#like they still work together on a lot of activities

[omgthatdress]

Sooooo ummmmmmm this is something that's probably going to piss a lot of people off, but I feel like I really need to say it.

If you get a message from an account claiming to be a Palestinian fundraiser, it is a bot. It is a scam. You need to report & delete the message and encourage others to do the same.

I know because I get messages on this account DAILY. I have a very high follower count and I'm pretty active and I interact with my followers a lot, and apparently that all adds up to one big bot magnet.

Bots following and messaging this account was a MASSIVE problem before Tumblr fixed its new account policies. I used to spend literally hours blocking and reporting the hundreds of bots that I would get following me each day.

I learned a lot about bots and how to identify them. The easiest way is with no avatar, "untitled" in the blog description (BTW if your avatar is still set to default PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD change it because you run a substantial risk of being accidentally blocked & reported as a bot).

One of the dead give aways of a bot was what I call "word salad" names. Three seemingly random words strung together making no sense, always adjective, adjective or noun, noun. If you reported a lot of these bots, you'd notice the same words kept showing up.

Nowadays, I am bombarded with fundraiser requests and sometimes, they don't even bother to hide the fact that they're a bot. The avatar is default, the blog title is "untitled," and the blog name is a classic randomly-generated word salad.

However MOST of the requests I get come from at least semi-legit looking accounts. There are pictures, a name, a story. Never mind that I've gotten that message three times from different accounts.

Sometimes, they claim to be vetted, but the whole vetting system essentially adds up to "trust me bro." There is no way of guaranteeing that this account isn't just lying about being vetted, claiming to be vetted by a false person, or are using the identity of a real Palestinian to scam people.

Previously, I've seen a lot of people getting attacked for raising questions about these fundraisers and getting attacked for being racist or for harming Palestinian families in danger, like Tumblr isn't a website famous for its scams and the words "The Arkh Project" "All or Nothing" or "Miss Officer and Mr. Truffles" mean nothing to you.

I personally have been scammed by people claiming to be charities on Tumblr before, specifically, The Leelah Project which used the name of a trans teenager who died by suicide to swindle people out of their money.

Luckily, there are actual, respected charities out there you can give money to if you want to help the cause:

Palestinian Children's Relief Fund

Palestine Red Crescent Society

United Nations Relief Works Agency

Islamic Relief

World Central Kitchen

Médecins Sans Frontièrs

One of the hardest things to accept about the situation in Palestine is that realistically, there is very little that your average outsider can do to change it. However, these large, well-respected and trustworthy charities are out there doing the hard work to keep people alive, and should be where the donation money is going

These scam bots feed on people's naïvety and need to believe that they are making a difference, and even worse, feed on the fear that by ignoring them, it somehow makes you a racist doing direct harm to a refugee family, when in fact they are using the suffering of Palestinians to take away money from those in need.

As far as fundraisers that don't send out random asks for donations, I honestly don't know. You'll have to do the work yourself and approach with much caution.

Be careful out there.

[powdermelonkeg]

You know what? I'm gonna make a Minecraft movie

This is a plot I banged out over the course of like three hours at work so bear with me.

Movie starts. Main Guy just got fired from his job or something. He goes home to his house, greets his dog, agonizes over how he's going to pay for said dog with this development. Dog comes up wanting to play fetch, has a mcguffin in its mouth. Main Guy takes it and fiddles with it that night.

Mcguffin activates.

Guy winds up in Minecraft world. Spends a day freaking out about everything. Finds a dirt house someone else made and spends the night there to escape the monsters.

There's a map there. Takes that to a village

Meets Alex. She doesn't speak.

Alex is in the middle of saving a village from an Illager raid. Main Guy helps.

It takes a turn into a rescue mission for captured Villagers. The Illagers are hunting for a Trial Chamber with a legendary weapon (the mace).

After that arc is complete, Main Guy has an Allay as a pet and a new friend in a Villager he saved. Gang's all there, all adventures from here on out will be with MG, Alex, Villager, and Allay.

They go to Alex's home base. It's neat, but it's very clear she's not the only one that's lived there.

MG manages to convey to Alex that he needs a way home. And she's got the Ender Dragon egg, but doesn't have the rest of the equipment to get to the End and make the portal home.

Trip into the Deep Dark, ancient city, Warden fight while getting diamonds.

Villager takes the diamonds and makes a pickaxe for them.

They get obsidian and make a Nether Portal. Trip to the Nether to find a fortress and get blaze rods and ender pearls.

While they're in the Nether, they come across the Wither Briar. It's a new biome that's spreading, wither roses everywhere, with a Wither at the center.

They get the supplies they need, but the Wither catches them and attacks. They barely make it out alive; Villager gets zombified.

Rush to a witch to get Villager healed.

It gets revealed that Alex and her friends once took on the Wither, but it turned out too destructive and they lost the battle and several friends. They split up then. The Wither's been terrorizing the local Piglins and spreading the zombie infection ever since.

MG gets up, determined, gearing up and reentering the Nether. Epic battle against the Wither. The Wither Briar dies, the Piglins rejoice.

MG, Alex, and Villager start gearing up to find the Stronghold, with help from the village, Piglins, witch, etc. MG gets a unique armor trim that's not in the game.

Melancholy travel. Alex and Villager are gonna miss MG a LOT, and he's considering whether or not he wants to leave.

Stronghold leads to the End, End City fight for an Elytra.

Final fight with the Ender Dragon, hesitation, then final goodbyes. The group all jumps into the portal together.

MG winds up back home in his bed, in the real world, but he still has his gear and the sword he used to slay the Ender Dragon with.

He gets the mcguffin that sent him to Minecraft in the first place and is about to destroy it. He second-guesses it. Epic montage of him grabbing the things he needs to go.

He puts on a blue shirt and dark jeans. He packs his bag with apples, a slice of cake, and a map. He grabs his dog, a fluffy gray one with a red collar, then he activates the mcguffin again.

End poem plays, followed by the credits rolling.

Post-credits at the end with Minecraft music playing, Steve rolls up to Alex's house as she and Villager are building a beacon out of the Nether Star the Wither dropped. He helps them finish it, the beacon shoots into the sky, then they go into her house.

Alex looks at the map hopefully, waiting for her friends as the sun goes down, but all it shows is hers and Steve's icons on it…then someone else's shows up, just barely at the border. It's one of the other "default" players.

End of movie.

[copper-16]

Chapter 8 has been posted - but before everyone goes to read, a little bit of an announcement on my end:

This is going to be my last longer Mapi/Ingrid story, and probably the end of me being super active/posting on ao3 and tumblr. I might write the occasional story here and there, but writing is not bringing me the same joy it once was and I want to dedicate my time to other things. I’ll still be around reading on ao3 and somewhat on Tumblr, but I just won’t be posting a whole ton on either. I’ve been so incredibly lucky to get to know all of you guys on here, and to receive so much love for my work. It means the absolute world to me - and thank you all so much for welcoming me into this little community so wonderfully! I hope the stories I wrote were able to bring just a little bit of happiness when you guys needed it (even if I constantly left everyone on cliffhangers - I truly am sorry about that).

The rest of this is long, and you don't have to read it if you don't want to, you can just go ahead to the story now if you would like. I'm not known for my ability to keep concise, that is for certain. If brevity is the soul of wit - perhaps we know why my stories aren't very funny!

I’ve especially enjoyed joining tumblr and really finding a little community here. Getting to interact with so many people, both those who read my works and those who don’t, has been such a joy for me. I love getting to hear when people like the things I've written, even if it touches them in a small way. I love getting to interact with so many brilliant minds and am forever in awe of how much amazing talent there is in this little corner of the internet! I've made some incredible friends from getting to be on here, and it makes me so happy to have a little community of people I love. Thank you guys for letting me have space here even if I don’t write reader works or know how this app works most of the time.

I started writing seriously in September 2022 and I can't tell you how much joy it has brought me in the last two years. As someone who doesn't enjoy the college degree they are currently getting, this was such a fun creative outlet for me. It was so cool to have this blank canvas to work with, to weave things together, especially as I began to write longer stories. Writing was a place to destress for me and interact with other people who loved football as I was coming to love it. Every single kudos, comment, and bookmark meant so much to me. Even when it was something silly like someone dubbing the 'Copper Monologue,' it made me feel so seen. Someone cared enough to read enough of my works to pick out the fact that I do that? Absolutely mind blowing to me. It's crazy to hear that people cared about the silly little stories I wrote. When someone told me that I was one of the things to help inspire them to write their own stuff - I think I properly sobbed. It meant more to me than anything has in this entire world, and it still does! Writing has helped me to process, it's helped me to grow, it's helped me learn to identify my emotions and struggles and think through my own thought processes. I hope that maybe for someone out there, it could help them do that as well. It's a little strange for me not to want to do that anymore. Writing this last story solidified to me that for the most part it was time to be done, and HDITA was more of a goodbye than anything else. But even with that, it feels strange not to be thinking of my next idea, thinking of how I am going to create characters and relationships and plot lines.

I think for me right now, I'm just excited to be myself. Maybe this vessel of writing was what I needed to get myself through the last two years. I wrote la princesa when I was at my absolute worst in life, and as I've grown and matured as a person, I like to think that my writing has. I no longer find myself in a place where it fills a huge void in my own life that I once needed.

I've grown a lot as a writer these few years (those who read my earlier works will understand), and I'm excited to one day come back to it, maybe in a different sphere. I love the idea now of writing a real book. It always terrified me before - I didn't know where I would start or if I would be horrible at it. But you all have given me the confidence that maybe at least one person would like it, and maybe that's enough of a reason to try. So thank you all for holding my hand and encouraging me. I hope that if nothing else, everyone remembers that a little bit of kindness on here or ao3 or anywhere on the internet costs nothing, and yet can go a long way.

It did for me.

But enough of my sappy rambling, please enjoy this last chapter of mine. I hope it brings you as much joy as it brought me when I was writing it. Love you all so so much!

Chapter 8 of How Do I Trust Again?

[subway-boss-jericho]

Queuing posts for most of my AUs! Check out this Masterpost! ᵈᶦˢᶜˡᵃᶦᵐᵉʳ ⁻ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉⁿᵗ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ᶦᶜᵒⁿᶦᶜ ᵏⁿᶦᶠᵉ ᵇᵃⁿᵍˢ! ᴵ ˡᵉᶠᵗ ᵗʰᵉᵐ ᵒᶠᶠ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᶦˢ ʳᵉᶠᵉʳᵉⁿᶜᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵏᵉᵉᵖ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ᶠᵃᶜᵉˢ ᶠᵘˡˡʸ ᵛᶦˢᶦᵇˡᵉ.

Steady Tracks Do Not Waver

-Premise- On the return trip home from Hisui, Ingo does not return the same as he left. By some unknown cause, he has been transformed into a pokemon- 13ft tall, Steel, Ground, and very very out of his depth, he finds himself roaming the eerily familiar yet unfamiliar tunnels of Gear Station. Desperate to find a way to his "home" and remember who he is, that is when he encounters Subway Boss Emmet.

This story is not about Ingo. Or at least, not about his return. Ingo was taken out of the story many years ago, leaving Emmet behind to pick up the pieces of the life they always meant to spend together. The last several years he has walked without Ingo have forced him into an active, unavoidable struggle with grief and loss, until recent, when he finally began to come to terms with his solo-car life moving forward. However, now things are changing again. In the days leading up to their meeting, he hears rumors of a strange, powerful pokemon lurking in the subway. When Emmet finally stops in the right place at the right time to challenge it face to face- the face looking back is far too similar to the one he lost years before. It all bubbles back to the surface again; now, with an uncanny passenger in tow, he must keep moving forward down these uncertain tracks. Battling with grief once again, as he avoids pushing his old pains onto this new, familiar, face.

-Noteworthy Points- IF THIS AU INTERESTS YOU, please consider reading the prologue and chapter one on Ao3! Steady tracks! This is the one you probably know me for, if you know me at all. My poster boys!! My favoritest guys,, I want to include so many notes but I know most of the notes I want to write are all spoilers. Please poke me to keep writing <3 This AU is not even remotely dead I just have chronic burnout and it WILL continue please bother me about it whenever you want <3

This story is (and probably will continue to be) almost exclusively told from Emmet's point of view. It is a post-canon exploration of grief, change, and how to go on after everything you know is lost. THIS MEANS there is a LOT of discussion of death! NO ONE IS DEAD, but Emmet believes Ingo has died, and regularly experiences grief and/or talks about him as if he is dead. If that still bothers you, no problem! This is not going to be the fic for you. However, if it at all eases you to know that everyone is still alive, then have fun and maybe bring tissues because I really like writing people being upset (and also them getting better but, that involves them needing to be upset first.)

Also! New STIngo reference!! I have been working on updating the shape language of his design to look more like a pokemon and this is the most up-to-date version! If you want to draw him, reference this one! I swear I will get that side view done eventually, I fucking promise.

Enjoy <3 <3 I love this AU a lot.

-Links- Official Writing - Steady Tracks Do Not Waver Artwork - Fanart by Nyacat39 Artwork - Fanart by Dontmineit (1) Artwork - Fanart by Dontmineit (2) Discussion - The Luxury Ball Artwork and Trivia - Official Reference (Outdated) Artwork and Trivia - Updated Reference (Also Outdated) Discussion - "Awla Boah" Artwork - Fanart by Maelysgriffonne Artwork - Fanart by Dontmineit (3) Artwork - Big Nap (Durant <3) Artwork - CH1 Concept Sketches Artwork - STIngo Sprite

[derpy-thebdayclown]

my kiddos again! been forever since i did a group shot lol

i got a new one named fish (the one with the fish. they/he/she) who isnt REALLY new- i scrapped them back in 2021 but i never stopped thinking about them so 😭 welcome back bud!

friendly reminder mathilde is a camper who is just very tall

if you have oc questions id love to answer!!! :)

[theoldkyokodied]

Uploading all my Tomgreg art at once from the past few week before season 4 hits, who knows in what kind of mental state i'm gonna be once it does :')

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

For anyone annoyed by the Tumblr changes, if you're on desktop I would recommend using XKit Rewritten (and New XKit for any other odd changes you'd like to try out, including even older aspects of Tumblr). It's the older version of Rewritten but most of the extensions on it are still supported/do work). I can't guarantee they'll definitely make a fix for it/a direct fix for this particular UI change, but it's possible that they might since they usually make extensions that allow you to essentially revert changes made to the UI. Other various UI extensions (such as old ones from Tumblr's past UIs that the extensions basically just revert you to) may also help fix up your UI.

As you might expect these extensions need to be on to work/revert the appearance of the UI (so if you turn them off you'll revert to the current state of Tumblr), but while they are on you can curate your UI to look how you want it. This goes for both New XKit and XKit Rewritten. I use both and I couldn't live without them lol. You can get some big oldies of Tumblr's, like classic search on Rewritten or the Tweaks extension (full of various UI tweaks) on New XKit (including the old shade of blue Tumblr used a long time ago that I never stopped using!).

Unfortunately I don't know of any solution for mobile if it affects mobile at any point (or if it already has), but whenever you're on desktop, I would definitely recommend both these versions of XKit. I have so many extensions from them that I often don't even realize when there are UI changes (remember how Tumblr added themes for your dashboard? I didn't even notice for the longest time because I've had New XKit on the whole time) because Tumblr's default coding is overwritten by the extensions I have on.

[anonymusbosch]

.

[infinitethree]

So, Aster is kind of in hell right now.

Daz has, evidently, decided to quadruple down on being a bastard by abusing the fact that Aster is forced to see their future– a future where they’re happily married– to torment him.

Horrifyingly, his torment comes primarily in the form of things that one would consider flirting under any other circumstances.

Pretty much his only reprieve is his time at the Swords and Shields’ training hall. Not even his own goddamned home is sacred, because Daz can just– fucking teleport in, like an asshole!

It does not help that the visions seem to come primarily when he’s around Daz. The more Daz inflicts his presence on Aster, the more he sees of some unknown point in the future where they’re deeply in love.

So basically, on top of the active torment, there’s the fucky surreal mood whiplash of future-Daz clearly enjoying his company…and then current-Daz, who wields his knowledge like a knife to inflict shallow wounds on his psyche.

Thank fuck that he at least doesn’t have to deal with whatever the hell their more intimate time is like. All he’s seen is what seems like the aftermath– but is enough to make it clear that they definitely do get up to…that.

Uhg. The idea makes him vaguely queasy currently, even if future-him seems to enjoy it.

There’s no further information about what led to that shift, unfortunately. At this point, Aster would try to trigger it just to lessen Daz’s wrath.

Sure, he’s not entirely sure he even wants his love. But it’d be infinitely better than the shit he’s currently dealing with.

And, well, if nothing else– he could definitely appreciate that Daz does seem to enjoy both acts of service and gifts.

As far as he can tell, future-him exclusively wears clothes that future-Daz makes for him and mostly eats his cooking– something that he is actually jealous of.

At no point has Aster ever looked at food Daz has made and not been tempted. Even when he knew it was fucked with in some capacity, a little voice in the back of his head told him, but it’ll be so damn good. It’s worth whatever he did, probably.

A few times he’s listened. He regretted it later, sure, but in the moment…

In the moment he had desperately wished Daz wasn’t such a catty asshole towards him and him alone.

Well, now he knows why he was singled out. And even though that reason has been resolved, he’s now the subject of Daz’s actual wrath. Thus, even considering taking a bite of anything Daz has touched is a level of stupidity that Aster isn’t willing to rise to. 

Beyond the clothes and food, though? Future-Daz seems to have given plenty of other gifts and forms of his affection.

It sure as hell seems like they live in a completely redone version of Aster’s house. It’s a hell of a lot bigger with a completely different layout, but those familiar blue and white wisteria trees can be seen through the windows sometimes.

All of that seems nice, sure, but the thing that really piques Aster’s interest is a simple fact that seems to be driven home over and over and over–

Future-Daz is clingy as hell.

He seems to want to be cuddled with more than anything. Aster has even watched as he goes from fully alert to completely conked out just from future-Aster playing with his hair.

It– honestly, as weird as it is to admit to himself?

It was almost cute.

Of course, he’d come back to the present and that feeling was ruined by Daz asking if he saw them in the bedroom again. But for a brief moment, he almost felt a bit of fondness for that asshole.

The Swords and Shields have definitely noticed his bad mood. Thankfully, none of them are willing to pry into his life enough to say anything.

All of them respect him. Even if they joined under the banner of Lee, they ultimately answer to Aster.

Daz’s domain is the Welcome Wagon; Aster’s is the Swords and Shields. Those that want to seriously hone their skills aren’t coddled here– sure, they get guidance and shit.

But if they fuck around, Aster does not hesitate to let them find out.

He only belatedly notices that the gym has gone quiet. A feeling of dread rises up as he turns to look and–

Oh Prime fucking damnit, Daz is here.

His heart sinks as he realizes that instead of his usual outfit, Daz is in something far more suited to actually breaking a sweat.

No, no, no, this absolute fucking sociopath can’t possibly be–

“Aster!” Face lighting up like he’s excited to see him, Daz trots up and looks at him like an excited puppy.

He knows better. This is a viscous tiger who only looks harmless as a defense mechanism.

Daz beams at him and says, “I figured it was, like, kinda time for me to actually get training and stuff! I know I technically don’t have to, but I mean…”

There’s a little giggle. “I kinda do encourage new people to sign up, right? So like, it’s only reasonable to learn about it firsthand!”

The room is dead quiet. Not a single person here believes that Daz is actually capable of keeping up with them, but Aster knows better.

If he so choose, Daz could become the single strongest fighter on the server. He’s probably already better than most people in this room.

Aster would know. Daz is the reason he stopped trying to become Theo 2.0 and became something wholly himself.

That ‘fight’, if you could call it that, had been years ago. It’s still seared into his memory– still a reminder that Daz is very much a physical threat when he so chooses.

He realizes he’s been quiet for too long. “...I don’t know that that’s a good idea.”

Arguing is pointless, he knows. But he can’t not do that– not only does he desperately not want Daz to be here, but everyone knows he’s not exactly fond of the guy.

Meekly letting him join would be suspicious and, more importantly, humiliating.

Daz deflates. “But…I really want to get better. I know I’m not really good enough, but maybe if I can, like– actually be kinda okay, then I won’t have so many nightmares…”

Yep, this is about how he pictured it would go.

There was no possible way for him to wiggle out of having Daz here. As soon as this sociopath decided to expand his torment into Aster’s last safe haven, this was always how this would play out.

He sighs deeply. “...Fine. You’re gonna take the same test as everyone else, though. I’m not giving you special treatment.”

Once again Daz perks up. “Thank you! I don’t expect any special treatment or anything, I can totally handle it!”

That’s exactly what Aster is afraid of.

Fuuuck. He’ll have to fight against this bastard with a huge audience. They’re going to be curious what exactly his skill level is.

Pretty much his only hope is that Daz has played up how helpless he is. Surely he won’t…actually be serious about this, right?

But as they go to the main floor and he lays down the parameters of the test– five minutes of using whatever weapons the testee wants to try and hit Aster, followed by them trying to survive against his retaliation for as long as they can– he’s got a horrible feeling that Daz won’t play even remotely nice.

That feeling is confirmed when he clicks the timer and Daz lunges at him with clear intent.

It’s– horrifyingly, a hell of a lot better than most people present. Aster has to actually put some effort into dodging, though it’s thankfully way less of him getting his ass handed to him than the first time they has a match.

There’s an eerie, blank calm in Daz’s face as he gives no quarter. Not a single second to catch his breath and regroup; just an interminable onslaught that speaks all too clearly of having been heavily trained before.

And like he feared might happen, a memory is shown to him.

Daz, younger and with a look in his eyes that screams he’s hungry to be taught, listens intently to his mentor.

“You can’t just throw everything at your opponent without focus,” Dream tells him. Daz scoffs and retorts, “Worked against you, didn’t it?”

Dream rolls his eyes. “I was holding back a lot, and you know that. Not everyone will show you that same courtesy. If you try to use brute force, you’ll wear yourself out faster. No; the way to really win…is to use your head.”

And then Aster finds his legs being swept out from under him as Daz aims one of his daggers at his throat.

Thankfully, years of muscle memory and fighting against Theo make it easy enough to recover and dodge.

He feels the timer in his pocket go off, and feels a surge of relief. He’s the one who pushes the offense now, forcing Daz to play it more defensively.

But…Daz lasts a while. Hell, he even gets a few nicks in, taking full advantage of Aster’s closeness.

Eventually, though, Aster is still able to slam his axe into him and force him to respawn.

He’s actually breathing a little heavy, after that. Not a lot of people can actually get his blood pumping like that.

…Fuck, did he actually enjoy fighting that bastard?

As he’s trying to sort that feeling out, Daz appears in front of him again– probably having teleported back from his spawn. He smiles sheepishly at Aster and says, “I know I wasn’t really that good, but…was I at least okay?”

This goddamned asshole is going to act like he thinks that level of skill is nothing?

No, actually, it makes perfect sense. If he wants to reconcile his actual skill with his personality, this is probably one of the only paths he can take.

Aster squints at him. He knows he’s supposed to play along, but this still pisses him off. “You thought that was bad?”

“Yeah? Didn’t everyone here do way better? I only gave you some scratches, that’s nothing!”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and resists the urge to deck him. “Who told you that your current level isn’t any good?”

Daz’s face falls a little, and he fidgets with the hem of his shirt. “I mean, uhm…D– Dream did. ‘Cause, I needed to be protected…I was too weak. So I’m not any good, or I wouldn’t have needed protection…”

He’s shown another flash of the past. Daz, the agony of his enchantment searing him from the inside out, sobs as Dream strokes his hair and murmurs, “It’s okay. It’s for your own good. You’ll thank me someday.”

A shudder goes down his spine as he’s sent back to the present. He hates seeing shit about Daz and his former mentor, because he knows that’s some of the things Daz least wants him to see.

“Hasn’t he been proven as a liar by now? You’re fine.”

Daz tilts his head, brow creasing. “...Fine?” “You–” Aster sighs, and admits, “You’ve probably had the best assessment out of anyone. I don’t think you even need training, just confidence.”

He jerks his thumb at the assembled Swords and Shields, who are dead silent with shock that Daz is that good. “I literally don’t think anyone else here can even begin to keep up with you.”

There’s a few quick blinks, like this is news to Daz. “That…can’t be right. I’m not any good.”

“There is literally no reason for me to lie about that.” Aster turns to the group and calls, “Do any of you actually think you can beat him?”

Only a few hands raise, but none confidently. When Aster gives them a stern look, all of them slowly sink back down. Daz’s expression only becomes more confused. “That– what? Then…”

He turns to look at Aster, and there’s a gleam of something awful in his eyes. “Then does that mean the only person I’d really be able to like, spar with is you?”

And now, Aster sees the trap that was laid for him.

There is no actual way for him to escape this. Foisting him off on anyone else would just be unfair to them, and call into question his ability to be fair. He’d probably be accused of running like a coward, too.

Gritting his teeth, Aster concedes, “...Yes.”

Daz lights up with joy. “So, like– we can be sparring buddies?! I can be friends with you, finally?!”

“Fin– what?” “‘Cause, like, I always assumed you didn’t like me much ‘cause I’m bad at fighting! But if I’m actually really good, and we spend time together, we can be friends!”

There’s a moment of hesitation, and Daz stares at him with sudden hesitation. “We…can be friends, right? I’ve always really admired you, but I didn’t wanna bother you without a good reason…that’s why it, uhm, took so long to finally do this. I– I didn’t want to make you waste too much time…”

Now he’s not meeting Aster’s eyes. He rambles, “I, uhm, I told Raine a bit about– a bit about some of…some of my past. And he encouraged me to come here, said it’d be good for me…”

Not for a single second does Aster actually believe that.

“Since if I’m, like, actually strong, maybe I can– can stop being so scared from my nightmares.”

When Aster doesn’t respond, Daz’s face crumbles and he hangs his head. “I– I’m sorry, that was dumb of me. I– I shouldn’t have come here, this was a bad idea–”

It’s only when Daz starts to turn away, voice cracking as if he’s actually going to cry, that Aster unfreezes enough to grab his wrist.

“I’m not going to promise you friendship, but I’m not going to be an asshole either. You’re still a member of the group…and a good one, at that. You’re probably the root reason why nearly everyone in the Swords and Shields joined.”

Daz mumbles, “But you don’t like me.” “I–”

He sighs, hating that he has to play nice with this goddamned bastard like this. “It’s not because of you. You’ve got your trauma, I’ve got mine.”

Once again, he’s shown a vision.

Thank fucking Prime though, this time it’s the future.

Despite that, though, it seems like this might be the earliest time he’s seen so far. They’re in the Council HQ, with future-Daz openly glaring at him.

Future-Aster hums, “I know how you think. And I know that even if you are interested, you’ll ignore or repress it rather than act on it. That’s why the only way I can be sure that you truly don’t want it is to force your hand.” “That’s– you can’t just– just–!”

“I can, actually. Don’t you know me well enough by now to know that if I decide to do something, no force on heaven or earth can stop me?”

A soft chuckle escapes from future-Aster as he adds, “My next step is to start getting even more obvious with it. I’ll pull a dozen pages from your playbook, make it so that your refusal makes you into a massive asshole. I don’t even need to act all that much for it.”

Future-Daz seethes, “You can’t threaten me into dating you.” “Once again…I’m pretty sure I can, actually.”

…What?

So, wait– they get together, and get married…all of that is because he blackmails Daz?

But they seemed happy. Even in quiet moments that they’re alone, Future-Daz seems deeply in love with him. Surely that’s…not fake, right?

He’s left reeling as he’s sent back to the present.

How the actual hell is that–

Wait.

If Daz would never be willing to even try it without that big of a push…and assuming that he does actually end up happy…

Is it actually that awful?

Sure, it’s definitely not great, ethically. Aster would rather die than force him to do anything too crazy, too, but…

What if it’s just dating? Being, like– romantic and shit in public? Going on actual dates and that kind of thing.

…He kind of feels like a scumbag for even considering it. But he also can’t help but be faced with the fact that future-him clearly knows something. He spoke with absolute confidence that Daz would ignore any actual interest in favor of ignoring and repressing it.

And more than that, they seemed so damn happy together. Sure, it could be fake, but–

If that were the case, future-Daz was doing a flawless job of acting at all times. He was clingy and sweet, doing things that he clearly put a lot of meaning behind.

Shit– Aster has noticed that they both had obvious claims! A bracelet for him, a necklace/brooch thing for Daz.

Maybe….

Maybe this is what he’s supposed to do.

He sees a hand being waved in front of his face. “Uhm, Aster? Are you, like…okay? I didn’t trigger anything, right?”

He blinks and realizes he must have been in the present for a little while now. He reaches out and ruffles Daz’s hair, partly out of curiosity and partly as retaliation for all this bullshit.

“You’re fine,” he huffs, as the bastard squeaks. He seems at a loss of words for once, but Aster can’t help but notice…

He’s leaning into it a bit.

…Holy shit, is future-Daz so clingy because this Daz is touch starved?

As an experiment, he puts an arm over his shoulder in what he hopes seems friendly to everyone else, and steers him towards his office. “Let’s go figure out what days you’re actually able to come in. I know the Welcome Wagon takes up a lot of time…probably your admin training too, right?”

Daz nods, still seeming speechless and more than a little awkward as they make their way there.

[complicit-rot]

i haven't been this social & talkative in Years someone drag me out back

[silbeni]

Brewing an alt timeline w Ryoma in the Rohan live action

[wereh0gz]

I've been thinking abt opening comms soon and how to do it. I'll be old enough for a paypal soon so I might be able to open them by june or july. I've also seen ppl use ko-fi but idk how that one works so I'll have to look into it more

[bowtiestash]

i’m going to try to be more active on tumblr because of the way twitter’s going, just a heads up

[aberooski]

Okay I have enough fics and shit to write right now as it is, I currently have 4 in the works 🙃, but last night while I was trying to sleep I had a thought. I think I came up with a very baseline very bare bones idea for a possible OUAD 2.

A possible title for which I came up with was Once Upon A Kingdom OUAK if you will. And literally as I typed this out, Once Upon A Winter OUAW akskskskk and it would take place months after the events of OUAD, Chazz and Atticus are officially a couple now, and Atty takes him on a trip to see the Northern Kingdom or the Crystal Kingdom if ur in with the OUAD deep lore 👀 where he and Lexi are from and with Jay, Sy, and Hassleberry in tow, winter wonderland hijinks and capers ensue 👀

Now I have no idea what the actual greater plot would be but I really like the idea of visiting another kingdom since in the 'deep lore' there are 5 kingdoms that exist in the world, but since the Kingdom of the East was canonically destroyed by Slade and Jagger before the events of OUAD, there's still 3 other kingdoms outside the Golden Kingdom. The northern, western, and southern kingdoms if you will. The Golden Kingdom is the central kingdom. So we get to see more of the world, and open the door for more of the ensemble cast to get involved, I fully intend to include Jesse and Bastion at the very minimum if I wrote this I fully imagined a whole conversation with Jaden and Jesse last night, immortal magical fairy Jay gets to flirt with the cute human boy 👀 so I have thoughts happening ☺

Like I said I have no idea what an actual greater plot would look like yet and I have way too much to work on right now to put too much thought into it right now, but I promise babes. OUAD 2 may be on the back burner right now, but it is also very firmly on the table 😉

[perrieedwards]

i feel like people are skimming over the uk riots in a way that makes me want to tear my hair out. muslims in the uk are in active danger. immigrants in the uk are in active danger. refugees in the uk are in active danger. people of colour in the uk are in active danger. asian communities in the uk are in active danger. black communities in the uk are in active danger.

there are massive far right riots throughout the country right now and people like fucking elon musk and nigel farage are inciting it and still have a platform to speak. people have used three young girls deaths, people's genuine grief in southport, to try and gain traction for their own racist bullshit and it's working.

a lot of refugee charities have been forced to close leaving many people without support, homes, funding, food, etc. if you aren't able to donate please consider sending a message via the conversation over borders campaign! it will send a hopeful, welcoming letter to a refugee in the uk. there is also a guide to staying safe here.

please do your own research and donate to refugee charities, anti-islamophobia charities, mosques who are trying to rebuild after being destroyed, counter protesters, here are some i've heard positive things about but the list is extensive; southport strong together (support for the southport victims and their families), southport mosque rebuilding, riot repair fund, middlesbrough vulnerable residents, nasir mosque rebuilding, hull help for refugees, bristol welcomes migrants,

[scientia-rex]

A lot of younger people have no idea what aging actually looks and feels like, and the reasons behind it. That ignorance is so dangerous. If you don’t want to “be old,” you aren’t talking about a number of years. I have patients in their late 80s who could still handily beat me in a race—one couple still runs marathons together, in their late 80s—and I lost someone who was in her early 60s to COPD last year. What you want is not youth, it is health.

If you want to still be able to enjoy doing things in your 60s and 70s and 80s and even 90s, what you want to do, right now, is quit smoking, get some activity on a regular basis (a couple of walks a week is WAY better for you than nothing; increasing from 1 hour a day of cardio to 1.5 will buy you very little), and eat some plants. That’s it. No magic to it. No secret weird tricks. Don’t poison yourself, move around so your body doesn’t forget how, and eat plants.

If you have trouble moving around now because of mobility limitations, bad news: you still need to move around, not because it’s immoral not to, but because that’s still the best advice we have. I highly recommend looking up the Sit and Be Fit series; it is freely available and has exercises that can be done in a chair, which are suitable for people with limited mobility or poor balance. POTS sufferers, I’m looking at you.

If you have trouble eating plants because of dietary issues (they cause gas, etc.) or just because they’re bitter (super taster with texture issues here!), bad news. You still want to find a way to get some plants into your body on a regular basis. I know. It sucks. The only way I can do it is restaurants—they can make salads taste like food. I can also tolerate some bagged salads. On bad weeks, the OCD with contamination focus gets so bad I just can’t. However, canned beans always seem “safe,” and they taste a bit like candy, so they’re a good fallback.

If you smoke and you have tried quitting a million times and you’re just not ready to, bad news. You still need to quit. Your body needs you to try and keep trying. Your brain needs it, too. Damaging small blood vessels racks up cumulative damage over time that your body can start trying to reverse as soon as you quit. I know it’s insanely, absurdly addictive. You still need to.

You cannot rules lawyer your way past your body’s basic needs. It needs food, sleep, activity, and the absence of poison. Those are both small things and big asks. You cannot sustain a routine based on punishment, so don’t punish your body. Find ways to include these things that are enjoyable and rewarding instead. Experiment. There is no reason not to experiment—you don’t have to know instantly what’s going to work for you and what won’t, you just need to be willing to try things and make changes when things aren’t working for you.

You will still age. Your body will stop making collagen and elastin. Tissues you can see and tissues you can’t see will both sag. Cushioning tissues under your skin will get thinner. You’ll bruise more easily. Skin will tear more easily. Accumulated sun damage will start to show more and more. Joints will begin to show arthritis. Tendons and ligaments will get weaker and get injured more easily, as will muscles. Bones will lose mass and get easier to break. You’ll get tired more easily.

But you know what makes the difference between being dead, or as good as, in your 60s vs your 90s? Activity, plants, and quitting smoking. And don’t do meth. Saw a 58-year-old guy this week who is going to have a heart attack if he doesn’t quit whatever stimulant he’s on. I pretended to believe it was just the cigarettes, and maybe it is, but meth and cocaine will kill you quicker. Stop poisoning yourself.

Baby steps; take it one step at a time; you don’t need to have everything figured out right now. But you do need to be working on figuring things out.