#my fellow people we were fed

[bookloverfangirl]

Let me tell you, being part of multiple fandoms today was deadly.

Mr Bojan Cvjetićanin decided to post this devastating photo

Then Mr Jan Peteh went like yeaaah might as well and posted 3!!!?

(this one is my fave)

Someone in Netflix woke up with a great thought to release Young Royals trailer

Most of the evening me and roomie went feral over Damon Baker posting a series of the sluttiest Jure Maček photos

Joker Out fans, we really were fed today

Then, when I least expected it PJO got renewed for the 2nd season.. FUCKING FINALLY

And now I see that Taylor's the Eras Tour is gonna be released on Disney Plus?

All this while watching Sanremo. Don't even know why tbh but I'll do anything for Mahmood and that song slaps. Please Italians I beg you he has to win🙏🏼

[cl0ckworkqueerness]

trans women are not listened to because any connection to femininity makes their viewpoints "less valuable" by misogynists

trans men are not listened to because any connection to femininity (even in the past) makes their viewpoints "less valuable" by misogynists

trans women are demonized because any connection to masculinity (even in the past) makes them "dangerous and predatory" by radfems

trans men are demonized because any connection to masculinity makes them "dangerous and traitorous" (or infantilized for being "corrupted") by radfems

nonbinary people are forced into one of these two categories because of what either of these groups perceive their "true sex" as, regardless of whether or not it's true, because "Only Two Genders" and "We Can Always Tell" (nevermind the fact that gender is unquantifiable and they can almost never reliably tell in my experience lmao) and then completely dismissed as "not real", "faking it", "dangerous", or "confused"

all forms of transphobia joined at the hip, and exist because of the same root problem: gender/bioessentialism. there are different types affecting different groups of people, and those types are separate with different consequences, but it's all the same motivation: the upholding of the strict, sex-based gender binary, which not only ignores trans people but forces intersex people into categories that often do not fit them

so when a fellow trans person tries to recreate or uphold what they were fed by a society largely created by those who wish to see them dead, my heart hurts a little for them. it's a poisonous idea that has spread like wildfire, and the only way to stop it is to construct a fireproof home, not to build a shack of wood and pray the embers have died. they haven't. they never have, and they never will so long as flammable homes keep burning down

[scorpioriesling]

Tight Black Leathers

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *

Pairing(s): Liam x reader

Warnings: SMUT, mdni, 18+

Summary: As Liam's girlfriend, you've been feeling rather... fed up, lately, that he's been ordered to hang out all day with another female. So... whatever will you do about it?

SR’s Note: Ooh, switching it up with a Fourth Wing fic? Okay, okay... and yes of course, Liam is my favorite character from Fourth Wing. No, I still haven't recovered. No, I probably never will. Denial is a river in Egypt-

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *

You clicked the power button on your phone once more, checking fruitlessly to see if your boyfriend had responded to your message. Of course, he hadn't -- but you'd expected as much. It was Friday, which meant he was on Violet-duty today, per usual.

With a sigh, you tucked the device into your pocket, zipping it shut as a familiar voice approached behind you.

"Hey Y/N!" Rhiannon's usual bubbly tone made you smile, and she took in your state. Her face softened as she took you in a warm embrace. You appreciated the kindness she offered you -- her friendship was a priceless one you'd made after crossing the parapet. She was one of the only people, other than your boyfriend, who truly understood how hard it was to be a rider when you were meant your whole life to be a healer instead.

"Still haven't heard from him?" She asks softly, releasing you. You shake your head, and she loops her arm through yours, pulling you with her in a cadence down the dormitory hallway.

"Well, there's no point in waiting around doing nothing," she starts. "We may as well have some lunch, hmm?" As if on cue, your stomach gurgles, and you both chuckle at the sound. You truly couldn't be more grateful -- you hadn't eaten all morning.

Entering the cafeteria, you find your squad -- well, most of them. Imogene's unmissable pink hair shakes back and forth as she listens to a ridiculous story Ridoc recounts; Sawyer is laughing at something Bodhi is saying across the table. You can't help but wonder...

"Hey guys!" Ridoc greets Rhiannon and you with a smile, but you only continue to search the tables near you. Imogene folds her arms over her chest, sitting back in her chair.

"He's not here," she says, and you look to her. Rhiannon takes a seat, motioning for you to sit by her, but you only stare at Imogene in hopes she'll keep talking. "Violet took the lunch break to get in extra training time, so-"

You squeeze your eyes shut, head dropping to face the floor. You'd been missing him so much recently, since Xaden assigned him to follow your fellow cadet around like a guardian, you barely saw him anymore. Your own boyfriend. He was spending time with another female. That was really starting to get old.

"Of course." You clip. Ridoc huffs a laugh, and Rhiannon glares at him.

"He's only doing what Xaden tells him-" Bodhi begins, and your eyes slide to his.

"Anymore, I don't really care what Xaden-" Your rage begins to bubble over, and the table falls silent as their gazes drift behind you. Shadows curl around your fists, the cool tendrils working against your warmed skin.

"Care what Xaden... what, exactly? As your Wingleader, I would love to hear you finish that sentence, Y/N." Xaden's lethally calm voice sounds from behind you, and you glance over your shoulder, face falling at the realization. You shake your head.

"I... it's... look, I just think it's a bit much to have Liam following Violet around all day, don't you think? Can't she defend herself?" You ask. His hard gaze on you only intensifies.

"I would say Liam is one of the strongest in this wing, wouldn't you agree?" He asks, and you nod.

"Yes, but-"

"So he will continue to defend what's most precious to me." He says in finality, turning to walk away as you scoff, throwing your hands in the air.

"What about what's most precious to me, huh? I never get to see him anymore because you're always having him whisked away to defend your girlfriend -- isn't that your job!?" You nearly shout. The entire room goes silent, and Bodhi slaps a hand over his mouth. Rhiannon's jaw is practically on the floor, but your eyes are only met with Xaden's searing gaze as he turns to face you once more. He steps close to you, speaking again in his constrained, calm voice.

"I highly suggest you take the rest of the afternoon off, cadet y/l/n. You seem a bit high strung -- wouldn't want you too worked up for the challenges later this evening." The muscle in his jaw ticks as you turn on your heel, beelining for the exit and stomping all the way back to your dorm room.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

You know what? Xaden was right. The afternoon off was exactly what you needed before a night full of challenges. You spent the whole afternoon getting yourself more riled up within the confines of your dorm, pacing back and forth and glaring into your mirror. Did you nap? Nope. Try to calm down, do some meditation, maybe? Absolutely not. Perhaps stretch, or read a book so you were at ease before the night began then. Hell no.

You were ripping a brush through your long hair, slamming it down on your desk when you decided the strands were untangled enough. You yanked at the band around your wrist, muscle memory causing your hands to wind your hair into a ponytail atop your head when you catch sight of yourself in the mirror. You glance down at your phone still dark on your desk, and an idea sparks in your mind. Dropping your hands, you run them through the strands a few times before separating the mass into three sections. Since he likes the Sorrengail so damn bad, you thought. Maybe you'd show him you she wasn't anything special. She was just like everyone else here; she was just like you.

Securing the band at the base of the tight braid, you sway side to side, pleased with the result. Pulling on your tightest-fitting leathers and boots, you sheath your finest daggers and head out of your room. Within minutes, you've crossed the courtyard and are in the training center, approaching a mat near the center where you find Ridoc and Bodhi and Rhiannon gathered. Rhiannon turns when Ridoc whistles loudly at you. You lighten your steps on instinct, realizing you're still stomping your way across the mats toward them.

"Ohhhh my, Y/N," she looks you up and down, taking you in fully. You huff a breath, pretending not to notice her stare. Or Ridoc's. Or Bodhi's. Or Violet's...

Or Liam's. From three mats over.

"New tactic?" Ridoc laughs, and you roll your eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uhhh, distracting your opponent with the tightest black fighting leathers you could find?" Rhiannon giggles, and you scoff, feigning innocence. Bodhi only groans.

"CADETS, attention please!" Emmetario shouts. He stalks closer to the mat you stand before, calling off more pairs for challenges. You and your friends watch as people fight and wrestle match after match. Rhiannon wins her challenge, Ridoc hands Jack Barlowe's ass to him, and your attention snags on the mat a few feet away as a new pairing is called forth. Your perfect, wonderful boyfriend is taking the mat, shucking off his tee and revealing his perfectly toned body, abdominals flexing as he laughs at something Xaden says. He takes a fighting stance as another guy from third wing stands opposite him, and they begin. It's not long before Liam has the poor fella on the floor, tapping out. Being the kind male he is, Liam hops off and helps him up, shaking his hand and offering him a kind smile after they finish their challenge.

As he is exiting the mat, his eyes meet yours and widen slightly, raking over your body as he slowly steps off the platform. They linger on the straps clinging to the curve of your ass, then trail back up to the form-fitting compression shirt you've chosen and his brows knit in confusion when he notices your new hairstyle. You tilt your chin up and flip your hair over your shoulder, just as Emmetario bellows once more.

"Bodhi and Y/N!"

You walk onto the mat, Rhiannon cheering from the sidelines. Bodhi looks to you in silent apology, and you position yourself close to your friend, taking your beginning stance. You can see the worry in his expression, and you glance to your left as Liam, Violet, and Xaden flank the edge of the mat to observe as well.

"Bodhi, it's alright. I know you won't hurt me for real," You say. He grins at you.

"Never." Is all he says, taking his beginning position, not-so-subtly drinking in your form so close to his. You smirk.

"Begin!" Emmetario calls. Bodhi immediately lunges for you, but you're quick and dodge his advance, and he stumbles forward -- you've trained with him countless times, you knew he'd make the first move. You snake to the side, wrapping your arms around his midsection and using your whole body weight to throw yourselves both to the ground. You cry out as you land on your own elbow, and he tries to roll you onto your back. You dig your heels into the ground, fighting with all your strength to stay to the side of him and not let him get on top. He's stronger though, flipping you with his hands around your knees. You plant both feet in his ribs, knocking into him with as much force as you can muster and he falls back with a sharp cry.

The growing crowd winces and you jump to your feet once more, him following suit and clutching his side only for a moment before charging you once more. You crouch; but you're too slow this time. In seconds, his hands wrap around your waist and your thrown over his shoulder, hands smacking against his back.

You know what comes next -- this is the part where your opponent will throw you onto the mat, onto your back, knocking the wind out of you. You won't let that happen; not tonight. You tap into the rage you felt, all day, all week, and unleash it, feeling every feeling all over again.

Anger. You push against Bodhi, his hands losing grip and you tumbling haphazardly down his back. "Keep pushing, Y/N!" Rhiannon shouts.

Hate. You turn, Bodhi's still doubled over. Now's your chance. You run, jump, cling onto him, grabbing his neck and wrapping your legs around his waist-

Jealousy. It was a ploy. He whips you around, throwing you to the mat, hard. You shriek, breath catching in your throat as he holds you down with his forearm. He gazes down at you, his familiar friendly orbs glowing with warmth as he shifts uncomfortably above you.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Y/N, but... I'll be damned if anyone ever climbs me like a fuckin' tree-" the words die in his throat as your red-hot emotions dissipate, laughter rising and breaking free past your lips as he chuckles along with you.

"I don't care! I said she's done!" The sharp tone has your gaze turning to the left, the crowd making way as Emmetario calls after the tall male entering the mat and heading straight for you. In seconds, Bodhi's weight is completely lifted off of you and you suck in a breath of full, delightful air.

"Yep, and you can stay the fuck off of her, thank you very much," Liam gripes, bending down to grasp both of your hands in his and pull you up. You gasp as pain blooms in your back, and he begins leading you off the mat, away from the crowd. Toward the exit.

"Liam... Liam... I didn't tap out; my challenge wasn't over-" you stutter. He turns, his raging blue eyes narrowed on you. Yours widened in shock as you register an emotion so rare, especially for him you almost missed it.

Sadness.

"Trust me. It was over."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

"Liam, it's only a bruise, it'll be healed in a few-"

"He shouldn't have been man-handling you like that."

You stare at him, pacing back and forth in your dorm room from the bed where you sit. He half carried you back here a half hour ago, ending your challenge early and ignoring orders from a professor in the process. Now he seemed all worked up over your injuries, which were rather minor, at that.

"Like what, exactly? Liam, I've trained with Bodhi a million times. I know he would never hurt me. Not for real, anyways." You say, and Liam meets your gaze. His deep blue eyes are as dark as the midnight sea, only illuminated by the candle lights in your room. He chews on his bottom lip, halting his pacing.

"He trains with you?" He asks quietly. You scoff incredulously, fiddling with the band at the end of your braid and loosening the strands.

"Yeah? He's my friend, Liam. I have to have someone to spar with, right? It's not like my boyfriend is exactly... available..." you trail off, casting your eyes toward the floor. You finish undoing your braid, the strands hanging in loose waves over your shoulders. His brows knot in confusion.

"Y/N, what are you... what do you mean?" he walks close, kneeling before you, placing his hands on your knees. His face is level with yours, and Gods damn you if you don't want to kiss him-

"You know I'm always here for you Y/N..." he says softly. You meet his gaze, sucking your bottom lip between your teeth to keep it from quivering.

"Liam... I barely even see you anymore." Oh boy, here we go. "You always have to be with... with Violet... and if I do see you, it's never in our own privacy... I never just get you alone, to myself..." you trail off. He presses a soft kiss to your knee, and you praise yourself for changing into shorts and one of his big shirts when you returned earlier.

"Baby... you know I just have to hang out with Violet for now, just because of all the attacks and such, but," he places another soft kiss further up your thigh, and you feel your pulse quickening by the second. "...you have me alone... right now, right?" He asks sweetly, his eyes meeting yours again. You lean back on your elbows, and though his tone is sweet, the lust swirling in his irises tells a different story. You nod wordlessly, and he continues moving up your body, softly pushing up the hem of your shirt with his fingertips. His eyes remain in contact with your as he plants soft kisses up your abdomen, the muscles flexing as you fight to remain calm under his searing touch.

He pulls back, lips curing into a wicked grin as his eyes waver to your waistband, and he hooks a finger under the seam.

"If you wanted to be... man-handled... you could have just... asked." He says, your eyes widening at his words. Heat pools between your thighs, the incessant need for your boyfriend to ravage you only growing with every passing second he teases you. He chuckles, slipping a hand beneath the bands of both your shorts and underwear and wasting no time sliding a finger through your folds, easily gliding through the slickness. His lusting gaze meets yours again, and his free hand pushes himself closer to you on the bed.

"Mmm... you really have been missing me, haven't you?" You nod, looking up at him doe-eyed and innocent. He shakes his head, cupping your jaw and running a thumb over your lower lip while continuing to tease your leaking heat with his other hand.

"Such a good girl... I haven't been around as much as I should, have I." He says it more to himself, his forefinger circling your entrance and you rock your hips forward, aching for more.

"I haven't been as good of a boyfriend lately, and I'm sorry for that, okay?" He cups your cheek, and you meet his gaze.

"Liam... please..." you beg.

"Let me make it up to you?" He asks. Your nod of confirmation is all he needs as he slips both his index and middle fingers in -- knuckles deep. You gasp, jolting forward a bit and he pulls out, reinserting and driving them back in again. You bite out a moan, leaning back on your hands and looking up into his eyes. He's smirking down at you, drinking in every inch of your complexion as he massages that spongy spot inside of you.

"Liam..." you chant. "Liam, oh... my..... please-" He rises from his knees on the floor, continuing to curl his fingers inside you, to hover over you. He cuts off your whimpers with a beautiful, bruising kiss that is both sloppy and salivating. A mix of tongue and teeth clash as you make out with a primal need, his teeth finding your swollen bottom lip and playfully latching on. You groan once more, feeling the warm band in your stomach tightening.

"Gods I'm... I'm so-" Liam retracts his fingers and you groan, his lips finding yours again. He shucks his trousers off, kicking his boots off moments later. He breaks the kiss, yanking his shirt over his head and pulling yours off after, your bottoms following. Laying bare before him, he breathes deep, loosing his breath through the nose as he hovers overtop of your naked form.

"Y/N, you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen," he says sweetly. You blush, even though this is the hundredth time you've had sex with the man and probably the hundred millionth time he's called you pretty. You feel his hard on grounding against you, and you wiggle your hips, only creating more friction. Liams hand meets your hip, holding firm.

"Tsk tsk," he says, kissing your nose. His hand snakes between the two of you, his knuckles brushing against your pelvis making you shiver. His fingers wrap around the length of his cock and stroke a few times as he inches closer, and when the head finally makes contact with your dripping core, you whimper.

"Li... please..." He flashes you a devilish grin, his cute dimple warming your heart as your hands find their way to his built shoulders atop you.

"Since you asked so nicely," he says lowly, and pushes into you. You suck in a breath, the small stretch increasingly painful as he continues to push in, inch by delicious inch. The pleasure courses through you when he is finally fully sheathed inside of you, a growl escaping his throat as his hips retract and slam back in with immeasurable force.

"LIAM-" You shout. He pulls his hips back again, only pulling out half way as he continues to pound into you relentlessly, relishing in every breathless moan and scream of his name he can pull from your perfect lips.

"So tight, baby.... my gorgeous, gorgeous girl," he praises. Your hands slide down his tones arms, and the calloused fingers on one of his hands thread through your delicate ones, holding them to the mattress above your head. His breath comes out in short pants, and you let out a particularly sharp gasp.

"Ugh, fuck Liam; just like that," you breathe. His fingers let go of yours and wrap around your lower back, pulling you flush against his chest. HIs pace quickens as your breasts bounce with every quick thrust he delivers.

"You feel so good, Y/N," he says between breaths. His soft grunts almost send you over the edge, the new pace and angle spurring the impending orgasm from within. His warm breath tickles your neck, and his lips find your cheek, placing a single kiss as he continues to savagely thrust into you. "So perfect..." he whimpers.

You can't hold it together long enough to warn him this time as you fly over the edge, your orgasm barreling through you. You cry out, hands tugging on the ends of Liam's hair as your walls squeeze around his throbbing cock that hasn't yet slowed, riding you through your high. Your thighs start to shake, and Liam's mouth drops open as his eyes meet yours once more.

"Oh fuck, Y/N-" he jolts, releasing inside of your pulsing core as his movements begin to slow. Your combined ragged breaths are the only sounds filling the room, and his fingers trace the curve of your collarbone as his eyes lovingly gaze into yours again. You offer him a soft smile in your fucked-out state and he chuckles, slowly slipping out of you and retrieving a cloth from your desk. You move to take it from him, but per usual, he insists on cleaning you up himself.

Ahh, the gentleman he is.

He returns from tossing the cloth in the wastebasket, and you pull his big tee over your head for the second time today. He frowns at you, and shrugs, reaching for his pants and pulling them back up over his hips. He takes the spot on the bed next to you, propping up on an elbow to stare down upon you.

"I meant it," he starts, and you sigh.

"Liam-"

"Really, Y/N. I know its shitty that I have to always hang around with Violet. I know it sucks that it means I have less time with you. And... and I know it isn't your favorite thing. It isn't mine either." He says, taking a strand of your hair and twirling it around his index finger before letting it fall, and going for another piece.

"I know this, and I still listen to Xaden's orders. I know that doesn't make me a very good boyfriend, and I need to do better." He says in finality with a nod. "I'll talk to Xaden in the morning about it." You lean up off the bed, planting your lips on his. His hands cradle the back of your head, kissing you back with all the love he has to give. When you pull away, you know that no matter what, no matter how much or how little time you have together, there's no changing the connection the two of you share.

"Liam, I don't think I could find a better boyfriend than the one laying next to me in this very moment. You're as good as they get, my love."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

[genericpuff]

I find something that annoys me is how people misunderstand why Persephone is considered the goddess of spring.

It’s because Demeter makes it spring when she returns. Not because Persephone has some awesome sick flower powers and she makes it all pretty before returning to her 10000/10 husband.

Agreed! But also, if I can offer up my own food for thought / interpretation: Demeter didn't necessarily create 'winter' as we traditionally perceive it, rather she created famine.

In that same sense, Demeter isn't even necessarily "making it Spring" when Persephone returns - she makes the land fertile again, allowing mortals to harvest their crops and thrive. Thus creating the "seasons" of harvest and drought.

Like many of the myths we've preserved and still read today, The Hymn to Demeter was a story created to explain natural phenomena that we didn't yet know how to explain. In Demeter's case, the story of her separation from her daughter explained the cycle of nature - why the clouds would no longer rain, why the ground would dry and crack, why the soil would become brittle, and why the crops would lose their will to live. It wasn't necessarily because she brought about 'winter', it was simply that she stopped performing her own duties, which were specifically dedicated to the harvest, especially that of wheat and grains (both of which are INCREDIBLY important foods that played their own massive role in the evolution of the human race - they weren't only essential to keeping both humans and livestock fed with their carb-heavy components, but could also be used to make fabrics and tools.)

Just as people prayed to Poseidon for safe travels across still waters, so too would people pray to Demeter for a bountiful harvest. Whenever there were droughts, you could understand it as the period when Persephone would return to the Underworld; or you could even blame it on yourself, or even your own fellow mortals, if you felt that perhaps Demeter had been disrespected in some way so as to bring about a drought as punishment.

This is why The Hymn to Demeter also functions as a foundational story for the founding of The Eleusinian Mysteries - a cult that worshipped Demeter, and other deities attributed to the harvest (ex. Dionysus) whose initiates were sworn to secrecy, never to speak aloud what practices were happening within the cult. And they did a damn good job of it too, because to this day we still don't fully know what went down in those cults. They're mysteries, after all :')

Demeter wasn't the only god who was attributed to the harvest and the weather patterns that would cause drought, but she's certainly one of the most popularly discussed, undoubtedly due to the fact that her story is one of the oldest and most well-preserved, and she was attributed to some of the most essential crops of that era.

But as it would happen to many myths over the centuries, the exact cultural contexts and intentions behind her original story have become either lost, or re-interpreted so many times that we can't even fully trust that Homer's version is "accurate", at least not without any way to retrieve those original oral stories that predated both him and other famous poets whose work we still study and analyze today.

But hey, that's just my own interpretation! One out of the thousands that have existed and the thousands that will undoubtedly go on to exist. I'm sure my own interpretation of it isn't perfect or foolproof, but I hope it offers up some fun food for thought!

[revolutionsingingintherainnn]

Hi! Fellow desi here...

So Navratri is coming soon and I am really excited already!! Can you please write something about spending Navratri with Lando. It would be like teaching him the garba steps and the reader being obsessed with garba and Lando just being in awe.

I love your writing sooo much <3

Desi Girl ༉‧₊˚.

彡 ln x desi!reader 🪷

彡 fluff + smau 🪷

masterlist ☾☼

being an indian meant that there was some festival or the other every few months. that meant new clothes, new jewellery, and the same old feeling of being blessed by the gods and goddesses. for most indians, the blessings of the almighty was all they sought throughout the year.

navratri was one of y/n's favourite festivals. nine days of music, dance, and worshipping different goddessess. every year, y/n bought nine new chaniya cholis for the festival, and every year she danced all night till her feet had blisters. it was the happiest she ever felt.

this year was different though, because she had a boyfriend. a boyfriend who was hot and rich and very much british. since the festival and the autumn break coincided, lando had decided to spend the break with his girlfriend in india. y/n had taken him shopping to all kinds street markets, where all he really did was hold her bags, give his opinion when asked, and made sure that she was hydrated. he had watched as she bargained, and tried on jhumkas, and smiled and laughed even though the sun was scorching hot.

the first two days of navratri had been y/n doing garba with her family and friends, and lando watching from afar, afraid to step into the fast moving circles of humans who were dancing in perfect sync. everyone was sweaty, especially his girlfriend, but she seemed to shine in the sweat. that just made lando fall in love even more.

on the third day, y/n had decided that she would teach lando the basic steps of garba. she took him in a little corner, not too secluded, but there was enough space for him to practice. she taught him the footwork of the dance, but even after multiple tries, lando tripped way more than he ever thought was imaginable. his girlfriend laughed though, so he hadn't completely failed at dancing.

he had tried participating with her friends, where they were all doing the same basic steps that y/n had been teaching him. after a few minutes of stepping on people's toes, and people stepping on his toes, lando had given up, sweating, shining, smiling.

y/n had grabbed his hand and pulled him to the food stalls. lando had never eaten anything like it before, but y/n was excited, and she was happy, and lando eating whatever she wanted him to would make her happier, so who was he to question it?

their first stop had been the pani puri stall. it was certainly an experience to try and fit the entire puri in his mouth without staining his clothes. when he had complained to y/n that there was no way he could fit the whole thing in his mouth, she had smirked at him and said, "remember when i said that to you? that it wasn't going to fit in my mouth?"

lando was blushing, knowing exactly what she was talking about, "y/n,"

"what did you say to me then? ah, yeah, practice makes perfect," y/n had been smiling wide as she teased him. lando had choked on the pani puri, and y/n had laughed, patting his back.

they went through all the stalls, where y/n proceeded to stuff him full of food. it was all extremely spicy for him, and despite y/n laughing at how red he had gotten, lando was determined to not ruin the fun. eventually, she had fed him gulab jamuns, kheer, and so many other sweets, he had lost track.

after eating, lando and y/n walked around the area, talking and laughing, and he had never felt so in love. he repeatedly told her how beautiful she looked, and even at the tenth and hundredth time, y/n blushed just the same. god, she really was breathtaking.

"so, what's the next festival?" lando asked.

"well, navratri ends on saturday, and then we have dusshera on sunday, and then, about two weeks later, diwali! oh, are you going to stay? i mean, i know you have your training and you have to be at the mtc for work or whatever, but dusshera is really fun, cause my nana sits all of us kids down and tells us the whole story of lord ram and how he defeated ravan!" she was rambling, they both knew, but lando loved it.

"i'm going to make sure i'm here on sunday," lando said softly.

"yeah?" her small hands were squeezing his big ones in hope.

lando leaned in, kissing her softly, before he pulled back, "yeah,"

lando.jpg

♫ Desi Girl (From "Dostana")

liked by yourusername, oscarpiastri, and 801,572 others

lando.jpg who's the hottest girl in the world

view all 73,496 comments

yourusername your desi girl <3

user1 is this a hard launch??? ARE WE HARD LAUNCHING RIGHT NOW???

user1 LANDO IN INDIA??? HELLO??? WHY WERE WE NOT TOLD???

user2 he better get an indian passport now

user3 jijaji pt.2???

carlossainz making the most of the break, i see

carlossainz spanish food or indian food?

lando.jpg 🤐

yourusername im watching you, norris

user2 HOLD ON DID LANDO DO GARBA?????

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

i'm not really a garba person, despite living in gujarat for quite a while, but this is specifically for my desi girls, cause we gotta feed our delusions somehow to live, right? i hope you enjoy it! i've also got a link for my taglist and requests that you can find here!

[ladykailitha]

The Caged Bird Still Sings Part 16

So... in my defense I was really sick yesterday and accidentally scheduled the post for 10:17am and snuck in chapter 16. And I didn't even realize it until the other chapter had several likes, comments, and reblogs.

So I'm posting this now as a sort "Sorry I fucked up! Enjoy an extra chapter on me!" type thing!

In this we have Steve's no good, horrible, rotten bad day and the end of Act 2.

Also? Cliffhanger!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10  Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

~

Steve was feeling all the stares from both his fellow employees and the customers. He felt like shrinking in on himself every time it happened. It was like they couldn’t figure out what was so wrong with him that his dad would chase him out of town. Because most of the town didn’t know.

Clint Harrington had seen to that. Oh, his buddies knew, his wife’s sewing circle and club ladies knew, but the lessers? Nah, they only heard rumors. And whoo boy did Steve hear some wild ones.

Like that he had been caught in an orgy, or that he been dealing drugs out of the pool house or even that he had been caught with an underaged girl.

Thankfully most of the people didn’t believe that one one bit. But it was near thing and if Steve got his hands on Hank Tippets he was going to wring the man’s neck for that rumor.

It was Robin’s day off, and while usually the boss had them work together, Steve was with three other kids.

Three kids who had been slacking all day, making Steve handle the rush and refilling both the ice cream and toppings, and generally just being asses of themselves.

He was on his last nerve.

“Okay, guys!” Steve huffed putting his hands on his hips. “I’m all for slacking, but I am not the only capable of getting out the ice cream. It’s someone else’s turn!”

The two girls rolled their eyes but did what they were told. The boy on the other hand refused to budge.

“Just because you’re older,” he huffed, grabbing a handful of M&Ms and just shoving them in his face, “doesn’t mean you get to boss us around, man. Go back to whatever bridge you crawled out of.”

Steve’s lip curled. “That’s gross.” He rolled his eyes and put one hand on his hip. “And besides I didn’t crawl out from under a bridge, you did. Look at you. You’re hair is greasy, you smell like you haven’t bathed in years, and you have a stain on your shorts I don’t even want to think of what that is.”

“It’s chocolate,” the kid said with a sneer. “So if you aren’t living under a bridge then where are you living?”

Alarm bells went off in Steve’s head. “The only address anyone needs is my PO Box where to send my paycheck.” He shrugged. “Other than that, why do you care? What are you the Feds?”

The kid rolled his eyes at that and walked away. Steve shook his head. He just had to keep his head down and his mouth shut until he found something else.

Suddenly both girls were giggling and shushing each other.

“Hey, Steve can you come here for a moment?” the one called out. “I think the door to the freezer is stuck.”

Steve sighed and went to the back area, but as soon as he opened the door, a bucket of warm, melted strawberry ice cream fell on top of him. It hit the side of his head, knocking the hat off and clattered to the ground. He was covered head to toe in a gooey, sticky mess. It was in his hair and in his shoes and his socks were drenched.

Suddenly laughter filled his ears as he realized what had happened. This had been their plan all day. To get him annoyed enough that he would just barge through and get it dumped on him. He felt like fucking Sissy Spacek in ‘Carrie’.

Hot tears welled up as he tore off apron, stomping on the stupid hat and storming out of there. All the to calls of telling to come back, that it was all a joke, that he needed to lighten up.

He dashed off to his car, leaving behind a trial of melted ice cream. He tried to put the key in the door, but his hands shook too bad. He was forced to sit next to the car as he sobbed.

A man came up to him, waving his hands and shouting. “You there! Get away from that car! That mess will ruin the paint job!”

Steve looked up at him in shock. “But it’s my car!” he protested and showed him the keys. “See?”

“You’ve clearly stolen this car!” the man bellowed. “I’m going to call the police!” He made a grab for the keys but Steve was faster. They wrestled for them.

“Get off me!” he cried. “Help!”

Suddenly the man was being pulled off of Steve and the sense of relief he felt when he heard Hopper’s growling voice asking what the hell was going on, was palpable.

“This boy stole this car!” the man howled, still trying to get to Steve and take the key.

Hopper, who was dressed for work, leaned down to look closely at him. “Harrington? Is that you under all that goop?”

“Yes, sir,” Steve said, lifting his tear stained face up at the police chief. “My coworkers dumped old and melted ice cream on me and I was just trying to go home.”

Hopper sighed. He shook the man he pulled off of Steve. “That’s his car and if you don’t stop your screaming I’m taking you in for assault and attempted theft.”

The man’s eyes went wide and he scrambled to get away from Steve and Hopper.

Hopper turned back to Steve. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you into your car so you can go home and clean off.” He took the keys from Steve and unlocked the door. “Now drive real careful, all right? Don’t want you in an accident because you’re too emotional to drive.”

Steve nodded. He got to his feet and drove off, clearly being mindful of his state of mind, taking time to do things he wouldn’t normally think about.

Now to go raise fucking Cain with the manager of Scoops Ahoy.

~

The kids were still doubled over with laughter when Hopper came storming into the store.

“You kid!” he barked causing all of them to stop laughing and stand up straight. He peered at the name tag. “Kyle. Get a mop and a bucket and you mop every inch of the mall that has even one drop of that pink goop.”

Kyle opened his mouth to argue but closed it when Hopper glared at him. He ran to grab the mop and bucket and started with mess in front of the store.

“You two,” Hopper growled, “Close the store now. This the scene of a crime. An assault. I will also need the number to the owner or manager. And I mean I want it yesterday.”

The first girl whose name tag read Mary hurried to pull the front gate closed most of the way. Enough to show they were closed, but open enough so Kyle could get back in.

The other girl crossed her arms and scowled at Hopper. Her name tag said Linda. “No one’s been assaulted. We’ve been here the whole time, we would have seen something like that.”

The gate rattled as Kyle forced his way back in with the bucket and mop. Hopper looked over his shoulder.

“Good,” he huffed in annoyance, “you’re all here. That means I don’t have to repeat myself. I’m referring to the assault on Steve Harrington. Dropping a bucket of that size, filled with melted ice cream could have seriously hurt him. What would you lot have done if the bucket had his his head dead on and knocked him unconscious?”

Kyle scoffed. “Like that could happen. Not!”

“Yeah, kid,” Hopper growled, “you a cop or firefighter or even EMT? You some Doogie Howser or some shit? Because if you’re not any of that then you don’t get to tell me what’s possible or not.”

Kyle gulped and looked away as the girls eyes went wide.

“We weren’t trying to hurt him,” Mary insisted. “We were only trying to humiliate him a little. I mean have you seen that fancy car of his. He doesn’t need this job. We do.”

“It doesn’t matter why he’s working here,” Hopper said gruffly. “He was hired to do the fucking job, just leave him alone. You didn’t even have to like him. Just. Not that.”

Hopper called the manager and he was over in a heartbeat. He spotted the gate down first and then splattered mess everywhere.

“What the hell has happened here?” the man shrieked. He spotted Hopper and first he went deathly pale and then he went bright red. “I want to know the meaning of all this!” He yanked the gate up and slipped inside.

Hopper walked up to him. “Mr. Bauman, I’m Chief Hopper and three of your employees set up a bucket trap filled with bad strawberry ice cream, causing it dump all over a fourth employee’s head. A Steve Harrington. I am taking the three kids in for questioning and if I feel it’s serious enough, pressing charges on Harrington’s behalf.”

Murray straightened his back and pushed his glasses further up his nose. “Now see here. You have no proof they did anything of the sort. Just Steve’s word.”

Hopper advanced on him, like a panther seeking its prey, but Murray didn’t even flinch. “You’ve got cameras in his place right?”

Suddenly Linda was running for the manager’s office, but Hopper’s voice cracked out like a whip. “You touch that tape and I will absolutely haul your ass in for tampering with evidence.”

Linda skidded to a stop and Murray stared at her agape. “What the honest fuck?”

“I’m gonna take that as an admission of guilt,” Hopper said, narrowing his eyes at her.

Linda ducked her head and slowly walked back to stand next to Mary and Kyle, her hands clasped in front of her.

“I’ll look at the tape and bring it over to the sheriff’s station,” Murray vowed. He turned the three stooges. “And if I find anything on that tape that even so much as hints you did what Chief Hopper is suggesting. Don’t bother coming back into work. Because you’re fired. And I’ll make sure no one in this mall will hire you.”

Hopper nodded at Murray and then turned to the kids. “Now I don’t have enough handcuffs for all of ya, but I’m about to get really creative.”

~

Steve came home and just stripped his uniform off and just face planted into the bed. He didn’t care about his hair or that he was still covered goop. He just wanted to bury himself under the blankets and never emerge.

He must have fallen asleep because he woken up by Robin on the phone.

“No, Mom,” she hissed. “I don’t care what you say. I’m not going back to working at Scoops. Not after what they did to Steve. And I’m not quitting the Corroded Coffin job. He needs me.”

She paused for a moment. “Nope there is nothing you can do to change my mind. Look there’s another call coming through. Chief Hopper said he’d call with more information.”

Robin slammed the phone down and muttered, “Oh yeah, I’m so grounded. Worth it, though.” The phone rang immediately and she picked it up. “Chief Hopper. No, he’s still sleeping. I would be too after after everything he’s gone through.”

She listened for awhile, putting in the appropriate hum where required.

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to tell him,” she said. “I think he’s waking up. Did you want to him? Not a problem. Thank you.”

Steve gave up all pretense of sleep and sat up, rubbing his eyes. His arm was still sticky and gross but he didn’t care.

“I’d tell you to cover up,” Robin said with a grimace, gesturing to all of him, “but you don’t have to.”

He looked down at himself and realized that he had fallen asleep on the covers in just his underwear and socks. “Oh. Sorry.” He pulled a pillow over his junk and stared up at her.

“So as you could probably guess, that was Chief Hopper,” she said. “He said to tell you that he gave each of the perpetrators a little scare down at the station and made their parents come get them. The dude that tried to assault you about your car, was picked up later for erratic driving and given a ticket. Sgt. Callahan pegged him as the guy because he still had ice cream all down the front of his expensive suit and tie.”

“Good,” Steve said dryly. “Bastard. I was literally sobbing my guts out and he was more concerned with the paint job.”

“Yeah,” Robin said. “Karma bit his ass hard.”

She sat down next to him and put her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know it’s not my fault or anything, but it really sucks that they did that to you.”

“Thanks Robs,” he murmured.

She stood back up. “I’ve told everyone to leave you alone for a couple of days so when you’re ready to see people again, reach out okay?”

He nodded as she walked to the door. She paused with her hand on the doorknob. She turned back. “Just one more thing. Hopper says he told Joyce about the bullying and she has said she’ll back off about the job now. So there’s at least that silver lining.”

“Yeah.”

~

Steve wasn’t sure how long he laid in bed, but it was obviously enough for a welfare check up from his friends on the staff.

This time it was only Bob and Rosa, but they both looked concerned.

“There is gunk everywhere,” Rosa huffed and waved her hand over his room. “The bed sheets stink and you are wallowing, mi amor.”

“You’ve got to at least shower,” Bob said with a note of distress in voice. “Give Rosa time to clean the room, change the bedding.”

Steve shook his head. There was no need to get out of bed ever again.

Then the door of the hotel room swung open and Bob and Rosa turned.

“Just who are you that you can just be walking in here?!” she bellowed, rounding on the stranger with her duster.

The man raised his hands up in surrender. “I’m Eddie Munson. I pay for the room.”

End of Act 2

~

Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22

Oops! When I took people off the list, I forgot to add the new people on!

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @beelze-the-bubkiss @blondie1006

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @cryptid-system @maya-custodios-dionach

3- @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @irregular-child

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1

5- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

6- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

7- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @sticknpokelightningbolt

8- @scoops-aboy86 @kurofuckingshi16 @watermelonmite @eyehartart @dreamercec

9- @little-birch-boy @yearningagain @micheledawn1975 @sadisticaltarts @steddieislife

10- @fearieshadow @kultiras @thesecondfate @tartarusknight @genderless-spoon

[seraph-starman]

✮. pseudo-suits

⋆summary… while on a hunt with the winchesters, you encounter an odd team of FBI agents (spn x criminal minds crossover!)

⋆word count… 950

⋆remi's notes… this has been sitting in my drafts for a while and i haven’t had the motivation to finish it but yeah anyways

You knew as soon as you laid eyes on them that they were feds. Not that they were really dressed like feds, or even vaguely resembled the typical agents you encountered. But they were too odd a crew to be anything else. Mostly it was the tall, lanky kid that was flipping through the stacks of journals at record speed, his hair tucked back behind his ears, that was strange. He wasn’t exactly a kid, but he did seem younger than the other two, closest in age to the dark-haired woman peering at the bloodstains in the white carpet. The other agent was an older, grumpy-looking man with a beard who was mostly just observing the police and his fellows. You simply watched the agents collect clues, discussing the physical and psychological details of some non-existent serial killer as Sam dialed Dean to confirm your suspicions of a werewolf. The sheriff joined the trio, nodding along to everything they said.

“…signs of a struggle… he had to have been taller than the victim…”

They were signs of a struggle alright, and a surely overpowered one. The victim had no chance against such a beast. You couldn’t help a feeling of superiority blooming in your chest; to you and Sam, it was a simple case, a werewolf that had been hunting for years in the area, smart enough to spread them out so that it remained unsuspicious. That was, until the FBI started to connect them, chalking it up to some sick serial killer who collected hearts as trophies. And apparently, they decided to send not one, not two, but three agents to come check it out. You turned to Sam as soon as you finished analyzing them, you both knew your FBI cover was harder to maintain when actual agents were at the scene. You were about to high-tail it out of there, dragging Sam behind you like a mother ushering her disobedient child out of a grocery store, when the sheriff approached questioningly. Sam prepared to flash him his fake, shiny badge and his most charming smile despite your harshly whispered protests.

“Sam. We can’t-“

You were cut off by the gruff-voiced sheriff.

“More agents? I thought a whole unit was enough, but I guess not. Follow me.”

The sheriff leads you through the crime scene, pointing and explaining various, obvious signs of a werewolf attack. You glare at Sam behind the sheriff’s back, thanking him as he finally leaves you to get your own opinions on the scene. You were prepared to drag Sam out of there when a smooth voice stopped you. Again.

“You guys from the borough?”

Sam narrows his eyes by a fraction as the dark-haired woman scans you both. Her gaze felt exposing, subtly judging. You smile, and awkwardly glance at Sam as he clears his throat.

“Uh, yeah. Agent Paige, this is Agent Hall. Must’ve been a mixup with the case file.”

“Ah. Emily Prentiss. Nice to meet you. We’re from the behavioral analysis unit,” she gestures to the other two, smiling, “we’re preparing a profile now. Since you guys are already here, it might help to have more people to bounce off of. Unless you have to get back.”

Prentiss shrugs and turns away to start giving her own guided tour of the crime scene, abandoning Sam. You tune out Emily’s analysis in favor of watching the coroners bag the body and lift it onto a gurney; carefully rolling it around the sharp corners of the desk and out the door of the apartment. Kate… something-or-other was the victim’s name, a local college student. You turn towards approaching footsteps, the steady soft thump of expensive Italian leather. Coming face to face with the older agent, he gives you the same scanning expression that Prentiss had upon introduction.

“Who’re you?”

You blink at his bluntness, trying to remember the name Sam had used for you. 

“Agent… Hall. Nice to meet you. Uh, mixup. With the case file. And that’s Agent Paige,” you gesture toward Sam, who waves back stiffly with his unoccupied hand.

“Ah. Agent Rossi, BAU. You too,” he says, seeming to contemplate sticking his hand out to shake before drawing it back as he’s called over by the sheriff. You look back toward Sam, who’s still waiting for Dean to pick up. You follow his gaze as it trails idly over the room, from one yellow evidence marker to the next in procession. Finally Sam snaps out of his momentary daze as Dean picks up; lowering his voice and turning away from the concentration of cops.

You realize how strange you must look, standing separated from both your so-called partner and the rest of the group. You wander over to the cluster, volunteering yourself to the conversation. It sounded like the three BAU agents were discussing the beginnings of a profile, the same details that Prentiss has told you earlier. After the short introduction to the suspect, the group breaks apart. You move to return to Sam, but Rossi stops you.

“If you two aren’t busy, we wouldn’t mind help in tracking this guy down.”

“I’m not sure that we can help, honestly…” you say, trying to look sympathetic. You and the Winchesters already had enough on your plates dealing with this werewolf; having to keep up the FBI act while talking about a mystery killer would be far too much. Plus, these guys were profilers. They could probably tell that you had a hot dog for lunch from the tiny speck of mustard on your otherwise clean shirt, or something like that. Either way, it was too risky. You’d have to carry out the werewolf takedown under the BAU’s radar.

(to be continued…?)

written by me, @seraph-starman. do not steal.

[ayeforscotland]

Sora looks awesome from OpenAI and then also Chat with RTX (Nvidia) will have a personal local LLM on your own machine but new windows updates will have co-pilot too. The future of AI is going to be awesome. As someone in the data field, you have to keep moving with it or be left without. IT is definitely an exciting time.

As someone else in the data field, my full background is in data and data flow, AI is the latest buzzword that a small group of people in Silicon Valley have pushed to work people up into a frenzy.

The people cheering on AI are the same people who said NFTs were going to radically change the world of work.

I think there’s positive uses for AI, particularly in pattern recognition, like detecting cancer.

However, Sora looks like shit. It’s producing videos of three-legged cats, and it’s using stolen work to do it. And sure, it’ll get better, but without regulation all it will do is poison the well of human knowledge as certain groups begin to create things that aren’t real. We move into a world where evidence can be fabricated.

Why are generative AI fans targeting artists who voice their concerns? Every day I see some AI techbro tweeting an artist and saying they’ve just scrolled through their art and fed it to an algorithm. It is scummy behaviour.

As a fellow ‘data field’ person, you’ll know that AI is also only as useful as what we feed it. Most organisations don’t know where their data actually is, they’re desperately trying to backpedal their huge push to the cloud and host things on premise. The majority of digital transformation projects fail, more fines are being handed out for failing compliance than ever, and companies can’t possibly claim to be cyber secure when they don’t know where they’re holding their data.

AI won’t fix any of this. It needs human engineering and standardisation to fix, non-technical and technical teams need to understand the connectivity of every process and piece of technology and maybe then some form of AI can be used to optimise processes.

But you can’t just introduce AI and think it fixes large-scale issues. It will amplify them if you continue to feed it garbage.

[writingfool001]

What Really Matters

Author's Note: I decided to keep this one and delete the old one later. I like this one better.

Request:

 Due to the culture of looking down on half-bloods in the wizarding world, I can picture Newt!MC sympathizing with Sebek about his internalized racism as they had seen multiple Slytherins act the way he does in order to hide the fact that they're either a half-blood or a muggle born. It'll be touching if while Newt!MC is explaining their world to Sebek they touch upon the blood status subject and bring up example of half-bloods being just as exceptional as any regular magician.

Pairing: Newt!MC x Sebek (Platonic or romantic)Warning: Newt!MC is based off of Newt Scamander, mostly dialogue, short.

You've met many people on your travels, different races, ethnicities, and so on. Compared to your fellow wizards, you would treat everyone you met with decency unless you saw a valid reason not to. Ever since you arrived at NRC, there were few who didn't let anyone doubt their magical abilities due to their background. Yet there was a certain first year, in your flying class, who often called you human and would talk about humans or about Malleus being superior. Overtime, you learned more about his lineage and how he himself was half human himself which made you thought perhaps that is what fed into his usual behavior. 

“Sebek, I didn’t know your dad was a dentist?” You started out as we were studying. 

“Why would that be important as of right now?” he told, looking up from his homework. 

“You always ask me questions; wouldn’t it be fair if I could not do the same to you?” 

He glared a bit as his eyebrow twitched a bit before speaking. 

“...yes, he is.” 

“Such a fascinating job, he must be quite special.” 

“He’s just a magic-less human dentist.” 

"So, what? His magical ability does not change the fact that he is special. I presume your mother holds him in a high regard." 

"She does, though I do not entirely understand why." He grumbled as he wrote out his notes. 

"She likely saw him for who he was rather than the lack of magic." You suggested, only for him to scoff at it.  

"That does not take away from the fact that he does not have magic." 

"That does not make him any less important besides, do you care about having magic that much?" 

"Yes, or else I would be weak, it would've been easier if my father wasn't magicless." 

It was a little surprising to hear Sebek be somewhat open with you considering how he's usually yelling at you and such throughout the day, but it was nice. It also showed some of his insecurities about himself. 

"There have been many extraordinarily talented people I have met. Many of them being half-blooded magicians that have been more exceptional than the sum purebloods magicians." You start "I do not judge on one's magical capability or who they're related to which you should learn to do as well. Each to their own." 

  “You won’t see me differently for my blood?” He asked as you shook head before he let out a hearty loud laugh. “I don’t believe you.”  

“I remember my first friend outside of school was a young man who was very passionate about baking and didn’t have any magical talent. I still hold him dear in my heart as he's passionate about baking. I envied how easy it was for him to talk to others while I struggled with it. He's one of the most extraordinary people I met.” You smiled gently as you recalled your dear friend. 

“He didn’t have any magic?” 

“He had some, but he was considered magicless by most and he was fine with that. It didn’t matter if he had any magical talents or not, it mattered that he was passionate, something I admire.” 

You both sat there for a while before you packed your books and notes up then got up. Before leaving, you turn to him. 

“Don’t let your lineage or magic be how you define yourself. It’s the passion that is what makes someone like you the way you are. You’re Sebek to me. Just remember that.”  

You turned on your way and left. The next couple of days, you noticed a small pep in Sebek’s step and how extra loud he was during flying practice. It's good to see some things don't change. 

[tevanbegins]

Wanted to share a little something for my fellow Tevan stans currently fed up with the rising flood of BoB toxicity on 911 abc's socials.

We can all see that post the release of the Tommy x Henren scene, the BoBs have gone totally rabid. Until the Tevan pride post, we were still managing to dominate the comments section with our positivity. But now all hell has broken loose.

I mean, it's upsetting and annoying to see but not shocking. They whined so much about the nonsensical karaoke scene which they never got to see, but the show released the bonus scene with Tommy right before the new season's production begins (and the writing has started weeks ago.) It's such a huge slap on their faces and somewhere in the back of their minds they know B*ddie is never happening, but they pretend to be in denial and now their strategy is to make sure that we Tevan stans don't get to gush over our canon ship without having to counter their nastiness. All because their fanon ship dreams are dying a painful death.

Do the BoBs and the B*ddies outnumber Bucktommies? On social media at least they do, we have to admit this. But I still hope that the writers don't indulge this bullying and harassment just because that fandom is a loud majority on socials. Their controversial opinions and insensible demands cannot be a deciding factor for shaping future storylines. There are many people who appreciate Buck and Tommy's storyline and feel represented by it, despite the little screen-time they've gotten. We cherish all the tiny crumbs we get and make the most out of it without threatening and harassing anyone for what we don't get. We daydream and make our headcanons but we don't tell the writers how to do their jobs. And that's the reason why we were blessed with the deleted Tommy-Henren clip.

Ultimately, the showrunner is answerable to the network studio mainly for the show's viewership and ratings, not the hue and cry about whether certain fandoms are enjoying the current storylines or not. And with the way these BoBs are getting crazier with their delusions, they will never stop watching the show even 50 seasons later with their eternal hopes for B*ddie going canon, so I believe viewership is never going to be an issue for Tim and ABC.

So I am pretty positive that as long as Tim is personally keen on developing Buck and Tommy's love story (and the network is supportive), irrespective of the BoBs' frustration and their vile flood of hate for Tommy and Tevan, he will continue writing as his creative vision sees fit. We shouldn't lose faith just because the haters have stepped up their game and are going above and beyond to make us lose it. We just have to stop engaging with them completely. The block button is the greatest boon — it's so much more satisfying to do it than bickering with the haters. Just continue spreading your love for Tommy and Buck, even if we seem a minority. Little drops make an ocean after all.

Not to forget, the timing of the Tommy and Henren clip being released is so important. They could have shared it with us during Pride but they didn't. They did it now. Which means that Tommy is definitely an important part of the storylines for season 8 even if it's in a supporting capacity. ABC wouldn't have released the clip so close to the premiere date announcement if Tommy was not returning. Tim Minear wouldn't be telling fans how old Tommy is and other stuff if he had no plans to write more for that character. So we have to ignore all the mad theories, gross misinterpretations, and wicked hopes of the BoBs and trust that better things are coming! 🙏🏽

[geritsel]

Robert De Niro Talks trump

Robert de Niro turns 81 this year. He still is everything Donald Trump is not; talented, intelligent, compassionate and – as far as I know – a man of a man of impeccable integrity.

Here’s Robert De Niro’s full statement about how Donald Trump should NEVER be president again:

“I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad men. I’ve examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty.

Yet there’s something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I don’t see a bad man. Truly.

I see an evil one.

Over the years, I’ve met gangsters here and there. This guy tries to be one, but he can’t quite pull it off. There’s such a thing as “honor among thieves.” Yes, even criminals usually have a sense of right and wrong.

Whether they do the right thing or not is a different story — but — they have a moral code, however warped.

Donald Trump does not. He’s a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself — not the people he was supposed to lead and protect, not the people he does business with, not the people who follow him, blindly and loyally, not even the people who consider themselves his “friends.” He has contempt for all of them.

We New Yorkers got to know him over the years that he poisoned the atmosphere and littered our city with monuments to his ego. We knew first hand that this was someone who should never be considered for leadership. We tried to warn the world in 2016.

The repercussions of his turbulent presidency divided America and rattled New York City beyond imagination. Remember how we were jolted by crisis in early 2020, as a virus swept the world.

We lived with Donald Trump’s bombastic behavior every day on the national stage, and we suffered as we saw our neighbors piling up in body bags.

The man who was supposed to protect this country put it in peril, because of his recklessness and impulsiveness. It was like an abusive father ruling the family by fear and violent behavior. That was the consequence of New York’s warning getting ignored. Next time, we know it will be worse.

Make no mistake: the twice-impeached, 4-time indicted Donald Trump is still a fool. But we can’t let our fellow Americans write him off like one. Evil thrives in the shadow of dismissive mockery, which is why we must take the danger of Donald Trump very seriously.

So today we issue another warning. From this place where Abraham Lincoln spoke — right here in the beating heart of New York — to the rest of America: This is our last chance.

Democracy won’t survive the return of a wannabe dictator. And it won’t overcome evil if we are divided.

So what do we do about it? I know I’m preaching to the choir here. What we’re doing today is valuable, but we have to take today into tomorrow – take it outside these walls. We have to reach out to the half of our country who have ignored the hazards of Trump and, for whatever reason, support elevating him back into the White House.

They’re not stupid, and we must not condemn them for making a stupid choice. Our future doesn’t just depend on us. It depends on them.

Let’s reach out to Trump’s followers with respect. Let’s not talk about “democracy.” “Democracy” may be our holy grail, but to others it is just a word, a concept, and in their embrace of Trump, they’ve already turned their backs on it.

Let’s talk about right and wrong. Let’s talk about humanity.

Let’s talk about kindness. Security for our world.

Safety for our families.

Decency.

Let’s welcome them back.

We won’t get them all, but we can get enough to end the nightmare of Trump, and fulfill the mission of this “Stop Trump Summit.”

For many Robert de Niro may be far too rich and far too Hollywood, but i consider this as straight from the heart. I love this man.

BTW... I have high regards for followers on Tumblr, some I consider as friends without ever having met them, but I completely understand those who get fed up with my political in betweens. I wish you all the best!

Regards,

Geritsel (Let Donald Trump never ever become president again.)

[galamalion]

┈ ✧.* 𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒

╰┈➤ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ summary﹕upon turning 18, you begin your new life at grand line university, a college within red line. while you once had a boring, uneventful life, you now find yourself in the middle of several conflicts, and several romances. what's a struggling college student to do in times like these?

╰┈➤ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ pairing﹕one piece x fem!reader

┈ ✧.* chapters﹕[i] [ii] [iii] [iv]

╰┈➤ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ w/c﹕3.2k

┈ ✧.* chapter i﹕new beginnings

The obnoxious chatter of your fellow bus riders, combined with the unpredictable thumps when passing over the occasional pothole was enough to drive you mad.

There was a baby two seats behind you bawling its little eyes out, a businessman screaming into his phone, and two little old ladies gossiping about the affairs of their next-door neighbor— but you didn’t mind their conversation too much. 

You would be wearing your headphones in order to escape the hell you were placed in, but on your way to the bus stop you snapped the audio jack while struggling to jam it into your cheap MP3 player. As a result, you were damned to listen to the screeching around you. But you were able to breathe a sigh of relief, seeing as nobody had dared to sit next to you on this—

“Hey! Is that seat taken?”

You jumped in your seat at the sudden intrusion, eyes darting to your left to see the sudden encroacher. And, much to your shock, it wasn’t a 40 year-old man trying to snuggle up close to a college girl, but his voice already ruled out that possibility. Instead, it was a young boy, probably around your age. He looked a little out of place in his summer attire, but school had only just started, so it was no surprise that some people weren’t ready to let it go quite yet.

“Uh, no,” you finally spoke up, silently pulling your bag closer to the wall of the bus.

With a grin the boy threw his incredibly robust bag next to your own, taking the seat next to you. “My name’s Luffy!” he said joyously, sticking out a hand for you to shake.

You gingerly extended your own, watching helplessly as Luffy snatched it, wildly shaking it up and down. ‘My first new friend,’ you thought sarcastically. ‘It could certainly be worse.’

“I’m ____,” you said slowly, contemplating the consequences of telling this stranger your name. He did look like a student, at the very least. This line of reasoning failed to put a light on your current situation, but with enough deep breaths you could ignore it.

“You’re a student, then?” you asked, gesturing to his incredibly full bag.

Luffy excitedly nodded. “I’m a freshman! See, I got everything I need for today!” 

Inside Luffy’s bag weren't pillows, blankets or even clothes. Instead it was chock full of various foods, mostly greasy meats. You were slightly impressed at how the smell remained hidden inside the shoddy hand-me-down bag.

“Ya like it?” Luffy ruffled through the bag, pulling out a large seared steak. “My neighbor Hancock made it all for me! Said I needed to be well-fed while I was here!” 

All you could do was nod along as Luffy continued to speak. You originally assumed that he was some kind of farm boy, based on his current attire, ready for his first day in the big city. His strange quirks and interesting home life began to intrigue you, creating a need for answers.

“Grand Line University?” you interrupted, paying more attention.

Luffy looked at you cluelessly for a second before vigorously nodding his head, that grin still stapled onto his face.

“Yep! That’s where my two brothers go! We all promised we’d go to the same college when we grew up!” he explained.

“Brothers?” you gently pushed further, hoping to learn more.

“Ace and Sabo!” he shouted, excitement barely contained, “Sabo is studying scoliology and Ace is a super awesome hockey player!”

“Scoliology…?”

“Yeah, sockiology!” Luffy assured, his grin unfaltering.

“And what does Ace study?” you pried.

“Um…” Luffy went quiet for a few seconds, scratching his head to emphasize his uncertainty. “I dunno! I think he’s just taking a bunch of different classes. That’s what I’m gonna do!”

“You’re undecided, then?”

“Hm, well I kinda know what I wanna do. I wanna be like my big brothers, but I also wanna do fun stuff! Like eating!”

“So you wanna be, like, a chef?”

“Nope!”

All you could do was stare at Luffy, dumbfounded by his confidence.

“Are you a student too?” Luffy bounced excitedly on the bus seat.

‘Well, he catches on quick.’ You rolled your eyes internally. “Yeah, I’m a freshman too. Psychology major.”

“Oh, oh! Like a brain doctor!” Luffy pointed at you, enthusiastic at his confidentially incorrect assumption.

“Uh, yea, close enough,” you sighed.

A second of silence passed between you before Luffy began speaking again.

“Do you wanna be friends?” he asked.

Such a bizarre question forced you to pause, staring at Luffy blankly. Did you want to be friends? You’d known him for less than ten minutes, but he’d grown on you in that time. You knew little about him, but he also knew little about you, and isn’t that how all friendships start?

His talkative presence had provided levity to your headphone-less journey. Admittedly, you had grown to slowly appreciate his presence, letting him talk your ear off and drown out the noise of the other passengers. It wasn’t how you dreamed your college life would start out, but you could make this work. Yeah, this wasn’t bad, and it could certainly be worse! You could make this work. You could make this work.

“Sure, Luffy,” you smiled, “I’d like that.”

Fifteen minutes later and you and Luffy disembarked from the bus, walking side-by-side up to the school. It was far from a quiet walk, Luffy currently yapping about the different kinds of meat he was carrying in his bag.

“So, what dorm are you in?” you questioned, swinging your bag around carelessly.

“Uh…” Luffy searched his pockets, looking around for the paper given to him. “Poseidon!”

“Damn, I’m in Pluton,” you groaned, disappointed at the loss of your new friend.

“That’s ok! We can still see each other at the cafeteria! Or in the halls! Or outside!”

A smile found its way onto your face, the corners of your mouth upturning ever so slightly. Despite your attempts to keep your distance from Luffy, his constant jabbering and peppy attitude had grown on you.

“I’d like that,” you smiled, tucking your hands in your pockets. “I’ll see you around, Luffy.”

The two of you parted ways, separating to your respective dorms. Most of Grand Line’s buildings fell between vintage and just straight decay, brick walls and vine growths contrasted with the cracked interior walls and gross carpet. But you knew what you signed up for when you applied to this damn place.

A couple minutes of walking later and you found yourself standing in front of Pluton, towering brick walls casting a looming shadow cast over you. You shuffled through your bag to grab your ID, swiping it through the card reader and hearing the click of the door unlocking. 

Swinging it open, you marched through the ancient hallways, taking in the ‘wonderful’ sights that Pluton had in store for you. You’d exchanged a couple of emails with your roommates, and what you’d gathered from their personalities made you want to shout for joy and scream in agony.

 The first to contact you, Nami, was undoubtedly a spoiled brat. She informed you that she would be bringing a fridge and trash, something you had greatly appreciated at the time. But the next sentence revealed that she would be charging you for their use, which caused you to chuck your phone across the room. Needless to say, you weren’t looking forward to meeting her.

Vivi, on the other hand, seemed like an absolute delight. She explained that she was a foreign exchange student looking for a new outlook on life, hoping to meet some new friends at Grand Line. It surprised you that she hadn’t applied for the Mary Geoiose Institute, considering her immense status in her home country, but if it was a new outlook she was searching for, she’d most definitely find it here.

Furthermore, on account of throwing your phone, you were unable to search up any kind of pictures of the two, much less send any other communications. You lacked the funds to purchase a new phone and thus were forced to submit it for repairs, informed that it would be finished in around two weeks, which unfortunately lined up exactly with move-in day. It would seem your life was fraught with inconvenient coincidences, especially considering your two roommates.

A greedy business major like Nami and a selfless political science major like Vivi sounded like a recipe for disaster, and you weren’t looking forward to playing psychologist for the two of them. You crossed hallways and climbed up stairs, arriving at your floor and scanning the doors for your room number.

Judging by the open doors and giddy voices around you, it would seem like you were the last one to move in. The only thing you could do was pray your roommates were still late to the party, if only to avoid the drama that would most certainly result if they were to collide.

At the end of the hallway was your dorm and standing uniformly amongst the rest, waiting to be decorated by its inhabitants. You stepped towards the door, laying your hand on the doorknob and slowly twisted, anticipating the worst behind the door—

“Oh my god, you actually have those heels? They were only sold for a single day, how in the world did you get them!”

“Well, my dad bought them as a birthday present for my sixteenth birthday…”

“Your dad bought them? What’s he like? How old is he? How much does he have in his bank account?”

You stood frozen before your roommates, watching them talk as if they were old friends meeting up after a long time. But that was hardly your greatest concern at the moment. Your roommates were drop dead gorgeous. Long, effortlessly wavy hair; clear, glowing skin; and their absolutely rockin’ bodies. It made you question whether or not you had the correct room.

“Nami and Vivi?” you interrupted, sheepishly moving your hands behind your back.

Instantly the two turned to look at you, momentary confusion clouding their face only to be washed over with smiles.

“You must be ____, right?” the blue-haired girl spoke, rising to her feet, “I’m Vivi, it’s a great pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Nami!” the ginger waved, flashing you a wide grin, “don’t forget about the fridge policy! You can put the money in that jar.” She pointed to a very decorated glass mason jar, complete with a small sign labeled ‘FRIDGE FUNDS :)’ beneath it.

You damned yourself for forgetting Nami’s inclivities. ‘How could I forget?’ you internally cringed.

“Right…” You warily scratched the back of your head. “So, which bed’s mine?”

“You can have the single!” Vivi keenly blurted, “unless you’d rather the bunk! Nami called dibs on the top bunk, and I’ve never experienced a bunk-bed before, so I was hoping I could have the bottom. But if you, would like it, it is no problem—”

“Single’s fine!” you whistled cheerily, cutting her off before she could change her mind.

“Perfect!” Vivi clapped her hands together. “Nami offered to go out to eat today, and I was wondering if you would like to join us? It would be a great way to learn about each other!”

You shrugged, “Sure, but I’m kind of broke right now, so if one of you could pay for me I can pay you back in a week.”

“No need to worry!” Vivi reassured, “I will pay for you two, consider it a gift to honor our new friendship!”

“Thanks, Vivi…” you sighed in relief, tossing your bag up onto your mattress.

“Well, I say we get going!” Nami interjected, hopping off the couch below your bed, “we can look around and decide what sounds good.”

The three of you filed out of the dormitory, crossing the campus in order to reach downtown. It felt strange seeing your fellow students around the campus, some entering buildings and others lazing around on the grass. You failed to recognize even the most colorful characters loitering about, and judging by some of their rather explicative attitudes, you wanted to keep it that way.

“We could get Japanese, Italian, Indian,” Nami listed, leading the charge down the street.

“I wouldn’t mind Italian,” you muttered, not wanting to be the deciding factor.

“How about you, Vivi? Does Italian sound good?” Nami turned to face her roommate.

“Of course, I am fine with—”

“____!” a voice called out.

The three of you turned to the sudden outcry of your name. You hardly knew anyone on account of being a shut-in orphan for most of your life, despite living in Red Line for so long. But you did recognize the voice that shouted your name.

Across the street stood Luffy, flanked by three odd men. He waved at you madly, sprinting across the street with no regard, much to the horror of his companions, who chased after him, much to the dismay of traffic.

“Friends of yours?” Nami asked, a mixture of apprehension and curiosity covering her face.

“Just the black-haired one,” you whispered back.

Luffy dashed onto the sidewalk, followed by his terrified partners, and ran straight up to you.

“____, these are my roommates!” Luffy stretched his arms around their shoulders, pulling them in close. “This is—”

“Sanji!” the blond interjected, pushing in front of his roommate, “it’s a pleasure to meet you, mes chéries.”

Viv blushed at the pet name, but you could see the dollar signs bulging out of Nami’s eyes. You weren’t one to swoon head-over-heels over a little French, so you tucked your hands in your pockets and waited for the next introduction.

“I’m Usopp!” the curly-haired man cheered, giving two thumbs up and not-so-subtly ushering his green-haired companion to speak.

“Zoro,” the moss-head gruffed, shuffling his feet boredly.

“Aren’t they great?” Luffy shouted, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Yeah, glad someone else gets the pleasure of knowing you, Luffy,” you joked.

Zoro snorted at your comment, a smirk appearing on his face for half a second.

“Well, if you three aren’t doing anything, wanna join us? We were just going to eat and hang out,” Nami offered.

“Okay!” Luffy agreed immediately, “I’m suuuuper hungry, so let’s go eat somewhere with lots of food!”

“Everywhere has lots of food, Luf,” Zoro yawned, scratching his head.

“We were planning on Italian food, that sound good to you?” Nami placed a hand on her hip.

Before Luffy could make any further statements, Usopp clasped a hand over his mouth. “Italian sounds fantastic!” he assured us.

“My dad owns a place,” Sanji remarked, “he probably won’t let us eat for free, but I could probably get a discount.”

Nami grinned, clapping her hands excitedly at the thought of saving money.

“Perfect, lead the way, Prince Charming!” Nami cheered, twirling her finger in the air, leading your newly formed crew behind Sanji.

“Your brother is Ace? Like, Portgas D. Ace? Like, famous hockey player for the Grand Line, that Ace?” Nami exclaimed, jaw dropping open in shock.

“Yeah! Do you know him?” Luffy replied, shoveling down his seventh slice of pizza.

“Know him?” Sanji hissed, “what part of ‘famous hockey player for the Grand Line’ do you not understand?”

“He is quite famous…” Vivi whispered.

While Nami and Sanji continued to prod Luffy for more answers, you and Zoro quietly ate your food. Well, you’d consider what you were eating as food, a plate of carbonara and a side of asparagus, but Zoro was eating a singular piece of bread with a bottle of red wine. ‘To each their own,’ you shrugged.

“So…” you started, turning to Zoro, “what’s your major?”

Zoro stared down at you intimidatingly, unflinching at your question. Maybe it was his bulky frame or fiery green hair, but something about him sent shivers down your spine. Did your question offend him somehow? How the hell could he take a question like that in a bad way? 

“Exercise science,” he answered, taking a swig from his bottle, “I wanna be a personal trainer.”

‘Huh, guess he’s not that scary…’ you thought to yourself.

“Are you planning on being a coach or something? Or do you have different plans?” you continued, praying the conversation wouldn’t fall flat.

“...I’d like to open my own dojo, but I’m not opposed to doing one-on-one training for the beginning of my career,” he mumbled.

“People always say to dream big. I hope it all goes well for you.”

Any malicious energy that Zoro had previously held seemed to dissipate with your response. You weren’t a psychic by any means, but as you looked into Zoro’s sharp eyes, you could make out a little softness within them.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” he sighed, taking another sip of wine.

Your conversation reached its course as you both went back to eating. Nami was currently trying to get Ace’s number out of Luffy, not for any romantic reason from what you could tell, however. Those dollar signs were back in her eyes, glimmering with greed as she pestered Luffy.

“I think it starts with a three. Or maybe it was an eight?” Luffy asked himself, confusion clouding his expression.

“Who cares?” Sanji groaned, “he’s just a womanizing pretty boy!”

“Pot calling kettle black!” Usopp pointed out, sticking his fork at Sanji for emphasis.

“Yeah, butt out, Sanji! Mama’s gotta get herself a sugar daddy!” Nami hissed.

“You can find plenty at the Mary Geoiose Institute, Nami,” you teased, “unless you wanted a military man, in which case Marineford is probably taking applications.”

Nami faux gasped, a hand pressed to her chest in shock. “I prefer my lovers to be more down to earth! Money isn’t everything, you know? Besides, I’d never date someone so uptight, either.”

All of you laughed at her over dramatic act, even Zoro, who gave a soft chuckle. In less than an hour all of you were cracking jokes and carrying on a conversation, nobody left out and nobody reigning over the others.

Your life had been uneventful, plagued by boredom without a dream to call your own. You hadn’t needed anyone before, so you weren’t expecting to need anyone now. But being here with your new…friends? It felt like that missing piece of your life had finally clicked. Maybe you didn’t have a dream quite yet, but you certainly had a wish: that this moment would last forever.

“Pardon me!” Vivi announced, gently ringing her wine glass. She stood up, smiling at everyone.

“I would like to make a toast,” she smiled, “to our little crew!”

“Doesn’t a crew need a name~?” Nami drunkenly jeered.

Vivi pondered for a moment. “I suppose it does! Any suggestions, my friends?”

“The Ero-Cooks,” Zoro offered, taking another swig.

“Oh, very clever! How about the Marimos? Huh?” Sanji growled, shaking his fist in anger.

Nami, Luffy, and Usopp attempted to give more suggestions through Zoro and Sanji’s argument, though Nami was a little too drunk to be offering any kind of advice. But while everyone was speaking, an idea struck you.

“The Straw Hats,” you said, pointing at Luffy’s hat. “Technically speaking, Luffy’s the reason we’re here right now. Makes sense to name us after him.”

“The Straw Hats…” Vivi murmured to herself, “a perfect name!”

Vivi raised her glass.

“To the Straw Hats!”

Seven glasses rose in unison, meeting in the middle of the table to clink together.

“To the Straw Hats!”

╰┈➤ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ a/n﹕hello, and thank you for reading this work! i highly recommend reading 'Ace of Spades' by Mihawkuri, as it inspired me to write my own college au! i hope you all enjoy reading, and while updates may be spaced out, i promise i will not abandon this story! i plan on going all the way to senior year if possible!! once again, thank you for reading! here is the ao3 link!

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

This really odd Maoist org tried to "infiltrate" our local anarchist org. They're either dumb baby revolutionaries or straight up cops. They came in and immediately started talking about hella illegal things and also asking our members for their real names. They wanted real names so they could "do jail support". I told them we already have an ABC chapter and GDC that do that. There's even a jail support for black prisoners specifically. They were like "more is always good tho", to which I told them "That's not true. We rather have well established people who've already been doing it for years than an org that just came onto the scene 5 months ago." They left shortly after that. They sussed everyone out. Feds or not, they're no longer welcomed in our space. Which is honestly a hard thing to pull off lol, we have the occasional annoying ass DemSocs come help us out and even they haven't been banned. I'm not a member of the anarchist org, being an individualist and all, but I print a lot of their literature for them. They're ancoms lol, not my thing but also I rather support fellow anarchists than fucking Leninists. The Maoists didn't immediately say they were Maoists, or at all. We figured it out really quick by the way they talked. They claimed to be anarchists but then referred to their org as "the party" and a member as their "chairwoman". Honestly the "chairwoman" was the obvious give away. That and that they couldn't keep up with the casual anarchy talk. I said they tried to "infiltrate" but I think they were moreso just gathering intel to then takeover our projects, they repeatedly asked about where we prep food for our distributions so that they could start their own. Bro, I have nothing against you starting your own food distribution but we are not giving our kitchen up to you, we don't know you! You are not vetted! These are basic understandings.

[respectthepetty]

Pride Petty Watch (SOTUS) 4/5

I'm watching the blacklisted shows I was supposed to watch during Pride: Love in the Air, The Untamed, and my (former?) sworn enemy, SOTUS. I've made it halfway through SOTUS (first, second, third), and barely remembered EVERYTHING about this show once I hit episode nine, so now I'm hauling ass through the remaining episodes because Arthit is wet, stressed, and sexually repressed (just how I like my men), and I know what's coming. The Obama 'Hope' poster can't save him now.

Barack, we're really in the angst era now, and I'm living for it!

Kong has been in his feelings all day that Arthit likes a girl, but the sex gods have thrown him a lifeline in the form of crappy plumbing. Before crappy plumbing was invented and pipes starting bursting, how were the gays forced to sleep together in the same bed? Plumbing was a huge plot porn in porn, so I don't think we give it enough credit for helping people get laid.

And, of course, the first thing Kong does once Arthit is in his apartment is he feeds him, so he can get lectured about his baby taste, and he gives him pink milk to signal that the BL part of this BL is about to explode!

We done been knowing that Kong wanted all of Arthit's attention which is why he is constantly pissing Arthit off (itty bitty masochist is a problem if he doesn't have someone controlling him), so I'm glad he confessed to that quickly and without shame.

Since I'm watching this show through a kinky lens rather than strictly a BL one, I truly don't think Kong realized he had feelings for Arthit until he was asked. I think that up until this point, he just craved the punishments and the attention that came with it, and now that'he is being ask if he likes Arthit, he is slowly understanding that he actually does like Arthit and not just what Arthit does for him (punishes and controls him). I am so fucking invested!

I'm not being ridiculous about this either because Arthit tells Kong to stop smoking, and Kong simply says that he'll stop. Kong needs this kind of attention. He needs to be told what to do and punished when he doesn't. The way King dresses tells us that he likes structure. He only has a few items in his fridge. He likes order. As messy as Arthit might be, he is great at providing Kong exactly what he needs.

Ten episodes in and I am losing my mind over this show! I know I did not have this much fun with it the first time around, and even though those first eight episodes were stale, these past two are checking off all of my favorite things: not-date date, forced proximity, sleeping confession, AND ARTHIT IS AWAKE! This show walked, so the bed scenes in The Time of Fever and The On1y One could run.

And now Arthit is avoiding Kong! I am being fed so damn well with this episode. This is peak cinema! And to make it all better, Arthit is in Kong's phone with a little sun next to his name because Arthit is warmth to Kong, yet giving him the cold shoulder now. The beautiful irony!

Perfect time for my ghost ship to pop back up! M looks so hurt that Kong won't tell him what is wrong! He is even more bothered that Kong wants to be alone and is snapping at him. Even if these boys couldn't be romantically together, they really are good friends.

As a fellow slut, my answer to this question has always been "more than 100, less than 1,000' regardless of the actual number (because who can remember?), so Tuta is answering exactly how all queer sluts answer, and I have never felt so represented in a BL in all my years of watching them.

TOPTAP! Now that I remember watching this show, I know I didn't see this interaction as queer the first time around, but now . . . I think Arthit had stronger feelings for Jay rather than Namtan. And this isn't a Kong x M ghost ship kind of thing either. There is tension in this scene, and it's radiating from Arthit.

Namtan is scary because she sat there for FOUR HOURS and now that Jay finally showed up yet completely forgot their three-year anniversary, she just keeps smiling through the entire exchange. Girl, stop that creepy ass behavior! Just grab a knife and stab him already.

I'm upset that Namtan basically called Arthit just to complain about her boyfriend, but I love that Arthit has turned this shit show of a conversation around and is now complaining swooning about Kong being an itty bitty masochist who keeps provoking him as a means to get his attention.

Arthit is sooooo close to the truth here. Kong does want to be a pain in Arthit's ass in more than one way. Arthit isn't imagining this. Kong actively wants it and has made that part clear.

I do not like Namtan. She needs to go worry about her failing relationship and leave this emerging bisexual alone because pink IS Arthit's color, and this pink milk business is the perfect metaphor for his (repressed) queerness since some people are chill about it and others like Namtan always got some dumb shit to say about how they don't expect it from him. Queerness comes in all shapes and sizes, Namtan!

Lord, now he is hiding behind the curtain while he basically tells Kong that he will continue to avoid him for the rest of their lives. This is so delicious! I cannot believe I had to make it through eight whole episodes before I got to the good and juicy center of this story!

Arthit opened this can of worms when he asked Kong if he had feelings for him. Before that, Kong was just going along with whatever because he simply liked the way it felt, but now he realizes what those feelings mean, and boy oh boy, I'm having the time of my life!

AND NOW KONG IS TAKING OFF THE STRING BRACELET! Tian from The On1y One and Kong are the same text but different fonts. Nerds and their fucking string bracelets are out to get me in my feelings. Alexa, play Ariana Grande's "One Last Time" so I can cry while I dance!

Okay, Ms. My Love Mix-Up, I know this is Kong's name in Thai but . . .

It now looks like a "W" since she has used it so much which means it's an upside down "M" and if that was intentionally, that is genius of the show. Props department earning its paycheck!

I believe 2016 was still during Off's "dark days" (when he was kind of a jerk), so having his character constantly being the one to scream "fag" is really doing something to me. I don't even understand Thai, but I just feel like he is saying this with too much enthusiasm for my liking. I know it's a character, but if I had tried to rewatch this show before Cooking Crush and The Trainee came out this year, I would've walked away with some grudges against Off, the actor. I'm going to sit in this feeling for a bit.

Kong threatened to make Arthit his wife and now Tuta responds to Bright's homophobic comments by stating he will make Bright his husband. I do not like the implications or that a product placement has been roped into this. This is not the vibe, and I would like to return to my angsty homphobe-turns-into-a-homo plot immediately.

Yes! This is exactly what I need! Kong sitting alone in the place he was punished by Arthit and thinking about those moments fondly while Arthit is experiencing a crisis as he is being questioned if he likes girls or boys. This is how you do flashbacks people!

I wrote briefly before during The Eclipse that the pink milk in this show was an entire character all on its, but rewatching this show has really made me appreciate just how well done all of this was. The conversation with Knot is about pink milk but the pink milk has been the perfect symbol of Arthit's queerness at every angle. He doesn't really hide drinking it because it's just part of him, but once his friends (the people he think accepts him) start commenting and teasing him for being a guy who likes it, he starts to hide it, and even when he tries other things, he doesn't like them as much as he likes the pink milk. I guess we needed the first eight episodes to lay a solid foundation, so I could be losing my mind in the last half.

The way these two best buddies are talking about THE friends-to-lovers issue while not naming names has me holding onto the last bit of my sanity. Once the feelings spill out, they can't be shoved back in. It changes things.

(which is why y'all should just get together!)

May getting hit by a ball had me crackling at three in the morning and was exactly what I needed in the midst of all this angst. God, how did this show win me over like this?!

M is giving May the same looks that Home gives Peach in Peaceful Property, which means New is showing the characters' love the same ways, so HOME IS IN LOVE WITH PEACH AND NEW IS PLAYING IT AS SUCH!

Arthit is now thinking about Kong giving him his heart on the beach and let me state it again - THIS is how you do a flashback people!

Kong walked away from the pink milk, so Arthit could have it, and I've never seen a boy look so miserable drinking his queer little drink.

EPISODE THIRTEEN, I NEED YOU RIGHT NOW!

[shisabun]

I NEED YOU ALL TO LISTEN

I know you're all tired of hearing political things, and I get it. But I have to speak on this. If I can get even one person to understand, then I'll see it as an accomplishment.

My fellow Americans, we are spoiled. We are blessed and spoiled.

We have had the opportunity to be born and raised in a country of freedom. A county who's freedom was paid for in blood. What I'm about to say is not fear mongering. It's a perspective that you all need to hear.

This is coming from a former military brat, who's father was failed by the system in the 90's. From a first gen American on her mother's side. This is coming from a Caucasian woman who was often treated as "latino" because her mother speaks Spanish.

This is coming from someone who's mother is a translator who worked with all those "illegal immigrants" You suddenly hate. From someone who's friends suddenly stopped talking to her after they heard my mother's accent for the first time.

There is a monster in the heart of this country that's constantly being fed by harmful rhetoric. But I want to believe that we are better than this. We are a nation that brags about our freedoms and strength, but we often fail to see the enemy in our home.

We don't recognize this threat because in our lifetime, we've never been face to face with it. But my mother has. She was not as lucky as we were when she was a child. She grew up under the oppressive shadow of a dictator.

She never went into detail about some of the things she faced growing up. Until now. This past weekend, I went to visit my mom to celebrate my sister's birthday. We threw on the local news to see the weather while we got ready, and they played clips from Trump's most recent rally.

I rolled my eyes at the slurred speach and racist remarks, per usual, and looked over to crack a joke with my mom. But she was staring at the screen with hollow, watery eyes.

I had to call her a couple of times to get her attention, and when I did, she spoke in the smallest, most heart-wrenching voice I'd ever heard.

"I feel 10 again."

My mother grew up in Spain under Franco. She looked at this sad excuse for a human being and was triggered.

People often scoff when Trump is compared to a dictator, but you have to understand that's what he WANTS TO BE. If you support him I ask that you actually LISTEN to his words. Think CRITICALLY to what he's saying. Don't read between the lines. Take it at face value.

He's never hidden who he is. Not even before he was president. Trust me when I say HE. DOES. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. YOU. This country we're so proud of is literally in danger, & you're the only one who can save it. PLEASE don't hand this country over to him.

Please.

Think critically.

[onskepa]

Hii! Could you please do a vampire reader? It can be whatever you like (only If you feel comfortable), I love your writing so much!

Hellooooooooooooo darling~!! Sorry if this comes out as short, I did my best to extend it but I hope you enjoy this one~!!

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

Reypay

The na’vi have many stories to tell, each holding a specific purpose. To hold memories of those long gone, to tell of legendary stories, the heroes, the fallen, the times of sorrow, many stories that carry on and hold tradition. And there are many more stories that are new, still fresh. 

Be it odd, funny, or sad, there is a story for something. There are even stories to warn others, precautionary tales. Stories of things that lurk in the dark. What danger lies in place of which you cannot see. What happens to those who were not careful enough, falling victim to those warnings. But what story out there could be warning people? One. There is one story, a tale, a warning. A story that all na’vi have come to know.

“Is that a threat Dr. Augustine?” 

“Not a threat, but a warning” 

“Please, we got bullets, machines and a fuckton of blades. Nothing will stand in our way” 

In the Avatar program wing, Dr. Grace Agustine was standing bravely to the current Colonel Dayrl Hempenton. Beside him was his lieutenant colonel, Miles Quaritch.  Both stand tall, smirking in a disgusting smug way. Hempenton was looking down at Grace as if she knew nothing about pandora. 

“I'm telling you Colonel, you and your squad will end up dead before you reach the site. There is something worse than the viperwolves, worse than the thanators, worse than any predator native to pandora. Both the fauna and Na’vi fear this monster” Grace says in a stressful way. But Hempenton and Quaritch laugh it off. Cant say she didn't warn them. 

Grace knew better, if she cant stop them, only they will know what lies in the darkness of Pandora

The forest at night was restless, the animals, big and small can feel it. Quick and silent did the monster go. Looking for its next supply. It grows hungry, its need to feed grows strong every day. The insatiable hunger, to quench its thirst. It's been days since its last feeding. 

As it runs silently in the dense forest, within the territory of the Omatikaya village, Mo’at can feel the uneasiness of the forest. She knows. Mo’at knows that the beast hungers, and if it is not fed soon, she fears the bond will break and will come for her people. 

But it seems her troubles won't be long, as her little human technology beeps in the quietness. Grace has sent the word. Humans will be in the forest, and from what mo’at can understand, a population of 30 humans will enter the grounds. This makes mo’at sigh in relief. 

“Tonight, the beast shall have her blood….”

Many humans have landed down from their flying machines, armed and ready to reach their desired destination. They were equipped, ready to tear down any danger that is to come. Hempenton clicks on his voice communicator, radioing in on his luteninent. “Gold card this is hawks eye, we are on land and will pursue” he informs. 

Leading his team, they all silently start to make their way. It was dark and quiet as expected, making as minimal sounds as possible, using the heat signals of their cameras to spot anything hiding in the dark. 

“Hey colonel” one of the soldiers calls out to hempton. The leader turns, “yeah, what is it?”. The soldier looks at his radar in concern, “I see nothing sir, nothing on my radar” he responds. His fellow comrades chuckled like he made some silly statement. “Of course there is nothing soldier, it's night, everything is most likely asleep” Hempton responds as he makes clear a path. But the soldier frowns. 

“That is the problem sir. There is nothing around us, don't you hear it? It's dead silent. There is not even nocturnal animals around”

Quaritch and his squad were at their designated base, many armed and ready when given command from Hempton in radio. So far things seemed relaxing, every few minutes the squad would give updates and Quaritch would tell them how far they are from the place they needed to be. 

Booze and music was being played, feeling confident that their mission would go well.

But their cockiness blinded them. 

Soon in the intercoms, loud, painful screams were heard. 

Quartich grabbed his radio, “Hawks eye come in! Whats going on over there?!” he shouts, he and his squad mentally fearing the worst. 

“BACK UP!! BACK UP NOW!!” was what hempton was able to say after his intercom was suddenly shut off. Quaritch wasted no time and had his team fly out to the site Hempton and the rest were at. The other soldiers tried to get in touch with others but all they heard was the sound of flesh being torn, screams of unbearable pain, but no words was able to be said. 

And what felt like hours, really were only a few minutes. And what they saw was left with only pure confusion and horror. 

Machines broken, weapons shredded into small pieces It looked like a war happened. But in the middle of all the broken metal, on a wooden pike was the head of Colonel Hempenton. His eyes wide and expression of horrors to which none could know of. Whatever Hempenton saw, it was the last thing he ever saw before his untimely demise. Everyone stood silent, but had to go on, to see what else have happened. 

And then Quaritch and his squad all had the same question. 

“Where are the bodies?”

“Remember children, she is not our friend, she is not our ally, for the beast only cares for herself and no other. The bloodied beat lurks deep in the shadows, the darkness, her only enemy is the sun. To others, it is just a game to Reypay” neytiri whispers in a hush tone as she tells the old forest tale of the bloody beast, Reypay. 

Her children all look at her in amazement and horror. Yes, they hear the reypay story over and over, and will for a thousand times. 

“Mama…reypay won't come into our homes right…?” tuk asks as she huddles close to neytiri for comfort. The mother soothes tuk, stroking her hair, “no, reypay has never entered our village, never in our homes. Reypay is of many things, but even she has her own morals, "Neytiri replies. 

Neteyam gently pats tuks shoulder, “come on tuk, it's time to go to bed” he says. Neytiri guides her children to their hammocks, where Jake made sure they were all well cushioned. Each sully child is given a hug and a kiss of good night. Tuk was tucked in between kiri and lo’ak. All of them soon being carried into their own little dream world. 

All but neteyam.

In the middle of the night, Neteyam was awoken by Jake, silently gesturing to not make a lot of noise. “Dad, what's going on..?” he asks in a whispering tone, “come on” was all jake said. Guiding his son, Jake preps neteyam with his hunting blade and a short cloak. Neytiri is already waiting for them outside. 

“Mom, where are we going, what about kiri, lo’ak and tuk?” neteyam asks, getting worried by the second. Neytiri calms him, placing a kiss on the forehead, “they will be fine, we won't be taking long” she answered. The three jump from branch to branch, landing safely down to the grounds where mo’at was waiting for them. “Grandmother…?” neteyam whispers, mo’at gave him a look and all began to walk. 

Neteyam knows that no matter how many questions he asks, they won't be answered. At least not at the moment.

It was a walk, but they reached a distant floating mountain. Neteyam suggested to take the ikrans, but Jake said no. Where they were going, the ikrans were not needed. So as they reach the single small, floating mountain, Neteyam sees his fellow peers. All gathered, and all just as confused. 

“Where are we? What is going on?” Neteyam asks, looking at the mountain, he doesn't like the feeling it's emitting. Neytiri only shushes him. Jake and mo’at stand before the young crowd, “I know you are all questioning what is going on. Why you are all here, why in such hours. They will all be answered here. But heed our words young warriors, you will meet an important person. One who can be your ally, or your enemy. Choose your words wisely once you speak to her” mo’at said. 

In a single line, all of the young na’vi began to enter the mountain through its cave like entrance. Silent, only observing their surroundings. 

Neteyam enters last with his mother, with lit torches inside, they can see many things, things they wish they never saw. 

There were cages of humans, many from the recent raids Jake had led. Humans neteyam remembers were captured and taken away. He thought they were killed off sight! Many humans beg the na’vi to release them. So many cries of terror and hopelessness. “Don't give them your attention. Soon they will be gone” Jake says. 

The large group stopped at the middle of the large empty space that was inside the small mountain. Jake takes a step forth, “the stories you all have grown up with, the story of the bloody beast-” 

“It's all true~” 

A voice echoed. 

From the midst of the shadows, a human emerged from the darkness. But this human was different from what the na’vi were use to seeing. 

This human was of a young girl, her skin so deathly pale, her cheeks sunken in, ears pointed and narrow, her lips black as the night, nails long and sharp. Her eyes glowed red, and most of all was her teeth. 

Her teeth were sharp, and consisted of two sharp fangs. 

The girl licks her lips, wiping away the red liquid. 

“Greetings young warriors~ If you are all here, that means you are of age to know~” she says. Her voice is soft yet sickly smooth. 

“Age to know what? Who are you?” one of the youngsters asks. The girl giggles in a menacing way. “How rude of me~ My name is Reypay, at your delightful service” she makes a mocking bow. 

Her answer, reypay. The name of the scary tale the na’vi knew very well. But how is she real? It was a story! Just a folktale! 

“I know you are all confused, reypay? Real? Of course I am! I have been here for so long, why am I even older than mo’at here” Reypay continues. Her smile was wide and unnatural. Mo’at nods to confirm it.

“Why are we here?” Neteyam asks. And in a blink of an eye, Reypay was right at his face. Their noses are almost touching. “Neteyam Sully, my my. You have grown, I remember when you were a wee little baby. Fresh from the chrysalis. Even now you reek of that smell~"Reypay speaks, her red eyes staring down to his golden eyes. Yet her eyes held no shine, like no life was there. 

Neytiri quickly pulls her son away, hissing at Reypay in a warning manner. The girl raises her arms as a form of surrendering. “Easy there baby mama, I'm not gonna hurt him. I made my promise” proceeds to make an X across her pale chest with her sharp nail. Blood oozed for a bit until her skin healed itself. 

“You are not human, are you?” another na’vi asks. And the girl twists her neck in a gross manner, her dead eyes staring at the young one who asks. “Once. I was human once. But not any more, I am what they called a Vampire. Like in the famous story of mine. I am a creature of the darkness, enemy to the sun, and always hungry for blood~”. 

Clapping her hands, she makes her way back to Jake and mo’at. “I will cut to the chase because I have a busy schedule tonight. You all have passed your iknimaya. Now adults, which means you will all now attend the raids against the humans. What I want from you all is one simple thing….” 

The youngsters, even neteyam all leaned in to hear what reypay had to say. 

“When you fight the humans, do your best to not kill them, hurt them if you must, but do not kill” Reypay says. Of course this man the young warriors even more confused. The vampire hummed a bit, tapping her chin until she snapped her fingers. “Let me show you why”, she jumps to one of the cages, one that holds a single human, she opens the cage and grabs the human roughly and brings the being down. 

“PLEASE!! PLEASE HELP ME!! HELP ME-” the human begged but the mask was removed. 

“Bon appetite~” 

Reypay made a hissing sound and sunk her sharp fangs into the victims neck. Blood was spewing out. Feral growls were heard, her claws extended clinging tightly to the body. She was drinking human blood. And the poor human did put up a fight, but not for long. With the lack of oxygen and losing blood, the sky demon died instantly.

Neteyam couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Horror and fear was the only thing he was feeling. 

Reypay pulls away after a few minutes. Her mouth and jaw were covered in  dark red blood. “Aaaahh~ That was very refreshing~”, she drops the body like it was nothing, even stomping on the lifeless being. “As a vampire, my only source of nourishment is human blood. So calm yourself, your na’vi blood taste like shit and not even worth breaking my fangs for. What I need from you all, is to bring me as many humans as you can. In return, I keep you all safe as you sleep soundling in your little huts. This is a deal even your great great great grandparents accepted. So really, if you don't want to deal with them as much, hand the humans over”. 

There was a loud silence, so much was still being processed. mo’at stepped forward, “Reypay will keep you all safe, she has ability beyond our own. Unnatural yet powerful. I'm afraid, in this, you do not have much of a choice”. 

“She has kept you all safe for a long time. Before your parents existed. You don't need to be her friend or anything, a simple deal is all” Jake adds. 

Neteyam felt his mother slightly push him forward, “you must lead the example” neytiri whispers to him. Well he can't run away now can he? 

He takes a step towards Reypay, whose grin never leaves her dead face. “You have my word. I will give you the sky demons to keep us safe in return” he says. And not sooner enough, the other na’vi followed him. Reypay lets out a cold chuckle, “I look forward to your promise young warriors~” 

I liked how it turned out ngl. Leaves room for many guesses and stuff XD

But I hope you all enjoyed this one! Until next time! See ya!

--------

Reypay = Blood