#is what i'm thinking about like at least 50% of the time

[osokasstuff]

[ID: a comic of 4 pages about voting in australia.

header: this is Australia, not America. you can't "waste" your vote!

sub-header: how voting works in a federal election for the House of Representatives ('Lower House').

koala wives their hand and says: "hello Australia. it's me, your good friend Dennis the Election Koala. it's that time again, so let's meet the candidates hoping to represent your electorate in the House of Representatives of the Federal Parlament..."

Dennis holds a paper where candidates are listed.

major parties:

Bamboot Spitvalve, Complete Scumbag Party

policies:

kick puppies

beat the poor

pineapple on pizza

Floundra Macwhatnot, Discreet Scumbag Party

policies:

put puppies to work

chastise the poor

pizza under pineapple

minor parties and independents:

Gort Butterson, Independent

policies:

televised puppy torture

mandatory constipation

toot toot, i'm a boat

Aggy-Waggy Flufftums, Nice Party

policies:

hughs

a cup of tea

smash the state

next page. dingo trembles, sweats, scratches their forehead by the pencil, and clutches ballot in their hand. coala waves their hand and chills in the background. dingo says: "struth, Dennis, and crikey besides! i want to vote for the Nice Party, but i know they won't win, so i guess i'd better vote for the Discreet Scumbags..." they throw the pencil, lift their hands, and scream, "otherwise i'm just throwing my vote away!"

Dennis slaps dingo on their face and says, "wrong, Ken the Voting Dingo!"

Dennis explains, "in Australia, we have preferential voting. you can vote for the Discreet Scumbags to beat the Complete Scumbags, and still "vote 1" for a minor party or independent!"

Ken is confused, "huh? whuh?? i don't understand!"

the ballot is shown. the parties are rated from 1 to 4:

1 - Flufftums, Aggy-Waggy, Nice Party

2 - Macwhatnot, Floundra, Discreet Scumbag

3 - Spitvalve, Bamboot, Complete Scumbag

4 - Butterson, Gort, Independent.

next page. header: preferential vote explained

Dennis explains. to win a seat, a candidate must end up with an absolute majority - that is, over 50% of the total votes. imagine your electorate has 100 voters: 51 votes are needed to win.

1st count: Bamboot - 39, Floundra - 35, Aggy-Waggy - 20, Gort - 6.

first the "1" votes are counted. but look - no one has 51 votes or more!

the loser, Gort, is eliminated. but the six people who voted "1" for Gort now have their "2" votes (second preferences) counted and transferred to those candidates.

2nd count: Bamboot - 39 + 4 = 43, Floundra - 35 + 1 = 36, Aggy-Waggy - 20 + 1 = 21.

still no one has an absolute majority of 51 or more! so Aggy-Waggy is eliminated, and her votes transferred according to the next preferences.

3rd count: Bamboot - 43 + 5 = 48, Floundra - 36 + 16 = 52.

Dennis says, "oh! a surprise victory for Floundra!"

next page. Ken says, "so basically, if my first choice doesn't win, my second choice gets counted as my first choice, and so on." Dennis shows them the sign "correct!"

Ken asks, "but since my second choice won anyway, what was the point of putting minor party first?" Dennis answers, "ah! firstly, minor parties and independents can and do win seats if enough people vote for them. since you lose nothing by voting "1" for whoever you like most, why wouldn't you?" Ken responds, "oh! mm."

Dennis continues, "secondly, this might happen..." Floundra sits in office and thinks, "preferences from Nice Party voters made a big difference! i'll need to keep them happy if i want to beat Bamboot again next time. i'll look into this... hugs."

Dennis continues, "thirdly, if a candidate gets at least 4% of first preferences ("1" votes), they'll receive election funding for each of those votes, which will help with their next campaign!" Aggy-Waggy holds a sign with a heart with rainbow track and "vote nice!" inscription. she says enthusiastically, "i bought a sign!"

note: approximately 2.76 dollars at the 2019 election. the amount is indexed every 6 month in line with CPI. source: AEC (november 2018).

Dennis asks, "any more questions, Ken the voting dingo?" Ken asks, "do i have to number all the boxes?" Dennis answers, "yes." Ken asks, "do i have to follow a "how to vote" card?" Dennis answers, "no."

final frame: share the comic freely! high quality versions for sharing and duplication:

chickennation.com/voting

found this comic useful? want more like it? support the creator:

ko-fi.com/patrickalexander

get official information and practice voting:

aec.gov.au/Voting/How_to_Vote/

your vote matters. vote thoughtfully!

copyright 2013-2019 patrick alexander

chickennation.com

/end ID].

[poetic-pearls]

better be safe than sorry

pairing: luke castellan x unclaimed reader (totally just friends)

“new years at camp half-blood”

[wc: 902]

23:50

the stars are painting the night sky in a way that almost makes me wish we wouldn't light any fireworks. the breeze caressing my face smells of the sweet strawberries we are surrounded by and liquor.

"here" behind me, luke seems to appear out of nowhere, two cups in hand.

his eyes twinkle kindly, reflecting the stars that seem closer than usual. "sorry for taking so long; the cabin was full, well, more full than usual"

23:53

"don't worry about it"

luke sits down beside me and holds out a cup.

it being warmer inside camp than on the outside allows me to look at his strong arms.his arms are decorated colorfully with the tattoos we sneaked off the table for the younger campers earlier.

"so, another year of this huh?"

he laughs that melodic laugh of his that always manages to claw it's way into my chest.

"yeah, i guess", he rips two strawberries our of the field, holding one out to me " but hey, at least i'm there to keep you company the whole time"

"ugh, right, another year stuck with you. i kind of wish the others would stay too"

"hey!" luke nudges me in the shoulder, almost making me fall on top of an unripe bush of strawberries.

i gasp, "how dare you? you better hope the dryads don't snitch on you trying to destroy the field"

"i hope not, but i might have already tripped a little on my way here; even spilled some of my drink. not sure how booze affects the growth of strawberries but i doubt it's any good"

"ew", now i'm the one pushing him "at least now i know why sometimes the first strawberries of the year taste like beer"

we're both laughing.

"okay, okay" luke raises his hands in surrender "i admit, that might have something to do with me"

i shake my head in faux disappointment "luke, luke, luke. how could you?"

"i'm sorry, alrigh-", we're startled by a singular firework.

"oh that must have been the test - what time is it?"

"uhh..." luke checks his wrist.

"23:57. shit, did you see the others?"

"no, i gave up. did you see them on your way?"

"nope, weird. they just disappeared; almost like they don't want ro be found"

i hum, twirling the stem of what used to belong to my strawberry.

"seems like we'll start the new year alone" "but i was going to kiss allie for good luck" we both say at the same time.

"maybe we could still look for them?", i offer.

luke shakes his head "if we didn't find them before i doubt we'll find them now."

"shit, then what am i supposed to do about my kiss?" i look around, nothing but trees. well, and luke. "you think one of the dryads would be up for it?"

luke laughs, pushing his hair out of his eyes."maybe, but do you really want to start the year with splinters in your lips? maybe-"

luke looks uncertain, avoiding my gaze before looking back at me with brown eyes.eyes like melted chocolate, the sweetest of them all. when i look at him i can almost taste it. and i want to.

"maybe we could kiss?"

the offer hangs between us like a cloud and we're both just staring at each other for a moment.

"i wouldn't want you to start the year with bad luck"

23:59

am i getting red? no, no, surely not. it's pretty warm here, right? i was already red before he started talking; before he looked at me like that. i'm just warm.

"okay"

one look at his watch.

23:59:44

i'm glad to have a friend as nice as luke.

his eyes are trained on his watch before he meets my gaze again, continuing to count under his breath.

23:59:55

we're both leaning in now.

did the fireworks already start or is that the sound of my heart beating?

"5, 4, 3, 2-"

when our lips meet the same feeling from earlier comes back. the feeling i always get when he laughs.

i just really appreciate what he's doing for me.

his lips are so soft, just like i expected.

his lips do always look soft. especially in the light of the campfire. but he tastes different. he tastes bitter like liquor and unripe strawberries. but also sweet like the chocolate he stole for us from the table earlier.

it's different but perfect.

different from the way i expected just a minute ago.

the first and only time i thought of his lips on mine.

when we part it takes a few seconds before we actually pull away. but not much.

luke's cheeks are flushed, he must feel that it is too warm too. and his eyes reflect the fireworks that just started.

he looks so pretty like this.not that i would ever tell him that, but it's the way his curls fall on his forehead, the way his eyes reflect the fireworks instead of stars now and the pink of his cheeks and lips.

"...i think my watch might be set a few seconds too early"

i just nod, i know what he means. the fireworks are always on time.

and soon there are mumbled "happy new years" between us and our lips meet once again.

better be safe than sorry.

a/n: might post a bonus soon

[whotfareweidunno]

TFO ALTERED CYCLES AU - MAIN 4

Original Post

ELITA-1

- Eternally done with Orion Pax's BS

- Instead of being sent to "Waste Management" like in the movie she got sent straight to Sub-50

- She was actually the first to meet B-127 in this AU

- Still salty about being demoted

- Ready to punch Orion [and maybe D-16] whenever they do something stupid

- She's 21 ft tall in her fogless form and 28 ft tall with her cog

- She/Her

- Only follows along with the plan to find the Primes because she has no way to get out of Sub-50 otherwise

- Most serious of the group

- Was in Sub-50 for a few days before Pax and D actually got sent down there, so she had time to get used to B's oddities

- She only puts up with Orion and D-16 for B's sake, at least in the beginning

- Offput by what B had to do to survive and what he thinks is okay or not

- Ha some emergency tools like a repair kit, external radio, and emergency rations hidden on her person at all times

B-127

- Way shorter than in the movie [15 ft Cogless, 20 ft with a cog]

- Has been in Sub-50 for almost his whole life

- Constantly in low energy/conservation mode due to not finding a lot of energon in the heaps

- It/He

- Knows it's way through Sub-50's garbage heaps like no other

- Taught himself to read

- Collects a ton of Datapads, especially pre-war era which were thrown out by Sentinel's request

- Very energetic

- Has very little memory from before Sub-50

- Knows very little of what is socially normal

- Sensitive to light [and sound to a lesser degree]

- Hands on learner, makes its own things most of the time

- Lots of scars due to lack of medical care

- Has found dead cybertronians in the dump before

- If the bodies are in good shape it usually disassembles them for parts

- Has very little storage on its personal due to being so small so it made itself extra storage space using scrap metal and an old jet back

- He struggles to keep up with the others and reach things

ORION PAX

- Smart but in a stupid way if that makes sense

- Impulsive

- Got put in Sub-50 with D-16 a few days after Elita after competing in the Iacon 5000

- When he first saw B-127's Collection of Datapads he was shocked

- He read through them as fast as possible, and put the rest away for later reading

- He/They

- He always has extra energon on him as an emergency stash

- They're 23 ft without their cog, 32 with a cog

- He is slightly sensitive to noise due to his finials

- Kinda looked up to Elita-1 if I'm being honest

- Has a lot of impromptu ideas

- Has minimal emergency supplies outside of energon

- He finds he relates to B a lot [though he is definitely creeped out at the things he does]

- Always tries to find things related to Megatronous Prime for D-16

- Somehow finds a way to rope D-16 into things

- Wants Cogless Bots to be treated fairly

- Jumps into things without thinking

- Somehow both good with words and terrible with them at the same time

D-16

- Second most serious of the quartet

- He loves Orion, don't get him wrong, but he is SO done with him

- Idolizes all the Primes, especially Megatronous

- He got sent to Sub-50 with Orion after Iacon 5000, just a couple days later than in cannon

- Has drill on his person almost always

- Tries to be complacent and follow rules to the best of his abilities.

- He/Him

- Offput by B-127 as a whole, but he warms up to it soon enough

- Regularly gets caught up in Orion's Shenanigans

- Respects Elita-1

- Has a decent selection of Emergency supplies [usually used on Pax after he does something stupid]

- He is the protective one of the group

- 25 ft Cogless, 33 ft with a cog

- Was the least disturbed by what B-127 had to do to survive

- He is FURIOUS at learning what Sentinel did, but he is also more grounded by the others thanks to being around them for longer in this AU

[sandorsubs]

wiring your brain to control shifting

i was playing a video game but level was extremely hard. i shed blood and sweat, thinking "maybe this game is for pros and i'm not a good gamer" i was this close to give up but i wanted to see rest of the game so badly i kept trying. finally i passed it thinking it's just luck.

years later i played the game again. i hesitated at first but passed the same level in my first try. mind you i didn't become pro gamer or anything in all these years. it was just my brain wiring in the background, collecting data to find out what to do exactly but i've never realized this until i have to do it again.

if you ever said "i have never been able to do this throughout my life" for anything wait for a second and admit this is just a mental block you put between you and your desire. when you are wiring your brain, you don't realize it's happening, looks like nothing is changing or only little changes happening. because you don't see what's happening in background. it actually becomes easier but we don't care because if it's easier we are too focused on moving forward and achieving the desire.

then a random day it feels natural being able to do that. almost like you were born with this.

i've said this in my previous post, shifting isn't a skill/talent/sth related to luck or genetics. if you still think shifting is just one big change happens rarely and miraculously, please try to change that.

because shifting is just like water. it can be a drop or big ass ocean(depending on the changes in the realities). just because you've never seen an ocean, it doesn't mean you can't look at rain and say guess there has to be more.

you won't wire your brain to shift but to control it. if you aren't new to shifting, at least couple months passed since you've started your journey, your wiring has already started.

how wiring works for shifting?

i'll call this wiring path. you either stick to one thing you like or feel comfortable with, even a little interest is more than enough. or find an existing wiring path. the times you felt close to shifting for example. maybe a little voice keeps telling you this is your method. you probably have more than one wiring paths for shifting, but they are like unfinished projects. one of them must be more prominent, like at least 50% finished project.

after you've decided on your wiring path, it's not any different from achieving anything. you are not a monk, you won't be spending eternity if you are actively learning. do you know those clicking moments? you can meditate for thirty hours straight but a feeling or realization in one of your attempts takes wiring process further. and i gotta admit, maybe you needed those thirty hours meditation to realize this. that's what i love about wiring. nothing goes is in vain.

everything you do takes your wiring further.

if it feels like literally nothing is changing, you either work on more than one wiring paths or the process slowed down.

when you are not aware of this wiring, it's like pushing all the buttons and hope for best. that's what they mean by lock in. because trying everything at the same time or having backup methods is working on more than one wiring paths.

it's like learning ten languages at the same time but you are barely a1 in all of them.

like i said you have more than one wiring paths and they are unfinished projects, they all have potential. don't give them powers thinking one of them is better than the other. you make them work better with yourself. you have power to choose.

wiring from loa perspective

before loa folks come and say "so what you are saying is, you have to actually do sth to shift? stop planting assumptions in people's minds! i don't have to do anything to shift!"

baby, i'm gonna hold your hand while saying this, you assumption is also a work. you assumed you don't need 46 step method to shift or you have already shifted, right? good, i'm happy for you but see that's also a work. you still do something. you wire your brain this is how you'll control shifting. seriously, what do you consider as "work"? i'm not telling you to do 30 push-ups everyday. (i'm not being sarcastic btw, i love loa. but some of y'all doesn't like to see anything out of assumption-core. this isn't progressive and if my opinions are shaking the foundation of your assumption, sorry but maybe it's not much of an assumption because it shouldn't matter even the whole world is against you when it comes to loa -sandor goddard). whatever get on the ship loa gang, we are sailing

why "tried it all" shifters couldn't complete their wiring process then?

so i remember a person in my dm saying "i've tried a particular method for long period of time. i've tried it all and gave time."

i picture a student when i see "tried it all" shifters. this student thinks if they study math and score high marks in exams they'll be a perfect student. so they start working hard, ignoring the fact they hate math or find it hard to understand.

maybe they're interested in sports or literature but this student is obsessed with having perfect student image. they are not actively wiring, they are bargaining which only slows down and takes extra effort even to reach a milestone. they'll still have hard time to wire their brain even in subjects they do like. they study for 9 hours straight but the friend of them sniffs the textbook and scores higher.

then we have to let go of desire? it depends, i think there are two kinds of desire: first, a desire that helps you, reminds you of what you want to have and the second, desire that reminds you, what's lack. if your desire feels like a liability or its leeching you it's the second one. atp what your desire is unimportant. it's about how you see this unaccomplished desire.

plus if you are actively wiring your brain, you won't even have time to think about this desire obsessively. because you are too focused on what to do, desire is just a fuel and collectively helping you.

so people whose shifted in first attempt didn't wire any shit?

when you bumped into a "i shifted in my first attempt" person next rime, know that they are not shifting gods or prophets. they just figured out in instant what makes their brain easier to wire for controlling shifts. let's be fr some people are gifted with focusing or visualizing. they have useful existing wiring paths for shifting. plus i want to remind you something:

don't underestimate the power of a blank page. neutrality has higher frequency than courage, do you know why? because you don't have any fears or worries, when you are neutral you don't need a reason be courageous. i know if i erease your shifting attempts from your memory right now, you'd be shifting in your "first" attempt either. because most of the time you deal with your fears and worries instead of actively wiring.

how to actively wire?

people are trembling, throwing up and procrastinating when it comes to "attempt". i don't even want to call it attempt because you are actively learning. and no it's not "dw we learn from every attempt 🌺🌻✨" kinda motivation, it's literally how your brain is getting wired.

let's assume you find your wiring path, it's more prominent than other paths you have. for example its raven method + visualizing and falling asleep. you felt close to shifting with this method before. be aware of your every attempt and observe closely because by the time you'll get better at each part of your method. active wiring is not doing the same thing everyday robotically.

maybe normally you count to 100 but one day you feel you are already focused when you reached 40. or your focusing skills improved so much, you need to discard counting part, because you already wired that part in your brain. or you were visualizing yourself in your dr bed but suddenly you felt like you want to visualize one of your dr memories. your brain will be more invested in something they find interested. in previous student example i gave you, bargaining person misses these moments, they stubbornly do the same thing and rarely progress.

don't be scared of working on your wiring path. if you feel like you are waiting or pending, your wiring only slowed down. it doesn't always mean you need to do something, maybe you need to observe what you are doing and make simple changes. even if it means taking a break.

active wiring is not waiting for the day you'll achieve it. when you are learning a new skill you do your thing and expect it to be successful every single time even if it's your first time. you can almost see yourself achieving it. this expectation doesn't come from bargaining tho, it's your desire, the healthy kind.

in next posts i'll be sharing my way to wire my brain to control shifting and the terms i came up with. this is how i observed and decided to use wiring for myself. please take care and don't consume everything you read if it feels wrong or doesn't sit with you, or you don't even want to accept it true. spit it out. same for this post.

[stobinesque]

Hi! Can you explain what your Semiotics Verse is? Eee! 🖤

Yes!! I feel like I always end up talking about it in gesture but haven't, like, info-dumped about the series as a whole ever. It was originally borne out of dual fic ideas after finishing season 4. The first one was "what if Robin coming out was Steve's gay awakening?" (which became phryctoria) and what was supposed to be an entirely separate fic idea of a 5 + 1 Steve flagging fic. Except then my rat bastard of a brain was like "what if those two things exist in the same universe and what if you write a whole series exploring queer culture and signifiers and give all of the fic titles in the main series titles based on different kinds of semaphore/telecomms/cryptographic systems" because I'm an insane person with worms for brains.

Wayfinder (my Lucas POV s4 fix-it) is technically a part of the same universe, but won't be a part of the "main" series. I had already wanted to do a season 4 rewrite that treated Lucas and Erica with more respect than the show ever lends them, and for the main 'verse I needed to work out how closely I was or wasn't hewing to canon, so Wayfinder will basically establish where the universe is diverging from canon while allowing me to focus on Lucas, my best boy. I may end up writing bits and pieces of that Season 4 rewrite from other POVs eventually, because I'm planning to change a lot about how the events of Vol 2 go, and only some of those things will really be visible from a Lucas POV, but Wayfinder is my baby.

The series as a whole will mostly be Steve-centric, with a heavy Stobin focus, along with some Steddie. A lot of stuff post-flag the play is still a little up in the air and is constantly changing, but the idea is that the series as a whole will explore queer culture and community in Indianapolis + found family dynamics.

Series features (things in italics subject to change):

Will and Steve gay bonding

potential byler?

Slutty!Steve

leather

AIDS Activist + Sex shop worker & Sex Educator + Queer Youth shelter volunteer Steve (the boy is doing too much)

They're [Steddie] switches, bitches! (in both sense of the word)

awkward Rockie flirting

Smithie!Robin

an epistolary Stobin fic

NoHo Pride

Robin & Nancy east coast bonding

Lavender marriage/queerplatonic Stobin

so many OCs

Steddie + Rockie and/or Ronance duplex living

Steve's six little nuggets [exact kid count subject to change]

The 90s

queer intimacy + non-monogamy

info-dumping about queer history

no seriously i have an annotated bibliography planned and a whole Notion database of research

demiromantic lesbian Nancy Wheeler

Edancy bonding

Steve and Robin Share A Gender

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

Of my 2% capacity to be attracted to anyone, my type is like 90% women, 5% pretty men and 5% men you would swear are super fucking manly, and never questioned being straight and cis, but are now suddenly *stressed* that they can't figure out why their attraction to me [fully socially interpreted as a woman and labelled that way up until relatively recently] feels incredibly fucking gay

[nobodysdaydreams]

Giving a complicated tragic childhood backstory to your favorite character is all fun and games, until you realize you need to account for how old all the other adult characters would have been at the time and realize that scenes that would work perfectly if one character was twenty three and the other was fourteen stop working when you need other characters who are played by adult actors clearly younger than they are to be in college at the same time so your story beats line up thematically.

[thoughtpeek]

I'VE FINALLY FINISHED BROTHERSHIP IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!

[here-there-were-dragons]

as a general rule, on average, if americans consistently complain about a food being conceptually weird, gross, and scary, then it probably tastes amazing. or at least inoffensive.

this is because in my experience americans for the most part (give or take a few exceptions by region) think eating literally anything other than beef, chicken, bread, eggs, peanut butter jelly sandwitches, ketchup, and disgusting cloyingly artificial brown sludge soda is insurmountably weird, gross, and scary.

[bittersweetblasphemy]

the problem with writing a fantasy loosely based on a historical culture is you need to decide how "loose" you're willing to go. like yeah i know they didn't have silk but fuck you there's a literal god sitting right the fuck there and of course he would want that shit. but also would the protagonist know what the fuck a book is?

[chirpsythismorning]

📝 💐 🛼 💔⏪️💭🧊🌄❤️‍🩹

I Know There's Something's Going On by Frida

previous ⏮️ now playing ⏭️ next back to playlist

Special Features

El's Not Stupid

[to-the-batcomputer]

christ almighty. bruce wayne i don't forgive you for anything (<- girl who just watched utrh voice)

[balconyswirls]

.

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 8: !!NOTE: this is different from the past polls - rather than choosing a story action, you're picking supplies to craft a little makeshift boat (EX: wood will be the main platform, so there should likely be the most of it, however, if there were 100% votes for branches and 0% votes for rope, then it'd just be a pile of wood held together by nothing - keep them balanced reasonably, etc.))

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

The winning option of yesterday's poll was that the adventurer should get around the barrier by crafting a little boat to take a river detour….

~

Finally crawling out of his hiding spot in the brambles, he meticulously brushes the leaves from his clothes and composes himself, now fully focused on his generic traveler's map of the area... After checking it about 500 times just to make sure he isn't confused, he determines that going down the nearby river would likely still get him where he's trying to go, and hopefully be much less treacherous than wandering through haunted forests or confronting the stern gaze of the barrier guards..

It only takes about 10 minutes of following a narrower rocky path off the main road to reach a nice shaded spot of land next to a small river. He kneels in the grass, eagerly rummaging through his backpack for supplies, in addition to whatever he can scavenge from the edge of the woods. The rush of excitement slowly dissipates however, once he realizes that he.. actually.. might not know how to make a raft as well as he thought... Surely it's quite straightforward, no? Just.. make it look like it does in picture books?? There are no rules, as long as it floats, it works! Probably anyone could build one on intuition alone! ... maybe...???

.. Once again sinking into a cloud of anxiety, he slumps over, staring at the pile of materials with teary eyes, doubtful what to even do next.... How should he build the raft? Help him by using the poll to choose the appropriate amounts of materials (determined by final % of votes in that category)!

[theheadlessgroom]

https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/708379339960582144/theheadlessgroom-beatingheart-bride

@beatingheart-bride

“I don’t see what else there could be to it,” he admitted with a little shrug-for the life of him, he couldn’t really imagine what Morgan’s motives could be other than riding proverbial coattails in a bid for fame. It seemed like the only logical answer he could think of, really; try as he might to think of something else, he just couldn’t seem to!

“Now, I admit, I never saw him trail after La Constance,” he continued, as he took another bite of mashed potatoes, chewing thoughtfully before saying, “But I think we can chalk that up to her being...considerably less open to new company than you are, my dear.” 

He smiled slyly and chuckled a bit when he said this, before adding, “La Constance only welcomes the company of those with...sizable bank accounts, let’s say, and the best way to get her to be anything other than cold and dismissive is to flash something sparkly in front of her. I’ve actually seen her smile simply because of the patrons gifted her a new pair of ornate earrings, if you can believe it.”

La Constance actually smiling was an unusually creepy sight (he was so used to seeing her scowling unpleasantly that seeing her flash a smile-even a fake one-was disconcerting), but he quickly put that image out of his head as he eyed his slice of cake, saying, “But Thaddeus Morgan, on an orchestra member’s salary? He’d never be able to afford La Constance’s expensive tastes, so trying to earn a little fame from her is out of the question. So I think that explains why he hasn’t been trailing around after her the way he has you.”

Emily, comparatively, was a down-to-Earth young woman, who didn’t need bottles of champagne on ice or pretty baubles to win her over; no, she was a simple woman when it came to her friendships, and while this was a quality Randall admired in her, he could also see how Morgan might think that “simple” means “easy”. It irked him to think so, but he doubted Morgan would get very far in his endeavors. 

[leatherbookmark]

...no but the fact that it took them this long to figure out that maybe tumblr's main page for non-users should be revamped is... kind of insane, actually