#plus we should be a community and communities are supposed to support each others and help each other

[alzilla09]

I Just Don't Get the Serena/AmourShipping Hate... (Please, Let's Stop)

Okay, I need to get this off my chest. I genuinely don't understand the intense hate directed towards Serena and AmourShipping. Plus it’s getting really really old!

Serena is one of my absolute favorite Pokémon characters. Her journey of self-discovery, her determination, and her unwavering support for Ash? It's all so inspiring! She's kind, talented, and her growth throughout XY/XYZ was phenomenal.

And AmourShipping? It's just...adorable.

The way they connected, the subtle hints, the clear affection they had for each other? It was so sweet and genuine! I loved watching their relationship develop.

So, why the hate? Why the constant negativity? I've seen:

* People saying she's "clingy" when she was supportive.

* People saying she's "boring" when she had a fantastic character arc.

* People saying AmourShipping is "forced" when it was built up naturally.

* And just general, mean-spirited comments that are just... unnecessary.

It honestly makes me so sad. Like, can't we just enjoy what we love? Why does it have to be a constant battle? I don't understand why people feel the need to tear down something that brings others joy.

I love Serena. I love AmourShipping. And seeing so much hate makes me feel like I can't even express that without being attacked.

It's undeniable that every fandom has its share of… passionate individuals. And yes, that includes the Pokémon community. While I acknowledge that some Serena and AmourShipping fans can be, shall we say, a bit intense, it's also crucial to recognize that this behavior isn't exclusive to them.

Here's the thing: Every other PokéGirl and every other Ash ship has its own vocal and sometimes toxic supporters. Yet, the spotlight of criticism seems to disproportionately shine on Serena and AmourShipping. This creates an unfair and frankly, exhausting dynamic.

Instead of focusing on the negativity, let's explore a more productive approach:

* Acknowledge the positive: Every PokéGirl and every ship has its merits. Let's celebrate what we love about each character and pairing, rather than fixating on their perceived flaws.

* Promote respectful dialogue: Instead of engaging in heated debates, let's strive for respectful conversations. We can express our preferences without tearing down others' favorites.

* Encourage creative expression: Let's channel our passion into positive outlets like fanart, fanfiction, and thoughtful discussions. Let's create content that celebrates the characters and ships we love.

* Recognize the diversity of opinions: Fandoms are diverse spaces with a wide range of perspectives. Let's respect those differences and avoid generalizations.

* Call out toxic behavior, regardless of the target: If we see toxic behavior, regardless of who it's directed at, let's call it out. Let's create a culture where everyone feels welcome and respected.

* Focus on what brings us joy: At the end of the day, fandoms are supposed to be fun. Let's prioritize the aspects that bring us joy and minimize our exposure to negativity.

* Understand that it’s fiction: It is a cartoon, and these are fictional characters. It’s okay to have opinions, but it is not okay to attack people over a cartoon.

Let’s try to remember that we are all fans of the same franchise, and we should be able to enjoy it without being attacked for our preferences.

Let's shift the narrative from negativity to positivity, from division to unity. Let's create a fandom where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of their favorite PokéGirl or ship.

[maya-matlin]

since we're apparently among the only three people here who don't dislike Zaya...1. why do you think people have more trouble forgiving Zaya for their flaws when basically EVERY Degrassi ship is messy, flawed and complicated?! (Not judging anyone - we all like what we like, and things resonate with us for different reasons, I just find it interesting that people think Zaya is too toxic to forgive while some other Degrassi couples are objective just as messy and even more so) 2. Three Zaya scenes you love that show you they're meant to be? 3. Any songs you associate with Zaya? 4. Name three things Maya and Zig have in common and three differences they have that balance each other out! 5. Want to start a Zaya Appreciation Society with me? We can all share ice cream ;)

There are actually a solid amount of devoted Zaya fans. They're just harder to find. There's a reason I stick with Tumblr. Other places intimidate me and aren't worth the drama.

1.) Personal preference? Other than that, the existence of Campbell Saunders. Just as Zaya's potential romance was picking up steam and forming the foundation for their eventual relationship, Cam killed himself. Zig was the last person to speak to Cam. Regardless of Zig's intent or that during all of their interactions, Cam was the aggressor and the one who initiated all of their conflicts, the only thing the majority of Degrassi fans remember is that Zig pushed Cam over the edge. It never sat right with many viewers that Zig wasn't held more accountable for Cam's death or that Maya was so blasé about Zig's "confession". The writers' intent was clearly to send the message that no one is responsible for a suicide or anyone else's actions. But at the same time, you should still be mindful of others because you never know what's going on in someone else's head. Plus, I don't think Zig's character took quite the trajectory that some fans were expecting. He was supposed to have "learned" from Cam's death, meaning there was an expectation that he'd come away from the experience wiser with an acute awareness of how to navigate situations like this. It turns out, that never really happened. Zig tried his best and meant well, but he continued to be careless with words and was often in over his head. Zig also went on to feud with Maya's next boyfriend, Miles, where he was much more combative and kind of a shit starter. Miles was written with more care than Zig and quickly became the preferred character out of the two starting with season 14 and Next Class. So retroactively, Zig = bad, Miles = good. And lastly, a lot of people can't overlook cheating, even in fiction. While I take the stance that while I hate it, fictional cheating happening in teen dramas is highly likely, others felt too betrayed to continue supporting their relationship. Just overall, different people come away with different interpretations of characters and couples. In my opinion, Miles was far and away Maya's worst love interest and could have never made her happy in the long run even if they were both in heathier mindsets. Comparatively, I think Zig complemented Maya very well, offered constant emotional support and more often than not communicated well with her. Maya never seemed to be as happy with any guy as she was him once they were finally together. Others will tell you Miles was a great boyfriend, most of the things I just listed, and that Zig was a mediocre love interest.

2.) That's super tough to narrow down. I feel like I'm doing this wrong, but..

(1) Zig comforting Maya after Miles screams at her, reassuring her that he knows that she means well

It's the softness for me. It's how after the confusion with the season 13 love triangle and Zig being resistant to Maya's help, he gets it. He's here when she needs him the most. It's funny how for some, Maya and Zig getting together in the second half of season 14 came totally out of nowhere. But even though I didn't expect it when the season was airing, looking back it's very easy to see what was developing and how they were getting closer and closer each episode. Even though the Maya/Miles relationship lingered and Zig could have potentially gotten together with Zoe, those romances didn't pan out. To me, this is when their season 14 arc officially begins.

(2) Zig and Maya making up backstage

Yes, they were fighting and Maya was frustrated with Zig for trying to handle the gang on his own rather than turning Vince in, but he realized on his own (with the help of Damon) what needed to happen. We didn't see the full scene, but Zig clearly apologizes for their earlier conflict and for not initially going to the police. Maya is so forgiving and so prepared to forget the whole thing happened. Like she said. "You're here. We're together." That's literally all that mattered to her. No matter what happened, she was going to stick with Zig. No one can convince me that Maya Matlin wasn't equally and 100% as in love with Zig as he was her.

(3) Zig trying to cheer Maya up

Post bus crash, Maya was in the darkest place she'd ever been in. She was slowly losing all of her personal connections. At this point, it would be difficult to say Zig and Maya were even friends anymore. Their relationship ended in a very painful way with Maya still angry with Zig even months later. They both almost died. Zig entered a very public relationship with Esme. While they had occasional moments where they interacted that reinforced their connection, (in 302 when Zig asked Maya for advice about Esme), overall Zig wasn't part of Maya's life and therefore missed a lot of her warning signs. But, he did notice her on the verge of breaking down in the hallway and instantly knew something was wrong even if he couldn't have imagined the extent of it. So, Zig basically gently forces Maya to open up to him about what's going on. He knows she's struggling with something and isn't happy anymore, so he decides to cheer her up. This is Maya's first genuine smile the entire season. Every other time, she's either faking it or indulging in darker interests that only serve to trigger her more. And Maya clearly feels all the feelings in that moment. Yes, it's easier with Zig and he reminds her of happier times, but it's also very obvious how much she's still in love with him. This isn't technically part of the scene, but in the next episode Maya makes it a point to ask Esme to take care of Zig for her. The only other person we see Maya explicitly request be taken care of after she's gone is her mother. So, it says a lot about the depth of Maya's love for Zig and how much it would mean to her for him to be taken care of after she's gone. Anyways. Zig makes Maya happy and instinctively understands her.

4.) Ugh, I'm the worst at song questions.

It Might Be Love - Latch Key Kid (played during the first time they went to The Dot)

Oh My Love - Layla (played when Maya kisses Zig in season 14, kickstarting their relationship)

The Words You Say - Harrison Storm (played at the end of #YesMeansYes)

Lover - Taylor Swift (I know I'm basic, but it's their song)

5.) Three things Zig and Maya have in common.. they're both loyal, protective people and never afraid to fight for what's right, particularly when it affects someone they care about. I'll count that as two. It's honestly tough to find similarities, as weird as that sounds. They just match each other's energy and tend to be on the same wavelength. I'll say they're both pretty laidback. In spite of the fact they find themselves pulled into drama (especially poor Maya), they typically don't go out of their way to create it. Sometimes certain rivals will bring out that side of them, but overall they're chill people.

As for the differences that balance each other out.. Zig is the more sensitive one. He has a way of being quietly supportive and intuiting things while Maya internalizes a lot of her emotions. She's so desperate for nothing to go wrong that she almost avoids reality. I honestly think Zig grounds her a bit and forces her to be honest with herself. While both have good hearts, Maya is more compassionate and quicker to forgive. Even though it would sometimes be easier to lash out and the people wronging her would 1000% deserve it, Maya avoids conflict for the most part. Zig has never met a physical conflict he didn't want to throw against his locker. He means well, but he struggles with his anger from time to time and can't help but want to defend. Sometimes he's defending himself, other times he's defending the people he cares about. Maya provides a calming influence and encourages Zig to find better, healthier ways to handle his problems. This is so hard LOL. I feel like that's it? Who Maya is and who Zig is and how they interact with each other makes them an unusually good match. This is awful. I apologize.

5.) Absolutely!

[yourbitchystudentartist]

Okay, I'm still on this and then I'll be done. apologies cause I'm not gonna be very eloquent cause I'm rusty with both spider-verse and Arcane.

I feel like, Jinx/ekko and Miles/Gwen also low-key diminish some of the main messaging or themes around their stories. Like for Jinx and Ekko, the very little we see of them together is from their time in the tight-knit community of the lanes and their friendship as the relative runts, or youngest ones of their group. you know, they were friends but also, a part of the community! As time moves on and the factions of the undercity are fractured, they kind of represent two sides of their community, and introduce a dynamic between the characters that connects Ekko to Vi Silco and Sevika AS WELL as Jinx. you know? like his hesitation to hurt jinx is less about having a crush, and more about, the friendship and community. and I feel like, by making their dynamic romantic I think it narrows Ekko's narrative emotional scope to centring Jinx as a lost potential romantic figure, rather than Jinx as a lost friend and representation of how their community fell apart. and also I don't see (so far) any focus on the relationships he's formed since the #incident. At least that's what I see from the fandom response, the man built a whole gang/community/organization from scratch, and these people are important too! but no! it's all about Jinx and how much he cares about Jinx when there are so many more complex relationships and dynamics to think about.

That is also the thing with Miles/Gwen, where their arcs include finding community solidarity and comfort in other spider-folk in the spider-verse. Miles and Gwen have a similar problem: in the face of their spider powers and other tragedies in their lives, they feel startling alone, but when they uncover the multiverse they meet a whole host of people with a similar life experience and find comfort in that. Like, literally Gwen just lost her best friend and her arc (in movie 1) was opening herself up to making new friends. So when the Miles/Gwen ship started to be set up, I got frustrated, cause it was supposed to be about the power of friendship man, even though they found a whole group of spider people to get along with, they got along well cause they were the same age, hence they could be closer friends. but still, they were just frieeends. and because ASTV started to highlight their relationship way more than any of the original spider gang (even Peter B, his literal mentor and the first other spider-person he ever met) it kind of implies that this low-key building romance is more important than the rest of the COMMUNITY.

It's ABOUT THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP (and community, and found family and blah blah blah)

and it's a point that has been belaboured over and over again about how in a lot of media its hard to just have a girl and a boy just be friends cause of heteronormativity, etc etc. and I know that these are more interracial ships which even though its 2024 are still you know, relatively not well represented, but I feel like both these stories are just putting romance where it doesn't belong. and in the case of Arcane specifically, it's actively weakening the whole story and weakens the story arc of what should be a very well-connected Black character in the story, kind of making it mostly about his relationship with a white girl instead of his relationship to Zaun as a whole, as well as other Zaunites.

At least with Miles and Gwen, like I said in my other post there's a lot more to Miles and Gwen than their relationship with each other, especially with ASTV setting up other young spider-people who connect with Miles and Gwen and could provide friendship and community and support outside of that whole romance situation. plus Miles and Gwen are given a lot more buildup as friends first than potential love interests.

so if you're gonna compare the two ships you ought to at least be honest and talk about how both these ships have very little to do with the Black main characters and a using romance as lazy shorthand for what SHOULD be a larger message of FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC or whatever.

[tobiasdrake]

Time to meet my character. And also the other one, I guess.

My colors are cooler than his. Nyeh!

In seriousness, Valere and Zale both have killer portraits. Though the jagged upper edge of Zale's scarf makes it look like it's preparing to eat him.

That's a terrible idea, Zale. You want us to explore an unknown wilderness in separate directions and then when we find something... what? Yell really loud and hope the other one's aimless nature meandering hasn't taken them out of earshot?

I don't know, maybe we have mystical methods of communication but then we'll still be left trying to offer navigational advice like "I think I took a left at a rock?"

Sometimes games let you pick a character to play and then quickly sideline the other for the duration of the plot. Resident Evil comes immediately to mind. I'm sure Sea of Stars has no intention of doing that but it would kill me if the non-selected character just ended up lost in the wilderness for the duration of the game. XD

OH SURE, you take the easy flatland and leave me with the path that requires climbing up a ledge.

Well. Whatever else he may be, we know that a gentleman, Zale is not.

WHOA put the staff down, Valere. Look at his backpack. He might just be a traveling merch--

There are skulls decorating the backpack.

You know what, never mind. You're right. I'm wrong. Activate self-defense stick and wait to see if he makes the first move.

Not even "Goblin" or "Orc" or anything. Just. Wanderer. I'm having second thoughts about beating the shit out of this guy again.

I mean, I'll do it. I just don't feel good about it. I'm going to just focus on the skulls and try to assume we were being accosted by a bandit, and not a traveling vagrant who decorates his gear to try and ward off would-be assailants because life's tough when you're on the streets.

Have to climb a ledge and cross a rickety bridge. I hope Zale enjoys his pleasant stroll in the woods that seemed to be off in that direction.

Yes, I am petty.

On the plus side, that's definitely a previously-used campsite up there on that ledge. So we should be able to cross the bridge and then take a nice, relaxing walk up the hill to that bridge up there, which may connect us to--

I'm gonna put a thumbtack in his sleeping bag.

I got attacked by a rock bull, thank you for asking. It's like a regular bull. But made of rocks.

Oh, but the pleasant jaunt through the woods takes you to the well-used campsite. Great. I got mauled by a rock bull for nothing.

We weren't looking for the way to the top. We were looking for that campsite next to you. But sure, Zale's easy route not only takes him to the campsite I was trying to get to, but also to those delicious looking berries over there and also the way to our ultimate destination for good measure! Because life isn't fucking fair..

.... *deep breath* You're too nice to be mad at.

You know what, I take it back. This route isn't nearly as easy as it looked from a distance. Alright, Zale, I won't put a thumbtack in your sleeping bag.

The moral of the story is that assumptions make an ass out of u and mptions.

But I had to climb both sets of rocks so you're cooking tonight.

Credit where it's due, the writing for these two characters is strong. I don't know if they're supposed to be siblings or lovers or platonic besties or what. What I do know is, you can feel the history in their relationship. These two characters have been supporting each other with love and friendship for a long time.

The dialogue in Sea of Stars is already doing a great job of sounding organic. Valere and Zale don't stop to explain things because. Like. Why would they? They both already know what they're talking about. Instead, they convey hints of information through casual chatter and trust the audience to be smart enough to understand what they mean.

And painting in intrigue. Valere has regrets about a third person who should be here and isn't. Oooo, mysterious. I wonder what happened to--

Oh, I guess we're going to find out right now. Kinda thought they'd drag that out longer.

[breakerwhiskey]

189 - ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY NINE

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

Transcript under the cut. For more episodes, click here.

[click, static]

Look. A lot…a lot has happened in the last few weeks. And I’m…well, I think I’ve found an okay place to stay safe for a few days, catch my breath, figure out what my next move is. A house that’s got some clothes that look like they might fit me, some canned goods, woods around it that should be good for setting up rabbit traps. Plus the gas stove still works, so I’m…well, I’m really cooking with gas. (a weak laugh) Sorry, I’m…I’m fucking tired.

Setting Harry and Junior to the side for the moment—not like I ever really can do that, they’re on my mind constantly, a merry-go-round of thoughts and fears that never stops—but. Setting them to the side for a moment.

I’ve been putting my thoughts in a row. Organizing the disparate threads of morse code messages and evidence and Asimov books and…

I am somewhere else. We are. We are in a time of our own, separate from the world we knew. I killed Billings and we…branched off. I took Harry with me because she was there, Junior because it was his father I killed, and Leann because…the random rippling of chance.

And if there was one ripple big enough to affect Leann, then that means there must be other people out there. I’m sure of it. But maybe they have no way of reaching me—maybe they’re not hearing me at all, even though it seems like my transmission radius is a lot bigger than it should be—and that’s a mystery I don’t feel particularly inclined to solve at the moment, bigger fish and all—maybe they’re just all spread out so much that the odds of us running into each other are vanishingly small.

But there are others. I know that. And that’s enough for now.

So. The photos. I’ve been looking at the Denver ones again and I had a thought…the weird watch, the slightly strange clothes…what if that’s—

What if it’s 1975, but just…over there. What if that’s where the sounds come from too? A collision point of timelines, some overlap that bleeds through in sound and in polaroids, for some reason. And the reason that Junior didn’t show up in the photo I took is because he wasn’t standing there in normal 1975. Because he’s here. But the people in Denver were there, just…unreachable. The camera is a little window into the real world.

I don’t know, it’s just a theory. But it’s got me wondering—why me? Why this choice? If time and space split every time someone accidentally killed someone—

Well. Maybe that is what’s happening. Everyone in their own little pocket of punishment after making a choice. But we make thousands—tens of thousands—of choices every single day. What makes one choice more potent than another? Is there some preordained “correct” order of things we’re supposed to be following, just like Eternity?

That’s really the ultimate question isn’t it—Birdie and Fox and what they both seem to know. The way they seem to be able to communicate with me no matter where I am. The way they only communicate through morse code. Are they…they’re not god, I refuse to believe that, but are they Eternity somehow? Are they…monitoring me, monitoring everything, to make sure things are just right? But if that’s the case, then what are we still doing here. Why hasn’t Andrew Harlan come and repaired what I did to put everything back in its place.

It really does all sound like science fiction. Maybe it’s all true, maybe I’m right on the money, or maybe none of it is. And I’m not sure who I would believe if anyone told me which it was.

[click, static]

[fatmasc]

re the "you're not even fat ask" makes me kind of sad for a couple reasons. 1) how that ask was likely sent due to someone who is bigger being hateful that you are not as big as them, which is sad. 2) how much do you think we should focus on the degree of fatness within our community if that is the case. fat is still a varying scale, yknow? love your blog so much, been following for some years, would love to hear your opinion. sorry i'm bad at wording but hope you get the idea

Okay so, do you remember that thing that went around that categorized fat ppl? The small fat, mid fat, super fat, and infinifat thing? It broke fat ppl into these 4 categories to try and give us better language to discuss intercommunity issues.

Basically, using that scale, im a midfat. I think that scale is rlly useful for discussing stuff like clothing. I wear a 3XL usually and rlly struggle to find clothes i like that i can wear. However, as plus size fashion continues to be talked ab, im getting more options. Not a ton, but significantly more than when i was younger. But im usually where those sizes stop. Where are the 4XL+ ppl who still need clothes supposed to shop? I do receive more resources than them for that reason

The fat categories received a lot of pushback at the time for reasons i generally agree with, mainly that it could unnecessarily divide our community. Its useful for some conversations but in the end fat is fat and we all will be stronger by supporting each other. Its also a little too simplistic. I may be midfat but even if i was thin, i would still be a 3XL because of my build. I have extremely broad shoulders. My fat doesnt influence that

(Have i felt some resentment towards "small fats" before? Absolutely. Its smth i had to work through. Its frustrating that an XL is guaranteed at almost every store when my size and greater isnt, but thats why we need to keep working together.)

I was irritated w that original ask but like, if they are in fact a person larger than me upset w me for having resources they dont, i understand that. Its a frustrating position to be in. Id prefer ppl dont make assumptions ab me though

[ketsubankoya]

I'm a season ticket holder for the PWHL, the women's pro hockey league. Today was the first home game for my team, the Minnesota Frost, since things started to get ugly between the U.S. and Canada. The recent men's 4 Nations Face-Off has been all over the news, not only because Canada won after a lot of trash talk from the USA, but because of what happened with the national anthems.

Over the past few weeks, there's been a growing trend of Canadian audiences booing the American anthem at men's hockey games. I honestly can't say I blame them. The Trump administration has been absolutely horrible to our neighbors up north. Economic threats, blatant disrespect to their leaders, talk of flat-out taking over their country... This is no way to treat a nation that's been a friend to us for generations. We're such siblings that our sports teams play against each other in the same leagues, for God's sake. Canadians have plenty of reason to be angry at us, or at least, at the concept of our government as represented by our flag and anthem. In fact, one of the few things that gives me hope in this world is that our horrendous example might save Canada from following its own right-wing extremists.

What concerns me is that during the 4 Nations Face-Off, Americans started booing the Canadian anthem in retaliation. Make no mistake here. WE are the aggressors. Canada never did anything to us. We SHOULD be ashamed of how our country is treating them. We have no right to pound our chests and grandstand in their direction. They are standing up against a hostile foreign power, and as someone who actually understands what America was supposed to be, I am PROUD of them for that.

Now we come to today's women's game. I'm uncomfortable hearing our anthem these days for my own reasons, but now the entire thing was making me nervous. Was my fan community also the type to boo the Canadian anthem? The PWHL was founded on inclusivity and equal opportunity. I would hope that the people who support it would share values more similar to mine. Or would the dark side of my fellow Americans seep into this space, too?

I went prepared to speak up if anyone disrespected Canada's anthem, but I hoped with all my heart that I wouldn't have to.

Today's anthems were prerecorded instrumentals. No vocals. The PWHL has ALWAYS had live performers to sing the anthem. Always, at every game I've been to over its two seasons. Not today. I suspect they were also prepared for the worst, and didn't want a real person to have to bear the brunt of whatever might happen.

The Canada anthem was first. I braced myself... and there came only silence. Everyone stood quietly through the song, the silence only broken by a few people here and there singing the anthem themselves. More people than the Canadians who had made the trip to support their team. I saw and heard several Americans who knew the lyrics adding their voices in support. There wasn't a single negative sound.

I haven't had anything bring a genuine warm smile to my face like that in weeks.

The icing on the cake is that the PWHL was also celebrating Black History Month today, with a special logo and ceremonial puck drop, plus videos and demonstrations by hockey organizations that uplift young players of color. With our government leaning so heavily into white supremacy, it was refreshing to see the PWHL not using Black History Month as a token gimmick, but actually putting in effort to bring meaning and real representation to the ice.

There is still human decency out there, in this increasingly ugly age. I'm relieved to know the PWHL and its fan base have principles that are more than just surface decoration.

[ivoryminitower]

Echoes of Home: 47 - Steve ("copper")

Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC – WoLs on Earth

Tsu'na came back from last night's mapping happier than I'd seen her since coming here.  I guess we were hurting more than I thought from poor communication.  After all, we're married, we're life partners, we really need to be able to work together on understanding the world.

I'm sure it doesn't help that I don't know what I'm doing.  I haven't been in the doing-the-impossible business very long.  I don't know what qualifies as "best practices."  I want to be scientific about it, controlled experiments, blah blah, but this isn't exactly a lab, and my wife certainly isn't a lab rat.

Maybe I should be looking at history.  Babbage and Curie worked out of their homes...how did they balance and manage things?  Of course, they probably weren't worrying about blinded experiments.

Still, communication is key.  Kind of ironic that people have gone from weirded out about Tsu'na to concerned and sort of protective about her, which means a town of a hundred or so people communicate about us faster than we can communicate with each other.  Guys at the Pit last night were asking if she was coming in, if she was okay, if there was anything they could do and so on.  Not what I expected from plaid-wearing career beer drinkers.

Sam found us a wiring guy.  We met at the shed this morning.  His name was Trevor.  "So, the shed's got a line running to it from the bar, but that's just for lights an' stuff, and it looks like it was a crap job, so I can run a new one.  What-all you looking to have in there?"

"Ceiling floods, power tools, window AC, space heater, maybe a mini-fridge. Thinking we'll build a worktable and island with power strips, plus wall outlets.  Possibly a ceiling fan."

Sam smirked at me. "Thinkin' 'bout movin' in?"

"Might as well cover everything.  So, new breaker box?"

"Whaddaya mean new?  Sam's still got fuses.  Yeah, breakers.  Power strips are up to you.  I can do wall outlets and a floor outlet.  Just gotta mark out where."

"Sounds good.  How much?"

"Couple hundred for materials, day's work if I push it...call it eight hundred."

I saw Sam grimace and give me a small headshake.  Little did he know.

"Think I can handle that.  Will you take copper?"

"What, you mean like pennies?"

"No, copper."  I pulled a copper ingot out of inventory and offered it to Trevor.

He took the ingot, examined both sides, and looked up at me.  "The hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Sell it for scrap?  I hear it goes for three dollars a pound."

"And you've got three hundred pounds of copper lying around?"

Quick adder.  Cool.  "Yeah, my wife's into metalworking.  We used to make jewelry for the renfest crowd. But there just isn't a market for it anywhere around here, so we've got metal we're not using."

"So why don't you sell it?"

"Eh, the wife's in denial about it.  If I sell it, she'll get mad because I don't believe in her.  But if I give it to you and get a workshop out of it, I'm supporting her.  Women, you know?"

Trevor stared at me.  Sam did too, with his patent-pending "that's weird" look, which I pretended not to notice.  Finally, Trevor said, "Four hundred."

"Dude.  That's four hundred over your quote."

"Yeah, well, my quote didn't include haulin' a bunch of metal.  You want me to take this shit, you're gonna make it worth my while."

"...Three fifty?"

"Four."

I tried to look resigned, but it was going much easier than I'd feared.  "Yeah, okay...that just about cleans us out."

"And I'll need a hundred up front."  When I looked at him, he said, "Gotta buy materials.  And see if you're full of crap about the value."

"Yeah, sure, okay.  Wait here."

I went into the shed, leaving Sam and Trevor to gossip about me.  I'd made a couple dozen steel ammo boxes (since they stack), so I brought out four and dumped twenty five ingots into each.  I carried two boxes out and set them in front of Trevor.  "Got two more.  And I'll need the boxes back."

"You shittin' me?"

"Those are twenty dollar ammo boxes."

He looked down at the boxes.  I could hear the beads clicking on his inner abacus.  "Three fifty and I keep the boxes."

I gave a beaten-down sigh.  "Fine."  I fetched the other two from the shed and we loaded them all into Trevor's truck.

As we watched Trevor drive off, Sam asked, "So where'd ya get the copper?"

"Would you believe we mined it?"

"That what ya want me to believe?"

Probably not.  "Okay.  You know we go camping, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well, one time we find a house out in the woods. Door's busted, windows broken, looks like it's been empty for years.  We spent the night in it, then next day we stripped out all the copper."

"That's pipes 'n wires 'n shit.  Where'd those bars come from?"

"We melted down the copper we found."

"How?"

"Build a fire under a porcelain sink.  Make molds out of mud."

"An' where's this house?"

"Sure couldn't tell you.  I mean, show me a map, maybe I could narrow it down to twenty miles…"

"How'd ya get the copper back here?"

"Well, you know, we're pretty strong…"

"Four hundred pounds?  Twenty miles?"

Shove it in inventory and Return.  Piece of cake.  "We found a trailer behind the house. We might've borrowed it."

"Where's that trailer now?"

"Ditched it in the woods."

Sam sighed and squinted off into the distance.  "Make it fifty miles.  Can't narrow it down to a county that way."

I nodded slowly.  "Okay.  Thanks."

"An' ferchrissake keep it simple.  More dee-tails, more you can get wrong."

"...Yeah."

"Miz Tsu'na comin' in tonight?"

"Yeah, it's her shift."

"'Kay.  You take care o' her, y'hear?"

"Always."

Sam nodded and went into the bar.  Something had changed, and I'm not sure what or when.

But I think we're gonna be okay.

[archer3-13]

impressions on the job questlines of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn

i was gonna put it off until i did the heavensward jobs, but those are different enough i feel confident in talking about these now. This is only impressions up to level 50 for each of these jobs and i'll be going over first how they all feel to play in a quick manner and then talking about the job questlines with a bit more depth on my opinions for them.

so, game feel. from best to worst, though spoiler warning i dont feel any one job feels outright bad to play.

monk. it benefits from pugilist being the most fun starting class to play in my opinion, is hurt a bit from stagnating when ya first get the soul crystal, but comes back around to being fun by level 50. well ya dont have any ranged poking options so when your avoiding attacks its either charge chakra or take a breather, the class more then makes up for it with how fun it is to get into a rythmn and when the chakra gauge starts autofilling after certain combos the whole thing is pretty much a lovely chefs kiss.

bard. this is about what i would want from a dps with buffing support elements and i find myself rather enjoying it. you have some nice debuff tools, some good buffing tools, and off ya go. its only issue i would say is that its basic attack rotation is... too simple.

warrior. aggressive tanking raar. well the starting tank classes start off near identical, when they get their soul crystals they begin branching into their own and i much prefer the warriors more aggressive footing.

dragoon. even at level 50 its kit just feels incomplete somehow, but other then that its a reliable useful class with good sound design and useful tools.

black mage. this one surprised me because thaumaturge is kinda a drag, but black mage really picks things up as a force of destruction thanks to its later tools being much easier to handle and use at successive rates.

white mage. ill never be super comfortable as a healer, but i do feel white mage is a pretty decent class to get used to healing on the whole. the levels ya get parts of its kit are rather inconvenient mind, but its kit is also just really useful on the whole especially when ya realize how valuable regen is.

summoner. it can feel fiddly at times, and parts of your kit feel kinda dubious. but on the other hand its fast and its kit can hit real hard once ya do get a handle on things. all around solid at the arr level of things.

scholar. well its faster and its tools more immediately useful, i actually find myself not liking this class as much as white mage once ya hit level 50. its certainly fast mind, but there are more parts of its kit i find redundant and it all feels a bit watered down on the whole.

ninja. i can appreciate what they were trying to do, but the mudras just slow everything down even if they are very powerful. plus a lot more of its kit ends up being redundant compared to other classes which especially sucks given rogue already had a shallower pool of skills to pull from.

paladin. im sure some people really like this class but the defensive tilt of the paladin just isn't for me.

so ya, theres the game feel. now as for the job questlines, we'll go from best to worst once more

dragoon. theres a good reason estinien got promoted to main quest relevant outside of the fact heavensward deals so heavily with ishgard. it tells a competent even compelling story, it has solid character writing, and it gets you doing things that feel unique or interesting enough. its all the strengths of what a job questline should be in essence, teaching you about the job in terms of how to use it but also the jobs relation to the world its suppose to exist in. all well still telling the story of a falling out between the dragoons golden child and his father figure mentor due to unresolved guilt and a lack of communication. as far as ARR goes this one gets the gold.

black mage. like the class this one ended up leaving a stronger impression then i thought it would. we start off strong with 'watch out for ye powers of hell, ye know not what ye trifle with' presentation and end with a naturally integrated 'the real power of hell was the friends we made along the way' kinda message involving beastmen friendships and the repentance of an old sinner trying to give his own comrades the peace they deserve. solid stuff. plus the quests themselves run the needle of fun, interesting and challenge.

white mage. i think what elevates this one is the quests which also run the gambit of challenging yet fun and interesting. in terms of story though this is good overall. nothing particularly revolutionary but i always enjoy a 'magic and spirituality relation' lesson, and it is telling a story about characters and growth, about long held traditions and culture and how beautiful it can be but also how it can restrict an individual or blind them with pride. with an appropriate if somewhat confusing conclusion of temporary spirit resurrection but hey it is white magic.

monk. i kinda enjoy this one as it gets more interesting and complex as it goes on, and windigart and erik become more interesting along with it. the problem is that the dragoon questline does what the monk questline does but better, both in a story sense and in a gameplay sense as well which is unfortunate. what does save the monk quest though is that it has a decent blend of humour to it and i like erik being the one to resolve things emotionally but also in defusing the situation by punching some sense into windigart something thats always tempting in stories like these. also windigart just gives you his shirt for the final piece of the outfit at the quests end which is hilarious.

bard. nothing particularly exemplary here but its still a good questline. you get a good appreciation for the jobs history, theres a working character arc for the job trainer that deals with trauma and ptsd in a respectful way. and well what your doing in the quests is kinda eh, its functional for getting the story across without being disengaging.

ninja. high production values and a ninja story send up save what is one of the more pedestrian stories. its fine for what it has going on, and as i said this is very much homaging ninja media in a fun 'ninjas but not in japan' kinda fashion. i think its problem is that karasu is its best character, tsubame is solid if ancillary, well the person whos suppose to be the 'main character' of the questline oboro is... the dim one. functional but not particularly exciting as a character either in what his journey as one is nor in terms of his personality. pretty fun in terms of what ya do mind, but again it has better production values on the whole.

summoner. this one rocks in terms of what your doing, with a strong flashy start and fun quests including faux primal fights with their boss themes kickin in and everything. the problem wit the summoner arr quests is that in terms of character and story its shallow as fuck. tristan presents some initially interesting questions until being revealed as just some asshole whos making deals with ascians, and other then him the story of the summoner quest is just focused on the learning how to use it as opposed to learning about it. i like the job trainer though even if i cant remember her name, shes fun.

warrior. your lucky that your kinda cute curious gorge. a whole lot of faffin about doing nothing of particular interest until a sudden last minute plot twist of gorge being more culpable for problems then initially appeared and taking the spot of your fight for the quest instead of the expected opponent. this quest is thankfully saved from being the worse by its characters being overall pleasant and for atleast not wasting time. though to an extent everyone involved in the quest almost comes across as too reasonable for whats happening.

scholar. ya do a whole lot of boring stuff for this questline in ARR right up until the end when suddenly a whole bunch of stuff about nym comes up and the tonberries. i definitely wish that was all more of its own quest and story stuff because its a lot more interesting then the job trainer who is just... so bland. wall paste bland. and as noted the quests themselves leading up to it are pretty boring themselves.

paladin. fuck the paladin ARR quests. they're both boring and actively infuriating at times with how stupid and irritating its job trainer is. and the quests themselves are equally boring, though thankfully not irritating.

[iwanthermidnightz]

(You don’t have to post this if you feel it might spark conflict or anything)

Idk. I don’t think JVN’s comment was anything for anyone feel slighted by (not to discredit anyone’s feelings or anything and not to attack the anon who brought this up).

It seemed like he was just saying she was being an ally in that she made a song/video that was supportive, inclusive and embracing of the gay community, knowing the kind of people who are in her fan base or who feel entitled to dictate this double standard of what she can or can’t speak about/support with her platform. Also knowing that she’s someone who can relate to her rights (as a woman) being under attack as well.

I mean, look how some people act over how her LGBTQIA fans personally connect her music to their own experience and tour visuals. Betty had to be changed to being from the perspective of a teenage boy, when James is a gender neutral name (as is the name Taylor) and can be a girl. They think she's only supposed to cater to one group of people only. It’s always “ended Gaylors” or they call them “weird” or they're “forcing their sexuality”. Or how they acted when Rolling Stone ran that Gaylor article. They constantly look for the smallest thing to try and use to belittle or justify their behavior, when the whole time, Taylor is the one putting this out there.

Which is (in my opinion) the learned behavior/mindset that had her thinking she couldn’t speak about a community she wasn’t a part of. Because she, Taylor Swift the person can speak about it, but Taylor Swift the brand could not. She has even said she was always told to never speak about politics and we saw her arguing with her Dad about needing to do so.

Like you said, IWHM—as we all know, you can be a part of a community and still be an ally/advocate for it. Plus, do they ever stop to think why she hy wouldn’t she support something that affects her directly?

Plus, just because JVN knows her doesn’t mean he knows her. It doesn’t she’s opened up that side of herself to him yet. It’s not like he’s on an Abigail level of friendship with her. If that makes sense.

Sorry this was so long and for taking up space on your page, IWHM, but it’s just frustrating at times.

Don’t apologize, I think this is very valid and should be brought up because this is how a lot of people feel, and you said it very well. I’m sorry, I feel bad that I don’t get into the details as much anymore because it does seem to spark conflict here where people cannot have a normal conversation without throwing insults around and I don’t want to deal with that. But I appreciate when we can have these discussions, and you can come to me to share your feelings!

I agree that it seemed like jvn was just saying that she was being an ally and she made a song/video that was supportive, inclusive and embracing of the gay community and that’s important.

One part of me wants to ignore these people that claim they’re fans who treat her lqbtqia fans so horrible. Another part of me has been made to feel guilty for wanting to call it out, for fear of “being too much”. The other part of me says screw that, they don’t get to tell queer people how to feel or tell us that we make things up to push a gay narrative. That’s called gaslighting. Taylor is the one that has been signaling for years putting things out that are blatantly queer. Queer people pick up on it. That’s the way it’s always been. That’s how we find each other. So people who act like *we* are the problem are unbearable.

Taylor sees this. It’s probably part of the reason she doesn’t want to explicitly say things even though she is basically out to people who want to see it. It makes me sad that she feels she has to do things a certain way to protect herself from certain people.

I keep thinking about the lines in dear reader where she says

Dear reader, you don't have to answer / Just cause they asked you / I prefer hiding in plain sight / You wouldn't take my word for it if you knew who was talking / If you knew where I was walking / You should find another guiding light

And in sweet nothing how she says

And the voices that implore, "You should be doing more" To you, I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it

To us, she can admit that. And I know she is held to a certain standard because of who she is and her platform, but at the end of the day she’s also just a person. She’s walking a line that she’s comfortable with and as she said last night, it’s okay to give yourself permission to make decisions that work for you. And you only.

So to your point about the double standard of what she can or can’t speak about/support with her platform, I agree. I’m kind of in between on this. Do I wish she would speak out more forcefully? Yes. Do I think she must? No. I believe she has a long list of considerations to take into account, but I also feel like she’s spoken out on important issues before, she can do it again. I’m not going to hold it against her if she doesn’t.

Sorry if I’m rambling. Thank you for your perspective 🤍

[pidgie-core]

Hey.

Sorry if I’m interrupting anything.

But the other day I reblogged numerous posts about the Memorial Day for the Armenian Genocide.

Just to raise awareness of it. And to scare the shit out of idiot denialists.

I also did similarly regarding the Assyrian genocide too (Sayfo).

I’m not Armenian but it doesn’t mean I don’t care because I do. (I’m an Irishman)

This isn’t for clout, I just did it because it felt right.

(I don’t like seeing countries like Armenia (yes that includes Artsakh) being bullied and threatened by violent belligerent neighbours.)

Plus I study history (I have a masters degree) and I feel it’s important we learn from the past.

I just thought you should know at least.

I thank you for your support- it is a great deal emotionally moving whenever non Armenians support us, along with the Greeks and Assyrians who have also suffered greatly. It is even far deeper when you get a message of support from someone who is Turkish. It is very rare and I can only say it has maybe only ever happened just once or twice to me, but I want those people out there to know how much I appreciate them. I know it is very very difficult and brave to go against something you were taught never happened, something that perhaps your own family would convince you out of learning. But I hope you know that I think you are brave, and that you are the future. I love my home country so much, and we have been through such a deep suffering. The recent wars and the current tensions, I am sad to admit, have changed my mental wellbeing and my mind in ways it will never be able to return to. That's how trauma works I suppose. The peace I thought I knew isn't there anymore, just something I work hard to try to maintain each day. As humans really we should stand beside one another- once again I send everyone my hugs. May we laugh and draw and dance again together. I have been working hard on a graphic novel that isn't just about tragedy, but about joy and community within my culture. I think it is a deeply healing thing to create work that is your pure voice. I implore everyone to do it, whether its through art, music, photography, writing. It doesn't even have to be good, it just has to be you. So we can heal ourselves throughout the generational tragedies we live and work through.

[xpeachesncream]

okc thunder (jhs) | teaser.

power forward | jung hoseok

♛ from the pick & roll: nba one shot series 

summary: you and hoseok had been friends for quite some time, keeping each other close with just the right amount of distance. however, hoseok realizes his feelings for you ran deeper than expected when he sees you for the first time in awhile at his game. he was ready to be honest, let you know how he felt. the only problem? min yoongi, the golden state warriors shooting guard.

genre: love triangle (ft. min yoongi)

words: 1.2k

general teaser warnings: cussing/mature language, some jealousy, insecurities, angst, unspoken feelings, appearances from actual nba players on appropriate teams - in this, tre mann and isaiah roby are hoseok’s closest friends on the team.

note: last teaser release for me! thanks for sticking with me through my random drops. 🥺 i’m hoping to release this or the other works really soon! next week, i should be on track to post daydream ch. 11 and possibly broken bottles ch. 3. thanks again, everyone! really appreciate your support, always 😭♥️ luv u with all of me!!

"Oh.. shit." Hoseok says distractedly as he looks at the crowd over his shoulder. Isaiah and Tre look at each other, confused at the sudden pause in the conversation.

"What's wrong with you, fool? I know you aren't letting the Dubs get to you right before game time."

"Shut up. Y/N is here."

"Is that the same Y/N you've been talking about? I thought you guys were like, close. Am I missing something?" Isaiah chuckles, confused as to why Hoseok is acting all surprised after seeing you in the crowd.

"Yeah, we are. But I haven't physically seen her in awhile, plus we've both been busy so our communication hasn't been consistent." Isaiah and Tre watch Hoseok as he stares you down, gripping onto the basketball in his hands tightly. He can't even lie, seeing you makes his heart do flips. He's nervous, scared— he just wants to have a good fucking game and impress you. God, you look prettier than ever. Everything he thought he felt before was only solidified by seeing you tonight. There were always unspoken feelings between you two, but it never really bothered you both over time because you enjoyed where your relationship was, you enjoyed each other's company and you didn't want to ruin it. But today, after seeing you after how long, he's not even sure, he really wanted you to know. He wanted you to know everything, wanted to let you know how lucky he's been to have you by his side all these years no matter what. No pressure to take things beyond what it should be, no pressure to make shit official and put labels. No pressure to be more or less.

You were the definition of solid.

"Why don't you go say hi, champ?" Tre chuckles.

"In a bit." The three watch as you whip your head towards him, huge smile plastered onto your face. At this point, OKC is the only team out on their home court and the Golden State Warriors hadn't come out to shoot just yet. You continue to keep your eye contact as you make your way towards him down the front row. Hoseok feels his palms getting sweaty, knees kinda buckling and shit because, damn. He feels a little guilty that he didn't try harder to see you when he could, but this works too, he supposes— you're a fucking beauty and he gets reminded of how weak you make him. Maybe it was best to not see you as often as he wished; you'd distract him in the worst ways.

"Hobi!" You call him in that cute voice of yours, arms already open to welcome him into a hug. The size difference between you two is perfect, and the way he slips into your arms is perfect. You smell sweet, you are sweet. He can't believe he's actually setting his eyes on you right now.

"Y/N, fuck." He keeps you against him, holding you tightly, taking you in. "I didn't know you were coming! I wish you would have told me." Hoseok pulls away, hand slowly creeping down to the small of your back that Tre and Isaiah catch.

"I know, I got invited last minute and figured I could at least surprise you too while I'm at it." You smile at him. "It's so good to finally see you again."

"I know, I'm sorry. I've just been busy, I—" You shake your head and gently tap his chest.

"It's okay, you don't have to explain. I know."

"You look really good." He looks at you up and down while you blush. Then it suddenly hits him— you were invited last minute? "Wait, are you here with someone?"

"Huh?" You ask, unable to hear from the sudden roar from the Warriors fans in the crowd, the Dubs now heading out onto the court in their warmup gear. Hoseok watches as you turn over your shoulder, eyes darting from player to player as if you were looking for someone.

"You said someone invited you last minute? Are you here with Maia?" He waits as a small smile creeps up on your face when your eyes finally rest on something, someone, perhaps— Hoseok can't fucking tell right now— before you turn to look at him and nod.

"Yeah, yeah. She's here." You point over at one of the front row seats, where Maia waves. Hoseok returns the favor before bouncing the basketball in his hands onto the court. "I'll let you get to it though, okay? Goodluck out there, b." You give him a toothless smile before hugging him once more.

"Thanks, b. Really happy to see you here."

"I am too." You respond. "Maybe I'll be able to catch you after?" He nods, giving you one last wave before watching you walk off. He looks out onto the floor as he dribbles, slowly throwing up shots to see if he could catch who you were eyeing, who you were looking for. There was no way Maia would have invited you to a game since she wasn't all that interested in basketball, so who else could it be? Hell, he was at a loss. He wasn't sure—

Actually—

He's distracted after putting up a shot from the sideline when he catches Yoongi, the best [he hates to admit it, but it's true] shooting guard on the Warriors, eyeing him with a dumb fucking smirk on his face. They try to keep it civil on the court, sure. But Hoseok doesn't know anything about him besides his stats and how good of a goddamn shooter he is. Probably one of the major pains he's had to face on the court whenever his team was set to play against the Dubs. He has to give it to him though, he doesn't really get into any trouble and is rarely ever caught in rumors like Jungkook is. He keeps his head in the game and keeps his shit straight. Still.

He doesn't know him like that.

And so it clicks, because after Yoongi flashes that smirk his way, he turns to you and you blush from ear to ear. He gives you a nod before licking his lips and throwing up a three-pointer to show off [because he fucking can and Hoseok knows it'll make any pussy wet]. Hoseok watches as Yoongi makes his way over to you, pulling you into a big, tight hug before looking down at you. Something inside Hoseok churns, and he hates it.

He doesn't know that look you give Yoongi because you never gave him that look before. It was an unfamiliar look, one that he's never experienced before. And he hates it, because Yoongi gets to experience it.

Yoongi invited you to the game. You were mainly here for Yoongi, not him.

And that's the shit that fucking sucks.

"Yoongi's over there talking to your girl." Tre snickers.

"Yeah I can fucking see that." Hoseok clicks his teeth and sighs. "He invited her to the game. So technically, she's not really here for me."

"Don't say that and get all dramatic, bruh. If she didn't care about your ass, she wouldn't have made the effort to say hi first and all. I'm sure she thought of you too."

"Whatever." Hoseok says, brushing it off. So much for catching up and being honest with you tonight. All of a sudden, shit seemed a lot harder, a lot dimmer for Hoseok.

You were mainly here for Yoongi, not him.

He repeats it in his head, over and over again. Maybe it'll make it easier for him to detach.

Yeah fucking right, though. Who was he kidding? This was you he was talking about, and that's the shit that fucking sucks, too.

tags: @spideyjimin​ @miinoongi​ @thebeebi​ @ggukkieland​ @bluesharksandfish​ @unicornbabylover​ @preciouschimine​ @codeinebelle​ @shesoldbutcute​ @jikookiekosmos​ @awhnamjoon​ @namjooningelsewhere​ @bunnybearrj​ @babycoffeefire​ @bri-mal​ @sintaethick​ @taejkjoons​ @love2luvya-blog​ @pb-n-juju​ @dianaxnyc​ @fan-ati--c​ @jungjoonie​ @jcsmae​ @favouritesblog​ @ppeachyttae​ @awseokjin​ @jjk1iscoming​ @moonchild1​ @vantxx95​ @koosdiary​ @tennisv​ @firstraysofthedawn​ @mageprincess7​ @kookoosapple​ @vaekth​ @opaljm​ @jungkooksseuphoria​ @diorkoo​ @marcoazz2​ @livorna​ @piecesofapril11​ @btsreader12​ @blr1004​ @artgukk​ @invisiblefortoday​

[kirisaki-daichi-scenarios]

a discussion of jabberwock with team interaction hcs + deeper nash analysis

for anon who asked "Can we get some headcanons for jabberwock members or like headcanons when they're together? (its okay if it was jason or nash only)" and made me realise it's about time i get these guys' personalities down

note before we start: cause i didn't know their names until i wrote this

zack is the bald one, allen is the one with a headband, nick is the other white guy apart from nash.

team hcs

nick gets bullied for being under 6ft, but not by jason

nah good old jason teases all of them for being short fucks, emphasising that they’re all 5ft tall in comparison to him

he 100% lifts things out of the others' reach and then laughs for ages after when they try get them

unfortunately though, they’re all used to this and now just ignore him. either that or nash stares at him so intensely jason actually repents and hands it back

zack’s another one with a very good glare, but he’s used it too often on jason and it’s since stopped working.

also jason gives me ‘straightens his back as much as possible when getting measured so he’ll measure in as 7ft’ vibes

oh and he thinks he could wrestle a gator and win. i’ve got no explanation for that except for the fact you can't tell me it's ooc.

allen’s very protective over his white headband - it’s his lucky item - but he’d never let anyone know that

he’s confident in his abilities like the rest of them, but there’s nothing wrong with wearing a headband just in case

(nash knows anyway)

they watch nba matches together and do not shut up once throughout the entire match - lots of jeering, booing each other if someone criticises a player they like, lots of “i could do that”, lots of “get your fucking hand out of my popcorn do you want me to punch you in the face” etc

they used to all live together, but nash has since moved out. he was sick and tired of trying to make people do chores, as the only one who kept their room clean.

yeah the others’ house looks like a heap of trash but also very much “where’s my toothbrush?” “it’s in the third coke can by the orange peel behind the sink” *silence* “yeah thanks” *a minute later* “who the fuck has been using my toothbrush”

they’re all “bro your dribbling sucks why are you on this team loser” to one another, but also very protective (aka arrogant for one another) if anyone else Dared to criticise one of their teammates

then again, what kind of person would criticise jabberwock

half of the time he spends with jabberwock, nash is a Single Mother TM trying to get a bunch of man children to behave; the other half of the time, he's just as bad as the rest of them

i talk about this a lot but i get the feeling nash is an exceptionally hard worker, but at least he gets to let his hair down around his teammates sometimes

nash is also the only person jason thought was truly ‘strong’ at first sight

and nash is also the only person who can beat jason in a fight, and also the only person who can get nash to train, and also the only person who can.. [etc. you see my point].

(n.b jason calls himself the ‘almighty me’, nash says that ‘even god can’t beat me’. point made.)

you know how jason silver’s motto is “I have never thought”

imagine him proudly stating that, before zack adds with a straight face, “yeah cause nash does it for you.”

in short, the team would fall apart without nash.

although the team’s communication and coordination is very fine tuned, nash is the guy who keeps everything in order off the court to prevent what is essentially a team of aces ('main characters', if you will) from falling apart

they hang out together a lot, but do all have other friend groups that do not overlap

team bbqs

unofficial rule not to criticise anchovies on pizza because the one time nick did, nash snapped

however pineapple on pizza is fair game, even though zack quite likes it

more than once, jason has brought a girl home and nick has stolen her attention away with effortless trick shots, funky ball manoeuvring etc

more than once nick has had to trek to nash’s place (with a black eye) at midnight to have somewhere to sleep

do you see a correlation?

oh and everyone in the team has been walked in on by nash when they were naked with some girl

nash has absolutely no shame

he apologises to the girl with a charming albeit insincere tone, and then remains standing in front of the bed/couch until his teammate does what he expected of them

usually it involves not having come to practice

allen learnt a few (emphasis on ‘few’) words of japanese before they travelled to japan and was disappointed that he never got to use them

that said, one of those words was hentai

and now a quick analysis of some panels

a) so there's at least one player who wasn't underestimating vorpal swords. if i were to overanalyse, i'd add that nick's wearing a hoodie (possibly athletic wear) whilst nash has a 'fancy' shirt on; perhaps nick wasn't expecting them to be going to host clubs instead of chilling/training?

b) i know what you're thinking: "how can you say nash is a hard worker when he didn't want to practice for the match". i reckon he was still pretty high on the complete and utter success of their previous match, that plus being around girls, encouraged him to have a more 'jason-y' personality. (either that or fujimaki didn't want to add too much depth/realism into nash's character bc he's unequivocally the villain, right? and obviously this helps with the plot and the jabberwock bad geniuses gom good geniuses rhetoric.)

earlier, i mentioned how nash is the only one that could keep the team together, and is thus the undeniable head of the team; here's a clear example. you can see both jason and zack have no interest in continuing - if anything, there's disgust in their faces, kinda just saying "we spat on all of japan, now we can go home". whereas nash won't allow for the slightest of possibilities that there might exist a team stronger than them, and hence agrees to the match. the key thing here is that the others do as he says without too much fuss.

another thing to note is nash's reference to harakiri. now what can we make of that, alongside his proficiency in japanese, in relation to his character? the way i see it, he's either a weeb or possibly has some japanese lineage. (you could spin that even further and say his mother was japanese, taught him the language, then abandoned him, and hence his almost excessive hatred/mockery of the japanese people.) (is that why he wanted to do another match in japan..?)

just a quick point. "thanks to him" - jason isn't so superior as to think that he could win this match effortlessly without nash's support. links pretty nicely with my earlier idea about how nash is the only person jason has always considered 100% strong.

yet another point about how nash is the strongest of the team in pretty much every way you can think of. you know how scary/powerful you have to be to shut jason up (after he's getting real pissed from being prevented from scoring?)

i personally think this is a pretty important panel, though i've never seen anyone mention it before. did nash grow up training in a professional basketball training situation, as opposed to growing up playing streetball like i suspect the others did? well, to answer that question, imma bring in another panel.

here we see visible rage on nick, zack and jason's faces - they can't accept their loss, which is fair enough. but i'd argue that nash's face seems to depict sadness more than it does anger like to rest of them, look at how downturned his mouth is - and he's looking away from the 'camera', as if hiding his shame.

when you combine that with what he says here, i have no doubt that this is someone who has experienced some proper lows in basketball - as would be expected from someone who's played 'properly'. he's possibly not even a prodigy like the rest of them - compare jason's motto with his. "i have never thought" versus "do not suppose opportunity will knock twice at your door".

there's various lines of thinking you could design with this - he might have been trained by alex (hence, himuro having heard of jabberwock, though he should have known of a team as popular of jabberwock regardless), he might have grown up with professional basketballer parents etc. but here's my own little theory:

nash received serious basketball training from early on - maybe because his parents were living vicariously through him, or maybe he always loved the sport and wanted to be no1. so there he was training away, but, as he grew older, it started getting all a bit too much.

he didn't want to dedicate his entire life to basketball. after all, his hobby is water sports and his speciality is boxing; that's a lot of different things to be keeping up with, whereas the pipeline for promising athletes demands people focus solely on basketball. as a result, nash become bitter: stopped attending practice regularly, got in trouble for trash talk of increasing severity, etc.

result was he was kicked out of the program.

only when he was no longer playing basketball again, did he realise how much he missed it. and hence he got into streetball, where he was tremendously successful as someone with so much training, 'elite skills', and the overly confident attitude to boot.

then, one fateful day, he met jason and the rest is history.

[mysmegrace]

i recently installed mystic messenger again after like a month or more of not playing (was afraid of someone finding the game in my phone) , and it felt good to "see" the characters again , so can i please request headcanons of the rfa seeing mc after a long time ?

hello, that's completely understandable lol. i remember back in 2016 when i played it the first time around (i deleted it after the first bad ending and didn't play again until 2019 lol) and was worried people would look on my phone and see it. oh how times have changed lol. but of course!

RFA Seeing MC After a Long Time

---

yoosung kim:

you attended the rfa party during the last summer you had before going to college.

life was looking up for you.

you found an amazing boyfriend, started becoming independent, and got a good summer job.

things only got better when you found out you had gotten accepted to college.

only problem was that the college was in the US, and your friends and lover were in South Korea.

as much as you loved your new life here, you reminded yourself of your feelings before meeting the rfa.

how everything you created here would only be temporary.

but now, you didn’t want to stick to that anymore.

your life was going so well, and you knew yoosung wouldn’t be happy about you leaving to go across the globe.

however, it was too good of an opportunity to let it go.

this was what you were to planning to do for the last decade.

if you were to give up now, all your hard work would be for nothing.

you were incredibly conflicted, but eventually choose to follow your passion at college overseas.

and yoosung was frantic about it.

he wouldn’t be able to see you, protect you, help you, feed you, walk with you, the list went on.

however as he’s gotten more mature over the past few days, he knew he didn’t have the power to stop you, nor should he guilt you about it.

besides, he wanted you to pursue something you were passionate in and become successful.

some sacrifices would just have to be made.

that didn’t mean he would let you go either.

the two of you made a promise to call, facetime, and visit each other as often as possible.

you’d make it work.

so with much regret, you left to the states.

and when the holidays approached, you decided to bring yourself to him as a gift.

it had been months since he saw you at this point.

you both could enjoy the holidays together while relaxing.

it was a win win.

and what better way to carry out your surprise than by showing up to his front door at 10pm?

and that’s exactly what you did.

giving the door a good few knocks, you waited until you were greeted by yoosung standing in his unwashed pajamas, staring at you.

it took a few seconds for it to click who you are, yet once that processed, he was overcome with joy.

you thought it was adorable how his hands flew to his face as he began to pull you into a hug shortly after.

you were met with only parts of words as yoosung couldn’t explain his excitement fast enough.

and you were ecstatic as well.

you never realized how much you missed him until you were reunited with him again.

hence why after you two spent the holidays together, you found it incredibly difficult to leave again.

however with his encouragement, you went off to work your hardest so he could meet a successful you the next time you reunited.

hyun ryu / zen:

much like zen, you were an actor too.

you were a much lesser known actress, but you had began building connections.

and those connections all paid off when you were offered a new role in a movie that was predicted to be going big.

you couldn’t be more grateful.

yet as you began reading farther into the offer, your heart slowly sunk.

if you were to take the role, you would have to relocate to germany for the next 9 months.

you wanted this so bad, but you didn’t want to leave zen alone for 9 months.

he if could, he would join you in germany.

but he already had a role to work on in south korea.

as much as you wanted him to join you, you didn’t want him to give up his role he had been working so hard on for the past year.

you were conflicted, and knew it would be best to talk about it to zen.

not only to see what he thinks, but to ease your feelings.

and once you had the discuss about it with you, you came to a conclusion.

you would could, keeping in contact with him everyday.

though zen was heartbroken about it, he knew how much you wanted this and how much this would advance your career.

so with a heavy heart, he sent you off.

the moment you left on the plane, he was already longing for your reunion.

9 months never went by so slow.

when you were with him, there was never enough time to bask in each others love.

but without him, everyday had an extra 8 hours.

even though you were working 24/7, time stayed still for days on end.

yet when the production ended a month early, all your worries and stresses eased as you could finally reunite with your love in person.

without thinking, you packed all your stuff up once you got back to your trailer to get the next plane back to seoul.

you hadn’t even thought to tell zen until you boarded the plane.

too late now though, as you weren’t aloud your phone on the plane.

what an idiotic rule, you thought.

but perhaps it was better this way, as you could surprise zen with your return sooner than expected.

you gave into the tiredness that followed you around for the months prior, awakening to the speaker saying you’ve landed.

in your half awake state, you got off the plane and called for a cab.

it only took an hour to reach your destination, in which you got more sleep on the way there.

you thanked the driver before heading out, practically running to the front door.

you knocked, hoping to make zen believe you were only a door salesman or a mailman.

you heard some footsteps approaching behind the door in a hurried state, before the door opened and you were greeted with your future husband.

his expression changed in the speed of light once he quickly realized who you were.

you were met with a tight embrace, doubting if you could breath for a second.

zen pulled away not too long after, his excitement getting to him as he said “i didn’t think you were supposed to be home so soon!”

to that, you could only giggle as you admitted the reason behind your surprise.

zen was more than happy to see you home earlier than discussed before.

“this day is too important, we have to do something now!” zen said as he got dressed up to go out in the christmas weather.

with a small laugh, you agreed.

the rest of your day was spent going out to cafes and buying presents for the other rfa members.

and to your luck, the movie turned out a huge success.

not only in germany, but in korea as well.

things worked out for the best, you thought.

but one thing was for sure, you weren’t doing that again.

jaehee kang:

jaehee had brought up the idea of opening a cafe, to which you were 100% in on.

however, in korea you had to have a culinary certificate to own a cafe.

i dont know if thats legit or not i completely made that up

but if you had to get a certificate, you were going to get it in the best way you could.

and a college you had come across was perfect for that.

it was a good price and had a great reputation.

there was one problem however, and that was that it was located in france.

which was a 12 hour flight away from seoul.

you knew there was no opportunity like it, but you couldn’t stop yourself from being on the edge about it.

you didn’t want to leave your friends and family here for 2 years while you went off to another country on your own.

plus who knew if something would happen to you while you were aboard?

your concerns were slightly lessened after you brought up your worries to jaehee, and the encouragement she gave you was overwhelming.

she suggested for you to go for it and that she would hold everything down in seoul while helping the rfa in planning future parties.

on the upside, it would give her more time to save up more money for the opening just in cause it was needed.

with hesitation, you decided to go along with her words and study in france for some time.

you would miss each other, but you both knew it was what you two needed to ensure a sucessful future.

while you were aboard, jaehee would attend culinary classes in korea here and there.

you would keep in contact frequently, but never had the money to go back to seoul on holidays to reunite.

so once those two years had passed, you were out as fast as possible.

you loved france, but you loved your girlfriend more.

you hopped on the plane home, eager to see everyone again.

and once you arrived at the airport in seoul, the first thing you saw as you exited the plane was your girlfriend standing there, eyes focused on the doorway waiting for your arrival.

and once your eyes met, you were quick to run up to her while opening your arms to hug her strongly.

two years was such a long time to be apart, but all was well now.

shortly after, the two of you opened the cafe and were met with an incredible amount of support from the community and rfa.

now you were content to settle down in seoul with the love of your life.

jumin han:

you were very business driven, which jumin liked about you.

even having your own fashion company.

you were unlike many other women he had come across before in various ways.

but the downside to your business focused mind were your frequent business trips.

some would last a day while others would last a week.

though this recent one you were expected to take was unlike anything you had ever had to do before for work.

it suggested you stayed in china for a month as you worked out many business issues and proposals.

while your company had began trending recently, you had never expected this.

the first thing that came to your mind once reading the email was your husband.

you felt horrible when you had to leave him alone for a day, but a month?

you couldn’t even imagine how much that would hurt him.

however, this wasn’t something you could just refuse.

if you did, you weren’t sure if your company would continue standing.

and so later that night, you told jumin everything over wine.

how you didn’t want to but knew your company wouldn’t survive without it.

he didn’t know what to make of everything.

this came at the worst timing.

he needed to stay in korea for the time being for business, so he couldn’t join you in china either.

reluctantly, he supported you in your travels.

he understood your situation, but made you promise to call him every night.

which you had no problem with.

and so with a sad smile, you had left a few days later.

things were frustrating in beijing, but you at least had the comfort of your husbands voice to fall asleep to.

everyone at the office noticed jumins shift in mood as soon as your left.

yet without a voice of concern, things carried on as if nothing happened.

the day you were set to come back, jumin cancelled all plans to spend the day with you.

you needed to make up for the time the two of you lost, and you needed to rest in the comfort of your own home again.

thankfully, your company didn’t meet it’s downfall just yet.

in fact, it was now prospering.

saeyoung choi:

your day was going as it normally would.

well, as normal as a day with saeyoung can go.

yet it all changed when you got a call that your brother had gotten into a bad car accident, and the situation wasn’t looking good.

you didn’t know how to react, so many emotions and fears were overwhelming you.

you knew you were your brothers emergency contact, as he had no one else close to him in his life, so it was no question about why they called you while you were in seoul and he was in brazil.

but after learning about the situation, you quickly realized that you needed to get back to brazil as soon as possible.

they didn’t know how long he had left, and the remainder of his days would require for him to get help to do everyday things.

with your eyes barely spilling over, you told saeyoung everything.

you were met with a hug as he comforted you.

when you brought up the fact of needing to leave, he didn’t think twice before giving you his blessing (though he knew you didn’t need it).

it would be hard on him because he wouldn’t be able to join you as he was in an active mission, but he would keep in touch and make sure of your safety from countries away.

after all, he would do the same if saeran were in your brothers position.

the next day, you backed your flight to brazil, packing only what you needed.

your days in brazil passed in pain, as you watched your brother fight for his life daily.

until one day, his body gave up on him and he passed.

you were devastated.

you were on autopilot in public and breaking down in your hotel room when no one was around.

after attending your brothers funeral and a week of mourning, you began to book your ticket back to seoul.

yet in your state of heart ache, you didn’t realize the change in the countries health as the coronavirus started running through every town in the nation.

planes were unavailable and travel was banned.

now you were stuck here for the next 6 months, always hopping the next month would be better and you’d finally be able to go home.

saeyoung was on his toes all the time, not feeling the same without you.

and you missed him more and more as the days went on.

when the time finally came, you rushed to buy a ticket, though most people weren’t flying due to their fears surrounding the situation.

the plane was empty, allowing you to sneak your phone, sending a text to saeyoung.

“i’m on the plane home now” you typed.

saeyoung was overcome with joy to see your message.

though you had to isolate for 14 days, at least you were in the country and close to him.

once you got off the plane, went into isolation, and tested negative for covid, you ran to your shared home.

opening the door to be greeted with the same old smile that teased you every morning was a refreshing sight.

you ran up as he lifted you in a tight embrace, swaying you side to side in a wave of excitement.

after months of stress and anxiety, you could finally breath.

that realization alone was enough to make you burst out into tears of relief.

your feelings were contagious, as you saw saeyoungs eyes starting to water as well.

you were finally safe and sound in his protection, and that was all he could’ve asked for..

---

01:51 AST - 09/01/21

[ynscrazylife]

Loki request (spoilers)

Reader is a variant who got captured by the tva, they're sent to trial and Loki saves them from getting killed bc he still owed them a favour. Morbius gets confused bc those two dangerous variants know each other, turns out they were best friends in their original time line. Now Morbius has to babysit two sarcastic assholes. Double trouble ensures.

Double Trouble | l.l fluff fic

Summary: The request. 

Authors Note: I fully acknowledge and support Loki being genderfluid. In this fic, I will be using he/him pronouns for Loki since those were the pronouns they’ve used for Loki in the show so far, indicating that at the time this fic is set, Loki’s genderfluid identity is of a man. Should those pronouns/identity change, so will the pronouns for my fics. I do not intend to be harmful in any way so if this is harmful to the genderfluid community, PLEASE let me know!

Request to be on a Taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

MCU Masterlist #1 | MCU Masterlist #2 | Main Masterlist

PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @dearcardan on twitter

Yeah, Loki was definitely not taking any of this seriously. At this point, he theorized that the Avengers were laughing their asses off on this elaborate prank they were playing on him, and he decided to just wait it out. It had to stop at some point, right? There was no way that this “TVA” bullshit was actually, in any way, real.

At least . . . He believed that until he saw a familiar face.

Mobius had just saved him from being reset to the original timeline and they were walking out of the courtroom just as the doors opened and two TVA agents were walking another “criminal” in. Loki still wasn't buying this elaborate scheme so he didn’t really pay this new person much attention, until he heard the judge speak. 

“Miss Y/N Y/L/N - am I correct?” 

Loki froze, eyes traveling to the “criminal” passing him. He first thought that Thor had set this part of the prank up, but he knew his brother didn’t really understand how mischief really worked. Plus, Loki could tell Y/N wasn’t an illusion. 

. . . So that meant she was actually here. 

“Hey, wait, can I see this trial?” Loki whispered to Mobius, who glanced back at the judge and raised his eyebrows skeptically at the brunette deity. Loki added, “I just want to see a little more of how this place works, okay?” 

Mobius was sure Loki was onto something and after a couple moments of thought, he agreed. At least this would give him a chance to get to know this troublemaker better, and they both shuffled into seats. 

“You are correct, madame,” Y/N answered mockingly, a big grin on her face as she walked up to the podium. She then looked around in an exaggerated manner. “Well, do I get a lawyer or what?” 

Loki smirked and the judge scoffed. “How do you plead?” The judge asked, dismissing her questions. 

“What ‘crimes’ have I supposedly committed?” 

“You have been accused of creating an alternate timeline that does not fit into the main continuum. You snuck into Odin’s vault using your Asgardian abilities  and when you used the fake Infinity Gauntlet and, in your attempt to enchant the Gauntlet to work like the actual one, you accidentally travelled forward in time and created a new timeline,” the judge summarized. 

Loki smiled, amused and proud. He only wondered what led her to this. 

“In my defense, I heard that my friend was in trouble and wanted to help out,” Y/N said with a shrug. 

“Well, the enchantments were not supposed fully work. They were meant to just backfire on you and knock you unconscious, where you’d be imprisoned in the dungeon. But then you tried to use another powerful object in Odin’s vault which created a Nexus event, messed with your enchantment on the fake Power and Time stone, and here you are,” the judge explained.

“If I wasn’t meant to do this - why didn’t these ‘Time Keepers’ control my actions and make me do something else?” Y/N asked, changing the subject.

“I am not going to entertain you any further. In your previous statement, quote: ‘In my defense, I heard that my friend was in trouble and wanted to help out’ You have admitted your guilt and will now be reset,” the judge declared sternly.

Immediately, two TVA agents grabbed Y/N harshly and began to drag her away from the podium. Loki, who at this point had connected the dots that he was the friend she had been trying to help, knew he owed her one. He couldn’t just let her be reset and then be imprisoned. So, thinking rather quickly, he leapt up from his seat and shouted, “No!”

All heads turned to him. Y/N’s eyes went wide, not having spotted him, and Mobius was beginning to regret his decision. Loki turned to Mobius. “You need me to help you with this ‘sacred timeline’ stuff. I’ll only do it if Y/N stays,” he said, panting.

Mobius caught an angry look from the judge but his gaze settled on Y/N. After a couple moments, he sighed and relented. “Fine.”

Y/N and Loki cheered and she broke out of the agents’ grips, running to Loki who picked her up and hugged her. “That’s my girl,” Loki said, proud of her for her prank.

Mobius internally groaned. This was going to be a long day.

———————————

“So how do you know each other?” Mobius asked as he walked in-between the Asgardians, leading them to his office.

“Y/N’s been my best friend, partner in time, ever since I was little,” Loki said, grinning.

“Got it,” Mobius said, frowning. He could only imagine the mischief they had conjured.

———————————

After reviewing both of their files, Mobius had to step out for a second, leaving Loki and Y/N alone. “Let’s try to break out,” was the first thing to leave Loki’s lips.

Y/N rolled her eyes. “And suppose we do, how the hell are you gonna get the Tesseract back? Plus, I won’t wanna be imprisoned on Asgard,” she reasoned, quickly shutting the idea down.

Loki huffed. He was bored. He wanted to do something.

And he had something to do when Y/N stood up and started walking around. With a smirk, he grabbed the remote controlling Y/N’s collar and clicked it, immediately sending her back to her seat.

She turned and glared at him, and he just smirked, innocently shrugging. “I wanna have fun,” he said.

Y/N rolled her eyes and cautiously stood up again. When nothing happened, she walked around a bit more, and Loki let her . . . Until he got bored again. With another click, she reappeared on the other side of the room, in mid-walk.

Before she could protest, Loki did it again. And again. And again. He finally stopped when she got out the words, “CUT IT OUT!” and laughed to himself.

“You asshole,” Y/N grunted, beginning to walk towards him, but skidded back when Loki clicked the button just one more time.

“Oops. My finger slipped,” Loki smirked.

Y/N glared, but being reset made her lose her footing, and she tumbled to the floor, causing her best friend to cackle. Annoyed, she ran at him and managed to push him off his chair, tackling him to the floor. They rolled around, neither one gaining the upper hand for too long, until Mobius re-entered, saw the chaos, pulled Loki to his feet, and grabbed the remote, resetting Y/N so she was back in her chair.

“Hey!” Loki exclaimed, pushing Mobius off him. “No one controls my best friend!”

Y/N couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but smiled nonetheless. Mobius glared and grabbed Loki’s remote, resetting him so he was back in his chair. He then turned to them both.

“I’m beginning to agree with my colleagues that this-” he gestured to Loki and Y/N, “-was a bad idea.”

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[borkthemork]

Drabble request: maybe Anne first presenting Marcy as her gf to her parents?

Anne's shoes scuffed the concrete. Kicked it real too to get the antsiness out of her knees.

Now, before one could think she was damaging private property, she had to add that she did this in front of her house. Why was she doing this? Well, it was because she was trying her best not to overthink this. Overthink all the questions, the answers that they needed to talk about, everything she and Marcy had to think about.

When she looked over to her left, she spotted Marcy doing the same thing — pacing the sidewalk with the same eager panic.

Man, they were really bad at this.

"It should be fine," her girlfriend said. "I mean your parents have always responded positively whenever I explained to them about queer media studies, shouldn't be any different."

"But this is a heck of a difference, Mar-mar." Dang it, even after they discussed this big time at the park, the worry had come back in full force. Almost as if karma wanted to kick them in the butt. "I mean, they always told me they'll support me, but who knows what they'll say when we actually tell them.”

She kind of wanted to delay this for another time, but Anne Boonchuy wasn't going to cower out of this, heck nah!

She was brave. She was supposed to be brave. If she didn't do this then she and Mar-mar would have to keep all this hidden for weeks, or even years. Marcy deserved better than that.

She deserved someone who could get this out of the way.

But before she could think more on this topic, Marcy's voice brought her back. All with that sweet smile of hers. A quick thumb brushed over her knuckles. "Hey, it's going to be alright. You don't have to push yourself into coming out if you're not ready."

"Yeah, but—"

She shook her head. Her hand wrapped tighter around hers, and for a second, Anne loosened to the touch, melting more into the warmth. "I know your parents, Anne. They're the kindest people this side of North LA, but you really don't have to pressure yourself into this. I can wait, honest.”

“But I tell my parents everything, you know?” Ever since last year, Anne had grown closer to her parents more than ever before. It felt odd to not say anything, especially when she hinted about her swinging a specific way. Although having a lesbian flag tucked into her closet in the hopes of her mother finding it didn’t really say communication, if she thought about it. “Plus, I don’t want you to hide yourself when you visit. I want you to be allowed to say it.”

Marcy thought about it for a second, rubbing her chin. “I’m gonna be honest. Yeah. I really do, holding hands is a serotonin boost and kissing you feels...very right."

Her smile grew at that. Her hands wrapped around Anne's, all tight, a tether between them. "But I don’t want you to feel like this is the only way to date me, okay? You don't have to follow what some romance films do, you know how unrealistic they can be.”

Anne bit her lip. “The Notebook can be cute when it wants to be.”

“Anne, we can take our time, wade the waters if we have to. I promise that I’ll be fine, I’m just worried that you’re pushing yourself into something that you’re not certain about. It’s okay if we can do this another time.”

Her thumb pressed against her skin. A soft smile broke through.

“See?” she said. “You’re shaking.”

Man. They sucked at this, big time. But Anne needed to say something. At least be honest about why she’s so strung-up and sweaty — in front of her house, no less. That’s what people do, right? Be honest and communicate their feelings?

She took in a deep breath, and exhaled it all out. Slow and steady. Relaxed and calm. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just nervous about what’ll happen regarding us, Marbles. Because after this...”

Anne looked at her shoes, kicking a stray pebble off the sidewalk. “Well, it’s gonna be official. People will know, and I’m gonna have this really cool privilege of telling everyone that you’re part of this new thing in my life. And I want to say it correctly. I don’t want to mess up.”

So, Marcy had been right all along. She was scared.

Her girlfriend didn’t remark about that however. Marcy was never the kind to be smug about something so personal, so understandably deep. She just continued to stare at her, voice small in her whisper. “Are you sure sure about this?”

She took another breath. Then nodded. “I am. Sure sure to the core.”

Their handhold tightened, Marcy’s face brighter than before. “You’re not gonna be alone in this. If all else fails we’ve got that power strut to make a strong entrance, remember?”

Anne couldn’t help but laugh. They’d been practicing the power strut for hours before this, just to get the jitters out. She had to admit, the thought of actually using it was beginning to relax her. “Yeah, let’s try it. What could possibly go wrong?”

Everything. Everything could go wrong, but yolo, right?

With that, they went down the stone path, hand-in-hand, strutting together as if they feared no tomorrow.

Until they tripped on each other’s legs and slammed face-first onto the front porch.

The coming out itself though? It went pretty well!