#like i cannot stress enough how much work i put into them and how proud i was of it

[bitegore]

Zionists want you to conflate Judaism and Zionism. Zionists want you to believe that Judaism cannot exist without Zionism and that all Jews are Zionists. Zionism would have Jews believe that a Jewish state is the only way that they can be safe from antisemitism and will point to any instance of antisemitism as proof that Zionism is the solution- so Zionism wants gentiles to be antisemitic in their support of Palestine. They want you to conflate all Jews with Zionism and the state of Israel, and they want you to treat all Jews regardless of political affiliation as the face of Israel. Antizionist Jews exist, and incidences of antisemitism ostensibly acting against Zionism will not help dismantle the forces propping Zionism up.

Don't do their work for them.

[silverislander]

holy fuck. google docs ate my entire character/planning/worldbuilding document for neri. it's all gone

[momoswifee]

Peaches and a Broken Car

Pairing: Mina x reader

Synopsis: Mina decides to take some time off and when she goes to her parents' house, her car suddenly breaks down leading her to meet Yn.

Warnings: The reader has abandonment issues and tbh I think that's it for now.

w/c: 5558

a/n: I've been working on this for a while now, I'm planning on making this a mini-series? I'm really excited to finally put this out and for you guys to read it! Again, I really appreciate criticism so that I can do better next time, so if you have any, please let me know :) Also big thanks to @cry4mina for their amazing brain that helped me figure out what to do with this story :)

Pt1- Pt2 - Pt3

Mina had always loved the art of performing. She found the idea of immersing herself so much in a character that she could be able to portray characters and tell their stories just by using her body language and facial expressions in a certain way fascinating. 

She loved the way she could tell stories of people for thousands of people to see, it was something she was very proud of. However, the fame that came with it was something that she wished was not part of this ordeal. Fame was something that many always wanted to achieve, the idea of being adored by many and of being an idol to others was for some their life dreams. However, Mina never wanted a loud and busy life, she had always preferred the quiet aspect of it. 

After finally finishing filming an adaptation of “All the Lovers in the Night”, which she considered to have been one of her most challenging works, she was on her very much-deserved holiday, which she planned to spend with her parents, who had recently moved to a quiet little town just an hour or so away from the city. 

“...turn left in 300 meters” 

Finally, Mina thought to herself, after hearing the GPS’s directions, showing how close she was to arriving at her parents. 

Suddenly, she hears a clicking sound before the car starts jolting.

What the hell?

Suddenly, the car comes to a halt, letting out a whooshing sound as a small cloud of smoke come out from its hood. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mutters as she gets out of the car after trying to park it as much to the right as possible. After a minute of silence, she tries to restart the car, in hopes it wakes up.

A glimmer of hope forms inside her as she hears the car slowly start before the familiar clicking starts again, making her turn it off, knowing she wouldn't go anywhere with that car soon.

Fuck

After the failed attempt at restarting the car, she decided to get out and see if she could call for car support so that she could get over this as quickly as possible. As soon as she’s out of the car, she's trying to call for support but soon notices that her battery is running out, making her dial the number as quickly as possible. 

“No no no no no” she mumbles as she watches her phone die. “You have got to be kidding me” she almost screams in exasperation. 

I cannot believe this is happening right when I decide to go on holiday, she thinks to herself sighing. 

After a while of sitting on the hood of her car, taking breaks from trying to restart her car long enough to connect her phone so that it could charge a little bit more to call for assistance, she sees a ball of white fur bark and run towards her. 

“Hi buddy!” she exclaims when the dog adorably walks up to her, pushing his head closer to her tight as if to ask for pets, making her laugh and crouch down giving him her full attention, slightly compensating for all that had happened until that moment. 

“Otis!” Mina hears from the direction the dog had come, assuming the voice as being the owner’s. “You can’t just run off like that.” says the voice, slightly off-breath as it approaches them. 

“It’s fine really!” Mina says, trying to sound reassuring, “He seems like a good boy…” she trails off as she looks up, meeting your gaze. As she looks at you, she feels her shoulders instantly drop, as if every ounce of stress accumulating in her throughout the day had vanished.  

“I’m sorry, he really just ran off as soon as he saw the car here.Is that your car?” you ask her as you leave Otis in her grasp to check it out.

“Uh yeah, I guess it had some engine problems? It never had any problems before, I was not expecting it at all” she answers, still upset at her car breaking down so near her parent's place. 

“If I could, I would totally help you out, but I’m not that good with my hands when it comes to cars,” You tell her sheepishly, “I do have the contact of a mechanic in town who could probably figure this out with no trouble” you add for Mina’s great relief. 

“Really? And do you think they could come today?” she asks with a hopeful tone. 

“Hold on, I’ll give them a call,” You tell her as you take out your phone to quickly call the mechanic. After the short call, you walk back to deliver the news. “It shouldn’t be long before they get here, they said they would come in maybe 20 minutes since it’s not that far.” You explain, making Mina feel like a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 

“I don’t even know how to thank you…” Mina says, smiling softly at you, making you laugh. 

“It’s fine, Your car will be in good hands too, don’t worry,” You say, shrugging. “You know…I really wouldn’t feel good with myself leaving you here alone though�� would you like to come to the farm while we wait? It’s totally fine if you don’t want to!” you say, quickly adding the last bit, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. 

“I’d really appreciate it.” Mina says, smiling at you relieved, knowing that she’s going home soon.  

As you both walk to your house, you attempt to make small talk to avoid the awkward tension, learning that Mina is going to be spending her holiday time with her parents, in search of peace and quiet. 

After arriving at your place, Mina notices that you live on something alike to a farm, but a little smaller. As you wait by the porch, playing with your dog, Mina has the opportunity to check your little farm out, taking notice of the various fruit trees you had. 

She learns that you had once been a Hockey player in the city but due to a knee injury, you had retired and decided to come back to your hometown to help your parents with their business, eventually leaving it to you. 

After a while, the mechanic finally shows up at your house, with the car already towed, honking to call for your attention, making you smile instantly. 

“Hey pretty!” You say, getting up quickly to greet the person driving the car. Said person getting out quickly as well in time to greet you properly with a hug. “Mina, this is my friend Jeongyeon, she will be taking your car to the shop and give you a ride to your parents since it’s probably on the way.” You explain, detaching yourself from your friend, who gives Mina a small wave to greet her. 

“Well, I hope you have a good rest.” You say, guiding her to the car with Otis on your tail trying to get more pets from his new friend. 

“I’m sure I will.” She says, leaning down to pet Otis for the last time before she leaves.“Thank you for letting me stay here while I waited for the tow.” 

“Of course, it was really nice having you here.” You say, smiling shyly at Mina. 

Honk 

“Hey, love birds! It’s getting dark, we should really get going, so I can drop Mina off and close the shop in time!” Jeongyeon calls from the truck, making you both blush at her nickname. 

As she gets in the truck, she sees you waving goodbye and then remembers she had forgotten to ask you for your number. Before she can get out to ask, the truck is already getting out of your house. 

After a short-ish and quiet drive, she’s finally home. When she opens the door, her parents come rushing to hug her, worried because of the calls that went unanswered by her. After letting them know what had happened, she just went straight to bed, too tired to keep them company for much longer. 

As days go by, Mina has finally begun to feel more and more at ease, more in contact with herself. One day, as she’s preparing lunch, she hears someone knock at the door. 

“Mina, please get the door!” she hears her mom call from outside. 

When she opens the door, she sees a surprising face on the other side. There you stand, carrying a crate with a mix of fruits and vegetables, wearing your hat backward, sporting a small smile on your face. 

“Hi”

“Hi”

“Please come in” Mina hurriedly says, not wanting you to carry such a heavy-looking crate for too long. 

“I didn’t know you were the Myoui’s daughter.” you say as you enter the house and put the crate by the table. 

“Yeah…” she answers, still a bit surprised to see you there 

“I come here once a week to deliver fruit to them since the crate is usually a bit too heavy for your mom to carry” you explain, not wanting to seem like you just like to pop up to people's houses. 

“Thank you for that,” she says, touched by your consideration. “She told me that this week we’d be getting the fruit delivered, but I guess I forgot what day it was coming.”

After an awkward silence from both parts, you finally ask her how her time there has been, if she had her car fixed.  “Oh yeah, thank you! They already have the car ready to get picked up. I’m going this afternoon.” she answers, grateful for the break from the awkwardness. 

You only nod at that and give her a small smile, and you two get awkward again and stay silent for a bit, not knowing what to say. 

“Yn honey hi! Thank you so much for bringing the produce!” The older woman says, going to hug you. 

“Of course, I’m always happy to help!” You tell her with one of the brightest smiles Mina had ever seen, making her instinctively smile as well. 

After exchanging pleasantries, you decide to go back to work. As you’re almost out the door, Mina follows you, not wanting to let you go without asking you for your number.

“Yn! Wait up!” Mina says, following as you’re almost inside your truck. 

“Yeah?” You say, peaking your head out of the car, almost hitting it as you rushed to see what it was that Mina wanted. 

“I uh, I wanted to know if I could get your number?” Mina asks, suddenly shy. 

“Yes! I mean, yeah, sure, of course.” You say, trying to act nonchalant as you quickly hand her your phone.

“Let’s keep in touch, yeah?” Mina says as she hands you the phone, giving you a big gummy smile, making your insides melt. You’re only able to give her a nod, unable to answer her verbally. 

❂

“Did you just giggle?” JIhyo says, barking out a laugh as she sees you staring at your phone after receiving a message from Mina. 

“What are you talking about?” you ask, rolling your eyes. “Did a puck hit you too hard on the head?” you joke, trying to avoid talking about your shameful giggle at a text from a girl you had just met. 

“Hardy har har” she says, rounding the corner and following you as you move through the furniture looking for the renovated table Jihyo had ordered. “You can’t just lie to me, I know you like the palm of my hand! Jeongyeon back me up??” Jihyo says, turning to her friend for support. 

“Hm? Sorry, I was not paying attention at all. Can we speed this along, though? I have a job.” The older one says, putting her phone away as she moves to meet the other girls in the middle of the furniture maze. 

“Who were you texting though” Jihyo insists as she picks up the end of the table to carry it out.

“Oooh was it the girl I picked up from your place?” Jeongyeon joins in, teasingly wiggling her eyebrows at you. 

“A girl?” JIhyo says, almost dropping the table. “Why am I the last one to know about this?”

“There is nothing to know about.” You tell them as you slowly put the table down, ready to put it on Jihyo’s car, ready for her to stop pestering you. “She had trouble with her car a while ago, so she stayed at my place while she waited for Jeongie to pick her up to take the car to the shop. Since she’s staying here for a while, we decided to keep in touch-” you try saying, but are cut off by teasing “ooohs” and whistles from both girls. “Just as friends!” you quickly add, rolling your eyes. 

“You know it would do you some good to get out of the house,” Jeongyeon says, bringing you closer when she sees you trying to get away from their teasing by going back to the shop. 

“I do get out.” You say almost indignantly, making both of them snicker. 

“You getting out of the house to go to work or to go to the farmers market does not count. You don’t even visit some of us in the city as frequently.” Jihyo says, already getting inside the car. “You don’t giggle at texts, you’re a loser, but I’ve never seen you like this. If this girl does that to you, you should give it a try, even if you’ve only known her for a short while. Get to know her.”

You only mumble in agreement, not wanting to commit to something yet. After Jihyo leaves, you try sneaking off into the store, knowing Jeongyeon will still try to talk about what had just happened. 

“Nope, come here.” She says when she sees you slowly backing away, pulling you by the hand to sit on the bench outside your store. “I know this is scary, you don’t like getting close to new people-”

“I do like it-” you start 

“Let me finish,” she says, cutting you off. “It’s good for you. We get together often, but since you came back you’ve been pulling out of social interactions. Mina seems like a sweet girl.” She continues, holding your hand gently. “I’m not saying you have to make a move, you’ve only known the girl for what? Two weeks?” she asks, getting an inconclusive hum from you. “Just get to know her, she told me she’s staying here for vacation when I drove her to her parents. You can make a new friend.” she says, ending her little encouragement speech. 

“You sound like my mom.” You grumble. 

“I’ll take that as a compliment, I love your mom.” She says, patting your head as she gets up. “I'll call you later, ok?” She says, already walking away. 

It’s not that you didn’t want to get to know Mina better, you’d like nothing more. Even after days of texting back and forth, sharing jokes and facts about you, you were still hesitant about letting someone else in. 

You sighed and looked at your phone, still open on the messages app with Mina’s text waiting for your response. 

Do you want to meet tomorrow? I can’t wait to see you again :) 

You smile down at it before finally answering. 

I’d love to. I can’t wait to see you too :)

❂

“This one almost fell off!” Mina says excitedly as she puts the peach inside her basket. 

“Yeah, they’re good to go right now, I’ll probably take them to the market this weekend.” You say, chuckling at her enthusiasm. “You should be careful though, if you pick them out with too much force, some parts that will get spoiled more easily.” 

After your friend's visit, you decided to invite Mina to your house to create a more intimate environment so that you could get to know her better without any stress from people being around. 

"Oh, look at this one! It’s you!" she says laughing, holding one out for you to see. 

You move closer to her, trying to see what she means as she points at the fruit. 

"You know, cuz you're a peach." she says, maybe in an unusual attempt at flirting. After a moment of silence, she turns away from you and goes to another tree to get away from what had just happened. You only stare at her with a dumb smile on your face, completely infatuated by her. 

“Are you flirting with me?” You ask, moving closer with a cheeky smile on your face. 

“Me flirt- flirting? Why would I- No of course not” Mina says, stumbling over her words as she moves further away. 

“Why did you call me a peach, then?” You ask chuckling, finally able to be close to her again. 

“Well because you look like one.” She says shrugging, looking away, not wanting to make eye contact. 

“Yeah, cuz we share oh so many similarities.” You say, tilting your head, trying to look at her. 

“Yeah, both round and red.” she says, shrugging, making you bark out a laugh. 

“You’re saying I’m round and red?” 

“You’re insufferable” she huffs and turning away again, only making you laugh more. 

“You can’t say I’m insufferable, we’ve only known each other for two weeks or so” You exclaim, still laughing. 

“Would it be bad if I was?” Mina finally stops, turning to you, and looking into your eyes. As you look at her, you find yourself unable to form any words, this seeming to be becoming a recurring occurrence now.  

You only shake your head no and move closer to her. You see her tense up as if she had stopped breathing, and unconsciously do the same. As you get closer to her, you’re now able to check ever single detail on her face, every single line, every single mole. 

“It would not be bad at all” You say, almost whispering with your voice shaking, as you adjust the straw hat on her head as it was slowly falling forward. 

“Yn!” you two suddenly hear, making you both hastily make some distance between each other. 

“Mom?” You call out, having recognized the voice, moving towards the sound, taking Mina’s hand in yours to follow you not noticing her almost freezing up at the contact. 

“Hi baby” she enthusiastically says, with open arms ready to engulf you in her arms. She, however, stops mid-way when she sees you holding hands with an unknown girl. “Who is this?” she asks, with a mischievous smile forming on her face. 

As soon as you realize what she’s talking about, you feel your face heat up, realizing that you were holding hands with Mina. Quickly, you let go of her hand, not wanting to make her feel comfortable, too embarrassed to notice the slight look of disappointment that had crossed her face as you did so. “This is Mina, she’s the Myoui’s daughter.” You explain, weekly gesturing to the girl beside you. 

“Well, it’s really nice to meet you!” your mom says, going to hug Mina, surprising her. 

“She’s always like this” you mouth to her when she looks at you for help. 

“Don’t run from me!” You hear as you see Otis speed away from your father, who’s chasing him. 

“Dad, stop pestering Otis.” You say, sighing, going in the direction your dog had run. 

“It’s not pestering, he loves it!” The older man says, before spotting Mina. “And who is this?” he says with a curious gaze and a little smile playing on his lips.

“This is the Myoui’s kid.” Your mom says, introducing her, and instead of a warm hug, he instead offers a warm smile, one too similar to yours. After a bit of short talk, and your parents wanting to start sharing stories about how you were as a child, you volunteered to walk Mina home. 

“They seem fun” Mina says as she walks by your side. 

“They’re pests.” You say fondly, not being able to contain your smile. 

“I’m glad we could do this today…” Mina says, sneaking glances at you, catching you doing the same from time to time. 

“It was really fun, yeah.” You say with a smile. Out of nowhere, a gust of wind hits you both and sends Mina’s hat into the field. “I’ll pick it up don’t worry.” You assure her, trying to chase it. 

“You don’t have to!” She calls after you, going after you. 

“I want to, stay there, I’ll be back in a minute.” 

After no longer than 5 minutes, she hears a thud and a groan, making her look your way, only to see you holding her hat looking quite disheveled, with furrowed eyebrows grumbling. 

“What happened?” she asks worried, seeing small tears on your pants.  

“I didn’t see the roots” You mumble, dusting yourself off with your free hand, before offering her a beaming smile. “I got your hat though! Here, let me put it on,” you say, dusting it off of any dust it might have before adjusting it on Mina’s hair again. “There.” You say, smiling, finding yourself in the same position you both had been in before your parents had come home. 

“Thanks” Mina mumbles, looking away, not attempting to make eye contact. 

As you both continued your walk, you could feel your fingers brush hers, making your face erupt in flames. You decided to look at her, sneakily and found yourself breath taken. It wasn’t just her shy smile that had your knees trembling, but also the light coming between the trees and how they hit her skin, how her eyes gained a new shine as she watched the birds chirping above you. You would never admit this out loud, at least not to her, but even though you had only known her for such a short period of time, you were absolutely smitten. 

“We should do this again,” Mina says as she steps on her parent’s porch. “I had fun.”

“Yeah.” You manage to get out, fiddling your fingers. “I’ll text you?” you ask, receiving a nod. “Yeah, I’d like that.” she says, getting closer to you. Before you can process it, Mina kissed your cheek and was already inside the house. 

❂

“We've actually been hanging out a lot, even if she's working too. Last Tuesday she took me to the lake, we spent the whole day there. But now she won't even answer my texts” Mina sighs, not knowing what to do.

“Well you've already tried talking to her, I'm honestly not sure what else you can do.” Sana, her friend, says through the phone. 

“Well, yes, but I actually thought things were going well.” The girl continues, pacing around. 

She knew that she couldn’t expect anything romantic out of this relationship, at least not at that moment, but she did think that your relationship was progressing in that direction, and she was happy about it, there didn’t seem to be any problems until you suddenly stopped answering her texts and only came by her parents place when she wasn’t there. 

“I’m not sure what to tell you, honey, I wish I could offer you more words of comfort, but it seems like this all came out of the blue so…” The older girl says. 

After a long talk, Mina decides to come down, only to see a very familiar crate full of veggies and fruit sitting at the table. She realizes then that Yn had come over to deliver the produce as usual, managing to avoid her again. 

“Mina hi! What can I do for you?” Jeongyeon says as she gets out from under the car she had been fixing, oil stains all over her. “Is your car giving you trouble?”

“Not the car, no.” Mina answers with a dry chuckle, looking around.

“What happened?” Jeongyeon asks, cleaning her hands, and guiding Mina to her office so that they could talk more freely. 

“I just…” she started, frustration settling in. “Is Yn alright? Has anything happened? Was it something I did?” Mina ends up asking, rapidly. 

“Hey no what?” Jeongyeon says, holding her arms, trying to calm her down. “It’s not you, ok? You did nothing wrong.” She says, trying to reassure her. “Yn has a complicated relationship with people. Has she told you about her retirement?” She asks getting up, getting a cup of water, and giving it to Mina, but only getting a negative nod as a response to her question. 

“I’m not sure whether it’s my place to tell you about all the details, that’s something Yn should tell you if she thinks she wants to. She had it pretty rough with her team after her injury, it hit her pretty hard.” Jeongyeon says, sighing after remembering how everything had impacted her friend. “After her injury, some people on the team started blaming her, people that were supposed to have her back, people that Yn trusted a lot. After that, she got too much in her head and started self-isolating. Those people leaving her, blaming her, made her start to think that others would do that too.” She ends, frustration lacing itself into her tone. 

“I didn’t know…” Mina says, almost in a whisper. “That must have been tough.” 

“It was, she has been trying to get out more and get better, but you know how these things are…” Jeongyeon says, searching for understanding in Mina’s eyes. “I know it doesn’t excuse her keeping you in the dark, but I hope it at least explains it.” 

“It does, but I still want to try and talk to her.” Mina says, getting up, ready to see if you were at your shop. 

“Yeah, but if you want to try today, you won’t have any luck. She went to the city, she’s hanging out with a friend.” Jeongyeon says, guiding Mina out, almost apologetic. 

“I’ll see if I can catch her at the market then.” Mina decides, gaining a nod from Yn’s friend. 

As Mina walks home with this new information she starts to understand why you had done what you did, however, she can’t help that she felt hurt by those actions. She decided that she had to confront you, to ease her mind and also in turn ease yours.

A couple of days later, her mom had decided to go to the market so Mina took that opportunity to go see you. When they arrive, they see you at your stand with your dad and waste no time to go over there. 

“...yes, Yn only started producing this type of tomato this year, but I really like them, especially in salads, they really bring out the taste…” says your father, engrossed in his tomato talk with a possible customer. “Mina! Hi!” He suddenly exclaims as he notices her presence. “I haven’t seen you in a while, have you been enjoying your time off?” He asks, after making sure the other customer did leave with the tomatoes he was so enthusiastic about. 

“It’s been great yeah!” Mina answers him with a tight smile, more focused on Yn and how she’s suddenly checking every single peach on the stand for defects. 

“she’s really been able to relax more, she works too hard”

“Do you come here often?” comes out of Mina’s mouth before she can stop herself, feeling silly since she is literally at her stand. There is a small victory since a small smile shapes itself on your lips unintentionally. 

“Yeah…” you say, not wanting to prolong this conversation, too scared of where this might go. 

“How have you been?” Mina tries again, not feeling deterred. 

“Eh I’ve been alright.” You say, offering her a small smile, but looking away almost instantly. 

“Are you not going to ask how I’ve been?” Mina says, trying to meet your eyes, finding them guilt-ridden. “Well, I haven’t been that great. My friend, or at least someone I thought was my friend, stopped talking to me and has been avoiding me. I’m not sure if she’s doing it because of anything I did, but she won’t even answer my texts so I can’t really know.” Mina finally lets out, unthinkingly letting out her frustrations on the situation as well. 

“No! No. I- It was not you, it was all me. I get too inside my head and end up pushing people away. This is no excuse, especially since I’m not even explaining it well, but I am still sorry Mina.” You quickly say as you fiddle with your fingers. 

“You know, I wouldn’t have left.” She says, after a silent moment. “I texted a lot, I would think that that was an indicator right?” she says chuckling trying to lighten the mood, making you smile slightly relieved. “You do have to make it up to me…”

“I’ll do my very best,” you tell her, now smiling more openly. 

❂

As time progresses, you two end up making up, and you start visiting the city more because of Mina since she had returned to work. 

Knock Knock Knock

“Coming!” Mina yells from the kitchen, hurriedly going to the door, not knowing who could be at such a late hour. Once she opens the door, she is pleasantly surprised to see you there holding a bag of takeout with one of your big smiles on your face. 

“Hi” you say, already going inside, not wanting to stay out in the cold. “I brought take out from that place down the road.” You explain, already going to the kitchen with a familiarity Mina hadn’t noticed until now, but still a welcome one. As you both ate, Mina started realizing that the silly infatuation she had felt over the summer had evolved into a full-grown crush, and suddenly she didn’t know how to act. 

“Do you want to watch a movie after?” You ask her with a mouthful, which was honestly disgusting, but for Mina, who found herself realizing that she was unbelievably down bad for you, it was somewhat endearing. 

“You’re so gross.” She says, with no sentiment behind it,  a love-sick grin starting to spread on her face. “You choose, I’m cleaning up the dishes.” She says, getting up quickly not wanting you to see her smile like that. 

Once she returns to the living room, she finds you already sprawled comfortably on the couch with Spider-Man on the screen waiting for her to press play. Once you were both comfortably watching the movie play, you decided to explain to her little details that could help her better understand the plot and the reasons behind some behaviours of certain characters, and even though she had tried so hard to pay attention to those details, the only things she could focus on were how your eyes lit up, how you knew all about this fictional universe and how invested you were in it. 

“...and that’s why-What?” You ask, finally noticing her unnerving stare. 

“You’re such a nerd,” she says softly, her voice filled with adoration, making you flush under her gaze. “Tell me more about it.”

“Do you actually want to know?” You ask her, laughing, knowing she was probably not paying any attention to your side information. 

“I like listening to you talk.” She shrugs. “It’s cute. I might have to try and get a Marvel contract, maybe then you’ll talk about as me as passionately as you talk about Peter Parker.” She says, inching closer to you, with a teasing smile, and at that moment you thank everything divine for not being too close to her, or else she would’ve felt the heat emanating from you, from how flushed you were starting to get because of this banter of hers. 

“Do you think I’d make a good spider woman? Hm?” Mina says, feeling more confident after looking at your state, already so close, she could see your chest rising rapidly. “I’d let you try out the iconic upside-down kiss…” she finalizes, feeling a surge of confidence she normally didn’t feel, as she gently turned your face towards hers, getting closer and closer, already being able to feel your ragged breath mixing with hers. 

“Mina…” You breathlessly whisper, following her lead, your mouth opening slightly, not being able to stop your eyes from following her every move.

She only hums in response, tilting her head slightly to kiss you gently on the cheek, lips so soft you could’ve missed them. Instead of stopping there, she starts to slowly trail little kisses in your mouth’s direction. As she’s almost there, her eyes find yours as if asking for permission. You don’t even try and answer verbally, knowing full well you would not be able to do so, instead, you just let your hand go to her nape and gently bring her closer to you, letting your lips finally meet in a soft kiss. As you try to deepen the kiss, you feel her smile against your lips, making it impossible to do so. 

“What are you smiling about?” You ask, still impossibly closer, lips almost touching, not even wanting to think about putting some distance in between both of you. 

“Nothing” she simply says, pulling you in for another kiss, sharing the same thought of not wanting to be apart from you a minute longer. 

[galene-gothic]

𝖧𝗈𝗐 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖻𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗌𝖾𝗅𝖿?

୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊ I hope this reading found you in good health, every reblog is appreciated and thank you for everything :) ˖♡ ˎˊ˗ ꒰ 🐇 ꒱

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗             PAID SERVICES

⸼ ۫ ︎︎⊹ ! 🪡︎ Pile 1 ꒱

Let's look at what your best self looks like first, your best self is selectively honest. They don't tell others what they want next. They evaluate themself and are self critical to a certain extent. They are sort of self absorbed. They understand that ignorance is bliss and know how to ignore things or people when need be. They are especially really good at ignoring people that they can't have or people from the past. They are still quite fearless though. They understand that it's better to be attacked than ignored. They meditate often and know how to relax. They need and prioritise peace, and their actions align with that. They never bite more than they can chew, they know how to step away from situations that they cannot handle. They try to stay away from conflict and choose themself first no matter what. They know how to become the bigger person. They take care of themself, self reflect and know how to heal properly. They know how to not make rash decisions. They're wise and detached. They've surrendered, they know that if they cannot control it, there's no use worrying and if they can control it, it's better to do so rather than worry. They've released old beliefs and patterns. They have a faith that things will work out, be it faith in themself, faith in god, faith in life or faith in the universe. They're mindful, intentional and know how to let go. They know how to grow, they're also successful. They believe that the pain of discipline is better than the pain of regret. They're quite passive and know how to let life happen for them, they're still someone who takes necessary action though. So, how do you become them? You need a rest, not gonna lie.

Some of you might be drained out to the point where you cannot focus in school or on work. You need to address your self esteem issues. Supposing, you are really self conscious when it comes to performing, you always feel like your body won't look good if you put too much energy so you end up putting less energy in but when you do so, you feel disappointed at yourself for not doing well. In that case, you should try to improve your dance skills. You're someone who has an understanding that being pretty doesn't do enough for you, it's the same with being rich, and the way you are as a person and the way you present yourself are all very important to you. I think it's important for you to build certain skills to a point where you can be really proud, it'll significantly boost your self esteem which will in turn help you for the better. It requires consistency though, don't be lazy !! You need to release negative thoughts, feelings, habits and patterns. You might have gotten really comfortable with your pain, it's important to heal. Your deepest traumas are either already surfacing/resurfacing or will soon, that's when it'll be the easiest to change. You need to stop stressing like just know that "what happens, happens." You need to face life and have a total break down first. You should withdraw from stuff. You'll go through something very humbling, you'll be left feeling really put down. You'll not even have it in yourself to look strong anymore, you'll be exposing weakness because you'll just not have the strength to conceal it. You'll have to accept defeat first and things will get better soon. You'll have to have a lot of anger, pain, shame, guilt and regrets in order to completely change your life, all the best, it'll probably come in soon.

⸼ ۫ ︎︎⊹ ! 🪡︎ Pile 2 ꒱

Let's look at what your best self looks like, your best self has unlimited potential and sees it. Your best self has freedom in some sense, be it financial or something else. Your best self is someone who had to let go of who they were in order to become who they're meant to be. Your best self has a carefree attitude. I just heard 'be yourself'. When I say this, some of you might think that you're doing it already but if you think about it properly you'll notice that you tend to either act childlike even though you're very mature, dumb even though you're very smart, don't express your values as articulately as you think about them, etc. Some of you could be really good at written expression of your thoughts, ideas and feelings but when it comes to talking, you're not the best. Your best self is not scared of being unique. Your best self takes risks because they understand that most of the times not taking a risk is the biggest risk. Your best self has a thirst for life and is passionate. You might be really passionate as a person (most of you seem to have that side of you diminished though). Your best self has fun regardless of what others say. One quality that you already have is your ability to analyse yourself, you are not the type to avoid accountability and blaming external factors for every little thing. You have some sort of an inner guidance, your mindset gives you the capacity to be completely alone if necessary. I feel like a deep part of you desires or used to desire solitude, peace and spiritual enlightenment. Most of you have started your spiritual journey already, some of you haven't though. It doesn't have to be something too deep like 'light candles every full moon, meditate every morning, light sage and incenses often' but instead that you feel like everything that happened was for a reason or even if it feels like it wasn't.

You learn and make something out of it, you know how to live life and try to grow as a person, and have faith (be it in the universe or in yourself). You might be quite philosophical too. You have a lot of wisdom, people who are slightly older than you and see you for who you are might say things like "you're so mature for your age". Ofcourse, there are some things that you'll have to get rid of in order to become your best self, I feel like most of you have mostly/only had short term unstable relationship/s which have caused you to have a lot of baggage. You could have poor health (I heard a poor immune system, bad sleep schedule and poor gut health). You might also be financially dependent on someone else or just not be financially stable, it's causing you to not be able to gain certain skills or knowledge, etc. Even if you do not notice it, you have a tendency of getting stuck in your head often. You lack spontaneity and need mental stimulation/challenges/someone who seems to be equally as intelligent as you so you could have been stuck in toxic friendships/relationships with people who think that and act like they know everything. You're a very fair person, so being with people who don't share the same values or reasoning as you will be frustrating, I'd advise you to not interact with such people to the point of forming am emotional attachment. You'll have to find a source of motivation or something that just reignites the passion in you. Stop being lazy, simply just planning isn't going to get you anywhere. You need to find a new purpose basically. Focus on a purpose, money, drive and having fun. It's important to learn how to be true to yourself and not get easily influenced. You should go out and have some fun too. All the best, I'm rooting for you but you need to be rooting for yourself ten times harder.

⸼ ۫ ︎︎⊹ ! 🪡︎ Pile 3 ꒱

Your best self holds pure intentions towards others and has a good nature. Your best self is also very attractive and follows their heart. They're driven and have a great imagination. They romanticise life and are in love with love. They listen to their intuition and take action towards their goals with a hope in their heart. They have a creative hobby that they might have suppressed that they choose to enhance. They're charming and friendly with people. One thing that I'm getting is that they're someone who everyone has a crush on to a certain extent. They receive a lot of jealousy and envy from others. They don't let anger get the best of them. They think calmly and orderly. They accept different beliefs and paths. They could be someone who's tired though, like really tired physically (they could do a lot). They're accepting of other people's differences. They find solutions to issues instead of going around blaming others. They prioritise peace and don't lose sight of the path. You need to face yourself instead of quick fixing issues that lead to long term detriment. If you're having fights, etc. the moment you forgive them (whether it is at their face or by yourself, without letting them know, that's up to you) and resolve conflicts (including your inner conflicts), you'll start developing into your best self. You have convinced yourself that you have certain beliefs that don't align with you and you need to get rid of them. You're not seeing the brighter side of life and that's hindering you from becoming your best self too.

I feel like what's led to this mild-extreme pessimism is your over optimism in the past. A happy and exciting event seems to have turned wrong. It's going to take you a lot of work to become your best self. You'll have to take up a lot of responsibilities and be really loaded with things to do if you want to become your best self. You'll have to be serious about life and will be stressed quite often. I just heard 'too busy to even eat'. There are excessive requirements and conditions for you to become the best version of yourself. You'll have to put yourself through intense pressure. You'll have to take up a lot of responsibilities too though, try to improve your own character alongside working on building something for yourself. It'll be really easy to burn out though because of how much you'll be doing. You need to mean how to not commit easily to others. You need to challenge others instead of just letting them into your life. Your best self follows their heart but is not easy to get. You need to become hard to get and easy to lose. You need to learn how to make quick decisions and take quick actions. It's important for you to be on a dedicated mission to succeed. Discipline yourself and build confidence. Build so much confidence that when someone you love does you wrong, you know that you can just let go, and find better people and treatment. Become self assured. It's important for you to just go for the things that you want. If you try, you'll get there little by little, all the best.

[oinkoink321]

Miles, Gwen, Hobie, Pav, and  Miguel with a cheerleader!Reader. 

—————-

Guys, I cannot stress enough how amazing cheerleading is. Like say what you want whether it’s a sport or not but have you seen those routines?!?!? Literally inhumane!!!! And as a cheerleader I want (need) to see more fics about this 😭

This is an “x reader” Reader is a Flyer/top girl (the person that gets thrown/put up in the air in stunts). Reader will  not be a spider person in this fic (sorry guys). Reader is implied to be on the quieter side or not “look” like a cheerleader(on Hobie’s part). Anyways, if there’s anything I can improve or change please let me know! enjoy! 

Warnings: none but the characters might be ooc

————————

Miles Morales 

He literally sits through your routine in shock. He’s so caught off guard. Cheerleaders do things like this?!?!

Idk if he had cheerleaders in his school or not but idk if he would really pay attention to them at all. However, when he found out  you’re a cheerleader, he’s like “oh ok”.

Then one day you invite him to watch you perform, he gladly goes to support you but he’s not really sure what to expect. Then when he sees you doing all that tumbling or having enough courage to be tossed in the air like that, he’s in awe. 

He could barely even jump off a small building with spider powers and yet here you are, staying tight and sharp enough to hit all your motions and yell loud. 

He’s just so…..mind blown. His eyes are all on you, his mouth open at all the tumbling and shining you do. Gosh, he’s so taken aback. 

After the routine he’s walking up to you, a bit shy. He’s like “You did amazing! I can’t believe cheerleaders actually do all that! You were awesome flying in the air like that and blah blah blah”. He’d definitely be drawing you in your cheer uniform and doing your skills. He’s the sweetest <333

————————

Gwen Stacy 

Since she used to do ballet, I think she might know a bit about cheer. Anyways, when she’s watching you perform, she’s in a daze. 

Since you’re not a spider person, she’s quite impressed with all the skills you can pull off. Especially the tumbling, you need incredible strength in order to tumble as fluidly as you do 

Her eyes are literally sparkling watching you. Her eyes are glued to you, your teammates and your performance. She has a soft smile on her face the entire time. She enjoys watching you so much! 

I bet she silently prays that you don’t fall or injure yourself when you’re flying or when you tumble. She knows how dangerous those can be so she can’t help but feel a bit nervous everytime she sees you do those skills 

Nevertheless, she loves watching them either way! She lets out a little sigh of relief when you’re done doing the performance and you’re completely fine.

She walks up to you and gives you a big hug. She whispers in your ear “You did so good”. She’s sooo proud of you after the performance. Also, I think she would stretch with you or work out with you when you exercise for cheer. Anyways I love her so much<3333 

————————

Hobie Brown 

I feel like he’s pretty chill about you being a cheerleader, but he is a bit surprised. You? A cheerleader? The thought would never cross his mind. 

But when he sees you doing flips and being tossed? He’s on the edge of his seat. Then, he hears you yell out the words of your cheer. Your voice is powerful and your team hypes up the audience. 

He feels proud of you, who’s usually shy and quiet, being confident and getting a crowd to yell your school colors and name. 

He’s mesmerized by your boldness on the mat. If you’re speaking quietly he’d probably tell you to “use your cheer voice.” 

Anyways, he also looovvvesss seeing your dance and thinks you’re incredible. You’re so swift and sharp with your movements. He likes how each motion hits on the exact beat. 

After the performance, he wraps his arm around your shoulder, complimenting you. He’d be cool and level-headed around people but when you guys are alone, he’s all over you. He’d say how cute you look on your cheer uniform and say how amazing you were 

Also, he’s like your biggest supporter. You need help for fundraisers? He’s going to raves selling the items to people. You need help with skills for stunts? He’s willing to learn how to base so he can one-man you. Anyways he’s the best and I love him as well. (Let’s be fr I’m in love with all of them lol) 

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Pavitr Prabhakar

OMGGG WHAT A CUTIE HE IS!!!! He’s going to every single game and performance he can just to watch you! He’s cheer you on and hyping you up! 

He’s so sweet and would yell the words with you and your team. He definitely know all the words and I can imagine him learning the dance with you. He’d also get you to teach him the cheers so he can fully support you <3 

He’s also so entranced when you’re going up in the air being thrown, or just being up there in general. He loved watching you fly, it’s like you’re floating. AND when you’re tumbling he’s literally screaming your name. 

In cheer routines, when they do their jumps, people/the team would scream “hit! Hit!” every single jump. You know for sure he’ll be yelling at you to hit you jumps on beat. 

When you guys have your “ending picture” he’s basically out of his seat. He’s pointing you out to everyone, going “Look! Look at them! I’m their boyfriend!” 

After the performance, he hugs you and spins you around, telling you how proud he is. He’s such a sweet heart and he rambles to you about all the awesome skills you did and begs you to teach them to him. Truth be told, he’s YOUR cheerleader. 

————————

Miguel O’Hara 

Honestly…..he probably doesn’t care at first. I mean he does, he just kinda looks over it (in the beginning). But when you invite him to a performance, he’s like “okay, I have nothing better to do anyway” 

But when he sees you on that mat, yelling your team name, spelling it out, doing flips and being thrown, his eyes literally light up. He’s fascinated. He feels a bit guilty that he brushed it off to you at first. 

After that, he wants to go to more of your games and performances. He tells you he can record performances for you. He watches them over and over. He always pays attention to you in the video. 

He’d try to help you “point out” your mistakes, of course he doesn’t know much about cheer but he’s willing to learn. He’ll  watch videos about it and send you stretches to do if you were telling him about needing help with a skill. 

Going off of that, if you ever get injured he’ll help with treatment. Of course, you actually should go to a doctor but he will buy athletic tape and ice packs for you. He’d reluctantly massage your sore muscles lol (he loves doing that tho) 

Anyways, after competitions or performances, he’ll treat you to a restaurant or fast food. Or if you’re coming home late from practice he’ll make/order your favorite food. He’s always making sure you’re okay and not overworking yourself (same goes to everyone else) 

[nicoline1998enilocin]

Could you write boyfriend young Tony Stark annoying the reader with his antics while she's trying to work on her assignments with prompt 71. “you’re so annoying” - “would I still be annoying eating you out?”. And then she puts his mouth to good work lol 😋

Delicious Distraction

PAIRING || Boyfriend!Young!Tony Stark x Girlfriend!Fem!Reader

WORDCOUNT || 1K

SUMMARY || Tony should be studying for an upcoming exam, but he can't focus when you're in his dorm room, looking beautiful in your short summer dress and your tattoo's on display. How could he not get distracted when his favorite person is only a few feet away from him, looking like a snack he could devour for hours?

RATING || Explicit (E)

TAGS || Canon divergence. Established relationship. Reader is described as tattooed. Explicit sexual content.

SMUT || Referenced/implied somnophilia. Daddy kink. Hair pulling. Praise. Begging. Teasing. Fingering. Oral (F receiving). Squirting. Cumming untouched. Aftercare.

A/N || This is written for my Summer of Drabbles. Nonnie, I cannot thank you enough for inspiring this (not so little) story, as it has quickly turned into one of my favorites! This is not proofread; any and all mistakes are my own. I want to thank @ccbsrmsf1 for drooling over this with me, as writing it wouldn't have been the same without your endless support and love! 🤍

Photo: Source || All other graphics are made by @nicoline1998enilocin

Main Masterlist || Tony Stark || Young!Tony Stark || Summer of Drabbles

Ever since you woke up this morning - with Tony's head buried between your thighs, no less - he has not been able to stop looking at you. It has gotten to the point where it feels like he's burning a hole into the back of your head with his staring.

While you're more than okay with it on any other day, the stress you're experiencing has you on edge. You're studying for one of your worst subjects, and it's not going well while Tony's sitting there and staring at you.

"I think we should take a break, Sunshine. Maybe I could give you a back massage to relieve some of your tension and then relieve some other tension, too, if you catch my drift," Tony says, readjusting himself in his pants.

"I really need to study for this, Tony, so there's no way I'm taking a break anytime soon. If I don't get through this exam, I will fail, and I cannot fail this class!" you tell him, annoyance slipping into your tone. You don't mean for it to happen, but it's out before you can stop yourself.

"Well, I could help you study if you ask nicely. I will even let you sit on my lap if you want," he tells you teasingly, and while you're trying not to fall for his words and charm, you can't help it as you smile, but you quickly turn your back so he doesn't see it - you do not want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he's right.

"You're so annoying," you tell him, though there's no annoyance in your voice this time. Tony chuckles at your words, knowing he has you right where he wants you.

"Hmm, would I still be annoying eating you out?"

The words slipped off his tongue as casually as if he were discussing the weather. Goosebumps rise on your skin, and your interest is piqued right away. After a short consideration, you consider your boyfriend's question, seeing how you need some much-needed stress relief.

It doesn't take long for Tony to be lying on his stomach between your spread thighs, his hands tracing over the intricate inks covering them as he places a trail of soft kisses over your inner thighs.

"I can't believe I got so lucky with you, Sunshine. You're such a beautiful, smart, loving, and amazing girl that I'm proud to call mine. Love you so fucking much," he tells you between the kisses until his warm breath is ghosting over your wet core.

"T-Tony," you whimper, needing some friction of any kind. No matter if it's from his tongue, fingers, or otherwise, it feels like you're about to explode if he doesn't relieve some of your building tension soon.

"Nuh-uh, that's not what I want you to call me, Sunshine. You know better than that," he tells you, and another whimper leaves your lips, impatience starting to show through.

"Daddy, please!"

This time, a satisfied hum leaves your boyfriend's lips, and he decides to give in to your pleas. His tongue darts out to lick a stripe from your entrance to your clit, making you moan loudly while your back arches into his face.

Your eyes roll back into your head as his lips wrap around your sensitive bundle of nerves, sucking on it as incoherent moans and sounds fall from your lips as your hands are looking to grab anything to hold onto.

While one of your hands is fisted into the sheets, your other is holding on tightly to your boyfriend's hair, pulling him closer. While his mouth is being put to good use, he suddenly wraps his arms around your thighs from underneath, lifting your legs and pulling you closer once more while your hips are at a much better angle.

"Daddy, please, 'm c-close!" you beg. The current angle has his tongue going even deeper as his nose nudges your clit, the pleasure building inside you as if it's about to burst with the smallest of movements.

His hips are also moving over the sheets, the fabric giving him the right amount of pressure and relief he needs on the underside of his thick, veiny cock as he's chasing his orgasm as well as yours.

He lets one of your thighs go, instead using his fingers to work you even higher, and the moment he slips two of his firm, thick fingers into your dripping, soaked pussy, you're falling over the edge.

With a loud moan and a tug at your boyfriend's hair, you're trembling in his hold as he drinks all the fluids that are squirting from you, the force of your orgasm making you go limp in his arms while Tony rides out his orgasm, too.

While you squirted all over the bed and his face, he came too, his seed being pumped onto the sheets as he moaned into your pussy. The pleasure is overwhelming, yet not enough at the same time while Tony takes care of you, ensuring you're not dropping suddenly from your high.

"Welcome back, Sunshine," you hear as your sight is back into focus, and for a moment, you're not sure what happened. He's lying by your side, his fingers trailing over your cheek as he looks lovingly at you.

"Shall we take a bath together before ordering dinner and doing some studying together? I'm happy to help you understand the material," he offers, and you nod, a small smile on your lips as he kisses your temple.

It doesn't take long for the bath to be drawn, and Tony gently helps you get into the warm water before taking his place behind you. His hand lies on your belly while he feeds you some raspberries with the other one.

"Ti amo, mio ​​Sole. Sei la cosa migliore che mi sia mai capitata," Tony whispers, and a rush of warmth spreads through your cheeks. You have a soft spot for him speaking in Italian and cannot get enough of it.

"Ti amo, Mi Amore," you whisper before pecking his lips a few times. The stress you felt earlier has melted away as you're comfortable in the warm water and in your boyfriend's arms.

[sandinthemachine]

König Workout HC

@itsagrimm and I were having a lot of fun the other day talking about gym König and this is the result, it definitely got away from me. Probably gonna turn it into a drabble or two at some point

When He's Alone

The gym is definitely a safe space for him. He's had to work out pretty intensely as long as he's been in the military, so the pain and pushing his body is second nature to him. He puts on his heaviest metal playlist and immediately enters his own little world

Find him headbanging and bouncing his leg between sets

When he's really into it he'll even make very quiet humming and growling sounds deep in his throat as he's rocking out. He doesn't notice. Do Not Point It Out, he would never recover from the embarrassment

Man does not spend much money on himself, but he DID invest in really nice noise-canceling earbuds that play the bass tones in his music perfectly

Going off of that point, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get his attention once he's into the workout. He's taller than everyone else so he can already completely miss people way shorter than him, add that to the fact that he cannot hear anything with the earbuds in, he is barely aware he is in public anymore. You basically have to physically run into him or he will NOT notice you

He can huff a little when his weights get really heavy, but he doesn't tend to grunt or make many sounds

He gets really hyped and energetic, always pushing himself to lift just a little more and do just one more rep. He absolutely LOVES the burn when his body is protesting and enjoys the soreness after almost as much, it's a reminder of what his body can do and he's intensely proud of that

He never asks people to spot him, if he chooses a weight too heavy he just suffers in silence, usually he's stubborn enough to push through it though

Absolutely TERRIBLE at cooling down and stretching afterwards, when he's done he's done and just wants to move to the next thing. He always tells himself he'll stretch at home and then immediately forgets

When You Work Out Together

When you first start getting close the two of you can't STAND working out together. He likes being a lone wolf and doing his own thing while ignoring everything around him, so he's a bit grumpy at first, and then he tries to be supportive of you but turns into more of a drill sergeant, stressing you out even more than when he'd ignore you

But as you two get closer you decide to try again

And this time it's much better

You realize that everyone gives you plenty of space, even the annoying gym bros give you a wide berth and you get to use any machines or weights you want no matter how busy the gym is. You love it.

He's still very intense, but he's gotten better at being supportive about it.

He spots you and encourages you to add just a little more weight or do just one more rep, even if you're telling him you can't he's arguing right back, stubborn as all hell until you try again and

You do it

And he gets REALLY excited

He might even yell out in the middle of the gym

"Yes! I knew you could do it!" "That's MY girl/guy/partner/friend/etc!"

He isn't usually very verbal but you get all the praise every time you push yourself, he gets very bouncy and keeps smiling at you saying how proud he is

When you take breaks he's making sure you're drinking water and checking if you need anything else, he has a horde of all kinds of workout snacks and makes sure to always bring your favorites

And when you're between sets you get to spot him

You usually don't have to do much work but he makes you do it anyway. He secretly likes watching you eye his muscles or touch them as they flex, he worked his ass off for them and loves when you admire them.

On cardio days you assume the two of you can go for a run or maybe a bike ride together, only to find out he's one of those batshit insane people who loves suicide runs. He convinces you to join him once. Never again. You're happy to watch, though. Even if it terrifies you just a little, especially when he gives you a big toothy smile after every lap even as he gets flushed bright red and struggles to breathe.

He is definitely one of those people that gets even more energy after working out, you'll be walking on jelly legs and he'll be all !!! "Let's go for a hike!" but when you're too tired he's just as happy to go for a drive around town getting all the best food (his appetite is IMMENSE esp. after a hard workout), and while he's on that post-workout adrenaline he's almost a different person, bouncing on his heels and getting really excited at everything, grinning at you and getting you to grin and laugh back until both of your cheeks are sore

After you've both showered you like to sit on the couch together doing your own thing, maybe put a movie on in the background. He tends to still have a lot of energy, stimming and tapping his leg with his hands or bouncing in his seat, very content and happy

Eventually, EVENTUALLY, he'll settle down and crash on the couch, sometimes with his head in your lap, sometimes with you climbing into his

When you both wake up sore he'll be grinning at you all over again, hiding his chuckles behind his hand

[vole-mon-amour]

I've been thinking.

I understand the importance and the significance of Jamie maturing and truly becoming a team player that helps his teammates to score. It's beautiful to watch how he does it. "Stop going to me and start going through me." I love it and I am so incredibly proud of him.

However, I cannot stress enough how much I am glad they let Jamie score on his own. Just like Phil said in a recent interview, it was a season 1 kind of goal, "I'm gonna score." He knew he was gonna score. "Except that in s1 it was me, me, me, me and now he's playing with the team."

But his facial expression, his concentration on the goalpost, on the scoring. I was so worried that they were gonna make him miss, but then we don't even see the goal itself. All we see is Jamie's concentration and how his face goes to happy and satisfied. He's injured. He's playing on literally a shot of adrenaline.

And yet. AND YET. HE FUCKING SCORES. And he walks away with tears in his eyes, while Manchester fans are applauding him when they were booing him the entire match. And he gets pulled in for a hug by Roy, of all people. Even Ted salutes Jamie, feeling so proud of him. Because Jamie fucking deserves it.

Seriously, after all that hard training. After waking up at four in the morning when he absolutely was not used to it (more like he needs his sleep, especially since he's depressed & I'm sure he's had trouble sleeping before they started training.) After puking from the exhaustion from the amount of the exercise Roy put him through, but then leading the entire team when the rest of them puked but Jamie was fine. When he could go through laps of exercises easily when before he was barely able to make one full lap.

I cannot express the importance for me as a Jamie lover to see him scoring. I cannot express the importance of seeing the joy on Jamie's face when he's lost in the moment of scoring and his teammates running to him, patting him on the back, hugging him. Celebrating with him. It hits totally different after s1 and s2 ("This man refuses to coach me!" — "You've made him a team player and in the process you've made him average.") THE GROWTHHHHH.

If they ARE going to win "this entire thing", as they put it in 3x11, I'm gonna feel so... validated. As we know, it's not about wins it losses, but "I want to win for us, too." They trained so much and so hard. They've been losing for so long. I think it's only fair for them to finally win. From Ted being laughed at and hated and insulted to Ted being the best coach they've ever had. And, obviously, one of greatest human beings they ever had a pleasure to know.

It's all about Ted helping them becoming the best versions of themselves, but you know when you feel the best when the rest of your life is going right but not the goal you've been working towards for month?

That's right. When you finally achieve that goal. And it doesn't seem real, but at the same time it's all you ever wanted (in our case career wise.)

I have a lot of feelings about this show and I want them to achieve their goal. I'm not sure they're gonna go this route, but I really, really, really want them to. Besides, I'm sure it'll make Ted, Beard, and Roy feel great. After all, they're the ones who were coaching those guys in the first place. And it's finally working.

And last but not least: Rebecca also deserves that win. After everything she's been though and how she's come to have this team in the first place?

Win it. Please, just win it.

[17gz]

it just ENRAGES me beyond words that i reconnected with a friend from high school (who reached out to me since i was 1 out of 2 people in our grade of 500+ kids that were visibly out as trans)

because she wanted to let me know that she came out and got on E and told me her name and how she's been doing. we'd been talking for a while.

and i knew her pre transition in high school. she was miserable. and meeting her in person, she was a different person. i saw so much happiness and life in her eyes that i'd never seen before. it was so amazing to see her as who she really is.

i told everyone in my group who was going to pride about her. they all knew beforehand that i was inviting her. i expressed how happy and proud i was of her.

and when she arrived i saw a switch flip in my roommates heads. both of them. including the afab intersex one wearing a niohuru x "big dick girl" bikini for pride. my friend fully said "i use she/her. i don't like they/them, i prefer she/her." and these roommates used they/them for her the entire night.

they were so annoyed that she took up any space at all. they were so annoyed that she was excited. one of these roommates talked so often abt how its hard being autistic. and yet that same person made the rudest and most passive aggressive looks and gestures towards my friend because she's autistic. it was disgusting and juice even yelled at this person at dinner when this person kept doing high school bully shit at my friend.

and when we were forced to confront this person bc "they didnt understand why we were mad at them" we were completely honest and said that their treatment of my friend was unacceptable and disgusting and transmisogynistic

and this person denied all their behavior and even tried to cover it up by saying "i'm just a silly little guy" i wish i was fucking making this shit up i really fucking wish i was. we were stone faced and said they were treating my friend poorly bc shes a trans woman. they said "they'd never do something like that to someone in the community. they're part of the community!" and when juice said they are not incapable of being transmisogynistic, the crocodile tears were running immediately.

and then my friend i've known for 6 years (whos dating that pos) said we were being racist to their partner. and then within 12 hours we dropped the news that we were moving out. we moved out abt 17 days after that. from an apartment i literally hunted down and did all the work to find. and had expressed ALL year that i didnt want to move out from.

cannot stress enough that this roommates partner was staying with us rent free even though i even said they could pay at least $100-$200 per month to help with household expenses since money was getting tight for us and 4 ppl in there vs 3 ppl was rough (but i didnt want to say $800 -$1000 for them bc i knew they were in a tough financial state) (but also we were not doing well either and they took and broke SO much of our shit without offering to do a damn thing about it and spending their money on dumb shit)

and they'd been living rent free at our place for 4+ months. we were coerced into letting them stay w us. and the entire time they treated us like absolute garbage. they constantly made comments about us being fat and how they thought we were ugly.

not to mention. meatball is brachiocephalic. my ex friend was literally with me at the vet appointments where the vets said do NOT have smoke or candles or anything around him.

while i was vacuuming and getting him air purifiers to put around the house and spending over 2k on vet bills, the two of them were hotboxing him in their room when they smoked. i told them a trillion times to ventilate their room and keep the door closed and let the room air out when they smoked and they never listened. we only found out they were hotboxing meatball in july.

not to mention all the racist shit and the painting my friend made where they painted me as a rapist being eaten by them. never done anything like that, i was not ok w them using my likeness and even told them that, i was the darkest skinned person im that apartment, and they felt 0 shame or regret about it. and now theres a painting of me, depicted as a cis man rapist, darker than i actually am, being killed and eaten by this person.

i cannot even begin to describe my anger and rage and disgust and hatred towards this person. i genuinely hope they die. i wish nothing but misery and suffering upon them

[callsign-phoenix]

This is part four to this Robert ‘Bob’ Floyd x female!reader fic, I hope you like it!

Thank you @footprintsinthesxnd for proofreading!

Warnings: self doubt, brief mentions of trauma

My darling wife,

it’s been just a day of not seeing you, but I’m already missing you.

To say that our time together was divine would be an understatement.

I could not say that I have ever met a person as perfect as you are, it seems like we are made for each other.

I can already say with certainty that you will be the first, foremost and last thought on my mind every single day, and I am as always so proud to call you mine.

I love you more than I ever thought possible, and missing you already more than I thought I could as well.

I can’t stress enough how beautiful our and Jess and Eugene’s simultaneous elopement was and will continue to relive it every day in my mind, instead of my daily prayers.

My fellow pilots here are nice and they’ve already heard a lot about you, you’re the only thing I want to think of while going to war.

Don’t worry, I’ll be alright, the mere memory of your lips on mine is enough to keep me going.

With my dearest love and admiration,

Your Bob

My darling husband,

thank you for your letter, it reaches me well.

I miss you daily, my love, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have met you.

You’re so wonderful, kind and compassionate as well as just a joy to be around.

Anyone working by your side is lucky to have you, just like I am as well.

Jess and I are doing well, and while we miss you incredibly much we see each other daily, just to keep each other company.

Don’t mistake the fact that I keep busy with the idea of not missing you - I do nothing but, no matter how much I try to distract myself.

You’re my greatest joy and I hadn’t known happiness until I met you, I will keep missing it until you’re back safely in my arms.

I love you.

My darling love,

these past few weeks have been challenging, but thinking of you keeps my spirits up and my heart beating.

I have met some of the men fighting on the shores and on land and I cannot and do not want to tell you how miserable they look, like broken men with crying hearts.

I am trained for fighting and flying but I was not prepared to see such misery, all that keeps me calm is you.

I just feel like I might not be doing enough, I am not seeing the horrors of war as much as the next man, from the safety of my cockpit I have a way to shut those out as much as I can, not being quite as vulnerable as them.

I don’t mean to bother you with this or to evoke any sense of discomfort or sadness; I am well, just as any good man would questioning my efficiency in this endless bloodshed.

I am endlessly devoted to you and missing you with all I have,

Lovingly,

Your husband Bob

My loving husband,

I love you more than I can express, and hearing you exclaim your doubts makes my heart ache.

As an aviator you are keeping as many men from harm as you can, in which you might be more efficient than would you fight on land.

I beg you to reconsider your value in this, everything you do is thought-through and I am sure that everything you do is helping and has helped others.

Because of this I need to ask you to take care of yourself first; you cannot help them or anyone if you yourself are sick, injured or dead.

I love you, Bob, and I need you to promise me to put yourself first.

There have been developments in my life, in our life, that implore me to ask this of you, because it’s not just my life at stake.

We are going to have a child, you and me, and while our time together has already been perfect I cannot think about how wonderful it will become with our little one on the way.

You haven’t just given me one person to love and adore but a second one as well, and I can just hope that this news will give you as much joy as they give me.

Jess is an angel these days, making sure I have everything I need and watching out for me.

I love you so so much, and I can assure you so does the little one.

My darling,

I am at a loss for words at how ecstatic the news of our child has made me.

While I feel the loss of some of my comrades and the weight of war my love for you and our child has given me strength I didn’t know I had.

The picture you sent me of yourself is close to my heart in my breast pocket, just like on the night of our first meeting with your address and phone number.

I haven’t taken them out except to wash my uniform, they’re always with me as I know you are as well.

I cannot promise you I’ll be back before their birth but I will do my very best, as does everyone else around me.

Should it not be the case, might I ask for a picture of our little one, to hold dear like I do the one of you?

I love you most ardently, my dear,

Your Bobby

last part

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[theheartwhumpswhatitwhumps]

I saw you were taking whump requests!! Could you maybe do something where Whumpee is injured but is still trying to go on missions so Caretaker has to sedate them for their own good???

Sorry this took so long. I've been working on a book and all my time goes into 1) my job and 2) the book, which for the time being is an unpaid second job. But here it is at last!

Let's sedate some whumpees!!

--

cw // sedation w/ fade to black, sedation for whumpee's sake, dizziness, referenced past physical trauma (broken bones, beating), medical language, bad(??) caretaker

(as always, please let me know kindly if there are tags I miss and I will add them)

--

"Any questions?"

Leader crosses his arms and watches the team digest the mission plan. Silence doesn't settle over the room so much as turn in restless circles like an anxious dog.

Everyone wonders if they should be the one to speak up. Of course there are questions. Or, at least one. Only one that matters.

Is Whumpee really coming along?

No one looks at Whumpee, sitting straight-backed in their seat, arm free of its sling a week too early. The bruises on their cheeks and neck are long faded, but under a careful eye, a yellow tinge still lingers beneath the surface. Stitches weren't enough to make up for the small chunk missing from their bottom left, leaving it misshapen. Thanks to Healer's handiwork, Whumpee is in much better shape than they could be (or should be), but no where near completely healed.

Leader looks at each team member one by one. One by one, they feel his gaze, and Leader watches every pair of eyes drift toward Whumpee's chair. This plan hinges on everyone playing their part to the letter. No room for screw ups. No room for weak links.

Healer bounces a knee beneath the table. In the cool light, her eyes flash almost threateningly.

Finally, Leader looks to Whumpee, who returns his gaze with unwavering determination.

"No questions," they say, as resolute as a charging chariot.

--

The team is dismissed to prepare for the mission at hand. In the hallway, Healer catches Leader by the crook of his arm, her fury barely reined.

"You cannot be serious."

Leader looks down at Healer's hand, raising an eyebrow. "About?"

"Don't you dare." Healer's voice is more than angry. It's vengeful. "Whumpee should never have been in the field in the first place. They weren't ready and you knew it. But you sent them anyway."

Leader wrenches his arm free. Rather, Healer lets him loose. She can't stand to touch him anymore.

"Whumpee has skills I needed to utilize. What happened was a terrible accident--"

"They were almost killed."

Leader huffs something almost like laughter. "I'm not the bad guy here. We all know the risks. This is a job like any other, and if they can't stand the heat--"

"Listen to me. Whumpee's bones are barely healed. They haven't passed a single stress test since....since it happened. They're too weak to be of any use." Harsh, maybe, but Healer can't afford to be sensitive when Whumpee's life could be on the line. "If they get into trouble, there may not be any getting out. Not like last time."

I may not be able to fix them like last time.

Leader walks away but Healer is right on his heels. "Their role is a stationary one," Leader says, unperturbed. "Very little chance of trouble finding them from a surveillance van. If they want to back out, they need only say the word."

Fury ablaze, Healer steps in front of Leader, blocking his path. She ignores how a dangerous look flashes across his face. "Whumpee would step in front of a moving train if you told them to. To prove that they could. To make you proud. Don't you dare take advantage of that. They are not your soldier."

More than his usual annoyance, the new look on Leader's face puts Healer at unease. But she stands her ground, refusing to step aside. It's not a look of anger, of indignation at her disrespect. It's thoughtfulness. Like he's just been handed a fun new toy. Like he can't wait to see what it can do.

"Loyalty," he says, and the way the word rolls off his tongue makes Healer's stomach drop, "is a valuable gift. To give, and to be given. Whumpee's loyalty makes them an incredibly important asset to the team....and you're right, Healer. You're absolutely right. Whumpee should be safeguarded, given time to heal and regain their strengths. Effective immediately, they're suspended from the mission."

Healer can't find it in herself to be relieved. There's a caveat coming, she can feel it.

Leader lays a heavy hand on her shoulder, and her stomach drops. "We'll be leaving in an hour. Best give Whumpee one more check up, don't you think?"

--

Excitement runs hot and electric through Whumpee as they practically run to the medical wing. Time for another mission, but more than that. A second chance.

They knock on the examination room door, but don't wait for permission to enter. At this point, this room is as familiar to them as their own quarters. They've spent the better part of a month inside these sterile white walls under Healer's masterful hands.

Healer works at the counter, her back to Whumpee.

"You can't seem to get rid of me, doc!" They hop on the examination table, jarring their sore arm, but they don't let on how much it hurts. They've been practicing.

Craning their neck, they try to peer over Healer's shoulder but can't catch a glimpse of her work. Their thoughts swiftly drift to the mission, and their eyes to the anatomical posters hanging around the room. Skeletal system, nervous system, muscular, endocrine. Diagrams of the human brain. Healer had shown Whumpee what was happening in their body when she healed them from Villain's beatdown, how her powers combined with the medicine she prescribed facilitated almost miraculous repairs.

"Whip up some of your magic so I can get out of here!" Whumpee pinches a corner off the paper covering the exam table. "I still need to get my things ready. Lots to do. I didn't pack enough snacks last time. Or gauze." They shake away the memories. This time, they'll be more careful.

"I just want to make sure you're all set for field work," Healer says. Something clatters on the counter. "Can't be too careful."

Whumpee slowly flexes their sore arm, rolling their eyes. If there's one thing they've learned about Healer through all this, it's that she's inhumanly thorough. No stone unturned, no ailment untreated. Her attention to detail combined with unmatched empathy made her a good medic. The best Whumpee has ever seen, actually. And she tells it straight, the good and the bad, no lies to spare your feelings. Whumpee knows her tough love is the real reason why they've healed so quickly from the worst beating they've ever survived.

"Leader seems to think I'm ready to get back out there. I've got an important role in the plan. You heard him, he said--"

"Leader isn't your doctor."

Healer's voice was hard edges and ice. Whumpee had heard that voice before, usually when she found out that they'd been negelcting physical therapy. Whumpee felt themself shrink a bit in their seat, disappointed to have been a disappointment.

Healer exhales a slow breath, her back and shoulders deflating until she, too, seems smaller where she stands. "But…he believes in you. You've made a lot of progress. I'm very proud of you. You’re gonna do great."

Healer turns around and walks to where Whumpee, ever the model patient, sits on the cushioned table. In one hand she holds a bottle of water, and in the other, she pinches a small paper cup between her fingers. At the bottom, two blue tablets lay like pale snapdragon petals.

She holds out the water and cup. "Down the hatch."

"What's this?" Whumpee asks, but takes both from her.

Healer adjusts the pillow at the head of the table, hair obstructing her eyes. “Pain relief.”

Easy enough, Whumpee knocks the pills back. With the water, they go down smoothly. “That’s it then?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Thrill rushes through them. Back in the field. Another chance to prove their skill. Their capability. Their worth.

Leader believes in me, they think. Healer is proud of me. They don’t know which is the sweeter thought.

They jump from the table, mind already back in their room, gathering up what they need for the mission. No sooner do their shoes touch the tile floor than that shock of thrill turns cold, then fuzzy warm, and then the lights are too bright. And the room is tilting.

“Woah—”

Their knees buckle beneath them. They reach for something to catch but it’s too late. They’re already falling and the world is out of reach.

Strong arms scoop them up. “Easy does it.” Healer’s voice.

“Healer, I…I feel…”

“I know.”

Grotesque diagrams of flayed human bodies warp beneath the harsh lights. There is something here, in this room where safety could once be trusted. Something wrong.

The horrible images all slide away, replaced by a cold, rectangular sun. Healer is somewhere, close and distant, laying them back on the table with arms too long. Softness embraces their head but Whumpee finds no comfort in it.

Half of what they mean to say is lost, butchered as it passes through the sieve of their tongue and teeth. “Healer...(help)...I'm...(feeling)...wrong."

“Shh, I know.”

Sharp metal gleams on the border of their sight but when they turn to see what instruments of pain and horror await, there are only blurred silver sheets where tables once were, and Healer’s sad eyes.

Then Whumpee understands. And they know they’d take ten broken bones over betrayal's deep, hollow pain.

Maybe there were real words on their tongue, or a scream, or a curse, but all that comes out is a high whimper—weak, pathetic, helpless—that follows them into sleep.

[rui31]

Nobody Wants This Rant

I don't think I feel strongly enough for it to be a rant but I have thoughts and I'd like to put them down because I'm processing.

I heard about NWT because everyone online was raving about how it's the cozy romcom we've all been waiting for and its Kristen Wiig and that guy, whom I know from Gilmore Girls, but he's also in something else, and I was like - sure why not?

And, as a premise that is set up within the first four episodes, no complaints. Sure it was a bit weird with the whole - he's a rabbi - thing but I appreciated Joanne's (KW's character) journey of accepting and giving love.

We're there a few icks? Yes! Not a fan of Joanne blaming her mother on being emotionally-too-much when her father left them because he was gay, like she's in her mid-30s (KW is in her mid-40s but wtv) and I'm supposed to believe this lady hasn't processed that yet?

Not a fan of her sister and Rabbi's brother weird friendship, but whatever - they kept it friends so I'm LOOKING sideways, but only on occasion. Man is married and has a daughter!

Kind of squinting at the choice of making Rabbi a rabbi, as it does feel like a story of two cultures clashing and melding, but they chose this very extreme case to show how "different" the two sides are?

But then episode 5 hit and my icks gave way to full on eye rolls and pausing to process what bothered me - so let's go on this journey together.

Episode 5 - The one where they go to camp together

Quick premise: Joanne and Rabbi are meant to be going on their first romantic weekend getaway but instead Rabbi is called into work, at a summer camp, to do the torah study. Joanne is also called into work for an important meeting with investors for the podcast she runs with her sister, but decides to bail so she can spend the weekend at a TEENAGE SUMMER CAMP - where opportunities for romance are, as we all know, endless. He freaks out because his superior is there, tries to hide her away, she finds out, gets upset and leaves.

The low-hanging fruit: Rabbi being called hot rabbi by the teenage girls and being proud about it? And also showing off about it to Joanne?

The weird teenage girls conversation with Joanne that was annoying as it was framed as them being mean girly but honestly they were just calling her out on her delusions. (He introduced her as his friend and she was telling them she's his girlfriend - teenage girls were not having that)

Joanne calling her sister incompetent and putting her down for a meeting she was bailing on! For no reason??

Actual fruit:

The last 20 minutes of the episode was actual terrible writing of a healthy and mature relationship - something the show is constantly telling us these two have so thus why I am using these words.

Joanne shows up in time to join her sister for the meeting, though she is still late.

A few hours?minutes? later, Rabbi shows up from the camp and has come to talk to her about how he tried to hide her away like the dirty shiksa slut she is.

Joanne leaves said meeting and goes to speak to Rabbi and, instead of prioritizing her work and calling him out on how this isnt the place and time to have this conversation, entertains the notion this is the perfect time to start Shabat - completely missing the meeting.

He shows no respect for her work or her time, this is an important meeting for a $7M deal (we're told multiple times) and is the one that sticks around to start Shabat instead of just DOING IT ANOTHER TIME. Like I get it, you want to show Jewish rituals and customs, but it didn't need to be RIGHT NOW - WHEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS MAKING A DEAL.

I cannot stress enough how much this pissed me off, the writers showing how her work just doesn't matter - the relationship and him is above it all.

Episode 6 - The episode where he meets her family

Alright, so Joanne has a complicated family. Her mom and dad are separated, dad has a gay lover, and they're all at her house in this episode meeting Rabbi for the first time.

Man, can this be any more of a quintessential example of how Rabbi thinks his family norms and his opinions are better than hers?

She tells him not to dress up, this is a casual get together - he still leaves and shows up late with a weird blazer? and flowers for the mother, when she expressly told him not to do that.

He goes on to humour both parents' weird delulu behaviour, primarily her father acting as if he is a doting and caring dad, which she has also told him not to do, because it only encourages their toxic behaviour towards each other and her+her sister.

She gets the ick after a series of him doing everything she has asked him not to do and goes outside for a breath. Her sister recognizes she's got the ick, and says - oh well, good thing you found out now and not in a few months/years.

Great moment where the mom calls out the Rabbi for misunderstanding the whole family's dynamic and why Joanne is upset with her father and puts him in his place - but this does not anywhere.

Rabbi goes to speak to her outside and instead of listening to her and why she got the ick - which is about his complete disregard for how she knows best on how to deal with her own fucking family - he proceeds to tell her (and i am not joking here) to "get over it" and "you're self sabotaging". He doesn't apologize, just tells her he knows best (in not so many words) and then tells her she still loves him even though he gave her the ick.

AND SHE SAYS YES - SHE GOES ALONG WITH IT.

Self-respect??? ARE YOU HERE???

From 7-9, it's a series of snowballing events where he puts her concerns down (hey your brothers wife is being a total bitch to me and isolating me from your friends group) because he thinks he knows best (you just need time - no bro, the brothers wife is best friends with your ex, she's not going to be won over with time. Are you dumb?) - to lying about his contact with his ex (sure he hasn't been texting her, but the guy literally showed up at the hospital because the ex got into a small fender bender and stayed there the entire night).

I guess we're supposed to see how bad Joanne is, silly duck that she is, since this 30 year old woman doesn't know that prosciutto is pork and, when asking for a customized charcuterie board, failed to mention no pork? I don't know how she didn't get other pork related meats if she didn't add that note in her order??? Like did she go line by line on which meats to add?

But then we're back to how the show doesn't really care about her opinions or her life, because now it's all the Rabbi show and how he suddenly is up for a promotion and Joanne needs to convert so they can stay together! And, even though her sister is basically calling her out for being a pathetic loser who's changing herself completely for the guy she's dating so she doesn't end up alone (the worst thing ever apparently) (also thank god for the sister, though I'm not sure they made her for the purpose of calling Joanne out on her bs or to be an annoying younger sibling trope), she's all gas, no breaks for this man.

Which culminates in the usual netflix style show story tempo where everything hits the fan in the last episode and the resolution hits you just as quickly.

But really, what did we learn here? What did we do here?

Are Joanne and Rabbi in a healthy, mature relationship? No. Rabbi and the whole show doesn't respect her work or her own opinions/values when it comes to her family and the way she wants to live her life. Thematically, the whole show ignores her success and puts it down (haha she talks about sex) and it's so strange were in 2024 and a female character can't have a life outside of the male character but he can.

Joanne has moved from jumping out of a relationship before it gets too serious, to holding on tooth and nail even if she completely loses herself in the process.

We started with Rabbi being a man who has been told what to do by his mother and then his gf (who becomes his ex), from the hint that his mom led him to the path of being a rabbi, to his ex-gf basically taking the ring out of his desk and declaring them engaged instead of waiting for him. Fascinating stuff - does he even want to be a rabbi? What does that mean for him if he doesn't? Does he have any formal education outside of whatever you need to become a rabbi? Is he ready to throw away all the expectations and hard rules he's been following his entire life and finally LIVE it? Walk his own path.

What an interesting relationship with Joanne, who also offers counselling and guidance to her podcast viewers and can be someone he can finally have those conversations with safely. Those first few episodes, where Joanne was giving him insight and he was doing the same, were so beautiful - and then it goes to shit because he's a religious man and that makes him infallible??? Bro isn't god, he's just a fanboy.

It would have been so interesting to have him there to help her reflect on where she wanted the podcast to go and evolve, which was a huge point of conflict in those first few episodes - but that just disappears. We don't even know what the two sisters are talking about in their podcast anymore because after episode 5 - the $7M deal plot and the direction their brand is going in plot just disappears.

All that matters is if Joanne is going to convert to Judaism. We still don't know, by the end, where this relationship is going as Rabbi hasn't decided he will no longer be a rabbi to be with her. And, by the framing of the show, is there even anyone that would be his competition? We only see him at the temple, so the stakes for Joanne to convert are just not there for this to feel the way they want us to feel. (Yo if ex-gf was a rabbi and was going to take it from him as she has always wanted to be Mrs. Head-Rabbi - that would be *chefs kiss*)

All to say 2/5 stars, I've had better. I'm all for cheesy romance and lingering kisses, but don't lose the thread on our main character.

[thelanor-s-astame]

Episode 1 Behind The Scenes!

Welcome to Amateur Hour! I mean this whole series is amateur hour, but stating out was REALLY amateur hour. So most of the way our videos worked is we would do a weekly video (Either podcast or Over The Shoulder game review). And I’d release a Funny Joke Video every two weeks. I was given Carte Blanch over my videos and basically just kinda did them on my own. So everything I did was suuuper rudimentary My scripts weren’t formated very well, there were tons of spelling errors, stuff I’d cut out I’d leave in the document and just remember I cut it out. But all this worked just fine because I was the only one looking at them.

And the way I’d send people their lines was I would *send* people their lines over discord and have them send me back an audio file that they’d recorded. I didn’t even really do any audio directing aside from a couple of notes. I might have directed Dalsson and TheDragonLover (heretofore referred to as Dergo), but that was it.

For anyone who might want to make a narrative series, uh… don’t do this with your main cast. If you have a guest star who knows what their doing and might not be comfortable being directed in a discord call with a stranger, that’s fine. But for everyone else you’ll just end up playing phone tag for a a couple of VA lines that won’t be nearly as good if you just set the people down in a call and told them what kinda performance you want them to give. A thing that, And I cannot stress this enough, they will be fine with you doing and in fact would much prefer this to the alternative.

And if you sit multiple people down in the call and do their voice lines in one day, that’s just way better! Your actors will be more comfortable with more friends around, and after the session is over, you have multiple scenes worth of voice lines to work with! It’s one of those “We do this thing like this for a reason.” kinda deals.

But ultimately a lot of the What Worked for those videos I’d put out every two weeks, and the video essays, did not really work here. But anyway lets look at the actual video.

The like first scene you can see how the cutting around is really off. That’s because the footage of me just standing there lasted, like, 3 seconds and I had a minute of dialogue, so I HAD to keep cutting if I wanted to use that footage. I should have just started a new save and rerecorded it but… again amateur hour.

But. The first joke here I think is really good. I have a lot of thoughts about it, so I’m going to make it a separate thread. There’s quite a bit going on there and I’m really proud of it.

But the beginning of the video, and the beginning of the series as a whole, is just kinda me moving from bit to bit like I did in the previous Joke Videos. These started out as those with a tiny bit more structure.

The Conversation with Elderbug here is what got Lordfrezon to get a better mic. Like this video convinced the man to get a better microphone. But you’ll notice Elderbugs mouth keeps moving when he’s not taking. I didn’t start putting a still picture over the talking characters yet

The quirrel scene is probably the best put together in the entire video. The editing is sharp. and I realized I could like, just reverse the video of him looking at the Black Egg to make it a little more dynamic.

But most of the dynamic-ness of these scenes comes down to me zooming in and out of characters faces for emphasis. The footage I’m working with is a character with a one second animation loop and another character staring up at them. So I gotta do a lot of cuts and zooms to make it look like a conversation with multiple emotions in it is happening. And I already had a pretty good grasp of that thanks to the joke videos! Say what you will about youtube video editing, but it sure teaches you how powerful quick cutting for emphasis is!

This was also before I started putting Reverb on every scene that takes place in a tunnel… which most of them do, and if there’s one thing I love, love, love playing with, it’s reverb. Sound design is my passion tbh. It is also the only thing I have any formal training in! I was taught it by a bunch of 80s rockers who showed me how to use an old analog soundboard for live mixing! And I’ve always held to the idea that 75% of video editing is sound editing, and 95% of that sound editing is shit no one would notice unless it wasn’t there.

There a little after the Quirrel scene I got *extremely lucky* and found a sign mender. Which is a really rare event. Just immediately out of the gate I see that man. I’d never seen him before I was getting footage for the video and he blessed me with his presence like an angel. Thank you Sign Mender! You gave me a great bit about property destruction!

The Cornifer scene is firstly, a great look into how a voice role evolves over time, and secondly, a great exemplification of what I started this with. Just Direct Your VA’s. You’ll notice how Saine’s performance on his first line here are worse than any of the other ones he’s given. He didn’t know what I wanted. And if I would have simply directed him, that wouldn’t be a problem!

He did, however get to delever the funniest lines of the video. And he did a great job with those! And, another thing to Saine’s credit is he does a fantastic job as Iselda! Man eats up that whole scene! Just great shit there!

Sly’s change is less in that the voice evolved as time went on and more I changed the character. I focused more on the Shopkeeper aspect rather than the teacher aspect as his Central Thing, and ultimately I think that was the best choice. Surly Shopkeeper who can “Show You Da Ropes” Is always a great character and he’s a lot of fun to write. Also all the thing’s Sly says about ‘God’ put me in a bit of a bind because “Okay, so why the hell does this guy know about The Radiance… a thing that a lot of people were lied to about for decades?” So I had to come up with some stuff for that. But that’s the kind of problem I love solving. Because it goes from “Weird plot hole” to “Ooh new character aspect! let’s give this man some depth!

Dergo’s performance as Myla is the best one in the video. And it’s great that’s the case too, because of how much *that* kicks off a lot of the story. But, yeah 10/10 no notes. Dergo is incredibly good at this shit.

The end bit with the snail man is probably my biggest regret of the video. It very much does not fit in with the tone of everything else. It’s kinda something that just happens in the first episode and I hope everyone forgets about. The implication he just murdered the snail guy is funny but it doesn’t fit in the wider whole. Whole scene just is not very good tbh. I also probably should have had someone else voice the Snail man as well.

And I wholeass forgot I used a different font for the credits! But I think that’s that for the first episode. IT’s kind of just a collection of thoughts, but the episode is just kind of a collection of scenes so, there we go!

[gaast]

Sorry you're sick! Maybe an ask will make you feel better?

I know you have an English degree, do you have a favorite author and/or work and why?

That's an interesting question. I'm gonna talk a little bit about the question before I try to answer it.

I ended up getting two English degrees, which I'm kind of proud of. My Master's was very fun to obtain. But once you get to the graduate courses, you are absolutely forced to recognize what your undergrad professors were implying very, very hard: Everything you read is a tool. Everything you see is a tool. Everything is a message that you can--and perhaps MUST--identify. Read enough books this way and they stop being entertainment. It l's not that the fun is gone--I still love reading--but you just engage with it so differently. It makes sense to ask a Lit major for its favorite author or book but it also feels reductive, in a way? And to be clear, I am NOT criticizing you or your question. I just feel like What It Means To Be A Lit Major is different from the outsider's perspective on it. Because, it's like, we're not just reading books well. We're formulating arguments based on what we read and apply it to the world as it exists. And we don't just read fiction.

For example, there's a classic essay that makes the compelling argument that the Watergate scandal was analogous to Disney World. I read an article that did a close reading of Starbucks decor. Freud was a jackass but his essay on the uncanny remains almost preternaturally compelling--and that essay? Required a close reading of literature.

I say all of this only to say that the question, "Who's your favorite author?" tends to elicit answers that don't open up a conversation. Which is a damn shame, because my business is conversations.

So I'm gonna try to answer as well as I can to avoid that pitfall.

For fiction, I really adore Jesse Ball. His words have a kind of fairytale-like quality to them that casts the world in the kind of mist you'd find deep in the woods somewhere, where everything in the margins comes out to play. Only those marginal beings can hurt you if you aren't careful. His recent memoir, Autoportrait, is fascinating, because it's very much a portrait of a man who feels quite strongly about his ideals and who believes, perhaps rightly, that his success is a fluke and will end one day. His writing really reflects his anarchism--it crafts harsh worlds, but worlds that invite unity, togetherness, and wonder.

I also really like Mark Z Danielewski's fiction. It honestly feels very worthwhile to put his work in conversation with Ball's, but I haven't done that yet! Anyway, MZD is masterful at making sense, just sense that you don't get. He operates on a level where his fiction is focused almost entirely on emotions, so he writes as logically and drily as possible. He creates conflicts out of normalcy. His work is best described as paradoxes with no origins.

I also have to mention some specific works, especially Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Phantom Brave, and Cultist Simulator. These are games, and they all create very evocative worlds that, while brutal, ultimately find distinct (if sometimes terrible) worth and value and light in the world.

As for nonfiction... Jack Halberstam's body of work is some of the most important you can read. I also adore The Body in Pain by Elaine Scarry, I believe? And Understanding Media by Marshal McLuhan is so fucking incredible. Yeah yeah his points have all essentially been moved beyond but come on.

As for philosophical work: read Tim Morton. I cannot stress enough how formative Realist Magic has been for me.

[offrozenmemoirs]

What Do You Fight For?

Seraph sits on the ground, exhaling softly. His spear and sword rest next to him, his eyes are closed, and the top half of his armor lay discarded on the other side of him. Meditation after his training sessions was how he grounded himself once more, working off stress from his duties, and the ever growing presence of Khorne within his mind.

He should be getting some sleep, but after his time with Soup, he was restless. He reluctantly climbed out of bed, redressing himself and heading out to the beachfront. The salty scent of the sea filing his nose, and feeling the sand shift beneath his boots. The moonlight itself looked rather beautiful, but bought him no reprieve from the thoughts in his mind. The beach is empty, given the narrowly averted catastrophe that just happened, Seraph understands their aversion to any midnight strolls along the beach. It was oddly quiet, aside from the sound of rolling waves.

He thinks of the future confrontation between the group and the leader of this tribe of Cetaceans. From what he recalls, they're big on honor and strength. He was banking on that to get a duel with the leader of this tribe, if he won, he would be acknowledged as strong enough to do as he wished. A duel doesn't need to end with the death of either combatant, but...

"Do you honestly believe such a proud creature like that would yield to you? How convenient would that be?"

The echo of the chaos god's words is still clear in his mind. He struggles with the urges that come with combat, to rend apart all of his enemies, and with how fiercely he can fight sometimes...To say that Khorne is pleased with that would be an understatement. Though, that's not to say he's the only one who apparently likes how Seraph gets in battle.

"Sometimes it scares me, a little... but you know what? I like it. I swear, when we were out cold... I was dreaming, wishing to experience some of what you unleashed near that lighthouse."

The words of his lover cause a faint smile to flicker across his face, before he steels his expression once more. It's odd, not having many voices in his head, to hold conversations with the Deathwatchers, or occasional conversations with his father. Seraph's mind has been mostly quiet, with the occasional comment from Khorne, or conversations with Freya. It's odd, and he misses the presence of his father and Pharasma.

"You were quite fierce in battle. Leaping into the skies to impale your foes and then scattering them...A spear suits you much better than that scythe you had. But then there's that sword of yours...What a marvelous piece of steel. Frigid to the touch, and it only seems to like you as its master. You've done well to christen it in blood as of late."

It was true that Skadi was temperamental about who touched her, giving people a nasty case of frostburn when they touched her hilt. Even Rok had spoken about how he never touched the blade after he forged it. It had been a comfort, to have a sword similar to Joseph, especially while his scythe was being reforged into a spear. It too, held a name, Susano'o, a Kitaian deity of storms, if he was recalling his studies correctly. He couldn't put his finger on it, but, it felt right to give the weapon forged from his very soul such a name. Susano'o was much like its master, seeking a purpose, to grow into what it was meant to be.

"What will you do if you cannot convince this 'Storm Thief' to stand down?"

Seraph frowns, knowing that in Cetacean culture, in some tribes, surrender was akin to being shamed. For someone christening himself as the Storm Thief, having stolen Rhalgr's trident, had the power to back up his name. Though it was a power that wasn't earned, and in a strange sense, perhaps he agreed with Khorne's assessment, another warlord looking to make a name for themselves.

"If he doesn't surrender, then I'll do what I must and end him. Nothing more, nothing less."

Khorne hums in acknowledgement of Seraph's answer.

"And if someone comes for revenge? If you kill him, you'll have to deal with the fallout."

The elf doesn't have an answer, and it's clear on his face, lips curling into a frown.

"If I can make a suggestion...Perhaps it would be better to kill him in such a way that any challengers would be petrified. Tear him apart, rip his throat out with your teeth. Bathe in his blood and let them know that challenging you is to court death itself."

Seraph opens his eyes, to see someone standing in front of him, he doesn't want to look up, knowing what he'll see. Yet, he meets the other's gaze, staring himself in the face, a wicked grin that was far too wide, filled with teeth sharpened like knives, and that damnable blazing, piercing red gaze. He wishes that Khorne didn't stand in front of him, the waves rolling past his ankles. The shadow walks forward, staring down at Seraph, meeting his gaze as he begins to speak.

"It's always better to be feared, Seraph. Many think of me as someone obsessed with killing, to see my enemies scattered to the winds. I enjoy my bloodshed, of course, but I know the power of a reputation as well. You know that you must do whatever it takes to protect the innocent. Even if they hate you for it, they will still be alive to do so. There's still honor in shedding blood for justice."

Seraph isn't naive enough to believe that. Even if he agrees that the innocent must be protected.

"I'm not foolish enough to believe that you have my best interests at heart. You tried setting Soup's blood on fire. You and I shall never be friends, nor allies. Not after all you've done to my family and loved ones."

A dark chuckle leaves the doppelganger's lips. Seraph hates looking at Khorne because he sees himself bulging with muscle, covered in ritualistic scarring and nails more akin to claws. He sees a vicious mockery of himself, and his once blue eyes are now entirely red, blazing with a crazed fury. Veins alight with an unholy glow, as if his very blood had turned to fire. Interestingly, Khorne didn't take his current appearance into account; instead, he had his original black hair, which was shorter, with daemonic horns. It's almost a mockery of his draconic heritage. It scares him more than seeing Makoto ever did. Perhaps it reminded him of the patient ward in Ingora, where that man begged him for forgiveness. It's a reminder of what he could've been had he continued on his path…Or what he could still become if he ever lost his way.

"Say what you will, Seraph. But you're a perfect candidate for my teachings. How many did you kill in that last fight? How many of your foes died screaming? Cetaceans don't often have fear struck into them, but you...You're something special. After all, I wouldn't have my eye on you if I thought you weren't worth my time. You have my favor...My blessings will give you strength beyond strength, if you would accept me."

Seraph says nothing in response, instead, grabbing Skadi. He unsheathes his blade, and cuts the mockery of himself down, watching as Khorne's form fades into the air. He almost expected blood and guts to spill out, but instead a black mist is the only reward for his efforts. He ignores the laughter leaving its lips, a deep, rumbling tone that he's come to associate with the god of blood. He would never accept Khorne's offers. Power always came with a price, no matter the source. He resumes training, not wanting to sleep any time soon, though he's sure he'll drag himself back to the shared hotel room, and get what little sleep he can...eventually.

[19orionis]

Guilt future and midnight with Lazare for the not so nice oc ask meme?

Guilt

Lazare feels guilty about pretty much anything he did between the ages of 21 and 27, and a few things after that, too. The really big ones include getting involved with crime in the first place (and the worst of the specific things he did, especially the murder but also the blackmail and other actions that ruined livelihoods. He feels less bad about the theft, regular people weren't his targets, but still not great), not being a more attentive partner to Ella Martin, his then-girlfriend, and not coming out to his parents before his father died. That one really haunts him. And with Ella, though a part of him will forever be angry at their shared friend Charles for sleeping with her, he still ultimately blames himself for "causing" her to cheat on him when everything was already spiraling with his life. He does not handle this guilt well, but he doesn't avoid it, either. He kind of has the opposite problem, actually, for a long time he's had habits of punishing himself when it's not really necessary. The methods of self-punishment have gotten a lot less bad over time, though, and he is proud of himself for that! Where he used to physically deprive his body of various things that it needed, he now just kind of beats himself up about shit that happened both yesterday and over a decade ago. If he's feeling really bad, he'll also not socialize with people for awhile because he'll get it in his head that he's "undeserving" of it. Which still isn't great, but it is leagues less dangerous, and he's working to break his current habits, too.

Future

Lazare literally cannot imagine a future worse than his past, which means that the ultimate bad outcome for his life would be to once again get involved in violence, to lose his sensitivity. In the canon verse I'm working on for him and all my other characters, it's pretty unlikely for him to have a chance to get involved with that shit again, like, he's a business student in California living a regular life and gearing up to get a café going once he graduates, and this time, he doesn't need to resort to awful things to keep himself afloat. I've got a friend in business school who worked a pretty comfortable accounting internship over the summer and I think Lazare has been working jobs like that when he can to get himself through. In other verses, a return to violence could be a little more likely, and the thought would scare him. He'd kind of have to watch how much he'd say to certain friends and set boundaries with what favors he'd be able to provide. The knowledge he gained during his twenties has never left him, and sometimes he wishes it would leave him.

Midnight

In line with what I wrote for Guilt, what keeps Lazare up at night is all of his failures, regrets, and embarrassments, though he doesn't chronically have as much trouble sleeping as he used to. School, work, and socializing are pretty good at wearing him out enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but he does still occasionally get stuck on a thought, at which point he'll try to make himself get up and journal. If that still doesn't put him to sleep, he'll either read a book, or, if his attention span isn't cooperating enough, pull out his laptop and go down Wikipedia rabbit holes until he can't keep his eyes open. He does have nightmares, and I'm honestly unsure about the frequency of them. A recurring one involves his dad showing up at his house, looking really sick but somehow walking and talking, and Lazare being unable to speak when he sees him. No sound coming out of his mouth, no matter how hard he tries. Other themes that tend to show up include falling, sometimes over railings, or situations of extreme embarrassment. Like anyone, he's definitely had the naked-in-public dreams and he really hates those. He'll have regular stress dreams as well, usually about deadlines or car trouble.