas's eyes. "To Miranda," he says, clinking his glass against James's and draining it. "If only she were here to celebrate with us." It's wistful, yearning - a life lost long ago, but never felt with anything less than earnest grief, even softened by the years of it. Sanded down like a piece of wood through application of time, Thomas thinks. Then he smiles to himself. That's more like one of James's metaphors - son of a carpenter.

James smiles as Thomas does. "What are you grinning at?" he asks.

Thomas shakes his head. "You," he says, and leans forward to kiss him. James tastes of whisky, much like he imagines he must. When they draw apart, James lingers, just breathing him in.

He pulls away after a moment and pours them more whisky. "To another ten," he says, clinking his glass against Thomas's. "And another, and another, until we're dead." Thomas chuckles, and James's lips quirk up on one side. "Because the only way they're taking me away from you again is in a coffin."

Thomas raises an eyebrow. "I thought we were getting buried together?"

James nods. "I'll drink to that," he says.

They drain their glasses.

[imtheiliad]

tell me things about juniper: when and how did you get her/how old is she etc

*cracks knuckles* have a photo essay you did not ask for 🤪

So, in march 2022 during spring break i had a breakdown about what i was going to do after college. I had pretty much decided that i was going to move back home with my mom. and it just did not feel right at all. so i was sitting on my brother's porch crying. and the smart guy he is, says to me, "why don't you move here? we can find you an apartment." and i said, "and maybe a cat?" and i had planned on waiting a little while before i even started looking, but two months later, the weekend of my graduation, i am sitting in my brother's living room-- having just gotten the keys to my new apartment, and he kinda gasps and turns his phone around to the story of someone he went to college with, juni's foster mom, had posted that she was looking for a forever home for this goof,

and i fell in love on the spot. and I almost convinced myself it was too fast. but a few days later after obsessively checking her page to see if she was still available, and just to look at pictures of her, i put in my application to adopt her. and i waited. and waited. and finally called the shelter because there hadn't been any response whatsoever, and after that they approved my application immediately. we set up a meet and greet at her foster home, and she was under the couch the entire time, she was living with 3 other cats and was stressed out. and i talked to her foster mom, and asked all the right questions. and i just knew i had to be the one to take her in, that i could help her just as much as she could help me. and then i had a meeting with the shelter people. they sent me all her files, and i opened them up and they had her birthday listed as the same as mine, and i started sobbing, because it felt like it was the biggest sign that i made the right choice. and then a few days later, i got to bring her home!

so yeah thats the story how i lived alone for about 5 days without actively trying to bring her home. alkskjd. and to think i thought i was going to wait one or two months. ha!

she is just about to turn two and is absolutely thriving and i have absolutely no idea how i could have gotten through this past year without her. it all feels like all the stars aligned for us to find each other <3.

She is so silly and has such a personality that I don’t really know how to describe, she is too smart for laser pointers, but is also afraid of the cat dance she was once obsessed with. Her favorite things to chase are smarties, jolly ranchers, and springs.

and she still routinely lays upside down staring at me for something

Ask me one thing you want to know about me

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes Grad Studies Get Weird: The Publication Edition

So, when I was working on my dissertation, one of the things that I was advised to do was take my framework and expand it a beyond Shakespeare as kind of a test to see if it was actually as broadly applicable as I thought it was. Turns out, it was. Then we went of the objectively bananas journey that was getting my chapter in this edited collection published. Let's talk Disability and the Superhero.

Let's start with the book itself, which is an edited collection of scholarly essays on aleism and representation in comic media. It's kind of handy when subtitles do all the heavy lifting for you. For those of you interested in actually reading this book, the table of contents and a link to the publisher's website will be at the bottom of this post.

Despite the fact that this book was released in the year of our lord 2023, my journey with this book starts in 2018, when I found a call for papers asking for explorations of ableism in superhero media. I have a bit of a soft spot for the MCU's standalone Iron Man films, so I wrote up a little abstract, sent if off, and promptly forgot about it. Until August of that year, when I got an email telling me that my paper--which was not yet written at the time, I might add--had been accepted for inclusion in the edited collection.

Between August of 2018 and December of 2019, I wrote the chapter and went back and forth with our two (yes two, that's not a typo; consider it foreshadowing) editors for revisions a couple of times, and I turned in the final revisions I would do on the chapter in December of 2019, literally the night before my grandfather passed away.

Between funeral stuff and desperately trying to salvage Christmas in Decemeber of 2019, defending my dissertation in January of 2020, and teaching my first ever independent class in the first term of the new year, the Iron Man chapter was completely out of my head. Then March 2020 and the pandemic really hit, and nobody knew anything for about eighteen months.

When we finally got some updates (and no shade to our lovely editor; Amber was never anything less than professional and wonderful throughout the process!), one of the two editors had left the project, and our press was still scrambling to figure out life in a pandemic, but the project was still hanging on to life.

Then in 2022, we had some movement. We were in review! Except that, as happens sometimes because peer review is a godawful system that pays no one, one of our reviewers had responded, one had fallen off the face of the earth, and one had hung onto the book for four months before coming back to say that they actually were not in a place to do the review. So our editor and press went hunting for at least one, ideally two, more peer reviewers, and did eventually find them. It was sometimes in mid-2022 that we were told that yes, yes this book WOULD be published. Then it was mostly radio silence, with the odd update from our editor, until June 14, 2023, when we were told that the book had been published.

Canny readers will note that this post is coming out on June 23, 2023. That's because this is the day when you can actually buy the book, according to retail sites and the publisher's website. So this has been a long, really WEIRD process, but I am so, so excited to share my chapter on Iron Man with the world.

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I think it demonstrates the use of the filmic stare and the inherent ableism in how Marvel presents disabled characters really well. I will say that the chapter was designed to focus only on the three standalone Iron Man movies, not the Avengers movies, or Civil War, or Infinity War or Endgame (which had not been released when I wrote the chapter). This is because the Iron Man movies tell a relatively complete story, and the arc was fascinating to consider.

For anyone interested, the publisher's website page for the book is here, and the table of contents is as follows:

Preface Amber E. George 1 Introduction: Making Sense of Superheroes and Their Social Identities Amber E. George 3 ­Hyper-Normative Heroes, Othered Villains: Differential Disability Narratives in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Kelly A. Kane 13 Living in the Mutant Underground: Marvel’s The Gifted Sue Scheibler 30 Isolation, Overcoming, and the Filmic Stare in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Iron Man Films Grace McCarthy 46 Tech as Ableist Tool: Understanding the Role of Disability in the Arrowverse Series Courtney Stanton 61 Cultural Appropriation and Ableism: Dr. Strange’s Strange Concoction Shanti Srinivas 81 Of Sexism and Ableism: Wonder Woman’s (Ab)Use of Disability Tatiana Prorokova-Konrad 95 Assimilating Queer/Disabled Subjects in Marvel Superhero Fanfiction Divya Garg 108 Enabling New Perspectives of (Super)Power and Disability in Jeremy Scott’s The Ables Robin E. Field and Christopher Boucher 128 “It is I, Super Grover, Here to Challenge Ableism!” Daisy L. Breneman 145 The Joker: Disrupting Perceptions of (Dis)ability in Batman Comic Books Sean Thomas Milligan 166 About the Contributors 183 Index 185

[shaebertooth]

I want to go ahead and apologize now to anyone who is still waiting on a commission from me. I know of like two off the top of my head, but please keep in mind I do suffer from memory loss problems so I may need a reminder if you're unsure if I recall you or not.

My life this year had started off in a not-so-great way, and while it's no excuse, it has greatly affected my mental and physical health in ways I'm actually pretty afraid of, given my recent bout with a hospital stay and surgery.

My current home is owned by someone I thought was a friend of mine. He bought the house back in 2019 with the full intention of us moving in together: his sister, Cori, myself, and him of course. This was all great until his sister turned into an absolute nightmare of a roommate, moved out (and ran off to florida with some online friend) and left us high and dry.

So we found another roommate, and things were decent from there.. until towards the end of last year.

Main roommate in question took a trip to chicago to be with some friends, and ended up falling in love with the place, and planned to move there eventually - okay, not so bad, we were all okay with this, we knew it was happening.

Then my surgery happened. Along with being unable to work until January 1st when I was finally cleared, and now trying to scramble to find a job, and throwing out anywhere between 5-10 applications a day. In the meantime it's fallen on my poor girlfriend to pay my portion of the bills, which I am eternally grateful for, but also dreading and ashamed of. I owe her the fucking world.

All of a sudden, my roommate has put his foot down saying he's selling the house by the end of March. April is as long as he's giving us to figure out things out and find a place to go. girlfriend's mom's apartment is way too small, and doesn't allow for the 3 cats we have, and my mom sold her house shortly after we moved into the new house, and lives in a senior apartment complex. Neither places are places we can go to.

When we tried to plead our case, stating to him that my bank needs *60 days* of work history to help me with a house loan.. he simply shrugged his shoulders and walked out. In his exact words on discord, he stated "As the owner of the property this is my decision and it is non-negotiable." AKA he doesn't care what happens to us, he's dead-set on going to chicago, with those rose-tinted glasses glued to his face. This was what he sent to us yesterday. Saturday the 14th.

Needless to say.. my emotional state is a wreck. I'm worried I won't find a job in time, worried we'll have to move way far away from where we've settled, flip everything around to start somewhere else.. and before anyone tries to suggest apartment hunting: we can't. My girlfriend is self-employed making iron-on patches, which involves a LOT of noise running constantly. Embroidery machines and sewing machines all times of the night/day.

We would either need to specifically be placed in a corner lot where we can't disturb anyone, or luck out and have some deaf neighbors. It would also need to accept 3 cats, as these cats are *not* going anywhere else but with us.

I'm so fucking stressed to the point of headaches, and my body thinking it's time for my monthly flow.. all month long. It's scaring me that all of this is happening, and I'm dreading another hospital stay, especially because my surgery site still bleeds from time to time.

So, I apologize if I've been slow with activity or you're waiting on something from me. My life is being quite literally ripped out from under my feet, and there's not much I can really do about it except to pray for a job and grind myself into dust trying to make a living. In this fuckin american economy.

I wish I could get a fucking break.

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Thursday 10 March 1836

8 ½

11 20

no kiss fine but dull morning F38° at 9 ½ and breakfast in an hour - out at 10 ½ having been ¾ hour looking over Journal - with Mark Hepworth with carts and men + 2 fillers (Robert Mann’s men) as yesterday - then with Robert Mann + 4 at the hollow till Mr. Freeman came to me bringing his nephew from Kent with him - came to look at the new road as I had told him at the rent day I should like him to see the road and give me his advice - took him along the road to the Lodge - he was against lagging and advised cutting up the thorns and branches and laying them (on new cart stuff) as a foundation for the rubble - mentioned the Landymere stone - thought perhaps it was fast in water - the stone of Mrs. Lancashire and Brooke sold - did not know at what price - but some stone near sold at 3/6 per yard - wages and rents must alter or stone could not be sold at the present prices - the best customers in the country - In London the stone most sold at any price - for it cannot lie in the vessels and some are obliged to pay 6d. per ton per day for ground for the stone to lie upon and stone has been hawked about in carts in London streets and in the country 10 miles from London - took Mr. F- to the rock-work - explained - he said it would be rather inconvenient to let me have men and tackling, but he would do it for me - I said then I was equally obliged as if he let me have the men, but that I could manage another way on this he said oh! no! he could manage for me - and it was agreed (he said he would do it for me as cheap as anyone) that he should come next Monday week he finding men and tackling for getting and loadening the stone at the quarry and Nelson to let me have Hinton and men to manage at the rock-man - Mr. F- to speak to and arrange with N- told F- I had had an application for the stone in Joseph Hall’s land, and asked him (F-) to value it for me - had F- and his nephew in the north parlour till near 2 - before going away F- said he had a favour to beg of me to change the stone-road in yew trees wood or have more time - to get the stone the stone in - in fact, this was the real reason of his coming however little he might think I should find this out - said I had often congratulated myself on having Mr. F- to deal with instead of anybody else - that I grieved over the spoiling of the wood and would rather change the road than give more time but that I would do the best I could but could never give more time -A - had Parkinson in the hall - brought him into the North parlour - he wished to have a new public house built in the tan-house garden - 4 rooms on a floor - 5 yards x 5 yards and 1ft. and the back rooms would do 5 yards x 4 yards with 4 good chambers and brewhouse and stable - less would not do - could not afford to pay more than £30 per annum pays £20 a year at present - the building he has would make 5 cottages - thought a new Inn would be built for £300 then when I said no! said well for £400 but could not pay than £30 per annum - A- to consider of it, and give him an answer in a few days - he said he should not stay where he was - then A- had luncheon downstairs - sat with her there and then upstairs till she went to Cliff hill and I to the workmen (Robert + 4, and Frank and my own cart) plant at the meer-head - keep Wood and Samuel Booth planting till 6 when rain came on and from 4 to then sent Robert + 2 to the stubbing at the hollow open drain - came in at 6 ¼ - wrote about a French or German lady’s maid ‘speaking English not essentially necessary’ and sent my letter this evening to ‘Madame Lecomte 11 Bryanston street Portland Square London post paid’ - dinner at 6 ¾ - coffee - A-‘s French as usual - we dined on Pork - too rich for us - it disagreed with both of us so bilious we could not see a letter of A-‘s French book - A- 10 minutes and A- ½ hour with my aunt poorly tonight - came upstairs at 8 55 - tea - rather better for it - but very bilious - wrote all the above of today till 10 10 at which hour F40° fine day but dull till rain at 6 and afterwards for some time - Mr. F- told me the union cross would be sold on young Mr. Thompson’s (of chapel of Briers) coming of age in a year from this time - Messrs. Rainer and Beaumont, brother-in-law to Mr. Jonathan Akroyd, bidding against one another for it - they had already got it up beyond Mr. Mitchell’s valuation - asked F- to get to know for me what it was valued at - F- said the buildings were very bad repair - all the roof would want taking off and the timbers renewing - I said all that would not be done for nothing - F- said it was an excellent situation of which I agreed but made no further remark thinking to myself I see whence the opposition to Northgate will come - F- had said Carr was the fittest man for it - I merely said I thought he had neither capital nor character but, in fact, he had never named Northgate to me - But thought I, I must mind what I am about there will be opposition anyway with Carr or without him  - I had best have a man who would be more difficult to oppose than Carr - A- would not take luncheon till I got her persuaded at last told me she had been unhappy the last two or three weeks had not pleasure in anything never felt as if doing right would not take wine was getting too fond of it afraid she should drink was getting as she was before afraid people would find it out and began to look disconsolate oh oh thought I I see how it is cheered her up said we would get off in May would go to Paris first this made me stay with her so inconveniently long  on leaving her thanked god as I walked along for all blessings to myself and fervently begged his help and felt comforted and my spirits good and my head clear

[sic-fayl]

Guild Member Next Door (kinda) translation - Part 6+7

Click here for the previous part - or click here for Part 1!

(They're both short, so you get them at once lmao.) Disclaimer, as always: This is based on an MTL translation, I do not know Korean myself, I am trying more to stick with the impressions/vibes of a sentence instead of a strict word-for-word meaning - and most importantly, this is only for fun. So I hope you have fun reading!

“Ugh….”

Yeo-woon woke up to the sound of an incoming text, so he blearily reached for his phone. Once he saw what it said, he shot up, eyes wide open and any thought of sleep wiped from his brain.

[Mobile notification client]

Hello, Yeo-woon Lee,

This is the ATB Recruiting Service.

Congratulations on passing the document stage.

The interview schedule has been e-mailed to you.

“...‘In it, you will find the time and date of your interview, so please check it to make sure everything is in order.’”

He had submitted his documents to this job posting just a week ago, but the message assured him they had been accepted.

“What!”

Suddenly, he felt more awake than ever. He would’ve never thought this job could work out. He’d sent that application just in case, but now they wanted to interview him and somehow, he felt more scared than excited about it…

There’s countless ways for a person to fail an interview, so did it even matter that he passed the document stage? But getting better at interviews required practice, so it would be good to go, no matter the outcome. He’d only had one interview so far in his life and that had been for a part-time job at some PC cafe.

His heart felt like it was trying to beat out of his chest.

‘What should I wear to the interview? A formal suit would be best, but do I even have one at my place?’

Yeo-woon scrambled for the closet doors, to see whether he would have to make the long trip to his parents’ house.

“…Ah, thank goodness.”

Fortunately, the clothes in question were clear to see the moment he opened the closet, tidily hung up after their last trip to the dry cleaners, even encased in a protective plastic bag that was keeping them in perfect condition.

.***.

The interview’s location wasn’t that far away, but it still took three commutes via subway. All in all, 45 minutes. Even though he had to switch trains at a very popular station, he still got lucky, since it was the late afternoon and so there were few people on the subway.

‘Ahh, what if this actually works out?’

His head hurt just thinking about the daily subway commute in the morning…

‘What if I get accepted in another location altogether? I do need to re-sign my apartment’s lease soon, since it’s about to end. Should I just move somewhere else, instead of extending the lease?’

Yeo-woon stared down at his phone screen, while he daydreamed like this in his head. He responded with some emojis to a chat message from a friend, looked at some news articles and finally went on Illusion’s official website. There was a new announcement, posted just 30 minutes ago and detailing the next update, both with patch notes and information about the upcoming events.

Title: April 9th Update Notice

Author: GM Lemon

Hello, adventurers! GM Lemon here.

This is the advance information on the update we have scheduled for April 9th. There will be new events for our adventurers and even some new episodes for specific character jobs to look forward to!

[Events]

*An Experience Boost Buff will be active for 1 hour, once you log into the game after the update.

*The ‘Spring is everywhere with you! [Springfield]’ Couple Event will be added for a limited time.

*‘March’s White Day Royal Draw (Cash)’ will be removed from the Fashion Shop. (Buffs and items received from the draw will not be affected by this.)

*The story and job advancement quests for the 4th job (Valkyrie) of the Explorer class will be added.

*Outfits for the theme ‘May Bride/Groom’ will be added to the Fashion Shop.

[Bug fixes]

*Fixed the visual error of the Hero job’s ‘Shadow Dot’ bouncing around.

*Adjusted the range on the Valkyrie job’s ‘Pull’ skill.

*Fixed an issue where in Aquarium maps 1-4 the environment’s Movement Debuff applied to a character could be removed by riding the new mount ‘Black Tiger’.

*Fixed an issue where the Auction House’s Sales tab would stutter under specific circumstances.

All servers will go into maintenance, to apply updates and for the purpose of server-stabilisation, from 10 AM to 12 PM on April 9th. Please remember to log out before maintenance starts, to avoid any potential loss to your invaluable account information and progress!

Good luck and travel far, adventurers!

(Comments have been disabled for this post)

Yeo-woon skimmed over the notes, realizing there were some new events about to be added and bugs they were about to correct.

‘No clue what those bugs are, but they should’ve been fixed ages ago! The event is brand new, so it’s gotta be great. It’ll be really fun! I can’t wait to play it.’

Those were Yeo-woon’s vague thoughts, before he closed back out of that webpage. There had been an event preview attached to the post, but he wanted to wait until he could play it all himself. It would feel more immersive that way.

“Did I get here too early?”

He had overestimated his chances of getting lost along the way, so now he was at the location way too early. He still had to wait one and a half hours until his interview would start, but he had no clue where to go until then.

So he tried to find a nice cafe to relax in for a while, but the first one he entered had no tables left for him. Following the map app on his phone to the next closest cafe, Yeo-woon crossed a street and ended up in a more residential area.

‘Is there really a cafe around here?’

The buildings all looked expensive and fancy, so he wouldn’t have expected a normal cafe to be around here. He checked and re-checked his map, just to make sure he wasn’t in the wrong place, because the atmosphere here was very different to the crowded industrial district on the other side of the street.

‘Is this restaurant hidden within a building? There’s so few pictures and they only show the inside… So maybe it really is hidden.’

“…”

‘I think I’m lost. My map isn’t updating anymore either… It has to be close by, but there’s no place around here that looks like a cafe…’

“Ah, my internet…”

Yeo-woon repeatedly tapped on the compass function on his map, hoping to update where exactly he was, but it seemed the map app had given up on him entirely now. He tried turning his mobile data off and back on again, but there was no change and a quick check told him there was no local Wi-Fi he could connect to either… That’s when he noticed a man squatting on the asphalt, some paces ahead of him.

‘Okay, let’s just ask for directions.’

He was probably someone that lived around these parts and would know where to find the cafe. Yeo-woon carefully approached the man, ready to crouch down so they could talk eye-to-eye, when he suddenly heard a camera’s shutter.

“...?”

Click, click, click, click, click, click!

Yeo-woon’s steps slowed as he heard the noise again and again, like the man was taking a neverending string of photos. Once he got even closer, Yeo-woon saw the man was holding a cell phone the size of his own palm, and the subject he was photographing so zealously was a kitten, small enough that it was the same height as the phone dangling in front of it. The tiny black thing was enthusiastically eating something, its whole head nearly disappearing in a bowl that was probably more used to housing side dishes than cat food. When the cat heard the shutter go off, it raised its head and looked right at the man, who covered his mouth and muttered something under his breath.

‘Looks like he’s busy feeding that cat. Is it okay for me to interrupt? Or should I try to find a different person to ask?’

As he thought through his options, Yeo-woon looked up and down the street, but there was no other living creatures around, other than himself, that man and his kitten.

‘I can’t keep going like this…’

He still had a little more than an hour left and his legs were starting to hurt from searching for a cafe and he still needed to walk back to his interview afterwards. So, Yeo-woon quietly approached the man, who had his back turned to him, and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Ahhh! What is-?! Why?!”

“….”

The man got way more spooked than Yeo-woon had expected him to, flinching hard and even falling on his butt. A part of Yeo-woon wanted to apologize right away, but after hearing a scream that loud, he was rendered speechless. With a reaction like this, people would think he’d tried to burn the man alive, not tapped his shoulder to ask him a question.

“Who are you?!”

The man fiercely glared at him, his expression radiating more distrust than Yeo-woon would have thought possible to convey, with just a person’s face.

Outside of that and his obvious shock, the man carried an air of tiredness and defensiveness, wearing black piercings in both of his ears. Even with a quick glance, Yeo-woon could tell there must be more than three on each side. And his forehead, clearly visible thanks to the hat that was holding back his hair, wrinkled more and more heavily, the more time passed.

‘Ah, that’s… scary.’

Yeo-woon gulped heavily, his own flawed prejudice telling him this had been a very bad mistake.

‘I think I might be screwed. Ahh I really picked the worst person…’

“It’s nothing.”

Yeo-woon gave an awkward smile and took a step away from this person on pure instinct.

‘I haven’t felt this way since college, when that group of high schoolers on motorcycles were trying to rob me…’

As a highschooler, he’d been really scared of elementary school kids, and in college, he became really scared of middle schoolers, but by now it had progressed and he was just scared of every young person that might not have a future.

Of course, this man wasn’t really the same as those high school robbers, but the way he glared at Yeo-woon still made him want to run for the hills.

“No, maybe there is something… That was a really loud scream, are you okay?”

“…”

“Uh, sorry for the surprise, sir.”

‘It’s not like I… hit him or anything. …Did I? I… just tapped his shoulder, right?’

By this point, the cat had fled the alley, knocking over the bowl in its mad dash to get away. The man stared after it and sighed, then he got up from his squat dusting off his legs. Yeo-woon hadn’t noticed before, because they were both squatted down, but the man was taller than him, which made him seem even more intimidating.

‘I didn’t mean to cause this. And I just lightly tapped him with my finger, didn’t I? That’s not like hitting someone, is it…?’

“I just wanted to ask where I need to go.”

“Map?”

Yeo-woon nodded and held out his phone that was still showing the map app and the cafe he had tried to reach. The man stared down at the screen with sharp eyes and then his eyebrows subtly rose.

“You’re going there?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“What? To get a coffee…”

‘Why does someone normally go to a cafe? Do you go to cafes to enjoy a nice bath?’

It was the sort of question a person could only ask, if they didn’t think about what they were saying. The man’s lips twitched a little, but he pushed them right back into their previous frown and then just turned his whole head away.

“…It’s not in this alley. This way.”

He took the bowl with the cat food, which still held a good amount of food in spite of how it got knocked over, and placed it closer to the corner of the alley. Then he lead the way out of it, without even a backwards glance. Yeo-woon felt like the awkwardness of this whole situation might kill him. Were all the people in this neighbourhood this rude, or did he find the one person who refused to be social?

‘Please just say something.’

Yeo-woon grumbled in his mind. But the man didn’t even look his way, too busy staring at his own phone, before he muttered a low:

“This game…”

They walked straight ahead, then turned left two blocks further down. The brightly labeled ‘Cafe Earth’ came into view, right at the entrance of the street. When Yeo-woon turned back to thank the man for his help, he could only watch him speed off towards a different building, further away. He had nearly reached its door already, so he must’ve left Yeo-woon behind as soon as the cafe became visible.

‘Ah. Dude, you really have zero social skill.’

With that complaint out of the way, Yeo-woon finally got to enter the cafe. In the end, the coffee’s taste was fairly average and the same went for the atmosphere. There was a decent variety, but the most surprising part was that all the seats were full.

‘Wonder how they do this. Is it thanks to some secret sales technique?’

Over the next 30 minutes, Yeo-woon mindlessly doodled on some paper as he mentally reviewed the potential interview questions and what answers he should give. When he came back to reality, he stared in surprise at the paper. Without noticing it, he’d drawn a glaring, defensive-looking man onto it.

“…”

‘What… Why did I draw this?’

After looking the drawing over for a bit, Yeo-woon used his pen to poke the small dot under the drawing’s left eye. Then, he flipped the paper over.

(Next Part(s))

[aparticularbandit]

I'll use Bandit because it's more interesting (in my opinion), but like.

When I was in middle school, I was obsessed - literally obsessed - with my band director. Like. Anyone who knew me probably knew this thing about me. There was a whole thing in seventh grade about how she sent me to the counselor and I considered that the biggest anime betrayal of all time so I started wearing fingerless gloves until I thought she trusted me or whatever—

Middle school is a weird time, man.

Anyway.

I was absolutely going to be in marching band in high school, but our school split so that I wasn't going to be going to the high school my band director helped at. And, of course, people who helped out in band were band aids.

And my bestie, on our middle school graduation, told me I was Bandit. Because of marching band and everything.

Now, this was middle school, and I was super into Neopets at the time, and a lot of people from my church had Xanga, but you don't give out your real name on the internet, so I called myself Bandit, the Eleventh Awanakid, Queen of the Band-Aids.

A summer later, when I took an intensive Italian summer camp class and we had to introduce ourselves, I introduced myself as Bandita Dieci (we all had numbers, and I was ten, and I was absolutely not Bandito). The next summer when I went back, I put on my application form that I was Bandita.

When I went to that college for college, I introduced myself as Bandita. (One of my friends died later that year. He only ever called me Bandita.)

When I made the jump to Tumblr, Bandit came with me, only I didn't want something as definitively gendered as Bandita. I wanted to be Bandit.

So I'm Bandit.

...specifically Bandit Tennison because it retains the reference to Ten and Dieci.

normalize asking 'who gave it to you?' after complimenting someone's name

[steele-soulmate]

Princess of Candy Coated Lies, Modern Royalty AU- King Peter Steele & Single Mother OFC, Soulmate AU

Chapter 12

SUMMARY: Single mother Molly Anne Harper does the best she can do, given her circumstances- since she broke up with her ex-boyfriend by sending him to jail, she’s been struggling to be the best mother to twin daughters while working barely minimum waged jobs. But when she meets her soulmate- King Peter Thomas Ratajczyk of Brooklyn- she quickly finds herself falling heads over heels in love with the guarded, battle damaged ruler. Likewise, Peter finds himself with a family of a women and two little girls who call him daddy. But what happens when their father gets out from behind bars and starts to cause mayhem?

A Soulmate AU where you never know what the first words your soulmate says to you until they say it

CHAPTER WARNINGS: none applicable

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORESS: This fic is dedicated to SkullWoggle on AO3 and @rock-a-noodle on Tumblr.

WORD COUNT: 1158

I frowned as I looked at the printed packets that the king had made up for me- one for Saint Christopher’s Academy, one for Theodore Day School and one for Saint Claire’s Academy for Young Ladies. I glanced out the window that overlooked the backyard and smiled at the sight of Aria and Evie giggling as they gave chase to the falling leaves.

I looked at Theodore Day School’s dress code, listed on the fourth page. My nose wrinkled up at the ugly uniform that a boy and a girl were pictured modeling- a pair of pants and a pleated skirt- both in a dirty black- a yellow shirt with green buttons marching up the front, a yellow jacket and a green tie. Clunky brown shoes and itchy red socks completed the look.

“No, no and no…” I muttered, glancing over the rule rubrik on the next page that listed the rules.

No talking in the hallway in between classes allowed

No makeup allowed on students or faculty

All students must purchase school issued lunches- no exception

“NOPE.” I drew a messy red X over the front of the packet, half wondering why the king would even want to send the girls to such a prison.

I sighed, glancing up at the clock and taking in the time- 12:19- and I smiled at the idea of the four of us out on our first family date day in a short while. The king would take us to the local Home Depot, where we would pick out paint colors for the girls’ bedrooms and grab some cardboard packing boxes before going out for lunch. He had sent me a text a few minutes ago, telling me that we were having burgers and asked me what the three of us would have. I had told him simple cheeseburgers and fries all around. I had received a thumbs up emoji in response, and I had returned to reading up on the schools.

A little while later, I looked up with a smile as I felt the vibrations of the garage door opening below me, signaling the return of the Ratajczyk family patriarch. For the hundredth time, I wondered if he would let me transition from Miss Molly Anne Harper into Mrs. Molly Anne Ratajczyk.

I certainly hope so, I thought as I sensed him coming into the house. I tugged playfully at the line that tethered our hearts together, summoning him to me in his office, located at the back of the house.

“Sweetheart.”

I squeaked at the playfully dark rumble that sounded out from behind me, cowering in place as he crossed over to me, getting down onto his knee to capture my face into his strong hands.

“Why would you want to send the girls to a Nazi academy such as Theodore Day School?” I meeped nervously, shutting my eyes as I felt him smiling at me.

“Sweetheart, can you look at me, please?” I opened my eyes as his gentle ask, being met by his handsome face. “There we are now- hello beautiful soulmate of mine.”

“Hello your majesty,” I meeped out nervously, watching as he took the scribbled over packet from the trash and looked it over, the expression on his face ugly.

“Jesus fuck, I’m so sorry sweetheart,” he apologized meekly, his thumb rubbing a circle into my jawbone. “I was looking online last night at schools in the general neighborhood, and Theodore Day School was where my dad went. I guess this explains so much.”

“You know you could’ve always asked me what parameters I have for where the twins go for school, don’t you?” I didn’t mean to sound like I was scolding him. “You don’t have to do this alone, you know.”

“And you don’t have to do this alone,” he reminded me, chuckling as the girls turned around and stampeded back into the house, shouting and giggling the whole way. “Never again. You won’t ever need to be a single parent ever again.”

I was kept from responding as the I heard back door slamming open and the girls spilled inside, both of them flying through the house before finding us- me in his desk chair and the king on his knee before me.

“Daddy! You’re home!” Aria cheered happily before latching around him in a death grip, her younger twins following suit.

“Hello girls!” he chuckled, wrapping his arms around the both of them with an affectionate smile on his face. “Sweetheart, I called ahead to Tenny’s Burgers and placed an order- because I’m such a large man, I oftentimes eat a large amount of food, as I’m certain you know already.”

“Sounds good,” I chuckled. “When will you all be ready to go on out?”

“Can you three please give me twenty minutes to change from my monkey suit into something much more comfortable to go run errands in?” he asked, pressing kisses to our foreheads.

“I guess so…” Aria whined playfully, giggling at the expression on her father’s face. “I’m just kidding, daddy!”

“Tease,” he snarled, moving us off of him and stomping upstairs to get ready.

When he came back downstairs once more, he was wearing a long sleeved dark green t-shirt, black jeans and his “badass stomping boots” as affectionately dubbed by Aria.

“Alright, we ready now?” he asked, chuckling at Aria’s overexuberant cheers and Evie’s excited squeals. “Alright- I’ll get the car out of the garage and you three come downstairs and join me whenever, alright?”

TAGLISTS ARE OPEN/ ASK BOX IS OPEN/ REQUESTS ARE OPEN/ PLOT BUNNIES ARE WELCOMED

If you liked this, then please consider buying me a coffee HERE It only costs $3!!!

PETER STEELE TAGLIST

@rock-a-noodle

@elianafilthyrose

@ch3rry-c01a

@rockstarslutt

@angelxfuckk

[pupintransit]

Month 10 of The Wait™️ is upon us, but can i really call it "The Wait™️" when in two days I'm flying to Quebec? The wait is over. Pack it in boys, the mission's complete.

All told, from the day i told my GP about my goal it took about one full year to the date of surgery. It's ten months from the "official" start of the wait, which is the day that my surgical assessment was sent in to GRS Montréal. It costs a lot more to go to Montréal than stay in BC, but I have no regrets.

Everything that i need has been purchased days ago. Last thing i picked up were the absorbant pads for dilating on. I mentioned briefly in my shopping list post, but if you pick up XL puppy pads it's cheaper than getting the ones rated for humans. It's precisely the same product too, so honestly it just made the most sense.

Although speaking of costs, I've had the privilege of being able to put some money away. Not including the GoFundMe money (I've used that on my flights already) but including my existing savings, i have about $4,000 to play with. Not bad! I doubt i'll be able to keep that up once home in recovery since medical EI won't exactly let me live the life of luxury, but this way I won't need to take out a bank loan until after everything is said is done. Well ideally i won't need to take out a loan, but if it comes to that it's not gonna be so big of a financial hole.

On the topic of the medical EI, i have the requisite form from my doctor which i've sent to the government already. My employer is processing the document the government needs from them on my behalf.... on March 1st. It's later than i would have liked, but there's nothing i can do about it. Today after work i'll be submitting the EI application, which means it will FINALLY be something i can stop worrying about.

It's... i dunno, it's strange. I don't want to seem melodramatic but it's hard to write this particular post. Throughout this month and last month I've had more second thoughts than at any other point in my life. I think about it in two general modes; Logically and Emotionally.

Logically, the decision makes sense. When i think back to adolescence and my early 20s, i recall all the moments i wished to look different than i do now. All the times i wanted what the girls had as a kid, hoping i contracted testicular cancer as a teenager, my jealously of trans men as a young adult. None of these are cisgender thoughts. Cis men aren't distracted by the presence of their genitals when walking or going about their day, and they certainly don't lay awake a night wanting to be AFAB so they could transition and be a man with a vagina. There's scores of evidence suggesting that this isn't a kink or a passing phase. Logically, it makes sense that having a vagina is the correct choice based on everything i've experienced up until this point.

Emotionally, the decision makes me feel good. I'm scared, and frankly it would it be a bad sign if i wasn't, but i'm excited. I'm happy. The logical vein of thinking is retrospective, but the emotional vein is forward thinking. The first few weeks will suck and my crotch will be puffy and in pain, but that will pass. I have an abundant support network which will help me feel less alone during the parts that will really test my resolve. And even though it will not be pretty early on, it will still be mine. I'll see the shapes it'll have and have the mindfulness to know how it'll look fully healed, and when i get dressed in the morning there won't be a buldge. When i put on a gaff i like to look at myself in a mirror to see the bulde in my underwear vanish as i put on the garment, and watch as my front flattens out. The feeling when i watch that isn't arousal, it's relief. I'll still feel that relief even early in recovery when the hard part is still underway, and i can imagine how freeing it will feel after the first year and i'm fully healed. Emotionally, having a vagina and the sensations that come with it make feel happy.

So why the second thoughts? It's permanent, that's why. I can know i'm making an informed decision and remind myself i'm not imangining my dysphoria, but at the end of the day there's no going back. There's no trial period, no refunds, no nothing. It's inherently scary. I guess it makes going through with inherently courageous, but i don't feel courageous. I feel small, nervous, like i want to tuck my tail in and slink away before someone notices. But i'm staying true to what will be best for me. I have a choice, and my choice is that i want to do this.

I'm ready.

[sovereigntism]

He didn't often do much for Valentine's day, but this once Ash wanted to pay back a favor to a friend who had his back. He had to hunt King down, but when he found them he slid over a heart shaped box filled with mini sample bottles of different liquor to try. "I didn't know what else you like, King, but I wanted you to have something."

Vday 2k24 [accepting Valentine asks until March]

@whiskeysmulti

﹉﹉﹉

King hadn't left for Japan quite yet, the issue of finding a gemstone that wouldn't be pinned on the guys was a bit of a problem. But they'd get it sooner or later. For now they resigned themself to spending the holiday here in New York. Not that it was a bad thing to be around Ash. He was great company, even if when together- they did spend more time at the bar than King would prefer. Still, they hung around because it was comfort. The company, the noise- enough of it and they didn't have time to have their mind wander. King hadn't returned to the bar that day, so when Ash found them, surprise flitted across their expression. He spent the time to hunt them down? A smile bloomed and they pushed their over the ear headphones back so they fell around their neck, lyrics coming out of the tiny speakers. Distant enough to be indecipherable, but loud enough that one could tell King was blaring the volume all too high. They fumbled for a pause button, clicking it as the box was slid over to them.

"Mm?"

A noise of curiosity left them, and they opened the package. Alcohol. King laughed, a snort leaving them, and then they smiled up at him, hair shifting to reveal the smile- while soft- was genuine due to how their eyes were closed in joy.

"Thank ya, Ash. Why don' we try some togeth'r, I'm not th' biggest fan 'f drinkin' solo."

The offer was open ended, leaving him to accept for now, or for later, or even to reject it entirely. Looking in the box at all the samples King felt a sort of tickle inside. Warmth. It was nice, getting a gift. They should have gotten him something. Their fingers drifted from the box to their pocket, their wallet was there, and the card that only worked in this universe rested inside of it. King thought back to the application they had sent for a platonic spending of the day together. They did say they'd be his Valentine...

"Or- I can take ya out like I promised?"

[terrible-twst-oc-ideas]

Would You Believe I've Never Had a Lesson? VI. Finale - Entering the New World

Months passed. Seasons went by. Time, as it always did, marched forward from the moment Piper sent their arcane academy applications. In the midst of it, it might have seemed like forever. But now, on the day of their departure, it seemed to have come too soon.

“Ah, there you are, darling. Let me help you with those.” Mr. Duke was already waiting for Piper when they trudged out of the school’s front entrance, and began loading their bags into his car. “Do you wish to sit in the front or the back seat?”

“Um--” Piper pushed their glasses up, readjusting their thoughts. “The front. Please.”

Mr. Duke nodded, and opened the car door. After a few more minutes of packing, they were off.

“So. Magpie Academy…” Mr. Duke hummed, his eyes on the road and his ears turned toward Piper, “I’m not surprised you chose that one. Their strong academic program appealed to you, no doubt.”

“Yes, of course it did. But it wasn’t much of a choice either,” Piper squinted, not pleased by the summer sun in their eyes. They really should have sat in the back where it was shadier. “The only other school I applied to was Noble Bell, though I never heard back from them. It was admittedly disappointing. I’m already familiar with the campus, and it would have been nice to still be nearby.”

“Ah, do not fret, darling. You’re smart and sure enough to get by. I’m sure you’ll get settled in no time.” Mr. Duke’s eyes glistened with melancholy, before they darted over to Piper’s clothes. “That’s a lovely coat you’re wearing. Where did you get it?”

“From a shop in town. My parents sent me money for it as a birthday gift.” They glanced down at the coat, a bold, dark blue topcoat with piano-cuffed sleeves and spiraling green patterns. “I thought it made for a distinctive piece of performance wear.”

“You thought right,” Mr. Duke smiled, “It suits you.”  

Neither party had much more to say, so Piper let their attention wander towards the window. It had been ages since they’d last seen this road, these city streets. They’d been just a small child back then, with nothing more than a talent for piano and some bags that were far too heavy for them. It was a bus that transported them from the train station, wasn’t it? Yes, they remember how noisy all the other students were, how the little ones chatted with their parents and how the older ones chatted with their friends. They had no one to talk to but their thoughts.

Back then, everything about Madame Bonfamille’s had been strange and new to them. The hallways hadn’t etched themselves into their memory, all the faces hadn’t been set in stone. They had yet to become acclimated to the schedule, the people, the way everyone viewed them. Even their organ was a mysterious and beautiful stranger, one their younger self had been drawn to like a light in the dark, slipping out of their dormitory to visit and play her in the dead of night. Of every person and thing from their old school, she was the only one Piper had bothered to say goodbye to. She’d been theirs for nearly a decade, after all. They hoped someone else would come to cherish her as much as they did. 

“Well. We’re here.” The car came to a stop along the curb, not far from the train station. “I’ll help you with your bags again. Would you like for me to walk with you?”

“That’s quite alright, Mr. Duke,” Piper sighed, already getting out of the car, “I know you have other business to attend to. And besides, I can manage by myself.” 

Mr. Duke nodded, removing Piper’s few bags from the car.

“Well. I guess this is au revoir, then.” Their former teacher held out his hand, and Piper shook it. “Best of luck to you, darling. Take care.”

“You as well, Mr. Duke. Adieu.”

Their teacher’s smile became bittersweet, giving his former student one last look, before returning to his car and driving away. Piper watched him leave, first staring at the car, and then, once it had disappeared around a corner, at the point in the skyline they knew was Madame Bonfamille’s roof. 

It was hard not to feel melancholic about leaving such a place behind. Even if it was never fully home, its familiar comforts still called to them-- their old dorm room, Mr. Duke’s attentive-ear smiles, their first and most beloved organ. They hadn’t even left the city yet, and they were already mourning those small joys. 

But, they knew they couldn’t stare forever. Madame Bonfamille’s had been a new world once, and through time, they’d turned it into a familiar one. They simply needed to do it again. 

Piper fixed their eyes on the station, gathered their bags, and began to walk forward.

[megankilmerrealestate]

Selling Your House with Not-So-Friendly Neighbors

Neighbor Troubles and Wild Real Estate Stories

Selling your house should be an exciting and rewarding experience, but sometimes, there's one obstacle standing in your way – your not-so-friendly neighbors! Fear not, my fellow home sellers, for I've had my share of wild experiences as a housing professional, and I'm here to share some epic tales and useful tips to conquer those pesky neighbor challenges!

Apology on Ocean Views: The Building Crunch

Picture this – a breathtaking multi-million dollar property with stunning ocean views in Aptos, Ca. It was a new construction, and we were all racing against the clock to get it prepped and ready for the market. Admittedly, we weren't the most courteous neighbors, working around the clock like busy bees. But hey, we had a tight schedule to meet! So, what did we do? We threw a colossal open house bash, filled with scrumptious treats, and issued a heartfelt apology to the entire neighborhood for our crazy working hours. We thought we had won them over, but oh boy, were we in for a surprise! One neighbor across the street never forgave us! Every showing, she'd swoop in with tales of things "not to code." Talk about a thorn in our side!

Reconciliation and Lessons Learned

But you know what? I don't back down that easily. Oh no, I rolled up my sleeves, marched right up to Negative Nancy – no, that's not her real name, but she sure acted like one! Anyway, I personally apologized and asked how I could make things right. Surprise, surprise, she wanted a good ol' fashioned face-to-face apology. Lesson learned – communication is key! Next time, I'll involve the neighbors from the get-go, making sure they're on board with our plans and progress. Smooth sailing ahead!

A Tricky Park Manager 

Now, let me regale you with a tale of a tricky park manager I had to deal with. We had a mobile home property sale, and this manager was one tough cookie. When I sent her the park application through with eSignatures, she declared she doesn't do computer stuff. I had already seen that she opened the document and was asking her to sign and approve my clients. Alrighty then! I printed and drove her over a physical copy, but two weeks went by with no response. Time was ticking, and people's lives were on the line – the sellers and buyers had their whole lives planned around this! So, I pulled out my secret agent moves, gathered all the evidence, and wrote a fact-based document showing how her silence was a violation of Fair Housing Laws. That got her attention, and the green light was given! Victory!

A Neighbor of A Kind 

Oh, but the adventures don't end there! We had a nosy neighbor who seemed harmless at first – just being friendly and curious during showings. But, one day, as I was locking up, I spotted them INSIDE the garage. Major red alert! Turns out, they were living there, sneaking around like a ninja, hiding their stuff in the backyard bushes! Can you believe it? I called for backup, meaning my lender or broker tagged along for extra security. Turns out, they just needed help, so we offered resources instead of calling the cops. After all, in California, there are many people priced out of housing, and sometimes, they just need someone to lend a helping hand instead of judgment.

Turning Neighbor Troubles into Neighbor Triumphs

Folks, when it comes to dealing with not-so-friendly neighbors while selling your house, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. But with some creativity, a pinch of courage, and a willingness to communicate, you can conquer those neighbor beasts and turn those troubles into triumphs! Remember, it's never a bad idea to consult legal experts when needed or call the police if your safety is at risk. Each situation is unique, but with a positive attitude and a dash of resilience, you can navigate these wild real estate adventures and emerge victorious! So, go forth and sell that house with confidence and a smile! Happy home selling!