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inseobts · 20 hours ago

Note

If it's not too much to ask but could you please do a story of only one of the Monster trio like Luffy or Zoro or Sanji? (Or the whole straw hat crew) with a reader whose birthday it is on the same day as a holiday like valentine's day (even though we've already went past it, or it could be any other holiday that you think?) But only her best friend (one of the crew members) remembers her birthday and now the others feel bad, so they decide to throw an "apology birthday party" to make up for it?

Apology Birthday Party

zoro x strawhat!reader

a/n: I hope this is what you wantedddd, let me know if you want it different tho (づ￣ 3￣)づ

words count: 1.3k

tags: sfw, romance, soft zoro, nico robin bff

masterlist || ko-fi

The Sunny is draped in pink and red decorations, hearts scattered across the deck like confetti. Sanji is running around serving chocolates and heart-shaped treats, Nami is counting stacks of berries won from lovestruck islanders, and Luffy is eating whatever he can get his hands on.

It’s Valentine’s Day. And it’s also your birthday.

But no one seems to remember that last part.

You don’t say anything, of course. It’s not like you expect them to throw a big celebration or anything, but a simple “Happy Birthday” would have been nice. Yet, with everyone wrapped up in the holiday of love, your special day is completely overlooked.

Well, almost everyone.

“Here” Robin says, appearing beside you with a small, neatly wrapped box in her hands. She smiles, that knowing glint in her eyes as she hands it over “Happy Birthday.”

Your heart warms “Robin…”

“I know how it feels to be forgotten” she says gently “But you’re not.”

You unwrap the gift to find a delicate bookmark pressed with dried blue forget-me-not flowers. It’s beautiful. And, fitting.

Before you can properly thank her, a loud, boisterous laugh fills the air “Oi, Robin, what’s that? Love letter for y/n?” Luffy grins, oblivious as ever. That, of course, draws the attention of the rest of the crew. Sanji practically skids over, hearts in his eyes.

“A love letter?! From who?! I’ll destroy them—”

Robin sighs, sipping her wine “It’s her birthday present.”

Silence.

Utter, dead silence.

The entire crew stares at you, then at Robin, then back at you again. The color drains from Sanji’s face. Franky’s jaw quite literally drops. Usopp nearly chokes on his own spit. Nami’s eyes widen, and Chopper gasps in horror. Even Luffy, who usually doesn’t have a care in the world, looks like someone just told him there’s no more meat on the ship.

But the worst reaction? Zoro’s.

His eye snap to yours, and you see something flicker behind them, something that looks suspiciously like guilt.

“Wait,” Usopp wheezes, gripping his head like it physically hurts “Today’s your birthday? Like, right now?”

“…Yeah.”

A chorus of expletives follows.

“We’re horrible!” Chopper wails, flopping dramatically onto the deck.

“How could I forget such an important day?!” Sanji cries, dropping to his knees like he’s been personally betrayed.

Robin chuckles into her drink “At least you all realized it before the day ended.”

That kicks everyone into action. Nami immediately starts planning an emergency “Apology Birthday Party” barking orders while Franky dashes off to set up decorations. Luffy insists on getting you the biggest cake possible, while Sanji declares he will cook a full birthday feast worthy of redemption. Usopp starts crafting a birthday gift at lightning speed, while Chopper is still crying about how bad of a friend he is.

In the middle of all the chaos, you catch Zoro watching you. His arms are crossed, his expression unreadable, but there’s tension in his stance. And then, without a word, he turns and disappears below deck.

You don’t see him for the next hour.

By the time he returns, the impromptu party is already in full swing. The crew has somehow managed to pull together a spectacular celebration, with streamers, food, and a birthday banner that is only slightly lopsided. You’re seated at the center, laughing as Luffy shoves an unreasonable amount of cake into his mouth.

Then Zoro drops something onto the table in front of you.

You blink. It’s a small box, wrapped haphazardly, almost like he struggled with it. When you glance up at him, his face is turned away, slightly pink at the tips of his ears.

“Tch. Don’t make a big deal out of it” he mutters, arms crossed.

Curious, you open it and your breath catches.

It’s a charm. A small, silver sword pendant attached to a simple chain. The craftsmanship is rough, but undeniably his.

“…Did you make this?”

Zoro shrugs, still not looking at you “Had some spare materials lying around.”

Your fingers curl around the charm, warmth blooming in your chest “I love it.”

“…Good.” His voice is gruff, but you catch the corner of his lips twitching, just slightly.

The rest of the crew watches with barely concealed interest “Oi, oi, does this mean Zoro is getting all romantic now?” Usopp teases, wiggling his eyebrows.

Zoro immediately glares, hand twitching toward his swords “Say that again and you won’t live to see tomorrow.”

The laughter that follows is the best sound you’ve heard all day.

Maybe your birthday started off forgotten, but as you sit among your chaotic, wonderful crew, a handmade gift resting in your palm, you can’t help but think this turned out to be the best one yet.

The party goes on for hours. Sanji serves an extravagant feast, each dish crafted with your favorites in mind. Luffy challenges you to an eating contest, one you gracefully decline, knowing it’s a lost cause. Nami surprises you with a beautiful set of earrings, and Usopp proudly presents a handcrafted figurine of you in an exaggerated heroic pose.

Franky insists on a dance party, much to your amusement, and even Robin joins in. Chopper, still sniffling, clings to you, vowing to never forget your birthday again.

Through it all, Zoro remains close, never one for loud festivities, but always within reach. Eventually, when the night winds down, you find him on the ship’s upper deck, gazing at the stars.

“Thanks for the necklace” you say, leaning beside him.

He grunts, but doesn’t move away “Yeah.”

A comfortable silence settles between you. The ocean breeze is cool, but standing next to him, you feel warm.

After a moment, he exhales “…Sorry for forgetting.”

You glance at him, surprised by the quiet sincerity in his tone. Smiling, you shake your head “You made up for it.”

He finally looks at you then, and in the soft moonlight, his expression is softer than usual “Good.”

Zoro stays silent for a while, avoiding your gaze, and then adds, "Actually... I had prepared it for Valentine's Day."

For a moment, you remain impassive, smiling at the sea in front of you, but then your brain connects what he said.

You suddenly turn to him and gasp, "Wait, wh...what do you mean?"

He continues to avoid your gaze, trying to look indifferent, but the redness in his ears betrays him "I admit I forgot your birthday, but I didn’t forget Valentine's Day" he says.

You, even more flustered, reply "So it’s true what Luffy told me earlier, that you worked on the necklace for more than a week??"

Zoro shifts uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck. He looks away, clearly embarrassed but trying to act nonchalant "I... I just wanted it to be perfect" he mutters, his voice barely above a whisper.

You blink, still processing the confession. It’s hard to believe this is the same person who usually brushes off any sort of emotional display "Zoro," you start, your voice soft, "You really made all of that... for me?"

He finally looks at you, and for the first time, his usual tough exterior seems to crack. His eyes are slightly hesitant, but there's a genuine warmth there, almost like he’s afraid of your reaction "Yeah, I did. It’s... not much, but I thought you’d like it."

You take a deep breath, your heart racing as everything sinks in. You can’t help but smile "I love it," you say, stepping a little closer "And I... I love that you cared enough to do this."

Zoro looks almost startled by your words, his cheeks turning a deeper shade of red. He clears his throat awkwardly "Well, don’t go getting any ideas... It's not like I’m suddenly a romantic or something."

You laugh, the sound light and genuine "I never said you were. But this is pretty damn romantic, Zoro."

He grumbles but there's a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth "Don’t get used to it."

You both stand there for a moment, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore filling the space between you. It’s not the most conventional confession, but somehow, in that moment, it feels just right.

And just like that, your birthday, and even Valentine's day, is perfect.

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fixyourwritinghabits · 23 hours ago

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The Quick Guide of Taking Care of Yourselves

RIGHT ANYWAY, semi-functioning again. Here's some generic tips for Americans (and beyond) in these trying times.

Limit Your Social Media News Consumption

Seriously, you need to set specific times to be aware of what's going on, and then you need to put down your phone. Many of the things that are happening are beyond your control. Doomscrolling is paralyzing. Do not fall into despair loops. This helps no one and it especially does not help you.

Make a channel in your Discord group for dumping things in and leave it to that. Find ways to plug into your local community - talk to your local library, check your local subreddit, pay attention to local events. But you also must give yourself a break from all of the above for your own mental health.

Pick a set time at night and put down your phone. Don't scroll through it before bed, don't start scrolling the second you get up. Form firm habits that allow you to rest and take care of yourself. It's important to be aware of what's happening, but it does not require your constant attention.

Do Things For Yourself

In addition to making art, it's important to find ways to keep yourself grounded. Take a class you're interested in. Go to that book club. See if there's a local group into that hobby you want to start. Need to brush up on your technical skills? See if there's some online classes that you can take (and get a certificate for!).

Don't over-commit (I say, having signed up for three different activities this year), but it is vital to take time to do things for yourself to stay grounded. Having other things to focus on is going to help. I'm taking a strength-building exercise class and German lessons, and having to focus on squats and gendered nouns for certain hours of the day has been so helpful in keeping me going. Give it a try.

(You don't have to try German, just to be clear. I just think it's a neat language.)

You Do Not Have to Constantly Rearrange Your Priorities

I donate monthly to my local animal shelter. That's still going to be an important thing to do. I reblog things I don't have the funds to contribute to myself. That's still useful to do. I'm still going to pay for my patreon subscriptions, because I am supporting people I like and want to succeed.

There are some things you can do. If you are in a position to cancel Amazon Prime, you should probably do that. But some people can't, because they don't have a more reliable way to get certain necessities, and that's fine. If you're in a position to close your Meta accounts, that seems like a good call. However, while I've currently got mine locked down, I need my Instagram for professional reasons, and it's my only point of contact for certain people. I hate it, but I've made the decision to keep using it. There's no morally perfect options out there.

Think Local and Connect with Community

You cannot do anything about most of the terrible things happening. You can, however, make connections to the people around you and find ways to support yourself and others. You can find places to volunteer. You can participate in your local political groups and keep up-to-date on protests and political action. You can keep pressure on your local politicians with phone-calling and letter campaigns. Making connections to others will help you find ways to feel useful and help, even if it doesn't feel like you can.

Most importantly, though, MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAFE. If you're a vulnerable minority in a deep red state or desperately need to keep your head down at your job, you need to make decisions that are best for you. You cannot help others if you yourself are also drowning, and that is okay.

There are still some small things everyone can do. Boycotts of certain products and companies (shout-out to all of Canada, keep it up and I hope for nothing but the best for y'all) is something you can do that doesn't put you at risk. Stay connected to like-minded friends. Stock up on masks and get your vaccines. Have an emergency-prepared plan in cases of natural disasters (always a good plan).

Hang in there. Sometimes you'll spiral, everyone will. But keeping your head above water and building steps to pull yourself up from those holes will be essential.

#us politics #unfortunately again #general tips

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accio-victuuri · 16 hours ago

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assorted fake stories ❤️💛💚

the title explains what these are, fake/fanfiction stories between them. it’s been awhile since i made something like this and i’m happy that i can share one now. none of these are real. don’t ask me to explain further or provide details — it is what it is. don’t break your brain trying to setup a timeline of when this or this happened cause a lot of these are already mentioned. also feel free to interpret it however you want. ✨

i may put a bit of commentary on some of these but the rest is pretty much understandable. the way these are written, seems to be by different OPs and somehow like contributions they are sharing.

#001

The behind-the-scenes footage was shown, but there was a video that was not. The two people were surprised when they were stabbed. B went to check the wound, but accidentally walked too fast. He was originally trying to check the wound, but he lost his balance and fell on Z, kissing Z. It was so funny and love. Believe it or not, the two people were red, red! Those who have the video have seen it.

There is also a segment of counting stars on the rooftop that has not been played (to be supplemented by me). There is audio, but no video. The audio is very sweet. They spent the Lantern Festival in 2021 together, and did not miss any important festivals.

B and Z both talked privately about how B had lost his temper in the backstage of SDC and at work. The fans behind the SDC show were really fierce, and he was really angry. He complained more than once that he was speechless. He actually gave tickets to CPZJIE before he met her.

Another time was in TTXs backstage. Help me, this is a true story. A fan shouted to B in the backstage, "Brother, I love you. Be nice to Brother Z." Oh my god, the whole backstage was silent, the atmosphere was so depressing, B's face turned black quickly, the staff quickly took the girl away, everyone was so embarrassed, the people around B said that they were helpless, some fans were too crazy, they really didn't know the occasion, and they always didn't know what was going on.

When we were singing our song in 2019, there were many illegitimate fans and CPF on Z's flight. CPF asked Z to pass on a letter to B. Z received it and the fans went crazy (covering his face). I was not a fan at that time. My friend told me about it. Then CPF blocked the illegitimate fans and shouted "Z, go away" because there were too many people blocking him and it was very dangerous. Later, Z told a stylist, CPF, I thank them (only rational fans).

I don't know if it's for Valentine's Day this year. In previous years, we were together on Valentine's Day and it was more of a ritual. Z is a person with a strong sense of ritual. B learned to be romantic and ritualistic. Last year on February 14, Z flew over to accompany his boyfriend for two days. Last year, B celebrated Z's birthday in advance and sent him a multi-layered cake on his birthday. It was so exaggerated when I saw the scene. It was not the big one from the crew. He sent a little prince cake.

It was B's birthday, and Z flew over to the crew to accompany him. B's assistant picked him up.

* B is Bobo and Z is ZhanZhan. ohhhh. I particularly like this one because of the part that showed how they appreciate the rational fans. That there is a time and space for everything. I don’t fault Bobo for being mad or maybe taken a back when the person shouted something related to ZZ when he was in his place of work. same thing with ZZ. there must be boundaries.

#002

B likes to send flowers, but he is sometimes busy, so he either orders them to be sent by others, or asks the two men around him. The two men ( Yanyan and Lele ) are also straight men, and their faces will turn red if they hold flowers every day, so the task is left to the female GZRY. YanYan is permanent, but female assistants are transient

So when Lele, who was next to B, had his birthday, Z also went after filming and then rushed back to the crew.

Many people say that B is possessive, but I think Z's possessiveness is hidden. He really has big and small accounts ( on weibo ) . I've seen them all. B's account always records his love diary. Z, who is a very ordinary person, also has his account. All of B's girlfriends ( fans ) follow him. Big pepper (XZ) , no matter big or small, he follows them all. He also sees what people are talking about and how they analyze it. When the behind-the-scenes footage was released, people were so excited that he was so scared that he unfollowed them. I was so amused because the next day I saw that those big bloggers were no longer on his follow list. Sometimes they don’t know anything, but most of the time they are inexplicable. I don’t know if they are really inexplicable or just pretending to be inexplicable.

Z can write new TikTok songs for him, and learn different ways to make a heart shape. What kind of lover’s hobby is this? I don’t know if B really likes to tease Z regardless of the occasion. He is so rude. Z calls him a rude, which makes me laugh. If Z is shy when they meet, he will kick B. If he wins too much in games, he will get angry and complain about him to others. When he has teased enough, he will let him win. This is quite straight male style.

Most of the time they are sweet and loving, they won't let us know when they quarrel. When B is in a bad mood, he will show it on his face. If you pay more attention to him when recording TTXS, you will know it. And every time he gets angry, I think it has something to do with Z. Just think I am in love. But he will handle work and private emotions maturely. He will focus on work. At most, they will argue, for example, they will choose some controversial topics, such as sweet or salty rice dumplings? With cheese or without cheese, weird.

They spent the New Year together, with their parents, went to eat seafood together, and then made hot pot at home. How could I know how to make hot pot? Because the hot pot Z bought was called cheese hot pot.

#003

There is also a very funny quarrel, it is said that when two people quarrel, the loser is always B, if he bravely runs away from home, then the farthest distance B can go is at the door of his home, and finally he will wait for Z to open the door. It's true, sometimes the face of the B is too bad, and it can often be solved with just one phone call.

B really listens to Z. He told Z not to get into trouble again, to protect himself, to be good, not to have wild thoughts, and not to wrong himself. So he always buys the best and sweetest things for Z because he is afraid that Z will wrong himself. Now Z is more and more able to protect himself when he goes out. B must be very relieved.

Z is really weird, he likes to watch horror stories, he is also very childish, he likes the fairy tale movies we watched when we were young, like Ponyo and Sosuke, then he pops up to chat with B, I guess they are the only ones who understand each other.

#004

There was so much fake information that fans were so confused that they had no idea what they were talking about. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have fun eating melons.

The crew was together. On B's birthday, they received a radio on the rooftop. Z said that he would be B's sun, warm everyone and warm the little stars (it was said that they held hands, but they didn't see it). They only heard singing, which was about holding hands and walking forward one step, two steps, three steps, four steps.

In 2019, they returned to Chongqing and traveled to Japan together (to make up for the regret?). This is a rumor. In 2020, they went home together for the Chinese New Year, but stayed for a long time due to the epidemic. Z loves to cook for B.

I can't help it, love is like this, I will like him wherever he stands, he is a good guy, he is good at saying sweet words, it seems that B takes care of all the housework, he also likes to do housework, he said in an interview, his cooking will also be disliked by Z at home, Z is from Chongqing, he will try to cook light and reduce the spiciness.

We went to DYZY together and walked together. When I attended Chanel, I introduced Mr. Zhou and brought Z with me.

I don’t know about the engagement, I haven’t heard of it, but my sister asked about it, and B said there’s no rush. Eat melons, eat melons, I think they are very ambitious in their careers, marriage and engagement are groundless.

#005

B treasures his green microphone so much that he cannot touch it even in the backstage. It was given to him by Z.

There is a very ugly scarf Z knitted for B.

At TTXS lot of interesting things happened. In the backstage, H and DL were chatting together. They mentioned that ZZ was praised for her great acting and B was so good. He listened silently without saying anything. Then, I don’t know why the words got to him. He said, yes, I watched it. It was very well acted. Help me, why didn’t I watch it? When The Wolf was released, he chased the staff around him and asked them to watch it. He would also check and ask what they saw. One sister was really busy and didn’t chase so fast. It was so funny. She directly asked, did you see the kissing scene? B stopped talking. You little guy, you are still being controlled.

The necklace that I refuse to take off was given to me by Z. Bones are a token of love, let me put the timeline, it's so messy, I'll write whatever I think of now.

When I was crazy, I heard that there were masks (I was just watching the show), that is, after 227, B and Z were together, but they had to separate for work, B was very worried and kept pulling Z by the car, anyway, the two of them were close to each other, there were masks at the time, everyone was passing it around, guessing it was a mask kiss.

B really can coax Z to sleep, weird, right? How do I know? Because he would recite the lines in the car, Call Z, recite the lines in a low noise, and finally hang up and say he fell asleep...Z has been having trouble sleeping, and B tries every way to coax him. But when he was filming, there was a rumor about him XD, he took sleeping pills to sleep. B took every step by himself, and he would keep it to himself when he was wronged. But now he will tell Z everything. If he doesn't tell Z, he will be scolded. Compared to Z, he is the big boss.

#006

(After so many years, everyone who has talked to me knows that my memory is really bad, so if there are any deviations in time and events, please don’t be too serious~~)

I was very happy during the recording in April 21. There was a reason why I was so happy that I jumped on F. I was very unhappy before this, but I laughed this time. If fans waved and said hello to him in a friendly way, he would also smile and say hello back. Actually, there is a reason for being unhappy. You can’t even see him making a phone call backstage. That day, he called someone and said he missed you. He said he missed you with a bit of grievance, and then he was like eating candy during the recording.

The joke about washing machines is that B is the spokesperson, but he didn’t get the product right away. He sent it to his gege first and used it. He was photographed using it and it was hilarious. The same goes for clothes and shoes. He was the recipient, but Z always helped him receive the goods right away. When multiple brands come, you will know that Z has helped B draw countless paintings, and the sideline is similar. You know, if you don’t bet, you will have shares. There are also some ridiculous sidelines that have nothing to do with their current skills. It’s so funny. I heard that there are both in Chongqing and Chengdu. There are peripherals and clothes (already had them a long time ago). B had a celebration party (March 21) and drank very happily (he can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk). After drinking, he sang in KTV. The one he sang was a boy, and he was out of tune. Boys love love songs. He likes to hum songs in private, just like he is doing street dance. He has a special song called (Slowly Falling in Love with You) which he recorded for his lover in TTXS on Z’s birthday. It is special. For this reason, he secretly practiced humming songs before recording.

It's so funny. Didn't the fake material say the song "Occupy Shoulders" before? I don't need to say this, right? They just sang the backing vocals. At that time, everyone said what he was doing with the recording studio?

Rules of my World is also for lovers, to coax people, and for his only boy. The cover is also blatant (here the old fans said, I know it all, do you need to tell me?Okay, it's not necessary to make up some non-existent candies, such big ones, why not write them in)

Z always carries snacks with him. B doesn't like them, but he can't live without them. That's why he buys Z any food he sees, and he always talks to him, guessing whether he will like it, and then he becomes silent and plays with his phone, and I don't know who he is talking to. But in the end, it was basically true.

* the song is by Karen Mok called Growing Fond of You or as directly translated something like Slowly Falling in love with you.

youtube

#007

When the Nanjian ended ( CQL fanmeet ) , the two did not separate. They dated together for a night. Many WFs saw it at that time. I heard that some cried and quit being fans and shut up. I think many of them said that WFs would not cry even if they saw them crying. They did not personally cancel that.

A few fans talked about why the two of them were so persistent in visiting the set even though they were busy. It was because B wanted to give Z a sense of security. Of course, B was very attached to Z. In the past, Z did not allow him to meet so frequently, so he would sneak attack from behind and scare Z. No matter how busy he was, he would still find time to meet. Driving for two or three hours was nothing. It was very tiring. He was not tired at all. In order to meet, they tried countless ways, using a stand-in, or hiding in the back of the car. Commonly known as the strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain. You don’t understand, after being apart for a long time, the child needs to recharge and replenish energy, whether it’s a power bank or Snickers. I used to preach to him, but I felt bad, but I enjoyed it very much. LOL

He would act like a spoiled child and ask what are you doing here~ Straight guy B just speaks straight to the point

Expression: Because I miss you.

So, B accompanied Z to the first show ( ADLAD ) in Wuhan. Z was very nervous, and B said that he had to be by his side at important moments.

After 227, I felt that Z became more clingy. We just happened to be fans in 2020, and we met too often. It was really like a long time since we last saw each other. It was 2020. During that period, I was really worried about him. I couldn't leave him. Later, when Z returned to work, I would often meet him despite all difficulties. For example, for Street Dance, I rented a small house to accompany him, and often cooked delicious food for him. As for the crew of BAH, in fact, Z also went there for a long time. Baili was busy on both sides, so it was not so frequent.

As for OOL before 227, I don't know how he got so angry and made trouble on the set. But I only know that he often went to that set. I heard that he was always a little depressed and unhappy at work. But he was so cold to everyone, just not as lively as before.

* i love them so much and it’s so cuteee how they visit each other on set 🥹🥹🥹🥹 and to those who don’t know WF means Weifen or solo fans. and OOL filming is mentioned again hahahahahaha! i personally don’t believe that WYB made “trouble” there tho. I take it as him being there, knowing how popular they both are at the time is trouble enough.

#008

Z has secretly posted something about B on his Moments. Unexpected, right?

If they meet to make fun of someone, Z likes to pinch B's face (everyone knows this, right?). Many people see him and die of laughter. Every time he visits the set, he must do one thing, rub his face. Many people around me have become accustomed to it.

In private, Z likes to act like a spoiled child, and BZ spoils his girlfriend like a boyfriend. Meaning, anyone who has watched BBKP knows that Z is still weak when he should be weak, because B is really an extremely chauvinistic man. Z would wear hot pants and sit on B in front of staff. If a woman likes B and is known by the big pepper 🌶️, he would do such a thing. Don't be surprised, he does it more.

It doesn’t matter. There are even more exaggerated ones. If I say it, I will be beaten. I am either the first wife or the third wife. The second room is really not good. I can’t do that, hahaha, but you can do it however you want.

B is not shy or bashful in private, he is carefree and not so refined? I don’t know if this description is accurate, isn’t it the love of a straight man, if you love him you buy him things? So his money is given to Z, and he reports everything, big or small, to him, it’s not an exaggeration at all, really not at all, but Z is not actually a frugal person, hahahaha he likes to buy things, he buys bags, small bags, he likes small bags, he buys Lego, watches, clothes for B, usually couple clothes, B always finds reasons to wear them together, he just wants to show off.

Many women like B but they all get rejected by him in a domineering manner. Z will have it too. It’s not surprising. They eat so many melons. What can’t they do in the circle? But they are really clean. In the turbulent entertainment circle, they stand firm and support each other without being polluted. So many people are optimistic about them. I think it’s their character and love.

Actually, they don’t call each other husband, wife, or baby in public, but they do so in private. B likes to act like a spoiled child and listen to Z, but he is a very mature and stable person. He knows the ways of the world.

#009

He also has to take sides. He can handle relationships very well. He is very comfortable and calm, clear-headed, and never listens to the company's white cloth. When he first became famous, the company asked him to pair up with the company's girls. Yes, definitely not. Some people listen to the company because they can cooperate and win-win. He will never let it violate the bottom line. Z is entrusted to him, so what are you afraid of? He has the right to speak and make decisions in the company, but it is far from enough to protect Z. (I will really cry) So when my brother got into trouble, he worked desperately. (I will talk about the timeline later, write it tomorrow, write it together with other melons, and focus on this aspect.) He worked very hard in 2020. I think he is really anxious. No one can be more anxious than him. But he has done it now, they have become so strong, it was so hard for them in the past years, but B really did protect Z well.

His parents took on a lot, and he was just a walking tool to show off his affection. When they go shopping by themselves, they will say they are shopping with their mother. They bought a dog but they don’t have time to take care of it, so they let their mother take care of it. Their mother walked the dog for them in Beijing and later returned to Chongqing. In fact, it was Z who sent soup to B from afar (he really would send soup). He dotes on B too much (his foot was injured during SDC). He sent it to SDC and to the company. Moreover, the soup he made was very bland. Eating too much salt would cause swelling. If you don’t believe me, go check it yourself. B calls it a sweet complaint. Then they advertised to the public that his mother sent them soup and braised beef in soy sauce. His mother loved them very much and approved of them. Although she disagreed at first, she was finally convinced. She would send them gifts on holidays.

In the past, Z was very busy, so B would go to see his mother on his behalf. At the beginning, I heard that they were more accepting. His mother understood and did not bend over backwards for love. Believe it or not, B strongly opposed it, and B's father especially disagreed. In the end, I heard that they had a falling out, but clever B persuaded his father by persuading his grandmother and mother. In the end, his father also helped Z on GS. He heard that B was the first to come out, that is, after the weak connection, he rashly confessed to give Z a sense of security. But it is also like this. I think they are becoming more and more determined. Parents all hope that their children are healthy and happy. Seeing such madness, I guess they can't object too much. In 2021 years, they specially invited their parents to their home in Beijing to celebrate the New Year together.

-END.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #i hope they are healthy and happy together ☺️☺️☺️☺️#Youtube

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nottsim · 2 days ago

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— ᴡʜᴀᴛ’ꜱ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ʀᴏᴏᴍ 𝒽𝑜𝑔𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈 𝒹𝑜𝓇𝓂 ᴇᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ

══════════════

⊹ ࣪ ˖ quick disclaimer: i scripted out the canon ravenclaw dorm for this, um..masterpiece? it’s pinterest approved, chaos infused and definitely not up to standard ravenclaw aesthetic. sorry, i like my personal space with a side of whimsy and highly overpriced.

and yes, i sleep peacefully knowing that there are no dusty tapestries or whispering paintings in my room. my bed? a trap. productivity doesn’t live here. and to the right, you’ll find the three socks lost to the void (no pun intended) ୨୧

ahem, anyway… not to brag but i may have poured my soul into this mood board for you. so, welcome to the full experience—pretend you're here with me.

way up in the ravenclaw tower, where the air is thin and the academic stress is thicker, you’ll find my dorm, with the best view in the castle and where beauty sleep is taken very seriously. my dorm is a love letter written in soft cotton sheets that feel like whispered secrets, with my dove duvet crinkling with every shift. sigh. can you tell i love my bed? my bed is the kind of cozy that turns waking up into a personal betrayal. yes. it’s that deep. once you’re in, there’s no way out. my canopy drapes like a royal decree that shall remain cozy forever. my pillows? massive. comically oversized. one wrong turn in my sleep and i’m lost in the fluff, never to be seen again. a tragic fate some might say. i highly disagree. my beds comfort level makes me consider skipping morning classes in favor of one more minute (hour) of warmth. alas, i carry the burden of the ravenclaw tendencies..so i drag myself out of my personal cloud and into the cruel, cold world of academia.

beside my bed, you’ll find two nightstands. because symmetry is important, and so is convenience. each has a lamp because i refuse to subject myself to the harsh betrayal of the big light. a glass vase of peonies sit on one of them because, yes. i am both romantic and delicate (my dad sends me them). next to it my silk sleep mask waits, ready to shield me from the cruel reality of early mornings. the wall behind my bed is dressed in classic toile print, all delicate scenes in muted a rose. it looks like it belongs in a countryside manor, the kind with sweeping gardens and letters sealed with wax. very fitting for someone who hoards handwritten notes and thinks too much about which shoes match the mood of the day. what can i say? i needed to feel like i stepped into a historical romance novel every time i walked into my room. sigh. at the foot of this luxurious trap is my little couch seat. it’s expiate solely for dramatic lounging, contemplating life’s biggest mysteries (why i own so many shoes) and acting as my clothing rack for when the wardrobe is an inch too far.

then there’s my vanity/desk hybrid also known as my personal command center. this is where business gets done. makeup, hair, staring contests and my dreaded assignments. it holds everything that makes me feel pretty..and random quills because, i am both beauty and brains. you know how some people have motivational posters? i have a hairbrush that speaks to me in rhinestones and whispered affirmations..beside it? ah, my fragrance, my signature scent if you will. vanilla. it’s not just any vanilla, it’s the vanilla. soft, fresh, sweet. it’s just enough to gain a baker title. skip dessert, this tops it. also. if you read my last post (ily), you’ll know i live in constant fear of bad breath, yes. i’m very particular about how i smell. and, if we’re being completely honest, my whole room smells like vanilla at all times. why? because this fragrance is so powerful that it quietly infiltrates every corner. so, if you're wondering what this room smells like, it’s not vanilla :’)

my mirror you ask? what? this mirror? perched on my vanity like a regal heirloom? ornate, vintage and the closest thing to a masterpiece i’ll own…yet somehow, the real highlight? the little note taped to the corner..Theo’s doing, of course. one of many, because my vanity is where i usually end up when i’m avoiding the black hole that is my bed. i like looking at it…like a little reminder, i am indeed adored. i might’ve spared a kiss for it. it’s still there, slightly smudged, like a love note and a signature all in one. then there’s a bear and a bunny, aka me and Theo in stuffed animal form. the bear naturally, wears a slytherin tie. because even in plush form Theo has to be extra. together? they’re like our tiny, fluffy alter egos, silently judging my makeup skills.

what else is crammed into my room, you ask? my box of pictures. because naturally, i must document everything like a historian with a flair for the dramatic. most pictures are taken with my beloved pink digicam which i treat like a priceless artifact..if you zoom in you’ll get a visual representation of how much free time i have. and speaking of prized possessions? allow me to introduce my holy grail of footwear..(that rhymed). anyways. my repetto ballerinas. these shoes are the unsung heroes of my chaotic life. they’re sleek, they’re chic, and they somehow manage to elevate every outfit..at least from the ankles down.

and here we are, the grand finale of the tour, where the chaos meets its inevitable, slightly tragic, conclusion. anyways. that was my dorm, basically the physical embodiment of my brain, trapped within four walls. it’s a curated ecosystem at this point. questionable priorities, comfort and clutter tied together with a deep sense of regret and the sheer unwillingness to leave my bed.

from my bed, 𝐣𝐚𝐬 “𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐨” ୨୧

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fromchaostocosmos · 16 hours ago

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I keep thinking about this.

DEI is very important and needs to be protected.

I do not think DEI is at fault for what is happening.

What I think it is that the language of progressivism, equality, and such is being used as a cover for antisemitism.

Because in places that truly care of equality and equability would see thriving Jewish spaces. And those Jewish spaces would show the full variety of the many types of Jews there are and other communities we are a part of.

There would also be an understanding that Jews are a marginalized minority group.

In the way that abusers can use therapy terminology against their victims to further their abuse this is how I see what is going here.

And just like in the case with the abusers and therapy terminology that does not mean that the therapy terminology is the problem, but rather what the abusers are doing with it.

So too is DEI and what it is trying to do and the problems it there to address not the problem. The problem is how antisemities are willing to use DEI as means and method to further antisemitism, to continue being antisemitic, and rid spaces of Jews.

Getting rid of DEI will not fix that problem just like getting rid of therapy terminology will not fix the other problem.

The only way to fix it is to deal with the root of problem which is the one who misusing the system and abusing the language so that they can continue to get away with abusing and isolating their victims.

So in this case we must find a way of dealing with the antisemities at the root of the problem. Not place the blame on DEI which is there to address other problems and is there for a very good and important reasons. Is there because it is needed.

This is much harder, but it is what is necessary for any true and meaningful change to happen. We can not just leave those who are the root of the problem in place or nothing changes.

So we need to call out when they misuse and abuse DEI be antisemitic and we need get rid of the antisemities.

Because sadly right now the reality is this: antisemities on Left are using DEI as a cover to be antisemitic and the Right is using "caring about antisemitism" as a cover to get of DEI. And in the meantime neither cares about Jews or anyone DEI is their to help and protect.

So we all get fucked over and doubly and even triply so for some of us.

This is how I am seeing/reading this all. Please let me know if you think I have missed anything or am overlooking anything or just want to your thought/opinion on how my read of it.

Because I really firmly believe that have such vibrant communities that full such wonderful and beautiful variety. It is something that I really love about us even though it can often come from a deeply painful place.

There are so many different Jews and that is something adds to our beauty. Because in the end we are all one. We are all parts of a whole and we are letters in the story of our people. Without any of us our community would less.

So to me it is only logical that should be a growth a Jewish spaces that allow there to be room for all that fullness to exist, all that difference to be allowed, and for all the commonalities and just pure am yisraelness to shine through like a thread that connects us all.

Suddenly, everywhere you look, the Jews are disappearing.

You feel it like a slow moving pressure system, an anxiety of exclusion and downward mobility. Maybe you first noticed it at your workplace. Or maybe it hit when you or your children applied to college or graduate school. It could have been something as simple as opening up the Netflix splash page. It’s gauche to count but you can’t help yourself: In academia, Hollywood, Washington, even in New York City—anywhere American Jews once made their mark—our influence is in steep decline.

For many Jews, the first instinct is to look inward: We blame intermarriage, assimilation, the loss of the immigrant work ethic. This is, of course, a cope. Because the most significant cause of the decline isn’t Jews themselves, but that American liberalism, our civic religion, has turned on us. Where Jewish success was once upheld as a sign of America’s strength and progress over its prejudices, Jewish “overrepresentation” is again something to be solved, not celebrated.

A tenure-track humanities professor at a prestigious public university tells of the finalists for her department’s next graduate school cohort. Of the 20 or so candidates, four to five are Jews. One is a working-class yeshivish applicant with an incredible backstory and even better recommendations. He is passed over for not being “diverse” enough. Of course our professor doesn’t complain— her own tenure is at risk. In the end, not a single Jew is offered admission.

Another Jewish professor applies to work in the UC system. In his mandatory diversity statement, which he describes as “the most shameful piece of writing I’ve ever done,” his sole aim is to convey the impression that he hopes to be the last Jewish man they ever hire. He still doesn’t get the job.

And why would he? Using YouGov data, Eric Kaufmann finds that just 4% of elite American academics under 30 are Jewish (compared to 21% of boomers). The steep decline of Jewish editors at the Harvard Law Review (down roughly 50% in less than 10 years) could be the subject of its own law review article.

The same pattern holds across America’s elite institutions: a slow-moving downward trend from the 1990s to the mid-2010s—likely due to all sorts of normal sociological factors—and then a purge so sweeping and dramatic you almost wonder who sent out the secret memo.

Museum boards now diversify by getting Jews to resign. A well-respected Jewish curator at the Guggenheim is purged after she puts on a Basquiat show. At the Art Institute of Chicago, even the nice Jewish lady volunteers are terminated for having the wrong ethnic background. There’s an entire cottage industry of summer programs and fellowships and postdocs that are now off-limits to Jews.

In 2014 there were 16-20 Jewish artists featured at the Whitney Biennial. After a very public campaign against a Jewish board member with ties to the Israeli defense establishment, the curators got the message. The 2022 biennial featured just 1-2 Jews.

From 2010 through 2019 there were at least three Jews in every MacArthur Fellowship class, sometimes as many as five or six. The Forward would write effusive columns celebrating the year’s Jewish geniuses. Since 2020, just 0-1 Jews a year have been awarded grants. The Forward hasn’t bothered to take note.

Today American Jews watch with Solomonic bemusement as Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard is argued before the Supreme Court. On some level we sympathize with the Asian American plaintiffs, who are suing Harvard for using admissions criteria that discriminate against them on the basis of their race. Maybe they really are the new Jews, facing the same barriers—insidious racism, personality scores, rural geographic preferences—that we once did.

On the other hand, fancying ourselves to be high caste members of a beneficent elite, we pretend not to notice that “diversity, equity, and inclusion” is a cudgel used to exclude certain groups of Americans, including Asians and Jews. Desperate to maintain their waning status within the liberal coalition, Jewish communal organizations ignore these contradictions. Once a protector of specifically Jewish interests but now secure in its new role as handmaiden to power, the Anti-Defamation League filed an amicus brief—in support of Harvard.

In the 1940s, the ADL took a different tack. For decades unofficial quotas at most Ivy League universities limited Jews to around 10% of the student body, despite evermore qualified Jewish applicants. Jewish organizations made it their mission to break this invisible barrier and by the end of the 1950s the quotas were a dead letter. The long summer of American Jewish success had begun.

But the seasons always change. A FIRE/Yougov survey found that self-identified Jews now number just 7% of Ivy League students, compared to 10% during the height of the antisemitic quotas.

In his gripping podcast Gatecrashers, about the history of Jews in the Ivy League, Mark Oppenheimer describes the troubled state of Jewish campus life. Harvard has gone from being 25% Jewish in the 1990s and 2000s to under 10% today. “In theory it could be the case that Jews are the same percentage of whites at Harvard as they always were,” he explains. “But Harvard has not shrunk the number of athletes it admits […] and they’ve kept their geographical diversity. So if you’re a Jewish kid who’s not an athlete and not a legacy and not from Wyoming … then there’s not much room left for you.”

According to the Hillel College Guide, Penn’s Jewish population declined from 26% in 2015 to 17% in 2021; NYU’s dropped from 24% to 13%. Princeton, Columbia, and Cornell have seen smaller but significant declines (Brown and Dartmouth, with different institutional priorities, are by all accounts happy exceptions).

Data from the Yale Chaplain’s Office—which appears to be the only Ivy League university that still tracks religious affiliation—shows a similar trend: The Jewish population went from 19.9% in the 2000s to 16.4% in the 2010s. A couple of years ago, the school’s chaplain told Meir Chaim Posner, the Chabad rabbi at Yale, that around 11% of Yale undergraduates were Jewish. “It’s dropped slightly since then,” Rabbi Posner told me in November.

“The university has decided that DEI is the overarching principle of admissions,” one Hillel director told me. “There’s a general consensus that it’s more difficult for Jewish students to get into top tier schools.” Nor is this difficulty confined to secular Jews—the modern Orthodox population has also crashed. A college counselor at a top Jewish day school reports that as universities have revamped enrollment and gone test-optional, the number of Orthodox students has decreased. “Every year has been harder,” he said. “Our ability to thoughtfully predict the likelihood of admission has gone way down.”

An uneasy omertà settles in. The Ivies skip college nights at Jewish day schools they visited for decades. At Penn there used to be two daily minyans—now there’s one. There are hushed whispers that if current trends hold, some of these colleges might no longer be able to support an Orthodox community at all.

The 1999 Hillel College Guide now reads like a map to a lost civilization. Harvard and Yale have 1,500 Jewish undergrads apiece. There are 5,000 Jewish students and grad students at Columbia, 6,000 at Penn, 14,000 at NYU. It’s hard to imagine that as recently as 2008, articles were being written about the “race” to attract Jewish students.

What was normal less than two decades ago sounds like a siren call from a distant golden age. To even suggest that a 15%-20% Jewish undergraduate student body might be acceptable in a country in which Jews make up 2.4% of the total population is anathema in today’s liberal society.

The 1999 Hillel College Guide now reads like a map to a lost civilization.

In New York—the seat of American Jewish political power—there are almost no Jews left in power. A decade ago the city had five Jewish congressmen, a Jewish mayor, two Jewish borough presidents, and 14 Jewish City Council members. Today just two congressmen and a single borough president remain. Only six Jews now sit on the 51-person City Council. Shelly Silver, the corrupt Orthodox former State Assembly leader, was replaced by Yuh-Line Niou, a pro-BDS “progressive” whose oligarch father was featured in the Panama Papers. Not even the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is recognizably Jewish anymore.

“What you have is a lack of identity of Jews as Jews,” the Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Washington Post. “And they don’t have the power to ensure that there’s more than one Jewish congressman. It’s astounding.”

Younger Jews are being excluded from the liberal organizations their parents and grandparents helped create. Identitarian meltdowns roil the progressive world. The Women’s March, the ACLU, and the SPLC all get rid of Jewish leadership. There will be no more “Mighty Iras” in our lifetime. Not even the Jewish president of the Audubon Society is safe.

There are still powerful Jews in Washington—neo-Nazis on Twitter like to post photos of Biden’s cabinet—but the influence is waning. Is it a coincidence that in the U.S. Senate (a handsy group of old men if ever there was one) the only senator forced to resign during the #MeToo panic happened to be Jewish? Or that activists pushed for Dianne Feinstein’s resignation for the explicit reason that she be replaced by someone who isn’t Jewish?

Of the 114 federal judges appointed by Joe Biden (as of this writing), just 8-9 appear to be Jewish—in a field that’s historically been at least 20% Jewish. Liberals worship Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a magical Jewish Teletubby, but they wouldn’t dare nominate another “white woman” to the highest court anytime soon. We are back to the single Jewish seat on the court.

Apparently Jews have so much power and influence that the highest-ranking Jewish senator in history finds it too politically difficult to hire a 22-year-old version of himself. There were at least 15 Jews on Chuck Schumer’s staff of 64 in 2014. After facing pressure for not being diverse enough, and despite an enlarged staff of 89, he can no longer make a minyan.

In Los Angeles—America’s second most Jewish city—there are now just two Jewish City Council members, down from six in 2000. In last year’s infamous dustup, Nury Martinez, the sharp-tongued council president, had despicable things to say about Black people, Oaxacans, even Armenians—but Jews were barely a footnote. “Judíos cut their deal with South LA,” she said. “They are gonna screw everybody else.”

It’s gauche to count but you can’t help yourself: In academia, Hollywood, Washington, even in New York City—anywhere American Jews once made their mark—our influence is in steep decline.

Speaking of LA, a decade ago there were 22 Jews on The Hollywood Reporter’s annual list of the Top 50 Showrunners. In 2022, that’s down to 13. Other than the half-Jewish (and already famous) Maggie Gyllenhaal, you’d have to go back six years to find a single Jew on Variety’s annual list of 10 Directors to Watch.

Thanks to the odious new Hollywood house style that requires a detailed ethnic and racial classification at the top of all capsule biographies, we can see just how many self-identified Jews are in the Sundance writers and directors labs, or the NBC, Paramount, and Disney writers and apprenticeship programs—it is zero. It seems not being Jewish is actually a primary qualification. So much for Jewish control of Hollywood.

The decline is so rapid—and the golden age so close to living memory—it’s a running joke. On the latest season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David meets with a group of younger non-Jewish studio executives to convince them to cast a Mexican American girl as Young Larry’s Jewish love interest. On Reboot, Steve Levitan’s Hulu show, an old guard of Jewish sitcom writers clash uncomfortably with their younger and woker—and noticeably non-Jewish—colleagues.

Not even Hollywood’s Jewish history belongs to Jews anymore. The new Academy Museum, dedicated to “radical inclusivity” and paid for with Haim Saban’s Jewish money, couldn’t bring itself to include Hollywood’s Jewish founders. In Babylon, Damian Chazelle’s epic flop about Hollywood’s golden age, the director follows an ahistorical Mexican studio executive and an Asian American lesbian rather than any of the very real Jewish moguls or screenwriters or directors of the era. What’s telling isn’t that Chazelle ignored Jews (anyone can do that) but that not a single reviewer bothered to notice this “erasure.” The culture has moved on.

What remains of Jewish Hollywood lives on borrowed time. Spielberg can make his Fabelmans, James Gray his Armageddon Time, but only because these are nostalgia pieces. Soon there will be no more RBG’s, no more Spielbergs, just a few off-brand Seinfelds doing a heritage act. There will certainly never be another Larry King or Andy Borowitz, Jews of such astounding mediocrity you wonder what was in the water.

In the 1950s, after Stalin’s death, after the purges, the Politburo turned to another pressing issue: the overrepresentation of Jews in Soviet life. Proportional representation (3% Tajik! 2% Uzbek! 12% Ukrainian!) became official policy, and the next decade saw the quick erosion of the Jewish nomenklatura. Soviet Jews—who had disproportionately contributed to and benefited from the building of the communist state—had outlived their usefulness.

A 1964 New York Times article explained that because Soviet republics assigned a certain number of students “preferential admission” based on their nationalities, other nationalities—aka Jews—were excluded. “A higher percentage of Jewish students was permitted to attend universities in Czarist Russia than is enrolled in the USSR today,” an outraged American Jewish Congress declared. “The 8.2% of university graduates who are Jews contrasts sharply with the present Jewish university enrollment of 3.22%.”

As true believers in the postwar liberal project, American Jews spent decades advocating for tolerance and equality of opportunity, not least because we were the prime beneficiaries. The ADL didn’t fight the quotas in the 1950s so Jews could matriculate in proportion to their percentage of the population. But there’s a tension between meritocracy and representation. The new DEI regime treats any disparity between groups as evidence of unfair advantage—and yet we’re supposed to think it’s a coincidence that Jewish representation plummets at the exact moment America frantically pushes to racially rebalance all high-status industries.

Because what is framed as a backlash against America’s “white” centers of power is in many cases a clever sleight of hand. Jews are being disproportionately purged from liberal institutions because Jews disproportionately exist within those institutions.

When activists and journalists and executives talk about how Broadway or NPR or publishing is “too white,” what they really mean is “too Jewish.” When The New York Times says it wants to make its internal demographics look more like New York City’s (excepting the Hasidim, of course), what this means is “fewer Jews.” Twenty years ago, if Pat Robertson spoke along these lines—making the same complaints about the same people and industries and institutions—there would have been a rush to condemn it as antisemitic. Today it passes for social justice.

In the 1960s and ’70s, facing hard barriers to their professional advancement, Soviet Jews lost the faith. The children and the grandchildren of the revolution tried to emigrate. When the authorities wouldn’t let them, American Jews rallied to their cause, created brand-new communal organizations, petitioned Congress, rallied thousands-strong outside the United Nations. Ours was a community confident in its power and confident in its future.

Asian Americans have the dignity of looking at admissions practices and demanding fair representation. The Jews, as ever, are a people apart. From civil rights to Vietnam to the spectacular bounty of their cultural and political achievements, liberal Jewish boomers always managed to be on the right side of history. It is a supreme irony that they’ve helped empower a movement that now places their children and grandchildren on the wrong side.

If Putin or Orban reduced their universities’ Jewish populations by 50%, the ADL would be howling. But Harvard and Yale can magically lose nearly half their Jewish students in less than a decade and we’ll take it on the chin. That this is occurring with the full acquiescence of a terrified liberal Jewish establishment should tell you just how much power Jews in America still have.

#jumblr

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tj-dragonblade · 1 day ago

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[Fluffbruary Fic] Tradition

Fandom: The Sandman Pairing: Dreamling Rated: G Word Count: 2404 Tags: Fluffbruary, Fluffbruary 2025, pre-relationship, fluff, holidays, baking cookies

Notes: Originally, this was for Week 2 of @mr-sadman's SeasonalSadman2024 event, using the prompt Traditions. But it didn't want to flow for seasonal timeliness so I put it aside and slated it for the end of Fluffbruary instead. And it turns out, all it needed was a rest and some breathing room. Inspiration came from both @chaosheadspace and @carnelianmeluha 's creator threads on the server, so I will dedicate this to both of you ❤️ Even if it's February now.

Summary: Dream shares his time and Hob shares his stories, and together they are maybe sharing something else.

On AO3

"Dream! You're just in time!"

Dream hesitates, abruptly concerned that he had forgotten an appointment and somehow managed to keep it serendipitously—but no. He is very certain that he was not expected here today.

'Here', as it turns out, is Hob's kitchen, where the watery winter daylight streams through the window over the sink and Hob is wrestling a large mound of dough into an enormous mixing bowl. There is another mound set by on the worktop; Hob's sleeves are rolled up in a very fetching manner, his hair is mostly contained in a small knot on the back of his head, and he's wearing an apron that proclaims him World's Okayest Baker in garish pink letters. There are smears of the rich brownish dough all over it, matching smears on Hob's arms and hands, and the room is fragrant with spices—cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger.

Dream cocks his head the slightest bit. "In time for what?" It is easy enough to intuit; the kitchen is replete with wisps of daydreams that whisper the answer, but 'making biscuits' is merely the title of the story, not the full depth of it which Dream would hear in Hob's own words.

"Making biscuits!" Hob smiles broadly at him, warm and full of life. "School has a tradition, faculty bakes treats for the students before term lets out for Christmas. Some folks buy in from the fancy bakeries 'cause they don't know their way around the kitchen, but me I like to do it from scratch." He sets aside the bowl. "And I like to make extra. Student body's small enough, we're not some big university, but I like doing my part to make sure there's enough to go round."

"Indeed." Dream's coat and boots disappear to their places by Hob's front door as he adjusts his manifestation to better suit the shape of the afternoon before him.

"Sooo, I was doing my baking today—and I'd love to have your help, if you're here for a visit and don't mind something so menial."

"It is no such thing, Hob Gadling." Dream offers a tiny smile. "I would be honored to assist the 'world's okayest baker' with a task so important."

Hob glances down at his well-used apron and laughs. "Ah, yes. The apron lies, I'll have you know—I am nothing short of a fantastic baker after all these years. It was a gift from Jaime, a joke." He shakes his head fondly, the barest hint of melancholy crinkling the corners of his eyes.

Dream is certain he could follow the thread of the name and its connection to Hob to the Dreaming, bring full awareness of this dreamer to the fore, but again—there is comfort and camaraderie in hearing the stories of Hob's life as Hob would tell them, directly. So he chooses instead to offer question.

"A former lover?" He is reasonably certain he would know if Hob were currently involved with anyone.

"Yeah." Hob's expression has gone nostalgic. "Dated a couple years, lived together awhile; ended it about five months before you came back. Jaime had a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity, moved to Toronto. And, well, I wasn't leaving London, was I? Not when I was still waiting for you." He smiles, and it is tinged with…not sadness, precisely, but something that is soft and wistful and commiserative.

The heart that Dream has approximated thumps heavily in his breast. "My absence cost you this relationship—"

"No, no no, now, none of that," Hob interrupts, speaking over his shoulder as he turns to wash his hands. "It was lovely while it lasted but we both knew how it would end, sooner or later. Jaime was meant for grander things than me, and, well. All my relationships have to end one way or another, don't they." He turns off the tap and dries his hands, flashes Dream a brilliant grin and a quick wink. "'Cept ours, of course. Can always count on seeing you again, my friend."

"Of course," Dream echoes, inordinately warmed by how easily Hob centers Dream in his life, welcomes him. Broadly, as he has just spoken, yes; Dream is assured that Hob's delight in his company is genuine. But also, specifically, how easily he makes room for Dream in whatever he is doing when Dream visits without notice. He has demonstrated time and again that Dream's presence is appreciated, and no burden; that Dream is important enough that Hob will shape his plans around Dream as needed, will include him at a moment's notice.

It is. Gratifying, to receive such regard, from one who is neither his subject nor seeking to curry favor.

Dream is never quite certain what to do with it.

"But anyway!" Hob opens a drawer and rifles through it briefly, withdrawing a rolling pin and setting it aside. "These Christmas biscuits have been a tradition of mine even before Jaime, and I'm glad the school gives me an excuse to keep it going. I'm making the lemon rosemary lavender ones that you like next—they're very popular every year—and chocolate candy cane if I have the time after that. But first! Gingerbread." He turns to the fragrant mahogany dough on his worktop and begins pushing and kneading at it, working it into a somewhat flatter shape.

"I always make two batches," he says, as he moves to apply the rolling pin to the reworked dough. "One for stars and rounds, one for proper gingerbread men. Once I get this rolled out, d'you want to start with the cutters?" He nods toward a small assembly of metal and plastic shapes at the other end of the bench.

"Of course." Dream is pleased to take part in this creative process, in whatever way Hob can find use for him.

"Great, then I can start working the other batch on the table while you do." He's rolling vigorously, a steady rhythm molding the dough to his wishes, bared forearms flexing in a way that Dream finds somehow difficult to look away from.

"Is this a recipe of your own devising?" Dream is eager, he finds, to hear more of this story of Hob's traditions.

"Oh no, no, this is Oma Franziska's gingerbread recipe." Hob has that fondly-nostalgic look again. "She insisted we call her that, me and Jim. She'd lost contact with her own grandkids when she left Germany, you see, and she sort of adopted us when we moved in next to her. She knew Jim's truth, too, and it was nice to have a neighbor who he could be himself with."

Hob has told Dream of Jim previously. Jim, who had been Hob's wife Peg to the rest of the world but Hob's husband in safe company; Jim, who had loved the sea, who sang bawdy pub songs with the loveliest voice, who left Hob with many fond memories and stories to carry with him as he continued living.

"She looked after us both, in a fashion. Knew her way around the kitchen blindfolded and backwards—I'm very sure food was her love language. Always made sure the neighbors were fed if they needed and was just—she was really something, y'know? I'm glad I got to know her." Hob gives the dough a final roll with a flourish. "Stayed put until she passed, even though I was kind of pushing it for that lifetime. I didn't want to leave her behind when she had so little time left, especially when she'd been there for me after losing Jim and all of that."

"Your kindness does you credit." Dream is warmed by the tale, by yet another glimpse of the man Hob had worked to become in the past century.

"Heh." Hob beams at him, and something low in Dream's stomach tightens marginally. "Anyway, Oma Franziska loved sharing recipes with us—sending her traditions forward, she called it—and I've kept 'em alive for her. This gingerbread is based on an older recipe, but she tinkered with it quite a lot and clearly she knew what she was about; these biscuits always get rave reviews." He turns, plucks two of the biscuit cutters from the jumble on the counter and presents them to Dream. "Here you go."

Dutifully, Dream accepts the cutters and moves to the rolled-out dough, the collective unconscious granting easy familiarity with a task he has never performed.

"Perfect," Hob declares, as Dream begins pressing the simple shapes neatly into the dough. "Let me get your tray prepped so you've got somewhere to set these little beauties as you go."

Something deep in Dream warms at the easy praise, pleased and content; he lets the feeling wash over him as he works, as Hob sets a lined baking tray in easy reach and begins rolling out the second batch over on the table, as Hob continues talking.

"I love this recipe," Hob says, and Dream can hear how he's smiling even though his back is turned. "They turn out just the right amount of soft with a lovely balance of flavors, and they're exactly sweet enough. Gotta start it early to give it plenty of time to 'ripen', for the lactic acid to do its thing, but it's very much worth it. This batch I started about a month ago so they'd be ready now. And the biscuits themselves will keep at least 'til February, assuming they last that long."

"You deem them worth the effort," Dream surmises, arranging the biscuits he has cut on the baking sheet.

"Mmyep, definitely. Especially when I'm making them to share with others."

Dream can still hear the way Hob is smiling, and it warms him. Hob has such care for the people in his life, for those he sheperds and those he works beside; Dream is grateful to witness it, to be included in that care, for the ready welcome he continues to find in Hob's company.

"The time taken is to their benefit," he offers, transferring more cut biscuits to their tray. "The dreams sown into the dough are rich, and deeply rooted. They have grown robust, being let to steep so long; your biscuits will be a masterpiece of comfort and flavor."

"There's. Dreams. My dreams? In the dough?" Hob sounds particulary flummoxed; Dream looks up to find him turned about, blinking dumbfounded at him, rolling pin held idle in one hand.

"Yes." Dream lays another gingerbread star on his tray. "Your intent, your joy in sharing, your delight in doing for others. Your wish to carry the memories of the recipe forward. They all shape your baking, enhance your end result."

"Heh. I had no idea." The tips of Hob's ears have reddened considerably and there is a trace of pink visible across his cheeks.

It becomes him.

Hob blinks, shakes his head, recovering his composure. "Bet all the dreams in the dough won't save them from burning, though." He grins.

"Most certainly not," Dream allows, smiling in turn. "We shall need to time them appropriately. I can assist, if you like."

Hob has turned back to finish his rolling, speaks over his shoulder. "How's that work, then? You'll listen to the dreams as they bake, and know when they're perfectly done based on vibes?"

"Perhaps, if you think it best." Dream can feel his smile growing. "I had thought I might simply watch the timer."

Hob has stopped and turned to stare at him again; Dream reaches to take the rolling pin and use it himself. He lets the smile on his face remain, lets it be known to Hob.

"You're making jokes now?" Hob grins widely, eyes crinkling with mirth, his tone one of wonder. "Red letter date! Best mark my calendar."

Dream, flush with pleasant warmth at the easy teasing, turns back to roll his scrap dough into a flat sheet, delighting in the little chuckle Hob gives as he begins stamping the simple stylized human shapes into his own sheet of dough.

The day passes pleasantly, gingerbread baking fragrantly while they move on to the next biscuit on Hob's planned list; Hob prepares the shortbread dough while Dream monitors time on the oven. It is very much a matter of 'vibes' that lets him pull each tray at exactly the right moment, transferring them to cooling racks, setting the pans aside to be prepared for their next batch. They roll out and cut the lavender lemon rosemary biscuits next, and since Dream is sharing the labor there is plenty of time to make the chocolate candy cane ones as well.

They clean up behind the baking and Hob prepares lunch while the biscuits are all cooling; once they have eaten, they move on to decorating. Dream is given the gingerbread and loses himself in the flow of creativity, piping swirls of colorful icing onto the stars and rounds, applying edible glitter and sugar pearls with a discerning eye while Hob smears chocolate icing and sprinkles crushed candy cane bits on the chocolate biscuits. Together they finish up with the gingerbread men, adding eyes and mouths and clothes in wide variety, each distinctly unique. Dream can feel as they work how Hob's daydreams float and shift around them, how intent has settled into the biscuits at every stage of the process, even here at the end.

He can taste it, as well, when he and Hob sample their work after finishing.

It is little wonder Hob's biscuits are popular at the school's annual function. They are, quite literally, made with love.

When he visits Hob again in February, he is presented with one of the gingerbread men they had made in December, carefully kept in an airtight container.

"Saved the last one for you." Hob winks, and Dream's stomach dips pleasantly.

The biscuit is indeed as good as it had been two months prior, ripe with the care baked into it, sweet and fragrant and satisfying on a level far beyond the physical. Dream nibbles, listens while Hob regales him with the story of the student love letter he'd accidentally intercepted on Valentine's day, basks in the comfortable warmth of Hob's voice and Hob's presence and Hob's home.

And somewhere, deep within the core of himself, he acknowledges the truth that he can taste in the biscuit, even now: that some of the care and the love that have gone into their creation, is very much specifically for him.

= Started: 12/12/24 Drafted: 2/23/25 Posted: 2/28/25

#Fluffbruary 2025 #TJs Fluffbruary #TJs Fics #Sandman #Dreamling

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punkspacepirate · 20 hours ago

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Malevolent E4

Wraith shit all good

entity is snarky bastard I love him

There's no way this truck driver is sane

Aw he's describing the baby for Arthur why is this entity tender

creepy creepy driver sos Arthur you are a dead man sitting

Creepy driver has creepy house, the North-East Gothic persists

creepy house has creepy basement!!

"Hey, Kellin, your mother was a whore!"

took Arthur this long to figure out he should leave this fucking basement

Creepy head in creepy cage in creepy basement!!!!!! Fuck this

oh my fuck his mother wasn't a whore

lore drop + murder attempt -> fuck!

three cheers for arson

Fuck no for creepy nursery rhymes

this man whimpers like a whore when he's stabbed you were right

Idk who said "this too shall pass" [i think it was the entity] but I love them for it. I don't know the official origin but growing up I was told it was Jewish folklore, and it gets abbreviated to GZY in hebrew lettering. i might go deep on this later if im right in thinking this is key to the show bc if so malevolent is about to become very important to me

see you all for ep 5 where we see if sadman survives

#malevolent #malevolent spoilers #arthur lester #this too shall pass #kadiith #entropy

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invested-in-your-future · 3 days ago

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hi there! im coming from your post on mutsumi’s DID in ave mujica, and i saw the point you made about implications of sh regarding sakiko, which i was curious about. i don’t disagree with the idea, but i was wondering where you found those implications?

Hi!

So yeah beyond the specific mindset Sakiko displays and her revisiting important parts of her life just before the Crychic thing happens there are a few clues that can be interpreted that way.

Now, mind you this specifically is from a narrative writing standpoint and is not as applicable to real life because the real life version of this topic is far too complex and sensitive to handle here.

This specifically mentions narrative beats that could be used as indicating a characterization of a single character and the way she interacts with the world—and how the narrative expects us to parse those clues when interpreting the said character's motives.

The topic below is highly sensitive and might be triggering to people affected by it.

The first bigger clue is the book we see Sakiko read for a split second

From the cover art it's easy to figure out that she is reading "Kokoro" by Natsume Soseki.

The book is essentially multiple interconnected character journeys through solitude and trauma as they are either being affected by sh in their life or considering it as a form of escapism from traumatic experiences and self loathing.

The book also has multiple narrative parallels between Sensei and Sakiko and how they handle trauma, their instinct to alienate themselves from others, etc.

There's actually a pretty apt quote from.the book that nails Sakiko as a character:

"His curt and cold ways were not designed to express his dislike of me, but they were meant rather as a warning to me that I would not want him as a friend. It was because he despised himself that he refused to accept openheartedly the intimacy of others."

The character in question also notably wrestles with the thought that his existence spread misery to others.

This ties to The second narrative clue which is, as I mentioned before, the character mindset. We see it in her stairway freakout where her train of thought is essentially this:

"If I wasn't here."

Now the last clue is a bit flimsy but like I said all of these are from purely narrative standpoint and the actual topic of sh is far more complex than fiction often can handle which is why I personally wouldn't ever dare to use it as a topic if I were to write a story.

The third clue is the wording Sakiko picks in her messages and letter to Uika and the way it matches wording that might be used in a very different kind of letter.

Actually reading the messages really helps to understand why Uika is so freaked out.

There are actually other indicators in the way Sakiko has been written but as far as recent episodes go these are the most overt.

Now will that get used somehow in the narrative? Who knows, but there's certainly enough clues in her characterization and I'm narrative writing that Sakiko does have a mindset like that and at the very least grapples with self hate which so far now manifests in her actively sacrificing her own time and wellbeing to help Mutsumi.

Which we all know is not going to work out.

#bang dream #ave mujica #bang dream ave mujica #ave mujica the die is cast #sakiko togawa #tw: sh #meta stuff mine #bandori #bandori meta #ave mujica meta stuff mine

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asktheritochampion · 23 hours ago

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Assignment: write a letter to someone you admiyer

Teacher: teacher Paleni

Date: today

Hello Mister Revali, i want to be just like you when i grow up! My teacher says it will take lots of hard work, so i think i need to start trayning now. How did you figyer out your gale thing? Thanks!

From: Trellin

[Dear Trellin,

If you would like to follow in my footsteps - a noble dream - begin by requesting that your parent or carer sends you to a different teacher. It is evident that this 'Teacher Paleni' is doing a poor job; given your atrocious spelling. A good warrior must master the books before he masters the bow. Eloquence in your words is important if you aim to be a Champion.

Beginning a training regime at your age is a wise choice. I personally began training to be a warrior the moment I was old enough to wield a bow. Put in the hours and I have no doubt that by adulthood you shall be a warrior worth your salt. Yes, it shall be hard work - however, all of the greatest things that life has to offer come as a result of working hard.

Revali's Gale took me a number of years to truly master. As a fledgling like you, I was told constantly that Rito could not take off from the ground, and I decided that I simply I simply did not agree. When one puts their whole mind and heart into figuring out a problem; the only two outcomes are that they shall succeed or die. I certainly came close to the latter a few times over the years, but once I finally found a way; it made history.

Kind regards,

Champion Revali, Master of the Skies, Pride of the Rito]

#revali #tears of the kingdom #breath of the wild #age of calamity #legends of zelda #rito #rito village

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midnightwind · 2 days ago

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okay tumblr decided to be Funny with me so I'm coming back to this outside of the tags because apparently I have too many thoughts about the Crows for my own good

so, cracking my knuckles because it's been a hot sec since I've sat down to be insane over the Crows and their politics! (god fuck sorry just looked up the 'cast list' for 8LT again and wdym Dante was Second Talon wtf- that feels wild okay sorry I thought Emil was Second Talon for some reason) ANYWAYS I think it's entirely possible that Caterina did not push on having Houses Balazar and Valisti vacate their spots, I would find it Highly unlikely that a Talon would not have a successor lined up should something happen to them. Caterina cannot be the only Talon thinking about Legacy and What Comes Next and even if there wasn't an obvious heir to the seat in Houses that lost their Talon I think someone would have stepped up, esp with Caterina looming over them being like “figure your shit out we have to save the country.” (internal fighting still very real, but unless a Knife tried to fight for the spot, I doubt they'd change Houses esp since we haven't heard of a Knife taking a seat recently [we don't know if Teia was Cantori before taking her seat or not to my knowledge])

although there is also a real discussion to be had about how much communication can happen between the Talons post invasion... Viago's letter to Rook mentions that writing letters to Minrathous will be almost impossible because of the Antaam (which I take with a grain of salt because why would the Assassin's Guild use mundane mail that has to be screened... and maybe he just means “they're annoyingly apt at spotting our messages so it's not worth it unless it's Important” idk, it would be on brand for him to also be like "and nothing you write is ever very important so fix that or stop trying to write me") but I think the Second and Third seats are at least still within their initial Houses from 8LT just because of the invasion looming. I do think Caterina might have gone scorched earth on House Kortez however (I can't remember if we have a Codex or dialogue citing this, I know we had a few references to fallen Houses but I read 8LT after finding those and don't want to open the game rn lmao) very much “can't know how deep the betrayal goes so burn it all to save us the trouble” you know?

so maybe Viago did become Fourth Talon after 8LT given he solved the murders and ensured Emil was caught, but then Rook happens. Rook ruins an important strike against the invaders and Viago spares them over it. Caterina understands doing anything for your family (and Rook is set up as his family and potentially his successor even!) but that can't be allowed so he has to be punished! But he's a clever Crow and a good Talon and an important piece on the board (esp when it comes to the Crown of Antiva!) so why not just take that promotion away and ensure he does better next time? scare him, ensure the Problem (Rook) is dealt with, and keep that hard worker under your thumb! I don't know if another House stepped up to fill that role or if there just currently isn't a Fourth Talon (Illario did have a full spread when he tried to take over as First Talon but maybe he just had stand ins or supporters mixed in with Teia and Viago, I don't think all the Talons are in Treviso or should all be there or could all be there that fast) I foresee Bolivar getting ousted by his own House upon his return from 8LT honestly so House Nero may still hold the Sixth seat under a new Talon, and well poor Arainai might still be 8th Talon (never rule out Zevran coming back to run chaos) but it's the weakest seat so I doubt Caterina really worried about solving that with the Antaam happening. and so as long as the House still answers and fights for the Talons in Antiva I doubt it matters who's name has the title, anyone in the House could have taken over for Giuli.

I think bare minimum that Teia should have been promoted to Sixth Talon tho she was core to finding Emil as the killer and it's esp weird considering Caterina very openly favors her. maybe they thought bumping Teia to Sixth but leaving Viago as Fifth would be too confusing? but only people who read 8LT would even find it odd (and even then, would we??) but maybe they had the seats already decided for Veilguard before Tevinter Nights was finished and things stayed the same between...

anyways, the whole of Antiva is primed for a Huge wave of reform at end of the events of Veilguard, esp if Rook is played as a Crow. the heroes of the world (this time) are all decently high ranked or highly respected assassins within the order and one of them even has ties to the crown! I think, if we had gotten to see a little further, glimpsed the road Antiva is on with ousting the Antaam, there would be a decent chance of the Crows becoming proper god damned heroes of legends to the country and Viago making a real move to take the crown from his father (with full backing from at least 2 Houses if not most of the order) and who even knows if having a full 8 Talons would even be needed then? the entire order of Crows could be going through some insane changes at the end of all this

also one other thing that was bothering me. even if we chuck it up to teia's influence and viago being super generous by not overtaking 2nd and 3rd talon (house balazar and valisti) after what happen in eight little talons, house kortez is pretty much done and gone. it makes no sense that a cuchillo house is jumping immediately to the vacated 4th talon position, viago should be a 4th talon now and teia 6th. the setup where they remained at their previous positions would only make sense if they for some reason kept 4th talon vacated, but that makes no sense, it's been years. i think it's just a slipup and by all means viago should be 4th and teia 6th at least. i would even expect more changes in the hierarchy, but on the other hand maybe caterina penalized infighting somehow now that they should be focusing on the antaam.

#why does tumblr let you keep typing tags past the limit but yells at you about the character limit inside each tag?? Angry #I reworked the tags into a proper post and then yapped a little more #I also got a little carried away and started yapping about the Crows at large at the end instead of just the Talons #sorry I just have So many thoughts #Antivan Crows #DAV Posting #Crow Posting

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