#posting bc my tumblr wont let me save or schedule lol

[pearlypairings]

Bb! Dealers choice on pairing but I love this idea!

Happy birthday! !

dragging them out to every restaurant or store to get the free drinks or birthday benefits

steve x kali || humor, fluff || 412 words

A/N: ty baby for the freedom to choose, because I went rogue with it and did a lil stali <3 hope you enjoy this experimental beat! it scared me to try this ship so therefore, I committed :P

yesterday's prompt

He had no idea where she was putting this batch of fried wings, smothered in a flood of Mama Delilah’s famous barbecue sauce.   Kali had started the night raiding JJ’s diner for her free birthday app, choosing fries and gravy—her usual late night go-to. She skipped the arcade birthday bonus coins for the record store discount, where she argued with the cashier for 10 minutes over who was better: Misfits or Poison. The snobbish, long-haired cashier found himself speechless as Kali clicked her jaw and clenched her rings tightly over the edge of his counter. Steve held back a laugh. He brandished the vinyl she wanted and slid some cash to the register with a charming, I’m-smoothing-this-over-so-you-don’t-end-up-bruised wink to the guy. With a loving squeeze, he corralled her under his arm, guiding her back to the car with no flashing lights or sirens, as they picked up the pieces of her very compelling, barely-avoided wrath on the unsuspecting idiot. She was delighted to discover that the next two restaurants were happy to provide her with their own special birthday drinks, and threw in a delicious chocolaty dessert to hold her over before the couple moved on to their current spot. They sat in the moodiest booth at Mama Delilah’s grill, where Steve absentmindedly stared at Kali with her basket of wings and sauce smeared on her face.   Kali wiped her face with the crumpled napkin, daring him with her eyes. “What?”  “Nothing,” Steve said, crossing his arms over the table. He leaned to get a better look at her from under the dark overhead lamp. “Having fun?”  She smacked her lips and tipped her head in agreement, mischief twinkling in her eyes.  “Good, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”  Steve grinned wide, admiring the way she stretched to get ready to head out to their next stop. She flashed her old fake ID from Chicago, sticking out her tongue playfully. It wasn’t even her actual birth date, she just wanted a day with all her favorite things for free or at least, for cheap. This was her just letting loose.  She lightly touched the back of his fingers, then casually grabbed his hand from across the table. Warm, she was always so unbelievably warm. “Ready for the pub? I hear there’s free Long Island teas there.” Kali said with a devious grin. She’d seen him drunk off LITs more times than he could actually count while drunk. There was no stopping her now. God, he couldn’t get enough of her.

[codedredalert]

this might be odd but i really admire your work for law in that op zine and was wondering how you'd manage to come across zines to apply for because it's hard to filter through results on twt and hard to find exactly who is doing what

hey anon, thank you so much! i'm really happy with how that law fic turned out, glad you like it!

not odd at all, i agree it's hard to filter zines! let's see if i can help. this got a bit long bc i misread the question and talked about finding zines to apply for as well as generally what i keep in mind when choosing what zines i apply to so im putting it under a cut

best generally / for fandoms you're already deep in/ fandoms you're less invested in and just happen to think are neat if they pop up. for the op tarot zine, and most zines i applied to/ got into, usually i heard about via word of mouth. so that's reblogs of the promo posts or casual mentions from people I follow, or discord servers, or just chats with friends in that fandom. i like this method because it's the lowest effort and highest likelihood of matching my interests and having the apps still open, and they tend to be a little more reliable bc you already have one layer of someone checking them out/ vouching for them. (but bear in mind i'm also someone who mostly only reads recommended fics from friends whose taste i'm familiar with)

second best/ new fandoms/ fandoms you're not established in. here we have to actually search (boooooo) (i'm lazy lol). you can still use the first method a little bit by searching on the page/blog of a creator you like in that fandom, because that helps filter a bit for interests/ style/ taste/ reliability. i also searched [fandom name] zine or variations. so like "#ygozine" or"yugioh zine" when I was looking for yugioh zines to join. then i consider the application open ones to see if i like the theme, and whether the other details work for me (eg amount of work expected, schedule, rules, faqs, charity/profit, mods, physical/digital only etc).

zine promo / app amalgamation sites. it's pretty easy to find them by looking at existing zines promo posts and seeing the amalgamation blogs/accounts they tag. i don't really use them that much so i can't really recommend specific ones, and the ones i know don't sort easily by fandom or deadline stage, so it's too much work for me personally. i might browse them a little to try my luck but it's the highest effort for the lowest reward. still worth a shot if you can define your search terms well or are willing to trawl. I'd try by just searching the fandom confined to the blog/page. (on tumblr you can do this by adding "/search/[fandom name or shortname]" to the end of the URL.)

very established in a fandom/ willing to ask randomly. you might get invited or someone might drop you an ask saying hey check this zine out they're looking for writers/ other types of creators. you can also just do a general post asking for help like "does anyone know of any zines for [fandom] that are open to apps?" personally and from what i gather from friends, just because they're recommendations doesn't mean that they will necessarily match what you look for in projects but they're worth checking out bc the person recommending usually has some idea of your likes/style/fit. this method has a lot of constraints obviously.

when applying... it may be worthwhile to consider why you're interested in joining, what they are looking for, how many slots they have for what kind of creators, how popular the zine is, what you "specialise" in for the fandom, what your best skills are, what the mods might be looking for (most if not all zines require you to submit sample work). tailor your application. of course, not all zines take writers so your options here might be a little limited (though i'm happy to say i feel like including writing is becoming more common). at the same time, a lot of people underestimate themselves, so definitely apply if you want to even if you feel you might not get in. i think this is probably not what you're asking about though so i wont belabour the point

be careful. i have had the good fortune to have only been in "okay" to "amazing 10/10 extremely trustworthy" zines so far (fingers crossed), but i do have a couple of friends who were burned by dishonest or unreliable zine management before, so do take care! you can save yourself a lot of heartache at the stage when you check out the zine you are applying to. some general indicators for me are whether mod skills cover necessary categories (zines are essentially a business venture and i feel like a lot of people underestimate or do not give enough respect to that); mod experience, age, personal reputations; how questions, rules, schedule, expectations, compensation/charity are addressed. Also these are after joining, but mod treatment of contributors via email or in the discord server and how assignments are handled are early enough that you can form your own assessment and drop if necessary.

take care of yourself also i feel like in these trying times i want to add a note on mental health. i see this too often in my friends, but if your personal circumstances change and you feel like you can't handle the zine obligations anymore, just drop. early is better than late for both you and the organiser, and respectful communication of "sorry i can't be part of the zine anymore for personal reasons" is totally fine. you don't have to disclose anything you don't want to in order to leave and no one can force you to. it's also okay if you don't get into a zine. it doesn't say anything about your worth as a person, even though we as creators can feel rejection of our work very deeply. take time to recover, block/mute/unfollow whatever keywords or accounts you have to for even the tiniest of arbitrary reasons (i absolutely do and highly recommend it), take time to nurture your skills, take time to make things that bring joy, take time to appreciate yourself and the people who like your work. maybe i'm just old/lucky but fandom has been an incredibly accepting and enjoyable place and rejection from a zine (though it can hurt like a bitch sometimes) is not rejection from the community.

i hope this was helpful!