#no one has missed the bandwagon and if anyone wants to send another in

[yloiseconeillants]

(if I have not missed the band wagon) 🎁 for Panthea?

[hxdrostorms]

@amalgamatus has sent: Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy, The Wolf Man

universal classic monster headcanon asks!  [Accepting, SPECIFY MUSE]

The Phantom of the Opera:

what aspect of your muse do they think is hardest for people to accept?do they try to keep it secret / are they afraid of being ostracized if it’s found out?

// The fact that Milo took up the role of a physicist of sorts, for other saints. That's a very unconventional role for a saint, of his caliber and patent within Athena's army. It might even get him a few odd eyes, from much older people who are used to hearing stories, about gold saints sticking to more "normal" duties for them. To say that gold saints are almost venerated as deities on Earth, would be an understatement.

He doesn't hide this fact from others, it just feels natural for him to do this for those in need.

It is interesting to note that Milo was originally, only interested in seeking out more knowledge about the human body. He wanted to be able to land his attacks, in the most vulnerable and weakspots on anyone's bodies. And he came out of it moved, by the poor state and conditions warriors and apprentices, were left at. Milo isn't ignorant to it, after all he also went through his own personal hell in the hands, of his former master.

The Mummy:

what is something your muse has lost and desperately wants to get back? what would they be willing to do to achieve this?

// Milo kinda of blames himself for his friend's death, after allowing Hyoga to make past his house. On one hand he knows what he did was, in Athena's favor. That was the "right" option to do so. And he is also certain that Camus would only allow himself to perish, by the hands of his pride and joy, one of his apprentices. So, that battle was the proper send off to him. It is this sentiment, that pushes him to want to oversee and help Hyoga out. He doesn't want to be a Camus replacement, just someone to pick up from where he left out.

But it doesn't damper the feeling of how much, he misses Camus. He wished his death hadn't been so sudden, like the way it was. Milo knows very well there isn't anything he can do, to get him back. Bringing Camus back wouldn't just fix the pain away, as seen by the way he badly reacted to seeing his friend, on the enemy's side. He understands and it is very clear to him, how that is just wistful thinking.

Although, he will admit, he doesn't complain about the new life he is given by Athena. Thus, in a way making all of his inner turmoil, pointless by the end of everything. Everything is truly good, in the end.

The Wolf Man:

has your muse ever made a mistake that had lasting repercussions? what was it / were they? do they still regret their actions, or have they moved on?

// Milo was admitedly, a little too eager to join in the Aiolia's harrassment bandwagon, following his brother's fall from grace.

Of course, young kids/teens (this is what they were at the time) would be all too quick to fall into the idea of "guilty by association", as well as "guilty until proven innocent". That's unfortunately, to be expected from them. However, the main takeaway here is that, the harrassment was being weaponized by Saga.

The only thing that prevented them from getting physical, or taking it to another level were specific rules in their conduct. Saints are forbidden from fighting for personal matters, if two gold gold saints fight one another an '100 days war would begin' So, for 13 years they skirted around the boundaries and limits, of these rules. By G's events, Milo seemed to have developed a knack, for specifically picking on Aiolia in a moment of feeling morally superior over someone else.

However, he wouldn't maintain that for long. His views on Aiolia's worth shifted over the course of G's events, suddenly he wasn't sure if he were supposed to view the Leo saint as the really awful person, they have been painting him as.

It wouldn't be until the main serie's events, Milo and Aiolia would be able to properly turn this page.

[bottomlouisficfest]

Addressing Some Drama

We prefer not to address drama publicly because this is fic fest and people are here for writing tips and fics, but since people are making misleading posts about this fest, we decided to address it.

Last year, an individual signed up to be both a writer and a beta in the fic fest, but later dropped out as a writer. They said they were able to continue on as a beta, so we said that was fine and removed them from the fest.

Many months later, we heard from a writer whose fic this person had beta-ed that they had insulted BL writers and the fest and had made this writer feel uncomfortable. We received explicit proof of this, and so the beta was blocked from @blouisparadise​​, as that blog is intended to be a safe space for BL writers. When the person found out they were blocked, they had a friend ask why, and we explained the situation. They later reached out through another friend to apologize, which we thanked them for, but chose not to unblock them from the blog in order to keep it as an encouraging space for BL writers.

To our surprise, the person went on to sign up for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest soon afterwards. We treated them as we do every other writer and welcomed them into the fest despite their previous disparaging comments.

As many of you know, we require all writers to submit a draft of their fic about a month and a half before final fics are due. This draft has no minimum word requirement - it can just be a couple of paragraphs if a writer wants - but it’s a good way to ensure that writers are working on their fics.

This draft deadline is articulated to writers through email and on Tumblr at the beginning of the fest and it is also mentioned as a requirement in the rules for the fest. One week before this deadline occurs, the mods send emails to each participant in the fest to remind them to submit their draft via email. We also posted numerous reminders on Tumblr and on Twitter.

After the draft deadline passed, we didn’t receive drafts from several writers and reached out to them through email. This is the email we sent:

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In the email above, we provided an additional week for these writers to either submit their draft OR simply reach out to us about an extension if needed.

We also mentioned on Tumblr and Twitter that we were sending this email, just in case some may not check their email frequently. Immediately, several writers sent their drafts, and some others let us know that they would be sending their later that week. However, there were a few that we did not hear from. We posted reminders throughout the week for those writers to please submit their draft OR to contact us about an extension, just as we did in the above email. We repeatedly reiterated that if writers chose to ignore our requests instead of reaching out, they would be removed from the fest.

When the one week draft extension passed, we had heard from most participants, but there were a few that did not get back to us. We sent them an email letting them know that they had been removed from the fest and that they would not be able to participate in future fests due to lack of communication, which is our only dealbreaker in terms of participation in the fest.

The person who we mentioned above had failed to turn in their draft or reach out to us on any platform, so we sent them an email to let them know that they had been removed from the fest. They sent us the following in response:

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At this point, we had posted or emailed at least 6 different reminders about the draft deadline and requested that writers simply reach out to us if they needed more time. We heard nothing back, not even a single line email letting us know that they needed more time, which we would’ve happily accepted just as we did for others. They only reached out after we let them know that they had been removed from the fest. We replied with the following:

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We were willing to accept their draft later that day despite the fact that they had failed to reach out to us repeatedly and had now missed two deadlines. We expected that we would receive their outline and we would pretend the entire removal hadn’t happened, but instead, we received the following email:

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This email and the accusations made it in have mysteriously been excluded from this person’s post about our response, which made it sound like we had sent a two-paragraph, rude response simply because they had tried to drop out, which is untrue. For most drop outs of the fest, we simply let them know that they’ve been removed and thank them for letting us know. However, for most drop outs from a fest, we aren’t insulted by the writers.

After we received this email, we were extremely frustrated and upset at being told that we somehow lacked compassion after we had done everything possible to ensure that this person and all our writers were aware of the draft deadline and that they should reach out if they need additional time.

We have no issues being accommodating - we have allowed numerous writers over the course of three years of the BLFF turn in their drafts late and turn in their fics late because we fully understand that fic writing is not everybody’s first priority and challenges come up in life. That’s why our only request, which we reiterate constantly, is that people simply REACH OUT TO US when they are struggling or won’t be able to keep to a deadline. We are human beings, we are not all-knowing, and it is impossible to run a fest that had 100+ initial sign ups when writers will not communicate with us. We cannot know that you need help or more time when you choose to stay silent about it.

This writer had countless opportunities and chose to wait until after they had been removed, and even then, we still gave them the chance to submit their draft, only to be told that we had no compassion. As you can also see, they chose to drop out of the fest and express that they did not want to work with any fest like ours because we apparently did not care for their well-being and treated their life circumstances as a burden, also untrue.

This was our response:

Most of this email is addressing their accusations about the mods of the fest lacking compassion. We do everything in our power to help every single writer get through our fest successfully. We send emails, we post writing tips, we reach out to writers to send reminders, we post reminders to both Tumblr and Twitter, we answer questions, and we check our email daily. We have run the fest for long enough now to realize that there will always be issues for some that prevent them from staying in the fest or that ensure they require extra time, and that’s something that we accept and accommodate as much as possible. It’s why our biggest requirement for the fest is simply communication.

We’re not sure why this individual chose to selectively post private emails today in order to paint a picture of a situation that was not accurate, though we can probably guess. We’re also not sure why others in response to that post are spreading lies, but perhaps jumping on the bandwagon of hate is more fun than acknowledging the truth of any situation.

As mods of this fest, we always try to strike a balance between having rules and deadlines in order to ensure things run smoothly, and providing accommodations for people when things come up that make it difficult for them to adhere to a deadline or stay in the fest. We do our best, and we’re sure we don’t always get it right, but we think we did here. We don’t understand how anyone can suggest that providing six reminders about a deadline and an additional week to either submit a draft or to reach out to discuss options lacks compassion. We also don’t understand how anyone can send that email to strangers as though we are bad or cruel people for simply expecting all writers in a fic fest to follow a few very simple, clearly articulated rules.

Human beings participate in fic fests, but human beings run them too. We do not have the time or ability to jump through hoops to track down writers for a fic fest. We’re sympathetic to everyone who signs up for a fest and then has to deal with personal struggles that interfere with their ability to write their fic or stick with the deadlines. That’s why we do everything we can to help those people, but when our attempts to reach out and our reminders are ignored, and when we are then insulted for providing yet another chance, we are not going to respond positively to that. Even less so when it’s from an individual who has a history of insulting the fest and the types of fics this fest includes.

We apologize if we upset anybody with our response, but we also hope that people will read through the full emails to see the full story and realize that all we have ever done with this fest is do the best we can. Since we cannot individually keep up with 90 people and their personal situations as we run the fest, the one ask that we have is that people communicate with us when it comes to any issues they may be having so we can try to help. When someone chooses not to keep up that bare minimum requirement of communication and we respond accordingly, we don’t think we deserve to be insulted for that. Some may disagree, but that’s our personal take.

If you got through this, thanks for listening. And now, back to fics! 😊

[blu-joons]

DATING NCT A⇴Z HEADCANON ⇴ Wong Kunhang

A ⇴ AFFECTION

Kunhang loved affection, but he was often very sensitive to your touch. You’d often tickle him or brush over his skin and hear a giggle come from him or feel his body jolt away momentarily in surprise at your sudden affection.

B ⇴ BEFORE DATING

The two of you met through mutual friends at an event that was being held. Whilst you were stood by yourself, Kunhang decided to approach you and offer you some company and a drink. You were quick to accept his invite and soon got to know him, most definitely liking what you saw in him too.

C ⇴ CONFESSION

A lot of thought went into Kunhang’s confession to you. He took his time in making sure that the two of you were on the right page and he didn’t want to scare you off either. He decided to confess at the end of one of your dates together. It became a bit of a transition that neither of you could bring yourselves to say goodbye, so instead of saying goodbye, Kunhang decided to tell you exactly how he felt.

D ⇴ DATES

The two of you will give anything on your dates a try at least once. At least once a week, if you can, the two of you will set one evening aside to spend time with each other in amongst the chaos that came with your busy lives together. It doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting down for a meal or enjoying something more active, what the two of you make sure you do is value the time that you have together and take some time to breathe away from all of the carnage that comes with your careers.

E ⇴ EXPERIENCE

Having a relationship was something that Kunhang had always looked forward to, but there were plenty of nerves there for him too. He worried a lot about so many little things, your safety, privacy, he never wanted to put you in a bad situation no matter how often you assured him that you could handle things. Talking was key in your relationship, whenever those nerves crept back in then Kunhang would talk to you straight away so that you could help himself to ease and push those nerves aside before they grew too strong.

F ⇴ FIGHTING

Kunhang isn’t afraid to stand up for what he believes in so there are definitely times when the two of you will find yourself coming to blows. Whilst he’s not necessarily stubborn, if he feels like he’s right then he’ll try and put his point across to you as best as he can. But he’s also smart, and can tell when arguing a point has outlasted its worth and begins to drive a wedge between the two of you. Kunhang will know when to stop which will perfectly prevent anything too begin coming to blows between the two of you. He fights for his view to a point, but knows when not to overstep the line.

G ⇴ GETTING TO KNOW HIS FAMILY

Having three sisters, Kunhang knew that it would be impossible for you not to get on with his family. Adding another girl to the family was exactly what they wanted to wind Kunhang up, and being able to share plenty of stories and gossip on Kunhang was an added bonus for you all, much to his expense.

H ⇴ HOME

Moving in with you was definitely something that Kunhang looked forward to as part of your future together. He wasn’t prepared to rush things or move too quickly, but as your relationship began to progress he knew that he saw himself living somewhere just with you in the near future.

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU”

He was the first to say ‘I love you,’ at the end of one of your date nights. Kunhang wanted to be sure before he told you how he felt, but as your evening came to an end and you began to say your goodbyes, he knew that the time was perfect to open up to you. It certainly left you surprised, but you were quick to say it back, leaving him just as surprised as you.

J ⇴ JEALOUSY

Jealousy wasn’t something that Kunhang felt often, he was known to get loud in some situations, and that was usually a bit of a sign for you that he was starting to get uncomfortable. He would never admit to being jealous, it was something that would usually occur without him even knowing, but when the voice got higher, you knew that it was probably time to step in and reassure him too. It would only be once you’d told Kunhang what you saw, would he realise that perhaps he was feeling jealous after all.

K ⇴ KIDS

The future was something that Kunhang had thought about a lot, he came from a reasonably big family with his siblings and definitely wanted to continue to create a big family with you too. Of course, there was no rush for either of you, from the start, you both agreed that when the time was right this could be something that you could look forward to, but until then, you had plenty of memories to make together.

L ⇴ LAUGHTER

There are definitely times when Kunhang can get loud and draw a laugh out of anyone. He likes to make sure that you’re happy, and if the responsibility to do that is on his shoulders then he’ll happily step up. He’s not afraid to be himself around you which definitely helps him as he tries to make you laugh as often as he can. It’s natural whenever Kunhang is around you too, that he finds himself smiling. Your company alone is enough to brighten up his mood, knowing that he’s not by himself always brings a grin to his face, and as he takes note of all the quirky things that you absentmindedly do, he’ll often find himself laughing away to himself too.

M ⇴ MISSING

Kunhang is usually able to handle his feelings pretty well, when he’s overwhelmed he tends to be be quite calm and make sure that no one else can recognise how stressed he is. The other members could be forgiven for thinking that he’s not missing you by how well he manages to disguise his feelings, but the moment he sees you on a call, those emotions will hit him hard. It’s only when he physically sees you, is Kunhang reminded of how much he’s missing out on and how hard being on tour really is for to both. Yet still, no one else would know, it was something that was kept between the two of you.

N ⇴ NICKNAMES

You very quickly made the decision to jump onto the bandwagon and call Kunhang ‘donkey.’ To begin with, he hated it, but over time he learnt to adore whenever you called him by his nickname that he was so attached to.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

Kunhang was obsessed with your mind, he loved to know about your thoughts and interests. An intelligent mind was definitely something that Kunhang was attracted to in a partner.

P ⇴ PDA

Being affectionate in public isn’t something that Kunhang is huge on. If you randomly touch him in public it’ll often make him incredibly shy, which usually gets captured by a camera, much to his embarrassment. He likes to be the one to initiate affection so that he can see it coming and keep himself in control.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

Kunhang’s smart, he loves to engage in discussions and share facts with you. He’d often ask what you think about things or ask if you want to hear an interesting stat he’d read. Usually, before you’ve answered, he’s started telling you about it anyway.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS

Adventures are one of your favourite things to do together as much as you can. Long walks are particular favourites for you both, Kunhang loves to find new trails for the two of you to explore in both the city and the outskirts, trying to find as many new places as possible. Your phones are filled with memories of the places that you have been together and random photos that you’ve taken of each other along the way.

S ⇴ SEX

You are always the priority when it comes to intimacy and Kunhang will refuse to ever let it be any other way. It’s the time when he really wants to prove to you how much of a gentleman he is. He’s sensitive, and soft, and likes to take the best care of you. If you try and be the one to dominate, he won’t let you, he likes to be the one that has control so that he can make sure that he treats you right and allow himself to be second best.

T ⇴ TEXTS

He can tend to worry sometimes if he’s not heard from you in a while, so there will definitely be a few texts on your phone at the end of the day. They’re never pushy, but enough to get encourage you to respond as soon as you can.

U ⇴ UNIVERSE

Kunhang thought he knew everything about a woman, but you taught him wrong. He loved that he was constantly learning about you and learning about love, his quizzical mind was put to the rest by you in the best possible way.

V ⇴ VACATION

The moment Kunhang had some time to go on vacation he couldn’t wait to take you home and meet his family. His sisters especially had begged him to bring you to them as soon as he could. Being able to introduce you to his family was a huge deal for Kunhang, and something he wanted to do straight away.

W ⇴ WHINING

Kunhang isn’t someone that will whine often, he respects the barriers of a relationship, but will anxiously wait until he can be by your side again.

X ⇴ XXXXX

Sensitive kisses are Kunhang’s weakness, and you know it perfectly. You know the exact spots on his body that send a shiver down his spine, Kunhang has many sensitive spots that your lips will often attach. He’d find himself lost quite often under the spell of your kisses. It’s the perfect way to get whatever you want from him, he can succumb to your kisses in a moment and allow himself to be wrapped around your little finger.  

Y ⇴ YOU

You were his team mate, you were a duo in everything that you did together.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

Your touch at night can often startle Kunhang as he’s so sensitive. If you don’t fall asleep curled up beside each other then don’t be afraid when he becomes a little bit surprised if you suddenly move across in the night to touch him.

---

Masterlist

[wcamino-confessions]

My personal experience of the Bramblestar abuse

A while back, I had a salty interaction with Batty about the whole Bramblestar abuser thing a while back when I made a post about someone trying to justify the abuse of Squirrelflight, not Batty but like a level 8 user who got banned for another stuff. And just, I don't want to throw onto the bandwagon but I didn't interact with Batty before hand when making the post and Batty came to my post to complain about how I don't approve about the way Bramblestar is abusing Squirrelflight. I went to grab screens of the interaction but found that Batty had deleted his comments, my post says there's 25 comments but it is clear there is now less comments. The missing comments are the ones I had arguing with Batty about the matter. I don't approve of how I handled the situation because I was quite angry at the time about someone trying to justify it. I still do stand with the fact that Bramblestar isn't a good guy and is an abuser. Just I find that now that Batty has been called out in a different situation I feel giving my point of view can help give more details to the timeline of events. I can try to find if I do have screens of the mentioned argument on my phone but until then I will find it okay if people don't believe me as there's currently no proof I have on hand as I was not expecting the comments that Batty had commented to be deleted.

The post in question is below and I will send an update later on for if I do or do not find the argument in my phone's gallery. Also for people commenting on the situation I do want to point out that Batty uses he / him pronouns and if you aren't with Batty that doesn't justify misgendering him. Even if I don't agree with his view points it'll never be okay to do that to someone even if you don't agree with them. I've seen people using the incorrect pronouns, either on accident or not and I don't place blame on anyone directly, just keep that in mind if you do decide to comment or post in the future.

 http://aminoapps.com/p/8jqa0u

[amestrisstruggles]

So I started this ages ago, when I was in a zone, and then I stopped being in that zone. But I figured, I would get there again and I would join the pieces up in to a coherent story. And then I realised even if I ever got in that zone again, I had zero interest in this. 

So. I lay it to rest in its incomplete, jumpy chaos. 

Out of the three of us (myself, Laurence and Tharkay), it is only Laurence that has seen this dumb movie and that too only because he felt like he was missing the key context to a conversation Tharkay was having with him. He’s slightly disturbed by the film, and he’s glad Temeraire was scaling the roof at the time as he shouldn’t like to have to explain why he’s watching such a terrible thing to the cat, but also why had Tharkay watched this? Had he really liked it? It seems like it’d be the exact combination of things to fill him with rage, but maybe there was some hidden meaning he would need to speak to Tharkay about to understand. 

Tharkay should have watched it, because it’s dangerous to jump on a bandwagon with no idea of the genesis, but it was funny and he’s a busy boy.

Tharkay is patient. It's a skill acquired over time and for this? Totally worth it.

He's taken the tea bags in the cupboard above the kettle. And he's taken the box in the larder. He's set his phone up with a good vantage point. Now he just waits.

Right on time, Laurence walks into the kitchen and turns on the kettle. Ten seconds later, Temeraire follows, winds his way around Laurence's feet and then leaps on to the countertop and starts to lick his paw. Perfect.

Laurence pulls out a mug, opens the cupboard and stops. He imagines the frown on his face and fights down a giggle. Temeraire stills suddenly and looks directly at him, crouching behind the side door. Please, Tharkay begs in his mind. Don't let the cat give it away. Almost as if he'd heard him, Temeraire drops his gaze and then nudges Laurence's hand with his head. Safe.

Tharkay waits to ensure he's a got a good few seconds of Laurence's confused disorientation before he sweeps in smoothly behind him.

"Are you lost, baby girl."

Laurence whirls around to face him, his brow furrowed and then his entire face crumples with confusion.

"What?"

He has to cut it tighter than he'd wanted to, but he hasn't foreseen his own hysterical laughter.

After watching it a few times and laughing to himself, he shows it to Laurence.

"Can I post it?"

Laurence looks gloriously confused but agrees

*****

Tharkay stages the next one when they're out on a hike, waits for the moment after they've packed up after their picnic lunch and are ready to get going again. There's a perfectly placed sign post and even more perfectly, Laurence has pulled out the map. He has his phone in hand this time and gets a good few seconds of Laurence's head bent over the map in front of the post before he breaks the silence

"Are you lost baby girl"

He amazes himself with his ability to say it straight faced a second time. Laurence turns his head slowly to the side to look at him, face blank.  His expression is so severe, it's almost more ridiculous than the first time.

*****

He has plans, so many plans but then his boss sends him a veritable goldmine of data that they’ve been waiting for and he gleefully dives back into his work.

When he surfaces 4 days later, his mind is a clean slate and any plans he had for followup videos are gone. He stumbles into bed and knocks out with all the weight of sleep deprivation and all the relief of a job well done.

Tharkay wakes up with a purring Temeraire curled around his head. It’s fucking adorable. It’s also hot as hell, so he only enjoys the suffering for a few minutes before pushing himself upright. Temeraire yawns with all the interest of a sleepy cat and then resettles into the space his head had been and goes back to sleep.

Tharkay takes an invigorating shower and makes his way down to the kitchen to let Laurence feed him his particularly average but sincere scrambled eggs on toast. 

*****two weeks later*****

One of the worst things, about inheriting this house is maintaining the garden. It's perfectly lovely for hosting; they've spent many a wonderful evening out on the patio or sprawled on the grass. But he finds the gardening and cleaning such a chore. Charmingly, Laurence knows this and will never let Tharkay do any gardenwork alone. Not that anyone is doing any gardening today, Tharkay is snoozing and reading on and off in the hammock. Temeraire is snoozing and fake-hunting on and off through the border shrubbery. Laurence was last seen avidly watching a rerun of Jamie’s 30 minute meals through which he was taking notes so unfortunately not snoozing, but that’s not a surprise.

So it’s an entirely unexpected but exceedingly desirable turn of events that Laurence should turn up in the garden shirtless. He’s also got the hose out in the middle of the day which is absolute nonsense because both of them know you don’t water the garden while the sun is peaking. He must be doing something else, maybe he’s cleaning, urgh. He should probably go and help he thinks, resentful that his relaxing is going to be so abruptly curtailed. He watches through slitted eyes for a bit, psyching himself up to lever himself out of the hammock and enjoying the view of the sun blessing Laurence’s wide, bare shoulders.

“Are you just going to watch,” Laurence calls eventually and Tharkay flops back fully, closing his eyes and scowls.

“What are you even doing?” he yells back tucking his book under his arm so it doesn’t fall out when he gets up.

Laurence doesn’t respond and Tharkay sighs heavily before heaving himself out of the hammock. By the time he reaches the patio, somehow Laurence is fighting with the hosepipe and thoroughly drenched. Lord save him, all he can see are glinting droplets on wet skin. 

“Can you- can you turn it off at the mains?” Laurence asks, focus 100% on fiddling with the spray nozzle.

“Sure,” he replies easily before he screams at being blasted by a stray stream of water. “Laurence!” Unlike some unnatural Navy types, forget his body, Tharkay’s very soul is sensitive to cold water.

“Sorry!” Laurence does sound apologetic and he’s negotiated the hose down to a sprinkle instead of a jet, so that’s something.

When Laurence grabs him by the back of the neck once he’s walked past, he’s so surprised he just goes along with it, let’s himself be guided back round by the surprisingly forceful grip and decides they’re about to have a ‘Do you want to die’ conversation.

In the end, the conversation dies before it even gets a chance to live because Laurence is right there, too too close and getting closer. He barely registers the endless ocean of Laurence’s irises in the bright light of the sun before he is fully derailed by the touch of his lips against his own. Kissing? Is Laurence kissing him?

It’s almost pointlessly quick, over before he even has the chance to enjoy it, Laurence has used the iron grip on the back of his neck to pull him away. He blinks through the water dripping down his face and watches Laurence's mouth open to say something. Which… is not happening right now, because, that was such a non-event of a kiss it’s not quite worth talking about. He overrides Laurence’s grip and surges forward to kiss him properly sliding one arm around his waist to pull him closer. Laurence is painfully slow on the uptake and Tharkay wonders if actually, maybe it would be sensible for them to talk first, because this is getting to be very awkward and one-sided. But then Laurence’s hand loosens on his neck and slides down his back to rest just above the waistband of his shorts and goosebumps break out all over his skin. He tilts his head slightly, teeth pressing lightly into Laurence’s bottom lip to tease his mouth open and it’s just so so good so much better than any fantasy he’d conjured. Laurence is furnace hot despite the spray and he pushes trails of heat through him from every point they’re touching.

The sun slides behind a cloud and immediately Tharkay is freezing, his clothes are fully soaked through and the hose is still wasting water on the patio. He shivers in what must be a particularly unsexy way because Laurence pulls back straight away. 

“We should dry up,” Laurence says looking him over with a frown, ever the Ambassador of Practicality.

“Laurence,” he says finally, because actually they should talk about this, “what the fuck?”

*****Six months later*****

Tharkay pulls over, disgruntled and opens the maps on his phone.

"Are you lost?" Laurence asks from the passenger seat.

He stops and looks up, "Say it, go on, say it."

"No."

He leans close and Laurence leans almost instinctively closer too.

"Baby girl," Tharkay prompts. For a moment, it looks like he will, he takes a deep breath in like he's psyching himself up and Tharkay's eyes round with anticipation.

"No."

Tharkay can't help himself, he kisses him. Soft and sweet. He pulls away, then goes back in for another.

"I'm not saying it, it's stupid."

"Yeh it is... I am lost though"

[cori-writes-fanfic]

I have a lot of Thoughts after the reveal of the new Dark Road kids, and most of it isn’t directly about the kids themselves and more kind of crazy predictions about how the story will go.  (This may be a little bit of a jumbled mess as I try to organize my thoughts, so…bear with me.)

So we know that:

We don’t really see any of the Dark Road kids in the future besides Xehanort and Eraqus (or, at least, that we know of).

Eraqus is stationed at The Land of Departure, rather than Scala.

Literally nobody talks about Scala in the future.

Eraqus was a “blue blood”—i.e. descended directly from Keyblade wielders (most likely Brain)—and Xehanort was an off-worlder who was made an apprentice and desperate to Eraqus’s equal.

We don’t really know much about what Scala was like, but we can guess, based on the size, structure, and the information about Eraqus’s family that it was likely a thriving city at one point.  We know that it was built on the ruins of Daybreak Town, and that many of the citizens were likely descendants of Dandelions.  I’m running on the assumption that not every citizen in the city would be a Keyblade wielder (though many are, and the “blue bloods” are often expected to take up the blade).  That said, my guess would be that many times masters would take townspeople as apprentices, and they’d only really take on off-worlders if they showed a lot of potential (which would really drive Xehanort’s desperation to prove himself).

As for the kids themselves, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon for two of them: Bragi being Luxu and Vor being Kairi’s grandmother.  For the first, I think it’d be interesting to see Luxu interact with the other apprentices, knowing what he does.  …Well, that, and the name is way too similar to Braig, so if they’re not the same person, I’m likely just going to get them confused.  For the second, it’d give an explanation for why Kairi’s grandmother knows that story about the Dandelions (not that it’s technically needed, but it’d be kind of fun).  That said, I’m thinking they aren’t blue bloods like Eraqus, but from regular families around the city (and I’m sure that’s going to be proven wrong soon, but…oh well).

Story-wise, I’m kind of predicting that things will start off mostly with just general training, we’ll get some references to the Dandelions/X-blade/etc. through Bragi, and MoM will pop up at some point to speak cryptically to Xehanort and stoke his ambition/fear.  I’d guess that The Land of Departure is some sort of outpost for the Keyblade wielders (perhaps one of many) that either a) a couple of masters and apprentices live at full time, or b) masters and apprentices are on a rotating schedule for who stays at an outpost and maintains it at any given time.

At any rate, about half way through the story is when I think the big “Scala calamity” is going to go down.  Essentially, I’m guessing that Bragi/Luxu is going to spur this on (presumably in order to make sure Xehanort ends up as the “scape goat” for whatever his plan is, though I’m not sure how exactly that would work).  This ends up killing and/or scattering the Keyblade wielders, and either flat out destroying Scala or basically taking it out of this plane of existence.  Xehanort, Eraqus, Urd, Hermod, and Eraqus’s/Xehanort’s master manage to escape together and head to The Land of Departure for safety, hoping to find other Keyblade wielders there. When they don’t after a time, the master head’s off to check the other outposts.

Meanwhile, the kids are stressed because they’ve just had their home destroyed, many Keyblade wielders are missing—including one of their closest friends—and the other betrayed them.  Xehanort is particularly antsy, which is partly because he’s feeling somewhat inadequate; he wanted to prove that he was good enough to be a Keyblade wielder, but he couldn’t do anything to stop Bragi, couldn’t protect his new home and friends, and now he’s not even allowed to look for them and Eraqus is insisting that they stay here because the master ordered them two, and Xehanort just doesn’t understand—

And then MoM shows up again. Xehanort vents his frustrations, and MoM does his usual thing and kind of manipulates Xehanort into leaving.  This is ultimately what ends up prompting Xehanort’s “world tour” as he calls it in Re:mind; his desperate attempt to find what Keyblade wielders are still out there, and to prove that he’s still good enough.  Unfortunately, none of this actually gives him the time to, you know…process the traumatic event that he and his friends have just gone through.  So when he travels the world, he can’t help but notice the bad things; how so many people will lie and go behind the backs of people that they claimed to love (like Bragi), how so many people claimed to be strong but when it came down to it they couldn’t protect anyone (like him), and how sometimes those mistakes end up leading to dire consequences (like what happened to his home).  Ultimately, this is what ends up fueling his philosophy that the world needs to be restarted, even if his reasoning is faulty; if people are horrible, and they’re just going to cause more suffering (and force others to go through what he did), then they should just be saved the trouble.  And he’s going to do things right this time. He’s going to make it better.  He’s going to prove he’s not weak and maybe be able to make sure nothing like this ever happens to him again.

Back at The Land of Departure, the kid’s master has basically decided to take up permanent residence there.  He hasn’t had much like finding other Keyblade wielders; he only found one, a young master named Yen Sid, who was so traumatized by the fall of Scala that he decided to give up the Keyblade, though he’s promise to keep an eye out for other Keyblade wielders and send along any information he could get.  The master decides that the best thing he can do is keep this outpost in good condition and train his apprentices in order to make sure they’re prepared to go out into the worlds on their own. Eraqus, in particular, works like crazy in training, and adheres to his master’s teachings almost religiously; like Xehanort, he’s still grieving from an event that none of them have properly worked through, he’s just handling it in vastly different ways.  His family’s the one that was descended from the Union Leaders; he’s the one who needs to pick up the slack, to lead, to make sure that everyone’s okay.  He can’t let the others know how bothered he is by all this; he has to be strong for them. (But in the back of his mind, he’s still thinking about the darkness that Bragi brought to their shared home, and how it had destroyed everything he’d loved.  He still has nightmares about it.  It terrifies him.)

After Urd and Hermod become masters, they decide to travel the worlds, like Xehanort, with the purpose of both trying to protect people and see if they can find other Keyblade wielders (even if, by this point, they know it’s unlikely).  Eraqus wants to come with them, but they gently refuse; the master is growing weaker, and someone needs to make sure this outpost stays standing.  If anyone should be taking charge of this, it’s Eraqus.  He agrees, albeit reluctantly, and his friends head off.

Urd and Hermod visit The Land of Departure much more than Xehanort does (though all of them return for the master’s passing).  At different points, the two appear with a child in tow (Terra and Aqua).  Maybe one or both of them are their kids; maybe they just found them.  Regardless, they can’t bring them with them, and the kids have nowhere else to stay, so they have to come to The Land of Departure.  Then, at some point, Urd and Hernod just…stop coming back.

And Eraqus is troubled. He’s worried for his friends, but he can’t leave to look for them, not when he has two very young children to look after, not when for all he knows he’s the only Keyblade Master left. So he stays in The Land of Departure, and he raises—and later trains—Terra and Aqua.  He never talks about Scala; Terra and Aqua never experienced the place, never had to deal with the heritage they’d lost, and he can’t bring himself to burden them with his own traumatic memories.  (Though, if he’s truthful with himself, he can admit that’s partially because he doesn’t want to relive them, either.)

And then Xehanort reappears. Out of the blue, like nothing’s changed. Eraqus is overjoyed.  He hasn’t seen any of his friends in years, he thought he was the only one left, but now one of his friends has returned, and he’s desperate to learn more about what’s happened in the outside world.

But Xehanort…isn’t quite like Eraqus remembered him.  He’s talking about bring about another Keyblade War, about whether or not they’re worthy (he’s worthy), and Eraqus doesn’t understand.  (Why would you want to force others to go through the same thing they went through?)  Xehanort doesn’t really explain, and of course, Eraqus attacks him, and Xehanort gives him his scars.  (It’s like Bragi all over again.  The darkness corrupts people.  It takes his loved ones away from him.)

Xehanort, of course, disappears for a few years, and then comes back with a young boy named Ven. Eraqus…isn’t quite sure what to make of this, this time.  He’s not going to turn the boy away (and maybe even recognizes the name, depending on how much Bragi/Luxu told them), but he’s also…a little wary after the last meeting with Xehanort.  But…Xehanort is also the only other Keyblade wielder he knows, besides his apprentices. The last member of their group still standing.  And no matter what Xehanort had done, he can’t bring himself to completely sever that friendship.  He doesn’t entirely believe Xehanort’s given up his plan, but—maybe if he keeps a close eye on Ven, then he can make sure it never works out.  And maybe if Ven is here, the last of his friends will stop by more, and he can try and change his mind.  It doesn’t work.  It was never going to work, but how could he have known that then?

…Aaaand I’m going to leave it there because this got…really out of hand.  This is almost definitely not going to be canon, but, hey; it’s fun to think about.

[shibalen]

hi !! can i get a romantic haikyuu matchup with ♫︎ + 𑁍 please? she/her pronouns, i'm pan, infp, with a libra sun+moon ! i'm introverted, very chill and free spirited, also very patient, to the point that i'm sometimes a doormat :/ i'm in touch with my emotions, i'm usually quiet but can get really talkative when excited. i get in my own head a lot and have a hard time asking for help. cursed memes and playful banter are my cups of tea, and i'm not easily flustered (but that's probs partly bc i'm kinda dense oof). 🃏 [1/3]

i do competitive debate and it's kind of my sport! i'm a theatre kid too, i absolutely love performing! i'm bilingual and learning french, i love classic books, philosophy, and cats. i'm a pop culture nerd! i speak very animatedly. sharing songs is a love language for me. i think i'm very supportive towards my friends, i don't always give advice but i always try to be there for them as much as i can (even if i nag them sometimes).🃏 [2/3]

i love writing analyses on media i like! i'm especially into stuff that has lots of themes and focus on character psyche, i like picking them apart. i also like fashion and playing uke! i don't have an ideal type for an s/o, all i ask is they understand when i'm super busy and need to be alone to recharge, but also know when to call me out when i'm trying to burn myself out lol. i like spontaneous, spur of the moment dates! this got long hshs but thank you sm and hope you have a great day !! 🃏 [3/3]

♡ matchup for anon

haikyuu: i match you with . . .

tetsurō kuroo !!

• i'm convinced you'd go great with Kuroo, and that you're exactly his type! relaxed and quiet yet fun, you'd catch his attention quickly.

• he adores your analytical, nerdy side but also your funny and free-spirited personality. definetly the type to playfully make fun of you for those traits to express his affection tho (until you point out he's just as much of a geek himself)

• being Kenma's friend, he has no problem getting you out of your head and laying out the facts. he'll help you focus on smaller goals to keep you from burning out. taking breaks is obligatory and if he's not there himself you guys will have video chats to take your mind off work. his dedication knows no bounds, trust me.

• boy is super vigilant about your health but not in an annoying naggy way. he sends you reminers to drink water and have a meal because he doesn't want his dearest person hurting herself (｡╯︵╰｡)

• you guys met at a debate competition. Kuroo didn't really want to be there but he was recruited by his peers to fill in for another person from the debate club who couldn't make it. he's always this kind, right?

• funny thing is that you never had an "official" debate but instead one in the corridor of the building the competition was held in. you were trying desperately to get a drink stuck in the vending machine when Kuroo came to your rescue.

• he taught you a useful hack how to get those things free but also teased you about not asking for help sooner you know he had to

• you ended up arguing over whether or not it was okay to ask strangers for help. it was dumb and far from any structured debate, but it was fun! Kuroo really had a bast seeing you switch from your polite ways to excitable chatter during your conversation and knew immediately he liked you.

• so, you exchanged numbers and social media before parting ways. getting together as an official couple no doubt took a while but that only resulted in a relationship that was all the more sound and comfortable for the both of you (*´▽`*)

• if anyone plans to take advantage of your politeness, Kuroo will just stare at them over your shoulder with that smile of his. i assure you no one is going to take advantage of you on his watch! "hmm? what was that you were about to say? let us hear it."

• you playfully tease each other on daily basis, light-hearted banter and snarky remarks, but by god when he tries to be the slightest bit more romantic you completely miss the point. rip Kuroo he's taken it as a challenge to make you flustered and will stop at nothing.

• you guys would have so much fun debating over everything from philosophy to ridiculous opinions such as whether cheese goes before or after the ham on a sandwich.

• gets all smug when you start being more talkative with him because you're showing a special side to yourself, hehe.

• has the s o f t e s t smile on his face when he listens to you talk !! like, resting his chin on his palm and leaning in, hanging on your each and every word while thinking how precious you are ♡︎

• can't forget about all the cursed memes you send each other in the middle of the night! not mention how you have entire conversations in them??

• it's completely all right if you don't have advice to give. when Kuroo's feeling down you being there is all be needs ♡︎ your presence alone is enough to remind him everything is going to be okay.

• !! sharing earbuds during bus, car and train rides !! change my mind. he especially likes it if you rest your head on his shoulder all the while, it makes him feel happy that you trust him so much. plus the fluffy intimacy.

• once he tried doing the same to you but he's kinda heavy so eventually you had to tell him to lift it. but in exchange, you let him lay his head on your lap. he actually prefers it that way now.

• such an overly dramatic couple honestly. if one of you starts acting dramatic, the other will jump the bandwagon no questions asked. yeah . . . your friends don't third-wheel on your dates much . . .

• your dates include shopping for fashion (imagine trying to style his hair to fit with the rest of his outfit but the last second it just goes poof), aimless "we'll figure out a date on the way there" drives, trying out funky science experiments from youtube, donating blood, pillow fort parties and childhood movie nights ♡︎

♫︎ music box

— Yellow by Coldplay

— Nicholas Sparks by Kinda Collective

— Sweet Talk by Saint Motel

— Backyard Boy by Claire Rosinkranz

— Dance, baby! by Pablo

𑁍 jewellery box

— favourite memory with you

afrer a big volleyball game victory Kuroo had decided to cofess to you. it was the perfect opportunity, he was feeling the most confident and ready. so, after the celebration with his teammates he invited you over to his place where you'd get some peace and quiet. however, before he got to say what he'd been agonising over for months now, you asked to play a song for him. you had written it yourself, especially for him, for this victory and your own confession! boy was absolutely shooketh but all the more smitten. he almost cried you were so perfect shh it was you both laughed as he said his confession right after ♡︎

— favourite activity to do together

i said it before and i'm gonna say it again: Kuroo loves playfully bantering with you. your wit never ceases to surprise him but it also gives him an excuse to throw an arm around your shoulder and get even closer to you ♡︎ as for actual activities i wanna say simply hanging out with you is more than enough for Kuroo because it's then when you're the most relaxed. it also leaves room for more spontaneous dates, your adventures are always new and exciting!

— favourite place to kiss you

Kuroo is a tease and will kiss you anywhere but the lips (or any other place you want him to). he loves giving you kisses but in most situations you might think he lives to see your pout or glare as he takes his time. in the end though, his kisses are the sweetest, meant only for you. in conclusion, i think his preferences very much shift according to yours.

— favourite nicknames to call you by

okay i know 'kitten' is very popular in the fandom, and i think since you like cats he enjoys calling you by it. but the nicknames he likes calling you by the most are usually in foreign languages, like 'chica' 'ma cherie' etc. if you like nicknames then do i have good news for you because cheesy ones as 'hunny bun' and 'boo' are also on his list!

— favourite thing about you

your sense of humour, among other things, is something Kuroo finds endearing about you! it's very similar to his own so he thinks of it as something that connects the two of you. also, the fact that you're in touch with your emotions is precious in his eyes. it's not common these days so you're a special treasure to him ♡︎

♡︎ runner up: Rintaro Suna

hihi! here i am doing requests hahahahaa . . . right. no excuses. i am terribly sorry for the wait so i'm trying to improve the quality of these in an attempt to make-up for the mega long wait. i sincerely hope you see and loke this!! stay safe and remember to be kind to yourself ♡︎

[oingos-bitch]

Another JoJo Mall Fanfic™ -- Welcome to Bath & Body Works (Part 1)

Beware of Part 5 & Part 2 spoilers!

This  couldn't  get  any  more  awkward.  

Half  an  hour  into  the  mall's  grand  opening  and  there  hadn't  been  a  single  soul  that  so  much  as  wandered  into  the  shop  by  accident;  from  the  way  that  Mr.  Jonathan  had  described  it,  they  had  anticipated  a  flood  of  people.  Yet  here  they  all  were,  each  subconsciously  claiming  a  corner  to  stand  in,  hoping  that  at  least  someone,  anyone  would  care  to  break  the  heavy  silence.  Ten  more  minutes  passed  and  their  prayers  still  had  yet  to  be  answered.

Caesar  got  to  work  wiping  an  imaginary  stain  on  the  counter,  Lisa  Lisa  soon  jumping  on  the  bandwagon  and  dusting  the  displays,  Trish  and  Giorno  mindlessly  arranging  the  candles  by  scent,  then  by  colour.  They  were  two  hours  into  the  day  when  they  finally  heard  a  pair  of  heels  clicking  across  the  floor  and  through  the  door.  Everyone's  head  whipped  around  to  greet  the  customer.

"Welcome  to  Bath  and  Body  Works!  How  may  I  help  you?"

Suzi  Q.  staggered  backwards.  "Wow,  I  didn't  expect  such  a  warm  welcome!  Thank  you!"

Lisa  Lisa  groaned  inwardly  at  the  sight  of  her.  Trish  walked  towards  her.  "So,  what  may  we  help  you  with  today,  ma'am?"  

Lisa  Lisa  looked  away  so  as  not  to  witness  her  crew's  reactions  to  her  reply.

"Oh,  I'm  not  a  customer,  I'm  gonna  be  working  with  you  guys!"

Trish's  jaw  dropped.  "S-So  you're  not  a  customer?"  She  repeated.

"Afraid  not,  dear.  I'm  sorry  for  arriving  so  late,  I  got  lost  on  the  way!  I  hope there  wasn't  too  much  trouble  while  I  was  gone!"  

Caesar  was  the  first  to  laugh.  Trish  was  the  first  to  sob.

'You  have no  idea.'

Suzi  just  knelt  down  to  comfort  Trish  when  Lisa  told  her  to  ignore  it  and  get  ready;  while  the  former  maid  was  busying  herself  with  putting  on  her  smock,  they  once  again  noticed  the  sound  of  shoes.

"Let  me  guess,  you're  supposed  to  work  here?"  Caesar  grumbled.

"Uhhh....No?"  

He  snapped  his  head  up  at  breakneck  speed  to  see  a  bewildered  lady  clutching  a  few  handbags.  He  couldn't  believe  his  eyes.  They  had  a  customer?  They  had  a  customer!  After  two  painstakingly  long  and  boring  hours,  they  finally  had  a  customer!  He  had  to  choke  back  a  relieved  chortle,  forming  his  leftover  grin  into  a  kind  smile.

"Ah,  excuse  me  miss,  I  did  not  mean  to  say  that.  Now,  what  may  I  help  you  with  today,  signorina?"

Confusion  gone,  the  lady  lifted  a  scrap  of  paper  up  to  his  face.

"Uh,  Miss?  What  may  we  help  you  with?"

"Well,  you  can  read,  can't  ya?  I  have  a  coupon  for  30%  off  o'  Boardwalk  Taffy  Fine  Fragrance  Mist,  an'  I  want  exactly  three  o'  those."  

"..."

"Hel-loooo?~  Is  anyone  home?  Get  me  my  Boardwalk  Taffy  Fine  Fragrance  Mist."

Great. The  first  customer  of  the  day  just  had  to  be  one  of  these,  God  couldn't  let  them  have  a  break  for  just  one  second,  could  he?  Not  even  after..

Caesar  froze.  He  didn't  want  to  think  about  that  anymore.  This  was  supposed  to  be  a  new  chance  at  life,  not  more  torment --

He  straightened  up,  plastered  a  saccharine  smile  onto  his  face,  and  gingerly  took  the  coupon  from  the  woman's  hand.  

"Of  course,  sorry  about  that,  Ma'am.  I'll  go  get  that  for  you  right  away,  feel  free  to  shop  arou-"

"Ya  don't  have  to  tell  me  twice."  Her  shoulder  pushed  past  him  as  she  made  her  way  to  the  discounted  soaps.

Poor  Caesar  scrunched  the  paper  in  anger.  'You  barbarian  motherfucker.'

He  made  his  way  to  the  fragrance  table.  Meanwhile,  Trish  rearranged  the  candles  for  the  fourth  time, unaware.  Then  she  felt  a  tap  on  her  shoulder.

The  pink-haired  girl  turned  around.  "Yes,  Ma'am?  How  may  I  help-"

"Save  it,"  the  lady  held  up  a  manicured  hand,  "I  just  wanna  know  if  you  have  any  more  o'  these."  She  waved  a  soap  bottle  in  front  of  Trish's  face.

"Uh,  Miss,  could  you  please  hold  the  bottle  still?  I  can't  read  it  very  well."

"Read  it?  Shouldn't  ya  have  it  memorized?  Some  wonder  employees  they  have  here."  She  snorted.

Trish  wisely  chose  to  stay  quiet  and  read  what  she  could  before  excusing  herself  and  returning  with  a  similar  bottle.

"Here  you  are,  Miss."

The  woman  took  one  look  at  the  bottle,  scrunched  up  her  nose,  threw  her  streaked  hair  over  her  shoulder,  and  jutted  out  her  chin.

"Do  I  look  like  a  Japanese  Cherry  Blossom  kinda  gal?  I  clearly  wanted  Buh-lack  Cher-ry  Mer-lo-uh."  She  slowed  her  words.  "Japanese  Cherry  Blossom  is  for  little  girls  who  like  to  play  dress-up  and  pretend  they  know  a  lick  about  the  world  of  fashion  and  fragrance."

Her  thin  red  lips  curled  up  into  a  sour  simper.  "Kinda  like  something  you'd  wear."

Trish  opened  her  mouth  to  speak  when  the  customer  brutishly  pushed  the  bottle  into  her  hands.  "Here,  in  case  ya  need  a  reminder."

Trish  exchanged  a  glance  with  Lisa  Lisa  as  the  crass  woman  sauntered  off  to  another  display;  normally  they'd  say  something  about  this  sort  of  thing,  but  since  this  was  the  mall's  opening  and  she'd  most  likely  drop  a  really  bad  review,  they  decided  to  suck  it  up  and  spare  Mr.  Jonathan  any  heartache.  

'She's  headed  to  the  counter  now,  anyway.'

'WAIT,  THE  COUNTER.'

Trish  spun  her  head  around  to  she  who  was  managing  the  counter,  hopefully  it  wasn't  who  she  thinks  it  is --

And  what  do  you  know?  It  was.  Giorno  stood  listlessly  behind  the  register.  Anyone  of  them  could've  chosen  to  do  what  is  basically  the  most  exciting  job  right  now,  and  yet  no  one  except  Giorno  fricking  Giovanna  chose  to  do  so?!  Trish  winced  in  anticipation,  everyone  else  had  a  mutual  understanding  of  how  to  best  deal  with  today's  customer,  but  she  knew  for  a  fact  that  Giorno  wouldn't  be  so  merciful  with  her.

Thankfully  she  snapped  out  of  it  and  went  to  go  retrieve  the  soaps  from  the  stockroom  before  the  lady  opened  her  mouth  again.  Speaking  of  the  lady,  she  finally  stepped  up  to  the  register.  Oddly  enough,  she  didn't  treat  Giorno  with the  same  hostility  as  everyone  else,  oh  no.  In  fact,  she  was  outright  flirting  with  him.

"Hello  signorina,  I  trust  that  everything  was  to  your  satisfaction?"

"Well,  it  would  be  if  only  you  could  satisfy  me,"  she  winked.

Unfazed,  Giorno  began  to  scan  the  items  she  picked  out.  "Do  you  have  a  Loyalty  Rewards  account  with  us?"

"No,  but  if  I'm  loyal  to  you  would  you  give  me  a  reward?~"

He  nodded,  "Anyone  who  signs  up  for  the  Loyalty  Rewards  will  get  numerous  specials  and  coupons  sent  right  to  your  phone.  You  can  sign  up  today  for  free."

Blinded  by  his  beauty,  she  absentmindedly  drawled  out  her  e-mail  and  other  information,  all  the  while  sneaking  in  perverse  comments.  Trish  held  back  her  vomit  as  she  dropped  the  soaps  onto  the  table.

"Oh,  there's  the  soaps  I  was  waiting  on!  Fine-uh-lee.  Do  me  a  favour  and  ring  these  up  for  me,  baby  cheeks?~"

On  the  outside  Giorno  skrt  skrt,  but  on  the  inside  he  hurt  hurt.  He  now  joined  Trish  in  the  silent  ritual  of  spiritual  bonding  that  was  holding  back  the  hellish  torrent  of  vomit  they'd  spill  into  the  toilet  after  this  encounter.  

Words  cannot  describe  how  relieved  he  was  when  the  time  came  for  her  to  swipe  her  credit  card  and  pay.  Now  he'd  just  need  to  bag  up  her  stuff  and  send  her  on  her  way,  hopefully  never  to  be  seen  again.  

If  only  it  were  that  easy.

The  card  reader  made  a  small,  jarring  ERR,  startling  Giorno  out  of   his  daydream.  He  looked  at  his  screen,  'CARD DECLINED.'

"I'm  terribly  sorry,  but  your  card  seems  to  be  declined,  Madam."

"HUH?!  No  it  sure  as  hell  isn't,  lemme  see,"  she  craned  her  neck  to  read  the  computer  screen.  She  began  to  hastily  pull  a  myriad  of  receipts  and  whatnot  out  of  her  purse  to  find  her  phone.  

"It  can't  be,  I  swear  Bernard  just  got  paid  today..."  She  grumbled.  At  last,  she  victoriously  held  up  her  phone  and  punched  in  Bernard's  number.  

"Bernard...  HIIIIII, SUH-WEE-TIIIIIE!~  How  are  ya?  Uh  huh,  so  listen,  I'm  out  shopping  for  some  stuff.... Of  COURSE  I'm  having  fun,  thank  you  ba-byyy!  But,  there's  a  little  uh-oh,  my  card  got  declined  for  some  reason!  It's  not  your  fault,  I  know  you  just  got  paid..."

"....Whaddaya  mean  it's  gone??"  Her  face  slowly  morphed  from  shock  to  worry  to anger.

"I  TOLD  you  NOT  TO  USE  THE  COMPUTER  WITHOUT  ME.  I  know  you're  a  businessman  and  all,  but  se-ri-uhs-ly,  Bernard,  how  many  times  has  someone  stolen  from  your  account?  Do  you  know  how  EMBARRASSING  that  is  for  me??  Don't  ya  love  me?"

The  rest  of  the  crew  tried  their  best  to  look  away.  They  busied  themselves  with  patrolling  the  store,  hiding  in  the  stockroom,  anything,  all  of  them  choking  back  laughter  at  the  scene.  Meanwhile,  the  customer  raged  on,  further  damaging  Bernard's  nearly  deaf  ears.

She  solemnly  hung  up.  Turning  around,  she  calmly  glanced  at  Giorno  before  furiously  shoving  the  bag's  contents  onto  the  ground  along  with  a  slew  of  curses.  Of  course,  her  grand  debut  was  not  complete  without  her  kicking  a  few  displays,  huffing  on  her  way  out.

Lisa  Lisa  held  the  phone  in  her  hands  to  call  security,  only  for  Giorno  to  stop  her  and  gesture  to  the  register.  

The  declined  card  still  remained  in  the  card  reader,  and  Lisa  Lisa  watched  in  awe  as  he  transformed  the  plastic  to  a  small  butterfly.  A  familiar  face  appeared  not  long  after.

"Have..Have  any  of  ya  seen  my  card?!"

"No,  Miss,  I'm  afraid  we  haven't.  If  I  remember  correctly,  you  placed  it  into  your  wallet."

"Well... If  ya  say  so,  honey bun."

Once  she  was  out  of  earshot  the  whole  shop  erupted  in  laughter.  Caesar  was  the  first  to  crack,  and  soon  he  doubled  over  in  pain  from  laughing  so  hard,  Trish  following  along  with  tears  streaming  down  her  face.  After  a  solid  ten  minutes  of  ugly  cackling  they  tried  to  compose  themselves,  Caesar  having  to  sit  down  until  he  could  move  without  hurting.

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Lunchtime  rolled  around  without  a  hitch.  Caesar  waved  to  the  others,  "I'm  going  out  for  lunch,  anyone  want  anything?"

"Where  to?"

"Rainforest  Cafe."

Lisa  Lisa  snorted.  "Nice.  Can  you  get  me  the  Spicy  Stir-Fry,  please?"

"Okay.  Anyone  else?"

"What's  Rainforest  Cafe?"

Lisa  Lisa  stared  at  Trish  and  Giorno  with  wide  eyes.  "You've  never  had  it  before?  Why,  it's  one  of  the  only  places  that  even  resemble  gourmet  at  this  fast-food-filled  hellhole."

"But  there's  also  a  Dave  &  Buster's..."

The  Hamon  trainer  dismissed  them  with  a  wave.  "Go  on  now,  both  of  you,  and  don't  come  back  until  you're  educated  in  the  world  of  mall  cuisine."

"And  I  want  some  Daytona  Beach  Wings  from  Hooters,  please!"  Suzi  added  as  the  trio  headed  out.

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"The  Anaconda  Pasta  sounds  promising... I  suppose  I'll  have  that."  

"And  I'll  have  the  Aloha  Shrimp  and  Salmon,  please."

"And  the  Spicy  Stir-Fry  and  MoJo  Bones  for  me,  thank  you."

"Alright...Will  that  be  all?"

Caesar  nodded.  

"Okay,  your  orders  should  be  out  in  a  bit."

 Trish  eyed  the  waiter  as  he  walked  away.

"His  hat's  so  tall... What  weird  fashion..."

Giorno  looked  around  the  place  as  he  waited.  The  decor  was  cheesy,  as  he  expected,  but  the  menu  didn't  seem  all  that  bad.  The  waiters'  uniforms  could  use  a  bit  of  work,  and  maybe  start  regulating  haircuts?  That  short  guy  over  there  could  not  have  a  more  unflattering  hairdo.

'WAIT.'

Unfortunately  for  him,  he  locked  eyes  with  the  short  waiter,  whose  mouth  dropped  in  utter  shock.  Even  from  across  the  room,  Giorno  swore  he  could  hear  the  sharp  gasp  and  the  soft  thud  of  the  waiter's  pen  hitting  the  floor.  Said  waiter  drew  his  hand  up  to  point  at  the  blond  boy.

"Y-YOU!  YOU'RE  THE  ONE  WHO  STOLE  MY  LUGGAGE!"

[ofravensandgenesis]

For Faith, maybe?: “This isn’t what I wanted.”

A/N: Characters: Tracey and Faith. Summary: Tracey has a late night conversation with a visitor who’s not really there. Content includes: swearing, smoking, mentions of blood/canon-typical-violence, emotional manipulation, cult content, angst, ex-friendship, etc.This was fun to write, and made me think more on Tracey and Faith’s potential interactions and such during the time of the Reaping, which I appreciate. Thank you for the prompt Chyrstis!! :D ♥Ao3 link here, to avoid tumblr disaster formatting on mobile.

————————————

“You’re smoking again.” There was a note of disappointment in Faith’s voice and an almost parental disapproval that, mixed with the little almost exasperated little curl of a smile dancing about her expression, made it feel very much like Faith was humoring her.

Tracey snorted, pulling the lit cigarette away from her own lips with an abrupt, angry motion to flick the ash off of it impatiently. “Yeah? ‘s rich coming from you, Faith, playing daddy’s little flower girl from on top of Mount Smokey with your Angels and hanger-ons.”Faith sighed, looking away to one side, having the air of long-suffering patience, which was utter bullshit in Tracey’s opinion—”Faith” of all people knew Tracey well. She wasn’t going to pretend everything was alright, like she was happy to fucking see her ex-best-friend once again as yet another damned “hallucination” or what the fuck ever the Bliss was.It happened often at night, particularly the nights Tracey couldn’t sleep…or she hoped it was only on those nights. Tracey did not need the mental image of Faith creeping on her while slept. Didn’t want the reminder of waking up to finding a blanket tucked in around her whenever she’d fallen asleep somewhere uncomfortable, as Tracey did sometimes.There shouldn’t have been anyone who did that for her anymore. No more surprises. It’d almost made Tracey cry in rage the first time it’d happened again, after…after.She’d found out later it was from Virgil, and anger had given way to relief. But a small part of her head always wondered if Virgil was always the one who left a blanket draped across her shoulders.Tracey wasn’t in the mood for this. Not tonight.“Get lost Faith. I’m not in a mood to talk to fucking ghosts.”“Oh? And who you gonna call if I don’t?” Faith asked, turning to give Tracey a coy and playful look.Once upon a time, the answer would’ve been a matching playful smirk along with the answer Ghost Busters.That’d been one of their favorite shared movies, once.It pissed Tracey off how it just made her feel sad to see Faith—Rachel—doing that now, like nothing had changed. It was moments like this that made Tracey uncertain if this was “real” or just all in her head. It felt more like the latter. Like missing her once best friend. It made her feel sick.“Fuck off.” Tracey’s words tasted bitter in her mouth, like ashes. Lies. Had it all been a lie, their entire friendship, or had it been real, and just…gone wrong?The little smile Faith had been wearing withered away, like a flower caught in the frost. Typical. She looked away with a sigh. “This isn’t what I wanted.”“Oh? And what did you want, if it wasn’t to go play princess in your own little kingdom of make believe?” Tracey asked, throwing the remains of her cigarette down with a vicious abruptness before grinding it out under her heel with a great deal of prejudice. “To pretend those aren’t fucking people you’ve turned into your own damn puppets and mindless dolls to dance to whatever tune you decide to play? Grow the fuck up and own up to what you’ve done, what you’ve fucking become, Rachel, and stop living in a goddamn dream. And stay the hell out of mine or whatever the hell this is, a day dream, hallucination, or whatever other bullshit Bliss fuckery it is. I’ve told you already and I’ll say it again: get lost.”Faith looked at her, now suddenly brittle and with a flash of actual hurt and anger that was there like the sparks from a fire striker—bright and hot one moment, but gone the next without something to burn. But sparks were dangerous like that: they could catch and smoulder, for a long, long time, without giving away that something was burning until the fire had already caught on.“You could’ve stayed.” The words were short. Choppy. The closest Rachel ever got to actually arguing, fighting, and it was with Tracey. How ironic. “You could’ve stayed and helped us build something wonderful together, Tracey. You could’ve stayed with me.”“Oh this old fucking bullshit again,” Tracey said, lip curling upwards in a show of disgust, nose wrinkling to pull her entire expression into a sneer. “I told you the Project was fucking bad news once I’d caught on, but you didn’t fucking want to listen,”“That’s because it isn’t!” Faith insisted, fists balling in the sides of her skirt as her entire posture stiffened with affront—good. She was actually angry enough to fucking look the part.“It fucking is and you know it Faith. You’ve got people walking on their hands and knees along that godless “Pilgrimage” of yours until they’re leaving bloody trails of handprints and busting kneecaps against the stone, if they’re not fucking eaten by a goddamned mountain lion along the way. Oh and let’s not forget all the people you’re fucking murdering or turning into yet more mindless Angels to play fucking house with. Can’t even stand to do your own damn gardening and risk getting your frocks and petticoats dirty?”There wasn’t much actual substance to that last statement other than the intention to spite Faith, given that the other woman had taken to walking around barefoot like some hippie woodstock lovechild who hadn’t ever heard of broken glass fragments, or splinters, or dog shit or such.“We do what we have to do to accomplish our goals, Tracey,” Faith said, expression actually turning a touch sullen at that. Tracey knew it was because Faith knew that her usual religiously-themed clap-trap about the Project and the Father’s “Collapse” didn’t do anything except piss Tracey off even more. “You’d know that if you’d stop running and look around you at the opportunity you’ve been presented.”“Oh for—fuck off with that nonsense Faith, joining a goddamned doomsday cult isn’t a fucking opportunity!”“You’re talking like that because you’re afraid.” Faith said, the glint in her eyes like the flick of a pocket knife blade pulled open in the moonlight. “That’s why you run, that’s why you always run, whether something’s good or bad. You don’t trust. You never trust. You never trusted me. You don’t trust anyone. But I can help.” Faith reached out to her with both hands, beseechingly.“Let me help you, Tracey, and you won’t have to be afraid anymore. You won’t have to be alone anymore. You have a place here, in our family. You just have to have a little faith, in me, in us. Please. I’m not asking much. Just trust me, this one time. I can make a good life for us, for everyone. Please, Tracey.”And didn’t that take the entire fucking cake. Faith actually sounded like she fucking believed what she was saying. Believed that she could do all that. Believed that any good would come of all this blood and fear and pain and despair and all this…this…fucking awful shitty crap.It made Tracey so damned tired. She didn’t want to deal with people. Not like this. Not if they were going to just, fucking, turn around and hop on the crazy bandwagon and leave her.Tracey wasn’t an easy person to get along with, she knew. But she tried. She tried to make up for that, as best she could. She’d tried to be there for Rachel, time after time after time again, to do what she could to support her friend.

And what good had that done, in the end?“That’s what you say to everyone now.” Bitterness, rather than anger, colored Tracey’s words. It was true, she’d heard enough from other people’s stories of what Faith said to them, what Faith said to make them feel special, like they were loved, like they were cared for with her. And Tracey knew Faith didn’t care about much of anyone at all, among those she pulled in with those fucking honeyed words and innocent doe eyed glances.The way maybe she’d pulled Tracey in, back when they were younger. Back when Tracey had thought they were really, truly friends.She didn’t bother to answer Faith, knowing the ghost of her former friend would just continue insisting that she was right when she got like this, using soft words and circular logic to exhaust a person into submission, to make someone feel like shit for disagreeing with such an “innocent” and “well meaning” young woman.Lies. It was all lies. It’d always been lies. Tracey had to remember that. She couldn’t doubt…or she’d just be another one of the ghosts Faith would send packing to shamble on in as a mindless Angel to kill whoever the dainty little Herald pointed at, until Tracey wasn’t even a shell anymore, and was thrown away and forgotten. Just like how Faith had forgotten and thrown her away before. Thrown their friendship away.She turned her back on the apparition, ghost, projection or what the fuck ever it was.“Tracey…”She didn’t answer, just kept walking, heading for the stairs to head back inside the Jail.Faith’s voice sounded forlorn, but not so forlorn as the silence that followed afterwards.It was times like this that Tracey hated, hated everything with a blind, pain-riddled kind of emotion that felt like she should be thrashing about like an animal in its death throes. But she didn’t thrash. She simply opened the door, and walked inside, footsteps echoing hollow along the tiled floor and bare walls.She didn’t know if Rachel had ever been her friend, now or back then. She didn’t know if those night time conversations were just her own consciousness manifesting and talking to her, or if Faith was actually fucking there, talking to her.…she didn’t know if any of it had been real. Any of it at all.

[writing4thewoild]

The Flavor

SpotXReader

Tag List: @albertdasillva @ben-cook-can-cook @dank-crypitic @dpslover4life-blog @jerkyheree-michaelm3ll

Working in an office would be impossible without the aide of coffee. Waking up early in the morning, doing mundane tasks all day, working in silence with only the sound of the copying machine playing in the background, all of it seems to be specifically tailored to put employees to sleep. That’s why coffee is so important. Without coffee everyone would be too busy yawning and taking naps to get their work done. Without coffee no one would be able to be productive. Without coffee the whole of corporate society would probably cave in on itself.

Sean “Spot” Conlon knows the importance of coffee firsthand. He practically lives off of coffee and has been living off it since he was a teen. He was raised in a household that drank a lot of caffeine and that trait was simply passed down to him. His preferred way of drinking coffee would be black with maybe one sugar. His family would tell him growing up that strong men drank their coffee dark and bitter, so in order to grow up to be a strong man young Spot only took his coffee bitter. At first he hated it with a passion but eventually he got used to it. Though he can clearly see in his later years that the bitterness of ones coffee has very little to do with their masculinity he would still opt to take his coffee this way. It sorta grew onto him over the years.

In the company building Spot has been working in for going on 3 years is it customary for the newbie to make everyone's coffee. Because he usually takes his coffee dark with only one sugar, when it was his turn to take over the position as company coffee maker many of his office mates were completely disgusted by his coffee. Many of the complaints were centered around the theme that the coffee was too bitter. Spot didn’t care though, he continued to make his coffee the way he preferred and didn’t even bother to change for anyone else. As a result, the tradition of getting the rookie to make everyone their coffee faded. No one wanted this boy’s coffee so most just started to make their own.

This went on until you started to work there. You were never one to enjoy mundane work but you were also never one to enjoy being broke so the office job was necessary. You weren’t exactly excited to start at your new job but the paycheck and slightly better financial stability that came with it continued to motivate you to get out of your warm bed and into the workplace. The senior members had a field day with it. A new person hadn’t joined in a while so they were excited. Most of their excitement stemmed from the fact that with a new staff member came the chance to reinstate the old coffee custom. There were some that were weary, the taste of bitter, burnt tasting coffee still strong on their tongues, but ultimately it was agreed on by the majority. The rookie coffee making tradition was making a reappearance.

You hated the tradition. As far as you were concerned it was stupid and useless and just downright rude. You didn’t sign up for the job to become everyone’s barista and you surely weren’t getting paid extra for doing it so there was really no reason you should do it. Yet you still did, because you were told that if you didn’t your work life would be made hell and there’s nothing worse than making enemies on your first day. In order to be most proficient at your task, you decided to walk around the office and ask everyone how they liked their coffee to be made. In theory that was a good plan but it proved to be pretty worthless in the end since everyone ignored you in favor of getting their own work done. You were all by yourself and you had to make a whole 20 something people coffee by lunch. There was only one thing to do. You had to fix the coffee the way you typically liked it, preferably a medium dark color with about two-three sugars. Not too bitter and not too sweet. Just right.

Most people in the office were pretty impressed by your coffee. In sharp contrast to Conlon’s coffee it was actually pretty enjoyable. Actually almost everyone in the office enjoyed the coffee you made, everyone except Spot Conlon. Spot Conlon still preferred his coffee to be dark and was in no way making any effort to change his tastes. While everyone else enjoyed the rookie’s coffee he continued to make his own cup everyday. If anything he started to make his coffee darker just to spite everyone.

With Spot always deciding to opt out of the caffeine run, you had little reason to speak to him. You both worked in different areas and didn’t talk to one another at all. Spot didn’t mind that either. His philosophy was he was at his job to work not socialize, so if he just so happens to meet the new person great but if not, oh well. This continued for a few months. You would deliver the office’s coffee and skip over Spot and Spot would make his own coffee and not be bothered. Report week broke the cycle.

Report week is the most dreaded week in the office. Everyone has to start working extra hard to stay on top of their reports and have to make sure that they send them in on time. It is a week full of rushing around, the strong scent of caffeine in the air, and the sound of clacking keyboards. During that week you became the most important person on the floor. Everyone loved you and loved your coffee even more. Even the great and mighty Spot Conlon had to start drinking your coffee due to his packed schedule. He didn’t have the time to get up and make his own whenever he needed it so he was forced to drink the caffeine that was passed out by you during the day. In the beginning he hated it. It was too creamy and had far too many sugars in it. It felt as though with each sip of coffee came a fresh coat of sugar and cream to coat his tongue. It made him want to gag and spit it out but he most certainly didn’t have enough time for him to make his own cup so he just powered through it and kept working.

Since Conlon started to jump onto the office coffee bandwagon both you and him had more reason to speak to one another. At first it started with simple ‘hello’s. Then it turned into ‘how are you today’s and ‘how’s your work going’s. Quickly it escalated into staying after work to hold extensive conversations about your lives and your likes and dislikes and everything in between. Sometimes the conversations were serious and down to earth while other times it was lighthearted and silly. The brief moments that the two of you spent speaking to one another were amazing to him and often made him regret not going out to meet you sooner. If only he knew that the coffee server that he spent so much time avoiding was this amazing, he would have gone running to go meet them a whole lot sooner. You made the seconds bleed into the minutes which bled into the hours etc. Time flew past quickly and just as quickly as it started, the most hated Report Week was over. 

Even after Report Week was over and all the pandemonium was officially over, Spot still found himself taking the coffee that you handed out. You quickly became one of his favorite people in the building and the coffee was the only thing that gave him the chance to speak to you. After a couple weeks the taste of caffeine along with smooth cream and sugar became something that he was used to. In fact after a while he began to enjoy it. The sweetness that accompanied it reminded him of your sweet smile and the savory moments the two of you had together. The two of you also shared a lot of common interests and at times could even find similarities in how you were raised. You bonded with him in a way that Spot rarely did with other people let alone in the workplace. To him the workplace was supposed to be a place of strict professionalism, yet when it came to you he couldn’t seem to bring himself care. He would gladly choose to spend his entire day with you and if it took drinking coffee all day to make that happen then he would do it gladly.

Spot didn’t know how accustomed to, and sometimes even fond of, your presence he had become until one day you didn’t show up to work. The floor coffee server was gone and now everyone had to make their own. Spot didn’t mind pouring his own steaming hot mug of joe but he did miss you. He missed your smile and your eyes and the silly conversations you two would have whenever you spoke. He missed the brightness that you brought to the work place whenever you were around. He even missed your coffee. At that point his bitter, black coffee was too bitter for him to enjoy. The taste felt like sand paper rubbing against his tongue and it was absolutely horrible. It confused him. He used to love drinking his coffee that way, in fact it was the only way that the was able to drink his coffee, yet now it was far too bitter for him. His tastes had changed and that was all because of the coffee server. Because of you. When that realization dawned on him, his heart momentarily skipped a beat.

The rest of the day was rather unproductive. How could he possibly do all of his work with the thought of you stuck in his head. Now that he was painfully aware of the impact you were making on him and his preferences, he was fixed on you. He made an insufferable amount of mistakes while he was working and was frequently caught zoning out. He became hyper aware of the void you left when you weren’t there. He was antsy from the lack of conversation that day. He had become so used to speaking to and confiding in you, that now that he couldn’t do that he felt deprived. He felt like an integral part of his day was missing and he missed it immensely. 

When you came back the next day he was ecstatic. He spent the whole night before thinking about you and how you made his heart race. Suddenly he went from the big and bold brooding bad boy that most chose to stay away from to a small squish of a man whose head was forever set in the skies. He wasted his hours staring at the ceiling and thinking about scenarios. About cute dates and hugs and kisses. Somehow he found a way to make himself fall for you harder than he did originally. His heartbeat went from a soft stutter to a harsh pounding whenever he thought of you.

That morning you looked beautiful. Perhaps others in the office would think that you looked no different than you usually did on any other day, but to love stricken Spot you looked wondrous. Like an angel from above. When you came around to give him his daily cup of coffee and hello he was completely flustered. His cheeks were dusted a light pink and his breath was caught in his throat. Before he could even think about what he was about to say his lips started to move.

“Hey (Y/N), would you like to go out for coffee later. Like on a date.”

[scenes-in-between]

Vienen (2/2)

Could be worse, Doggett thinks as he kicks hard to stay afloat. Could be wearing full combat gear.

Of course, he was also a good 20 years younger the last time he had to do that.

The chopper circles back around after skirting away to avoid the blast from the rig. Between the spray and the spotlight, Doggett can barely see anything, but he's pretty sure Mulder's still keeping his head above water. He hopes so, anyway. The last thing he wants is to have to tell Agent Scully that he lost Mulder in the damned Gulf of Mexico.

He wonders how exactly they’re planning on trying to do this. That’s a charter helicopter up there, same one that brought him out here this morning. Evacuating from the rig itself would have been one thing, but there’s no way it’s equipped for an open water rescue.

The pilot’s saying something over the loudspeaker again, but hell if he can make out what it is. A shadow cuts through the spotlight, and then he feels more than hears the whump of something landing in the water nearby. Looks like a duffel bag, but it’s actually a raft, he realizes. Well, that’ll work. He kicks his way over to it, adrenaline and fatigue and cold making him unsteady as he fumbles for the pull rope to inflate the damned thing. Mulder gets to his side just as he finds it.

“Heads up!” he yells, though his words are swallowed by the noise from the rotors.

In seconds, the raft inflates, and he and Mulder haul themselves aboard. There’s some relief as the chopper pilot ascends a fair bit, keeping his spotlight on them as he circles but not flying so low as to keep buffeting them constantly with wind and spray. For a while, Doggett and Mulder just lie there, catching their breath.

Hell of a day at the office.

It doesn’t take too long for the Coast Guard to arrive. Long enough for Mulder to lose his lunch a couple of times over the side of the raft though, the poor bastard. Not that he can blame the guy; the water’s more than a little choppy. When the rescue basket drops, Mulder tries to tell him to go first, but he shakes his head. No way. Mulder may have been the one to get them both into this mess, but Doggett is the one getting them out, and that means making damn sure there is absolutely zero chance of Mulder getting left behind.

Only once they’re both aboard the chopper, blankets wrapped around them like, he supposes, the trauma survivors they are, does he finally let himself comprehend the full scope of what just happened. He won’t go so far as to say Mulder was right about all of it, but he also can’t deny what he saw. Oil coming out of the foreman’s eyes. What happened to Diego Garza. The way the workers conspired to trap them and destroy the rig.

And oh, Kersh is absolutely going to blow his stack when he finds out about that last part.

If Mulder was right about one thing, it’s that Kersh sent him out here with an agenda. And that agenda was not to simply uncover the truth about what happened to Simon de la Cruz. There’s something decidedly unsavory about the political nature of Kersh’s priorities in this case; not that Doggett doesn’t understand and appreciate the stakes involved here, but his job is to find answers, not protect some oil company’s bottom line. Being given orders, implicitly or not, that run counter to that job is never going to sit right with him.

Of course, that is far from the only thing that’s not sitting right with him about this case.

He saw the black oil. Doesn’t mean he thinks it’s alien, but it sure as hell wasn’t standard crude, either. What happened to the workers was… well, “unnerving” doesn’t even begin to cover it. He honestly has no idea what the implications might be if the stuff ever gets back to shore, if Galpex doesn’t give up on trying to drill that area. Or what might have happened if he’d skipped on this case like he wanted to, if Mulder hadn’t pushed and gone behind his back to get the Bureau involved.

Mulder. Doggett shakes his head. He probably owes the guy an apology for the crack he made about being able to find a conspiracy at a church picnic. Turns out Mulder’s paranoia wasn’t so completely baseless after all. Doesn’t make his behavior any less obnoxious, of course, nor does it mean every claim he made about aliens was the gospel truth, but his instincts were still good. Doggett doesn’t have to agree with all his wild theories to recognize that much.

Then again, Mulder definitely still owes him an apology for going behind his back repeatedly in this investigation, but he’s not going to hold his breath waiting for one. Nah, he can keep his own mouth shut and just call it even. If it weren’t for Scully, he wouldn’t bother trying to get along with Mulder at all. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that’s an option. Be nice if Mulder could at least try to meet him halfway, though.

It’s a little less than an hour back to the Texas shore, and A.D. Skinner’s there waiting when they land. Better him than Kersh, Doggett supposes. Skinner looks like he can’t decide whether to be pissed or relieved, as they climb down out of the helicopter. (“Damn it, kids, you crashed the family car, but at least you made it home alive.”) Mulder seems all too comfortable in the role of petulant teenager; after they’ve thanked the Coasties for saving their asses, he stalks over to where their boss is waiting.

“I’m betting Kersh didn’t send you down here to throw us a ticker tape parade for saving the day.”

“Actually, I’m here at Agent Scully’s insistence. You don’t need me to tell you, you’ve got almost as much to answer for to her as you do to the Deputy Director.”

“Yeah, well at least she appreciates what was at stake. What’s still at stake if Galpex Petroleum keeps trying to drill that site.”

Skinner’s frown deepens. “All the men on board were infected?”

“All but one,” Doggett answers before Mulder can. He’s not interested in being shouldered out of this conversation altogether. “I promised I’d help him get home, but…” He shakes his head, remembering the sight of Diego Garza’s burns. “I can’t even begin to explain the condition of his body, same as what happened to Simon de la Cruz.”

“I can.”

He just manages to keep from scoffing. Yeah, I’m sure you can, Agent Mulder.

“In any event,” Skinner says pointedly, “I assume based on what I heard over the radio that we're no longer dealing with a quarantine situation.”

“That's correct, sir,” Doggett tells him, while Mulder says, “We'll need to confirm that,” at the same time.

This time he does scoff. “No way did anyone survive that explosion. We only barely made it out alive, ourselves.”

“I'll agree with you that it's unlikely any human could have survived.”

“Oh, come on, you've got to be kid--”

“All right, that's enough,” Skinner cuts him off. “Fire containment efforts will include a search for survivors, as part of routine procedure. I'll make sure the FBI stays in the loop if they find anyone.”

His phone rings, then, and he turns away to answer it.

“They find anyone alive out there, it’s gonna be a miracle,” Doggett mutters.

Mulder glares at him. Really leaning into the petulant teenager thing full-bore, isn’t he? “After everything you saw out there, how can you possibly still be this dismissive?”

“What I saw, Agent Mulder, was men behaving strangely. I saw oil do stuff I’ve never seen it do before. I saw no proof whatsoever of aliens. And even if I had, why would I assume an alien could survive an explosion any better than you or I could?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you could trust that if I was right about the oil, then I’m right about this, too. Maybe you could trust that I’ve seen these things. But I guess you’d also have to believe that I’m not crazy, and I suppose that’s just a bridge too far for you.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” Doggett says, and he means it. “But you told me yourself that you’ll believe just about anything. That you want to believe. Whether that’s in aliens or ghosts or monsters or what-have-you. And in my experience, if someone wants to believe in something bad enough, they tend to ignore all the evidence that might refute that belief.”

“Yeah, well the same can be said of someone who doesn’t want to believe. Only they’ll ignore all of the supporting evidence, denying even undeniable proof out of sheer bullheadedness.”

Skinner comes back before Doggett can respond, holding his phone out toward Mulder. “Agent Scully wants to talk to you. Make it quick, we’ve got a debrief with the Coast Guard in twenty minutes.”

Mulder takes the phone and walks away, and Skinner watches him go, shaking his head. “I know he sounds nuts, but there’s truth to what he says. I’ve seen enough to take his word on a lot of the things I haven’t seen first-hand.”

“All due respect, sir, I’ve seen some things in this job that I never would’ve believed a year ago. But I’m still not gonna compromise my integrity and objectivity by jumping on the alien bandwagon when there might be some other explanation we’re missing.”

“And that’s fine, just… just be careful not to spend so much time looking for another explanation that you miss the one right in front of you until it’s too late.”

Doggett nods. “I’ll do my best not to, sir.”

Mulder walks back over and hands Skinner back his phone. Skinner takes it with a curt nod. “Right. Let’s get this debrief over with so we can go grab a few hours’ sleep. We’re on the first flight back to Washington in the morning.”

“I might go stand in the shower for a few hours instead, if it’s all the same to you,” Mulder says wryly.

Despite himself, Doggett laughs. “You and I might not agree on much, Agent Mulder, but I think that sounds like a great idea.”

[bransles]

octavo’s natal chart dropped.

sun : virgo. those with sun in virgo are constantly on the move, always trying to fine-tune their lives and relationships. they are filled with nervous energy, and a desire to make improvements, so they’re serene when fulfilling the steps toward a well-thought out goal. virgos are often compelled to serve others, and can find respect in fields where attention to detail and a responsible attitude are rewarded. they are natural healers, and are gifted at bringing an unhealthy situation back into balance. but they have to watch out for those that would take advantage of their natures and put them in subservient roles. finding the courage to place the highest value on what they offer can take a lifetime for some virgos. there’s an emphasis on habit, and a virgo that has established a wholesome daily routine is far easier to live with than one that hasn’t. there’s a physical sensitivity with virgos that could be called high maintenance, and they need a lot of space to “purify” themselves in mind, body and spirit. they are known as loners, and even if established in coupledom, will need plenty of “me” time to maintain their sense of self.

moon : aries. the moon rules the emotional self, so when the moon is in aries, watch out! aries moon is not known for restraint. they are impulsive and enthusiastic. if an idea strikes them, they are the first on the bandwagon to make it reality, without stopping to think about any obstacles that may be in the way. spontaneous and determined, they let their heart rule their head. moon sign aries is happy, optimistic, and impatient. they live for the moment, forgetting all else. instant gratification is their middle name. they are passionate and have no qualms about sharing how they feel. at the same time, they can be very independent. they don’t like to take no for an answer. they have the self-confidence to put themselves out there and they want to make a strong impression. subtle does not describe this sign. they are well-suited to meeting challenges that may destroy lesser people. they are clever and often approach their situations with a novel angle. occasionally there are the few who may blame everything on other people.

mercury : leo. mercury in leo speaks with style and authority. some may come across as know-it-alls, but they really just want to share their knowledge with everyone else. they have a talent for seeing the big picture; but may miss the details. they are very persuasive, using warmth and goodwill. they know how to promote their ideas and get their message to the masses. they hold their opinions very dear and take pride in their beliefs. they tend to be idealistic. mercury in leo has a good intellect, and they love to express themselves. in fact, creativity is very important to them. they excel in presenting themselves with drama and style. passionate and enthusiastic when speaking, mercury leo is usually successful in getting their point across.

venus : aries. aries venus is a daring flirt. subtlety is not for them. instead of shyly hoping you’ll notice them, they will try to impress you by letting you know about their accomplishments. they are a bit self-centered, but the right person will find this endearing. their innocent charm comes through even though they may be acting like a spoiled child. they are impulsive, impatient and passionate in all areas the word for aries venus is "intense". those born with venus in aries can bring a childlike wonder to romance. they love to be active and energetic. they don’t appreciate a "mature", vague or coy relationship. they love the chase and initial conquest. in order to keep their attention, you need to step it up to keep it new and fresh. they prefer their partner to be open and honest with them.

mars : virgo. mars in virgo has their eye on the goal. they are practical, if a bit scattered at times. this is only because they are doing so many things at once. even so, they manage to get everything done. they may take on more than they can handle sometimes. they are usually logical and disciplined. mars in virgo can be a bit critical and stubborn at times, but they are not usually aggressive. be wary of pushing them too far, however, as they can be very difficult when annoyed. they can get nervous easily. they like to do things their way. they are usually very organized and they are not afraid to work hard. they have a nervous kind of energy, and they get restless easily. they don’t like to stick to one project for too long.

jupiter : cancer. jupiter in cancer attracts good luck when they are charitable, sympathetic and comforting. when they use their energy to save and accumulate, more comes to them. they are intuitive, and if they let these feelings guide them they will attract much good fortune. they should always use their imagination; it will help them succeed. when they are compassionate to others, it comes back to them. jupiter in cancer has a gift at making people feel cared for. they can create a homelike environment anywhere. whatever they turn their hand to grows or turns out well. they really know how to make the most of what they have. they have a talent for sensing the emotional currents around them and sensing when others feel vulnerable.

saturn : scorpio. saturn in scorpio is impatient. they demand a lot from themselves and from those around them. they can be so intense that it can be overwhelming to those who are not as directed as they are. full of willpower and energy, they are so determined to meet their goals it is hard for them to remain calm. they are not the type to stop and smell the roses. instead of going gung ho for their goals, however, they are usually more subtle and calculating. saturn in scorpio can be secretive. when hurt, they can be unforgiving. they don’t like to be treated unfairly. they may be cunning, resentful, jealous, or possessive. they are shrewd and like to come out on top of any type of deal. scorpio saturn fears emotional rejection and being inadequate. this fear may cause them to overcompensate in other areas. this fear may also be self-fulfilling.

uranus : aries uranus in aries is original and independent. full of ambition and energy, they are very resourceful. challenges that would send most people running are handled easily by those with uranus in aries. they may come across as impulsive or abrupt, which can make them a bit hard to get along with, even though they didn’t mean to upset anyone. they like to have a change of scenery, so may move frequently. they may be forced to change jobs or cities due to their rude manner. aries uranus may feel that there is nothing left for them to learn; they know everything that is necessary. they may be impatient with the ideas of others. they may lose friends over this because they easily get into arguments over unimportant details.

neptune : leo neptune in leo is creative and has a natural flair for entertainment, film, theatre and fashion. they have such magnetism that others are easily influenced by them. they are flamboyant and extravagantly idealistic. leo neptune is generous, sociable and warm-hearted. they are fond of pleasurable pursuits. they have artistic abilities and are successful in their educational careers. they are conscientious with others and usually have successful relationships. alternatively, they can be disappointed in love. they can act by impulse rather than intellect. they may lack the wherewithal to face up to challenges or be fickle.

pluto : aries those born with pluto in aries want to do whatever it takes to get what they desire. they can assess a situation immediately and see what they can get out of it for themselves. if they can’t turn something to their advantage, they are quick to look for another opportunity elsewhere. they are not known for patience. they need to learn not to act rashly and keep some of their energy in reserve. aries pluto tends to take extreme action. they can be very optimistic and accomplish quite a lot through their own power. individuals born with pluto in aries do not hesitate to take things in new directions. these attempts may or may not leave lasting impressions. they may be impulsive, willful, and rebellious. they can become obsessed with freedom and power unless they are careful.

rising : aries aries rising is quick and to the point. they act before they think, charging into the fray without a plan. while they are active, they are not aggressive. they just see what they want and go get it. while some may be competitive, most are putting all the pressure to get what they want on themselves. everything is done quickly. those born with an aries ascendant are quick to anger and quick to let it pass. they don’t hold grudges. as a rule, they prefer to be straightforward and direct. they can’t stand to sit still. they prefer to be active, and will not hesitate to stir something up to keep things interesting. the aries ascendant is oriented on success. they are ambitious and can be single-minded towards their own achievements to the point of selfishness at times. this usually stems from the fact they are so focused on their own goals that they forget that others may be involved or affected. they have a strong need to accomplish their goals, no matter how foolish, dangerous or far-reaching they may seem.

[trinkets-and-spirits]

TL;DR: I’m Fucking Pissed at So-Called Open-Minded Witches Rn. Prepare for a Long-AF Rant.

OK! For those who don’t know me, I’m the sort of person who doesn’t usually make these sorts of posts, because I like to keep my head below the drama. However, when I see those who claim to be open-minded and the sort towards new witchlings or general pagans; but leave out the fact that if you happen to believe or respect any sort of Christian belief or God, you’re basically fake—is the moment that I really stop giving a fuck about who the hell grows offended.

Observe! An arrogant woman, who seems to believe that she has the right to post something as controversial as the topic that we’ll be discussing today, within a Facebook group that consists of witches & pagans in a very wide age span—without receiving any sort of backlash, or comments against her belief:

Seems innocent enough, right? It isn’t uncommon that old practitioners of the craft tend to be a little more hostile towards the modern craft, due to the fact that they follow very sacred beliefs that have been questioned or judged at every twist and turn. || Christian Witches? Pfft! What a silly idea. || Sarcasm.

Before I continue, I’d like to state the obvious disclaimer that the trigger happy folks of tumblr will undoubtedly ignore, but to those who actually read this entire post before hopping onto the bandwagon of sending one person a ton of hate:

I am completely open-minded towards the argument that this woman is creating, because I would be a hypocrite if I said that I haven’t been a tad extreme with my opinions of change within communities separate to the witch community. HOWEVER! The thing I do not agree with here, is the continued spite and discriminative behaviour that this woman expresses towards all Christians & their beliefs. She has the right to her opinions, but she doesn’t have the right to dictate what makes a witch; what makes a pagan; and she certainly doesn’t have the right to claim that this new age bullshit isn’t allowed to shelter under the huge umbrella term that is Paganism.

Right! Now that I’ve gotten the classic disclaimer that nobody will probs read out of the way, I’ll continue with this post; because I want to defend the innocent and curious Christians who stumble onto our beliefs. I want to tell them that all of them are accepted, in my eyes and the eyes of many other witches/pagans, and that people like this have no right to make them feel unaccepted & upset. And by the Gods, I want to let people know that I’m fucking pissed with this sort of behaviour—and I never thought that I’d actually have anything other than the classic jokes about all of tumblr being trigger happy, but the majority of the blogs that I follow on this site; are very accepting towards Christians, and craft.

And those blogs are generally run by amazing people, who may follow beliefs that are as old as time itself; or may be those excitable lot that Grumpy Ol’ Free rolls her eyes at b/c apparently there’s an entirely new branch of magick that has just been discovered, and Free is too fuckin exhausted with her own branches of craft to start looking into another—but I appreciate your positivity! And I appreciate your acceptance towards change, because...let’s be real here; our religion is one that is all about change, experimenting & constant learning.

And to those who might not be acceptant towards Christians practising your beliefs; I understand! I understand your distaste, or your concerns, I really do. Speaking as an autistic member of society, I’ve always been sceptical towards neurotypicals; I’ve straight out hated the idea of being anything other than a lil tolerable towards them—and I still hate it when NTs attempt to get involved with autistic culture, purely because I’ve experienced all sorts of abuse and discrimination for something that I cannot control. Regardless, I appreciate those who are respectful; which goes for the majority of witches & pagans in this community—you don’t agree with it, but you aren’t sending anon hate to every Christian; Muslim; or whatever who happens to be practising our craft. And I can respect that! The majority of those who disagree with the acceptance are very respectful & get on with their lives; but are given a very bad name by people like the woman above—who refuses to be respectful, kind or anything other than spiteful & hostile. And thus, I happen to be real fuckin’ pissed rn. xP

“First of all did you miss the traditional part. Oh I believe you did, and I’m speaking of true pagans. Heatheans!”

*Deep breath* First of all, traditional paganism branches to a number of different beliefs; Roman—Norse—Celtic, and there are a number of others. (To those who have more information on the topic, I do encourage you to comment where you believe my own personal knowledge on the situation is incorrect or has worded information incorrectly; I won’t be mad—I’ll appreciate your help!) From my own knowledge on the term heathen; the word was originally used as a derogatory term against the invading Vikings, due to their lack of faith within the Christian God—and their multiple statements towards having multiple gods. Over time, it has grown into a word to describe multiple different religions or beliefs; though the most infamous would be those who follow Norse Paganism.

The term pagan was also used; but again, was a derogatory term against them. According to Google (where I place my trust, because I lost my dictionary, rip), the definitions of pagan and heathen are the ones that I’m about to share below, though I’d like to state that the terms are vastly used for multiple religions, etc. I’m honestly just stating them so that we’re all on the same page:

Pagan, Noun: A person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions. || Synonyms: Heathen, Agnostic, Sceptic, Athiest.

Heathen, Noun: A person who does not belong to a widely held religion; especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. // A follower of a polytheistic religion: a pagan. || Synonyms: Pagan, Atheist, Agnostic.

Note: Google has also listed Heathen as a derogatory term, I’d just like to note. Of course, it doesn’t have to be; and I’ve personally considered myself to be Heathen on a number of occasions, but I’d just like to note.

*Cough cough* Of course, I can see the argument that this woman is bringing into the situation. Christianity is not listed as a synonym for either definition; and therefore that must mean that Christians are incapable of being accepted. Fair enough, I guess she has defeated me; by the old Gods and the new, I admit that this woman has caught me out—and this entire post...is pointless. *Gets prepared to delete the whole post, and pretend that I was never upset* But wait! To those who happened to take careful note of what this woman said in the first picture, I hope you noticed the one crucial thing this woman stated:

“A True Traditional Witch is Pagan!”

Oh boy, am I glad that the internet is running smoothly at the minute; because there is nothing that I love more, than adding more definitions to close a witch bitch down. Not that she’ll ever see it, but who cares? A small portion of my 42 followers will probably see it, so at least the hate will be minimal, am I right? :p

Witch, Noun: A woman thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones; popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak, pointed hat and flying on a broomstick. // A follower or practitioner of Wicca or of modern withcraft. || Synonyms: Sorceress, Enchantress, Necromancer, Wiccan.

We won’t go into the definition of Wiccan; because this post is long enough, without going into explicit detail the difference between Wiccans and every other path that happens to fall under the umbrella that is Paganism. Plus, I ‘ve already pissed off enough people with this post; I don’t need to upset those lot, too—because my life is hexed enough as is...I don’t need y’all coming for me. :p

Anyway, onto this undoubtedly confusing post that is the longest ‘fuck you and your shitty discriminative opinion’ to some woman who will never see this post; this woman believes that true and traditional witches are Pagan—but does anyone notice that the synonyms for Pagan & Witch are missing each other? This all falls back to the usual info that we all hand to new witches or pagans: you don’t have to be Pagan to be a witch, and the same info goes vice versa. So no, traditional witches don’t have to be Pagan; it all comes down to choice. Witches can be whoever the fuck they want; and whilst the most popular choice is to follow the Wiccan path, that doesn’t cut out the possibility of other choices. So! Christian Witches are very much possible, and are very much allowed; they aren’t some stain that you can wash out with elbow grease and discrimination.

In my opinion, as long as everyone is respectful & not shoving opinions down everyone else’s throats about their beliefs and such; I don’t really give a fuck. However, this woman (and her merry lil’ group of admins who are close-minded AF; yet claim to be the opposite) caught my attention, because she is not only spiteful towards those who are Christian Witches; but towards those who are attempting to be open-minded and supportive of Christian Witches. Honestly, if she was stating her opinions in a more mature way; rather than behaving as though she has the power to dictate and control, I wouldn’t really give a damn. However, since she isn’t; the woman is getting a tumblr post made about her. 😊

Props to Lena & Inannas for attempting to communicate their thoughts, and defend those who aren’t allowed to defend themselves without having a shit storm brought onto them by people like this, in a mature & informative way. Y’all have my respect, especially because you didn’t fall into her baiting. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[uponfurtherreview-mark]

AFC South: The Most Interesting Conference in the NFL

All Beng

The AFC South is the most compelling and fascinating division in the NFL and it is not even close. 

Coming into the season I would have yawned at the AFC South. Wait, I did yawn at the AFC South, giving it as much thought as I do when a bartender asks if I want another beer. It is just a reflexive dismissal of the entire division because- 

1.) It Lacks True Star Power aside from Andrew Luck and JJ Watt

2.) No Super Bowl Contender is coming from this Division

3.) Jacksonville is in the division

Well, that has changed, except for the part about the Super Bowl contender and, yes, Jacksonville is still in the division, but they don’t look so Jacksonville anymore. 

In a season where the AFC West was supposed to be the cream of the crop in the NFL only one team has stepped up, the Kansas City Chiefs, where as Denver just lost at home to the New York Giants who I believe were playing without a single WR. Oakland fell into the cement hype mixer that it created last year and is stuck in reverse. Classic Oakland, by the way. 

You could have made a case for the NFC East, but its more drama over off the field issues; basically Jerry Jones has become the Kris Jenner of the NFL and the Cowboys are his Kardashian Daughters. Also, the Eagles and Redskins, while good, are just very vanilla. The Redskins and the NFL need this Kirk Cousins back. Its a mixture of Seattle Matt Hasselback and Old School Will Ferrell. 

But for my money, and I can’t believe I am saying this, I am rolling with the AFC South. One is probably is that it is a novelty because the division has not been competitive from top to bottom(even if that bottom does not look that good at the moment). To this point the AFC Standings look like Stranger Things Upside Down World. 

The Titans and Jags are on top of the division after 6 games! A division that has been dominated by Andrew Luck’s Colts and JJ Watts Texans, now seems to have two new Belles to the ball in Jacksonville and Tennessee. Granted they are in a three way tie and it is 3-3, but I think that speaks to the imperfectness of the teams and the division itself. 

And this is why I am all in on the division because of the imperfect nature of the teams, which will make it competitive on the field when they do battle against themselves and just about anyone. 

Lets run down the teams: 

The Colts- With no Andrew Luck the Colts are only a game out of first place in the division. With no Andrew Luck, I expect more of the Colts being more 0-16 Colts without Peyton Manning than two wins at this pointed. Yes, those wins were against the Niners and Browns, but those were two games they could have lost and really been in a hole. Now, we get to see Mr. Luck, his throwing shoulder, and if he can get the SS Indy back on track or is this team actually a Weekend at Bernies corpse and no one has figured out they are dead. 

The Colts will find out in the next month where this team should go as they face off against the Jags(home), Bengals(Road), Texans(Road), and Steelers(Home). That is a difficult schedule and one where come Thanksgiving we may be talking about the Colts blowing it up and Chuck Pagano being carved up and served to the Indy fans before Thanksgiving. 

Houston Texans: How do the Texans replace JJ Watt? Elementary, my dear Watson! As in Deshaun Watson! 

The top of the draft has to be kicking itself right now. Chicago, Jacksonville, Niners, The Jets, and the Browns(Twice) all passed on him. Coming out of college, having beaten a semi-pro Alabama team, the same Alabama that regularly employees players on Sunday, once and coming close to doing it twice had me on the Watson bandwagon. I was hoping my Niners would pick him up, but it was not to be. Now all these teams and the fan bases will have to sit back and watch this dynamo light up Houston for the next 10 years. 

Houston has dealt with Watt being out before and were submarined by bad QB play. Not this time around. With Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins as primary receiving weapons, Watson is set up for success. He just has to keep that swagger and limit turnovers to help out his defense and the Texans, even without Watt, can get into the playoffs. 

Jacksonville Jaguars- Can we please send Jacksonville to London. They already have a pool in their stadium, might as well send them across a giant one and into the friendly, for them, confines of London. There is something in the water that Blake Bortles enjoys and doesn’t make him Blake Bortles terrible American QB, but Blake Bortles the hero England has never asked for, but it getting. He tossed 4 TDS in London and had a Passer Rating of 128, making many wonder if there really is a British Blake Bortles that switched places with American Blake Bortles and is actually good, only his father will only permit him to play English Football and he can only play when the Jags are on European soil. 

Anyway, this Jags defense, especially their secondary is good. Like real good. In 6 games they are giving up 18 points per game. That speaks to the ineptitude of the QB play because it is definitely not on LSU product Leonard Fournette, who has shown maybe the NFL is not as fast(for him) as other make it out to be. So great D? Check. Good Running Game? Check. Quarterback play? Dumpster Fire. 

However, good news Jags fans. You can play this right and you can end the Blake Bortles experiment and set yourself up for the future. Just continue to play Bortles. Let him throw all over Earth’s green grass and hope you do not win another single game. From there you will take that 6 or 7th pick and you will offer that and whatever else you have to the top of the draft so you can pick up one of the top college QB’s in this draft. Yes, you will be out some players, but you only need one and that one player is the most important position in all of sports. Everything else is good. Just have to nail that QB position for the first time since Mark Brunell. 

Tennessee Titans- All right Titan fans, the moment you have waited for since 2009. This years team will be making the playoffs. And, yes,  it is because of the question marks surrounding that of Andrew Luck, the Houston Defense, and because Blake Bortles is somehow throwing passes and not asking I want ketchup with that. 

But you have to play who is in front of you and not care what happens to others cause that is their problem. Now that Marriota is back, the Titans offense, for as long as he can stay healthy will hum, and will do so in a very methodical style that will keep an improving defense fresh. 

The game plan is simple. Give the ball to Murray and Derrick Henry and let them get manageable third downs and from there use your sure handed receivers in Walker, Matthews and Decker to pick up third downs. Even Marriota’s legs are a threat to pick up a first down or improvise on a broken play. 

And I like their special teams with Adoree Jackson, a massive weapon at USC, a huge threat to take it to the house should opposing teams decide to kick it to him. And Ryan Succop is Mr. Consistent, making his 47th straight kick inside the 50. 

If the Titans can protect Marriota, a big if, and keep him and his passer rating and completion percentage and legs on the field then the Titans will be in business. The Titans should play ground and pound football, handing it off to the big backs, wear down the D line, control the clock, and set up field goals all day, knowing that Succop won’t miss inside fifty yards. That will allow the defense to rest and will turn a game ugly, which is what Tennessee in those shiny white uni’s really want to do anyway. 

Sprinkle on top of that some Music City Special Teams Magic and this is the year, in the most competitive and interesting division where four teams have a shot to win it, that the Titans come out on top. 

[tripstations]

Have Instagram Influencers Ruined Travel For An Entire Generation?

What a great platform Instagram has been for influencers to show off the worlds best destinations. Inspiring wanderlust and uncovering new hidden gems. Then, almost overnight, everyone seemed to want to do the same thing. Become an influencer, whilst missing the part about actually being influential. Images became less about the destinations, and more about pretty and edited images where individual egos and a drive for self-fame took over from the overriding message of inspiring travel. The destination took a back seat, and in an ever increasing attempt for ‘insta-fame’ people portrayed perfect lives of 365 days travel a year. Recent stories that have surfaced of apparent influencers editing the same pictures of clouds into different images does little to throw any water on the flames of the current argument.

Almost overnight, the word influencer became one of the most toxic words on the internet. The audience woke up to the fact that entitled ‘influencers’ actually have very little qualification to tell their audience what to buy, where to go and what to think, simply because they take set-up pictures. And rightly so people have woken up to this reality. There are plenty of influential people on social media – that is very different to ‘influenecrs’ who have seemingly largely now renamed themselves to ‘content creators’ – simply discounting from the actual talented content creators ranging from photographers to videographers out there. The crowd pilling into the ‘influenecer’ bandwagon also unfortunately discounted from those that could be classified as an influencer and being influential. Granted, that certainly exists—there are many people on social media that have built-up an adorning audience that cares about what they have to say, and where they go, but it has now become increasingly difficult to distinguish these people in amongst the wider noise. Having followers doesn’t translate to actual influence. This was recently demonstrated by the revelation that an ‘influencer’ with over 2 million instagram followers couldn’t sell 20 T-shirts to her audience. 

Instagram is displayed on Apple’s App Store. (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

How many times have you seen a beautiful picture of an overwater villa in the Maldives on Instagram? Could you actually remember the name of any resorts you see though in the Maldives or the hotel captured in those perfectly set up floating breakfast tray shots in Bali, with overly edited pictures? I certainly can’t.

Looks great doesn’t it? Double tap images, and then move on with your day. The remaining marketing message that you have been left with is that you want to go to said promoted destination, eventually. We are being sold a dream of a room that costs thousands of dollars a night, by people that (largely) couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to afford to stay there off their own accord, without complimentary nights to market the message—influencers have been using a follower count to live complimentary lifestyles sold to whoever pays the most—paid for, in kind, by their followers.

Would that be considered false advertising? Perhaps, but that’s a different topic altogether. The very problem here, and with the never ending push for influencers to get more ‘wow’ content, is that what we are seeing visually, is rarely what we are likely to experience when we travel in reality.

So what happens when we see this visual stimulation? We as the audience see someone’s supposedly perfect life and we wonder why and how this person has these amazing experiences and we don’t. Importantly, we see all these amazing destinations and when we as the audience make that once in a lifetime trip to them, it leads to disappointment that said destination isn’t how we have been made to believe it looks like. The book ‘Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass’ gives an interesting insight into this. Douglass talks about slaves never being made to feel worthy. This hypothesis can be translated to how influenecers make an audience feel, that they have got it so ‘right’. We as an audience seeing all these beautiful destinations feel less worthy and over time, we actually need this ‘expert’ even more, so we can figure out how they are doing so well. We need to buy their product, their service, their presets even! But no you don’t, you categorically don’t. Because that’s how so many of these ‘influencers’ are able to portray such beautiful images onto us and continue this lifestyle. The audience inevitably pays.

Social media users seem determined to push the limits of photos. Taken in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

James Asquith

I’ve heard of ‘influencers’ waking up so early at 5am to go and capture what later appears as perfect pictures at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Granted, the number of tourists here is incomprehensible, and yes, visually, pictures may look better when you have the fountain to yourself—but what message does that send? When we turn up and see this beautiful landmark and it’s filled with hundreds if not thousands of people with selfie sticks and munching on gelato? The overcrowded reality vastly differs from what we have seen on Instagram, and it often disappoints—why wasn’t I able to get that perfect picture? How did the influencer get it so right and I didn’t? But the visual stimulation we have previously seen means travel is being ruined, because we should be appreciating the buzz, the vibe and the people that bring the destination to life. Would you rather have everything to yourself? No noise, no crowds? I certainly wouldn’t. This is why to all those influencers that edit people out of pictures on the Charles Bridge in Prague, or do idiotic couple acts like hanging out of a train kissing in Sri Lanka, my message to you, from someone that uses Instagram often as well, and has indeed visited every country, is to stop deceiving audiences with unobtainable visual stimulation. Be realistic, otherwise every travel experience will be a let down for your audience. People that have saved up for perhaps years to go to the Maldives and when they get there and don’t have that beautiful huge overwater villa we have all seen ‘influencers’ take a picture of on instagram—disappointed aren’t you? I would be too. The influencer got the villa for free, you would have had to pay thousands of dollars more for it beyond a standard room, and your vacation is not how influencers or instagram would have you believe it would be. There’s a continuing theme here.

Rewind back a couple of years. It all started out so well. The word influencer was quite new, and to a large extent, respected. A group of people that had carved out a niche on social media platforms to showcase the world’s best places and products. Then, like with anything good in this life, almost overnight, everyone tried to get in on being an ‘influencer’. Unqualified at best, and fraudulent at worst. Being an ‘influencer’ seemed a great ‘job’ for many—who wouldn’t want to travel for free and get paid to promote products you’ll likely never use? 

Bali rice terraces – another popular ‘instagramable location’ that gets perfected in photos by many influencers

James Asquith

Because someone takes an unattainably realistic photo and uses extensive editing software, how does that qualify them to preach about what is good and not. Let’s stop to think about the visual stimulation we get shown – ‘influencers’ show off these great destinations, but the pictures we see are rarely ever about just the destination are they? It is about ego and fame. Almost every post has aforementioned ‘influencer’ in the picture pulling some pensive pose like they have just discovered an entirely new destination— whilst likely promoting a clothing line at the same time. 

What happened to a good old picture of scenery or a monument? Now, the people that take those pictures are the real content creators and photographers with actual talent in my opinion. Videographers that make inspirational content that inspire travel. We don’t need to go to a destination and see it as we have seen on an instagram post. The world isn’t perfect and that should be appreciated. The atmospheric buzz of crowds of people in our pictures I would rather take any day over a ‘perfect shot’. Stop for a moment and appreciate your surrounding, who you’re with, and become inspired. But again, you shouldn’t even be listening to me—carve out your own way and don’t let anyone on social media make you feel inferior. 

Pisa, Italy. Influencers have popularised perfect and quirky pictures at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but tourists are regularly amazed to see the extent of what lays the other side of the camera lens here

James Asquith

I myself use Instagram extensively, but not as a platform to make my income, and have almost never done any paid posts. That doesn’t mean I’m against paid posts, but only when it’s a product an ‘influenecer’ would use themselves, and more importantly would and could pay for themselves, without their followers essentially footing the bill. I have also visited every country in the world and spend 360 days of the year on the road working remotely – does that instantly qualify me as an expert in the travel field? Absolutely not. If I get more likes than other people does that make me ‘better’? Not a chance. We need to appreciate our own individual experiences and stop pursuing the manufactured ‘influencer’ content we are shown. I’ve personally put a light hearted approach on this by laying on the floor like a splatted egg in front of monuments where there are scores of people trying to get that perfect picture like they may have seen on social media.

So the next time we arrive at that bucket list destination, and it doesn’t appear as visually stimulating as to what ‘influencers’ have demonstrated it to be, just remember to enjoy travel on your own terms. Not everything we see has to be about ‘Melbourne’s Top 10 most Instagrammable coffee shops’. Why should a coffee shop that looks aesthetically better than others get more customers, when other coffee shops may serve much better coffee? It shouldn’t all be about replicating what an ‘influenecer’ has done. Pictures are important memories from our travels, but so are the experiences we have. Social media should genuinely inspire us to travel, rather than make our experiences seem inferior to what we have seen. Therefore, I think it’s important to detach that ‘influencer’ content is generally not real life. Tagged brands, likely. A great picture, most definitely. But likely not the great experience that we can all have on our own individual level. 

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