#rayn's flat

[ace-sailor-uranus]

i think my favorite hopeless romantic! steve harrington headcanon is that he's been low-key planning his wedding since he was, like. six. with like, all that disney princess kinda stuff- gauzy white tablecloths, gold trim plates, fancy napkins and shit

(and the subsequent steddie headcanon that steve is actually like low-key devastated when he gets together with eddie bc like, yeah he loves eddie a whole helluvalot but also they're two dudes in asscrack indiana, no one's gonna wanna rent them a fancy pavilion without a very convincing reason) ((also they're broke af))

(((i also love them getting courthouse married on the day it's legalized, and then eddie later surprising steve with a big ass fancy shmancy no holds barred blowout wedding of his dreams)))

[ace-sailor-uranus]

An addendum for the fog thing: please for the love of fuck don't use your brights in fog. You're really just making things worse for yourself and everyone else. (Something something, increased refraction of light particles on water droplets, I don't remember I'm not a scientist.) You should have *fog* lights, which are *directional* lights that are pointed more towards the road itself to help increase visibility.

2: leave more space between you and the person in front of you when driving in the fog. You can't see shit, they can't see shit, no one can see shit. If they have to stop suddenly for any reason (an accident, an animal, a person, whatever) and you're too close, you're suddenly in an accident as well. I generally go with being able to just barely see their tail lights.

2b this is important for rain as well, bc your stopping distance increases when it's wet out. IE, you need more distance to safely stop at the same speed.

3: go SLOW. Slower than that. No really, slower than that. There will be people who ride your ass and get pissy that you're being slow, but fuck'em. If they want to risk ending up in a ditch, that's their prerogative. Relatedly, if you don't feel comfortable driving in the fog anymore for any reason whatsoever, make sure you pull *completely* off the side in a safe area (not on a curve, not on an exit, etc) and put your flashers on. Er, hazards, whatever. (Side note, driving fast in the fog with your flashers on don't make you safer, it just makes you look like an asshole) This also applies for rain.

My credentials are I grew up in the Pacific Northwest ✌️ Anyway *mwah* wear your seatbelt, check your tire tread, drive safe

I am BEGGING younger drivers. drive carefully. give yourself room. for fuck's sake use your turn signals and don't fucking weave thru traffic. this is not a video game, this is real life and if you get into an accident, you could get killed or kill someone else VERY easily

[melancholymegumi]

melody's current thoughts .. 💭

pussy inspection w rayne & orter..

warnings : mean dom!rayne & orter , degradation (slut , whore) , pet names (bunny , princess) , lowkey ddlg undertones if you squint , daddy kink , reader gets ignored by rayne & orter , age isn't mentioned but all characters are adults. (Rayne is 20 , orter is 24 , reader is 19) , lance is mentioned , this is probably less than 100 words. minors, do not interact.

god, this is so annoying. They talk like you were basically non-existent. "Was she bad this week? pussy's throbbing like a slut." you were squirming, again. They talk like you're not even there. It's like you're nonexistent.

"of course she fucking was. rubbing herself against the pretty boy from Adler today. I left her with him for a while, only to find her pushing her tits against his arm like a fucking whore. The princess doesn't mind her manner apparently." "no I didn't! daddy's lying—" he pinched your clit. God , that insufferable and scary look he had on whenever he's fucking pissed. The look that made everyone shut the fuck up.

"I didn't know that we gave you the permission to talk, bunny. Now stop fucking squirming before we tie you up again."

god, you fucking hate them. but, atleast it's better than 2 weeks of not sitting flat on your ass and having everything taken away. or is it?

[onegianthotmess]

“What do you think will happen in the new year?”

Late at night, in the room of the Savanaclaw Housewarden, Leona’s ears flicked and his vibrant emerald green eyes opened to peer at the woman next to him. Morel looked at him with her wide eyes, genuinely curious as she awaited the beastman’s answer to her question.

“I dunno,” Leona finally answered before he stretched. “Hopefully I’ll be annoyed less by that crazy little hairball.”

Morel laughed through her nose, “That can’t be all, Kitty! You have to have at least one hope for the new year.”

“Meh, not really,” Leona sighed, leaning back on his hands. “Was never really one for all of that resolution crap or hoping for a fresh start in a new year.”

“You’re boring, then,” Morel scoffed playfully, earning a raised brow from the man next to her.

“Really, now?” Leona questioned, smirking smugly at the pale woman. “Then, please, enlighten me on your hopes for the new year if you aren’t boring like me?”

“Well, I hope for a few things,” Morel murmured. “I hope Riddle and Rayne get to build their relationship more with our father. I hope my friends stay healthy. I hope my father and his partner have another happy year together. And I hope that you get one step closer to graduating.”

“You actually hope that I’ll move a grade closer to graduating?” Leona asked, letting out a small scoff.

“Yes, I do, Kitty,” Morel replied. “I believe you can do it and I’d be really proud of you if you did graduate.”

Leona rolled his eyes with a smirk, “Is that just so you wouldn’t be dating a student of the school you work for?”

“Well, I don’t think our relationship is too much of an issue, considering that we’re both consenting adults and are good enough friends,” Morel replied, booping the lion beastman’s nose. “And I really just want you to use that brilliant mind of yours. You could do a lot of good with it, you know? You’re really observant, and you’re quite brilliant in terms of intelligence. I just want to see you use that amazing talent of yours instead of wasting it. Especially since you could help so many people with it.”

Leona blinked at Morel. He was always taken aback whenever she told him stuff like that; he just wasn’t used to it. He’s been dismissed his whole life, the second choice, the lesser of two. His talents weren’t acknowledged—hell, they weren’t even noticed since he wasn’t born first.

Yet, here was a human woman who fully supported him and didn’t take his bullshit. Morel pulled him out of bed, called him out when he was being an ass, and made him go to his classes and put his brain to good use. She didn’t dismiss him just because he was second born, she didn’t even take his title of Prince into account; Morel simply treated him like everyone else and did everything in her power to make sure he’d go to class and graduate, even if it was the last thing she’d do.

She was his only reason for trying. And, though he denied it ‘till the end of the earth, Leona loved having support and someone actually see him for once.

Leona sighed before he looked at Morel again, “You really wanna know my hope for the new year, Herbivore?”

“Yes,” Morel nodded with zero hesitation. Leona sighed once more and mumbled something under his breath. Morel raised a confused her patient brow at this, “Come again, Leona?”

“…I hope you don’t leave me,” Leona murmured, cheeks slightly flushed. “I don’t want to lose my only reason for trying at all…”

There was a pause. It was awkward, for Leona, at least. He wasn’t used to opening up about his feelings or using his words, so he didn’t know what to do aside from leave his feelings flat out there. But, it wasn’t a moment later that Morel quickly grabbed his face, firmly planted a kiss on his lips, and pulled away from him smiling.

“I’ll never leave you, Leona,” Morel beamed, “and you can count on that! I love you, and happy new year!”

Leona blinked before he slyly grinned and pulled Morel close to him and rested his chin on her shoulder, “Love ya more. Happy new year, Morel.”

[ace-sailor-uranus]

@freackthejester

New hairstyle “monkhawk” which is like the tonsure of a medieval European monk gelled to stick straight up forming a basket-like shape

[mashleverse]

#38 [MASH RADIO] - Web Radio feat. Kobayashi Chiaki & Eguchi Takuya

Mash Radio is back! Just like before, messy summary is under read more below.

Unlike the usual one where the guest was supposed to be the one reading the opening, now it's Kobayashi who read the opening segment, while Eguchi immediately cracked open a cold one!

Kobayashi talked about how Mashle as a series is now becoming so widely beloved and popular, that the detective-themed event back then was also a huge success!

Kobayashi: "After the events of S1 and S2, what do you think about Dot so far?" ; Eguchi: *with flat tone* "He made me use a lot of loud voices."

Eguchi also said that he'd never played a role that made him use such a head-numbingly loud voice to the same extent as he did for Dot, where he had to speak in such ways in both anime and even drama CDs.

They're talking about the main characters' seiyuus, a lot of times about Kawashima (Finn's VA), and sometimes about Ishikawa (Lance's VA)! The Mashle casts seem very close!

As both of them are reading the letters from listeners, everyone is pretty happy to welcome Mashle Web Radio back!

After reading the listener's letters, they recall what happened during the detective-themed event a few months ago, and suddenly... Eguchi: Kaji-san... is dressing in such a weird outfit. Kobayashi: *confused* Are we... are we supposed to talk about this publicly?

What Eguchi meant is that during the event, when Umehara (Abel's VA) asked the audience to form a pose, Eguchi seemed to notice how strange Kaji (Rayne's VA) outfit at that time was, so much it was stuck in his memories and he wondered why he had such memories. Kobayashi recalled too that a while ago he met Kaji for a work in a different series, and there he wore a strange outfit as well, described by Kobayashi as "a stylish guy who goes all out when he puts himself on the line (?)". Eguchi said: "As expected of fellow seiyuus from Showa generation!"

There are no minigame sessions, only reading letters and a lot of fun talk between Kobayashi and Eguchi!

Kobayashi went to watch the Mashle Stage 2.5! He said it was amazing! He praised the actors and actresses' huge respect for the original work and the anime, especially how the actors' and actresses' voices are very close to the anime's seiyuus, including stage Dot's explosive performance! Eguchi: I'm worried about his throat! (because Dot screams a lot)

And that's it for this episode's Mashle web radio!

[ansbobcar]

EP 4. Compromises are the best if you do it right

WORD COUNT. 3208

Link to overview

_ _ _ _ _

The month was soon ending, soon bringing the summer season. Although there was barely any change between the seasons. However, that also indicated something important. Midterms were coming up and Darren had barely caught up with her work.

As if changing half her subjects wasn’t such a pain, scribbling notes onto another piece of paper late into the night. ‘I swear if these teachers add more last minute content, I’d rather burn this school down or go back to that shitty school again.’

If it wasn’t for her favourite subjects, Magical Geography and Magic Zoology, she would have quit on her first day. Along with the fact she actually wasn’t kicked out of every class for not using a wand. She should be grateful for this opportunity but it was really infuriating.

But if the school burnt down, there was no way in hell she’d ever encounter Rayne ever again, she cursed to herself at the predicament as she looked up to the window which seeped in the light of a full moon. As if the wind and walls played tricks on her senses, a faint howl echoed with woe and simply continued. It ruined her concentration, she sighed heavily, standing up in her cotton off-white collared nightgown and wore her uniform’s robe before taking a step outside in her bare feet.

The howls were from the hallways, she quietly began with a walking pace towards the voice, leading her down the stairs to the 10th floor. Although her feet was probably more than darkened, it wasn’t something she was foreign too. As if her complexion was already rather darker to begin with considering she lived in one of the great flat plane regions which witnessed the sun’s eyes constantly. 

But it’s the dead of the night, there was no need to talk about the sun. Something was off about the moon, she told herself. Alongside the constant swipes of sadness the howls brought. ‘If it’s what I think it is…’

Instinctively, she extinguished flames headed her way. Two boys in what she presumed was not the Adler uniform seemed more than startled at her appearance. “What?” She sighed. “Where’s her wand?”

“My name’s Darren Randel,” she uttered to be met with dead silence from the two. She could barely make out the complicated expressions they had drawn onto themselves but it was probably fear.

“That’s her! The one who defeated him!”

Without another moment to spare to her, they dashed away. Leaving her alone. The suspicious howls disappeared this time much to her confusion so she headed back to her room only to be greeted by the old man himself with a calm yet serious face at her door.

“What is it this time?” Almost rolling her eyes.

“Young Darren, would you mind wearing your uniform first?”

Here we go again.

Without a word, Darren had disappeared. Unlike last time, there was no food prepared when he had arrived to the bunnies who were just as shocked as him by her lacking presence. Just like before, the teachers were aware of her absence. 

The wolf sightings disappeared along with the full moon and suddenly things felt like when he was in his first year. With dwindling numbers of duel requests, he ended up following his friend for his excursion on her second day missing. Although midterms were coming up he was more than prepared to get decent grades in them, drowning his thoughts amidst the vicious gnawing of their teeth.

Maybe he was a bit too harsh on her last time. Apart from Max Land, she was the only one who approached him with no expectations. Bunbun and Bunaldo were weird, snuggling under each of his armpit like there was no tomorrow. The doe in particular was chomping harshly once again.

He exhaled.

They never slept on him. And he was sure Buns would jump back to the corner again once all the snacks disappeared. At least they weren’t like Bunster and Bunnykins who were more than just stuck at the hip when they were eating. Only Bunnelby stuck to him.

Apart from her, nobody else could truly tell them apart as much as he did. Unmoving from his position. He might as well get eaten alive at this point and prepare to be met with the disappointing voice Wahlberg sometimes carries.

“Unfortunately, Young Rayne,” he would begin. “Young Darren has been expelled due to the new report that she beat up…” and continued to list out her whole bad record. From stealing exam papers to bullying, he listed mountains upon mountains of reports for him to hear. “That was our conclusion as a school.”

But she barely duelled anyone apart from Wirth Madl.

He heard a knock on the door before it creaked open. “Rayne?” Max called out. “It’s getting late.” Slowly he stood up in response and locked up the house, making sure the headcount was 9.

“Still no sign of Darren?” the light brunette inquired as they walked back. He shook his head. “That’s odd. I hope we get some sort of news about her soon.”

That would be for the best.

_ _ _

On the third day of her absence, nothing changed. Some more last minute content was added, with certain teachers making them hold about 3 marks in their midterms and finals respectively. And then he swept the floors of the rabbit house a bit more and reorganised a few things, like their bedding and toys. Life was as usual.

Maybe he should go out tomorrow, having initially planned to drag along his friend and the girl. Maybe he just wasn’t supposed to meet her. How comical. Such a short lived person in his life who somehow made him a soup his own late mother had made, walking back to the dormitory alone.

Was he disappointed at how things turned out?

Yet something familiar slithered its way into his head in familiarity. Soup… spice… 

It’s her.

From the Adler Dorm’s kitchen no less, as he sprinted down to the door and prevented himself from bashing the door open. Catching his breath, he saw the familiar auburn head with blue tips in her hair. She didn’t have it up in her usual pigtails…

“What’s with the long face?” She faced him, turning down the stove’s fire, her face seemed heavier on one side with gauze on it.

“Are you part of some street gang?” He huffed, irritation evident on his face.

She chuckled at his assumption. “Life would be easier if I was. Why?”

He pointed at the bandaged cheek. She waved it off. "It could've been worse and a lot longer, it was settled well enough," she forced herself to keep it vague. Scooping up some soup for him to have. "What do you want tomorrow?”

“Something with carrots.”

_ _ _

Oh she can’t bear to look at the scores any longer, slumping down on her desk for everyone to see. Cheers for passes were heard from her cohort and maybe some snickers from people like Chloe. Thankfully, her parents couldn’t care less about her life at school. They just wanted her to pass. But who knew the passing marks were higher than the smarter school?

Turning her head towards the tallest of the three, she asked, “How much did you get Rayne?”

“Nothing much,” he stated, as the two peered over his shoulders to see the marks. Nearly full scores! What is this genius intellect? This rabbit hoarder???

“You’ve got a month to turn it around you know?” He pointed out as he saw her abysmal grades. His facial structure lacked emotion as she seemed on the cusps of wailing. “Midterms are just for the teachers but you’ll get expelled if you fail even a subject for the end of semester tests and that means…”

“You got a demerit!” Max chimed in much to her agony. “It’s alright Darren, I’m sure we can help you… right, Rayne?” Surely, they would be able to help raise her grades.

They in fact, did not.

“I’m sorry you guys,” she murmured, dropping her head onto the table. Papers with red circles were indicated. The two were the type to go through papers and questions instead of the content, which is what she needed help with if anything. “I’ll just study more…”

Oh well, that probably means they’ll get less food now.

“I’ll make sure to give you food guys food still, I’ll just be losing some sleep a bit,” she chuckled awkwardly, hiding her nails which dug into her palm.

‘It’s all his fault for messing it up.’

_ _ _

Etched in his soul was a wound that never ceased to burrow. Thriving through the nights, through the scent of the calming morning dew that escaped into his dorm room, through the hellish blank yet raging canvas his brother had abandoned him in each winter. Loneliness and wrath were only by products of it.

Outside of his grades, he served no self-fulfilling purpose. Stuck in the shadows of stars. Unfound.

That is, until he stumbled across the root of his recent nightmares, through the void of eternal emptiness, balancing stacks of books while eyeing another as she leaned onto the ladder. There was no way in hell this was real.

"Oi," he whispered to her. "Oi! Are you insane!?" he tried calling out to her, to no avail. She seemed to crane her head towards the shelf only. Those were at least 20 books in her hands! The fact there's no magic makes it so much worse! The school had centuries worth of knowledge, there was no way that she was about to ruin a bunch of them with her careless handling.

The rumours were true how useless she was in regards to mundane magic, ready to mutter a spell to elevate himself but she simply cursed. "Who? the. fuck. is down. there?"

"Wirth Madl."

Instantly, her chipper mood removed itself as she looked down at the Lang student. Disdain in her eyes. "What brings you here?" She crudely asked, still managing to balance her books with a single hand.

"It's a fucking library, for books obviously," he replied, increasingly getting agitated by the sight of her. 

"So why are you bothering me?"

"Because you're not using any spells for your books," he pointed at her. THE SIGHT OF HER WAS GONNA KILL HIM SOONER OR LATER, trying to maintain his composure. 

She arched her brow before she hummed at his words. "Good point," before she decided to slowly climb down. She took a minute with each step.

OH HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO KEEP CALM??? Who goes down without two hands on the ladder?

"You're gonna die if you don't levitate your books."

"It's fine," taking another step down. The books leaned side to side like a pancake tower. Her hand grew increasingly wobbly the longer she held it for. He could see her become more tense as she took longer once she was about 5 metres from the ground. 

"I... I can help if you want," he huffed, unable to stand the sight.

"No, I'm," she clutched tightly onto the side of the ladder. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You're getting more tired," astonished by her stubbornness, as she stayed in place. "If you fall, those books can't be replaced you know? You'll have to pay hefty fines for damaging school property."

"Then I'd rather fall than ask for help."

"What is your problem?"

"What is YOUR—"

Her hand and feet slipped as a loud growl revealed its presence towards the two. "Ruptu—" she covered her mouth before she could finish the spell.

Immediately, the Lang student chanted a levitation spell on the stack of books. ‘It would last long enough to catch this skinny girl,’ is what he told himself. Ready to catch her in his arms as he positioned himself right under her shadow. Yet his feet dug itself into the stone floor immediately as numbness enveloped his body and he felt a sharp stretch emerge from his arms as he breathed. Her eyes were struck with fear as if she knew what had just happened to the two of them.

He winced as she shifted herself and she seemed to hold back a wail. "I forgot to nullify it again. Ah," she gripped her hands into fists. "I'm sorry. You should've just let me fall to the ground. Now you're gonna get me kicked out."

As she seemed to woe her curses at him, the rather magically more adept student focused his efforts on gently placing the books down without ruining them.

"Why... don't you take us to the infirmary or something?"

_ _ _

After requesting—dare I say blackmailing—the head nurse, the two were given the most potent healing potions the school's supplies could concoct to ensure Wirth Madl, the 2nd Fang of the Magia Lupus, had never broken his arms in the first place trying to catch a girl from the Adler house.

"It's nice that there are some students who are taking care of each other," the nurse had stammered out before shooing them out of her office.

Awkwardly, still in the empty hall, he finally asked her, "So what were you doing with over 20 books in your hand?"

"Study material," she quipped. "I didn't pass enough of the midterm papers."

That's rather odd, he told himself. "What's your average score?"

"12 marks."

Oh god. That's actually bad.

"I usually get by enough not the get expelled," she murmured as they walked back to the library. "Can't believe Easton's grade boundaries are higher."

"Getting 50% to pass isn't that high."

"It's high to me, okay!"

"Chill will you? What were you tryna study anyways?"

He should've never asked. She had books about the history of and proof behind principle maths concepts down to the kiddie maths workbooks in her stack.

"Do you even know what you're studying?" He reiterated, noticing another pile with a pop up human physiology book and loads of rubbish notes and papers around it. "Like genuinely, do you?"

"Why does this matter to you specifically?" She countered, unable to look at him in the eye.

"Because I want a rematch, which obviously won't happen if you're gonna get expelled next month anyways."

She tried to speak a few times but was at a loss for words before she took a deep breath and continued.

"Good point. Then I'll," her heel pivoted as she pointed her hands towards him. "Ask you about your average score."

"100 marks."

Her jaw dropped. This guy's smarter than Rayne!! "I beg your pardon?"

"I get full marks for my tests," he shrugged.

"Okay, smartypants," she laughed awkwardly. "How about a deal." He eyed her sceptically, with his arms folded. "You tutor me so I can pass the terms and I feed you fresh meals."

"Feed?" He hawked. "What are you gonna feed me? Freshly grilled wagyu steak?" How absurd. She didn't even have a wand, how was he going to get a decent meal from her hands. Commoners nearby don’t even have access to those premium grade livestock.

Her eyes seemed to light up at his words as she fished out of her pocket, a plate of thinly sliced and marbled red meat. "I forgot this existed," she hummed. "I'll make beef noodles for dinner then."

"On another note, I'd prefer live octopus."

“Like this?” she pulled out one from her pocket without batting an eye.

"Foie gras?"

Again, she had it. "This is a delicacy amongst the elite isn't it?" she mused. "Never tried this variation though," putting it back.

"Nevermind... I want this type of delicacy known in the southeast region made with the manihot esculenta or tapioca," he rambled. "It's not too sweet and needs a certain firmness—"

"Tapioca huh?" She tapped her foot. "I remember making something like that a few years ago."

Now he was at a loss.

"You won't drop this until I accept this deal won't you?"

"I won't," she curtly replied. "I can't get deported back to the countryside," she stressed with some gestures. "Trust me, I make some pretty spectacular food. Let's find your dorm's kitchen first," she gestured him to lead the way.

"Fine."

_ _ _

The eyebags seemed to grow heavier on Darren’s face as the week continued on, she seemed to still be cheerful and ask questions in class but it seemed slightly less focused than before. “So that means there’s only 10 base formulas, right?”

The professor nodded at her words. “Yes, that is correct. Apart from Lethargy and Energy, there are also Physical Ailment, Mental Ailment, and Physical Enhancing base formulas which were studied before last year alongside their antidotes.”

“Does that mean we’ll be studying Augmentation and Curse next?

“Only Augmentation. Learning about the Curse base formula is rather complicated and has been delegated a 3rd year topic,” he explained; “Additionally, it will only be a topic for those placed in the advanced potionology class only just like learning normal curses is.” 

‘Ah. I need to do good for this class,’ she told herself. ‘Augmentation’s pretty useful for the future.’

Once classes finished, she waked goodbye to the two and immediately ran round the corner to transport herself at the meeting spot where lots of sunlight existed and cast a light shadow from the tree. The random spot nobody had found yet by sticking with the dorm lounge and library.

“Just calling it ‘the spot’ is a pretty lame name ya now, Mudkip,” she uttered as she walked to the middle with nobody present. Appearing from the ground, he spawned with an irked face.

“You did not just call me a Water-type Pokemon.”

“I did, Swampert,” she jeered.

“Let’s continue where we stopped from last time,” holding out his hand. Immediately, he received a boxed lunch. “I meant the papers. You didn’t forget then did you?”

She took them out without a hassle and placed them down for him to see. “I tried doing 2 more questions, can you look at them?”

“Alright.”

With a mere glance, his brows furrowed and quickly began to take out a clayboard. “You confused the formulas again. When you see this question type, you need to think about completing the square after expanding the equation. You’re already okay at expanding and simplifying.”

“Example?”

He took out another one of her older papers and showed it to her to overlook before explaining it. “The trick I learnt was…”

And after a solid session of completing Maths, they had moved on to History. “I suggest these comic books first as the foundation.”

He wouldn’t mention he stole them from his brother’s personal collection. ‘He lost that a decade ago anyways,’ he reminded himself watching as she read it quietly. ‘I doubt he’d care about anything in that household.’

“Are you sure this is a good way to get into the topic?”

“Trust me, it will.”

“Did they really do that?” Leaning over his shoulder as he stayed on the page with the assassination of a king.

“I learned that in school, so it must be pretty accurate, don’t ya think?”

If only things were the same.

“If you say so.”

_ _ _ _ _

I'll be taking a break from publishing after this episode/chapter because I haven't started the Summer Internship Arc. It's still in writing, updates will be much slowly too.

I also might modify things a bit for the future.

Oh right... PROPERLY INTRODUCING WIRTH MADL AS THE 2ND ML Y'ALL!!!!!

So where do you think Darren went off to now?

[ace-sailor-uranus]

holy shit

😳

[ace-sailor-uranus]

Yeah, and also like. I saw this in a different post forever ago and I don't have the time to hunt for it now, but like.

They're taglines.

Those little 5 second blips y'all are complaining so fuckin much about? It's literally just a tagline. It's an advertising slogan. We've been using them since we've HAD advertising. When you want to recommend something to someone, you don't want to flood them with a deluge of information UNLESS THEY ASK FOR IT

You give them (wait for it) the fuckin key notes (omg taglines) and then, if it seems like something they want more information on, THEN you give them the summary

Or: Hey, friend, I noticed you were reading 'x' particular book, what did you like about it? Oh I liked X, Y, Z. Cool, these books ALSO have Y and Z, but they also have W, would that be a deal breaker?

Tropes. Taglines.

What if:

"It has enemies to lovers!" Cool I hate that, skip

"University setting!" Ugh, school? Skip

"Childhood friends to lovers!" Ooh, tasty, now what?

Like, sorry you only just noticed, but we've been using tropes and taglines -like I said, this shit you're whining about- since long before the Booktok girlies and the Evil Nasty Big Publishers ~ooh scary~ got their fingers in them.

Sure, maybe there's an issue in people describing works only using these ~fanfiction terms~ but I also get this funny feeling that for probably about half of these you're groaning and rolling your eyes and clicking away before you get five seconds in.

(Also also, like. You do remember how long tt videos used to be, right? You think they can fit a full summary for several books in 60s?)

Yeah, absolutely there's a lot of shit to be talked about the publishing industry, and a lot of shit to be talked about people who insist that the curtains are just fucking blue.

But also like.

Tl/dr: Maybe stop being a little bitch about it? It's advertising?? They're selling you something, snappy taglines are a thing, have always been a thing, and are going to continue to be a thing, and I'm sorry you just haven't noticed them until now.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry it’s early but you really can’t use fanfiction terms in a non fanfiction context like if someone is trying to sell me a book to read and they tell me there’s an enemy to lovers I would be annoyed because why are you spoiling the story lol

[the-forgotten-angel]

Just a quick mod update, and an apology for being so very inconsistent- I still have to figure out how to manage this project that isn't relying on brief fixation before falling flat again. But one little change I think will help, I'm going to close the askbox for now, and open it again when it's empty. You guys are so engaged with Chara and that's honestly amazing, but it does mean that I have to figure out how to pace myself. By all means, keep giving asks when you can, keep reblogging the posts, consider some of the authors' ko fi, and have an amazing day- The askbox is temporarily closed, I will announce when it's open again. -Rayne

[burning2know]

thank you for tagging me @scribeofmorpheus

the premise is to bold what I prefer for each pair... I'll try my best to not put in a million explanations.

summer or winter // coffee nor tea // straight hair or curly hair // fiction or nonfiction // necklaces or bracelets // marshmallows or whipped cream // night in or night out // sunset or sunrise // pizza or pasta // cold drink or hot drink// vampire or werewolf // crop top or oversized hoodie // be able to fly or run at super speed // speak many languages or able to speak to animals // be invisible or read minds // phone call and text (each have their uses) // laundry or dishes // pool or beach // flats or heels // stay home or go out // coke or pepsi (lol)// cook dinner or do dishes (this changes by the minute) // books or movies // dogs or cats // chocolate or vanilla // facebook nor instagram (tumblr) // over-dressed or under-dressed // morning or late nights // always late or always early (aspirational, I'm actually mostly late) // dancer or singer // always eat only dessert or always eat only savoury // shopping and museum (fine line) // art gallery and zoo (visiting both this weekend) //parties or picnics // white lights or multicolored lights

This was a struggle. But it did remind me of early social media/forum times. Very cozy.

tagging: @insufferablewarden @biowho @kaija-rayne-author

[ace-sailor-uranus]

See, I think part of the thing is, that's vitally important here -not to make any excuses or anything- but you don't have a Local Sesame Street. You can't go to your local fucking educational puppet show and piss and whine and throw shit, but you CAN go to your local Starbucks/Target/corner-store-that-sells-shitty-beer/et fuckin cetera, and harass the employees and break shit and be a bitch in general. If people make threats against sesame street? Whatever. It's considerably more difficult to find and threaten a goddamn muppet, and i will give you a crisp high-five if you can prove to me that your average motherfucker on the street could pick out any of the face characters from a line up.

BUT

Do you know how many people work at Target? Walmart? Starbucks? Local corner store selling shitty beer?

You agree that the shit that your average customer employee faces on a day to day business is bullshit, right? You're with me on that? Can you think about how much fucking worse it is when it's trumped-up egotistical bitch babies who think that anyone and anything even slightly off from 'normal' is more useful DEAD?

And you trust cops about as much as I do, yeah? Less than useless, violent, blah blah blah. Are they gonna do anything to protect the workers in the stores? Fuck no! Not any more than they absolutely goddamn have to. Bare minimum, across the line.

Do you REALLY think they'll do shit for fucking BOMB THREATS to your local target? Or did y'all forget that fucking happened?

Yeah, sure, definitely keep it up about how it's bullshit that they give in to THREATS to their EMPLOYEES LIVES.

Like, yeah, there's shit they could do better. There's ALWAYS shit that can be better. But throwing the CRUMBS of support that the queer committee can get under the fucking bus in order to lift up something else? What the fuck is wrong with you.

Like. Capitalism is a nightmare, ceos are corrupt, blah fuckin blah. You've heard it before, I'm not gonna make you read it again.

And like, I know the bar is on the fucking floor. Not the point.

PBS (Sesame Street) and fucking. Target. Or Walmart. Or Vons or Barnes & Noble or Grocery Outlet or fucking 7-11- they're not fucking equivalent. You're not even comparing apples and oranges, you're comparing strawberries and fucking. TOASTERS.

Like YES, keep pressuring companies about improving worker wages and lives, but don't. don't compare them.

the way sesame street, a pbs puppet show for literal babies, is pressing on with pride content despite vitriolic monsters descending on every post to insinuate they're pedophiles or demons while some of the biggest companies on the planet who could swim in olympic swimming pools of money like scrooge mcduck on steroids buckle and cave just emphasizes how completely and utterly pathetic these corporations are. they'd butcher a baby if it meant saving a penny.

[babeluda]

Something something Faulkner putting the finger on my deep fear of deterioration in age when he spoke with sibling Rayne about losing how far you've come.

I can't visit my grandmother anymore. I feel immensely guilty about it, but the alternative is worse.

It's good I was folding laundry and preparing crepe batter in my brightly lit brightly coloured flat because this episode is the first that unsettled me to the point of swallowing and looking around nervously.

[notsoterriblymisanthropic]

One year, we were driving down this stretch of road and saw one of the abandoned barns engulfed in flames. The fire was two stories high, hypnotic in its efficiency, made fiercer and brighter and hotter by the flat monotony of the landscape around it. It looked like the end of the world. It was the most viscerally destructive thing I had ever seen in real life, and this is the part that really put a pit in my stomach: all this sound and fury, and it wasn’t destroying anything that anyone had cared about for a long, long time.

Rayne Fisher-Quann, Home for the Holidays

[belsasim]

Timeskip time...

3 seasons had passed. Rayne hadn't returned.

He had called a few times, hushed and rushed, pounding club music on the background. The toddlers were happy to hear their father's voice, Zinnia would try to talk to him, but always ended up crying and asking him to come home and Kit would flat out refuse to come near the phone.

Both sets of twins celebrated their birthday without their father present. Sarah outdid herself with cake and a party with their relatives, but for Kit and Zinnia, it still felt bittersweet.

Once there were teens and children in the house, Sarah should've been able to relax a little bit more. But she seemed to throw herself into her work even more. Working all day while the kids were in school and continuing into the late hours once they were asleep.

Anyway, all they could do was to keep on keepin' on. And that's what they did.

[ace-sailor-uranus]

first thing:

"Medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18."

are you, perhaps, fucking stupid. just asking.

on the other side of the backhand, you know they're not gonna do jackshit about stopping surgeries on intersex kids.

second thing:

retention and enlistment is already ass. being in the military sucks ass. i know that. you know that. god, your mother, and your dog know that, whether or not these things are alive or what have you.

you think this is gonna fuckin help? no.

three, possibly most important:

you realize this is the foot in the door, right?

this is the...the proto-step. not even step a.

yes yes yes, i know, fuck the military, military bad (bud, you're preaching to the goddamn choir) but the military is also the number one employer of self-identified queer individuals in the US.

unsurprising, really, when you think about it.

and this is the crack in the wall against that.

it's the same as it is in the civilian world, you know that. children's healthcare is an easy target. you make concessions that seem reasonable.

and then they have no healthcare.

and then what. (well, then you have dead children, but that's only part of the story.)

(we shouldn't have to start with dead and fearful children before we get to the rest of it)

Where am I even going with this.

yes, the US military SUCKS. it's a nightmare. it's horrific. it's abusive to the people in it, it's abusive to the people outside of it. it's full of rampant unchecked power-hungry assholes who want to squeeze every last penny out of every foreign nation they can, who believe in the power of gunpowder and blood over sweat and grease, who don't get their hands dirty but have palms covered in the blood of their own men.

it's not going away. even if the world ended tomorrow, it wouldn't go away.

even if you can't work within the system, you must work around the system, and abuse the system as best you can.

and this is a blow against that.

tldr:

idiot republicans. you pretend to care so much about the military, you actively go against things that will help keep it going. this is stupid, republicans don't know hoe gender affirming care for minors works, and this is totally a canary in a coal mine test.

Republican monsters.