#it was better yesterday but I saw the news about youtube and now I has a sad

[firelordsfirelady]

XIII. Pinky Promises

Author: @firelordsfirelady

Imagine: When Y/N—a princess of one of the Water Tribes—is told she’s leaving her tribe, she never expects that she’s to be betrothed to the Fire Lord’s son, nor was she prepared to be exiled the very day she arrived at the Fire Nation. With her life in the hands of her new fiancée, how will life change for the princess? 

Pairing: Zuko x F!Reader

Trigger warnings: arranged marriage, feelings of fear, banishment, mentions of burns/abuse, frustration, violence, betrayal

Word Count: 3089

Destined to be Yin and Yang 

I own no rights to Avatar the Last Airbender or any of the characters/story. 

Author’s Notes

The characters as all aged up so Zuko’s banishment happens when he’s 16 

Keep in mind I am bringing a unique world with inspiration from ATLA in their characters, some of the events that happen, bending, etc. Not many things may align or occur with what happened in the show. It’s intended that way, so I hope you enjoy it regardless.

See Y/N’s inspiration here. 

Destined to be Yin and Yang Soundtrack (YouTube)

Thankfully, the crew and Zuko let me rest till very late in the afternoon the next day. As I sat at my desk brushing my hair, I stared at the firebender I had been drawing before the Fire Nation rudely drug me away yesterday. I had been busy adding a small amount of shading to the picture, and the small firebender I had drawn looked more alive now than it did when I started. A smile subconsciously found its way to my lips as I reminisced on my conversation with a certain firebender last night.

I will honor my agreement to marry you. Zuko’s words echoed in my head as I lightly touched my lips. He had kissed me last night, and, by the way the butterflies in my stomach fluttered, I may not ever recover from the kiss as my cheeks tinted a deep shade of pink.

Walking out of my room, I knocked on Zuko’s door, but there was no reply from within. I shrugged my shoulders as I walked down to Iroh’s door and knocked gently. Iroh’s friendly voice welcomed me inside the room, and I smiled as I walked in and greeted the older Firebender.

“Ah, Y/N, please have a seat. Would you like some tea?” He asked with a smile as he held up the tea pot. “I got some lovely ginsei tea from the last supply run we did.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you knew where Zuko was.” Iroh gave me a knowing smile as I asked my question.

“Ah, yes,” Iroh said as he poured three cups of tea. “He is in his prayer room.” Turning around, Iroh handed me two cups of tea. “He has specifically requested that no one disturb him until they have news of the Avatar.” The smile on Iroh’s lips had me furrow my eyebrows in confusion as I grabbed the cups, then I realized why Iroh was giving me two teacups.

“You want me to tell Zuko we have no news about the Avatar?” Iroh lightly laughed at my question and handed me a rolled map.

“What better way to receive unwanted news than with a beautiful woman bringing you tea?” I rolled my eyes as my cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

“If only the young prince saw it that way.” I laughed, careful not to spill the tea. Iroh smiled a knowing smile at me.

“Besides, perhaps, the two of you might be able to talk.” I rolled my eyes at Iroh’s attempt to set Zuko and I up on a date.

“I’m going to tell him you sent me there for a date.” I teased the older man who laughed at my statement. 

“I am not the one who called it a date.” Iroh teased back before he turned around to hold a small tea tray towards me. “Then take this tea tray.” I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue at the Firebender before setting the two cups on the tray and taking the offered tray from his hands. “Good luck on your date.” Iroh laughed as I rolled my eyes and left the room.

My heart thudded against the bones of my ribs as I walked towards the set of double doors that separated the hall from the prayer room. I felt nervous as I shifted the tray to rest against my right forearm as I raised my left hand and gently knocked on the door.

“I said to only come if there’s news of the Avatar.” Zuko’s calm voice came from the other side of the door. I took a deep breath before I answered.

“Even if I have tea?” My voice was light as I carefully opened the door. Zuko sat cross legged on a small stool in front of four lit candles that sat on a table. The candle flames grew then dimmed as Zuko sat with his back to me, but he turned to look at me as I gave him a warm smile.

“I was clear when I told Un—“

“And Iroh was the one who sent me to tell you the news.” Zuko’s eyebrow raised itself as I looked around the room to set the tray down. “But, you must remain calm with the news.”

“Uncle always said that a great leader keeps their cool.” Zuko calmly spoke as he turned his attention back to the candles in front of him.

We shall see how calm you remain. I stood there holding the tray of tea before I straightened my shoulders and smiled.

“We have no idea where the Avatar is.” The flames of the candles erupted into larger flames that reached the ceiling as he turned around with anger.

“What?” 

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” I clicked my tongue and shook my head before I took some water from one of the cups and put out the candles. “You’re lucky to have me around with that temper.” I smirked as the Firebender struggled to calm down. Now that the candles were out, I carefully walked over to set the tray down on the table.

Zuko was dressed in a loose robe that stopped above his knees. I had yet to see him dressed so casually before, and it was sending my heart into a whirlwind as I tried my best not to stare at the handsome man as I turned back around. 

I shook my head as the thought crossed my mind, but I straightened up to give the prince a smile.

“Your uncle wanted me to deliver the news because,” I dropped my voice to imitate Iroh. “What better way to receive unwanted news than with tea delivered by a pretty lady.” I let out a light laugh before I turned around to find Zuko’s ears had reddened. “I told him that you might not see it as such.” A friendly smile was on my lips, but my heart hammered in my chest.

“Uncle has a way of exaggerating things.” Zuko said in a calm voice before he looked away. “He’s not wrong about the tea though.” My cheeks reddened as I looked away from the Prince. “Let me see the map.” Zuko took the rolled up map from my hand and unrolled it. I could see a black line drawn from several random points on the map as I looked over Zuko’s shoulder.

Had that been a compliment? I didn’t linger on the thought as I looked back up at Zuko.

“I couldn’t help but notice there’s two cups on the tray.” Zuko’s eyes brieflylooked towards the tea tray before he continued looking at the map. My ears reddened, but I tried to play it off with a laugh.

“Perhaps he thought you’d like some company while you drink your tea.” Zuko smirked at me as he rolled the map back up again. “It looks like the Avatar has been all over.” I said as I nodded my head towards the rolled up map, and Zuko sighed heavily.

“How are we supposed to find him if we don’t know where he is.” Frowning slightly, I walked up and squeezed his shoulder lightly.

“We will find him, Zuko.” I smiled at him. “I know it.” He stared at me briefly as if I had two heads. “Matter of fact, let me see the map.” He gave me the map as I had asked and I unrolled it. Scanning my eyes over the map, I was drawn to a small island in the earth kingdom. Pointing to it, I asked Zuko what the name of the island was.

“That’s Kyoshi’s Island.” Zuko said as he looked at it. “Nothing significant other than it was Avatar Kyoshi’s birth place.” I blinked at him.

“I have a feeling that we might find the Avatar there.” I casually shrugged as I rolled the map back up. “Giving his random path, he could be marking things off of a bucket list or something.” 

Zuko and I stood there awkwardly in silence before I cleared my throat.

“Well I’ll be go—“

“Do you want—“ Zuko and I started at the same time, and I let out a laugh.

“We need to stop doing that.” I laughed, and Zuko let out a small chuckle.

“Do you want to have some tea with me?” Zuko asked before I could finish my sentence, and his cheeks turned red as spoke.

“I thought you weren’t to be disturbed until there’s news of the Avatar?” I teased as I raised an eyebrow at the Firebender to cover the heart pounding in my chest. “I’d hate to disturb you with no news.” Zuko rolled his eyes at me, but the corners of his mouth raised a bit. 

“Who said you were disturbing me?”

Mentally his words have me screaming, but physically I tried to keep calm as I gave him a smile.

“As long as I’m not a bother,” I bowed my head slightly before I looked into the golden eyes that were looking at me. “I’d love to have some tea with you.”

A few hours later, Zuko had me in tears.

“It’s seriously not that funny.” Zuko said with irritation as his ears betrayed his embarrassment as I held my stomach with laughter. Wiping tears from my eyes, I took deep breaths to try and calm my fit of laughter.

“Oh, trust me, it is that funny.” A small laugh left my lips again before I smiled at the Prince. “I just can’t imagine you stuck in a tree dangling..” Another fit of laughter threatened to bubble out of me as I spoke. “It’s almost as funny as the time I got my tongue stuck to the ice cap back home.” Zuko and I looked at each other before we both started laughing at the same time.

“How did you get your tongue stuck to the ice cap?” Zuko asked as his laughter calmed down. An easy smile rested on his lips as he leaned against the wall of the prayer room with his hands behind his head. I laid on my back as I looked at him from my spot on the floor.

“Five year-old me thought it was a brilliant idea to lick the ice cap after Mayuh had done it and said it tastes like sushi.” I laughed at the stupidity of my younger self. Wiping tears from my eyes, I smiled at the fond memory. Zuko’s face scrunched up as he looked disgusted.

“You believed it would taste like sushi?” I laughed before reiterating that I was five years old at the time. A comfortable silence fell between us as I happily laid on the floor by the casually sitting Prince. I looked over to admire him as he stared blankly at the liquid in the cup between his hands. His eyes swam with such uncertainty that it broke my heart.

“Do you remember the dream I told you about the koi fish--the moon and ocean sprits?” My quiet words left my mouth as I looked at the Prince. Blinking slowly, Zuko slightly shifted his attention to me.

“Yes, and I remember the story about them coming to be mortal for a day.” Zuko’s eyebrow raised and I knew as he opened his mouth that he was going to ask me a question.

“I started having those dreams as far back as I could remember.” I looked up at the ceiling above me as I spoke. “I dreamt about one of the fish--the moon fish--dying during some dreams. Other dreams were me climbing into the pool to swim with the spirits with a young girl with snow white hair.” Zuko stayed quiet as I talked.

“When I was ten, my father said he had business to discuss with the Northern Water Tribe, and he would be gone for a few months. I begged Father to take me with him.” I let out a small chuckle at the memory. “And I mean I begged. I did all my schoolwork for that year and the next because he worried about my schooling.”

“Dad finally agreed, and I was ecstatic to arrive at the Northern Water Tribe. I met the King’s daughter, Princess Yue, and she looked just like the girl in my dreams.” Taking a small strand of hair between my fingers, I twisted the strand around my fingers as I sighed.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Zuko.” The firebender was as calm as ever as he patiently waited for me to continue. “Father and I stayed long enough for the day to come that the Moon and Ocean spirits would spend an evening as mortals among us.

“I followed Princess Yue to the sacred spring and was in absolute awe at the sight of the koi swimming in their water. I remember Yue put her hand in the water and the white koi playfully swam to her, so I did the same. The Ocean spirit came to greet me before the two koi playfully swam between our hands.” The memory made tears come to my eyes as I smiled fondly at the memory. “I could hardly believe something like that was possible.”

“We returned home shortly after, but I was never the same after that interaction.” My chest felt heavy as I prepared to let Zuko in on a secret I had been keeping from him. “Ever since I returned from that trip, I’ve had these dreams or visions that are so vivid and feel so real that I have to question if it happened or if I imagined it.” My words were slightly unsteady as I continued.

“When I was ten, I had a dream that began seeing Mayuh laying on a pile of wood with her hands folded neatly over her chest. She looked peaceful as I approached to tell her my final goodbye. I remember reaching out to her and touching the cold shoulder of my grandmother as she laid in bed. My touch caused her to fall back slightly and I screamed as I saw dried blood from her nose and lifeless eyes staring back at me.” I closed my eyes at the memory. “Mother had assured me that it was just a nightmare.” I let out a bitter laugh. “She heard my scream three weeks later as I found my grandmother dead.”

“My best friend died when I was fifteen after being chronically ill for years.” Turning to look at Zuko, I bit my lip as his golden eyes looked at me with sadness.

“What are you saying, Y/N?” Zuko asked quietly as I looked back to the hair between my fingers.

“Do not be upset about what I am about to say.”

“You’re not about to tell me I have died in your dreams, right?” I let out a small laugh at Zuko’s question.

“No. You didn’t die.” I sighed as I closed my eyes tightly. “I dreamt about the light we saw in the sky and I heard your voice say something about the Avatar before I saw the Airbender standing in your room.” I heard a sharp intake of breath from the surprisingly calm man near me. “I had a vision of Avatar Kyoshi’s Shrine happen that same night.”

“Are you asking me to believe your dreams are predicting the future?” Zuko’s words sounded dubious as he spoke, and I let out a bitter laugh.

“Absolutely not.” I said. “Life just has a strange way of making the visions happen.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I hope some of them are just dreams.” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I tried to give Zuko a smile, but he looked at me with concerned eyes.

“There’s more that you aren’t saying.” Zuko’s words were quiet, and I tried to keep my face stoic while he stared at me. 

“Hey,” Zuko’s soft words was accompanied by the soft caress of my face with a gentle hand. Forcing me to look at him, Zuko gave me the softest smile as he looked into my eyes. “You can talk to me.” My lungs ceased to work as I mulled over telling Zuko about my dream. “As long as you’re not about to tell me I died in your dream.” Zuko said in a slightly joking manner, but I didn’t find it funny as I replied. 

“I drowned.” My words were softly spoken in a volume barely audible to me as I blankly stared at something other than Zuko’s eyes as the flashbacks of the dream washed over me. “It ended with me drowning.” Silence greeted my heavily said words only briefly before a gentle hand moved the hair out of my face. My eyes focused back to the golden orbs looking back at me with so much emotion, but his facial expression held determination.

“You won’t drown while I’m around.” Zuko’s honest words made my heart jump in my chest.

“Pinky promise?” My voice sounded small as I held out my left pinky to him. “It is against the law to break a pinky promise.”

“A pinky promise?” Zuko’s ears reddened at my suggestion. “What are we? Children?”

“No. We are soon-to-be twenty year-olds who still believe in the binding magic of a pinky promise.” I tilted my head and slightly raised my eyebrow as I smiled at Zuko, offering my pinky again with a small bend of the finger at him.

“On one condition,” Zuko started, and I raised an eyebrow with curiosity. “You tell me about any visions or dreams you have.” I nodded in agreement. With cheeks tinted red, Zuko wrapped his right pinky tightly around my left one.

“I pinky promise that you won’t drown while I’m around.” A wide smile grew on my lips as I tightened my pinky around his too.

“I pinky promise to tell you about any dreams or visions I have.” I repeated then a yawn escaped my lips as I slowly moved to sit up.

“Thank you for having tea with me.” I said as I gathered the cups and the tray. “I enjoyed spending time with you.” Zuko’s face was red as the earnest words effortlessly left my lips.

“Are you free for another training session soon?” Zuko looked at me after he stood up and handed me the tray from the floor. “I feel well enough to train some more.” A smile rested on my face as I looked at the golden eyes staring at me.

“Do you think I’d miss the opportunity to beat you?” Zuko’s cocky smile greeted me. “Never.”

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[adreamemporium]

My humble opinion about CCXP Mexico panels.

I was there in both stages and… yeah, it wasn’t great.

(First of all, english isn’t my first language so if there’s a mistake at least I hope you all understand what I’m saying lol)

Thunder stage was quite good honestly, the host and the questions were good and the cast were having fun. Ewan was quite comfortable and I saw him more relaxed than in Brazil. The only thing I wish it was different was that the exclusive material was only a bts and not a new trailer.

Omelete stage? Well… I wish I have gone to the Thunder stage before and have a better view for the panel instead of being there. I couldn’t hear anything, the audio wasn’t good and with all the screaming it was almost impossible for me to understand anything. I was behind the cast so I didn’t see their faces either and I couldn’t say if they were uncomfortable or Ewan at least. Their team (managers I think? People from HBO latam too I think) was sitting just behind them and they were smiling so I thought everything was going well. Now that I have seen the interview in YouTube, I’m glad I didn’t understand a damn thing because that was a really cringe interview. The hosts took all the time with their super long questions, even the girl from Brazil asked what I feel it was almost the same as something she asked in December, the comment about Mexican girls wanting to keep Ewan in their homes or whatever the hell that guy said… Maybe the only question I liked was the one about Succession and that was it.

But again, I feel the event in general has a lot of things to fix if they want to continue organizing this here.

First of all, they announced five days before the whole thing they were coming (and tbh I was following the official pages because I suspected there was a chance for them to come and by the time they announced it I was thinking I was wrong) so a lot of people that don’t live here in Mexico City didn’t have enough time or money to come. In that announcement they said their panels were during the last day, Sunday, which was quite strange if you ask me, but all of us that had the chance to go bought a ticket. Two days after this, they announced they were gonna have limited photo ops on Friday, so we were all frustrated because it was a different day than the panels. But okay, some of us bought a second ticket for that day. I’m not gonna lie guys, two or three hours after the announcement they erased the post about the photo ops without saying a damn thing! I was trying to organize that day because of my work so I went back to the post on Instagram (it was a gallery) and their post about the HOTD photo ops announcement was gone! Not a single word, just gone. I kept asking what was happening and they never answered and I wasn’t the only one. They even hide comments asking them to say something, that if it was cancelled it was okay, but we only wanted some clarification to know what was happening because in my case, for example, I was planning the whole day after asking for a special permission to my boss (she is a lovely person so I didn’t have any problem at all thank god). Even the people in the damn place didn’t know anything about those photo ops that were free but limited when I asked them in person on Thursday and, in that moment, I knew it was going to be a mess. The thing is they never answered and since they didn’t say anything, I chose not going on Friday and basically the money I used for that day was thrown away. At the end, I know the photo ops were yesterday and the winners were chosen during a contest or something like that and it was right before the Omelete stage panel.

But talking about the whole event, all the international guests were announced on April, one month before the event and they began promoting this since January I think. Only Giancarlo Esposito was announced mid February, so again, we didn’t know if it was gonna be a good quality event or not and we were suspicious so a lot of us chose to wait and see who were coming. I think the last announcement were Eve, Ewan, Tom and Steve days before the beginning of the event. Also, some of the international guest had normal photo ops, buying ticket and all, but the prices were announced two days before the event… How could it be possible that hours before the beginning of the convention no one knew anything about this? Everyone was buying their tickets hours before the event, guys.

I don’t know, if you ask me, the whole event was messy since the very beginning. I know it was the first CCXP here in Mexico but it could have been better…

Finally, about the HOTD cast I just wanna say that they were quite happy even with this whole mess. Ewan was super nice with the fans he met, Tom too, about Eve and Steve I don’t know if someone saw them, but again, Tom and Ewan were super nice with the fans. I was fortunate to meet them on Friday when I was working in the same place they were shooting press and Ewan was super nice and lovely when we talked (we took a picture 🫰🏻) and every story I have read about fans meeting him is exactly the same: he was kind, attentive and lovely and he asked to almost all of us if we were gonna be at ccxp. During the Thunder stage panel Tom even said, and I’m quoting “I fucking love Mexico” after all of we were screaming at some point lol. Eve was super emotional with the crowd and kept saying “Viva Mexico!”, Steve and Ewan also were quite happy and excited if you ask me. Tom and Ewan were dancing with the mariachi, Steve saying “chingon” and tbh I could continue. Again, the Omelete stage was messy but I don’t think that changes the whole thing for them and it looks like they really loved their experience in Mexico. :)

Ps. I mean, look at Ewan! He even bought the Mexican jersey and it is adidas of course lol! And this is not my picture btw!

[up-in-flames-writing]

I didn't expect SUCH a huge amount of support for this post yesterday, & cause I don't want to clutter it up, I decided to write further thoughts about it in a new post.

Cause I've been thinking about this issue for years now. Even before I found the transmasc side of tumblr, before I knew that words like transandrophobia & transmisandry existed. Even back then, before I knew I was a man, a lot of the framing of feminism & what counts as 'empowering', didn't really sit right with me. And even then, I didn't feel comfortable speaking up about it, because I was young & a child, even if being a girl would have made my voice louder in this conversation.

The thing is, I don't have some crazy, out there beliefs. As a fledgling writer, I cut my teeth on kindness & the power of friendship. My stories saw even the villains being redeemed, & when I, at the age of 13, became 'cynical', & started writing of conflict from which not everyone came back, my friend said I was watching too many horror games on YouTube. I was 13 when I realised I wasn't a perfect little girl, like my parents always wanted me to. I was 13 when I realised I was bi & ace & queer. I was 13 when I really started to question my gender. But my stories hardly changed. My villains could not all be redeemed, when many villains where bigger than the human forms they took. My heroes couldn't always survive, because humanity always loses souls in the process of making the world better. But the threads were the same, of ragtag families curling up together beneath the stars; of a human child denying their birth & becoming something bigger, something better; of heroes & villains with a set path like a red carpet, laid out before them, becoming stained with the blood of Destiny whom they killed.

These are the threads that I pull across my entire canvas of work, creating a tapestry that shows the goodness of family, the power of a human heart to overcome turmoil, & the strength of humanity to go against what the world wants of us.

And that is… Controversial. Be good to one another, your birth does not define you, you can create your own destiny. But because I write stories where a soldier finds love during war, & he is a man loving another man despite having been born a woman, that isn't OK. He may be the captain, but he could have been just as powerful staying a woman, even though his story is one of hardship not because of his sex, but because of his humble beginning.

When I write of a king who had been deceived by his brother, it feels awkward to write him saying 'Yes, I was born a firstborn daughter, rather than a firstborn son, but my title as King is no lie. I would have not been the first Queen, & I would not be the last, but I always knew, in my heart, that I had been bestowed a gift by a higher power.' But without that, I fear the scrutiny of people saying I am taking this story away from the queens & princesses who deserve it more.

I have, in the works, a story of a creature typically associated with the feminine, & yet he is a man by choice, a warrior by choice, & his birthright has not disappeared. But he wars with a woman who hates him because of the curvature of his horns, & the twist of his tongue, & when he kills her in self-defense, will I be the one to shoulder the burden of his choice?

Because human history is full of monsters turning into men, & men turning into monsters, of people going against the grain & becoming something that Destiny despises. But if a monster who was also once a woman, becomes a man, will his transformation be criticised? Made impure by the pull of the masculine rather than the feminine?

I don't have very crazy beliefs. I believe, first & foremost, in the malleable nature of humanity. I believe that monsters who have humanity deserve love & kindness. I believe that the blood of the coven is thicker than the waters of the womb. I believe that nothing is set in stone, & that we choose our own destinies.

Why, then, should those beliefs be thrown out, just because the monster who turned into a man is me?

[treadmilltreats]

Is it okay for a world leader's buttons to be pressed?

I would have written about this yesterday but I thought it was more important to write about 9/11 as we should never forget the terrorism that took place on the United States soil and let us not forget what took place on our own government steps that was pushed by this man who is trying to run for office and bring us back there once again.

So if you watched the debate the other night, you saw a shit show. You saw Trump unravel as Harris pushed all of his buttons.

And all she had to do was talk about what would bruise his ego to get there. She spoke about his crowd size, his ex employees talking about him, past bankruptcies, and his inherited wealth. That was enough to unhinge Trump. He lost it, repeating again and again how great he was, how his crowds were the biggest, and how he did the best job. Typical narcissistic behavior. And in case you don't know about narcissists, let me fill you in since I am an expert, being married to one for 24 years.

“A narcissist, by definition, is someone with a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy,”

Her pokes at him spun him out of control, causing him to tell more than 30 lies during this debate, according to fact checkers. But that's not anything new. According to the Washington Post, during his four years in office, the former president told more than 30,500 lies, or an average of about 21 false claims daily. Even Wikipedia has this number on their site. That's pretty bad when you're in Wikipedia.

Seriously, is this the man you want to run our country? A man who, when poked, will unravel? A man who can't ever admit he is wrong? A man who lies time and time again to inflate his own ego. Maybe you “Christians” forgot what ego is. Ego is edging God out. You believe that you're bigger than God.

Hell, this man believes he is God. He tweeted that he is "the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world," that "the Jewish people in Israel love him like he's the King of Israel" and even that "They love him like he is the second coming of God."

Who would say this? Only a narcissist.

So today, my friends, we all watched this live, we all saw this man lose it in just one debate. Is this the man who should deal with world leaders? Deal with other narcissist dictators? A man who, when poked about himself, will spin out of control and tell 30 lies in that of a short period of time? The button to the world lies at his fingertips, and he's self-centered enough to push it to show everyone that “he is the man”

We don't need this in the White House. We already read this story, and the sequel is never, ever better.

“Be the change you want to see”

@TreadmillTreats

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[gracegootee]

A Young Plumber's Heart - Chapter 2

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It was the next morning and Grace set up the tables before the cafe opened. Even though she didn't start her shift until the afternoon, she offered to work the morning shift and help her friend Ava set up the cafe. She looked out the window of the beautiful city of Brooklyn, New York, as she thought about that talk with Luigi about the date yesterday. Never in her life did she think she would get asked out. She smiled at the thought and her friend, Ava, cleared her throat, startling her.

Ava laughed.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you from daydreaming... So...are you nervous about your date with the guy who stopped by with his brother yesterday?"

Grace slightly blushed at the question. "A-A little bit..." she started fiddling with her hands as her legs shook and she sat at the table to calm herself.

Ava sat next to her and took Grace's hands gently.

"Hey, hon. I know that you had it hard when talking to guys back then and hanging out with them and mostly people in general but this could be your one and only chance to find a good guy like him...you got this."

Grace smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Ava."

"No sweat, girl. Now come on. We better finish setting up before the other baristas get here to get last-minute things done before we open."

An hour passed since the cafe opened and Grace looked up from taking an order from someone and saw Luigi come in with flowers in his hand. He wore khaki pants, a nice green sweatshirt, a white polo t-shirt underneath, and a red scarf. He glanced around and saw Grace. He smiled and waved shyly. Grace waved back with a gentle but shy smile.

Ava walked past Grace and gestured for her friend to sit with Luigi at the table closest to the window.

They both sat at the table and smiled. Luigi took a deep breath and started the conversation.

"So. Some weather today, huh?"

Grace laughed. "Yeah, spring may have just started but man, the weather is still a bit chilly."

They laughed and talked for at least an hour.

---------------

"Running your own business sounds so exciting!" said Grace. Eating her last bite of pancakes.

Luigi nodded in agreement. "Sure is! Mario's hoping our business goes well. We have a script planned out for our commercial, but one small problem..." he scratched the back of his head "We don't have a camera person or a video editor."

That's when Ava overheard the conversation and walked in.

"Grace is a great editor and Joe and his brother over there are great with filming! They run their own YouTube channel where they go on trips every other weekend to do animal documentaries."

Grace smiled. "Yeah. I'd be more than happy to help you and Mario put your commercial together."

" And hey," said Ava. "Grace told me yesterday before closing the cafe for the day that you need to air your commercial on TV, right?"

Luigi nodded.

"Well," continued Ava. "I talked to my mom about it and she okayed it. But of course, the company she works at has to approve it first before putting it out to the public."

Luigi smiled. "That sounds great! I can put a word in and let my brother know! He'll be excited to hear that!"

Grace smiled as Luigi checked his watch to see the time.

"Well, it was great talking to you, Grace. I had a great time this morning."

Grace nodded and slightly blushed. "Yeah, me too."

Luigi scratched the back of his head and shuffled his feet. ""We should do this again sometim-" He blushed red and stammered. "I-If you like! I don't want to pressure you or anything! I just uh-"

Grace laughed. "I'd like that, Luigi."

Lu smiled and they both gave each other a hug. He waved as he walked out with a coffee for his brother and headed off back home.

Grace smiled, holding the flowers in her hands to smell them, and thought about the charm in his blue eyes and voice. She could tell her heart was telling her that this could be the start of a new and amazing chapter in her life.

[sayhelloanimalfriends]

i saw my dude @sodom-hussein (hi i like your blog so much it is good and so fun and keeps me scrolling) RB this post that was like “I compared today to 1930s germany and the results aren’t good”

and then OP proceeds to just make a bunch of very vague and unmeasurable statements like

‘we are about to die horribly in concentration camps because

antisemitism is increasing

LGBT discrimination is increasing

ableism is increasing

indigenous people are continually threatened etc etc’

The post doesn’t have any facts or information to back any of these claims as true, but it doesn’t need it. because it’s using the same kind of rhetoric that Fox News uses with its users. Fox News doesn’t have to prove something is true if it *feels* true.

and firstly if you go find the post and compare it to my wording of that first statement, you’ll see that i’m sensationalizing a little bit

and secondly, i have love for OP and i have love Sodom-hussein both because i am confident they only want to inform with the goal of changing our world for the better.

BUT I believe that these kinds of posts are not helpful, and while my wording was sensationalizing it wasn’t doing so all that much because of what the post is implying. The post’s intent it seems is to strike fear and terror into the hearts of those most vulnerable in society.

So if you are still reading I would like to use a bit of bad news to maybe ease the fears that many of us are having about the state of our world. Let me explain:

There exists a theory of social organization called Social Dominance Theory which was constructed by Jim Sidanius (oh my god i just found out he died in 2021 ☹️ what a legend) and Felicia Pratto. These two psychologists took behavioral sciences and combined them with historical record of societal hegemony to explain why and how humans seem to organize our societies unfairly.

I won’t go into the minutiae of the theory, but my main point of bringing it into this conversation is that according to their writings, when humans define categories on which to base discrimination (such as race, sexual orientation, cultural/religious identity, etc) these categories remain as subjugated for VERY VERY long periods of time.

This part is the bad news but stay with me.

What i mean to say is that as a gay man, I will probably always be discriminated against in our society. That is just the way these things seem to play out. Now, within my particular place in society things may improve or worsen. But there isn’t really any realistic hope of full liberation. And apparently, also according to social dominance theory, even if gay people WERE to be liberated, a new arbitrary category of discrimination would just take its place.

So how can we use this information to cope with our world?

Well the reality is that you may need time to grieve this truth. But once you are done grieving, you can look at our world and realize that nothing is changing. Everything is staying the exact same.

Just yesterday youtuber Matt Baume released a video about Ellen coming out on TV and it was literally all the same shit as what we’re hearing now. Conservatives feigning disgust and fear for what it means to acknowledge the existence of lesbians. Censorship. Blah blah blah. That was 25 years ago but it could easily be today.

So when you are able to accept that society has fixed you at a disadvantage that is permanent, you are more immune to the kind of brain-numbing effects of fear and terror.

And that’s what I really want you all to do.

I want you to Think Critically. I want you to Think Clearly. And when you’re scared shitless you can’t think at your max capacity.

Because yeah I mean shit is scary. But panicking isn’t going to help anyone. It’s just going to ruin your mood and make it harder for us to organize.

We’ve been dealt a shit hand. But we’ve got each other. We’re not alone. And we’re smart! We can figure out how to protect each other and ourselves. We are resilient. There’s no reason to be terrified. There is every reason to be brave. Bravery, courage, determination. These will help us more than fear in the days to come.

Anyway check out social dominance theory it’s really cool. RIP Jim Sidanius. Your work changed my life man.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

My scrolling through Josie Long YouTube video clips yesterday turned into learning that she did a 30-minute version of her Something Better show on Live at the BBC, a thing I had somehow never known before, despite having looked for it previously. That's the one show that had been stopping me from being a completist about her stand-up shows - my Josie Long folder has at least one full-length version of all the shows she's done as Edinburgh/touring shows, except something better in 2016. I was disappointed that this one seemed to have never been filmed, until last night, when I learned that she did quite a bit of it for Live at the BBC. So now that video is also in my folder and I am a more successful completist.

Not completely successful, because it's still not the full show. But it's a lot better than a little clip, like a Live at the Apollo set that only gives them about ten minutes. Live at the BBC gives them 30 minutes, which is much better. I do have one basis for comparison, having heard the full version of John Robins' Speakeasy off his Bandcamp page and I saw the 30-minute version of Live at the BBC, and the latter covers enough of the former to make me feel like you are getting a good idea of what the actual show is like.

So I watched Josie Long's Live at the BBC thing, and it was really good. A lot of it was material I'd heard before, scattered around in shorter clips, but it was so much better to see it all at once, the way it's supposed to come together. It was a Brexit show, obviously, because it was 2016, and it had all the Josie Long contrasting of hope and optimism with righteous political anger, and she told us about books she was reading, and it was great fun and so very worth the thirty minutes. There were some really funny references to her earliest shows, and contrasting different parts of her style, and it was an interesting bridge in the gap between the kind of thing she was doing in the early 2010s and the more recent stuff. She did her fun characters. It was great fun. And of course there was an exciting and inspiring rallying cry. All the stuff you want from Josie Long.

After that I looked up the Live at the BBC show, because I like the idea of a TV show that lets comedians do more than the usual ten-minute sets that you get on TV, and I watched Sara Pascoe's episode. It was also really, really funny, and reminded me of how funny Sara Pascoe is. I kind of had it in my head that her stand-up isn't for me, because a while ago I watched her do a short thing on a NextUp stream that I didn't enjoy at all, but to be fair to her she said it was very new material at the testing stage. Then more recently I re-watched her LadsLadsLads show and it made me laugh a lot, and it reminded me that she is actually very good.

Her Live at the BBC special was entirely material I'd not seen before, and it also made me laugh a lot, and then I wondered why LadsLadsLads seems to be the only full stand-up hour she's ever filmed (please correct me if I'm wrong about that), but I decided I want more of this so I will settle for the short TV clips. So then I went back down a YouTube clip journey, this time of Sara Pascoe clips, and have spent all morning watching them and they're very funny. Here's a small sample of ones from various years that I particularly enjoyed:

[silver-wield]

Yesterday, I did something naive and debated with a clerith on youtube. They were pushing onto me that aerith di fall in love with real cloud the moment she was able to segregate Zack from Cloud. Thus this realization was only possible because she fell in love with him---------> then I told them that's like falling in love with a celebrity. That means jack shit basically. So I did went cordial and respectful but they went on ad hominem with me and I just figured that I wasted at least 25 mins of my life or more? Anyway, my sister refered we to here and I just want to expound on my thoughts on their argument.

Aerith is not in love with neither real cloud nor false cloud. She is in my pov, in love without a doubt with an idea. And idea of wanting to move on. It doesn't take a moment to figure out that she waited for Zack for 4 years and then you think she's mentally and emotionally stable? I don't think so. This is why she is craving for closure. She wants to know and I don't doubt that she's still in love with him. I mean Cloud was able to live with himself for 2 years even w/o closure (well he still needed it but unlike aerith's his was resolved quite fast with the help of his companions and obviously Tifa's words). But this girl for 4 years couldn't let go of Zack, and only wished for it because she knows he's dead.

Im getting off track here, but basically, she did not fall in love with false cloud, I think a good example was shown on remake when she was surprised that false cloud actually cared for her? And this was the dead one who knows such future. How come she doesn't know false cloud is capable of such? Perhaps because she never really knew him nor understood him? We see with Tifa that false cloud is acting different and with the others too. What aerith sees in both OG and this trilogy is just one side of the many sides of a coin. In short, she doesn't know him at all.

In fact her golden saucer date line only ever happens if and only if you treated her nicely, there was no real indication that her date was the canon one, it's just that, that's what people thought to be the case. Im not going to lie, I had to take a break from it because this happened once to me, where someone forced me onto a date and I was too introverted and anxious to say no and then I just ended up not going and when forced I had to punch them. It's interesting if aerith was a guy coercing a girl onto a date they didn't agree upon on like she did with Zack's. And well all the other creepy things she kept pulling.

Okay I keep going off, im not here to write a diary 😔. In conclusion, it's like meeting a celebrity then you see them in a new light, you think oh because of that effect, you think you know the real them when in Reality , you don't really know them. You never saw every single side. The way they fart, the way they watch dora , or the way they chicken out over a rabbit. Im saying that we'd like what we want to see, and aerith is such. She wasn't able to make him into zack 2.0 so since she barely has anybody, she goes with false cloud despite knowing full well about Tifa and Cloud. Despite knowing full well there's something wrong with him and she never bothered to share the with Tifa, her worried childhood friend. She's still stuck in the idea that she has, because if she was really mentally stable and healing? You don't go for the guy who still would remind you of your love especially without closure. That is a recipe for disaster, and it was because she did put down all her defenses, lost in her own naivety and died because of it when she could have known better. I don't doubt Crisis Core aerith could have been more logically sound, that's what I have to say. Mourning is a tricky thing, sometimes it's nothing, and sometimes it's all too consuming. Bow, now I have to learn not to engage with these debates online. Life is too short for such foolishness.

Aerith's feelings are summed up in one sentence in otwtas.

"He was a symbol of everything she held dear."

Cloud is a symbol of Zack and all the things she wanted to do and express to Zack, but couldn't because he died. She understands at this point she was using Cloud as a stand in, but that's what she loves him for. Thanks to Cloud being a fake Zack, Aerith got to express a bit of her feelings and go a few places she longed to while waiting for Zack to come back.

She doesn't and never did love Cloud for himself. She doesn't know him as himself. Once she dies, she understands better what's happening to him, which is why she describes him as fragile and easily wounded emotionally. She cares for Cloud, but that's not love, and ofc he has no feelings for her. Everything about him is and always was obsessed with Tifa.

[azirelll]

Story i dont have i title yet (but i should really) pt. 3

It was 4am, I woke up in the middle of the night like usual and felt really warm under all that heavy blanket. Without making any sound, I got out of bed and went to the kitchen still shirtless without her noticing. When I was in the kitchen, I grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the kitchen sink, I like Swiss sink water and here in Bern it tastes even better in comparison to Basel. The fact that I’m now living by myself and got nobody wondering why I woke up so early was intriguing like I’m finally free from traditional routines set by my family. Returning to the Bedroom I heard a little giggle, deep but calm and also sweet. I lay down in bed, thinking about my girlfriend imagining she was there with me. I rolled over to Sally’s side and I saw her tucked and rolled in her bed sheets like a worm watching something on her phone. I watched her for a bit before rolling on the other side trying to fall asleep again. I closed my tired eyes and hoped that I would fall asleep.

When I woke up (for the second time) I stayed in bed for a bit, thinking like I usually do. I felt like I was in a hotel room with my parents in holiday, never friends. We always planned to do big things like those, but in the end the friend group fell apart, or I get kicked out or we forget about those. It’s crazy thinking that teens my age already made so much stuff, I bet even Sally has some hidden awesome lore like this. I finally get out of bed, make my side of the bed and go to the kitchen. When I opened the door, I immediately saw Sally standing in front of it, in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, with what seemed like a red brownie in her hand and her mouth covered in what seemed like strawberry jam. “Oh, if you want some they are in the kitchen, there are still some left” she says while walking to her baggage, “I made these yesterday before coming here” “What are those?” I respond while walking to the kitchen. “Those are strawberry brownies I made, it’s a recipe I invented”. I look at the brownies and realize we didn’t buy any groceries yet, and we can’t just simply go to Germany and buy some like we always used to. It’s a simple yet important detail I forgot to say. “Sally, we need to buy food” I yell from the kitchen in a tired, neutral and dumb tone. “I know fatass” she responds in the same tone as trying to mock me, while she puts on a light jacket to go out. “Hey I’m not fat, I do powerlifting, ofc I look bulkier than the others who train strength”. I responded a bit pissed. “Maybe you could use your strength to clean up the mess we made yesterday and set up the consoles to the TV and the coffee machine my dad had left in the basement. Since I mounted the TV all alone yesterday” before she walks out, she also tells me: “If you need something text me on WhatsApp, bye”. And like this she closes the door quickly and leaves.

For the first time I felt truly alone with myself, with no one calling me or coming home soon (except for her). The first minutes I just stood there in the kitchen still staring at those brownies, still tired. I then got myself back and did the things she said, hooked the consoles she brought, a switch dock and a ps3. I moved on to setting up the coffee machine, I never set up home appliances like those. She said it was from her father’s basement, so I had to clean it, especially the water tank, it was really dirty but after messing up with hot water and salt I managed to clean it, now it looks new. At the end cleaned the kitchen island with hot water and salt since we had no soap, I just used salt because I think it makes some chemical reaction to clean the bacteria or something. In a nutshell, today was pretty boring other than doing stuff at “home”, I didn’t even feel like watching movies or YouTube or anything on my laptop since I felt so empty and bored, in the end I began rewatching “La casa de Papel” (for the 4th time) while eating two strawberry drawings and the rest of the onion rings from yesterday.

I sat and watched an entire season of it before wondering where the hell Sally has been since its 1pm and she was out for so long. The moment I grabbed my phone to call her I heard the door opening, it was her just coming inside with two full bags like nothing happened. I asked her where she went, she said with her relaxed tone: “I found an Aldi that’s not too far away from here, and also I got to know someone” ”And also this should last us a week or two” she added while putting the bags on the kitchen island I cleaned. I asked her what we should cook for lunch, even though none of us was hungry. In the end we didn’t cook anything and just decided to play Mario kart for a while before we got bored of it. And began to talk about us like war veterans telling them their old stories, she was laying on the ground like a dead body while I was still on the couch.

Salva: “Why are you taking this so easy?”

Sally: “This what?”

Salva: “Living alone, cooking you know just the whole thing of being totally alone”

Sally: “Maybe I already was like this before moving in, like the alpha version of it”

Salva: “You already lived alone? or DID YOUR PARENTS DIE LATELY” while saying the second part of the sentence I almost fell from the couch.

Sally: “No, no, no its not this, god no” she said with a bittersweet look “I don’t really want to talk about it now”

Salva: “It’s okay, I’m sorry I made you feel like that”

Sally:” don’t worry at all, I shouldn’t really feel like this in the first place”

Sally: “I think I will go sleep for some time, don’t wake me up.”

She looked sad and seemed like she was overthinking something, maybe I said something I shouldn’t have said, could it be about her parents? I got back on the couch and was also overthinking about reasons that made no sense at all like, what if my parents just forgot me now? or if I could imagine living most of my life with her. I felt like her, I just wanted to fall asleep and let the time pass. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the silence of the room till I fell asleep.

“Hey, are you still alive” said a familiar voice that sounded deep and like it just woken up from a deep sleep like waking up on Monday morning before going to school. It was Sally or at least the blurry image of Sally I saw while opening my wet eyes, probably I cried a little in my sleep. I responded with the same tiredness: “Ehm, yes, I think, good morning” “Morning? look outside dummy, the sun is setting down” she responded back. I finally opened my eyes properly and looked out the transparent door that lead to the garden and back at the clock, it was 9pm I slept for 6 hours which is incredible for me since I never sleep this long. Sally looked destroyed, she had the same clothes as before, her make up was running down her face since her eyes were like mine, wet like she also cried in her sleep.

I got up from the couch and slowly walked to the bathroom, it was decent big bathroom the best thing of all is that there was a washing machine, so we don’t have to wash it in the public ones of the complex. I looked depressed and I didn’t even know it was such a drastic mood swing. After washing my face and doing my hair again I got out of the bathroom, sitting on the couch quietly she looked at me and asked me: “Are you hungry?” I shake my head: “I also don’t feel like cooking, I don’t think you would want to cook” “yeah, I’m not feeling like cooking at all, but I’m bored.”

Salva: “Are you okay?”

Sally: “Yeah I’m fine, I’m just bored and tired but I’m a bit better after I went to sleep”

Salva: “We could go for a walk really quick to get tired, and explore the neighborhood”

She rubbed both her eyes, she smiled a bit again and with that smile she said: “Sure why not, I love walking at these hours”.

[aecholapis]

Rule: Tag 10 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by no one, but (apologies in advance) I saw the post on @novafire-is-thinking 's blog and thought 'why not' because I like writing useless, trivial information about myself.

[Edit 1: I've been tagged by @localrobotlover and I hope it's okay if I just update this because only the songs have changed. Thank you so much for tagging me!]

[Edit 2: I've been tagged again and this time by @cyber-streak-2! My answers haven't changed much again which means I can edit this post again if it's alright with you. Thanks for the tag! I appreciate it a lot!]

Relationship status: Single (I have no time for a relationship)

Favourite colour: Blue (and green to a lesser extent)

Something I want right now: More time for hobbies and learning, if any lovely person out there finds a way to stretch the day, stop the flow of time or erase the necessity that is sleep without consequences - you know where to find me

Song stuck in my head: Done With Everything by Line So Thin (I stumbled upon them last week on Youtube and this song has been stuck in my head ever since)

[Edit 1: Now it's My Demons by Caleb Hyles (Starset Cover) thanks to localrobotlover, hehe]

[Edit 2: And now it's the Highlands Theme from Octopath Traveler - Lately, I've been listening to the OST again.]

Three favourite foods: Lasagna, stuffed cabbage leaves that my grandma used to make and sweets (chocolate my beloved)

Last song I listened to: Fight Fire With Gasoline by Self Deception (!!!TW: slight flash warning for the first few seconds of the video)

[Edit 1: Starship Velociraptor by Jonathan Young - the Official Music Video came out yesterday]

[Edit 2: Victor's Hollow from Octopath Traveler - I need to play the game again]

Last thing I googled: 'lens flare' for a background and it... yeah. Didn't turn out like envisioned, but that's okay. Not everything needs to be perfect.

[Edit 1: still 'lens flare']

[Edit 2: 'resistor color code']

Dream trip: New Zealand is next on the list - very mainstream. It's mystical, the nature is wonderful and its wildlife is so different from the one we have here, what's not to like?

Hmmm... though I sure would love to visit Cybertron one day as well...

Bonus:

If you had the opportunity to [safely] become a cyborg via body upgrades, would you take it?

It depends on my mindset at the time I'm writing this and now I say 'yes', but tomorrow it might be 'no'. It would be cool to be part mechanical, part organic if it doesn't have any negative consequences.

[Edit 1: Yes.]

[Edit 2: Yes.]

I'm not going to tag anyone this time, but everyone is welcome to participate if their heart desires.

[alarrytale]

Now that we are talking about Troye I saw yesterday the predicted numbers for his first weeks sales and it left me a bit sad. If it goes like the predictions indicate it might not chart above top 20. I really thought he would have the best selling album of his career. I saw a lot of posts with thousands of likes about him but it's actually expect to sell 40k less copies than his best selling album. It's sad but the queer community hype about an artist doesn't seem to translate into actual sales, and we all know the only thing labels care about is money. I noticed the same happened with Sam Smith last year who had more a less the same amount of sales as Troye. I see things like this and then I think about Harry's situation and get why Sony doesn't want him out of the closet. Are they going to let their biggest male artist come out and just sit and watch Harry start selling on the same range as Troye and Sam, and Sony start losing out on tons of cash? Of course not.

Out queer artists are much more accepted these days but sadly they still cannot make anywhere the same amount of cash as artists with fanbases with mostly straight women. So, yeah, I think the closeting of big artists will continue in the foreseable future...

Hi, anon!

Again, there is a reason behind everything. Troye has changed a lot from how he used to be. He's unapologetic in his gayness. He isn't relateable to anyone but gays anymore. The themes in his music has gone from youth and love (relatable to everyone) to songs about poppers and bottoming. He is narrowing his own target audience and moving away from being mainstream. He's not palatable for everyone anymore. It's a concious choice. Also from a personal perspective. I liked three songs of his latest album (the singles), the rest was all skips. His music videos are better than his songs are. I see gays talking about him as a bit of a try hard and he's yet to gain respect for his craft. He's still a youtuber to some. He went for the shock factor this time with the mv. It worked, temporarily. He doesn’t do much promo and he's not very charismatic, is dating anyone interesting or does anything else to get his name out there. I'm not surprised.

Sam Smith has changed a lot too. He's doing more dance or club music now and less pop ballads. He was big in the pop ballad category bc of his unique voice. Now that he's changed genre he's lost the 45 yo straight female audience. He also lost them being half naked on stage. Unholy was huge though. But i think his music isn't as good as it used to be. And he has loads of competition in his new chosen genre. I think it was a concious decision too, like with troye. It's a big rebrand for them both.

If harry comes out and wants to stay at the level he's at, he still needs to be palatable for the gp and his target audience. If he starts stripping on stage and changes genre to gay house music, he's going to suffer the same fate.

Sexuality doesn’t have to matter if you just keep making good music, remember to be palatable to the gp, and don't change personality too much too fast. Don't rebrand at the same time you come out. It's too much for the gp. I don't agree with you that it's not possible to make it and that closeting is a neccessarily evil. It's not. You just have to go about it the right way.

[visionthefox]

Hi! Long time since I've wrote something.. and to differentiate from other anons I will now sign with a pineapple emoji.

Regarding the show on the emotional episode that the other anon talked about I think the reason Sun doesn't say anything and this just my personal idea is that because he has a lot of self doubt and thinks he is a burden to his siblings he doesn't say that (heck that episode hit me hard because I've lived through the same things, not like sun but the experience I resonated with it).

In the previous episode Sun was trying to tell them that he was cleaning the barrels (when they wanted to watch a movie) and Earth and Moon were soo entertained with a bouncy donut, and all they said to him where something a long the lines of "you need to take a break, you need to stop, it's not good to be cleaning them, we will get rid of them" so they never acknowledged that he was going through something. They are thinking that everything is a-ok, but maybe it looks like that because sun is not saying they are just seeing a person with OCD just cleaning away the barrels and not a person who is having psychotic episodes (seeing things, hearing and feeling that they are real). Sun needs help.

Moving on to newer episodes, I think that because of what sun is going through he didn't want Moon to leave for a week (a month for moon [don't ask why, but wibbly wobbly timey whimy stuff]) to build the satellite with good Eclipse.

With Eclipse he haven't seen much about him talking about Francine (i think that's how you write that name idk and idc) he has given up on her, because the mimic and funtime freddy have plans and they basically told Eclipse to step the eff back or they will tell everyone about who he really is. Yesterday's episode was talking about Eclipse going to Earth to pass a message to Sun and Moon about "how he is going to become a better person" and Earth is telling him over and over the same phrase "actions speak louder than words" and Eclipse was basically getting fed up because she is not willing to pass the message. In the end Eclipse gets mad and says something "You know your brothers have killed Sun has and Moon has, oh they haven't told you, I wonder why?" and other things happened one of them was having Earth becoming fed up on who Eclipse was treating her.

Another recent episode is that they have a crazy fan-girl named Hatsune Miku, like ok... but that whole episode I think it was a way to make fun of how fans are talking about the show and episodes how she sees everything, and she is crazy for moon how he is a comfort character and when she is left alone with sun she says "you ruined moon, you ruined my comfort character, you got rid of his magic" and sun replies with "oh you're one of those fans" and a little bit of back and forth how she is in the comment section, on discord to then say "I do listen and vocal the majority, well not the majority but the minority that were mad at first and now we are simmering waiting for moon to get his magic back,..." Also this "Miku" told sun he always cries a lot and if she wanted to watch that she would search people crying on youtube. And Sun is trying his best to be her friend. Sorry for the long post...

-🍍-

well hello pineapple anon <3 ! I got half way the ask when suddently you mention a Francine I had to stop,,, who is they?? Im.. confused, but not because of your writting but the whole Eclipse meeting more ppl..? aah im confused... also.. is the whole re writting of the universe still a thing? did they fixed that already?? also ye ye saw the miku by someone else post..and ok, let me be an ass here, I think davis just dislike that people is not clapping at him like they used to do,, lie of course, there is ppl who hate watch, idk why but my dudes.. the show clearly makes no sense at this point, there is no more lore, no more to do, they reach an high and now what? there is nothing more, if anything, they will use the ruind dlc model as a new bad guy but.. that feels cheap now I feel like davis may be a bitter by this opinion , so they make this miky character to "make fun" of people like me, yes im a Moon fan, yes I do blame Sun for few things but also, I know this is no longer a "friends proyect" so now I put my eyes on Davis or who ever runs the show.. this feels like that part in the actors vid, where they made someone complain of the use of "clothes" or something and he was mad.. like, that was clearly a joke on those who get mad when a model is used with no permission.. and.. can you see how dumb shit that it? right now they only run in circles, Sun's character do have reasons to close up and not open up, been there.. well still Im , I dont open up often , but also.. the reason why we , or me personally , didnt open up is because I didnt felt that safe, I got used to be talked over or looked down so it was hard to open up now I feel safe, and I feel like a can open up because I got around ppl that listen.. of course, earth and Moon may care, but still, are strangers to Sun.. Moon is someone new, it will take time to Sun to feel safe.. and that is.. something.. I still dont like to see Sun is distress because is ilogical, he can actually be fixed, he is a robot - he may feel and act human but the thing is.. he is not.. sadly he is just wires and metal, so he could maybe get a check up,, yes is not an emotional fixing, but it can help him to see if he actually is damage , or just hurting.. idk, thats my take on this, I walked away for a reason, and im glad I did

[jellorat]

Nightmares

I have PTSD from being a homeless teen in the 80s and having a horrific and violent upbringing. I used to have shockingly horrifying dreams, and I find writing them out helps.

I had a few things going on today. I had therapy, got a Covid booster yesterday, and I have a small fever today, and for reasons I can't explain, we watched this youtube video:

This is a good historian review of mostly historically accurate battle scenes. My wife does a youtube channel going over battles of the American Civil War and WWI, and I like history.

However, all these factors together did not do well for me. After I watched this, I went to bed because I was feverish and woke up with the following dream.

Trigger Warning: Death and war.

I woke up from a very very clear dream. It wasn't so much a war dream, but the aftermath. I was the vicar somewhere in Scotland or Ireland, or somewhere over there. It was an amalgamation of the first and second world wars.

I was in the churchyard digging graves. There was so many dead, and my wife had died in the bombing. I had laid out my wife next to four young soldiers. The soldiers were in their teens. They looked so young. 16-18 in age. I had them arrayed out around my wife because I hoped my wife would take care of them in the afterlife.

I was older than I am now. Today I am 51 in real life, but I think I was more in my mid to late 60s in the dream.

It was an overcast day, and I could not be sure if it was cloudy or if it was battlefield smoke. The fighting had raged on, leaving us all in its wake.

The little stone church had taken damage in the shelling, and my wife hadn't lived through it.

It was so damn detailed. I remember the smell of the wet turned-up earth and the smooth feel of the shovel's handle. I was so tired from digging. I wasn't the only one digging graves, and some of the men kept offering to do it for me, but I couldn't let them.

In WWI the "dog tags" were not metal like our modern ones, and I had four of them. I was worried about making sure these children's families knew they had died in the battle. I worried about what I was going to do without my wife. The only thing I didn't worry about was that my wife would absolutely take care of these boys in the afterlife because that is the kind of woman she is.

The most horrifying part was how clearly I envisioned their uniforms and my wife's dress. I just couldn't bring myself to put earth on them. It would be real when I did, and I just stood there looking at them in their graves, unable to do what I knew needed doing.

I woke up feverish and crying. I have not had a PTSD dream in years. Usually, I am down to non-specific night terrors these days.

My cat went and got my wife. Like, swear to god, the cat went and nipped at her heels until she followed the cat in and saw I was awake. I told my wife about my dream. Decades ago we'd do this when I had PTSD dreams.

My wife made a joke about her estrogen because she cried in sympathy, and that has changed since years ago.

I have never been in the army. I have never gone to war. I am thinking new house rule. No watching emotionally unsettling things when feverish. The problem with PTSD, for me, is that dreams don't always have anything to do with what I was traumatized by, but they carry a theme of horror.

This is an entirely new topic of PTSD dreams. Usually, I have dreams about being a horrible contagious monster that can give horrific diseases to my loved ones or sexual assault dreams. Okay, the latter is a bit related to my trauma. I haven't had any of those for close to a decade.

So I am going to sit here and eat leftover pizza while I wait for the Tylenol to take my fever down and then go back to bed. I think with the cat and my real-life wife, it will go much better this time.

[transamorousnetwork]

Trump Assassination FAIL: A Sign Of Things Getting Better?

It’s Sunday morning, July 14. I just finished a two-hour meditation. I don’t typically meditate that long each morning.

But this morning I considered special. That’s because yesterday, someone tried to assassinateformer president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump. Dreams over the last few nights proved consistent with this manifestation. They’ve been quite “dense”, “detailed” and featured experiences indicating the need to soothe great upheavals or transformations.

I’m not a clairvoyant. There is something, however, about coming into the world at just the right time that my vibrational awareness builds at the same time this country goes through what it’s going through right now.

But the United States is not going through it alone. A pendulum is swinging, once again, between light forces and something else all across the globe. That’s important to know. And for people like me, it’s important we do something. Better said: it’s important we “be” something.

Let’s take a look at why and what that is we should do.

This is not new

It’s interesting that in the last week I wondered what I would write about. No clear inspiration came over these days. Feeling no inspiration, I felt no worry. I knew something would show itself.

So yesterday, I took a nap. I woke an hour later, opened YouTube to watch something entertaining and saw the news, in near-real time, of the assassination attempt. News reporters claimed this was an uncommon thing in the United States. I didn’t know if they meant a political assassination or gun violence. I figured the former.

But plenty examples exist of political assassination attempts and successes in the United States. They start with Lincoln and go all the way up to the attempt on Reagan’s life, with a smattering of others in between, including JFK’s assassination.

This is not new. Nor is it uncommon.

What’s really interesting, however, is what these violent acts point to. People are scared. People “on both sides.” It’s interesting the assassin was a paradox of political action. He was a registered republican, but donated to a democratic PAC. So it’s unclear right now what his motives were.

That’s not surprising.

^^Artist’s rendition of the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. (By Adam Cuerden)

Ambiguity is no surprise

It’s not surprising to me because it really doesn’t matter. From a vibrational standpoint, in order for someone to resort to gun violence, they must feel extreme powerlessness, intense fear or some other extreme negative emotion in order for them to take such violent action.

A lot of people are at that point around politics these days. Both presidential candidates are triggering such people. Many people are feeling fear and insecurity about America’s future too. Especially because one candidate openly intends to turn the country into an Authoritarian State. And he has an army of people getting ready should he be the electoral victor.

For some that IS scary. So I’m not surprised someone would act the way the shooter had. And I won’t be surprised if it happens again. Here’s why.

Rage is logical

A client with a lot of the Positively Focused practice under her belt, recently wanted to confront an ex-boyfriend at gunpoint. This guy had secretly installed cameras throughout her house when he had a sense she was going to break up with him. Those cameras captured the client having sex with her new boyfriend among other very personal situations.

This ex was and is in extreme insecurity, grief, despair and feeling powerless around the client’s decision to break up with him. His surveillance plan apparently was to try to figure out what the client would do after the fourth time she discovered him consuming porn; something he promised to stop consuming.

One of the many girlfriends he was cheating on the client with contacted the client one day after she broke up with him and told her what he’d done. The guy for some reason showed the girl footage of the client having sex with her boyfriend. The client, who has deep shame and insecurity herself around her body, sex and privacy, reacted as anyone feeling this way might: she wanted to demand that he give up the recordings…at gunpoint.

Powerlessness is a very dangerous vibration. No one likes feeling bad and powerlessness is the epitome of that. Everyone will try to get out of such feelings. And usually, that means taking extreme action. Even violence.

Believe it or not, rage feels better than powerlessness. Which is why those who feel powerless or extremely insecure, often become violent. The action, such as trying to kill a presidential hopeful, may seem irrational to those not feeling what the killer is feeling. But for the killer, it’s a very logical next step.

A balance in the force? 

Whether you’re a head of state feeling powerless over the loss of your country’s stature (Putin), a guy feeling powerless to avert the loss of a girlfriend, or a kid feeling powerless over…whatever…resorting to violence feels better than feeling powerless. And that’s why we’re seeing so much of it in the world.

Authoritarianism is on the rise planet-wide. Putin now has his version of NATO, with China and North Korea agreeing to join forces with Putin if Russia is attacked. France just narrowly averted a right-wing takeover of its government. Germany recently foiled a planned coup lead by right wingers.

The United States is in the throws of its own authoritarian roots bearing themselves. That’s right, this isn’t new. Authoritarians have been trying to turn the US into a fascist state for a long time.

Project 2025, therefore, isn’t new. It’s just the newest iteration.

The good news is, this very strong global trend where authoritarians are trying to wrest control over societies makes this a very interesting time to be alive. That causes beings from nonphysical to want to be here, both to experience it, and also to shape it.

Balance is the order of the day in All That Is. So we can expect these extreme events foretell a balancing that is about to occur. One that is occurring.

^^A balancing is taking place on Earth. What side are you weighing in on? (Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash)

A positive appeal

I wrote years ago for another blog I own that things are going to get worse before they get better. I wasn’t kidding. It’s happening at the global level. It’s happening at the individual level, for some. And it’s happening everywhere in between.

Meanwhile a lot of good is happening too. Mexico just elected its first Woman president who happens to be a liberal. The UK’s liberal party just wrested power from a decades-long conservative rule. I think we’re going to see the paradox that is physical reality bring more such surprises. The key is for all of us to be as positive as we can as all this unfolds.

It’s important people sensitive to vibration cultivate a high state of fast moving, positive frequencies. This means being as positive as possible about what’s happening. Abraham nails it when they say one person tuned in is more powerful than millions who are not. And more than one person tuned in represents an unstoppable force.

The world is unfolding. How that happens, what it looks like, matters to us all. Some came for the chaos. Others came to balance that. More than ever, the world needs the balancers. If you’re reading this, you may be one of those people.

Everything is always working out. Even when it looks like it’s not. Be the change you want to see; speak less, be more. Focus on the outcome you desire, the ones that make you feel good. What you resist, persists. These statements aren’t just pablum, they’re fact. Now is the time and the balance needs you.

[positivlyfocused]

Trump Assassination FAIL: A Sign Of Things Getting Better?

It’s Sunday morning, July 14. I just finished a two-hour meditation. I don’t typically meditate that long each morning.

But this morning I considered special. That’s because yesterday, someone tried to assassinateformer president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump. Dreams over the last few nights proved consistent with this manifestation. They’ve been quite “dense”, “detailed” and featured experiences indicating the need to soothe great upheavals or transformations.

I’m not a clairvoyant. There is something, however, about coming into the world at just the right time that my vibrational awareness builds at the same time this country goes through what it’s going through right now.

But the United States is not going through it alone. A pendulum is swinging, once again, between light forces and something else all across the globe. That’s important to know. And for people like me, it’s important we do something. Better said: it’s important we “be” something.

Let’s take a look at why and what that is we should do.

This is not new

It’s interesting that in the last week I wondered what I would write about. No clear inspiration came over these days. Feeling no inspiration, I felt no worry. I knew something would show itself.

So yesterday, I took a nap. I woke an hour later, opened YouTube to watch something entertaining and saw the news, in near-real time, of the assassination attempt. News reporters claimed this was an uncommon thing in the United States. I didn’t know if they meant a political assassination or gun violence. I figured the former.

But plenty examples exist of political assassination attempts and successes in the United States. They start with Lincoln and go all the way up to the attempt on Reagan’s life, with a smattering of others in between, including JFK’s assassination.

This is not new. Nor is it uncommon.

What’s really interesting, however, is what these violent acts point to. People are scared. People “on both sides.” It’s interesting the assassin was a paradox of political action. He was a registered republican, but donated to a democratic PAC. So it’s unclear right now what his motives were.

That’s not surprising.

^^Artist’s rendition of the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. (By Adam Cuerden)

Ambiguity is no surprise

It’s not surprising to me because it really doesn’t matter. From a vibrational standpoint, in order for someone to resort to gun violence, they must feel extreme powerlessness, intense fear or some other extreme negative emotion in order for them to take such violent action.

A lot of people are at that point around politics these days. Both presidential candidates are triggering such people. Many people are feeling fear and insecurity about America’s future too. Especially because one candidate openly intends to turn the country into an Authoritarian State. And he has an army of people getting ready should he be the electoral victor.

For some that IS scary. So I’m not surprised someone would act the way the shooter had. And I won’t be surprised if it happens again. Here’s why.

Rage is logical

A client with a lot of the Positively Focused practice under her belt, recently wanted to confront an ex-boyfriend at gunpoint. This guy had secretly installed cameras throughout her house when he had a sense she was going to break up with him. Those cameras captured the client having sex with her new boyfriend among other very personal situations.

This ex was and is in extreme insecurity, grief, despair and feeling powerless around the client’s decision to break up with him. His surveillance plan apparently was to try to figure out what the client would do after the fourth time she discovered him consuming porn; something he promised to stop consuming.

One of the many girlfriends he was cheating on the client with contacted the client one day after she broke up with him and told her what he’d done. The guy for some reason showed the girl footage of the client having sex with her boyfriend. The client, who has deep shame and insecurity herself around her body, sex and privacy, reacted as anyone feeling this way might: she wanted to demand that he give up the recordings…at gunpoint.

Powerlessness is a very dangerous vibration. No one likes feeling bad and powerlessness is the epitome of that. Everyone will try to get out of such feelings. And usually, that means taking extreme action. Even violence.

Believe it or not, rage feels better than powerlessness. Which is why those who feel powerless or extremely insecure, often become violent. The action, such as trying to kill a presidential hopeful, may seem irrational to those not feeling what the killer is feeling. But for the killer, it’s a very logical next step.

A balance in the force? 

Whether you’re a head of state feeling powerless over the loss of your country’s stature (Putin), a guy feeling powerless to avert the loss of a girlfriend, or a kid feeling powerless over…whatever…resorting to violence feels better than feeling powerless. And that’s why we’re seeing so much of it in the world.

Authoritarianism is on the rise planet-wide. Putin now has his version of NATO, with China and North Korea agreeing to join forces with Putin if Russia is attacked. France just narrowly averted a right-wing takeover of its government. Germany recently foiled a planned coup lead by right wingers.

The United States is in the throws of its own authoritarian roots bearing themselves. That’s right, this isn’t new. Authoritarians have been trying to turn the US into a fascist state for a long time.

Project 2025, therefore, isn’t new. It’s just the newest iteration.

The good news is, this very strong global trend where authoritarians are trying to wrest control over societies makes this a very interesting time to be alive. That causes beings from nonphysical to want to be here, both to experience it, and also to shape it.

Balance is the order of the day in All That Is. So we can expect these extreme events foretell a balancing that is about to occur. One that is occurring.

^^A balancing is taking place on Earth. What side are you weighing in on? (Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash)

A positive appeal

I wrote years ago for another blog I own that things are going to get worse before they get better. I wasn’t kidding. It’s happening at the global level. It’s happening at the individual level, for some. And it’s happening everywhere in between.

Meanwhile a lot of good is happening too. Mexico just elected its first woman president who happens to be a liberal. The UK’s liberal party just wrested power from a decades-long conservative rule. I think we’re going to see the paradox that is physical reality bring more such surprises. The key is for all of us to be as positive as we can as all this unfolds.

It’s important people sensitive to vibration cultivate a high state of fast moving, positive frequencies. This means being as positive as possible about what’s happening. Abraham nails it when they say one person tuned in is more powerful than millions who are not. And more than one person tuned in represents an unstoppable force.

The world is unfolding. How that happens, what it looks like, matters to us all. Some came for the chaos. Others came to balance that. More than ever, the world needs the balancers. If you’re reading this, you may be one of those people.

Everything is always working out. Even when it looks like it’s not. Be the change you want to see; speak less, be more. Focus on the outcome you desire, the ones that make you feel good. What you resist, persists. These statements aren’t just pablum, they’re fact. Now is the time and the balance needs you.

[kittyfairyblog]

March 27 2024

Meow well today has been a much better day than yesterday. I didn't sleep well last night and I did not sleep as long as I thought I would. I had a doctor appointment today at 12:30 pm and I finally got to have my medicine refilled. Hopefully I can pick up my refills tomorrow or Friday from the pharmacy. Nya I added new groups to my Facebook page and I was able to talk to a friend bestie today. Meow I had to reassure my bestie I was still her bestie. Anyway I hope to sleep well tonight. My plans to fix my PS3 I purchased from eBay well I probably won't fix or do it at a later date. I tried to fix it once the way a YouTube video showed outside one sunny day but it was still doing the same thing that I bought with the problem I mean. I mean I purchased a heat gun and new thermal paste for it but it didn't work. Well I might put it back together screws in the right place and just sit on it. I have a new Switch that I have been enjoying playing on since Monday and I really don't think I want to get the PS3 working again to play PS3 games. Meow I took my shower already before 5 pm and now waiting on my mom to return home from babysitting my niece and nephews over at my sister's house while my sister worked. At least my mom was able to take me to my appointment today. Nya well I am sitting with my dog Kylie on the recliner in the living room while waiting. Good grief I had to wait almost 30 minutes before I finally got around to seeing my doctor. The place I saw my doctor at doesn't have them locally so I had a televised one. Meow when my mom comes home I am making sure to go to my room. I like it in my room since I have been in the living room after I returned home from the doctors appointment. Meow well my dad is not working today because he is not feeling well. Meow that's about wraps up this entry for now. I might post pictures later after this entry. Anyways later.