#is it just me or does anxiety actually look pretty decent

[hotbellepepaz]

so I uh, found a thing; it might be the weirdest thing I’ve seen today

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Okay uh how do you prepare for an interview that's not like, your basic interview. This isn't a Walmart or McDonald's interview, with the same basic questions online that anyone can access. This is an important interview and I don't know how to prepare because there aren't example questions online. I had an interview for this organization last year, different branch tho, but my memory is a disaster so I can't really remember anything. Plus, that interviewer and this interviewer have very different energies. AND I have a different interview for that same organization, just a different branch, coming up too.

I made that confusing.

I'm applying for an organization with branches all over. Last year I interviewed for the California branch, but I can't remember much of it. On Monday I have an interview for a Pennsylvania branch, and on Wednesday an interview for... I can't remember where it is tbh.

The Pennsylvania one is the one that I really really want, so it scares me that it's the first one up. Do you know how long it's been since I've interviewed for a job? It's been *tries and fails to count months* idk like a year? And that was for Starbucks. Customer service jobs all recycle the same questions. "Tell me about a time you delegated. Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult situation. If a customer was dissatisfied with their order, what would you do to fix it?" And at this point in time, customer service jobs are barely asking any questions. At one of my last jobs he just asked about my previous work experience, why I wanted to work there, how long I was looking to work there, he gave me a tour, asked if I wanted to work there, I said yes, I was hired on the spot.

I had an interview at one Starbucks and she told me they weren't really hiring (idk why she gave me an interview but it was still nice), but we talked about my ambitions and hobbies, which was lit, I found out the interviewer is gay, and I got a free drink. Then she recommended me to a different Starbucks in the area, which actually asked me those normal basic questions, I got a free drink, and I was hired on the spot. Those were my latest interview experiences.

I'm a little hopeful for my interview on Monday though. In the email, the interviewer said "I'd like to find a time to have a conversation with you as an "interview"" and since he phrased it like that I'm hoping that it'll be more like my first Starbucks interview, which is easy.

Idk I think I really want that job. It's a huge opportunity but also a huge commitment. It'd be a year, across the country from where I currently live. It sounds like an amazing opportunity for me. Last year when I applied I asked an old teacher to be a reference, and she said that it seemed like the opportunity and I were made for each other. Plus, this location is just an hour away from my sibling.

This post became a lot longer than I thought I would. Interview on Monday. Different interview on Wednesday. I don't know how to prepare for either. I really want the job. I am full of so much anxiety.

[stardewstardropthoughts]

Your first time with the bachelors, MDNI pls

Content warning: sex, I try to keep it all gender neutral so everyone can enjoy! Shane’s and Harvey’s are a bit more female leaning on accident 😅

Alex

He’s got experience so even if you don’t he can help you out

Will take it slow for you for your first time together

Always has condoms on hand, we practice safe sex in this house

Pulls you onto his lap for a heavy make out session first, hands roaming over your body while he encourages you to do the same

Always asks before removing any article of clothing from you, consent is sexy

Once your both naked he’ll lay you back on the bed, he’ll do all the work he just wants you to enjoy the ride

Makes sure you cum on his hands and mouth first so your well prepped since he’s a bit big

Lubes himself up after rolling on the condom and starts inching himself inside you, he’ll watch your face the whole time to make sure your not in to much discomfort

Once he’s fully inside you he’ll give you time to adjust if you need it, likes to give you lots of little praises

“Fuck baby, that’s it, your taking me so well” “look at you all stuffed full of my cock like such a good girl/boy/pet”

Once you let him know he’s good to move he does try to take it slow at first, but after a few moments he’ll pick his pace up to a nice quick thrusting

Definitely plays with your nipples or clit while he fucks you, wants to make sure your feeling as good as he is

When he gets close to cumming his thrusts get sloppy and a bit out of rhythm

Leans close to your ear and whispers absolute filth

“Take it, fucking take it” “look at you all drunk on my cock, that’s okay baby I’ll take care of you”

Burrows himself to the hilt with a harsh grip on your hips when he cums

Sam

Like I said, not the most experienced but he makes up for it by being eager to learn

Chances are your gonna have to take the ropes at least for the first time

Definitely a whiny subby mess

Loves when you leave hickeys on his chest while his hands grab at anything they can reach

When you slide the condom on his cock and sit on it he’s almost in tears at how good it feels to be inside you, isn’t afraid to let you know

“F-fuck sweetheart, feels so fucking good” “don’t stop please don’t stop”

He will not last long, how could he? Your warm wet walls clamping around him feel like heaven

When he cums he tosses his head back and let’s out the breathiest whine as he grips the sheets until his knuckles are white

If you haven’t cum yet he will use his mouth to make sure you do, he isn’t a selfish lover by any means

Harvey

He’s got a decent amount of experience under his belt

And so much lube and condoms since he’s the town doctor

He likes to take his time working you up, a gentle body massage with some body safe lavender oil

Scented candles in a dim room

Likes to have you pretty much begging for him to touch you before he actually gets to working his fingers inside you

Once he’s pumping his fingers in and out at a slow steady rhythm, the other hands busy gently pinching your nipples

Wants you to cum on his hands first before he slides into you

Once he has his cock inside you he likes to keep the pace slow and steady, hands still roaming your body he snakes one hand between you both to rub encouraging circles on your clit

Whispers soft praise in your ear the whole time

“Your doing so good for me love” “fuck you look amazing under me” “taking me so well, cum for me again I know you can”

Will make you cum a second time before he even thinks about finishing himself

Moans softly in your ear when he cums

After sex cuddles with him are top notch please tell him he did a good job he has anxiety

Shane

Listen, he’s got frustrations and if you’ll let him he’s gonna rough you up in bed

He likes it rough and dirty and he isn’t afraid to be mean in bed (with your consent and discussion before hand of course)

Your safe word is pepper

He’ll work you up with his hands first and mouth first, leaving hickeys and bite marks on whatever exposed skin he can reach while he’s got three fingers pumping in and out of your tight hole at a rough speed

Once your prepped enough he’s manhandling you onto your hands and knees, face shoved in a pillow while he shoves his cock into you

One of his hands has a bruising grip on your hips while the other hand is tucked under you holding a vibrating wand on the highest setting against your clit

He’s pounding into you so hard the beds shaking, you would be worried about breaking it if you could think straight at the moment

Spews absolute filth, he does not shut up

“Fucking take it like a good little slut” “all your good for is taking cock isn’t it? Fucking repeat it” “ah ah don’t try and wiggle away, stay put”

Will absolutely overstimulate you to the point of tears, wants you to sob on his cock

If you want him to he will gently hold your throat but actually choking you beyond a gentle squeeze is something he won’t do

Will spank you

When he cums his grip on your hips tightens as he hissed out a moan

Big on aftercare, will massage any particularly sore spots, run you a hot bath, get you water and a snack, tell you what a good job you did for him and how proud he is of you

He wants you to know he loves you and that it’s just part of a scene when he says your just a little whore and not what he actually thinks of you

Sebastian

Fully flustered mess

Does not know what he’s doing but more then willing to learn

Your probably gonna have to take the lead here as well

Get him all worked up and ready to see him on the verge of tears and begging for you to sit on his cock already

He’s a switch but definitely subby the first time

When you finally seat yourself on his cock he lets out a very shaky moan, dude knows he isn’t going to last long at all but he can’t find it in him to care

He probably lasts like three minutes at most but he’s literally never been inside someone cut him some slack

You do infant cut him slack because it’s the hottest site you’ve ever seen to have this lanky emo man almost crying in overstimulation underneath you

He will use his hands and mouth to make you cum just give him a few moments to recover please

Elliot

A romantic man

Pulls out literally all the stops

Body safe scented rose oil, candles, dim lights, rose petals on the floor and bed

He’s got a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice on the bedside table

Soft music playing on the radio

He starts by undressing you slowly, leaving a trail of light kisses on each new exposed patch of skin

Leads you to the bed where he lays you down and starts gently massaging you, working his way to your dripping hole where he gently stretches you out with his fingers until your cumming on them

When he finally enters you it’s all slow and sweet, he’s holding your hands, fingers intertwined with yours

Forehead kisses while he whispers in your ear

“Your doing so well for me” “I love you so much” “god you feel amazing around me my love”

Not afraid to moan in your ear, breathy little groans as well

Relishes in all the little sounds you make for him

When he cums he definitely pulls you into a passionate kiss while shoving himself to the hilt inside you

Stays inside you for a little while after while his cock softens so he can feel close to you

Loves after sex snuggles

[skyahri]

So..? |Kakashi Hatake X Civilian! Reader| HC

Summary: Kakashi finally musters up the courage to ask you out.

Warnings: Nothing, really. Pretty tame. Civilian reader.

- - - - -

You worked in the hospital. It was nothing spectacular; the shifts are long, it can get a bit over crowded, and sometimes you don't even have time for a meal, but it's honest work.

You were decent with medical ninjutsu. You could heal cuts and bruises, but anything more was outside your skill set.

You have your fair share of regulars, Kakashi being one of them.

Sometimes, he's in and out - just there for a few stitches or a mandatory check-up after a long mission. Sometimes it's longer, like after his battle with Itachi or the Kazekage's retrieval.

You scold him every time for being reckless.

"Kakashi, you know what happens when you overuse your sharingan. Can't you at least try to be a bit more careful?"

He always dismisses you, promising that everything he does it put of 100% necessity.

You roll your eyes and fix him up regardless.

Its a lucky thing that you always end up taking care of him, or at least you think it is.

He's actually using his social pull to end up wherever you are. Kakashi Hatake, the copy cat ninja, is very well known and has earned more favors than he could ever cash in.

He remembers the first time he met you - it was several years ago, in this very hospital. He'd been injured during one of his Anbu missions and needed some critical care.

The hospital was swamped that day, and you were new. He could tell by how anxious you were. It was lucky that you had ended up with him, someone who wasn't picky about his treatment and wasn't bothered by nerves.

There was something about you, though he wasn't sure what. Yes, you're pretty, but he's seen lots of pretty girls. Maybe it was the confidence you emitted despite the cluster of the environment. Maybe it was the gentle way you touched him as yo wrapped his arm or the feeling of your chakra on his skin.

Either way, it stuck with him, and all the feelings he felt have only intensified over time.

Which is where we are now.

Eventually, he sees you outside of the hospital. A rare sight, really. He's perfectly healthy, between missions, and not being dragged around by his students for once.

Your last shift of the week just ended. You're carrying home your weekly grocery haul when he spots you and basically demands to carry some most of your bags.

He tries to chat you up, along about work, hobbies... potential partners?

"So what have you been doing outside of work, hm? Interesting... I see. And you do all of this by yourself, or..?"

You laugh, knowing he's fishing for specific information. He already knows you pretty well after seeing him so often at work. Maybe he forgot that fact in his stupor.

However, slick Kakashi thinks he's been all this time, knock it down by 60%.

You may not be a shinobi like him, but you're very well aware of people.

"No, Kakashi, I don't have a boyfriend."

He plays it off. Shoving his hands in his pockets and pretends not to be borderline giddy at this newfound information.

Once you reach your apartment, you have no problem allowing him entry so he can set your groceries down on your counter.

He looks around while you put things away. Everything embodied you perfectly. The plants, the color scheme, the decor. It was perfect.

Once you're finished, he becomes nervous again.

"So..."

"So?" You ask expectantly.

"Would you wanna meet up with me sometime? As a thank you for all you've done for me over the years, of course."

"Of course," you mock him lightly, crinkling your nose.

"I'd love to."

He let's out an animated breath.

"I'll pick you up tonight at 6? We can head to..."

The plans are set. Now, it's just a matter of patience before this long-awaited date.

Although you've been looking forward to this day for so many years, the anxiety is still there, and you're wondering how it'll go and if he likes you.

Little did you know he's having the same thoughts.

What if you didn't like him? What if he just damaged your friendship (could it even be called that considering how confined they had been to the hospital?) and now he's lost someone else because he's stupid?

Only time will tell, so may as well just shove down the nerves and prepare for what could be the beginning of something great.

[mothmanssweetsucculentass]

What are your head cannons for characters in different factions within Zenless being friends? (Example: Lucy and Corin being friends because they have the shared experience of not great parents based on what the game reveals).

Ooooooh I hadn’t thought about this til now—

I’m gonna try and include as many characters as possible in this!!

So first off, everyone in the Cunning Hares gets along with everyone in The Sons of Calydon. Considering Billy used to be a former member of the gang, I’d say the two work pretty closely/know each other fairly well. For specifics, I think Anby and Caesar have the same mindset when it comes to combat, and Nekomata and Burnice bond over being chaos gremlins. Nekomata would also love Piper, nap taking gang go Brrrr. I think the only ones who wouldn’t like each other would be Nicole and Lucy, and they tend to just hate each other in secret/behind everyone else’s back’s cause they care about their own groups too much.

Similarly, I think Belobog also has similar ties to Victoria Housekeeping. Lycaon and Corin both like Ben, but for different reasons. Lycaon likes Ben due to thiren solidarity, and Lycaon also thinks he’s a pretty decent guy who’s chill and all that. If Belobog ever needs a commission from Victoria, or vice versa, the transactions are made between those two.

Corin likes him cause of how gentle and understanding he is. She sees a lot of her new father figure Lycaon in him.

As much as it pains me to say it, I don’t really think anyone in Victoria Housekeeping would like the company of the more criminally aligned factions (so far being the Cunning Hares and Sons of Calydon). Sure, Victoria Housekeeping may not have the greatest moral compass, but they do have a reputation to uphold.

The only one I think does make sense is Corin and Nekomata considering their actions in canon. Maaaaaybeee if you squint, I can see Anby and Ellen getting along, too

Seth being the himbo that he is would definitely befriend Rina on accident. Like, she would just be doing the mind manipulation stuff and being super condescending and shit, and he’d be none the wiser and think her insults to be genuine compliments.

And obviously because of that, I think Rina and Jane would also be besties. Gaslight gatekeep girlboss solidarity.

Lycaon and Qingyi I think would also get along at least somewhat well, considering both are very peepaw coded characters. Lycaon also deems it good to have at least one cop friend for emergencies.

Soldier 11 often works with NEPS, but hasn’t been able to form a close bond with anyone outside of Phaethon due to how insanely busy she always is. She’d definitely like Qingyi the most if given the time to actually hang out with the NEPS faction.

Seth, if ever given the chance, would also probably like Anton’s company. The two have similar moral compasses and even more similar himbo mindsets.

Anton would also love Billy for the same reasons. He has to keep their friendship somewhat hidden though, lest Grace finds out Billy exists and tries to cut him open to see how he works.

Piper seems to be the mechanic of the Sons of Calydon group, so I think she’d get along with at least Koleda and Anton from Belobog. Solidarity in working with big machinery and all that y’know?

Soukaku would definitely be friends with Burnice, no explanation needed. Chaos gremlin x chaos gremlin.

Harumasa and Seth probably have a history together the same way Zhu Yuan and Miyabi do.

Until they reveal more about her, I don’t really know what to say about Yanagi, but I think she’d probably get along with people like Lycaon and Qingyi

I ran into Lighter once in Lumina square and he had dialogue about being kinda shy so y’know what, fuck it, anxious mf solidarity between him and Corin. Let the tall scary looking biker guy have social anxiety and let it be the most normal thing ever please Hoyo I beg do not make him like fucking Mika from genshin

I really hope they officially reveal the idol/livestreamer faction, as well as the vampire guy in Lycaon’s story quest soon, cause I’d love to see how their personalities are, and how they’d fit in with the rest of the cast

[goldielia]

when quinn met stas

a part of: temporary fix au

quinn is struggling with his key. the new key to his new apartment in a new city where he’ll play for a new team. he tries not to project that onto what’s before him, hopes his struggle isn’t figurative for his future in vancouver. he insisted on traveling from michigan to vancouver alone, wanting to take the first step to independence by himself.

he kind of regrets that now, thinks he’s only 19 and his parents would probably know what to do if they were here. the sound of the elevator opening behind him startles him slightly and before he’s fully turned around there’s a dog swishing around his legs, tangling its leash up around him. he’s just bent down to scratch the dark brown dogs ears, run his hands over its soft fur, when a girl steps out the sliding door. “oh, sorry, i didn’t think anyone would be up here so late or i wouldn’t have let her run freely. amy, come here” she apologizes and calls her dog back. amy sits by her feet quickly and tilts her head slightly, looking up at quinn.

“no worries, i just arrived actually”, he points to the boxes next to him in front of the door. “i’m anastasia, i live over here” the girl introduces herself pointing to the door opposite of his “feel free to call me stas, though” he shakes her hand, telling her “i’m quinn”. the pretty brunette seems to be around his age, she’s wearing simple black leggings and a slightly oversized (very comfy looking) dark red hoodie, feet clad in black converse. her hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail, the ends of it curling slightly.

“well, if you need anything don’t hesitate to knock or leave a note.” her brown eyes travel down to the key in his hand, lips pulling up into an amused smile. “you need to kinda pull it out a bit when you’ve turned it, it’s really weird” she points to his door. “there’ll be like a click” she demonstrates it for him with her own key and door and lets amy inside quickly before she turns towards him once more. “seriously, though. i moved in in august last year so i probably know how the inside of your apartment looks right now. feel free to come over, really.”

quinn feels his anxiety from earlier disappear slightly when he tries to open his door again and it actually does unlock, even more so when she offers to help him out. one friendly face in a new city feels like an accomplishment, especially the fact that she’s a neighbour he shares a hallway with.

“thank you.” he smiles at her, hopes it looks as grateful as he feels right now. “you’re welcome” she grins back, all teeth and crinkled eyes before she actually enters her apartment with one last look over her shoulder.

he’s gotten through unpacking a decent amount of boxes when there’s a knock on his door. he’s confused, should he be expecting somebody? (he doesn’t think so but that’s never stopped anyone before) when he opens the door he almost stumbles across a blue tupperware box with a hot pink sticky note on it. the black writing’s neat, pretty even. he can’t stop his lips from curling into a smile when he reads the words on it.

made too much and thought you might be hungry :)

welcome to van! -stas

[clownhousemargarita]

Could you do one with Cherri please and I'd like it to be nsfw?

"Pop my Cherri." -- Cherribomb.

------- Summary: You hook up with Cherri, giving her an actual enjoyable experience. Pairing: Cherribomb x MALE! Reader Warnings: NSFW. Enjoy. --------

Unlike your two close friends, you heavily disliked clubs. They were loud, crowded, and filled you with anxiety. Your friends, Angel and Cherri loved to go clubbing. They always brought you along because they wanted you to feel the excitement they felt, dancing with a bunch of strangers. You were a decent opposite from them both, especially Cherri. Every time she’d get approached, she’d handle it well -- either taking them into another room for the night or yelling at them for thinking they could even have a chance with her. Which you honestly respected, she wasn’t a push over. Angel on the other hand, fucked whoever, it was unfortunately in his nature. It was all he knew, and you knew that. You never judged him, especially knowing his situation. You’d see that Angel had made his place with multiple men around him at a table, giggling at all of the attention. You scanned the area, looking for where Cherri had gone. You turn around, greeted with a large cyclops eye. You spit out your water, falling back in your chair with a ‘thump!’. “The fuck, Cher!” You exclaim, rubbing your head. “Your eye still freaks me the fuck out sometimes.” You whine, standing up and sitting back in your chair. Cherri giggled, wiping the water you spat off her face with a towel that was beside her. “That was low, boy.” She says, taking your water away and taking a sip. She spit it out right after, “Gross! I thought this was something good!” She groaned, giving you back the cup. You roll your eyes, “You look like you don’t drink water.” She whipped her head to you with a confused look on her face, yet still her toothy grin. “The fuck does that mean?!” She laughs.

“I can’t explain it, and I won’t.” You shrug, returning a smile. “Mother fucker.” She flicks your forehead, then puts both her hands on her cheeks. She sat there, making eye contact with you. You felt your face heat up, you weren’t good with eye contact. Especially not with a pretty girl. “Can I help you?” You mumble, looking away from her. She inhales before speaking. “Ya know, I haven’t found anyone interested to pipe down tonight.” Cherri shrugs, as if she’s trying to hint at something. “Oh is that so?” You reply, raising a brow. “Yeah, have you seen the meat today? They look like fuckin’ shit.” She throws her hand towards the crowd of people dancing. “What a bummer, you don’t get to have unprotected sex with a stranger tonight.” You made sure the monotone was noticeable. “Hey! I use protection.” Cherri puts her hand on her heart as if she’s offended. You stare at her with a blank face. “Sometimes.” She finishes. You continue to stare at her, not saying a word. “IT WASN’T AS GOOD.” She shouts, throwing her arms in the air. “There it is.” You tilt your cup towards her before taking a sip. “Such a goody goody.” Cherri rolls her eye. You shrug once again, watching her think. A smirk grows on her face before turning to you. “Wonder how you would be in bed.” She says seductively, setting her arms on the table between you two, her chest resting upon them. You choke on your water, setting the glass on the table. “Terrible.” You cough, swatting her away. She laughs, “You’re lying to me.” Your face flushes, you’d admit that you’ve satisfied your previous partners in the bedroom, but you were never one to talk about it. “C’mon, admit it. Or..” She cuts herself off, wondering if she should continue. “Or you just gotta show me how ‘terrible’ you are.” Cherri grins. You glare at her, your face still flushed. “You’re trying to hook up with me because nobody else is around for you to fuck. Why would I even take that?” You ask, slightly offended you were her last choice. “You’re a man who’s into women, why wouldn’t you?” She raises her brow. “Well fuck Cher, I’m not a slut.” You throw your hands up in defense. “I dunno, that waist tells me otherwise.” She pokes your chest. “Shut the fuck up.” You groan, standing up from your chair, about to move away from her. “M/n! Come on! Please?” “I’m not fucking you.” “Why not!” “I don’t do one night stands.” “Did I say it had to be a one night stand?” “I know you, you have one night and move on.” Cherri groans, jumping over the counter to grab your hand. “I’m being serious. I’ve been wanting to bring this up to you for a while.” She says, crossing her arms over her chest. You study her expression, nothing about the confession seemed fake. “Maybe we could go on a date tomorrow, I just -- sex is nice. It’s fun, I wanna have that fun with you.” Cherri explains, looking up at you. You were more of a romantic than sexual, so that had seemed to turn you on more than anything. You clear your throat before speaking. “Your place or mine?” You ask, seeing her face light up. “Mine."

-- Angel had passed out on the couch, you both tried to keep as quiet as possible, but fuck it was hard to shut up with your cock buried in her pussy. Her body was beautiful, every part of it. Her hands were stuck to your back, scratching and demolishing it with her nails as she whined in your ear to go faster. Your hands gripping her waist, digging your nails into them as well. You considered it pay back. You felt addicted to her, you felt so perfect inside her. You could feel her clench around you, throwing her head back and cumming all over your cock. You weren’t going to stop or slow down until you filled her up to the brim. Her pleading became louder, and you started to care less about Angel sleeping in the room over. Everything seemed so distant from you, everything except her. You snapped your hips into hers, chasing your own release but attempting to give her another one of her own. “Oh fuck! M/n -- holy shit, holy shit --” She squealed, covering her mouth with one free hand. You brought your face to her tits, biting and leaving marks everywhere you could. You wanted to keep your mouth on her and your dick inside her all night. “Fuck, fuck, your so tight Cher -- so perfect. All mine, all mine. So perfect, so perfect --” You mumble against her neck, immediately biting down after. She screams, whining after as she locks her legs around your waist. You feel her hands make their way to your hair, pulling on it to force you back and make eye contact with her, but only for a few seconds before she pulls you into a passionate kiss. She slips her tongue into your mouth as you do the same, allowing them to fight against one another. Cherri moans against your mouth, pulling away and allowing the saliva to connect you two together. You could feel yourself getting close, really close. A whine slips out of you, but you immediately dive back in for another kiss since you knew she was going to tease you about it. She pulls your hair back again, pulling you in to whisper in your ear. “You sound so cute when you get pussy drunk.” Cherri giggles, moving her mouth to your neck and latching onto the skin there. If you haven’t already, you melt into her, your moans and whines becoming louder as your eyes begin to roll back.Your hips move faster, practically pounding into her with no mercy. You could feel her nails digging in deeper. “F-Fuck-- Fuck- Cherri!” You bit down on her neck, hard. Cumming deep inside her pussy. Based on her expression, you see that she came with you as well. You slow your hips down, moving away from her to give her some space considering you both are able to focus on the heat and sweat. “Holy shit.” She huffs, you chuckle breathlessly. You release your harsh grip on her waist, pulling out slowly, watching the cum flow out of her. “Jesus Christ.” You mumble. Cherri closed her legs, kicking you gently. “Shut up.” She giggles. You smile, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Was that any good?” You ask, holding onto her knees that were closed together. Cherri puts an exaggerated thinking expression on before speaking, “You could have done better.” You chuckle again, opening your legs. “Is that so?” She giggles again, nodding her head. It was going to be a long ass night, sorry Angel.

[blueskittlesart]

This is kinda stupid but as a Zelda expert I wonder if you'd have any tips for me. I got BOTW like years ago bc I'm obsessed with all the content that came out of it but with a combo of general anxiety + the fact that I am egregiously bad at playing video games I have uhh barely played it. I kind of had the same issue with Stardew Valley of all games b/c the mines gave me anxiety until I was given tips for getting through them quickly. Now I really do wanna finish BOTW bc if I can finish then reasonably I should be physically capable of playing TOTK???

i think that botw can be a particularly overwhelming first play bc of the sheer size of the world and the lack of guidance, but just so you know most of that anxiety you're feeling is unfounded. despite how much it builds itself up in-game as having very difficult combat situations, botw is a relatively easy game in terms of combat difficulty, and you can actually avoid a good amount of combat altogether once you get off the plateau. like with almost any open-world enemy you can just run away and they'll eventually stop chasing you with no fight needed. but the open world enemies also become stupid easy once you get some halfway decent weapons and armor. i suspect you're probably just stuck in plateau purgatory where everything is hard by virtue of you having very few hearts and shit equipment. this is unfortunately the only segment of the game where you CAN'T really set your own pace and have to do things in a certain way, but there are only four shrines to complete and the second you complete them everything gets way easier, i promise. if you ARE off the plateau and still feeling that anxiety, it might be helpful to nail down some objectives to combat that open-world-endless-possibilities fear factor. i would suggest focusing on building up your heart count with shrines (you can find them pretty easily by climbing sheikah towers at night and looking for their orange glow) since having more hearts is going to make everything a lot less difficult for you in general (i wouldn't bother with stamina in early game, get a decent heart count first. at least 13.) as well as building up your armor and weapon stashes to a point where you're confident enough with menial enemies. getting as much of the map as you can in early-game is also really helpful because it makes it much easier to find and access points of interest like villages. you might try practicing archery or swordsmanship if you're really concerned about that element--there are several in-game training spots that you can utilize basically as much as you want in order to get the button combos down. then once you're confident enough in your abilities you can switch gears to the main quest (divine beasts!) and just remember, there's no wrong way to play video games and there's no penalty for deaths or failures. if link dies all the game does is drop you back into your last autosave, and botw's autosave is so good that you probably won't even lose any progress. no one is going to get mad at you if it takes you a few deaths to beat a boss. no one is going to get mad at you if you need to google walkthroughs to beat bosses or puzzles. your gameplay experience should be enjoyable, and whatever accommodations you have to make for yourself in order to make it enjoyable are fine! there's no reason to suffer through something that could be made easier just for the sake of doing it right.

[lebenspurpur]

Headcanons for slashers (whoever you want) finding their s/o smoking cigarettes after hiding it?

Only if you're comfortable of course, thank you :)

AN: I've added my personal thoughts whether they can roll a ciggy or not because it's hilarious.

RZ Michael Myers

Oh, he does not care. Not even for the fact that you tried to hide it.

Michael grew up in the 90s, I am pretty sure he is used to smoking.

He will however steal your cigarettes now. Not because they're bad for you, no, he just wants to smoke too.

It will be a nice little habit, though, smoking together. Gives you an excuse to cuddle into him for warmth while you're standing outside.

Michael can not roll a cigarette for the life of him, and you can't convince me otherwise. Either he rips the paper or he loses the filter. And they always look tortured.

Cig rolling ability: 1/10

(He gets one point because at least he knows how it works in theory.)

Vincent Sinclair

Vincent isn't bothered by the smoking. What worries him a little is the fact that you tried to hide it.

He tries to assure you that he doesn't mind, in order to hopefully ease your anxieties. After all, he's got a smoking brother already. You won't be much of a bother.

Vincent can roll a cigarette.

Come on, tell me someone with hands as deft as his can't roll a cigarette (Wow, I should stop talking about his hands).

Plus, I think he smoked in his youth as well.

Cig rolling ability: 9/10 (I'm subtracting one point because I refuse to believe he's this good at everything.)

Bo Sinclair

Bo is a smoker. And he'll find it absolutely hilarious that you tried to hide your habit from him.

He will never stop his teasing.

Now that he knows that you share his preference, he can pull so many moves. Bo's the type of guy to light your cigarettes as a flirting method.

He thinks it's hot, you think it's a little ridiculous.

Bo can roll a cigarette, but he applies too much pressure. They look a little squished sometimes.

Cig rolling ability: 7/10

Lester Sinclair

Don't we see Lester smoke in the movie?

I went into heavy research and yes we see him smoke in the movie. IN THE TRUCK, to be exact, which is a crime.

So yes, Lester is a smoker too.

He won't take it too hard that you hid your habit from him, but he still reassures you that he doesn't mind.

He likes smoking with you, in fact.

Please stop him from smoking in the car.

Lester can roll a decent cigarette. Sure, sometimes they lack good structure, but he makes up for it with enthusiasm.

He is the type of lover that will pre-roll cigarettes for you, and it's super sweet.

Cig rolling ability: 7.5/10

Brahms Heelshire

YOU DID WHAT??

I fully believe Brahms has never taken any drug in his life, ever. All his life was spent in the walls, and while his parents seem like expensive whiskey drinkers, he has probably never tried it.

So he's shocked to see his own significant other smoke.

"Don't you know that this can kill you, Y/N?"

He will forbid you to smoke, because he is a little shit brat.

However, he won't really do anything but sulk when you continue your custom. And after a while he gets used to it.

Brahms obviously doesn't know how to roll a cigarette. Not even in theory.

Cig rolling ability: 0/10

Thomas Hewitt

Thomas is surprised to see you smoking, but he doesn't mind all that much.

You're your own person, and you've got your habits.

In addition to that, he thinks it's kinda hot.

Thomas has never smoked and probably never will, but if you let him, he will try.

(I tend to think Thomas is a pretty curious, and rather experimental guy because he was denied so many things in the past. Therefor, he tries to catch up with the stuff he missed.)

Nonetheless, he does not like it.

Even so, Tommy will join you when you catch a smoke break, mostly because he wants to keep you company.

Thomas would be capable of rolling a ciggy, if he ever actually tried. I mean, come on, he sews as a hobby, and you got to have pretty skillful hands for that, too.

Cig rolling ability: 2/10

(He's only this low because he never actually tried to roll one.)

Jason Voorhees

Uh oh.

He's not a fan.

Jason will try to make you stop, most likely by finding an alternative that's actually healthy.

If it doesn't work, he'll accept it, but not without a weekly complaint.

Jason would rather die than touch tobacco. He can not roll a cigarette.

Cig rolling ability: 0/10

Otis Driftwood

Otis is also heavily entertained by the idea that you hid this from him.

Except from that amusement, you won't get much of a reaction, though. Otis smokes himself, why would he care if you do?

(I don't actually remember if we ever see Otis smoke, but come on, look at him and tell me this isn't canon.)

Otis can technically roll a cigarette, but they always look horrible. They're very... sloppy.

I also feel like he's the type of guy to smoke rolled cigarettes without a filter.

Cig rolling ability: 3/10

Baby Firefly

I feel like Baby is more drawn to vapes than cigarettes, mostly because those can taste sweet.

She probably owns a pink vape, and her favorite flavor is probably something like strawberry or strawberry cheesecake.

Nonetheless, she doesn't care if you smoke. And she will scold you a little for hiding this from her. Partners are supposed to trust each other, after all.

Baby can roll a cigarette, but it will fall apart in seconds.

Cig rolling ability: 2/10

Josef

Josef is a bit on the wine aunt trip, so he's opposed to everything that goes against his usual diet (smoothies, wok pans and dry red wine, ah and occasionally some dark chocolate).

Therefore, he won't appreciate the cancer sticks, but he'll stick up with them because he likes you.

Sporadically, he'll steal a hit, but that's usually when he's tipsy.

If you ask him if he can roll a cigarette, he'll say yes, but that is a fat lie.

Cig rolling ability: 0/10

Amanda Young

Amanda is torn between amusement and worry when she finds out about your mannerism.

She doesn't necessarily mind cigarettes, but her strong history with drugs influences her opinion a little.

Though, as long as your smoking habit stays reasonable, she won't acknowledge it that much.

Amanda can roll a pretty neat cigarette on a good day, and she will roll for you if you ask her to.

Though, sometimes her hands shake too much to hold the paper properly, and then they all look horrible.

Cig rolling ability: 6.5/10

[crow-stars]

❝LET'S GO ICE SKATING❞

❦summary; ice skating can be such a fun time, though that may depend on whether you're new to the rink or have a bit of experience under your belt. ♪the characters in this story; heartslaybul; riddle rosehearts, trey clover, cater diamond, ace trappola, deuce spade, gn!reader ✎word count; ~1.2k words ❀what do the ghosts say?; ambiguous, school trip to an ice skating rink, falling chatacters, first times on ice, mentions of climates in respective twst characters homeland, fun times ☛the author's notes; nothing to note... ☪look at the catalogue?

❛RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS❜

❀ Riddle is so, so stumbly

❀ He’s trying to act all smooth, really he is! Even read a book on the proper techniques of ice skating. 

❀ Though, when the day of actually came, he was stumbling a bit. 

❀ There were many (emphasis on many) attempts from Trey, Cater, and many other classmates to help Riddle, yet he was so confident that he could do it himself, he was sure of it! He just needed a bit more—

❀ Oh dear, Riddle fell again. On his face, at that. You could probably hear Floyd’s laughter somewhere afar.

❀ Still, he’s going to keep trying

❀ I think that he would, at least, wear protective gear. He may be confident, but he’s not that confident in his ice skating skills. 

❀ It also helps when he, inevitably, falls again. 

❀ But you have to admire Riddle’s perseverance, getting back up with a huff time and time again. 

❀ (Please admire his perseverance and meager skills, he’d really appreciate it and would be trying much harder after that)

❀ Maybe, if it goes on long enough 

❀ I’m not sure if he’d do it again out of leisure. Depending on how many times he’s slipped and fallen. 

❀ Though I do think that he wouldn’t reject it if he got invited to ice skating again. 

❀ Just hold onto him, will you?

❛TREY CLOVER❜

❀ Okay, hear me out

❀ I think... Trey would actually know how to ice skate. 

❀ So, he has younger siblings, right? And the Queendom of Roses is like based off of England/London I think and in a northern hemisphere-ish area (basing this off of the map in Book 6 and Mimi rants ily), so the likelihood of things like lakes in the Queendom freezing over is high

❀ So, obviously, kids being kids, his younger siblings would want to go ice skating

❀ And, obviously, Trey needs to go make sure there aren’t any injuries or broken noses because nobody wants to be going to the hospital.

❀ So, obviously, Trey has to be there to make sure the younger ones won’t get hurt

❀ As such, he probably needed to learn how to ice skate so he can smoothly go over to his siblings to help. 

❀ So, on an ice skating trip, Trey would definitely be able to move around the ice smoothly. 

❀ He’s not one to show off, but, in my opinion, I think it’d be pretty damn impressive to a lot of people. 

❀ Like, Trey’s movements are smooth and steady. There’s no flair to it, like Rook’s though

❀ But just watching him is kind of nice to see. 

❀ I like to think he would be the type to like offer his arm if you need balance.

❀ Oh that’s actually kinda cute and attractive now that I think about it. Uuugh

❀ I don’t think Trey would ice skate outside of special occasions, (ie. going with his siblings or a school trip.)

❀ But yeah, Trey is actually pretty decent at ice skating.

❛CATER DIAMOND❜

❀ Oh Cater. Cater, Cater, Cater.

❀ He’s good, like, he can stay on the ice

❀ And you can bet he’s posting on Magicam about the trip and posting selfies and videos of him on the ice. 

❀ The second the camera is off, though, Cater is as wobbly as that one chair in class that every kid loved rocking back and forth on.

❀ He can stay on the ice, thankfully, and he’s stable enough that he won’t fall

❀ But... Cater’s legs just shake and tremble no matter what he does

❀ It’s not that he has bad balance. Cater’s spent a bit trying to figure out what the hell is actually going on with him. He brushes it off as performance anxiety or something like that 

❀ I’d like to think that his sisters probably did some skating/ice skating and brought him along for the ride. 

❀ And, as his sisters usually do, made him participate. 

❀ So that’s where Cater’s skill on the ice comes from

❀ If you needed his arm or anything like that, Cater would be happy to give it to you, and give you a few tips as well

❀ Though, he’d mostly be taking selfies with him and other students on the ice before promptly getting off off it to enjoy spicy hot chocolate or something 

❀ Ice skating isn’t an activity Cater would do for leisure, he’d rather be doing other things that isn’t shaking on the ice for five minutes straight

❀ I think he’d prefer to just watch and take pictures of what he sees

❛ACE TRAPPOLA❜

❀ Falls on his ass pt. 1 (+ pulls others with him)

❀ He has never been on ice in his life and never thought he would be

❀ Ace is flopping and falling, someone get this man a walker for the rink

❀ Except, he refuses to use any ice skate walkers or whatever they’re called (He called them granny walkers and said they looked dumb)

❀ Ace fully believes he has the ability to be able to do ice skating with zero skills beforehand 

❀ “It’s just roller skating on ice!” He said 

❀ He was wrong

❀ Ace fully believed he would be fine on the ice since he claimed that roller skating was easy

❀ He was wrong

❀ Ace was fully prepared for all this to go smoothly and didn’t get that expectation met. 

❀ Ace will do anything but use the tools offered to him. 

❀ Instead, he will cling to his other classmates and attempt to use them as support

❀ Though for half of them, he’ll end up pulling them down with him

❀ For example, Epel and Deuce. Jack actually has the stability to be kept upright and Sebek just doesn’t tolerate it whatsoever

❀ Please expect Ace (and others around him) to be covered in bruises by the next day 

❀ Ice skating is something I think Ace would want to try out, but more as a for fun thing

❀ Like, if he manages to go or gets invited, he’ll go, but won’t go by himself

❀ He needs people to use as balance

❛DEUCE SPADE❜

❀ Falls on his ass pt.2 (and feels sore for a good while)

❀ Deuce is a lot better with his balance, though he is a bit shaky on his feet

❀ He’s doing a lot better than his other dorm mates (see.  Trappola, Ace)

❀ I think that Deuce would get used to it after a while, though he will be falling a lot

❀ Help him please

❀ He’s stable, but he’s not exactly gracefully either

❀ But that’s okay, we love him anyway

❀ Deuce is definitely going to be hugging the walls when he enters, no doubt about it

❀ Slowly, yet surely, he’ll stray further and further from hugging the wall (or you) 

❀ And yes, he may be doing that weird pose where he has his legs apart and his hands sticking out but look at him! He’s trying! 

❀ Don’t be surprised if he falls again, he’ll be doing that a lot (Help Deuce up after he falls please)

❀ Also don’t be surprised if Ace is also there 

❀ You will watch both of them fall to the ground several times over 

❀ Please help both of them up

❀ Deuce will definitely be just doing small circles around the rink and nothing more elaborate (Unlike others)

❀ I think that Deuce will definitely want to come back again

❀ Like, sure, he was falling over his ass for like half the trip and sure, Ace was the reason for like half of those same falls, but Deuce had fun! 

❀ Go back with him again, you’ll have fun :)

[gothmiqote]

dt spoilers kinda, varha/estinien stuff ofc ofc but it's msq plot related naturally :p

estinien being only Sort Of around for this expansion kills me lmao like he on the periphery and whatever it is he’s doing intersects with varha when it counts (fighting the cyberpunk army in the desert etc etc) he’s also just like. ostensibly doing who knows what the fuck between appearances?

after the events of ew those two were definitely around each other a Lot (seeing her friends disappear one by one like that will apparently lead to some nasty separation anxiety, who would have guessed) & getting on the separate boats to go west is probably the first meaningful amount of time they’ve been apart since. to a degree she’s like it’s fine I’ve got this handled, although I don’t uh. Think he told anyone Where he was going? so she probably knew he was going to be away for a bit but not how long exactly or even really where (which she actually is cool with for real, they’re both kinda Like That TM so it’s normal). So yes, she’s very much starting to feel the yearning & the pining & what have you by the time they randomly cross paths in the throne room again.

But thEN he just. Walks out? Just says some complimentary words and fucking Leaves? I like to think he’d end up stopping by her inn room or whatever later on but based on how he was for the entire expansion I don’t even know if he would actually stay the whole night 💀 which is frustrating for her but at this point nothing super weird. Or so she thinks anyway because some point after Krile pulls her aside and is like Hey is everyone cool? Like are you good? Because Varha considers her one of her closest friends & she likes to torment Estinien psychologically for sport she knows them pretty well. To which Varha is just ?? Of course we’re good why wouldn’t we be good? But it makes her think anyway. It does Not help that Wuk Lamat flat out asks if she knows who he is personally, because the greeting she got was apparently the kind you’d reserve for acquaintances.

By the time she’s on the mini road trip with Erenville she’s trying Very hard to not think about her relationship because she’s keenly aware of how good she is at making herself quietly spiral & twelve help her, they see him and he does it again. Says some weird shit to her and fucks off into the sunset. Shout out to Erenville for not commenting on the weird vibes that were absolutely happening here. & it’s at this point she’s also starting to get kind of upset for real? Tries to back track mentally between the moments of dealing with an active crisis and no, she doesn’t think she’s done anything wrong, he didn’t seem to like her any less when he left—but that doesn’t mean things don’t change, & for all she knows maybe he’s just decided that she’s become more trouble than it’s worth to know her intimately like that (she wouldn’t blame him, she’s aware of her baggage). What kind of send off is ‘go do what it is you do’? No ‘good luck, stay safe’ or anything even remotely close? She needs to be focused on current events so she makes herself tunnel visioned but it’s still on her mind.

Meanwhile this man decided after getting paid for keeping Wuk Lamat’s dad entertained he wanted to plan a little romantic wilderness excursion in Tural. It’s literally the exact opposite scenario she’s been dreading and picking up on, they both like ‘camping’ (for lack of a better term) & this is a new area to explore, he thinks it’s a great idea. And it is! A similar trip was the catalyst for the getting together in the Steppe, albeit that one was unplanned & nothing was official until after she got back from the first, but still. Unfortunately he’s just so singularly focused on this plan (he’s looking for some decent locations when they run into each other outside of the city) he’s legitimately unaware of how he’s coming off in the present. In his mind he’s just in a good mood, & will at some point let her know what he’s been quietly putting together for them. He just wants some sort of concrete plan in place before he stops being cagey. Like he’s just in a good headspace in a relationship he’s actually very happy in & that’s manifesting in ways that make sense for Him once you know what to look for. It’s like being around your crush, except you’ve been serious about each other for the better part of the last few years now & also you never really learned how to flirt ‘normally’ (I feel like Aymeric probably tried to help with this at some point in the distant past & eventually just gave up to let his weird friend be weird. Sometimes that’s as good as it gets) because you’ve never been much of an extrovert or particularly socially gifted, so it usually comes across either insanely awkward and/or painfully earnest when you do give it a shot. All that to say, he’s doing his best, it’s just filtered through his methods every single time.

And to be fair to him also, she’s competent as hell. He had zero reasons to think she’d need any more help with the contest stuff, his presence would 100% just be overkill. He’s not saying this because he feels like it’s objectively obvious. Unfortunately it is Not, she is fully not getting this impression from any of his actions & ultimately just ends up stewing quietly over it. Initially she’s annoyed but over time gets progressively more sad lmao. If you click on him before one of the few trials you can run with npcs he’s like “I saw a big lizard, I’m going to hunt it later” which is so very baffling to her. AGAIN no real commentary on her actual situation or that she might not come back through that portal. Run the lizard through a translator and he actually meant something to the effect of I know you’ll take care of this, so I’m not worried, & as soon as you do come back we’re going to grill that lizard meat for dinner. In HIS mind this is what’s coming out of his mouth in fewer words. She’s just tired lmfao.

Once everything is taken care of & there’s some downtime she’s finally able to pull him to the side and ask what his deal has been lately, has she done something without knowing, has she been pulling away unconsciously etc etc etc. His turn to be confused now. This legitimately only becomes a miscommunication issue because every single conversation got cut short until this one, which of course gives him ample time to explain what’s actually been happening & also no, he’s definitely not bored or unhappy or anything like that, he’s been enjoying the opportunity to try and orchestrate something nice for her (even if the execution wasn’t. The greatest) and honestly didn’t realize how it looked from the outside. He was very much talking her up at any given opportunity each time someone asked about her, to the point where it was inevitably deduced that his descriptions of the Warrior of Light were apparently a good deal more personal than other accounts. She’s effectively been on his mind in some capacity since he got here.

& She feels extra dumb for getting upset at all, because that’s actually incredibly sweet and it makes perfect sense when you lay it all out that way, in hindsight she didn’t need to get worked up and just feels weirdly guilty now. Varha has been in a small handful of situationships, she’s never actually been important enough to anyone for them to go out of their way for her like that (she’s never even really had friends up until recently, it’s all uncharted territory), she does not know how to properly interpret it when people just decide to do things for her because they like her. She reacts like an asshole (in her own opinion, literally no one else thought that she was anything aside from maybe a bit Off since she internalized everything so much). This does not make her feel particularly good either, she has unfortunately looped back around to kicking herself for missing the obvious.

& Estinien, being himself, is still not the best with words when it comes to this sort of thing. Because he knows he didn’t actually do anything wrong here, so he’s not experiencing misplaced guilt, but she’s clearly still upset on some level for misreading things and he doesn’t like that for her, especially when this conversation is almost definitely taking place on the sidelines of a post-battle celebration back in the city. He’s not coming up with anything directly helpful to the situation. He’s task-oriented, hardwired to look for solutions. The one he comes up with on the spot here is:

“Do you want to hunt the lizard together?”

Long pause. Yes, she does. She wants to hunt the big lizard together very much. It sounds like a good way to kick off a small wilderness excursion together. The big lizard does not fix her pre-existing self worth problems, but it’s definitely effective for the immediate situation (which is about the best he can hope for right now). Problem solved-ish, she seems happier & now they can bond over the big lizard hunt together. He’d honestly just be pleased to spend time together doing whatever but this is probably the best outcome of that whole situation. (Also he Does end up kissing her right there, partly to get people to stop pestering her with questions but mostly because he wants to.)

[joshym]

Lilac Moon: Chapter 2

Pairing: Josh Kiszka x f!Reader

Word count: 6.1k+

Warnings: (specific to this chapter) mentions of cheating, anxiety, and death of a parent, alcohol use, cursing, nauseating fluffiness, some passionate kissing (future chapters WILL contain 18+ content, so minors STAY AWAY)

Chapter 1

a/n: i’m so excited to share this story with you all. it’s been heavy on my mind for months now, and seeing it all written out makes me SO happy.🥹 i hope you love this installment. don’t be afraid to let me know what you think! and let me know if you want to be added to the taglist.🤍 this story is just getting started. buckle up, my loves.

-lis🤍

Last night felt like a fever dream, the kind that leaves a fuzzy feeling in your head that you can’t shake. Had you actually agreed to touring with Greta Van Fleet? And they approached you about it?

This kind of thing just doesn’t happen- at least not to bands as small as Lilac Moon. Yeah, you’ve got a pretty decent following locally, but you’re certainly not big enough to open for them, right?

♪°•°∞♬°•°♪°•°∞♬°•°♪

It’s the early afternoon the next day. You’re still in bed as you didn’t get home until around 3:00 in the morning. Even as you finally laid your tired body in the comfort of your sheets, you couldn’t shut your mind off long enough to acquire any sort of restful shut eye. 

Your mind has been racing with pure excitement and a little bit of disbelief. You also couldn’t shake the vision of Josh locking eyes with you, his cheeks flushing a pretty pink hue when his brother teased him about watching you on stage…and his hug. His body was so warm, his arms so intent on squeezing you in the softest embrace.

You knew that, more than likely, this all meant nothing. He’s quite a generous and loving person, this is just how he treats everyone.

You’ve been telling yourself since last night to not read into it much further…

But damn, if you didn’t crave another hug from him…one that wouldn’t break so easily.

Today you have a meeting to attend regarding the upcoming tour that’s set to begin in just under two months. You’re not sure what his process entails, but you have a feeling it’ll be a bit extensive.

You decide it’s about time to start getting ready for what the day has in store. You make it through a quick shower to freshen up a bit, feeling yourself slowly come back to life after the last few nights of gigs. 

You put on a little bit of makeup, just enough to give you a boost of confidence. You decide on a simple white summer dress that compliments your figure, your favorite pair of white sneakers, and, of course, the loads of gold jewelry that you never leave the house without.

You look yourself over in the mirror a bit to be sure you looked presentable. You’re doing your best to get rid of the nerves that have steadily been creeping on you since you woke up, your thoughts plagued with the unknown in this adventure you're gearing up for. 

You’re suddenly startled by your phone vibrating with a slew of text messages coming in back to back.

Ivy: Jay is pissed.

Ivy: He just found out about the tour…

Ivy: And he’s not happy that we made the decision without him. 

Ivy: Y/n, he’s threatening to not come today. You need to call him, you’re the only one that can calm his ass down. Please talk him down. I hate it but we need him.

You: Why the hell is he mad? This is literally what he wanted. This is so fucking stupid. This is what he does when he doesn’t get his way.

You: I’ll call him, just give me a sec.

As if your anxiety wasn’t bad enough, now you get to deal with the mess of calming Jay down and getting him on board. You knew that he should’ve been part of the decision making, and you do feel some guilt for that. But you knew better than to approach him after he’d been drinking. And to be honest, you didn’t want his horrible energy infiltrating the moment. 

You take a deep breath, letting it out slowly to relieve some stress as you get ready to press the ‘call’ button. You know that you need him, that Lilac Moon needs him. As much as it pains you to admit, the band simply can’t do this without him.

The ringing on the other end seems to go one forever, and you’re almost sure he’s waiting to answer until the last minute just to keep the ball in his court.

“Hey, y/n. Care to fill me in on what the fuck is going on?”

“Jay, I’m sorry. We should’ve gotten you before we said yes. That wasn’t fair to you. But this is exactly what we need. This will get us out of here. This is huge, Jay. We have to do this and we need you.”

“Funny that you need me for this fucking tour but didn’t need my permission to sign my life away for months on end.”

“Please just come to the meeting today. We don’t know all the details yet, we haven’t even signed with booking agents or anything. Just come and we can get it all worked out together, okay? Please, Jay. Don’t do this right now. This is too big of an opportunity.”

“Opportunity?” His voice was laced with sarcasm before he forced out a fake laugh. “K, I’ll be there.”

He abruptly hangs up the phone and leaves you even more worried about how this meeting will go today. Jay has never been the best at controlling his temper, and he often says whatever is on his mind without a second thought.

How you ever fell for this man is beyond you. You hate that you’re stuck with him for the promise of any sort of career. 

♪°•°∞♬°•°♪°•°∞♬°•°♪

Ivy showed up to your apartment shortly after your phone call from hell. You two had decided to carpool to the meeting together. 

You rushed down the stairs of the apartment building to meet her, hurrying so you could get on the road as soon as possible. You didn’t want to make a bad impression by being fashionably late, and neither did Ivy. She was yet again blowing up your phone with ‘I’m here!’ and ‘HURRY!’ messages. 

You finally made it to her car and she sped off quicker than you were ready for.

“Holy shit, Ivy! I’d like to make it there in one piece if you don’t mind!”

You both bust up in laughter as your entire body is flung back violently against the carseat. 

You’re so grateful for her, for her knack of calming your anxious thoughts without even trying. She’s a safe place for you, and you are for her. Friendships like these are a rarity. 

You’ve finally made it to their managers house for the meeting. You’re shocked to see that Jay, Julien and Joe are already here and inside. You both hurriedly make your way to the front door, embarrassment setting in as you’re assuming you’re the last ones to show.

“Ah! There they are!” Joe stands up to greet you both and show you where to sit.

The meeting seems informal enough, which eases your anxieties a bit. There’s charcuterie boards laid out across the tables and mimosas placed at every seat.

Joe introduces you to the bands manager, the booking manager and their social media manager. They’re all incredibly kind and friendly, not at all what you were expecting from such a famous band. They each greet you with a hug and a smile that instantly wipes away any remaining worry you still had.

As you take a seat, you can’t help but notice four empty chairs and the obvious absence of the quartet.

Their manager takes notice of your confused expression. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here. They’re notorious for being behind on schedule.”

You all sit around and chat while you wait for the boys. You even get to go over a few of the minor details of the tour, including the dates and cities you’ll be playing.

The schedule seemed a bit rigorous, but you knew it was nothing you all couldn’t handle. You’ll be playing the first fifteen shows on this tour, and the cities were a bit spread out which meant lots of time on the road, which also meant that you all would have to invest in a tour bus very soon.

Right as Joe was beginning to nail down some of the finer details, you hear the loud screech of tires coming to a complete stop from outside and four doors slamming almost simultaneously. You can’t quite make out what’s being said, but you hear plenty of loud exclamations being made as their voices get louder and louder as they approach the front door.

Josh is the first to grace the room, bursting through the door as if he owned the place and causing you to jump a bit.

“Hello, dear friends! It’s wonderful to see you all on this lovely day!”

He makes his way around the table giving everyone in attendance a hug, asking them how they’re doing and throwing in the occasional “you look nice today!”

He finally makes it around the table to you and you stand up, eager to meet him in another hug. 

“And you, y/n, you look very nice today.'' He put a little emphasis on the word ‘very’, even tossing in a wink as he sat down right next to you. You try, but ultimately fail to hide the blush that so graciously creeps on your cheeks almost every time you interact with this man.

Jake has already made it inside, walking around the table to pat everyone on the shoulder. He stops at you and Ivy to give you hugs. He pulls away from you, smiling at you both and dipping his sunglasses downwards to show his eyes.

“Ladies, welcome to hell.” 

“Oh, Jacob. Don’t be so dramatic.” Sam shoves Jake aside to have his turn hugging you and Ivy.

Danny follows shortly after, wrapping you both in giant bear hugs that are almost reminiscent of Juliens’. You start to wonder if it’s a drummer thing.

“So great to see you ladies again!” 

With the boys all here, the meeting is ready to continue. Joe does a lot of the talking for you as none of you really know what you’re doing or how any of this works. Joe’s a bit more seasoned with this sort of thing so you’re more than happy to let him take the reins. 

You’re able to get a few more details in, but you’re having a hard time focusing. Josh is incredibly close to you, so close that you can feel his breath slightly tickle your face. Your senses are filled with his scent of eucalyptus and a little bit of lavender. You glance at him every so often to find him looking at you, smiling every time your eyes meet. 

Jay has taken notice of this and his eyes are practically burning a hole through your soul as he watches the silent flirting taking place.

He’s beginning to get visibly more and more annoyed, and now he’s starting to ask questions that are coming off as more demanding than inquisitive. He’s asking the uncomfortable questions that have to do with payment and whether or not they will help in providing a means of transportation for the tour. Things that, to you, just don’t seem to matter as much at the moment.

He’s humiliating you, Ivy and Julien with his harsh tone, acting as if he believes he’s better than everyone else in the room. You’re starting to really become uncomfortable, eyeing Julien and Joe in an attempt to send the signal that they should step in and stop him.

Julien finally gets the hint and chimes in, grabbing Jay’s shoulder in a bit of a makeshift hug and cutting him off before he can say anything else. 

“Well, I think those things can be worked out later on. As far as I’m concerned, and I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say this, we’re so honored to have been given this amazing opportunity. This is a huge shot for us. We just want to thank you for giving us this chance.” 

You and Ivy agree and share your own notions of gratitude, while Jay’s only response was a dramatic sigh accompanied with a roll of his eyes.

You just so happen to catch that Danny appears less than impressed with Jay, his tongue aggressively gliding on the inside of his cheek as it seems he’s biting back a few choice words.

This tour could get interesting.

♪°•°∞♬°•°♪°•°∞♬°•°♪

The meeting has finally hit the point of conclusion and it’s time to sign paperwork with the booking agent. Your hands are shaky as it’s your turn to sign your name, being the last one from your team. Josh is watching you with a sweet smirk laying across his lips.

“You’ve got this, y/n. I mean it’s not like you’re signing your entire life away, just most of it.”

The whole room bursts out in laughter at his clever joke, making your nerves disappear as you sign your name.

“It’s official!” Josh shoots up from his chair as soon as you set the pen down. “Cheers, my friends! This will be a wondrous adventure!”

Everyone stands with full smiles and mimosas in hand to join Josh in his celebratory salute to this new beginning. Well, everyone aside from Jay, that is. He’s just mindlessly scrolling on his phone, ignoring the situation entirely.

Danny shoots him a look of pure annoyance but decides to ignore him.

“I think we should celebrate. Bartaco, anyone?” he says as he finishes off the last few drops of his drink. Sammy perks up at the idea.

“That sounds like a great plan, Daniel.” He motions to you, Ivy and Julien, even Jay in his attempt to make sure he feels included despite his asshole behavior.

The three of you happily agree, but of course, Jay has other plans.

“You know, I think I’ll sit this one out. I’d rather spend what little time I have left before this tour starts to get some rehearsing in.” He looks at the three of you with disgust. “I expect you all to be at my house sooner rather than later.”

Why can’t he just be fucking grateful?

He stands up and leaves in an angry rush, leaving you embarrassed once again at his actions. Julien, being the peacekeeper that he is, decided to follow Jay to avoid a complete tantrum from the guitarist.

“I’m sorry, guys. I’ll go with Jay to hold him off a bit. You all have fun.” He made his way around the room offering his hugs and handshakes, thanking the boys and their team once again before walking out the door.

“I’m so sorry about Jay, guys. He’s going through a bit of a rough patch, and-” Ivy quickly cuts your explanation off.

“He’s just a dick. That’s all there is to it. Always has been. You don’t need to make excuses for him, y/n.”.”

Josh grabs your shoulder in an effort to comfort you.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Who’s ready to eat?”

♪°•°∞♬°•°♪°•°∞♬°•°♪

You, Ivy and the four rockstar boys all decide to go to Bartaco together, the rest of the crew opting to stay back to work out some more details for the tour.

The six of you walk into the restaurant together and thanks to the status of your dining pals, you were seated almost immediately. The boys frequent this place often and the staff always makes special accommodations for them.

You all take your seats, Josh choosing to sit directly across from you next to his twin who’s sitting across from Ivy, and Sam is seated next to you opposite of Danny.

You all take turns ordering food and drinks, and you’re so impressed with how kind and respectful the guys are to the wait staff. All the famous people you’ve met before were entirely too entitled and too full of themselves to treat anyone with any sort of dignity. Not these guys, though. They’re so down to earth, so humble, so genuine.

You all talk amongst each other while you wait for your meals. Ivy and Jake have sparked quite the debate over gibson guitars while Sam and Danny are off in their own world with their conversation, leaving you and Josh space to talk.

“Well, y/n, how are you feeling about it all? With the tour and such?” He gives you a soft smile.

“I…I mean I seriously couldn’t be more excited. This is just…I can’t quite articulate. It just means the world, it really does.”

“Well I for one am thrilled to have you all along with us. I think this will be really great.”

“Can I ask you something, Josh?”

“Yeah, of course!”

“Of all the acts, all the bands you could’ve chosen, why us? We’re not anything special. We’re not very well known, we’ve never even been on an actual tour before. So, I guess I’m just curious. What made you choose us?”

Josh reaches across the table and grabs your hand, rubbing the top of it gently with his thumb.

“There’s something really special here, y/n. I’ve only watched you perform once, but I was utterly blown away. The musicianship is astounding. The lyrics are poetic. You have so much emotion when you’re on that stage. Your audience feels it with you, I feel it with you. It’s truly a beautiful thing. You don’t see it often. We just knew we had to be a part of it.”

His fingers are now intertwined with yours as he stares directly into your eyes, which are beginning to well up with heavy tears at his beautiful words. You instantly feel an overwhelming sense of peace, of comfort. It’s as if you’re the only two in the room. Maybe even the whole world.

“And don’t worry. I’ll be sure to show you the ropes of life on the road. You’ll love it, I just know it.” He gives you a wink while continuing to caress your hand. 

Just as you’re about to respond, the waiter makes it over to your table with the food. Your trance is broken by the interruption; you’ve suddenly been flung back into the real world.

Ivy looks at you and notices the tears threatening to fall from your eyes. 

“Is everything okay?” She asks quietly so as to not draw attention.

“Yeah, everythings pretty damn great.”

You all enjoy your meals, continuing to talk and laugh together as if you’ve been lifelong friends. You’re quickly finding that their energy matches yours and Ivys’ perfectly. You haven’t felt this contented in a very, very long time.

After sitting in the restaurant for a few hours, you all decide it’s time to head out. They all walk you and Ivy to her car, saying their goodbyes and ‘see you laters’ one by one.

As you’re about to open the door on the passenger's side of Ivys’ car, Josh quickly stops you and takes over so he can open the door for you.

“Well thank you, kind sir.”

“Pleasure is mine, m’ lady.”

You take a seat and Josh gently closes the door for you. He starts to walk away, still looking at you and waving goodbye.

Just before Ivy takes off, you’re startled by a knock on your window. It’s Josh again, and he’s motioning for you to roll your window down.

“Did you forget something?”

“Yeah, actually.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it to you. “You should probably put your number in there, ya know, just in case something were to come up with the tour planning and what not.”

“Oh, yeah. Of course! I bet it’s important to have each other's contact information, just to be safe.”

You type in the digits of your number, saving your contact in his phone. You hand it back to him and he immediately presses the ‘call’ button and your phone starts ringing.

You look at him with an amused smile.

“Just had to make sure you didn’t give me a fake number.”

He waves another goodbye as you two drive away.

“Yeah, he’s into you.”

“There’s no way, Ivy. Look at him. He could have any girl he wanted.”

“Yep. And he wants you, dumby.”

♪°•°∞♬°•°♪°•°∞♬°•°♪

You and Ivy spent the rest of the day at Jay’s house. He wanted to practice, so that’s exactly what you did. He carried one with his pissy attitude but you still felt it was a successful practice.

You were finally home, exhausted after the long day. It’s nearly 1:00 in the morning and your body is worn out from all of the late nights you’ve had recently. You decide to take a long bath to relax before bed. You poured yourself a glass of wine, lit your candles, and placed your lavender epsom salt in the water. You hunkered down in the tub, ready to melt the day away.

Just as you could feel yourself starting to drift to sleep, you hear your phone vibrate.

Who the hell is texting me this late? 

You reach to grab your phone sitting on the side of the tub and unlock it, surprised when you see who the message is from. 

Josh: I just wanted to apologize for being so mushy earlier at the restaurant. I hope I didn’t frighten you. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m a bit of an oversharer, lol. Regardless, I truly meant everything that I said.

You feel your heart skip a beat in your chest. You’ve been a fan of this man for so long, just met him less than 48 hours ago, and now he’s texting you? 

You: You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for! Your words meant more to me than I can explain. Especially coming from you. 

Josh: How come you're still awake? I honestly didn’t expect a response until tomorrow morning. I don’t having anything else prepared haha

You: We had to go to Jay’s for practice and it took forever. I just got home about 30 minutes ago. But I should be asking you the same thing! Or is this just the normal rockstar schedule?

Josh: I like to stay up late. It’s usually the best time for me, creatively speaking. Something about it inspires me endlessly. 

Josh: How did your practice go? And why does it seem that Jay is perpetually pissed?

You: It went about as well as I could’ve hoped, I guess. And that’s a bit of a long story. Got all night? lol

Josh: Well, I do, actually. Care to join me for some wine and story time?

You: That rhymed perfectly. I would love to join you.

Josh: My place in 20?

You: Sounds great! 

You nearly leap out of the tub to get ready to leave. You want to put on something cute but keep it simple and comfortable, so you go for a pair of biker shorts and a cropped tank top. You don’t bother with makeup of any kind, but you make sure your hair looks nice.

You’re heading to your car when Josh sends you his address with a ‘see you soon’ attached to the message.

Putting his address in your maps app, you realize he only lives about 10 minutes away from you. He’s been this close to you this whole time. How is it that you’ve never run into each other before now? 

You make it to his home that’s surrounded by acres of land and beautiful trees. There’s a long driveway leading up to the house, heightening your anticipation as you slowly drive it.

You’ve finally made it to the front of the house. You hesitate a bit before stepping out of the car, your nerves are starting to get the best of you. You shove them down and get out of the car to head up to the front door. Right as you're about to ring the doorbell, the door flies open, startling you a bit.

“Hey, y/n! Come on in!”

“How did you know I was already here?”

He points up to the frame of the front door.

“Security cameras. Kind of a necessity. You’ll probably want to invest in them soon.”

He leads you inside. His place is breathtaking. It smells wonderful, like fresh patchouli. The decor is very minimalist with a touch of mid century modern. Large, flush plants grace every corner.

“Oh my, Josh. This is beautiful.”

“Well thank you, my dear. Would you like a tour?”

“Please!”

He walks you around, showing you everything, explaining every single detail. Everything is intentional. Each part of his home has a story, and you love hearing him tell you all about it.

“I designed most everything myself. I knew exactly what I wanted and I found the perfect architects to help me bring my vision to fruition.”

“Josh, this is amazing. I love it. There’s such a calming aura about it.”

“Oh I’m so glad you said that! That’s exactly what I was going for. I’m happy you can feel it, too. I needed a place of serenity and peace to come home to. My life can get a bit hectic sometimes.”

He resumes the tour to the backyard where you are entirely stopped in your tracks at the set up. 

There’s a large pergola with billowing curtains draped at each opening and tons of hanging string lights cascading throughout the structure. Inside, there’s a small couch covered with a white, chunky knit blanket and throw pillows with intricate colorful patterns. Large rugs cover the ground with a few bigger pillows for extra seating. There’s also a lovely accent table in the middle of the space with gold features and a wine bottle with two glasses placed on top of it.

“Holy shit, Josh…this is, I…I’m not even sure what to say. This is stunning.”

“Is this a good enough spot for our wine and story time?”

“Are you kidding? This is perfect.”

He grabs your hand and leads you to the couch where you take a seat. 

“I hope you like Chardonnay.” He begins pouring your glass. “This is a bottle of Domaine Ramonet Montrachet Grand Cru, straight from the Montrachet vineyard in France.” He swirls the drink a bit in the glass before handing it to you. “You’ll notice notes of lemon and citrus. It’s quite delicious.”

You take a sip and are immediately blown away.

“This is amazing, I don’t think I’ve ever had anything quite like this. Was this expensive?”

“Ah, don’t worry about that.”

He pours himself a glass and sits next to you, his shoulder brushing against yours as he sits close.

“Josh tell me! How much does wine like this go for?”

“It’s not as much as you’d think. A measly $1200 a bottle. That’s all.”

You gasp, nearly spitting out the sip you just took.

“What do you mean that’s all? That’s more than my rent! Utilities included!” He laughs the hardest you’ve ever seen him laugh thus far, grabbing your knee to stabilize himself.

“Okay, so while you drink your rent WITH utilities included, catch me up to speed on your pissy guitarist. What’s the story with him?”

“Well, I guess I should begin with the fact that we dated for a spell.”

“What? You dated that guy?”

“Yeah. Not my most shining moment. Can’t say I’m proud of it.”

“So what happened? How come you broke up?”

“He cheated on me. A lot. With lots of different girls. And he’s also just a huge jerk, as you’ve witnessed.”

“Wait…he cheated on you? What the fuck, y/n. I can’t fathom that. He should’ve counted his lucky stars for landing you.”

Your cheeks blush at the compliment and you take another large drink of your wine as Josh grabs the bottle to top off your glass.

“Yeah, he cheated. And shockingly, I didn’t break up with him right away. That’s why it kept happening. I thought I had to stay with him for the sake of the band.”

“How did you guys even meet?”

“When Ivy and I moved here, we had one goal in mind- to play music. But we didn’t know anyone. We had no idea where to even start. I met Jay when I was looking for apartments. He was working at the complex that I eventually moved into. I don’t know how, but we just clicked in the beginning. And it helped that he had the same passion for making music. We decided to start making music together, along with Ivy. Julien came out of the woodwork one day, and thus, Lilac Moon was born. Jay and I started seeing each other somewhere during that time. I fell in love with his drive for music, with his talent. He was even teaching me to play guitar. I just didn’t see the red flags in the beginning, or maybe I just ignored them. Ivy and Julien saw right through him, though. I didn’t listen to their warnings. I wish I would have. But now, we’re stuck with him. As much as I can’t stand the man, he’s a damn good musician. I don’t think we’d have a band without him.”

He doesn’t respond right away, his eyes locked on yours as he’s taking in everything you're saying.

“I’m sorry. I told you it was a long one.”

“No, no. I’m glad you told me. I’m so sorry he did that to you. You know you deserve better, right? You deserve the best this world has to offer.”

His hand is now embracing yours with a firm hold.

“Well, thank you, Josh. But you barely know me. How do you know I’m not some crazy, pathological liar?”

“I know I’ve just met you, but your soul radiates a kind of genuinity that you only find every so often. It’s rare. You’re rare. From the moment I met you when you crashed into me, my spirit felt a warmness from you that I don’t feel with many people. You know, I told Sam I knew that wouldn’t be the last time I’d see you. And I was right. The universe is mysterious that way.”

Here come those tears again that you shed more than you’d care to admit. You’re emotional, sometimes to a fault, but his words are caressing your heart in a way you’ve never experienced before.

“Don’t doubt yourself. Don’t doubt your effect on people. You’re lovely, y/n.”

“You know, you really have a way with words, Josh. You’re one of the most beautiful souls I’ve ever encountered. I’ve wanted to meet you for years, literal years. I’ve always been enamored by you. I’m so grateful our paths crossed, even in the embarrassing way it happened.”

You both laugh at the memory of you running into the back of him on the streets of downtown Nashville.

“I actually think that’s the perfect way to meet someone. I will never forget it, that’s for sure.”

His grip on your hand hasn’t let up one bit. In fact, you’re now holding on just as tightly. You’re almost afraid to let go, afraid this moment will end if you do.

“Tell me a little more about you, y/n. Tell me about where you're from, about your family, where your love for music comes from. What makes you who you are?”

“Oh gosh. That’s another long story.”

“The night is still young, there’s still plenty of wine, I’ve got all the time in the world for you.”

You smile wildly at him and his devotion to hearing your story.

“It’s 2:30 in the morning, Josh.”

“Exactly! We’re still in the wee hours of the evening.” He shifts his body to face you completely now, helping to maneuver your legs to intertwine with his. This feels so intimate considering you’ve only just met, but it feels absolutely right. “Tell me everything.”

“Well, I guess my love for music started with my dad. He introduced me to music at a really young age. He bought me my first record when I was five years old, Tom Petty’s Wildflowers. It’s still one of my favorites. My love for music really took off from there. I mean, I hardly remember a time in my house that there wasn’t music playing. My dad had this old record player that he’d had since he was a kid in the 70’s that still worked perfectly even after all those years of constant use. We’d sit at that thing for hours on end just listening to albums all the way through, hearing the stories the artists were telling. George Harrison's All Things Must Pass was one of his absolute favorites, and Gather In The Rain by Melanie. He loved everything that Sam Cooke recorded. So many albums and artists that hold so much sentimentality to me. He always told me he knew I’d make music my career, with as much passion as I had for it. He always encouraged me to chase my dreams.

When he died, my mom got rid of everything. The record player that he loved so much, every single album in his giant collection…she just sold all of it. It didn’t matter to her. In fact, she hated that we shared that bond. She never understood it. I wanted to keep that part of him alive, alive in me. To not chase after my dreams would feel like losing him all over again. I’ve never had the same support from my mom. Ever. But I didn’t let that stop me. I decided that moving and going after what I loved is exactly what he would’ve wanted me to do. So, I did it. And I did it with my best friend so the two of us could live out our dreams of making music together. The rest is history, I guess.”

Josh’s hand was moving up and down your shin to offer you some comfort, and his eyes appear more glassy as it seems your story has truly moved him nearly to tears.

“Shit. Now I’m the oversharer. I’m sorry, I told you it was a lot.”

“Y/n. Thank you. Thank you so much for trusting me enough to share that part of yourself with me. I’m…I’m honored. I’m touched, really. I know he’s proud of you. You’re doing just what he wanted you to do. Love doesn’t leave, you know. Love lives on. His love lives on in you.”

You’re the most vulnerable you think you’ve ever been. You’ve hardly talked about this with anyone, Ivy being the only person in your life that knows everything. You don’t like to talk about yourself very often, but Josh has made you feel so comforted, you feel so heard. You can’t remember a time that you’ve felt this much validation from anyone. This feels good; this feels like home.

You try so hard to stop it, but tears begin streaming down your face in an instant. Josh places his hand on your cheek, wiping away the tears with his thumb.

“You’re beautiful, y/n.”

“Thank you, Josh.”

Your faces have become so close that your noses are touching, his hand still cupping your face. It feels like silk brushing against your cheek, and he smells like that familiar eucalyptus and lavender scent you noted earlier. That aroma has infiltrated your senses. It’s your favorite.

It feels like time stands still for a moment. All you see, all you feel, all you hear…it’s only Josh.

“Y/n, I want to kiss you.”

His voice is but the sweetest whisper.

“Do it, then.”

At last, your lips meet his. The kiss is soft at first, you both wanting to take the time to savor each other. It slowly grows in intensity and passion. You move to wrap your arms around the back of his neck to bring him even closer to you, with both of his hands now gently cupping your face. His lips are so warm. They feel like crushed velvet against yours. You taste the sweet lemon and citrus from the wine on his tongue, and you realize that the chardonnay alone pales in comparison to the taste of him mixed with it.

You reluctantly break the kiss, only to catch your breath. Your eyes are instantly locked on his, taking in the beautiful amber hue.

“Can I stay with you for a little while? I know it’s late but,-”

“You can stay with me for as long as you like, y/n.”

With that, Josh lays back on the couch, bringing you down to rest your head on his chest as he wraps his arms around you. Your eyes become heavy as you feel yourself drift to sleep in the safety of his embrace. 

To be continued…

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Chapter 3

taglist: @jakeyt, @fwzco, @jessicafg03, @blissfulbellss, @jakekiszkapunchmeintheface, @arsonkween, @sicksadandrad, @gretavansara, @witchofendora, @andtherestishistory13​  @slaythelightfantastic 

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[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

Inside Out 2 was decent (possible spoilers)

Okay so I don't really get hyped for Inside Out 2 as much as everyone else does, but I'm not denying that it was a cute movie, it had it's pros and cons. It's nothing special, though. I enjoyed the fist one and I love the new characters in the sequel. I'll start with the pros because there's more cons.

Okay, so I mostly love how they didn't push any romance tropes, other than Disgust hitting on that video game guy (that i noticed Anger and Fear kind of checking him out as well) and personally I think giving Disgust a love interest was out of character for her, but it worked. I mean, she's usually disgusted at everything but seeing a hot purple hair anime warrior calms her down. I actually LOVE how they had Riley crush on a video game character an not a boy at her school, I was so happy about that. Those of you who wanted Riley to be lesbian, I'm so sorry! I'm okay with that personally, even though I support LGBT, because I think it's more relatable for me the majority of girls watching that they didn't make her a lesbian. Maybe Disney will make a lesbian protagonist someday? And if not, maybe a better movie company will! Also, there's no romance between any of Riley's emotions, yay! It doesn't make sense if there was! Also, I like how they referenced to Dora the explorer in a funny, lighthearted way, instead of making fun of it in an offensive way. I hate when people make fun of innocent kids shows to be offensive, I really think they referenced to Dora just for laughs. Also, Anxiety's a decent character. I like her, personally. I like the idea of Disney not having real villains anymore, because not everything is just pure bad or good. Anxiety was just an antagonist and it's okay, she also got redemption too.

Now for the cons... and this is gonna be long. Okay, I DO NOT SUPPORT DISNEY! I mean, I don't think this movie should be the thing that brings Disney/Pixar back from their dark ages, but I'm not hating on the Inside Out 2. I do think it's overrated. My biggest complaint was the fact that THEY STOLE CHARACTER DESIGN FROM ANOTHER MOVIE and here's the pictures to prove it

Yeah, that dark secrets character looks almost exactly like Dark from Orion and the Dark, a movie that came out BEFORE Inside Out 2! and those of you saying "but they were working on both movies at the same time" WRONG! The movies were released at least 4 months apart and Disney does often rush their recent projects like they rushed the making of Wish! Another thing, the human animations in Inside Out 2 looked a little less rendered, while the emotion animations and facial expressions were PERFECT! Also, is it just me or does Riley sound younger in this sequel than she did in the first one? Which it doesn't make sense since she went through puberty, right?

In conclusion, the story is pretty decent but I don't think it's worth spending money to see in theaters. If you really desperately want to see it in theaters, fine! I prefer watching it online and don't forget that the free websites exist. The illegal copy of the movie (you know, the hidden camera recorded version with the slot machines) is on the free websites like Actvid and Kisscartoon. Go ahead and watch it on there if you're like me and you're just watching it because of extra free time, and you don't really want to give your money to the Big D.

Anyway, I'm basically neutral on this movie, feel free to state your opinion. Again, I'm not a Disney fan and yet I'm not denying that this was an okay-ish movie. I just don't think it's worth seeing in theaters when you can watch it online for free and Disney won't be robbing you.

[e-adlirez]

The last question you answer about violet having a grasshopper pet being stereotypical make me realize that the girls do be kinda stereotypical in the very first book…(which fortunately isn’t there anymore as the series progress). Though, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I would love to hear your take on the cultural aspect of the thea sisters books. In your personal opinion, do you think the books do a decent job in cultural representation?

It started out with a decent chunk of stereotypes, but what allows me to look past them and love them is the fact that they show the girls growing out of them. For example, Vi (the only one I can actually speak on) is very much the smart and shy Asian kid stereotype (and the occasional esoteric proverb or two), but I love her because she grew into the role of being the group braincell. She's the group braincell, the straight man, the nanny holding four leashes at once, the anxiety-riddled bean who wants to move out of her comfort zone but is scared to do so on her own and thus leans on her friends for support ohmygodshe'sjustlikemefr--

For a series made in the early 2000s, the representation is pretty good! Definitely not perfect (stares at the Chinese proverb thing and Pam being a sasslord with weird-ass slang), but it was very much ahead of its time! The girls did start out stereotypical, yes, but one thing that it did was expand the girls beyond the stereotypes they initially started out with. Violet started as the Asian smart kid, but her character was expanded (if I described how we'd be here all day); Colette started out as a diva, but grew out of it and became a proud girly girl who gets along with Pam even though their tastes in fashion are different; Nicky does have that crazy Aussie in her (which I love), but she's also a goofball and passionate nature advocate a la Steve Irwin (still crazy tho, see that one time she crawled on the roof of a moving train); Pam I think changed the most, seeing she started off as the sassy one with weird slang but is now more the comedic relief who takes charge of the girls culinary itineraries and keeps them grounded; and Paulina's stayed the most consistent, but I dunno if that's saying a lot because she doesn't get that much screentime compared to the others.

One thing I will also appreciate is the extra bit of character building that the girls have that tie the little bits together. Vi has many things she's into and is good at? She is a curious type open to new learning experiences and is also a perfectionist (with anxiety coding), said wumbo combo means she's pretty good at a lot of nerd-flavored things like art and strategy and attention to detail. Pam likes pizza? Her family runs a pizzeria. Nicky is crazy? Yeah she's crazy, she's really good at thinking on her feet even if it means jumping off the outstretched ladder of a speeding firetruck to catch a perp. Colette is a fashionista? She likes looking good and has a good eye for different fashion styles and how to elevate them (and is most likely the reason Pam doesn't just have the most basic of clothes to wear everyday). Paulina is an IT kid? She is also chronically online :D (:'D) and she uses technology to try to improve her corner of the world and remain in contact with her family, mainly her little sister.

Oh yeah and the plots of the books were not that stereotypical, either! Tho take my statements with a grain of salt because I'm not part of any of these cultures, their trip to Japan didn't involve a single ounce of sushi or origami or samurai-- it involved bunraku and a theme on tradition versus passion. Their trip to Hawai'i did involve hula, but that was because they were there to compete in totallynottheMerrieMonarchFestivalweswearsincerelyScholastic, and they do mention the whole volcanic eruption thing without having to talk about Hawai'i religion beyond the white dog superstition, with a little side comment of how business corporates can be more than willing to pull all the strings they can to exploit the natural beauty and the people of Hawai'i. They went to New York and the plot was intertwined very much with the NYC housing crisis in such a way that was easy to digest, even for kids! They went to India and not only set it in an underrated part of the country (Tamil Nadu), they didn't lean into mainstream media stereotypes about India and let the story tell itself as it deserved to! They went to Italy multiple times and, get this, they didn't make a single pasta joke. (Because it's an Italian series that'd be weird if they did.)

But yeah, they treated these cultures with a surprising amount of respect. Like I said, not perfect, but it is a relief how a good chunk of the books still stand up to the test of time.

If you're from any of the cultures they explored in any of the books, feel free to let me know ^^

[atomarium]

Wawa!

Now for real tho, how did You manage the iterator cube in the first place, I think My computer would explode just being near half the polygons

Have a 3d scug as a treat tho

Waw!

The question can be interpreted in three ways.

Technical:

just... Pain...I have an old 7th gen Intel i7, 16 gigs of ram, and RTX 3060. The thing is. When It comes to meshes, or hard surfaces (the polygons) blender is actually very good at handling a lot of them. But guess what blender does NOT like. Clouds, textures and displacments. I did the details in the cube first, and then sufferd through the pain and lag of clouds and textures.

Render times don't increase with polygons. This many poligons render a 1080p image in 40 seconds. You just have to be smart about hiding stuff you don't need when editing.

I can send you the model. It's really not a huge problem.

Creating detail kind of technical:

well it is indeed hand made. It doesn't take long if you blender very aggressively with energetic music. The first wall took me, ~30-40 hours. The second is barely visible so just a copy of that with modifications. I premade greebles and assets that I have later scatterd. You can see I reused a lot of stuff. In the project I am currently working on it will be different. But in this one, I tried to follow the doctrine of hiding the flatness of the cube. So it doesn't look like a cube with stuff on it, with fairly decent results. Made some holes some structures etc.. The plugins that I used mostly are discombulator, blenders inbuilt panel gen. And we'll uh. That's Pretty much it. Made a geonodes modifier, for the pipes. So it's easier, so that's a thing.

And the rest is just me trying to be creative and stuff.

The "how do I come up where goes what"

I domnt funkin know.

I'm an engineer. And that means I solve pracital problems. Such as, will this pipe going from here to here make sense? Or does it make sense to make this thing here if there is another nearby? I can barely be called an artist, or creative for that matter. I can't draw like at all,I just get anxiety when I try, I can't make anything that is alive in blender. Like genuenly anything.(including scugs :<). I am pretty darn new to blender with barely even 1 k hours. I looked at references of Cappins (the creator of the original 3d model found in OE.) Model, I got some inspiration from there.

Here is his model.

And here is mine ( low quality because I don't have the original on my phone)

You can defenetly see the similarities. I took inspiration from a lot of the stuff on Cappins model. Unfortunately I for some reason never figured out that iterator cube is not a cube. It's a uh... Pancake shaped cube. What I also like a lot about Cappins model, is that it's very very well balanced. Perhaps some technical details are questionable but at that scale that can be ignored. I later talked with him. And he explained me the meaning of primary secondary and tertiary detail. Wich is actually very useful. Go google it if you draw or model. As for my model. I'm happy that people like it but I'm not happy how not canon it is compared to other iterators. Perhaps, it's an older model of an iterator. It took me nearly a third of the time cappin took to make his, that explains the quality difference. And we'll he had to start from scratch.

I hope that answers all the questions, otherwise ask again. It's not like I'm gonna go anywhere.

(also pls gimme de scug model if it's okay)

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hii Cas!!! This is bagel anon. Andd

I've kinda gotten the sleep situation under control but I can't help put off sleep even if I have nothing to do. I have this anxiety about sleep cause I overthink a lot and all of my most horrible moments always come just when I have to go to sleep. Which is very annoying cause my mood goes downhill pretty quickly and when it does, I feel like the worst ever. Then I overthink some more and even if I go to sleep at atleast 10, I might as well fall asleep at 12.

Also I've kind of recovered from the burnout too? For past 2 days, I've just... not been studying much and honestly it feels so good to lay off for a bit and relax. I'm still procrastinating a lot and my stomach ache hasn't gotten better but I managed to start my math worksheet and I'm so glad! There's still so much work left but my school teachers are so nice. I felt sick once and asked to put my head down and my math teacher agreed and asked if im okay now. It was pretty small but it made me feel so nice for some reason.

Also my mom and I had a talk and she hasn't been saying so much about how lazy I am. I haven't properly talked to her about the stuff she says and how it hurts me a lot and honestly I have no idea how to because I suck so much at confronting problems. I once told her that I didn't like how she always comments on how fat I look (even tho i look decent) and I get how she has a lot of insecurity from being obese herself but she's always pushing this insecurity on me and I hate it so much (she still says it sometimes). Its made me so bitter towards her sometimes and even me. And even though she looks out for me a lot and understands I'm having a bad day, she never understands her own mistakes and i just snap at her so much nowadays which makes me feel like shit. She acts like I'm the worst person ever now even tho she doesn't realize how she is like. Taking a break with my door closed is useless cause she'll just come in randomly and start giving me lectures so i normally lock my door and just lay down and read something (normally with a excuse that I'm changing clothes or smth). But she screams so much if I lock my door. She never acts on it but it makes me so scared of locking it.

But other than that, my studies are almost complete and that makes me feel so happy. My best friend had gone on a trip for a week and normally we dont talk about deep stuff, just basic 'so whats up' (we travel together to school and live in the same area) but her presence makes me feel really calm so thats really nice too. And the rain is sooo much and the roads are literally flooded but damn do i love rain.

Soo anyway, tysmmm for the advice, it really helped to hear someone say I need to relax cause i really really did. I hope you have a wonderful dayy!!!

On a side note, Good luck babe by Chappell Roan is so good. Its literally on repeat in my mind!

Hi hon! I’m glad you’ve gotten a chance to relax a bit!

First, would it help to know that just closing your eyes and resting has been scientifically proven to be almost as helpful as actually sleeping? I know for me, I used to stress so much about sleep- “OMG I only have 6 hours to sleep. Well now I’ve been stressing and I only have 5.5. And now only 5. And so on…”

But if you just close your eyes and breathe it has almost the same benefits. It really helped me relax when I go to bed.

Also what your mom is saying to you is not okay and I’m so glad you realize that. Whether or not you are overweight (it shouldn’t matter) she shouldn’t be making comments like that. Being overweight doesn’t make people look “bad” and the way your mom is pushing her insecurities on you is super hurtful. I’m glad you know that she’s doing that, and your weight and your looks are separate from her. I’m sure you slay every outfit ❤️

Agreed, Chappell Roan is the loml