#so that december passed by. which makes her 14 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

redrose10 · 3 months ago

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Sorry this has taken so long…Here is #10 from the picture game. I hope it’s okay!

Warnings: Angst, slightly suggestive, hints of loosing virginity, small mentions of death and seeing a therapist as well as mental health struggles, cheating , swearing, mention of divorce

September 8th, 2003

To Whomever It May Concern,

My name is Min Yoongi. I live in Daegu. I am in the fifth grade. My hobbies include basketball, music, and sleeping. My teacher said that we have to write a letter that will be sent to a random pen pal. I think it’s a dumb idea but it’s mandatory. So here it is.

September 15th, 2003

Dear Yoongi,

My name is L/N Y/N. I received your letter. I also think this is dumb but I need the extra credit so here I am. I am also in the fifth grade. I like to cook with my grandma. I love animals and purple is my favorite color. I look forward to hearing from you again.

You laughed as you read over the wrinkled faded letters one by one. At the time you did think that writing to a pen pal was the dumbest idea that your teacher came up with specifically to torture you. The guy you were writing was cute at least. The attached school photo showing a gummy smile and beautiful eyes. At the time you didn’t know how much that letter would become a part of your life.

November 1st, 2003

Dear Y/N,

What do you like to cook? I don’t cook much but I love when my mom makes kimchi stew. It’s starting to get cold. I hope that you are able to stay warm.

November 12th, 2003

Dear Yoongi,

It is getting colder which makes it the perfect weather for kimchi stew. It’s almost time for Christmas. That’s my favorite time of the year. Do you have a favorite Christmas Movie? Mine is Home Alone.

December 11th, 2003

Dear Y/N,

My favorite Christmas movie is also Home Alone. I prefer to listen to Christmas music but I will deny it if anyone asks. Do you have a favorite song?

August 14, 2005

Dear Yoongi

I’m sorry that I never wrote you back. We moved and I lost your address. I just found it again though, if you even still live here. You don’t have to write me back if you don’t want to. I just always felt bad for leaving you hanging without an explanation.

By the way…my favorite Christmas song is Jingle Bell Rock.

You remembered that time of your life. Your parents got divorced and you moved in with your mom. Your grandma suddenly passed away not long after. Your best friend moved across the country too. It felt like your life was falling apart and you wanted some sense of normalcy so when you came across Yoongi’s address you decided to write him even if you thought you might die from embarrassment. You folded those letters back up and gently put them back at the bottom white wooden chest in front of you.

September 9th, 2005

Dear Y/N,

I wondered what happened to you. I didn’t mind. They didn’t make me write letters any more at least haha. I’m glad you’re okay though. I just got back from my cousins wedding. It was very boring. If I ever get married I’m going to wear a blue kangaroo onesie or something, ya know to spice it up a little. Have you ever thought about getting married?

October 12th, 2005

Dear Yoongi,

Oh my god, I’m sure your mother will be thrilled to watch you get married in a blue kangaroo suit. Weddings aren’t too bad but I’ve only ever been to my Aunt’s wedding. Her maid of honor got super drunk and started dancing on a table until it collapsed. It was pretty funny. I’ve never really thought about my wedding. I think I’d want to elope but I know my mom would cry if I did that. As long as I marry my best friend I don’t care though.

December 17th, 2005

Dear Y/N,

Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy the holiday and break from school.

February 26th, 2006

Dear Yoongi,

I hope you had a great holiday! We went to visit my grandpa. It was really nice. I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner. I’ve been busy packing. We’re moving again in a couple months. My parents said I can finish this year with my friends but I’ll have to start a new school next grade. I’m scared.

March 3rd, 2006

Dear Y/N,

I think it would be exciting to start over somewhere new. Don’t be scared. I’m sure it’ll all be okay. You can still write to me if you want. I’ll always be your friend.

You were scared. Your mom had accepted a job a few hours away. Your parents agreed to to let you live with your dad for the remainder of the school year but then you’d have to move back with your mom and start at a new school the following semester. It was terrifying until you realized something as you were addressing a new letter to Yoongi.

April 8th, 2006

Dear Yoongi,

Thank you for being my friend. That is comforting knowing that I can always write to you. I just realized we’ll be going to the same school though. Maybe we can meet up some time and be friends in person. Is that weird? Anyways I hope to see you in a few months.

August 2nd, 2006

Dear Y/N,

Sorry it was a crazy busy summer. I had to work on my grandparents farm. Wow yeah it looks like we’re going to the same high school. We should meet up! Meet me underneath the maple tree at the front of the school before first period.

That was the most nervous you had ever been. Your heart rate increased as you walked towards the guy waiting underneath the tree. He was even cuter in person. Part of you didn’t want to meet him. Part of you didn’t want the letters to stop as you were sure they would now that you were at the same school. But you pushed forward greeting him with a shy smile which he quickly returned. Your friendship really evolved that day.

September 18th, 2006

Dear Y/N,

I know it’s kind of silly to write you a letter when we already spend almost every day together but I miss it. I really hate our algebra class. I swear Mr. Park is trying to make sure I never graduate. I think I’m going to try out for the basketball team. I might really have a shot at making it. If I do I hope you come to all of my games!

October 1st, 2006

Dear Yoongi,

Mr. Park is not trying to force you to fail. Maybe if you actually paid attention instead of staring at me the whole time you’d actually learn something… I know you’ll make the team, they’d be dumb not to take you. And of course I’ll be in the front row at every game!

And you were there. Yoongi was the star player. You attended every game cheering for him as loud as you could. You were shocked when after the championship game Yoongi pulled you in for a kiss. Neither of you mentioned it again after that night though.

August 21st, 2007

Dear Y/N,

Can you believe we’re in our second year of high school already? I know we haven’t written letters in a while but it seemed right. I’m excited for this year!

September 3rd, 2007

Dear Yoongi,

I was wondering when I’d get a letter… I’m ready for this year. I can’t wait for another basketball season too. I might look into drama club or something. That sounds fun. I’ll see you at Taehyung’s on Friday right?!

September 8th, 2007

Dear Y/N,

I’m sorry I didn’t come up to you at Taehyung’s party. I saw that you were getting pretty cozy with Hoseok and didn’t want to interrupt, anything going on between you two by the way? Not that I really care or anything but as your best friend I think I deserve to know.

September 8th, 2007

Dear Yoongi,

I’m literally sitting right next to you at the lunch table. We can just talk. But no nothing is going on between me and Hobi. I was actually asking him if he knew when you were going to show up.

September 8th, 2007

Dear Y/N,

Okay cool because I wanted to ask if you would go out with me. I’m sorry I don’t have the courage to say it to your face and have to ask you in a letter.

September 8th, 2007

Dear Yoongi,

Yes I will go out with you...but only if you promise to wear a blue kangaroo onesie at our wedding.

September 8th, 2007

Dear Y/N,

I will wear whatever kind of suit you want me too, birthday suit included ;)

You could still remember how hot your face felt that day. You had a huge crush on Yoongi and were planning to confess to him at the party but he never showed up. You were over the moon excited when he confessed first.

The next several letters were just little bits and pieces here and there. Yoongi took a vacation with his family. You got a part time job at an ice cream parlor. They were all important to you in their own ways but you were looking for one in particular and after some searching you found it.

July 11th, 2008

Dear Y/N,

I can’t believe we’re going to be going into our senior year of high school. Last night was amazing. I hope you’re not too sore. I’m sorry if I did or said anything dumb. I was so nervous but I’m thankful that my first time could be with someone that I love so much. You’ve gotten me through so much and I’m excited to see where the rest of our lives takes us.

July 11th, 2008

Dear Yoongi,

You were nothing but gentle and sweet and amazing. I’m glad I could share my first with you too. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I love you Yoongi.

That night was one that you would never forget as long as you lived. The love that you two felt for each other was overwhelming and you never thought it would ever change.

January 22nd, 2009

Dear Yoongi,

You are a meanie boo beanie. That is all.

January 23rd, 2009

Dear Y/N,

I am a meanie boo beanie but I’m your meanie boo beanie. I’m sorry I forgot that I was supposed to drive you and your sister to the concert. I really am and I promise I’ll make it up to you both. I love you.

You chuckled as you folded up those letters. Teenage you had no self control sometimes. You probably called him twenty five times and sent who knows how many texts. He stayed calm through it all and apologized to both you and your sister. He got you guys flowers and took you both out to dinner. It was probably super hard on his wallet as a teenager but he still did it without even a frown. You never realized how much that meant to you.

August 21st 2010

Dear Y/ N,

It sucks we ended up at different colleges. I really really miss you. Sometimes I regret our decision. I hope you’re doing well and everyone is treating you good. If anyone tried anything let me know and I’ll be there so fast. I love you Y/N.

September 5th, 2010

Dear Yoongi,

I know I miss you too. I hate that you’re six hours away from me. I’m already counting down the days until winter break when we can finally be in each others arms again. Be safe and make good choices. I love you Yoongi.

January 3rd, 2011

Dear Y/N,

I know you just left but I miss you so much already. Your friends seem really nice, but I’m super suspicious of that Namjoon. I’m keeping an eye on him (just kidding…not really though). Before you know it summer break will be here and we can be together again. I love you Y/N.

January 9th, 2011

Dear Yoongi,

Leaving was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was so warm and comfy in your arms. Summer break can’t come soon enough.

PS. You don’t have to keep an eye on Namjoon. He’s nice and all but you’re then only one I want to be with. I’m more worried about all of those women constantly following you around…I love you Yoongi.

Oh boy you sighed to yourself. If you’d both only known the weight of your words in those letters at the time. The next few letters were thankfully light hearted and sweet. Yoongi made the basketball team. You surprised him by driving all day to make it in time for his first home game. Algebra was once again kicking your ass and Yoongi had a particularly hard time in Organic Chemistry. He got a job at a record store and you worked part time at the campus book store. You spent the summer break together before returning to your respective colleges. All normal and nothing upsetting. Then things quickly went south.

November 8th, 2011

Dear Y/N

I miss you like usual. Sometimes I really think about switching school. I’d give up all that I have here to be with you. I love you Y/N.

January 13th, 2012

Dear Y/N,

Christmas was nice wasn’t it? My mom loves that sweater you got her. She wears it almost every day. My brothers coming to visit for a couple days. It’ll be nice to see him since he couldn’t make it home for Christmas. I hope everything’s good on your end. I love you Y/N.

March 7th, 2012

Dear Y/N

It’s starting to warm up just a little. I’m glad because I hate the cold. The only thing it’s good for is cuddling. I miss seeing your face and kissing you. I know we text and call each other like every day but I miss your letters too. I hope all is well. I heard from your mom that you and Namjoon are working on some huge research project together. I’d love to hear about that sometime. Like maybe when we get together over spring break? I love you Y/N.

March 18th, 2012

Dear Yoongi,

I’m sorry I haven’t been writing as much. Things have just been so crazy that I feel like I have no time to even breathe. I’m so sorry I can’t make it for spring break. You sounded so heartbroken over the phone and it kills me. At least summer break is right around the corner right?! This research project is gonna be the death of me. Tell your brother I said he’s a doofus!! I love you Yoongi.

July 21st, 2012

Dear Y/N,

I’m sorry I had to cancel our summer plans. Coach is just so worried about this upcoming season but I didn’t expect him to hold a mandatory summer camp. I know you said you weren’t crying but I could hear it in your voice m and it’s been killing me ever since. At least we had those few days together. You ready for the next semester? You’re gonna kill it!

August 26th, 2012

Dear Yoongi,

How are your classes so far? I heard you got a job at a record label. I’m sorry if you told me that over the phone. I must’ve missed it. How’s that going? I bet you’re impressing all of them.

November 1st, 2012

Dear Y/N,

It’s getting cold again. I hate it but at least the trees look pretty. I’m sorry I missed your birthday party. I got the invite so last minute and I couldn’t get time away from work. I’m going to make it up to you, I promise. They have me working with this singer, Mia. I’m producing one of her songs. It’s my first solo project. She’s so talented. I think she has the ability to really go places. Anyways, I sent you a gift. I hope it got to you in time.

November 15th, 2012

Dear Yoongi,

I got it. Thank you. It’s a beautiful necklace. It would’ve been nicer to have you there with me though. I’m really proud of you and I can’t wait to hear the song. We’re planning a trip to the mountains. Namjoon’s parents have a cabin up there. Let me know if you’d like to join us. It would be nice to see you.

You took a deep breath trying to forcefully stop tears from falling and ruining your makeup. Yoongi in fact did not join you guys at the cabin. He didn’t even mention it. That was also the worst birthday you had ever had. And you knew his excuse of getting the invite too late was complete bullshit because your best friend told you she sent it to him three months in advance and he agreed to come but then cancelled the night before the surprise party. You never told him that you knew that. You also never told him that you spent that night crying into Namjoons chest. It was that moment that you knew your relationship was changing but you had no idea just how much.

The letters stopped for quite a while after that, for both of you. Truth be told the calls and texts slowed down too. When you pulled the next letter out of the box you took a long deep breath. You had wanted to rip this letter to shreds but you knew that would make you quite the hypocrite given what was written in your own letter beneath it.

May 11th, 2013

Dear Y/N,

I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long. I’m really sorry that there is a disappointing reason for me to write this letter. I’m also sorry that I’m too much of a coward to tell you this myself……I’m so sorry Y/N. I fucked up so bad. There was this girl…Mia. I can’t remember if I’ve ever told you about her. But she’s signed to the record label and we’ve been working together a lot and FUCK…I’m sorry Y/N. We were both drunk and I just miss you so much and one thing lead to another. I know that’s the oldest, sleaziest excuse in the book but it’s true. I regret it so much. She doesn’t mean anything like that to me. I just needed to release some stress and frustration and it just happened. I wasn’t thinking straight. I’m sorry again Y/N. I know I’ve said that like a million times already. I know we can get past this but I also know that if I never hear from you again that it was all my fault and I deserve it and I understand. I love you Y/N.

May 21st, 2013

Dear Yoongi,

Reading that letter did hurt. It hurt for many reasons I guess. But…I have my own confession to make. I kind of cheated on you too. Or I guess I did cheat on you? I made out with Namjoon. I stopped it before it went past kissing and some grinding but I won’t lie and say I didn’t want it to go farther than that. Maybe this long distance thing just isn’t going to work any more. We’ve really grown apart over the last few years and I think our relationship has ran its course. I will always have love for you Yoongi. Take care of yourself and I wish you nothing but success and happiness.

Ripping up those letters crossed your mind even now. Those were moments in your relationship, in your life, that you never wanted to remember again. Ultimately though they were apart of you so you folded them up and set them aside.

Understandably the letters stopped completely after that. You definitely had a few letters stored away in a drawer at home that you wrote but could never bring yourself to send.

And then two years ago you saw a familiar name in your mail box.

October 8th, 2022

Dear Y/N,

Wow it’s been a while since I wrote that…or at least wrote it with the true intention to actually mail the letter. I ran into your mom at the grocery store the other day and she gave me your address. I didn’t ask for it. I promise I won’t be weird and randomly show up one day or something.

I wasn’t even going to write this but my therapist said it would be good for me. I hope things are going well for you. Your mom also mentioned that you were engaged. Congratulations! I hope he’s treating you well. She also said you’re like some big shot at a research organization. That’s really cool. I always knew you’d do something important like that. I hope to hear from you again but I will completely understand if I don’t. No pressure or anything. I miss you Y/N.

You wrote him back. Nothing crazy. Just some info about your job and he told you about the music he was working on. How he got married and unfortunately divorced later the same year which you already knew but you didn’t tell him that. He opened up to you about his mental health concerns and starting therapy and you told him about your struggles as well. The two of you exchanged numbers and talked more that way too. Even after all those years and everything that happened he still felt like home to you.

You stared at the last letter you had written him. You were a mess while writing it. You were questioning your choices, you were exhausted and maybe a little drunk. If you’d known it would be the last letter you ever wrote to him you might’ve been a little more cheerful in your words.

June 16th, 2023

Dear Yoongi

I’m supposed to get married tomorrow but I don’t know if I can…I can’t do it. It just doesn’t feel right and feel like I’m stringing him along and he doesn’t deserve that. I don’t know what to do. I wish you were going to be there, even if you were wearing a stupid blue kangaroo onesie. It would make me feel better...especially if I was in a pink matching one just like we planned. Remember that? You were supposed to be the one I married. My best friend. We promised. But you’re not here. You’re probably in LA right now for your album release party. I hope you’re having the best time. I’m so proud of you and everything that you have achieved. I love you Yoongi.

“Y/N are you ready? He’s waiting outside with the photographer to get your first looks.”, your maid of honor smiled from just outside the door.

“Okay yeah be right there!”, you said quickly shuffling all of the letters back into the little white box.

Standing just outside the double doors trying to calm your nerves you heard your future husband laughing at something the photographer said which helped to bring some sense of comfort to your shaking nerves.

You gave the official okay and the doors were opened allowing you to walk out into the open courtyard.

Your future husband looked up breaking out into a huge gummy smile at the sight of you in a pink kangaroo onesie.

You couldn’t contain your laughter at the sight of him in a matching blue kangaroo onesie, baby kangaroo included.

“Oh my god Yoongi.”, you managed to cough out in between fits of laughter.

“My mom threatened me that if I wore this for the wedding she’d disown me so this was the best I could do.”, he said in between his own fits of laughter, “I’m glad you had the same idea.”

The photographer couldn’t help but smile as she snapped some photos of you before you quickly changed into your actual dress and Yoongi into his tux so she could get some photos that your mothers wouldn’t complain about.

“Five minutes til show time.”, the wedding planner announced.

“I’ve got to go get in place but I wanted you to have this.”, Yoongi said handing you a folded piece of paper before walking away.

You scoffed irritated because you could already feel tears begin to threaten your makeup artists hard work as you read,

August 15, 2024

Dear Lovely Wife,

We have come so far haven’t we? I never would’ve thought that the random letter I was forced to write in the fifth grade would lead me here but I’m glad that it did. I know we’ve made mistakes and have done things we wish we could change but we have been able to move forward from that and I promise to never hurt you in any way ever again. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life as your husband. I love you more than I can really write into words.

PS. I’m definitely bringing the kangaroo onesie on the honeymoon. I have some ideas that may or may not also involve binoculars, rope, and a suspiciously fluffy pair of handcuffs…

#bts #yoongi x reader #yoongi fanfic #min yoongi #bts fanfic #bts x reader #yoongi x y/n #yoongi fic #yoongi angst #yoongi fluff #bts yoongi #suga

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taylorklosscomeout138 · 2 months ago

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Okay this so obviously meant she wants us to compare the time gap between when she did this with Sabrina to last night because she recreated ALL of it with Gracie?!?!

Comingoutlor has never felt so true...

(LET'S DO SOME INVESTIGATING) ⬇️⬇️⬇️

-Her in lesbian flag colors with Sab/Gracie in white doing this pose, both times.

-On guitar she paired a 1989 song with a song from the artist she collabed with both times

-On piano she began with a Midnights song both times.

-AND this is her second time singing Out of the Woods in the main lesbian dress

So doing as I do best... let's do a little MATH shall we!

Both events took place 21 days apart

This means she's pointing to 21 days after today in which today is one of the final Chiefs games I expect her to attend (stay with me here)

21 days after today is a date I instantly knew, it's DECEMBER 8TH.

Not only the final Eras Tour show but it is the FIRST ever Chiefs home game that Taylor will not be there for. She scheduled right over it on purpose

And to no coincidence it is the 14TH week (Fortnight). From the first ever home game she attended on Sept 24th 2023 to Dec 8th 2024, it is exactly 14 months and 14 days.

If you've read my theories you know I believe Dec 8th is the official ghosting date and that this football performance art ends when the curtain closes on her final eras show.

Tell me this is not all the more confirming that date?????

Furthermore I've been saying that we are skipping down the yellow brick road and we will arrive at the Emerald City 1 day later when she makes her tour stop post for Vancouver

To be at the Emerald City, means it's time to meet the Wizard behind the curtain pulling the strings of the facade... on her birthday? "Meet me at Midnight" Just a few days later.

There is far too much evidence for Dec 13th comingoutlor so that is a deep dive for another post but this 1 is striking to me

In what world would being reminded that it's just another year of being trapped be the #1 thing she's looking forward to???

This completely contradicts the rest of her discography especially Peter from the same album saying that with each passing year she just became more hopeless-

Perhaps she looks forward to her birthday bcuz it marks " the one thing I wanted" 👀

#kaylor #karlie kloss #gaylor #gaylor swift #taylor and karlie #friends of dorothea #lgbetty #taylorkloss

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necromancer-at-abattoir · 24 days ago

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My thoughts on Frazel and why the hell is Hazel 14 in HOO?

You know, I've found the fact that Rick Riordan chose to make his main black character, who is also a girl, the youngest demigod of the Seven an odd choice.

Of course, Rick done effed up with Hazel's representation, and this is my critique on her age and why she didn't need to be thirteen.

Hazel Levesque is actually fourteen years old in Son of Neptune. But many readers think that she's thirteen years old because she states that she was thirteen when she died and she never acknowledged that she was fourteen years old.

But if we fit the pieces together-Hazel was thirteen and a half when she died. She came to Camp Jupiter a month before Jason was taken, which meant that by the time Son of Neptune happened, 8 months had passed, making her fourteen years and two months old.

But as I said before, we never get explicit confirmation from Hazel or any other character that she is fourteen, leading most of the readers to think that she is thirteen years old. We must fit the pieces together ourselves.

If Rick himself didn't bother to outright say that Hazel was fourteen, then he must have written the Frazel dynamic to make a 13 year old BLACK girl date a 16 year old boy. Because why wouldn't Rick have Hazel state that she was 14 years old? Why would he just have her state that she was thirteen when she died, but not make her state that she had since turned fourteen? Nothing about her fourteenth birthday?

If he intended to make Hazel fourteen and have us know, then he would have stated that she was fourteen, but he never does, which means that he was actually writing Frazel to be a 13-16 year old dating. Wow. Just.........wow.

In fact, I personally believe that Rick was writing Hazel and Frank to be 13-16 BECAUSE HE LITERALLY HAS HAZEL SAY THAT FRANK IS 3 YEARS OLDER THAN HER. HE NEVER ARGUES AGAINST THIS EITHER.

HAZEL BEING 14 WAS 99.99 PERCENT ACCIDENTAL ON HIS PART.

If there is actually a sentence saying that Hazel is fourteen years old, please tell me and I'll change this post. But I need explicit confirmation.

(And do not get started on that Hazel is confused bs. Rick was confused-Hazel is a fictional character who has no autonomy. If Rick had truly intended her to be fourteen, he would have made her say it at some point in the series.)

All right, I'm going to tell you my thoughts about Frazel. I'm going to summarise my opinions and then elaborate beneath.

1) The Frazel age gap is controversial. Hazel is 13 and a half while Frank is newly 15. It's one and a half year (correct me if I'm wrong, please). While some accept this, to others, it's not a good age gap and the maturity levels are different

2)They feel forced and rushed. We know that they knew each other for 8-9 months, but we don't see this, so it's rushed and forced to us. They skip the pure platonic friendship and jump straight to the romance-the Frazel moments in SON were heavily streaked with romance, not just platonic feelings

3) BEHAVIOURALLY SPEAKING, however they're the best couple in the PJO universe. Better than Percabeth, Caleo, Jiper and Solangelo

4) Frazel could have been one of the top ships of PJO if Rick had made Hazel older and if he had given us more memories and reminiscences of their time at Camp Jupiter

I don't understand why Hazel had to die at thirteen years old. Why not make her die at fourteen or fifteen? It would change nothing except making Frazel acceptable regarding the age gap.

See, Frazel's age gap is controversial. I mean, if Hazel was thirteen and Frank sixteen, it would've been taboo entirely, but since she's fourteen and he's sixteen with a 1 year and few month age gap, some people like it and others don't.

And when scrolling through the Anti Frazel tag, I see that most of the posts have the age gap as their main argument, which further cements the fact that Frazel's age gap is really what makes most people dislike it in the first place.

Technically, if Hazel turned 14 in December and Frank was still 15 but turned 16 in June, this makes their age gap one and a half years, which is very weird to some people but acceptable to others.

Hazel and Frank met at 13 and a half and 15 years old respectively and started to gain feelings for each other, which is very, very odd to some people but ok for others.

But if Hazel had died at 14 and been brought back, then she would have turned 15 in December and would be biologically half a year younger than Frank, which would push it from controversial to acceptable by all.

And in case you're thinking about the Great Prophecy in the OG PJO series, Hazel died before it came out, and she could have died at 14 and it still wouldn't have come out. Hell, she could die at 16 and it wouldn't have come out. It came out after WWII ended which is in 1945, and Hazel would turn 16 in 1944 because she was born in 1928.

2) They're way too rushed.

Ok, we get one book with them, and that too, they've already jumped to the romance. They were friends, but now they both romantically like each other but don't know that the other person likes them.

There's no platonic friendship here, only crushes. And a ship needs to have platonic friendship and development to be a proper ship that's accepted by the fandom, otherwise many readers will think that it's boring.

As I said above, my only bones to pick with Frazel is that I think that the age gap is weird and that they were too rushed. In the end, that's all.

3) BEHAVIOURALLY SPEAKING they are the best couple in the PJOverse hands down. No other ship compares.

All right so Percabeth is toxic. Search it up. Annabeth's behaviour towards Percy is toxic. Search it up. I do not need to tell you, it's too long for this post.

Caleo? I don't need to tell you how Calypso yells at, belittles and hits Leo, thus chipping away at his already crumbling self-esteem.

Jiper? Piper literally claims Jason as hers in front of the entire Aphrodite cabin WHO WILL MOST CERTAINLY TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS without Jason's knowledge or consent. And she's jealous when he brings up another girl, even his sister. And while she may not be physically abusive, she's still manipulative, and that's very bad.

Solangelo? Will Solace victim-blames Nico and literally tells him that he knows what's best for his health even though Nico can and has taken care of himself. There's also jealousy written terribly that's supposed to be a cute moment that never gets resolved.

Frazel, though.........they're behaviourally amazing for each other. No physical, verbal or mental abuse. No dismissing the other's intelligence. They're sweet to each other and aren't possessive of each other.

(Well, in TON, Hazel ribs Frank and rolls her eyes and tells him not to show off his sweater wrap that makes him excited for no reason. Yikes. He ruined them too. Damn it.)

Of course, Frank gets suspicious when Hedge makes that comment about Hazel and Leo, but the way it was worded was bound to make Frank misunderstand. Also, Frank and Leo make it up and Frank does not use Leo on Hazel like Annabeth uses Rachel and the others on Percy.

Frank understands where they went wrong and accepts it. The others don't.

Of course, they're also a biracial couple where both of them are POC, so this is also a huge win. Best couple in PJOverse is also biracial POC couple. YEEEEEESSSSSSSS (Even if Rick fucked up while representing their ethnicities)

PS: I'm not anti Frazel

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putschki1969 · 26 days ago

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2024/12/21 Blog post by Wakana Wakana Classics 2024 !!〜大切な音楽の瞬間をこれからも一緒に〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ ❗Do NOT SHARE on other sites❗ ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Wakana Classics 2024 !!〜Let's Continue to Share Special Moments of Music Together〜

We finished "Wakana Classics 2024" successfully on December 18th!! It was so much fun...(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))♡ I feel like I'm getting closer to you all with each passing year. It seemed like everyone was absorbing the music with so much care. We ourselves on stage savoured every note, wishing that these special moments would last forever✨ I really didn't want the concert to end...😢 I wanted to spend more time with you all and just continue singing forever😭🎶 Thank you so much to everyone who shared this wonderful time with us! ! (=´∀｀)人(´∀｀=)

"Wakana Classics 2024" Setlist 1.Yureru Haru 2.Kara 3.Kibō 4.Rain 5.When she loved me 6.Inochi no Namae 7.Kaze no Tōri Michi 8.Monoke Hime 9.Snow Falling (Kalafina) 10.Underneath the Tree (Kelly Clarkson) 11.Shirushi 12.Kinmokusei 13.Flag 14.Asu no Yumemite Utau 15.Magic Moment Encore 1.Happy Hello Day Encore 2.Sono Saki e After Event.Yume no Yukue

Now of course I would like to post a bunch of photos😊 First of all, here are some pics from the end of the after-event for Botanical Land members! The sound of camera shutters cut through the silence📸 We looked smug at first😎 But then I couldn't stand the silence anymore and broke into a smile😂

Afterwards, during the send-off, many people expressed regret that I didn't sing "Get Wild"🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sorry everyone *laughs* If it had been up to me, I would have sung it but during last year's poll, it had the lowest ranking😂 So I chose "Yume no Yukue" which was second place😂 But next time, I'll definitely sing "Get Wild"!! *laughs* I had no idea everyone liked "Get Wild" so much. I wonder though why it was ranked last in the poll??? 🤣 The minds of my fellow Botanical Land members are obscure, I can't make sense of it😂😂

Now I would like to share some shots of the four of us together＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ First, us after rehearsal. We were getting ready for the show to start soon. Then there's us just before the show started. We were like "Yeeeessss!!" After the show. The look of people who have zero regrets *laughs* Then, our usual Sushizanmai pose＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／🍣🍣🍣🍣🍵 Aaaaaah~ This makes me crave sushi at Sushizanmai. I really want to eat it right now🍣🤤

This time, I chose a white dress👗✨ There are so many buttons on the back✨ (It's hard for the person who helps me put it on.) I tried jumping again🕊🕊Yeehawwwwwww! ... ＼(^o^)／ Landing👣

I want to continue holding this concert forever, and I once again realised that I want to spend many more moments of music together with everyone😊 It was the last concert of the year, but I feel like something new is starting from here, it's like I found something new.

I'm sure we'll be spending many more moments of music together in the future. I'm really looking forward to seeing you again😆

Well then, until next time〜☆( *'▽'*)/

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

#kalafina #wakana #wakana blog #botanical land #fan club exclusive content

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holdingup-fallingsky · 2 months ago

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As today is the 49th anniversary of the sinking of the Mighty Fitz, I wanna talk about the facts of what happened. I've been hyperfixated on this shipwreck for a full year now, so if you'd like to learn more about it, please keep reading.

I feel that a good way to present this is with the Gordon Lightfoot song as an outline, as it's what most people are familiar with. When it was written in November and December of 1975 after Lightfoot heard about the disaster, he felt that it was his moral obligation to get the facts of the event as correct as possible. However, an official investigation would not take place until May of 1976 - it was delayed due to weather conditions - months after the song was recorded. That is why his guitarist Terry Clements convinced Lightfoot to do what his favorite author (Mark Twain) would have done; tell a story.

Superior, they said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy. Lake Superior is the largest body of freshwater on the planet, able to fit the other four Great Lakes inside of her. She’s also the deepest, with the average depth being close to 500 ft and the deepest point being 1,332 ft deep. It is also the coldest Great Lake, the bottom clocking in at a frigid 32 degrees Fahrenheit, making it just a hair above freezing. Because of this, that means that it is too cold for bacteria to grow and makes it impossible for bodies to undergo decomposition. So, instead of float to the surface as they would in other bodies of water, the bodies of Lake Superior instead sink and remain frozen in time. As of the time that this is being written, there has only been one body found from the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. It was because of the discovery of this crewman that the wreck site has been designated as a graveyard and dives to the shipwreck have been severely restricted.

The ship was the Pride of the American Side… The Edmund Fitzgerald had many nicknames: “The Mighty Fitz”, “The Pride of the American Side”, “The Singing Ship”, just to name a few. “The Pride of the American Side” was given to her due to her size. When she was built in 1957, the specs of the ship were made so that it would challenge those of all other freighters. She would break shipping records throughout her entire career; six times, to be exact, often breaking her own records. She was given the name “The Singing Ship” because her third captain, Captain Peter Pulcer, would play music over her loudspeakers for boat watchers to enjoy, even going out on deck with a megaphone to give off facts about the ship - such as where it was headed and what it was hauling. Her fourth captain, Captain Ernest McSroely, took command in 1972. He would remain captain through the rest of her career.

As big freighters go, it was bigger than most… The specs of the Mighty Fitz were 729’ in length, with a depth of 39’ and a draft (how much of the ship is submerged in water) of 25’. She was given such a specific length so that she could just fit in the Soo Locks - the engineering marvel that connects the Huron and Superior lakes in Sault Ste Marie, MI (pronounced “soo saint Marie”) - which had a max length of 730’. She was the largest ship on the Lakes (earning her the title “Queen of the Lakes”, a title passed on to whichever ship is the largest sailing the Lakes) until the SS Murray Bay was launched, beating her out by a foot of length. However, despite her hulking size, she was one of the fastest freighters to sail the freshwater, her top speed clocking in at 14 knots (~ 16 mph). A very impressive speed when you take into account that she weighed 13,632 tons with an empty cargo hold.

With a crew and good captain well seasoned… It took 29 men to sail the Mighty Fitz. Michael Armagost, 37, third mate. Frederick Beetcher, 56, porter. Thomas Bentson, 32, oiler. Edward Bindon, 47, first assistant engineer. Thomas Borgeson, 41, maintenance man. Oliver Champeau, 41, third assistant engineer. Nolan Church, 55, porter. Ransom Cundy, 53, watchman. Thomas Edwards, 50, second assistant engineer. Russell Haskell, 40, second assistant engineer. George Holl, 60, chief engineer. Bruce Husdon, 22, deck hand. Allen Kalmon, 43, second cook. Gordon MacLellan, 30, wiper. Joseph Mazes, 50, special maintenance man. John McCarthy, 62, first mate. Ernest McSorely, 63, captain. Eugene O’Brain, 50, wheelsman. Karl Peckol, 20, watchman. John Poviach, 50, wheelsman. James Pratt, 44, second mate. Robert Rafferty, 62, steward. Paul Riippa, 22, deck hand. John Simmons, 63, wheelsman. William Spengler, 59, watchman. Mark Thomas, 21, deck hand. Ralph Walton, 58, oiler. David Weiss, 22, cadet. Blaine Wilhelm, 52, oiler. These are the names of all 29 men who went down with the Edmund Fitzgerald.

When they left fully loaded for Cleveland… The final voyage of the Mighty Fitz started on November 9th, 1975. They had a cargo load of just over 26,000 tons of iron taconite. This is where we run into our first discrepancy of the song. The Fitzgerald was actually headed for a steel mill on Zug Island near Detroit where it usually made berth. However, the word Detroit doesn’t fit well within the structure of that part of the song, especially with the Canadian pronunciation of “De-troy-at” which we hear Lightfoot use later in the song. So, Lightfoot can be forgiven here.

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound and a wave crashed over the railing. The weather conditions on Lake Superior went from bad to worse over the duration of the storm. A few hours before the Fitzgerald sank, the SS Arthur M Anderson reported at 1620 hours (4:20 pm) that winds had reached a speed of 58 knots (~67 mph) and waves reached a staggering height of 25’. The infamous Gale of November was upon them, and they were stuck in the middle of that merciless storm.

And every man knew, as the captain did, too, ‘twas the Witch of November come stealin’. November is infamously the most difficult month of the year to be sailing the Great Lakes. An estimated 70 plus ships have been claimed by the lakes during November alone. While November gets a bad rap, these deadly storms can occur during any of the fall months. The warmer air coming up from the south clashes violently with the colder fronts from the north, culminating into deadly gales. However, the worst of these storms happen most frequently during the 11th month. The deadliest storm on record to occur on Lake Superior was that of the Mataafa Storm. Occurring on November 27th, 1905, the storm was named after the SS Mataafa, a freighter that found itself caught in the storm and a massive loss of crew, despite only running aground 700’ from shore. These infamous gales are nicknamed the “Witch of November”.

At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in… Here, we run into our next, and largest, discrepancy of the song. Now, as I stated before, the song was written and recorded before an official investigation could even be launched. So, Lightfoot had to embellish a few details to finish the song. However, the U.S. Coast Guard would actually corroborate Lightfoot’s claim that the sinking of the Fitzgerald was due to water entering through the hatchways. This report would actually anger a few mariners, some even stating that it was flat out wrong. Now, in 2024, we know that it was simply not the case. In 2010, National Geographic conducted an investigation of their own on the Mighty Fitz. While they were unable to dive on the wreckage itself, they were able to use footage of the wreck taken in the 90s that was shot in High Definition. Not only did they use the footage, but the researchers interviewed Great Lakes ship captains, one of the inspectors that inspected the Fitzgerald herself, as well as a survivor of a similar shipwreck - Dennis Hale, lone survivor of the sinking of the SS Daniel J Morrell. After conducting experiments on a scale model as well as in a simulator, they concluded that the Mighty Fitz had sunk due to rogue waves - waves that can reach upwards of 60’ and were previously believed to be a myth - splitting her in half.

Gordon Lightfoot was asked if his song could be used in the ending credits of the documentary, Lightfoot agreeing after watching the film. It was after this investigation that Lightfoot began changing the lyrics while performing the song live. No longer did a faulty hatchway cause the Fitzgerald’s demise in Lightfoot’s eyes, so the lyric was changed to “at 7 p.m. it grew darker and then…” One of the deck hands that was onboard the Might Fitz on her last voyage was Bruce Hudson. For 36 years, his mother - Ruth Hudson - had proclaimed and insisted that her son had always done his job at securing the hatchways, and that he did it with pride. In an interview with Lightfoot that same year, he said: “It wasn’t a hatchway. I don’t know what I’m gonna change [the lyrics] to, but I’m gonna change it. I hope Ruth Hudson will be around long enough to hear it, because she’s 82 and she’s worried about that all her life”.

The captain wired in, he had water coming in… Throughout that fateful last voyage the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, she was not alone. Another freighter, the SS Arthur M Anderson was traveling a similar path as the Mighty Fitz with an end destination of Gary, Indiana. The Anderson was, at first, smaller in length than the Fitzgerald. However, after the Anderson was refitted, she would be longer than the Fitzgerald. Though, the Mighty Fitz would take the Anderson in speed as she was still the faster vessel. The two ships would stay in communication throughout the 9th and the 10th of November, their communications becoming more frequent as the storm became worse and worse. At approximately 1530 (3:30 p.m.), the Fitzgerald had radioed in to the Anderson, telling the captain (Captain Jesse “Bernie” Cooper) that his ship had taken on water and was beginning to list (the tilting of a ship to one side that is not caused by an external force). It was at this time that the Fitzgerald informed the Anderson that it would reduce speed so that it might catch up with the Anderson. An hour later, Captain McSorely of the Fitzgerald radioed Captain Cooper of the Anderson that they had lost function of their navigation equipment - namely both of their radars - and asked the crew of the Anderson to be her eyes. The ships were approximately 20 miles away from each other, well within radar range. Both captains made the decision to hug the north side of Superior, close to the Canadian shoreline so that they might have a better chance at weathering the storm before making it to the relative safety of Whitefish Bay.

And later that night when his lights went out of sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Captain Cooper had stated on record that the snow had been falling so intensely that when the Fitzgerald was within 10 miles of the Anderson, the only thing that they could make out of her was her lights. At 1910 (7:10 p.m.), the Anderson radioed the Fitzgerald about a ship that was about 9 miles ahead of the Fitzgerald, stating that they were going to clear one another and did not have to worry about colliding. Offhandedly, the first mate aboard the Anderson asked “by the way, how are you making out with your problems”. Captain McSorely answered “we are holding our own”. “He showed no signs of panic,” Captain Cooper would later admit. At 1920, the crew of the Anderson could not find the Fitzgerald on radar and attempted to radio the ship. No answer came. Fearing their radio had malfunctioned, the Anderson wired another ship close by to test their comm systems. They worked just fine. At this point, the snow had stopped heavily falling and visibility opened up. The lights of the Mighty Fitz were nowhere in sight, despite being within visual distance of the Anderson. Captain Cooper gave the order to his crew to watch for a silhouette of the freighter, thinking the ship had lost power.

Does anyone know where the love of god goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay if they put 15 more miles behind her. According to the official U.S. Coast Guard report, the Fitzgerald was about 17 miles away from Whitefish Bay, the site of the wreck being at 46°59.9’N, 85°06.6’W. If she had maintained her top speed, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald would have made it to the salvation of Whitefish Bay in just an hour. The Fitgerald would never even send out a mayday or any indication that she was sinking. Within the blink of the Anderson’s watchful eye, the Fitzgerald disappeared. “I firmly believe that [Captain McSorely] thought that ship was gonna get him through,” Captain Cooper spoke when asked about that fateful night years later. The Anderson was the freighter to report to the Coast Guard that the Fitzgerald had gone missing after she reached Whitefish Bay at 2025 (8:25 p.m.). When Captain Cooper radioed about his fears concerning the Fitzgerald, the Coast Guard asked the Anderson if she would be willing to help with the search for the Mighty Fitz. Despite the danger of the still raging gale that claimed the Mighty Fitz, Captain Cooper agreed to aid in the search along with the SS William Clay Ford offering their help. No survivors were found, only pieces of debris from the freighter.

And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters. On July 17th, 1999, all of the families of the victims claimed by the Fitzgerald’s sinking gathered on the water on the exact spot of the wreckage. This ceremony was the official consecration of the site to be a protected graveyard. No longer would anyone be allowed to dive on the site; a direct response to a voyage to the wreck in the mid-90s capturing footage of one of the bodies of a crewman. Two wreaths were tossed over the site, one donated by Gordon Lightfoot, with the names of all the 29 lost that November night.

The church bell chimed ‘till it rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald. A funeral service for the men aboard the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was held at the Mariner’s Church in Detroit. Its bell rang a somber 29 times, each toll an honoring to a sailor’s soul claimed by Lake Superior that November 10th. Every year on the anniversary of the Fitzgerald’s sinking, the Mariner’s Church tolls its bell in remembrance of the men lost in the freshwater sea. On the 48th anniversary in 2023, the bell was rang an additional time, tolling 30 times. On May 1st, 2023, Gordon Lightfoot passed away due to natural causes. That additional toll was in honor of his life and all that he did to keep the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald alive, his song immortalizing the ship’s tragic end.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. To this day, part of this fateful legend still survives. The SS Arthur M Anderson still serves on the very lake that claimed her sister 49 years ago. Her continued service is proof that, had the SS Edmund Fitzgerald not met her untimely demise so early in her life at the hands of the very frigid mistress that floated her cargo, she would still be its faithful servant. Every November 10th, the Anderson calls out to her sister; her horn wailing to both salute and mourn the beloved sister she honors with every trip she takes across Lake Superior. The Fitzgerald is a reminder to all of us. We do not know how long we have in this world and it could all be taken from us in an instant. Choose to live a life that you are proud of rather than one that is controlled and ruled by fear.

#the edmund fitzgerald #the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald #gordon lightfoot #i can't help but feel I've been training for this my whole life #i guess that history degree was useful for something

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9vvo · 4 days ago

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Hey all, first post I'm going to do here.

I'm going to talk about the USS Indianola (pictured above), mainly because the story surrounding this could honestly be an idea for a potential sam o'nella video.

The USS Indianola was a casemate ironclad which served under the Union during the civil war. The ship was built by Joseph Brown of Cincinnati, OH for the US Government for $128,000 dollars at the time or about $4,000,000 adjusted for inflation.

By September 1, 1862 construction was nearly complete, however this would be halted when Union Forces under General Lew Wallace seized the unfinished ship the day after and would be launched on the fourth that month in order to defend Cincinnati from Confederate Forces. When the Threat ended on the 12th that month, the ship was returned for completion and would be officially commissioned later that month.

The thing would finally be completed on December of 1862, but the Ohio River's water levels were too low to cross the Falls of the Ohio. Eventually on January of 1863, she would join the Mississippi Squadron at Cairo, IL.

During the Vicksburg Campaign, Union Navy Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter would order the USS Queen of the West (pictured below) down the Mississippi in order to intercept Confederate Shipping between Vicksburg, MS and Port Hudson, LA and would operate there until the 5th of February, 1863. Remember the Queen of the West as she becomes relevant later on.

The Queen of the West would later make a second trip and entered the Red River on February 14. Indianola would now be under the command of Union Navy Lieutenant Commander George Brown. Indianola would leave her moorings at the Yazoo the night before with two barges loaded with coal strapped onto her sides and steamed south under fire from the Vicksburg defenses. She would link up with Queen of the West in her operations down the river. After passing Confederate positions, she would anchor for the night and resumed sailing toward the south.

Indianola had been specifically chosen for this operation because her engines would allow her to reach a speed of 2 Knots (or 2.3mph/3.7kph) upstream against the current making it a lot faster than other ships under Porter's Command making her a better fit for escaping upriver if there were an emergency.

Queen of the West would disabled in a fight against Confederate Shore Defenses along the Red River and had to be abandoned. Her crew would make it to the Indianola on a captured packet steamer while being chased down by the Confederate Steamer CSS William H. Web.

Indianola would move against William H. Webb and would eventually spot her that afternoon. Indianola fired it's guns but William H. Webb was out of range and managed to escape into the fog. She would eventually hold a blockade of the junction of the Red and Mississippi, but withdrew on the 21st after learning William H. Webb, the captured and Repaired Queen of the West, and two steamers filled with Confederate soldiers were moving to attack her.

Indianola would be slowed by the two coal barges she was bringing and would be caught on the night of the 24th by Wiliam H. Webb and Queen of the West. Brown would face the Indianola toward the Confederate Ships and prepared for the inevitable fight by positioning the ship so that one of the coal barges were inbetween Indianola and the Confederate Ships.

She would fire her guns at the Confederate Ships, missing her shots. Queen of the West would ram Indianola on her left side and nearly smashed one of the barges in half. The William H. Webb would ram the Indianola Head-On immediately after with the William H. Webb also being damaged in the Collision.

Queen of the West would move upstream to build momentum and rammed the Starboard Side of Indianola, destroying one of the rudders and the Wheelhouse. The William H. Webb would perform a similar manuever, damaging the Indianola's Stern. Brown ordered the ship to fire, some say that the Indianola only scored a single hit on the Queen of the West which caused casualties but did basically no structural damage. Others say the Indianola scored two hits on the Queen of the West which one disabled cannons and also hit William H. Webb once.

At this point, the Indianola was barely functional and was sinking rapidly and Brown had the ship run aground to the Western Bank of the River and lowered the ship's flag. The Confederates were able to pull the ship over to the Eastern Bank which they held. Indianola would sink in 3 meters of water. During the fight, Indianola would be rammed seven times. All but one sailor onboard would survive the battle, but only three escaped the ship's capture to bring word to Porter. Brown and most of the Crew had been taken Prisoner.

The Confederates would dispatch a salvage crew to raise Indianola. The Union High-Ups knew if the Ship was repaired and added to the Confederate Navy like Queen of the West was, it would be disastrous for the Union Fleet on the Misssissippi and considerably harm the war effort.

Now, this is where it gets funny:

Porter did NOT have any ships available to send on the mission to destroy the Indianola before it fell into Confederate Hands, so he ordered the construction of an "Ironclad" in order to scare the Salvage Crew into abandoning the Wreck. This "Ironclad" would be made by lengthening an old Coal Barge with logs and adding a Casemate, Fake Cannons made out of Logs, and two smokestacks made out of Pork Barrels. The "Ironclad" would be given the name "Black Terror" and would be sent downstream on the 26th.

The Black Terror would pass the Vicksburg Defenses without any major damage and scared the Queen of the West into leaving the area of the wreck. The Salvage Crew (who were allegedly drunk at the time) threw the Indianola's 9-Inch Guns into the Missisippi and pointed the 11-Inch Guns at eachother muzzle-to-muzzle and fired them at eachother before burning what remained down to the Waterline.

On the 27th, the Confederates would realize the Black Terror wasn't an actual Ironclad Warship. Vicksburg would fall to Union Forces on July 4th and the Remains of Indianola's wreck were raised on January 5th of 1865 which were sold in Illinois on January 17th.

#history #19th century #civil war #naval history #naval warfare

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poppitron360 · 29 days ago

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Have you read part 1 of this fic? Good. Because meanwhile, somewhere in the Sea of Monsters...

"Hey, what's the date?" Leo asked, turning to Calypso.

"How the Hades should I know?" Calypso replied.

Leo looked down at the stormy oceans passing below them. He rapped twice on Festus' forehead, "How's your internal chronometer working, buddy? Still haywire?"

Festus gave a frustrated creak.

“Damn,” Leo said. He got out a notepad and pen from his tool-belt. “The last time we were in range of land, Festus said it was November 15th,” Leo muttered, scribbling down on his pad, “By my rough estimation, the current ratio of real time to time passing in the sea of monsters is about… pi to one. It’s been 14 sunsets since then, which would put today as…” he punched the numbers into his calculator, “41 days after that… gods, that long?…”

He jotted the numbers down on his notepad, muttering to himself, “Thirty days in September, April, June and November… 41 minus 15… oh. That means it's..." Leo looked up from his calculations, and his heart sank, "It's December 26th."

He turned to Calypso, "Cal, it's-"

"I heard you the first time," Calypso said, "Is that supposed to mean anything to me?"

"Calypso… Christmas day was yesterday! We’ve missed it!"

"What's Christmas?"

The explanation took a while. First, there was the Nativity. That was easy enough- Leo had had it drilled into him since he was a kid. Calypso seemed to understand most of the story. Then, there was the more complicated question of describing the intricacies of modern Christmas traditions- the shopping, the giftwrapping, and mince pies and Santa- and the debate over whether Die Hard is, in fact, a Christmas movie (it is).

"What's a movie?" Calypso asked.

“We’ll get to that later,” Leo replied.

"I don't get it," Calypso said, "Demigods are born all the time. Why celebrate this specific birth? What makes this Jesus guy so special?"

"Well, he was the son of God. He had a lot of friends and followers. He kinda sacrificed himself to save a lot of lives and then rose from the... Oh- wait. Hang on a second-"

"What?"

"...Nothing. So… did you maybe wanna do something to celebrate?”

“Nah,” Calypso said, without hesitation.

“Oh…” Leo tried not to show the hurt in his voice, “But it’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

Calypso crossed her arms with an annoyed hmph, "Look, We've got no time for these inconsequential mortal festivities, we can't just stop because some hero was born two thousand years ago and you wanna get all sentimental about it. I mean, do you really expect me to care about every single one of your silly western traditions?"

"Well... Yeah," Leo said, "I mean, I get it if you don't want to celebrate it. Not everyone does. But it's a big time of year for a lot of people. It’s important to me, and it would mean a lot to me if you at least showed an interest. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to have an open mind."

"Well I think it's stupid!"

Leo didn't respond. He stayed silent for a very long time. Eventually he said, in a small voice, "I miss Jason and Piper."

"Boo-hoo," Calypso sneered, “Just fly the damn dragon. My old lovers wouldn’t waste their time on weeping over forgotten birthdays of old demigods. They’d man up and tough it out.”

Leo frowned. From what he’d read of the Odyssey (and he hadn’t read much) Odysseus did spend a fair amount of his time weeping.

He flew in silence, lost in thought.

Christmas was a time for sharing with family. Or that was what Leo was told. Since his mom died, he'd never had a family. Not a real one. Not until Jason and Piper, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, and Nico came along. They'd been his crew. His family.

He'd always dreamed about spending Christmas with his first girlfriend- someone he loved and who loved him back. Now, looking at Calypso, looking at the life they led, he realised it was a stupid dream. She'd never be willing to take part in the things he wanted to do. He had spent his first Christmas in a relationship flying somewhere over the Bermuda triangle, trying to avoid monsters, not aware it was even December. If this was the "normal life" he'd promised her, he was doing a swell job.

Festus seemed to sense his thoughts. He let out a low, long creak of sympathy. Leo patted the dragon’s bronze neck.

“At least I got you, bud,” he sighed, “At least I got you.”

— — — — — — — — —

Look, I realise I’m harsh on Calypso.

I don’t really want arguments in the comments about the way I write her. She actually has every right to not care about Christmas. I was just thinking about Leo spending the the holidays before TOA being separated from his friends and away from home, and his only travel companion being an ancient deity who might not fully understand how special it is to a lot of people.

Love you all, stay safe. I know this time of year can be hard if you don’t have anywhere to go, but I’m thinking of you guys. I like to spend this time of year with family, and in a way the PJO tumblr fandom has become like a second family to me. So feast on these angsty little fics, we shall dine on blood and tears. These works are my gift to you because I love and appreciate you all.

I’m still on hiatus, so this might be the last you hear from me for a while. There’s no fixed date on when I might return, but it’s probably gonna be at some point in early February.

Lots of love and happy holidays!

—Poppi <3

@euryvices-deactivated20241019 @deciduowl @lavenderfairiez @ottpopfic @ginnyluna @groverapologist @echo-stimmingrose @demigod-shenanigans @keefessketchbook @sleepyycapybara @123letsgobestie @kaleidoskuls @fairytalesociology @four-leafed-queer-gal @child-of-helios @green-tea217 @puzzled-pegasus @twomanyfandomshelp @lokiwiiiiiii @yoshuko-ew @frayna-of-the-hollow @via-rant @daonedaonlyskh @hadeslegacyhephgirl @siimplyapril @pjowasmy1stfandom @thetourturedwritersclub @m-for-now + everyone else!!

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grayskies2525 · 1 month ago

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An Admirable Denial |M/M| Part 14/14

Link to all parts: An Admirable Denial (14 parts)

Epilogue

Eleven Months Later

“Felix, you can literally get her anything and she’d be delighted.”

It’s a week before Christmas and Connor finds himself at the mall. It’s predictably loud, busy, and utterly overwhelming. Felix, though, doesn’t let this affect him in the slightest. Connor has lost count of how many times Felix has stopped dead in his tracks to look at something in one of the store windows. Connor would sigh in fond exasperation, roll his eyes, then smile apologetically at the people Felix had inadvertently inconvenienced before gently wrapping an arm around Felix’s waist to guide him forward. If Connor had any say in the matter, they would be purchasing every single present online this year. This was Connor’s approach to buying presents, though he didn’t have that many to buy. This is especially the case this year, considering he wouldn’t be buying anything for his mother after making the hard, but necessary, decision to cut her out of his life. He didn’t make the decision lightly and had several sessions with his therapist before finally committing.

“I know I can get her anything, but I want something that just … I don’t know… just really screams ‘Annie’ you know?” Felix says, as once again, he stops to look inside of a window.

Connor places a hand on Felix's back, encouraging him forward. “Okay, literally anything screams Annie. Last week when she was over to watch that movie with us, she went on and on about how she liked our ‘fancy’ drinking glasses. Even though we literally got them at the Dollar Tree. I really wouldn’t think too hard about this,” Connor says, as they dodge several children who are chasing after each other, yelling and laughing.

An hour passes by, and to Connor’s dismay, they are still in the mall and have not made actual substantial progress. There’s nothing at all enjoyable about this day — with the obvious exception of spending time with Felix. Christmas music is, of course, blaring in every single store they step into. There’s also Christmas trees everywhere. He can’t fathom why a store would need three Christmas trees displayed at the front, visible as soon as one walks in. Connor knows his disdain for Christmas likely is connected to issues surrounding his childhood, his parents, and deep-seated envy at other people experiencing the “joy” of Christmas when he and his brother never did more than exchange a gift or two even when he and Brian were children. Even this small gift exchange was more of a perfunctory sense of obligation on his parents’ part, and not any meaningful desire to make their children happy. This lack of celebration was due to his parents not caring enough, and not out of any kind of religious objection. His parents couldn’t be bothered to put forth any effort — it was that simple.

Felix, however, is practically bouncing as he makes his way through the heavily decorated mall, while happily humming along to the music. In the year they’d dated before Connor left, Connor had only somewhat experienced Christmas with Felix. Connor and Felix had first begun dating in early December, so their relationship had still been extremely new by the time Christmas came around. They’d bought each other very small, cheap gifts, but otherwise, didn’t celebrate it together, which Connor had been more than fine with. This is the first year Connor is actually seeing Felix in his full Christmas spirit. Their house — which had once just been Felix’s, but they now share together — is overflowing with enough Christmas cheer to nauseate Connor. When Connor feels especially cynical toward Christmas as he looks at their tree, or at their entirely unnecessary “let it snow” throw pillows covering the couch, he’ll simply sigh as he remembers the pure joy these things bring Felix.

Connor isn’t only opposed to the decorations and music, but also at the crowds this time of year naturally brings out. It’s not just the people Connor objects to — it’s their germs.

Connor watches as a woman sneezes, uncovered, as she sorts through a clothes rack. Not a second later, a man coughs forcefully — also uncovered — as he walks through the aisle Felix and Connor are in. Connor feels his mouth form a tight line as he, instinctively, holds his breath. Felix, however, has no such inclination and is clearly about to walk straight through the path the man coughed in. Connor, once again, puts his hand on Felix’s back, softly pushing him, in a silent attempt to redirect Felix away — this time to save him from the effects of walking through the invisible cough cloud.

Felix looks up at Connor, a frown on his face. “What was that for?” he asks.

Connor sighs. “Someone just coughed all over the place and you were about to walk through it,” he whispers.

“Oh,” Felix says, shrugging, then proceeds to walk straight through the path the man had been coughing in.

Connor widens his eyes. “It’s like you’re determined to get sick, Felix. I mean, you have no sense of self-preservation. You keep touching everything, and then you’ll chew on your nails or rub your eyes.” Connor pauses as he continues to think. “And that’s not even to mention your complete inability to keep yourself warm, for god’s sake. I mean, Felix, I know you have a coat. I bought you one,” Connor says, unable to keep his frustration from tinging his words. “How can someone who spends 80 percent of his life wrapped up in a blanket burrito on the couch be so averse to wearing a coat?”

Instead of acknowledging Connor’s very well-articulated and reasonable concerns, Felix merely snorts before saying “You’re such a germaphobe, but it’s okay, I love you, anyway,” as he continues sorting through a clothing rack.

“A germaphobe?” Connor says, hoping his voice conveys the amount of indignance he feels. “Excuse me for wanting to make sure you don’t spend your favorite holiday laid up in bed, feeling miserable.”

Felix meets his gaze. “It’s so cute how much you care, babe, but it’s fine. I haven’t been sick in, like, a year.”

Connor stares at him. “And do you remember how bad it was when you were sick last year? I seem to recall you lying on my floor talking delirious nonsense.”

Felix scrunches his nose up at the memory. “Well, yeah, but that was… I don’t know, that was an anomaly. I mean, that flu even took you down, so I don’t think we should really count that.”

Connor can concede that was a particularly bad flu — it’d turned into an aggressive sinus infection for Connor that he had, with Felix’s firm insistence, needed to see a doctor to have treated. It provoked them both to get their flu shots this year. Still, though, Connor huffs out a breath in frustration. “I’m just saying, you should take more measures to stay healthy. I mean, I swear, like 80 percent of the people in this building have some kind of sickness.” Even as he says it, he hears a particularly harsh and wet-sounding sneeze off in the distance. “Honestly, we shouldn’t even be out when we can —”

“When we can ‘just stay home and order presents online,’” Felix interrupts, imitating Connor’s voice, playfully, causing Connor to narrow his eyes. Felix just laughs. “If it were up to you, we’d never leave the house.”

“I mean — well… yeah. I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” Connor says, only somewhat sheepishly.

Felix must deem this amusing because he laughs again. “It’s good to get out sometimes, Connor. That’s, like, how you build immunity or whatever. Gotta expose yourself to germs to fend them off. Anyway, I’ve never been sick on Christmas before, so I’m sure this year will be no different.”

Connor stares at Felix. “I don’t think that’s how viruses work, Felix.”

Felix, though, just rolls his eyes and continues shopping.

__________

Four days later, Connor is performing his daily ritual of bringing coffee to Felix when he hears Felix stifle a particularly harsh sneeze.

“HEEH’NKXXXT!”

“Bless you, sweetie,” Connor says as he holds out the coffee to Felix. Felix, though, shakes his head as he holds up a finger. Connor realizes what’s happening as he watches Felix’s chest heave and nostrils flare.

“HEEHHH’NGxxT!”

Connor chuckles. “Bless you, again. Got any more left?” Felix doesn’t need words to answer because his breath starts hitching again.

“HEEHH’NGT! HEEHH-Ng’T!”

Connor lets out another laugh, more than used to Felix’s “morning sneezes” at this point. He, again, holds out the coffee for Felix, but Felix is ducking his head into his arm for another sneeze.

“HEHH-NGT’choo!”

“Bless you,” Connor says with a raised brow. “Five sneezes this morning, huh? You always say you never sneeze more than four times in the morning.”

“HEP’NKT!”

“Uh, Felix… sweetie, are you feeling all right?” Connor asks, frowning.

Felix sniffles thickly before meeting Connor’s gaze. “Yeah, just, you know… morning sneezes. I think where the air’s gotten colder, my sinuses are more aggravated than usual.”

“Okay…” Connor says hesitantly, handing over the coffee, still frowning.

__________

Since Felix’s school is on winter break, Felix spends the day at home while Connor works in his home office, a room that Felix still refers to as “Reggie’s Room” — even though Edna’s tarantula enclosure is also there.

Connor doesn’t see much of Felix during the day, since he prefers to maintain his focus on work matters and Feilx tends to be distracting. In the evening, however, it’s impossible not to notice how Felix’s voice cracks and dips during their conversations. Connor also notices a faint pink tinge at the edges of Felix’s nostrils, as though he’s been wiping it too frequently.

They’re eating dinner at the kitchen table together when Felix suddenly snaps forward. “HEP’NKT’choo!”

Connor expects Felix had assumed he’d be able to fully stifle the sneeze because he made no attempt to cover. “Bless you,” Connor says, his brows furrowed. “I think you might be —”

He doesn’t finish his thought before Felix interrupts. “Don’t say it,” Felix says, voice stern, though also unmistakably stuffy.

Connor gives a knowing smile. “Say what, Felix? What could I have possibly been getting ready to say?” Connor asks, feigning innocence.

Felix glares. “I’m not getting sick. So, you can just…just… shut up,” Felix says, feebly, as he rubs at his nose with a paper towel.

Connor lets out a light laugh. “I never said you were getting sick.”

“Good. Because I’m not. I never get sick on Christmas. So it’s not happening now. There’s no way my immune system would let that happen to me. It’s just cold in here and it’s messing with my sinuses and my throat,” Felix explains, punctuating the remark with a sniffle.

“Your throat hurts?” Connor asks, frowning.

Felix’s eyes widen as he, presumably, realizes his accidental admittance. “Barely. It’s more just scratchy than anything. But… I’m … I’m fine,” Felix says, but he’s already diving back into the crook of his arm. “HEP’NKT’CHUH!”

Connor lets out a long sigh. “Bless you,” he says, his mouth forming a tight line. “I knew you’d get sick when we went to that germ-infested mall. And you never —”

“Connor,” Felix says, interrupting. “If you are about to rant again about me not wearing a coat, I’m going to lose it.”

Connor opens his mouth, then immediately closes it.

Felix’s expression softens. “You can’t get sick from not wearing a coat, anyway. Babe, you know this.”

Connor sighs in exasperation. “Logically, yes, but … seeing you shiver and your teeth chatter… there’s no way it’s good for you. And you add that with you being adamant about going to the most germy place on earth during cold and flu season…. I told you you’d get sick, is all I’m saying.”

Felix rolls his eyes. “Again — not sick. So, stop saying it.”

Connor lets out another sigh of immense exasperation before resigning himself to eating his dinner through a chorus of sniffles from Felix. __________

The next day, Felix is absolutely impossible to deal with. It’s the day before Christmas Eve, and it’s obvious Felix is coming down with quite the cold, though Felix won’t admit it. It’s an absurd situation; Connor knows Felix is sick, and Felix knows he’s sick, and Felix knows Connor knows he’s sick. Whenever Connor comes even close to mentioning it, though, Felix quickly dismisses the thought.

Felix is lying down on the couch, wrapped in a throw blanket, watching the original animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. “Half-watching” may be a more accurate way to describe what Felix is doing because whenever Connor looks, Felix’s eyes are only half-open.

At one point, as Connor’s doing some tidying up around the house, he walks in and sees Felix’s eyes completely closed. Connor stares at Felix’s sleeping form for a moment, before smiling softly and picking up the TV remote from the coffee table to turn down the TV’s volume.

“What are you doing?” Felix asks. His voice, though slightly congested sounding, still manages to carry a tone of obvious annoyance.

Connor freezes, then winces, turning the volume back to its original setting before placing it back on the table. “I just thought maybe you’d sleep a little better without the TV blaring.”

Felix continues to glare at Connor. “I would if I were sleeping. But I’m not. I was watching it.”

Connor blinks, then just sighs. This is the first time, since they’ve been back together, that he’s seen Felix sick. There was the flu last year, but that was an unusual circumstance. Connor suspects this is the first time he’s finally seeing the way a typical “sick Felix” behaves. Connor knows some people become more subdued and sweeter when they’re feeling unwell. This is, unfortunately, not the case with Felix. Connor’s usually sweet, cheerful, and kind-to-a-fault boyfriend has become replaced by a grumpy, stubborn, impossible to please grouch of a person.

“I’m very sorry. I’d somehow forgotten that it was possible for a person to both have their eyes closed and still be able to watch a movie,” Connor says, rolling his eyes.

Felix continues glaring, but it’s impossible to feel intimidated by Felix in his current state. Felix looks as though the glare, alone, was enough to zap all hush remaining energy. Connor would almost describe Felix as cute, if it weren’t for the complete pain in the ass he’s been all day. Connor watches as Felix burrows deeper into the throw blanket, wrapping it more tightly around himself. Connor notices Felix’s feet sticking out due to the blanket not being long enough.

“Honey,” Connor begins, hesitantly. “Would you like me to get you another blanket? Maybe one that will actually cover you?”

“I’m fine,” Felix predictably responds. “I don’t need you to — Ah ahhh AH’MmpKT!”

The stifled sneeze sounds painful, and Connor can’t hold back his wince. “Are you sure you don’t need anything? Hot chocolate, tea, tissues…painkillers?” Connor asks, though he knows he’s only setting himself up for another irrationally grumpy response. “I don’t need anything. I just want to watch this movie without having to keep rewinding it to the parts I missed because you were talking,” Felix says, an uncharacteristic edge to his voice.

“Okay,” Connor says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’ll just… uh, leave you alone then,” Connor says before leaving Felix to “watch” the movie.

__________

The next day is Christmas Eve — the day Felix’s family celebrates Christmas together. Connor woke up with a tickle in his throat that didn’t clear even after several drinks of water. He reluctantly admitted to himself that he’s probably coming down with what Felix has, then made the decision to push the thought to the back of his mind and completely ignore it.

Felix has spent the entire day on the couch, much as he did the day prior. Today, though, he’s clearly worse. Unable to maintain the facade of being well, Felix has obviously relented to the necessity of needing tissues because, currently, there is a small wastebasket Felix must have placed next to the couch that is overflowing with them. He now seems to be under multiple blankets, nearly every inch of him being thoroughly covered. Not wanting to subject himself to any more of Felix’s illness-induced wrath, Connor’s been mostly avoiding him — leaving him to continue his marathon of overly played Christmas movies. Every offer Connor made to bring Felix something to eat was met with a glare and a muttered “I’m not hungry.”

So, now, Connor stands looking at Felix, who’s back to half-watching a movie — this time, it’s Elf. Upon Connor’s entrance into the room, Felix, red-nosed and bleary eyed, looked up, expression etched with annoyance. “Um,” Connor starts, feeling oddly nervous. “I just wanted to see if you were, uh…” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck. “If you still wanted to go to your parents? I mean, we’ll have to leave in a couple hours if that’s the case. If you can’t — or, uh, don’t want to go for some reason, I’m sure your parents will understand.”

“I’b goid’g. I’b dot lettid’g a s’ball cold stop be frob edjoyi’ig Christbas,” Felix says, so congested sounding that Connor feels his eyes widen in surprise. Felix frowns, and seeming to realize the dire state of his nasal passages, he brings up some tissues and fiercely blows into them, quickly flooding them. “Ugh,” he groans, as he lets the tissues fall to the ground.

“Felix….” Connor says, trailing off, not wanting to offend or upset Felix more than he already has.

Felix narrows his eyes, but suddenly his expression softens, then he sighs. “Ugh, Connor, you were right,” Felix says, sounding as though the statement was the hardest thing he’s ever had to admit. “I shouldn’t have kept touchid’g stuff at the mball and getting close to all those sdeezi’g a’d coughi’g people. I just… I dever get sigk at Christbas tibe,” he says, his voice still sounding incredibly congested, but also very small.

Connor sighs and sits on the edge of the coffee table. “People get sick all the time at Christmas, honey. It’s fine. I was just hoping we could avoid it since I know how much you love Christmas,” he says, making sure to keep his voice soft.

Felix’s eyes brighten at the mere mention of Christmas. “I do love Christbas! It’s by favorite tibe of the year,” he says with a thick sniffle — or more accurately, a snort. “Ad I was excited to fidally spe’d it with you, but buut hhhiihh! Hih! HIH-NKGGTxxxCHUH!” The sneeze is followed by a volley of harsh, wet coughs and a thick nose blow.

“Oh, Felix. I think… I think maybe we should give your parents a call. I know they’re excited to see you but…” Connor says, trailing off, gesturing to Felix’s pitiful state.

Felix snorts again in such a way that has Connor wondering about how much mucus his poor head is capable of storing. “No,” Felix says firmly, voice sounding slightly more clear. “We’re going. They made all this food basically just for me. I mean, Ben’s going to be there, too obviously, but It’s mostly just for me,” he says with another deep sniff. “And I don’t know if Ben would even want to go if I didn’t go. I mean, Ben’s known my parents almost his entire life, but… It’s still kind of weird, you know?”

Connor understands and figures arguing is useless, so he goes to get ready, while Felix takes another nap on the couch. __________

Felix had, ultimately, agreed, out of courtesy, to text his parents first, to let them know he was “a little under the weather.” Connor wasn’t surprised when they’d responded by telling him to come anyway, though Connor wishes they hadn’t. Felix is in clear need of rest, and Connor’s own state of health — while nowhere near Felix’s level — is getting worse little by little. His throat is sore in that foreboding kind of way that suggests the next couple of days are going to be spent feeling miserable.

They’re sitting in the living room, Christmas music playing softly in the background. Connor, Felix, and Ben are sitting on the couch, with Felix in the middle.

“HMph’shooo! HMm’shooo! HEH-NGXt’choooo!” Felix snaps forward into his tissues.

If Connor had to make a guess, he’d say Felix was coming close to approaching 200 sneezes, today, alone. He’s positive that he’s never seen someone sneeze so much — especially Felix. It’s as though the cold has taken complete residence in his nose. Every time he opens his mouth to speak, he sneezes. During dinner, when he’d lift his fork to take a bite of food, he’d sneeze. When he sniffles, he sneezes. When someone brings attention to how much he’s sneezing — which happens often considering it’s impossible to ignore due to the sheer frequency — he sneezes. After a fit of five or six sneezes in a row, that Felix barely managed to catch in a tissue, Ben commented on how Felix would be gifting them all with a cold this Christmas, and how that wasn’t ‘fair’ because Ben has been nothing but an amazing friend this year and deserved an actual gift. Felix had opened his mouth, likely to retort that he was giving Ben money for Christmas, as he always did, but instead… sneezed. Felix’s mother finally all but forced him to take a Benadryl in hopes it would help to, at least, somewhat alleviate the sneezing.

Connor watches as Felix leans back into the couch, his eyes closing. Connor isn’t surprised to see they remain closed. He figures with his body busy fighting off what sounds like an absolutely vicious head cold, and the Benadryl now in his system, staying awake would be a nearly impossible effort.

Eventually, Felix slumps farther down onto the couch, resting his head against Connor’s shoulder. Connor, instinctively, wraps his arm around him, ensuring he’s tucked closely into his side. Felix settles comfortably against Connor, and quickly, his breathing shifts into thick, though not particularly loud, snores. Melissa, Felix’s mom, smiles fondly at her son before spreading out a thick Christmas themed blanket that covers both Felix and Connor.

“We can head out,” Connor says, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Felix. “I know we were going to exchange presents, but I can just grab Felix’s or if you want him to open them in front of you, we can come back in a few days,” Connor suggests.

Melissa smiles. “No, let him sleep a little longer. We’ll go ahead and get everyone else’s done, then I’ll fix you and Felix up with some leftovers to take home.”

Connor agrees with this idea, and the four — he, Melissa, Ben, and Tom (Felix’s dad) — spend the next hour talking while Felix remains fast asleep against Connor. There’s definitely drool on Connor’s shoulder, and if Connor’s being honest with himself, likely snot, but Connor doesn’t mind. He’s just happy to have Felix safe and warm against him.

They exchange presents with Felix still snoring away. Connor, after completing the arduous task of trying to unwrap a gift one-handed, has to blink back tears when he sees Tom and Melissa had gotten him a series of books signed by his favorite author.

“Oh my god,” Connor says past the lump in his throat when he sees the gift. “You didn’t… I mean, you really didn’t have to.”

“Oh please,” Tom says, rolling his eyes. “We were happy to. We love Felix, but it’s been nice to have someone else with us this year during the holidays,” he says.

“Um, excuse me. I’m here almost every year,” Ben says, which provokes a laugh from Melissa.

“We love you, too, Ben, but you already know that,” Melissa says, smiling, which seems to appease Ben. “You know,” she continues. “With Felix being an only child, and neither Tom nor me having any siblings, we really don’t have a lot of people to celebrate with, so we are more than thankful to have both you and Ben here with us,” Melissa says, her warm gaze fixed on Connor. “I know Ben is more than aware that he’s part of our family, but Connor, you realize you are too, right?”

Connor’s throat feels tight, and tears are close to slipping from his eyes, but he gives a tight nod. Connor’s glad to feel Felix shifting against him because it distracts everyone, keeping Connor from having to actually say anything, which he’s not sure he could do through the barrage of emotions he’s being overwhelmed with.

Connor’s joy is short-lived because Felix immediately smothers his face deep into Connor’s shoulder and sneezes. And sneezes again. And sneezes some more.

He hears a mumbled “sorry,” before another wet “HEP-MPff’choooo!” is launched into his shoulder. Connor can feel the wetness seeping through the sleeve of his button-up. Felix finally lifts his head, his nose clearly struggling to keep all its contents inside, as he looks up at Connor. “I’m not feeling too good, babe hET-choo!” The sneeze sprays all over Connor’s arm, as well as out into the air he’s breathing, but the soreness in his own throat reminds him he’s already doomed. __________

The next day is Christmas Day and Felix is being absolutely destroyed by his cold. Gone is any pretense of being even slightly healthy. Felix tried his best to smile as he gave Connor’s his gift, but sneezed instantly three times in a row. The gift was a Star Wars LEGO set, since Connor had become interested in building LEGOs after Ben had left the Rivendell set over at Felix’s place last year. Connor wanted to tell Felix that “he shouldn’t have” and that it was “too expensive,” but poor Felix barely got a single breath in before his next fit of sneezes, so Connor figured it was a conversation they could have later. Then, he wondered if it was a conversation they needed at all. Felix clearly made the choice to spend his money the way he wanted on Connor, and Connor should accept that way of Felix showing his love. Connor still has to remind himself daily that he’s worthy of Felix’s devotion, even though every fiber in his being still tells him he’s not good enough. He decides to happily accept the gift — or, at least, pretend to happily accept the gift. He put on his biggest smile, said “thank you so much, sweetheart.” Felix, in turn, smiled and said “I love you heehh— ” before he was consumed by another fit of sneezing.

After Felix groggily opened his gifts from Connor — two personalized and intricately designed wooden sign posts reading ‘Edna lives here’ and ‘Reggie lives here’ for the terrariums he’d ordered online — Felix stumbled off to bed and buried himself under his comforter and blankets.

Connor is stunned to see that, though it's only noon, Felix has already gone through an entire box of tissues. The evidence of the last box is scattered everywhere. Connor goes to fetch a new box from the hall closet, and sighs before he takes a few for himself. Setting the box down, he covers his nose with several tissues as he blows productively. His throat is still sore, and his head is beginning to throb. His body yearns to curl up in bed beside Felix, but he has too much to do. With Felix completely out of commission, Connor is taking it upon himself to bake the snickerdoodle cookies Felix has every Christmas. Connor knows it’s the process of baking that Felix enjoys the most, and not necessarily actually eating the cookies, but Connor wants to provide at least a little bit of normalcy for Felix this year. After handing the box of fresh tissues over to an already sneezing Felix, Connor makes his way to the kitchen.

When Connor begins making the cookies, that’s when his own sneezing starts.

He adds the cinnamon, then quickly turns his head. “HET-SHIIEEWWW!”

The sneeze forms a germ-laden cloud. Connor closes his eyes and groans. The last time he was sick, a year ago, he’d had sneezes just like these — wet, forceful sneezes that were impossible to prepare for. He’d been hoping it was that specific flu that elicited the type of sneezes, but now he’s worried his body has just developed a new way of sneezing.

He returns to his cookie dough. All he has to do is mix everything together, then spoon them all out onto a pan. This is definitely a simple enough task that, even with a cold, he can complete.

As he begins mixing, though, he once again has to jerk to the side. “HEETT-SHIEEWWW! HaDT’SHIIEEWWW! AHHH aHHH APT-CHOOOO!”

He stays at the spray splattered counter, then rubs his temples. Fatigue is setting in deeply and merely standing is enough to make him want a nap. All you have to do is finish the cookies, he thinks to himself.

He pulls off some paper towel roll and blows his nose, then goes to wash his hands. When he returns to the bowl of cookie dough, he sniffs deeply, then snaps forward in more uncovered, spraying sneezes. HADT’CHOOOOH! ATCHOOOO! Ahhh Ahhhh hhhh AHHH? AHHHHH! AHHHHH AHH-ATCHOOOO! ATCHOOOO! ATCHOOOO! HEP’choo! T’choo! Choo! Choo! Choo! Choo!” His nose is pouring and tears are streaming from his eyes. He grasps the counter, his chest heaving. “HAAAAHHHHHHHH HH HHEHHHH! HAD’TCHOOOOOO! AP’CHUUUUH! AP’CHuuuuh!” His breath is still hitching, but he makes a desperate attempt to blow his nose anyway. As soon as the paper towel touches his sensitive nose, he’s exploding into it. “AADT’CHUUUUUH! HEHH’SHHHHTTTTT!” With some alarm, he realizes he can’t stop. “HADt’chooo! EH’TCHOO! EH’TCHOOOOO! EfftksHHHOOO! K’shooo! K’SHOOOO! K’SHOOO!”

With the room spinning, and his face positively streaming, he stumbles over to a kitchen chair to sit down. His breath keeps hitching, as if in preparation for more sneezing, but finally, after several minutes he’s able to breathe without triggering a sneeze.

He wipes his nose and eyes with more paper towel. He looks down at his phone and sees he has a text notification from Felix.

Felix: You and that cold of yours (that I may or may not have accidentally given you 🙄) need to come to bed NOW.

Connor sighs at the text. Well, it’s obvious that the absurdly powerful fit didn’t go unnoticed by Felix. Connor types out “I’m fine — the cinnamon just got to me.” He stares at the text for a long time. He thinks about how much he’s grown since he’s been with Felix — how much he’s grown because of Felix.

Felix doesn’t want you to be perfect, you idiot, he thinks to himself.

Felix loves you — not any kind of meticulously curated version of yourself. He loves YOU. He’s shown it time and time and time again. Don’t undo a lesson you’ve worked so hard to learn.

Felix LIKES your sneezes — likes seeing you vulnerable. So, for fuck’s sake, stop being so ridiculous.

The thoughts are loud and hurt his already compromised head, but he decides that this time, he will listen to them. So, he throws out the bowl of thoroughly sneezed on cookie dough, then makes his way to Felix’s — to their — bedroom.

__________

It’s a Wonderful Life plays in the background as Connor rests his aching head on Felix’s chest, as Felix runs his fingers through Connor’s hair. This is not something they do often at all — Connor typically is the one holding Felix. But Felix wasn’t having it today. His exact words were “It’s Christmas and I’m dying and all I want is to play with your hair so you better let me, Connor, so help me —” Then he, predictably, sneezed all over the place. Connor doesn’t want to think about the amount of sneezes this specific position has subjected him to. It’s not like it matters, anyway. He’s sneezing his own head off already.

“Thank you,” Felix whispers, suddenly.

Connor startles because he’d assumed Felix was already asleep. “For what?” he asks, confusion clear in his voice.

“For not fighting with me about buying you the expensive LEGO set. And for not pretending you weren’t sick when you so definitely are. And for letting me do this,” Felix says, running his fingers through Connor’s hair again. “And just for… For finally letting me show you how much I love you without putting up a fight,” he says, voice soft.

Connor considers Felix’s words, but suddenly he has to sneeze and there’s no time to plan where to let it out, so he muffles his face in Felix’s chest. “HEH-MpSHHH! HEH-pffTTshooo!”

When he finally raises his head, he’s mortified to see very visible wet spots on the comforter.

“Oh my god, Felix, I’m so sorry,” he says quickly, but when he sees Felix’s expression, he feels his brows furrow. Connor can’t determine quite what Felix is feeling, but it’s evident he’s clearly not upset or even slightly grossed out. There’s something else there that Connor, as hard as he tries, can’t identify.

“That was so hot,” Felix says, staring at Connor, biting his lip.

Connor looks at Felix for a long time before shaking his head. “What?” he finally asks.

“You heard me,” Felix says, gaze entirely locked on Connor’s.

“I thought… I thought you said my sneezes were cute, not hot,” Connor says, feeling confused as he continues thinking and finally looks up at Felix and says “Felix, do you — do you have a thing for —”

“What if I do?” Felix asks before Connor can finish.

Connor blinks, then continues to stare. “Then… then, I fucking wish you would have told me before now. I wouldn’t have tried so damn hard to hide them from you! Oh my god, we could have had so much fun,” Connor says, as he considers all the opportunities lost.

Felix throws his head back and laughs until he sneezes — “HEP-NGT’chuuh!”

“Ugh, I hate my own sneezes, though,” Felix mutters, wiping his nose. “And really, anyone’s except yours, for some reason. And also, babe, we still have plenty of time to still have fun,” he says, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Do we?” Connor asks, a smile playing across his face.

“We have all the time in the world. Or, well, we have as long as you continue loving me, I guess.”

Connor’s face breaks out into a grin. “Then that is a long time.”

Felix laughs. “Do you promise?” he asks as Connor settles back against Felix.

“Do I promise to keep loving you for a long time?” Connor can’t help but laugh. “Felix, that’s literally the easiest promise I’ve ever had to make.”

With that, Felix seems satisfied and continues playing with Connor’s hair, while Connor thinks about how just two years ago, that statement would have been impossible to say.

But, now, telling Felix he’ll love him for years to come — well, now the words feel as simple to say as breathing.

____________________

A/N: Thank you for reading if you made it this far! If you'd like a more in depth look at just exactly how sneezy Felix was during the Christmas dinner, you can read about it in a short one-shot here: A Sneezy Little Christmas

#snz #snzblr #snz kink

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mossmittens · 24 days ago

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3, 5, 12, 13 14 for the Ask Game

This one is LONG, sorry all

3. Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

I'd heard RAYE and Escapism before this year, but I finally started digging into her music for real and was so pleased. Her live performances are magical. Highly recommend her medley at the Brits — the bridge from Ice Cream Man is an earworm that puts me on the floor and the CHOIR for Prada and Escapism. I want to live in it. Maybe I relate to this album too much to be healthy sjkhgfkjgd

Other songs I loved: Josephine Oniyama - House of Mirrors, Labi Siffre - Bless the Telephone, Kacey Musgraves - camera roll, Bob Dylan - Knocking on Heaven's Door, Troye Sivan - Rager teenager!, Sufjan Stevens - Will Anybody Ever Love Me?

5. TV show of the year?

I mean, the Delicious in Dungeon anime coming out this year defined the year for me, so it must be that. I wouldn't have read the manga if the show hadn't swept me away. Genuinely, it is impossible to guess the person I would be today if I hadn't seen it, which feels crazy.

12. Talk about a new friend you made this year

This is like a part 2 to the previous question djghfhjd. I absolutely refuse to choose just one, though. I found a core group of fandom friends that I really adore. Pompoms, making stupid emojis and edits just to make them laugh, forcing them to stream video games for my amusement while I very loudly eat sandwiches into the mic, stupid in-jokes we can't possibly explain without sounding insane. It's a complete pleasure to know them 💞 mwah mwah mwah to you all

But that's not all! I started talking to mutuals I've had for years and made some new ones. I've never really talked to people here before and I always felt like I was shouting into the void. It's been a nice change of pace and I love my little circle to bits.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I have so many warm feelings rn!

FYI: My backup accounts are @moss-mittens or @mossmittens2 (for dunmeshi stuff), if you would like to follow them. Won't be posting there unless I get nuked again, so don't worry about double posting. Also happy to share my Discord with moots :)

13. How was your birthday this year?

It was actually a shit day in the moment, but it turned out to be a really special memory. My whole family visited my grandpa, who I share a birthday with. He had a big health scare last December, so we were worried about him not making it to his birthday but he did!!

What makes it special is that he winded up passing two weeks ago. He was my favorite out of an army of grandparents, step-grandparents, ex-step-grandparents. I'm so lucky that I got to spend one last birthday with him, so I'm gonna treasure that stupid, awful day forever.

14. Favorite book you read this year?

A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister is a complete joy, though I admit I haven't finished it. It's more of a collection of essays on selected parts of sex history than a wide-ranging deep dive, but the writing is easy to get through. It's very sex positive and sex work positive.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I reread The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It's a mystery written for children and you can probably get through it in an afternoon. It's just a wonderful and well-constructed story. Highly recommend to people who like to read a mystery and don't try to solve it haha

#ask game #long post

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foxes-that-run · 1 year ago

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So it goes

So it goes tells the story of the 2014 Victoria Secret After Party: ''All eyes were on Harry and Taylor when they turned up. [...] The drinks were flowing until 3am, when they snuck out of a rear exit five minutes apart to avoid being pictured together." In context of the 2015 timeline 1989 (I know places established they wanted their relationship to go private) and 1D’s Four (with Stockholm Syndrome) had just been released. They were photographed the after party:

This was a pivotal night:

this outfit from that VS Show is also at 3 mins in I don’t wanna live forever (and cardigan refers to this sequin smile) and

In Only Angel Harry says he doesn't have eyes for the VS angels “She's an angel, My-my-my only angel”

Harry wore the coat

So it goes has only been played live 8 times and not yet on the Eras tour. The last time it was played was in the last Rep show in Tokyo, (9:38) with 2 other rare songs for the Rep Tour: I Know Places and Wildest Dreams. Harry Styles was in Japan that month and wrote Little Freak before he left Tokyo.

Timeline

3 December 2014 - Harry and Taylor seen dancing till 3am at the VS After party, where they were described as having "all eyes on them."

6-23 January 2015 - Harry and Taylor break up somewhere between here. See 2015 timeline

14 February - Style music video released, Two Ghosts and If I could fly written.

24 February - Taylor meets Calvin Harris, if she already had lyrics about the muse 'doing a number' on her on the 3rd Calvin could not be the muse. Harry's Winding wheel post

3 March - So it goes was written soon after Oscar Gorres became a father on this date. At that point "Taylor already had the lyrics" Shellback had the melody. Screenshots of the Grammy article:

11 march - Calvin breaks up with his girlfriend.

Taylor met Joe 15 months later.

Fun fact: Taylor's only lyrics "so it goes" are in Haylor songs, the very first night, So it goes, Style and You are in Love.

Live performances

So it goes has only been played live 9 times, ever. For a fan favorite love song this should further confirm it is an emotional song to Taylor at the time. She's also played it at particular times and paired it with particular songs:

June 22, 2018, Wembley. Where Harry lives. First time played was 2 months into the tour. Taylor also had Niall Horan as a guest in an NYC shirt. The same night Harry was very emotional, he sung Still the One in Madison Square Garden. Taylor later had that suit in the Me! video. It’s unclear why this date was so special, though it was 1 year and 2 days after his step-dad passed.

July 10, 2018, Landover, with State of Grace

July 14, 2018, Philadelphia, with Treacherous. Close to State of Grace/Temper Trap arm/tattoo anniversary.

July 22, 2018, New Jersey. End of Live on Tour.

July 28, 2018, Foxborough, news of Harry's break up with Camille broke 2 days later.

August 4, 2018, Toronto, with Come Back... Be Here (1 of 2 live performances of CBBH). Harry left LA for Italy and was seen driving a Maserati (was it a dead end street?)

September 1, 2018, Minneapolis

November 21, 2018, Last reputation show, played with Wildest Dreams. Harry had been in Tokyo and wrote Little Freak in the same period.

November 20, 2023, Eras tour, with Me! wore and made the Stadium green.

Lyrics

[Verse 1] See you in the dark All eyes on you, my magician All eyes on us You make everyone disappear, and Cut me into pieces Gold cage, hostage to my feelings Back against the wall Trippin', trip-trippin' when you're gone

The first verse sets the scene, similar to the articles Harry and Taylor are the focus of many, drawn to each other and wanting to keep their connection secret.

In Hoax, Taylor has a similar lyric to magician "Your sleight of hand"

'Gold cage, hostage to my feelings' refers to being trapped by love. Similar to Stockholm Syndrome, which was released only 2 weeks before the VS party, Taylor is trapped in a gold/gilded cage (a luxurious prison) by love.

[Pre-Chorus] 'Cause we break down a little But when you get me alone, it's so simple 'Cause, baby, I know what you know We can feel it [Chorus] And all the pieces fall right into place Getting caught up in a moment Lipstick on your face So it goes I'm yours to keep And I'm yours to lose You know I'm not a bad girl, but I Do bad things with you So it goes

So it goes is a lyric in Style. In the chorus Taylor lets us know that when they are away from others they have great chemistry. She also refers to lipstick, referred to in many 1989 songs. Taylor is described as a 'bad/good girl often, she talks about it in Miss Americana and also in:

Style: And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt

Question...?; Good girl, sad boy

Only Angel: That she's gonna be an angel, just you wait and see, When it turns out she's a devil in between the sheets

[Verse 2] Met you in a bar All eyes on me, your illusionist All eyes on us I make all your gray days clear And wear you like a necklace I'm so chill, but you make me jealous But I got your heart Skippin', skip-skippin' when I'm gone

The afterparty was in Basement bar. The illusionist/magician references are enjoying knowing that she and her muse will leave together without others knowing. 'Make all grey days clear' tells us the muse is British.

[Bridge] You did a number on me But, honestly, baby, who's counting? I did a number on you But, honestly, baby, who's counting? You did a number on me But, honestly, baby, who's counting? Who's counting? (One, two, three)

The bridge tells us more about her relationship with her muse, they have a history, have hurt each other before and are wanting to move on. Though she says she is letting it go she is also keeping score. At this point the events of Red, 1989 and most of the one direction songs about TS had transpired between them.

In Grapejuice Harry starts the song with 1, 2, 3 and ends on 1 (I.e let’s start again) here Taylor also counts 1, 2, 3 after “you didn’t a number on me but honestly baby who’s counting”

#haylor #reputation #so it goes #song analysis #Lyric analysis #Taylor swift #Reputation Taylors Version #So it goes Taylors version

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chrimson-oc-central · 10 months ago

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OC PROFILE - KAORI YUMENO

*~*~*

BASICS

Name - Kaori Yumeno

Birthdate - December 21

Age - 13-14 Years (Part 1), 17-18 Years (Shippuden), 20-21 Years (The Last), 21-27 Years (Blank Period), 33-34 Years (Boruto)

Birthplace - Konohagakure (Village Hidden in the Leaves)

Pronouns - She/Her

Nationality - Hinokoku (Land of Fire)

*~*~*

APPEARANCE

Hair Color - Pinkish Wine Red

Eye Color - Pink

Height - 4'10" (~147.32 cm)

*~*~*

PERSONALITY

Best Traits - Determined, Clever, Hardworking, Caring.

Worst Traits - Hot-Headed, Rude, Bottles up thoughts.

Mannerisms - Left-Handed, Crosses arms often.

What they hate the most - Failure, Snobby people.

What's most important to her - Her friends, becoming the best genjutsu user in the world.

Secrets - Cries often. She is constantly questioning herself and feels like a failure. Bottles up these feelings, and sometimes her emotions explode and she takes it out on the people and things around her.

Do they get along with or avoid other people - Avoids, even though she craves friends and attention. Will never admit this, but will always appreciate being included.

*~*~*

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Parents/Guardians - None (She might get a parent later but I haven't decided yet)

Siblings - None

Significant Other - Rock Lee (Boyfriend in The Last, Husband in Blank Period and onward)

Children - Metal Lee (Son), Jewel Lee (Daughter)

Pets/Animal Companions/Summons - Unnamed Snake Summon (They're a work in progress lmao sorry)

Teacher(s)/Sensei(s) - Suzume (academy sensei [kunoichi instructor]), Iruka Umino (academy sensei), Anko Mitarashi (Genin sensei)

Friends - Tenten, Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuga, Akua Koizumi, Chihiro Osaka

Best Friend(s) - Tenten, Akua Koizumi, Chihiro Osaka

Enemies - Akatsuki Organization, Orochimaru, Madara Uchiha, Kabuto Yakushi

Acquaintances - Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Sai Yamanaka, Hanabi Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha, Hiashi Hyuga

*~*~*

OTHER AND FANDOM SPECIFICS (Naruto)

Occupation - Leaf Shinobi (Ninja, Kunoichi)

Rank - Genin (Part 1), Chunin (Shippuden), Jonin (The Last, Blank Period)

Chakra Nature - Wind

Kekkei Genkai - None

Affiliations - Hinokoku (Land of Fire), Konohagakure (Village Hidden in the Leaves), Allied Shinobi Forces (5th Division), Team Anko

Other Names/Nicknames/Aliases - Kaori Lee, Kaori Yumeno-Lee

Blood Type - AB-

Favorite Food - Ice Cream

Least Favorite Food - Unagi

Hobbies - Flower arranging, rock collecting

*~*~*

Brief Description:

Kaori has reddish-pink hair and pink eyes.

Her academy grades were nothing to look at, with Lee being the only one who scored worse than her during their graduation exam. She has very low stamina, and has little strength. She tries to push herself though, which causes her to pass out often. What she lacks in physical strength, though, she more than makes up in her ability to use Genjutsu. Poisons and Senbon are also incorporated in her abilities, to make her jutsu that more deadly.

Kaori is short-tempered, but it mainly stems from a lack of self esteem in herself. Hates talking about it, so if she's opening up to you, you're special no doubt about it. Really admires Rock Lee and his constant determination and positive outlook on life. Strives to also be like that, but it's hard to change her ways. Will mellow out a bit as she gets older.

#Kaori Yumeno #Yumeno Kaori #Kaori #Yumeno #naruto oc

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beardedmrbean · 11 months ago

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TikTok star Montana Tucker has been using her platform to spread awareness about antisemitism in the months after the October 7 attack on Israel.

The singer, dancer and social media activist, who grew her social media following to 14 million by singing and dancing videos, recently made her Jewish heritage a bigger part of her content, she told Fox News Digital in an interview. Since October 7, she has recognized the need for more education about the history of antisemitism and Holocaust denialism among America's youth.

Tucker grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, with two grandparents who survived the Holocaust. They often told her about the horrors of the Holocaust and the importance of never forgetting the genocide of six million Jews during World War II. When her grandfather, whom she called Zadie, passed away at 97 four years ago, she felt compelled to continue his legacy by reminding people they should "never forget."

Tucker visited Poland where she filmed a docuseries called "How to Never Forget" that was released in 10 mini-episodes on her social media. The series included a visit to Auschwitz and personal stories about her grandparents, with the goal of educating America's youth about the Holocaust.

CHAMPION CYCLIST SAYS SHE WOULD SERVE IN IDF RIGHT NOW AMID REMOVAL FROM INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY EVENT

"Antisemitism has always been here, it has always been here," she said. "When I released that series, that was kind of the first time I introduced my followers really to my family's background. A lot of them never knew that I was Jewish. My name is Montana Tucker. My content, at the time, wasn't specifically Jewish content."

"Then a year later, with everything that happened on October 7, I felt that it was my responsibility, it was my duty to make sure that I share personal stories of what was happening," she continued. "This is my people, my grandparents didn't have a voice back during the Holocaust, and now I have a voice and I'm able to stand up for what I believe in and speak out for people who don't have a voice."

In December, Tucker went to Israel to meet with survivors of the October 7 attack and their families. She used the opportunity to spread the message of what happened and share their personal stories, which she said is of upmost importance given some have downplayed or denied certain aspects of the attack or attempted to justify it.

"When I always heard Holocaust denial, I couldn't believe it," Tucker said. "That's why, with what's going on now in the world with all the denial, even though we were live-streamed what happened on October 7, there's still denial about it or still denial of what is going on. I never understood that concept of people denying something that was so obviously shown with evidence of survivors, but now living in it, people denying what happened on October 7, it's really scary and it's even more of a reason why I keep using my voice."

Tucker also said she has heard from people in Hollywood who've thanked her for what she has done in speaking out for Jewish people since October 7, but explained it makes her upset that people are afraid to share or talk about what they believe in.

"I've had people in Hollywood come up to me that are, I'm here [motions down] and they're there [motions up], they're on a whole different level than me in their careers, and they come up to me and say, 'Thank you so much for what you're doing, you're amazing, you're really taking one for the team.' And I'm like, 'What do you mean? Like, have you shared anything? Have you posted anything?' And they said they did in the beginning [but] when they got so much hate from it and lost business, followers, whatever it is and now they're scared to post. In my mind I'm like ‘do hear how crazy that sounds?’"

"Especially when there are so many awesome, powerful Jews in Hollywood … I think people absolutely need to stop being scared," she said. "If you're going to lose business over you talking about being Jewish or you talking about innocent lives that were taken, then you shouldn't want to do business with those people. Point-blank."

Tucker pointed to social media as a huge reason why antisemitism has been allowed to proliferate, making it "popular to be anti-Israel" and "popular to be anti-Jew."

"With Gen Z and younger generations, we live in this day and age of what's trending, what's popular and if you look at popular hashtags on these apps ... #hitlerwasright was a massive trending hashtag on TikTok, #osamabinladen was a massive trending hashtag on TikTok, all pro-Palestine content was super trending, billions of views, versus Israel or anything to do with pro-Israel was like super, super low."

She said a lot of people discussing the conflict on social media aren't educated on the issues, so when an average user comes across a viral video with 30 million views sharing one person’s opinion about Israel or Gaza, "all of a sudden now it's a ripple effect of everyone that just saw that video now believes that because they don't know better."

Tucker said the impact of social media needs to be taken seriously, since it is where so much information is shared and news is consumed, allowing antisemitism to proliferate in the months following October 7.

"Even with October 7, think about if we didn't have social media nowadays, how different that could have been with what spiraled after," she said. "I think what happened on October 7 was the start, and now we're a hundred and how many days in, and it's only gotten worse with everyone's opinions and everyone's thoughts in these videos … being fed to people every single day [there is] so much propaganda that I see."

"Fortunately, I heard from survivors, but my grandma was 13 when she was taken to the Holocaust, and she's 95 [now], so in a few years, there are going to be no more survivors left," she said. "Imagine the denial that's going to happen then with literally no survivors."

Tucker said one of the ways to combat antisemitism is to teach America's youth about the Holocaust in schools.

"I grew up in Florida, which is one of the states that did have it, thankfully, and my grandparents used to speak at all the schools … But there are a lot of people who don't," she said. "It's hard to blame these kids that just genuinely don't know better because they weren't taught it in school."

"Then they come across this TikTok video that denies the Holocaust or says Jews are terrible … and that's all they're going to know and that's all they're going to believe," she said. "If their favorite rapper or their favorite athlete spews out antisemitic comments, they look up to that athlete, they look up to that rapper, they're going to say, 'That must be true.'"

Tucker encouraged Americans to do their own research and continue to learn about the long and difficult conflict in Israel and the Middle East. She also said people should be easier on each other because there is "so much hate" in the world and in the U.S., specifically.

#nunyas news

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millylouedward · 9 months ago

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I almost forgot to do my weekly writing update!! no fear I am here

current project: The Starbird Rescue Alliance (sci-fi) hours spent writing: 14 hours word count: 13,328 page count: 42

I finally named my WIP!! Today I was heading to work and followed a different route, then looked up from my phone at the perfect time. I passed an apartment complex called The Starbird and I thought that was such a fitting name for the book. The whole way to work, I thought up new lore to explain the title and came up with some really interesting stuff. I feel so creative today after that and really inspired to use my surroundings when writing.

In other news, I am really trying to reach 50 pages before the end of Act 1. Though I have 42 physical pages, I'm going off a 350 words per page calculation which puts me at 38. I don't really know for sure if I can hold the reader were they're at now for 12 more pages before the end of the act, so I may have to accept that I'm nearing that moment and let it end naturally so I can put more detail into the exposition when I edit.

Also, I took a moment to consider novel length. For a while I was aiming for about 75,000 words, but after doing some research, I don't know if I can accomplish what I set out for in that amount. So I'm changing my goal to be 110,000 words. That only makes the whole "dragging out the exposition" bit harder, but I'm alright with that. I have A LOT to explore in Act 2 including spaceship mechanics, character dynamics, new problems, past trauma, romantic relationships, the environment, natural disasters, etc. Hopefully I can flesh out some more of Chapter 4 today, get to that defining moment, and then plan out Act 2 tomorrow and Friday so that on Saturday I can just go to town. Definitely need to start writing a lot more if I want to finish this book soon. My goal is going to be to finish my first draft by the end of my Thanksgiving vacation on December 4th, because my book is highly inspired by the birth of my niece and I'll be meeting her for the first time during the holiday! Alright back to writing byeeee

#millys thoughts #novel writing #creative writing #write #writer #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writers and poets #writerscommunity

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avaford2009 · 20 days ago

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Thomas & Friends Celebrate Britt Allcroft Transcript (Part 2)

Sir Topham Hatt was near the TV screens, checking the list of things needed for the tribute. Stacy Jones came in with a costume.

Stacy: (passing) 'Scuse me.

Sir Topham Hatt: Okay, good, Stacy. (checks) Costumes, check that off the list.

In came Percy with a satellite dish.

Percy: Alright, look out. Look out. Make way, make way. Coming through, coming through.

Sir Topham Hatt: Percy, come on now!

Percy: What, what, what?!

Sir Topham Hatt: We have to do this number in half an hour and it has to work.

Percy: Of course it'll work! I've just arranged for the coals and they'll be here in a few minutes.

He then carried the satellite dish away.

Sir Topham Hatt: Oh that's great, but...

Percy was already away. Sir Topham Hatt then sighed.

Sir Topham Hatt: The trouble is we just don't know enough about this Britt Allcroft fellow to do a really good job.

The Queen of Night's Voice: Hey, Sir Topham Hatt!

She then came in with a dusty film reel can.

The Queen of Night: This is your lucky day, look what I just found.

Sir Topham Hatt: Oh, hi, The Queen of Night. W-w-what's the role of film?

The Queen of Night: Britt Allcroft's biography.

Sir Topham Hatt: Great!

The Queen of Night: Yeah, it was just lying on Thomas' desk.

Sir Topham Hatt: Oh, great.

The Queen of Night turned to someone at the projector.

The Queen of Night: You got the projector threaded, Henry?

The one at the projector was Henry.

The Queen of Night: (in annoyance) Roll film!

He turned to James, Percy and Gordon in front of a sheet to show the film reel on.

Henry: Hello, everyone. I am Henry, your projectionist for the evening. Refreshments are available--

Other Thomas & Friends Characters, Mumfie, Scarecrow and The Queen of Night: (in impatient unison) Just roll it!

Henry: Okay, okay!

So he rolled the film as the lights dimmed and everyone else got in front of the screen. The film reel started rolling.

Sir Topham Hatt: Okay, get down. Down in front, down in front.

Thomas & Friends Characters, Mumfie, Scarecrow and The Queen of Night all chattered at the start of the film, with the title "The Early Years".

Announcer: Hilary Mary Allcroft was born on 14 December 1943 in Worthing, West Sussex, England.

Emily: Oooh, she's like a little kid. How adorable.

We see another photo of her as a kid.

Announcer: At the age of 16, she changed her first name to Britt as her career in British radio and television gained momentum.

We see a photo of her as a young adult changing her name.

Announcer: She went on to create a succession of programmes for the BBC and ITV during the 1970s and 1980s, including Moon Clue Game, Dance Crazy and Keepsakes. Mothers By Daughters, produced for Channel 4, was broadcast by PBS in the United States. She also worked in theatre, staging shows at the London Palladium and Drury Lane Theatres.

Toby: Succession of programmes?

Sir Topham Hatt: (waves in dismissal) Programmes? Forget it!

They all chattered in agreement, not wanting to talk about succession of programmes (which is ironic since they are). Then they saw a photo of create a succession of programmes for the BBC and ITV during the 1970s and 1980s, including Moon Clue Game, Dance Crazy and Keepsakes. Mothers By Daughters, produced for Channel 4, was broadcast by PBS in the United States. She also worked in theatre, staging shows at the London Palladium and Drury Lane Theatres.

Sir Topham Hatt: Oh, there's Britt Allcroft creating an programmes during the 1970s and 1980s!

Announcer: Her programmes were unlike any the world had ever seen. They all lived in the world made by the television frame. There, she discovered television could be bigger and more real than they had ever seemed before.

Next footage shown is of Britt, older, introducing herself.

Britt: Hello, I'm Britt Allcroft, and I'm a writer, producer, director, and voice actress, and I'm called a writer because I work with television, and my own act, my act, is called Britt Allcroft Productions.

Announcer: She made us laugh not only with jokes, but with ideas. Her characters had personality, because inside was the hand of Britt Allcroft. Britt's imagination roamed beyond the world of engines.

The engines starts traveling through the air with tracks, but then the whole film started to melt as the Thomas & Friends Characters, Mumfie, Scarecrow and The Queen of Night shouted and complained. They turned with the lights going on, and saw Henry all tangled up in the film.

Henry: Uh oh! Show's over!

Sir Topham Hatt: Henry, you ruined Britt Allcroft's biography!

Then the clips appeared on the monitor. We see a clip from Thomas and Friends, where at Brendam Docks, Thomas pulls up to collect Allicia Botti and the Fat Controller opens one of Clarabel's doors. Unfortunately, the cause of the squeaking is discovered when they see a mouse in Clarabel, which horrifies Allicia Botti; she screams so loudly that all of the windows around the docks break.

Narrator (Michael Angelis): On the way to the docks, Thomas heard the squeak again. He was worried. He didn't sound like his squeaky clean squeak. Thomas squeaked noisily into the key side where Allicia Botti was waiting. The Fat Controller held Clarabel's door open when Alicia Botti screamed.

(Mouse squeaking)

(Allicia Botti screaming)

(Narrator (Michael Angelis): And she screamed and she screamed and she screamed! She screamed so loud and so long that windows broke all over town!)

Gordon: Definitely a coloratura. (Narrator (Michael Angelis): Said Gordon.)

Allicia Botti: (Narrator (Michael Angelis): Allicia Botti was cross.) I can't possibly travel in coaches riddled with mice!

Michael Angelis: The Fat Controller was very embarrassed and Thomas didn't feel important at all.

Next we see a clip of Percy crashes into the factory and 6 windows splat themselves as he pops out.

Narrator: Percy didn't know that earlier a leaky freight cars had spilled oil on the track. When he approached the chocolate factory, his driver applied the brakes. But Percy's wheels just skidded on the oily rails.

Percy: Oh, no! (Narrator: Hooted Percy.)

(Percy crashes into the factory and 6 windows splat themselves as he pops out)

Percy: Yuck! (Narrator: He groaned.) I've never been this dirty!

Narrator: He was covered from funnel to firebox in sticky gooey chocolate.

We then see a clip of Toby floats away when the bridge breaks apart.

Narrator: Toby shunted back as fast as his wheels would let him. Percy was waiting anxiously for Toby by the bridge. The river had risen so high that the bridge was in danger of collapsing. Toby arrived.

Toby's Driver: The dam's breaking up! We must find high ground! (Narrator: Shouted Toby's driver.)

Percy: Your only chance is to cross the bridge. (Narrator: Called Percy.)

Toby: It doesn't look safe to me. (Narrator: Wailed Toby.)

Toby's Driver: It's our only chance. (Narrator: Said his driver.) If the dam breaks, we'll be done for!

Narrator: Toby was halfway across the bridge when disaster struck.

(The dam breaks apart)

Toby: Help! (Narrator: Called Toby.)

(He floats away when the bridge breaks apart)

Percy's Driver: We'll follow him on our line. It meets the river further down.

Narrator: As Toby floated helplessly on the floodwaters, they passed a sign that made them shudder: Beware the Waterfall.

Toby's Driver: If we go over that waterfall, we're doomed.

Next clip is shown was Henry sneezes at the boys and they were covered in ashes.

Henry's Driver: Please keep all windows shut until we haved passed the bridge. Henry is as excited as we are. Aren't you, old fellow?

George Carlin: Henry felt more stuffed up. Soon, they could see the boys. And they all had stones.

Henry's Driver: Are you ready, Henry?

George Carlin: Said his driver.

Henry's Driver: Sneeze hard when I tell you. Now!

George Carlin: He said.

Henry: Ah-choo!

(Henry sneezes at the boys and they were covered in ashes)

Part two of the transcript to the Britt Allcroft memorial special from 2025.

#thomas and friends celebrate britt allcroft #thomas and friends #mumfie the elephant #shining time station #britt allcroft #the muppets celebrate jim henson #memorial special

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