#technically is was supposed to be 10 lines that all start with the same word but this was all I could manage today

[salovie]

When the sun has kissed every single smile you grow,

When the rain has wept away oceans of woe,

When the grass becomes field becomes meadow becomes forest,

When the birds have memorized your sweet laughter’s chorus,

When the wind’s whispered my love from all its directions,

When I run out of ways to share my affections:

through frost and flame, to mountains and shores,

Still you are mine, Still I am yours.

[damagedintellect]

Trafalgar Law x reader

💌 Fake it till you make it: Chapter 13  💌  

Summary:  To avoid an arranged marriage set up by Doflamingo, Law needs to bring home a girlfriend during the Christmas break and you just so happen to be a theatre major in the same dorm at One Piece University. What could possibly go wrong?  

Tropes: College AU, Fake Dating, Idiots in love

Chapter Navigation: [1]  [2]  [3]  [4]  [5]  [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12][You are here]

💌 Word count: 3,792 💌 <= Previous Chapter | Next Chapter =>

Sabo had been pacing back and forth going over the information he got from Ivankov like a crazy person. He's barely gotten any sleep over the past few days and Koala was starting to worry but continued to fill his mug with straight black coffee. He was unraveling Joker at the seams but he couldn’t use any of the information he had to arrest Doflamingo, yet. It was all technically still a hunch because he had no solid evidence. An extremely lucky guess on the true identity of “Joker” that would hold no weight in the court of law. He needed something, anything to tie up the loose ends to form a proper case. Law’s first disappearance, the engagement, Corazon’s shooting, (Y/N)’s threat, everything was suspicious and he had a feeling it wasn’t all a coincidence. He needed to catch him in the act and he knew just how to do it. 

Before everyone was preparing to leave for the wedding, he talked to Dragon about what he’s compiled. He had a bad feeling that something was going to happen at the wedding, to his friends and to his brother. Surprisingly Dragon didn’t try to stop him from going on this little stakeout. Although in turn he had to go alone. He had gotten there before anyone else to find the perfect spot to be inconspicuous and watched as both guests and family members arrived. 

That’s why he was sitting outside of the Charlotte family villa at this ungodly hour. He had been drifting in and out of sleep when he heard the faint sound of a car starting. That immediately caught his attention as he scrambled to wake up enough to investigate the sudden noise. He couldn’t see through the tinted windows and he didn’t want to give himself away by getting too close to the action. His best bet was to simply, not lose sight of the car without raising suspicion. When Doflamingo rolled up the day prior Sabo had the foresight to jot down his license plate and send them to Koala. They were fake. If he lost sight of this car now there would be little to no way to trance it back to Doflamingo. Sabo grit his teeth when they finally got to their destination. It was the chapel where the wedding was taking place.

He needed to get closer, he couldn't see shit from where he was. As soon as the vehicle was out of the line of sight Sabo made his move. By the time he had a good vantage point someone was already unloading the car. They were moving a rather large rug around the back of the chapel. The first thing glaringly obvious was that the man wasn’t Doflamingo. Their face was obscured with a hat and glasses but judging by the build and the overall look of the glasses Sabo would guess it was Vergo. Of all the Donquixote’s, Vergo was seemingly the only one to stay out of the public eye. There were only maybe a handful of events the man attended, so it begs the question, why was he moving a rug at this hour. Sabo didn’t have enough time to make it back to his car as the other vehicle headed back in the direction of the villa. He supposed this would be fine for now if anything he knew Sanji had an extra invite. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

—

Pudding had a hard time getting to sleep after her beach walk with Sanji. It was a big day after all but the tossing and turning wasn't doing her any good. If anything it was just knotting up her hair. She had slept for a few hours and she did plan on getting up early. She wondered if anyone was awake right now. If she had to guess, judging by the time on the clock she knew of one other person that would be getting up right about now. She put on some slippers and a robe and walked to (Y/N)’s room. She knocked lightly but when she heard no movement from the other side she decided to peek in. (Y/N) was nowhere to be seen. Her bed looked like she had been here a moment ago but left for some reason. Each of the guest rooms had a bathroom attached so she couldn’t have gone wandering around for that. There was a half full bottle of water on the night stand as well so that's not it either. The only other place Pudding could think of was to check Law’s room but (Y/N) wouldn’t be that stupid would she? Not when Doflamingo was in close proximity. That would also be too tacky and make Pudding gag if that was the case but it was worth a shot. Although the room Law was staying in was on the other side of the manor for a reason. It was bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding. She frowned.

In the end Pudding decided it wasn’t worth it and tried to go back to bed but as the rest of the estate woke up with high spirits there was still no sign of her maid of honor. It was weird considering no one else batted an eye at the disappearance. When she questioned Monet and Baby 5 about it neither of them had a clue where (Y/N) could have gone or why she would have left. Monet only offered that maybe she couldn’t stand seeing her ex get married. She then left to handle the tasks that (Y/N) should have been taking care of, if she was still here. Contacting the florists, the stylists, caterers, and making sure everything was running smoothly. From the looks of it, Law’s sisters were managing it all just fine. Almost as if it was rehearsed. Pudding swallowed harshly, thinking about the possibility that this was a part of Doflamingo’s plan all along. Of course this would be the outcome now that she started viewing (Y/N) as a friend. Had this been a few weeks ago she would have scoffed and brushed it off but now that she cared, her level of concern was worrying. She had to let someone know.

—

When Law read the group message he nearly threw his phone across the room. (Y/N) had been missing in action. All of her stuff was left untouched in her guest room, which suggests she didn’t leave on her own account. She had to have been taken. Law raked his hands through his hair. This was all his fault. He was a fool for believing that Doflamingo would just let things run their course and now she was nowhere to be found. Law knows the kind of power the blonde has and it terrifies him. The incoming messages were scrolling too fast for his eyes to follow and his mind was going a mile a minute. He couldn’t even hear Shachi or Penguin trying to talk him down as they tried to reassure him that the strawhats had a plan. His spiraling accelerated as he thought about Corazon’s condition, so much so that he didn’t even hear Bepo’s apology before he felt the other’s hand connect with his cheek. Being backhanded finally snapped him out of his stupor as Bepo shook him violently, well violently for Bepo.

“It’s not over yet! If you give up now then Doffy wins!” 

Law sat dumbfounded as Bepo’s words sunk into his thick skull. He needed to get it together otherwise Doflamingo would get away with it. He still had a role to play in all of this and if anything he believed in Luffy. Not to mention, criminal investigation was Sabo’s field of interest. He needed to maintain an air that none of this was affecting him. Law couldn’t give Doflamingo the satisfaction no matter how much it hurt. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves. Law was determined to end this if not for his sake then for everyone else’s. If he were to fall here, he would at least take the old man with him. His eyes filled with a fiery determination as his groomsmen regained their confident smiles and handed him his discarded phone. They were nakama and they could do this together. He wasn’t alone anymore.

—

The moment Sanji was messaged he added Pudding to the group chat and when Luffy read the message, he called Sabo immediately. Naturally Sabo didn't tell anyone he was going undercover so when he picked up the call to a screaming Luffy, he tailed it as fast as he could to the Vinsmoke estate. It shocked everyone that Sabo was even in the area but they knew that the blonde had a knack for knowing when he was needed. 

"Let me get this straight, (Y/N) is missing?" Sabo repeated in disbelief thinking back to what he witnessed earlier that morning. "When did Pudding notice her disappearance? Did anyone get in contact with her after the rehearsal dinner?" He was trying to pinpoint a time frame to work with. 

"The last time any of us had contact was at the rehearsal dinner. Pudding found her room empty at around five-ish."

That means no one's seen her all night. Sabo had watched everyone arrive back at the villa but he doesn't recall anyone leaving other than that car. Which could only mean that it wasn’t a rug that "Vergo" was smuggling. At least that was his guess; the only way to confirm his suspicion was to scout out the chapel to find the rug in question but that still wouldn’t solve anything, unless.

"With luck she's probably being kept at the chapel. I saw a car transporting a rug there at around three-forty. That is unless she's still at the manor." Sabo sighed. The first 48 hours of a missing person case were the most crucial in finding the person. This complicates things with how they were going to dissolve the wedding at the same time. They’d have to split up into teams and hopefully not get caught. 

Sanji shook his head "Pudding said she had her older brother search the place. She said Katakuri wouldn't lie to her." At least they had a lead but still. The event would be crawling with people, sanctioned reporters and who knows what the security will be like. Sabo didn’t like this one bit, it was like he and Doflamingo were playing chess. They were already in check with Law being pinned down and (Y/N) being taken was like losing their queen but they weren’t down for the count yet. After all, any pawn can become a queen.

“So here’s the plan.”

—

Pudding and the girls were already getting their hair and make up done by the stylist when she stopped looking at her phone. She didn’t stay in the groupchat long enough to hear the full plan but she got the gist and she knew how to play her part. She’d just have to act natural and hope that things went smoothly on everyone else’s end. Pudding watched Monet and Baby 5 closely. She didn’t feel the need to observe Sugar as harshly since she seemed to constantly be in her own little world. That and she had the least amount of contact with Doflamingo all morning. Speaking of the toymaker, he was currently outside the room having a conversation with Big Mom. Pudding was getting her makeup done first, that way by the time the photographer arrived they could get some lovely "Final Moment" shots of her getting her hair done. Pudding thought it was all pointless but this wasn’t about her and after overhearing the conversation just outside the door, it never was. She was just a convenient pawn for her mother to utilize after Lola ran away. She sees that now. Pudding peered at the clock, there was only so much time left, she might as well enjoy the peace while it lasted.

It wasn’t long until the guests were allowed to arrive at the venue. Pudding had arranged for Katakuri to be the one to greet the Vinesmoke’s. While Sanji’s brothers, Nami, and Robin handled the pleasantries, Reiju and Zoro would be lookouts, Katakuri would help Sabo with the investigation and Luffy and Sanji were to act as decoys for their venture. Making sure that all eyes would be on Luffy wasn’t that hard. He often found himself at the center of most commotions. Luffy wanted to take Doflamingo head on but he seemed to be making his rounds in front of the media and Sanji wouldn’t allow it. The last thing they needed was for all of them to get kicked out before anyone could accomplish their mission. They had roughly 30 minutes before the ceremony began, for now they would buy Sabo time. Although Sanji agreed that it would be foolish to take him on, he wanted to beat the shit out of Doflamingo too. All of this family business nonsense had been something he had dealt with personally as a kid and he was sick of it. He might not be close friends with Law but he could emphasize with the surgeon.

“Curly brow, you got company” Zoro’s dumb nickname for the cook could be heard through the earpiece he was wearing. Everyone but Luffy had one. He wouldn't listen to it anyhow so why bother giving it to him. Sanji glanced around his peripherals to locate their target. Once he found Doffy he grabbed Luffy by the arm, suspiciously made a show of whispering into Luffy’s ear, and made their way down a corridor hoping that Doflamingo would take the bait.

“Doflamingo’s all yours. Make sure Luffy doesn’t do anything too stupid. The rest of us will move on to phase two.” This time it was Reiju’s voice checking in. The rest of the group would be mingling with Doflamingo’s executives, keeping them pinned for as long as possible. Having Doflamingo isolated was ideal but there were still no eyes on Vergo. Which wasn’t that surprising given his track record but with luck if they found Vergo they would also find (Y/N). Hopefully.

___

Sabo was getting impatient with how long it took to move about the chapel. In his opinion Katakuri was being too thorough, taking the time to make sure the coast was clear before waving Sabo over. It's not like they had seen anyone in the past few minutes. He understands that it’s better to air on the side of caution but they needed to check every room that currently wasn’t being used for the ceremony. They weren’t having much luck and they were running out of time. That's when they came across a room that had a sign on it. It just read “Not an Exit” which was strange and felt out of place. Sabo jiggled the handle. It was locked. He pressed his ear against the door but all that accomplished was making his ear cold. There weren’t many rooms left for them to check but they'd have to make their way upstairs next. Looking down the other side of the hallway was a window that casted light down the way they just came. If this sign had been on this door for a while the ink should have faded on the paper yet it looks freshly printed like it was just hung recently. Sure they could have hung it for the event but how many people were they expecting to be wandering around this far into the chapel. Sometimes the most difficult things to find are hidden in plain sight.

Sabo hummed, turning to Katakuri “Does anyone have keys to these doors?”

“I could get a staff member to open the door but we don’t have much time left.”

Sabo bit his thumb. It would be too difficult to carry the body/rug combo up the stairs in the amount of time he lost sight of Vergo for. This was the only suspicious door they didn’t get to check and it was relatively close to the back entrance. This had to be it or else they were in trouble. If he was wrong here, then all their efforts would grind to a halt. It was a tough call and they would be down to the wire regardless of their decision. If they were going to do something they had to act now Katakuri was also the one walking Pudding down the aisle. It was now or never and waiting for the faculty key made Sabo tap his foot out of distress but in the back of his mind he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was on the right track.

Once they got the door open everything happened in a flash of still images. In the simple broom closet (Y/N) was on the floor bound by duct tape. Their back was facing Vergo who was slumped in a chair facing the door. The scene burned itself inside of Sabo’s head as he made swift work with (Y/N)’s restraints leaving Katakuri to immobilize Vergo. His reactions were lagged ever so slightly suggesting the man was half asleep, giving them a fortunate attack of opportunity that kept the struggle to a minimum. Although Sabo would still have his work cut out for him when drafting up the police reports. His top priority at the moment was making sure (Y/N)’s abscond would go unnoticed by Doflamingo. Taking her into protective custody now would prove to be difficult without help, incidentally Pudding of all people already had a contingency plan in mind.

—

Law paced back and forth as the time counted down. He would be the one left completely in the dark. Bepo and the others had tried to calm him down but it didn’t do much to calm his nerves. Luckily Doflamingo hasn’t come to check on him yet. Actually now that he thought about it, no one has tried to check on him at all. The surgeon is aware that he’s always been the family's volatile misfit but he figured that someone would be sent to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t attempt any last minute shenanigans. That could only mean that everything was going according to plan, right? That he had nothing to worry about, right? As one of the staff members ushered him out of the room, the ceremony began. For the first time in months he genuinely believed that things would be different this time. Leaving the walk down the aisle was the last thing on his mind.

The music faded up softly as Pudding stood beside her brother and as she joined him at the altar her expression was difficult to interpret but Law was notoriously deficient in the art of reading people. 

“Dearly beloved and honored guests,” the officiate addressed the room “We are gathered together here to join Trafalgar D. Water Law and Charlotte Pudding in the union of marriage. This contract is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously, and with a deep realization of its obligations and responsibilities.”

He paused briefly and Law had expected him to say the famous “Speak now or forever hold your peace.” quote that is featured in nearly every movie involving a wedding but the man said no such thing. 

Gesturing to Law he continued “Do you, Law, take Pudding, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part."

He could feel the sweat drop down the side of his face. Taking a glance at the guests made him swallow hard. He couldn’t locate any of the strawhats and (Y/N) was still missing in action but so was Doflamingo. It was the end of the line and there was no getting out of this. Law had no faith and no hope left to spare as the words fell softly from his lips.

“I do…” 

He lost. Everyone gave it their all and even Luffy couldn’t perform a miracle to save him from this fate. He took a shaky breath looking at Pudding. Law was so frantically absorbed in his own self preservation that he hadn’t even acknowledged Pudding's almost uncharacteristic expression. He was surprised to see something almost human in her eyes as she looked in awe at him. It puzzled him greatly as the ceremony continued. Did he miss something? 

"And do you, Pudding, take Law, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part."

Pudding debated what to say. When she walked into the building she already knew what her answer was going to be but she stood there in disbelief at Law's actions. God she wanted what they had so bad and maybe one day she could. She leaned in to whisper to Law "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I finally understand what (Y/N) sees in you and you better treat her right or I'll kick your ass" this just made Law more confused but before he could ask what she was on about Pudding slipped a small paper in his hand and stepped forward to face the audience.

"I apologize for my actions today and I understand how this will reflect on my family but I can not continue this union." Pudding bows as she continues "I take full responsibility for the repercussions since I am the one at fault. I can not marry today because I am in love with someone else and it would be unfair to Law and a mockery of this establishment to wed someone in this way." 

Law watched the room fall into chaos as Pudding stormed back down the aisle with a fierce unshakable confidence ignoring reporters and family members. While everyone was preoccupied with Pudding Law read the note. His sisters took up the task of pushing back the crowd that was trying to come up to the altar to question Law. Bepo, Shachi and Penguin surrounded him, noticing the paper in his hands.

"Well? What are you waiting for captain?"

"Go find her already!"

"We've got this covered."

They waved him off while they distracted some reporters who were trying to get Law’s input as he slipped through the back doors. He couldn't help the grin that plastered itself across his face as he bolted down the corridor.

___

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[flaresanimedump]

Ok so. I was gonna make a post that Ranpo technically didn't go to school. So I went to look at the Origins novel and I checked the raw because of all the omissions in the TL (Ranpo was kicked out of the police academy 6 months before the start of the plot not "less than a year ago" it's very explicitly 半年 "half year"). And uh. Well so on that topic they kicked him out when he was 13, but a police academy isn't considered a real school in Japan so while his education in Japanese language continued he didn't have the core subjects from the age of 12 on. But also.

The English line when Ranpo talks about the school is: "The rules were a pain in the ass. Don’t leave the dorm after curfew, no buying sweets, wear these clothes, follow these rules. And the classes bored me to death."

These are all relatively common restrictions for Japanese schools (snacking is only prohibited at stricter ones), though a couple of wording things stood out. One, the "pain in the ass" rules is 規則 (actually rules) and "follow these rules" is 規律 - ominously "discipline" (this line being more like "not to mention X, Y, Z, Z being the discipline). "Discipline" isn't "punishment," it just has a strictness vibe, but it's a creepy thing to say imo. I hear this and think Trunchbull from Matilda.

So I went to check out the Wikipedia page on "Police Academies" and I see "脱走及び逃走の防止" - "escape and escape prevention" which is an immediate red flag for any live-in institution. "Escape" could also be translated as "desertion" but what followed was a short paragraph saying "there's no barbed wire like a prison but coming and going is strictly controlled" so I'm going with "escape." Ranpo attended something like those kiddie marine bootcamps that were all the rage in the 2000s. I don't know about anybody else but growing up nondivergent camps like that were my absolute worst nightmare.

So I'm already Distressed at the thought of this - but thing about "no buying sweets" is it's age-focused. "No buying sweets" is like "no snacking" but it's specifically "[a child] buying and eating sweets [while away from home thus spoiling their appetite]." This is against the rules because "they should eat food prepared by their parents" and the,,, incredibly sad irony isn't lost on me there even though the academy was feeding him. Which begs the question: can you really train a 12 year old to become a detective?

So I went to the Japanese National Police Agency website because I wasn't sure what the age range for attendance at these schools was. And I found it.

Eighteen to thirty.

Ranpo lasted eighteen months in a military academy for eighteen to thirty year olds until they kicked him out.

*I'm not going to claim this is all 100% right since Japanese prefectures set the lower age limit at 18, which could mean Asagiri was just makin' shit up or there's some lesser-known police middle school that calls itself the exact same thing as the one for adults. You're only supposed to stay at them for 10 months so there's already some other suspect things here. But I think it's pretty on-brand for Ranpo to think college-level classes are boring. Also his dad was connected to the principal so he could probably bend the rules a little to get Ranpo admitted.

UPDATE: 10/4/24

So on the rewatch of the anime I noticed they did include a picture of the school behind Ranpo:

And unless slenderman was one of his classmates I assume they meant to imply that the school was, in fact, an actual middle school. This isn't clear in the books though so I'm not sure how canon I feel it is, especially when this is the memory right before:

And this is the one before that:

So in the anime there's an actual boy detective school, which could?? be a sort of reference to author Edogawa Rampo's Boy Detectives Club, though that was a club and not a full school. I feel it makes more sense that he'd been stuck almost entirely around adults after his parents died since that's his main focus throughout his story - if he'd been stuck around other kids for 1.5 years, why not say everyone is nuts? But anyway, at least in the anime it's a regular school.

[tjerra14]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @foibles-fables, thank you so much, buddy! Tagging @philliam-writes and anyone else who wants to do this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 26.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 126,430.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently Horizon, mostly. I still have some Dragon Age fics lounging about my WIP folders and I do plan to continue them some day, but who knows when that day will come. Probably the same day DA4 releases. Which, at this point, might just be never. You know how it is.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? All Horizon ones: In You, All Things; Inertia; Unfold Your Empty Space; Plasticity and Linger.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do my best to respond to them, because I just feel it's a nice way of interacting with my readers, and expressing my gratitude for them taking the time to read my fics. However, sometimes I get a little overwhelmed, or life just drains me of all energy until I straight up forget that I still have some unanswered comments waiting for me, so if you left a comment I never replied to, have my deepest apologies and the reassurance that I will get to them. One day. Very likely before DA4 releases.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmm, that's a good question. I usually make a point of ending on a more hopeful note, even if it's sometimes turning it around with literally the last sentence, so... Homecoming, maybe? Although that one is mostly just sad.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Bit of a tie between Unfold Your Empty Space and In All Its Splendour here, but given I like to put Aloy and Ikrie into situations and Splendour is a special one for me, I'm leaning towards the latter. It's actual fluff! For once!

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, at least not that I know of. Gonna chew off the ankles of anyone spreading hate on fics, be it mine or other people's, like a crazed chihuahua though, if I ever come across it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, and no. I tend to tiptoe the line with implied sexual content (sometimes it's heavily implied), but I have considered writing primarily smut before (and technically done it? For Dragon Age??) and will probably do it one of these days. Expect many more music metaphors. And hands. So many hands. I'm sorry.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? No. I'm struggling to come up with scenarios for even canon or canon-adjacent things, I simply can't fathom to throw multiple things together and somehow make them work. I'm in awe of everyone who can, though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so. (Once again, chihuahua bites--)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not in the sense of this question. I did translate my own writing a few years ago, since I started writing All Things Desolate And Forgotten as well as some parts of A New Beginning in German (even going as far as translating parts of the Chant of Light for myself since I didn't feel the official German translation kept the flow and melody of it), but quickly came to realise that Dragon Age and German just won't work for me, so I switched to English and stuck to it ever since.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not in earnest, but there was a fun joke project @philliam-writes and me discussed over a bottle of wine or two years ago. Still thinking about disaster Trevelyans with a side of power couple Eleanor/Imira sometimes.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Aloy/Ikrie. What can I say. They have seized my heart and refused to let it go ever since. Beta/Milu is a close contender, though.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Realistically speaking, A Little Faith. I keep telling myself I will work on it again, but right as I was getting back into it, Horizon came along and demanded all my writing juice. I suppose only time will tell.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterisation and evocative language. I like to think I'm fairly good at portraying the emotions and atmosphere of a scene.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Anything action. Fight scenes especially are the bane of my existence. Choreographing things? Horror. Then turning said imagined choreography into words that make it understandable and real for a reader? Torture.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Neat, if it serves a purpose and is done well. Wouldn't overdo it though, because it might take away from the effect.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Dragon Age. I used to write original fiction only and looked down on fanfiction writers for most of my teen years because they "didn't do the entire work", but hitting a hard block, getting into gaming properly at around the same time and then realising there were stories I wanted and was able to tell within the setting presented within those games quickly turned those sentiments around. Absolutely for the better. I'm very glad to have started writing fanfic and was able to meet so many lovely people through it.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? There are many fics very dear to my heart so this is hard to decide, but I think the circumstances surrounding its creation ultimately push Reprise to the top.

[pbandjesse]

I am almost 100% sure that I am sick but I do not have the time and I refuse to accept that. I do not have time to be sick.

But that I was starting to not feel good today, it was hard to be 100% on the ball but you know what we did it. And even though there was a big confusion in the middle everything was great and I had a really excellent day.

I didn't sleep great. I think I fell asleep pretty early because I don't remember much from last night but waking up this morning sucked. James came and tried to wake me up but I needed like 10 more minutes before I was going to the emotionally able to get up. But we did it and I went and got dressed and I liked my outfit but my hair felt terrible. Just so dry. Honestly I feel dry all over. It's supposed to get very very cold tonight so I think maybe it's partially that? But I was messing with my hair all day today. Didn't feel nice.

We got breakfast and that was annoying because the line was very long for some reason but we still have to work on time and then went to do our thing.

The school ended up being an hour late. Which was pretty frustrating. One of their buses didn't show up. But in the meantime I walked around with Lauren, the other sub from the nursery. And we talked about if she felt comfortable doing any parts of the tour. And then I ended up sitting on the bench talking to Jordan for half an hour about all of the crazy stuff that's happened in our respective families. And by the time the kids got here we were all ready to go.

Button that hour Mike and Jessica kept making more schedules trying to fix the times because the school had to leave. I hate when schools are late and then expect that the day is going to end at the same time that they were originally told. So we ended up having to cut a bunch of stuff and change the things. Which is fine except I was not given the final corrected schedule. And so while my first program which was my tour would excellent for being a half an hour tour The rest of the day was very confused.

But like I said my tour was great. I only was able to do two and a half rooms but I really got a lot of cannery in even though I technically didn't have the time. I can talk really fast so it all worked out. And Lauren said that she was amazed at how much information I got in in that time. So that was nice for my ego.

Then the kids had lunch because that's just the way the schedule worked out tonight. And then I grabbed them to take them to the assembly line. They did a pretty good job there. One of the reasons I can tell that I'm getting sick is that I kept stumbling on my words and having to go blah blah and reset my mouth. But I don't think the kids minded much. And we finished up exactly on time at 11:50.

This is where the problem came in. While my schedule set 11:50 for my cannery it was an overlap. And no one had put anything out for me. They're supposed to put out tags and props. That did not happen. Okay. I went and told the kids to sit at the chairs and I ran to the back and I grabbed them myself. And just said to Jess, the new girl, hey I don't have any stuff. And she was like what there's another cannery? Turns out she is never done an overlap before and she did not know what was going on. Okay I will go and do it. So my understanding was that the overlap was supposed to be done at 12:10. At 12:10 I could hear through the door that they were still watching the video. That's not good. So I vamped for about seven more minutes as much as I could. And they were still in there. Jessica thankfully had already gotten the tags for me so I handed everything out and I went in while they were reading them to find Gabby to find out what was going on. And I told her I am not upset with you I just don't understand what's happening. And her schedule said that her Cannary has done at 12:20!! So she was in the middle of her last store. And I was like oh no. And she was like oh no! So she said she would wrap them up and get them out of there.

So I went back and I explained to the kids what each step would be of how we started our jobs and did my best to just expand until Jessica and Adam came and got the office workers and then everything was okay. But man was that a stressful a couple minutes there.

The cannery itself was great. They went a little fast but we ended up having to cut the last door by 3 minutes anyway so it all worked out in the end. And it was a good time.

After I hugged Gabby and I just apologized and told her that was so stressful and I thanked her for helping fix everything. I hate to be the ones running around the cannery with my head cut off because of a schedule issue. Especially because I've complained about other people doing that in the past. But everything was fine and it all worked out and everything is okay now.

I ended up sitting upstairs with everyone cleaning oysters and gossiping about everything until it was time to go. I told James I wanted to stop at 7-Eleven and then I would go home and take a nap. Lauren asked if I could give her a ride back so she didn't have to wait for the bus. And she literally lives three blocks away from me so of course I said yes I'm so glad she asked and I hope she asks in the future.

So we packed up and me and her left. Stopped for my shitty 7-Eleven pizza. And went home. She told me she owes me a donut.

When I got back here I changed into my sweatshirt I have been sleeping in. And got in bed. I didn't sleep for a while but eventually my body was just like okay it's time for rest. And I slept really hard. James woke me up a couple times but I was very unhappy and was not feeling right. Honestly right now as I write this I'm feeling a little better but my chest hurt really bad and the back of my throat feels weird it doesn't exactly hurt but it doesn't feel good. And I can't sneeze without it hurting incredibly bad.

When I woke up James asked if they should order food. I had asked earlier in the day to get sandwiches. And so they went and picked that up and we ate dinner on the couch. while they were gone I got together everything for my workshop tomorrow. Which has 100% sold out now. 15 people! I am terrified but I think it's going to be great. And hopefully I'm not forgetting anything.

After dinner me and James just chilled on the couch watching videos. I took a bubble bath. Which did help me feel a little better. I'm still pretty achy and stuff but I'm not hurting in my chest as much.

And now I am in bed and I'm going to go to sleep. Me and James will go to work tomorrow together and I will have my workshop and hopefully it will go off as well as the last one did. Don't know if it will be adults or kids but either way I hope it's a lot of fun.

I hope you all have a great night tonight. When I get home tomorrow I'm hoping to do a couple more embroideries since I don't have any left that I did early. And I have a lot to catch up on my blanket but I might work on that on Sunday. Either way. I hope you all have a good night sleep and try to stay warm in the very chilly night.

Take care of yourselves. Wash your hands!

[chaos-in-deepspace]

Honestly when it comes to writing, it's never a race. Just write and when something is finished, it's finished. However, if writing speed bugs the crap outta you and you wanna get faster, this is how I did it (Generally in a solid hour of writing I can get out about 3kish words written out, sometimes 3.5k, just for reference.)

Consistency

The method to learning how to write faster is...to write. Literally just writing consistently and your speed will improve. I've been writing at minimum once a week since I was about thirteen years old. Now and days I generally write five days out of the week, sometimes I do all seven days if I'm feeling up to it.

Drabble Writing Sprints

Writing sprints are a good way to up your speed, and it's how I got faster, and writing drabbles is also a nice way to warm up your writing brain. You can either start a new document, or keep one large document and write down the word counts of every session next to the title of the drabble. Drabble word counts vary from person to person, the technical definition is 100 words, but it can vary from person to person. For me, it's anything under 1,000 words, but that's just me.

Get into a distraction free area and set a timer for however long you wanna go for. I'll normally set a 10-15 minute timer for my sprints. The moment you hit the start button you just go.

It doesn't matter about typos, doesn't matter about research, literally nothing matters during a sprint. Hell, if need be, instead of writing "Too" use "2", or "You" can become "U". Things like punctuation, commas, capitalization can be done later. The only goal with these is to get your words down on paper (or screen).

Everything can be fixed in post. You can always edit your documents, but getting the ideas down without thinking too much about it is what's going to improve your speed.

If you're worried about not having an idea for your drabble, look at a list of writing prompts, or use helpful websites that can give you prompts!

Outlining

Outlining was probably the biggest thing for me when it came to writing faster, next to sprints. Having your ideas outlined makes it so much easier to get everything written out. It requires less thinking during the writing process as you just look at what's supposed to be happening and go with it.

At the end of the day, as long as you're writing that's all that matters. Writing speed comes in time, these are just ways to focus on getting faster in general. Remember that not everybody's brains work the same either, just because this method worked for me, doesn't mean it's the holy grail. Just keep writing.

(line divider by @ strangergraphics )

how do people write fics so fast. a literal 1K wordcount fic usually takes me from a few hours to 2 days. a 6K wordcount fic took me about more than half a month. meanwhile i see people with a 3K word fic who are like "i wrote this in 20 minutes" or a 10K word fic that only took them a few hours. HOW?

I imagine some folks get like the zoomies but for writing XD

Take your time! There’s absolutely no rush!

[tetrisfinished]

here we go again - my head and my heart are in conflict again.

i don't get why logic doesn't work on my heart.

or i guess i should say my "heart", because really the logic of my brain is just in conflict with the emotion of my brain.

we're at my parents' place today - yesterday (saturday) my mom hosted a dawat for my cousin and her husband for completing hajj. we all came together as a family but of course yasir left with my cousin and his family (since they live close by to us) to hitch a ride back home with them.

he was gone on thursday night until 1 in the morning (he left around 10 or 11 pm though).

he was gone all of friday for work and then with his buddies he planned a night out in mississauga. he got back home around 3 in the morning.

and today, sunday, a full day out of the long weekend, he has plans with his buddies for the day. probably to go to tobermory or somewhere along these lines.

and i mean, i'm not fighting him about this. i let him go wherever - she said as if "let" is the correct word to use there. he asked me about these plans - she says as if "ask" is the correct word to use there.

and even though i know, it's been made wildly clear to me that while yasir does love esa and maybe even me, we just aren't his first or top most prioirity. and even though i know you're supposed to believe people when they show you how you rank in their lives. and even though last weekend he once again showed me the exact same thing by not making any plans with me under the guise of his upcoming medical procedure (on wednesday of this past week), he still ended up spending a whole weekend with his family at the cottage.

while esa and i did our thing together at wonderland and my friends' baby shower.

even though i know and see and accept all of these things. my heart is heavy tonight with the knowledge and proof of how we are not his top priority.

and i don't get it.

i know these things to be true.

i understand this. i have logicked it all out for myself. i GET IT. so why do i just not GET IT.

why does the lump still form in my throat?

why do i keep hoping for change when the proof of everything, plain and simple, is right in front of my eyes.

why do i keep hoping he'll wake up one day and realize what he's missing out on in his kids' life. why do i keep hoping for things i know for a fact will not be happening.

why do i keep being surprised when i am treated as if i am trying to take unfair advantage of him by using his money for things like the 407.

why do i keep being surprised or hurt by his behavioure as if my feelings will or are ever considered in his life?

and i'm trying to change. i'm trying to force myself all the time to arrive at the logical conclusion. to accept this behaviour. to be okay. to be happy.

and for the most part i think i might be pulling it off just fine. i've got my kid to look out for. my sweet, sensitive kid, who already has started to compare himself to everyone else about every other aspect of his life. i've got my kid to spend time with and make memories with.

i just don't get how i get my part of it wrong every single time.

how do i manage to just....be so wrong all the time? how do i manage to make these decisions.

what is the right decision? i don't know honestly.

how do i find out. therapy didn't help.

i mean, i think it did, i get things now the way i should.

i guess it's still on me for sticking around and keeping that same wound open and bleeding when i could technically leave and close up my heart - give it i a chance to heal.

but once again - that's my fault.

it just....sometimes it feels like too much to ask of ONE PERSON to be making all of these life decisions. it feels like too much to ask of one person to make this grand huge decision to leave, part ways, it just feels like a really fucking shitty situation and i wish i could accept the help when i ask for it. but i can't seem to even be able to do that so....here we are.

my life and my being....it's a fucking joke. i wish i could make esa forget my existence and pass him to parents who would care and cherish him the way he deserves. to parents who wold listen and love him. to parents who are happy and respectful with each other. to parents who genuinely and truly love each other and him. his quality of life would increase so much if it wasn't 2 parents constantly bickering at each other, 2 parents constantly in conflict. granted we do still love him, but there you have it folks. i've made a fucking joke out of parenting this goddamn AMAZING little kid, the absolute biggest fucking blessing i have and will EVER receive from Allah swt. so there. you. have. it.

-k

[ethereal-kloud]

sometimes i get the urge to write genshin as close to canon compliant as i can get, in a fic form.

but there’s the issue of the timeline for events + world quests + limited time events (lantern rite, windblume, lisa’s thing a while back, arataki itto’s beetle fight event, etc)

sure, some quests have prerequisite quests you need to do, but some don’t and that makes it really difficult to find out where exactly in the plot they fit in.

example: the aranara quest with rana! that’s before the sumeru archon quest (i’m like 90% sure traveler mentions that they know what withering zones are, and tighnari comments that he isn’t the first forest ranger they’ve met? i’m also not sure if that dialogue changes if traveler hasn’t started that quest. i don’t know if you can, and going through genshin again is uh. not something i want to do.)

but uh, with that quest, i technically started it before i completed liyue’s archon quest (i was avoiding it) and in that quest, there’s a couple kids you need to tell stories of your adventures. and um, somehow, traveler could tell them inazuma and liyue, despite the fact that i hadn’t done them at that point.

also like,,, how long as traveler been awake in teyvat? because,,, technically, in game, the lantern rite and windblume happen once a year, but multiple have technically happened.

additionally: character voice lines

where would they fit??? the ‘hello’ lines aren’t what they say to traveler when they’re actually in a quest??? and when would traveler have time to meet the ones that don’t actually show up in main quests (albedo, mona, klee, (i think) etc).

wait, the teapot.

and story quests, ugh, there’s just a lot to include and plan out and i’m getting stressed just thinking about it.

(zhongli’s story quest: you need to get on that one boat thing in liyue but apparently i hadn’t done the quest to get permission to get on that boat. when i did after zhongli’s quest, i accidentally picked the one person that ended my searching for a way to stay on the ship, and the npc in charge of the ship said that they saw traveler talk to multiple people and get denied by most of them, despite the fact that i,,, didn’t talk to any but one.)

and the descriptions i would have to go through, hm.

maybe just dialogue. but even then, some of the english lines ummm don’t match up with the text, i’ve noticed. some is just extra sound to show character traits, but others has like, a word off the meaning the same and idk how i’d pick.

and cutscenes, um, the traveler’s gem things glow with whatever element the god of the nation they’re in is, even if i stay on anemo traveler 99% of the time. so idk if they’re technically supposed to resonate with the element they’re using, or just the lingering elements in the air/earth/whatever (elemental sight but not???)

i almost forgot about the extra content that’s only in chinese.

there’s apparently a ‘food blog’? and that has extra characterization that’s just,,, not in the game but just as valid because it’s by the game developers???? the fact that traveler ‘writes’ those entries, that they know the recipes, means that at some point, traveler learned how to make it from them. when did they have time for this????

aaaaaa i’m like 90% sure that’s why any genshin impact actually following the plot fics have never been finished. the other 10% is just because all the nations aren’t out yet and foreshadowing for things you don’t know is hard especially if you want it to be very very canon compliant. if you make something up with what you know and it’s wrong, then you’d have to tag it as canon divergent, which is kind of :/

this isn’t really an idea just rambling i guess. i want to do that, but all the dialogue and motivation

(and that i’ve gotten. semi-obsessed with star rail. genuinely i think i’ve written more for that in a week than i have for genshin unfortunately)

(months later i come back and i have now gotten obsessed with wuthering waves 😔)

but like yeah anyway also traveler loses like 90% of their fights even though they can. use multiple elements = multiple reactions. like yeah losing your powers getting used to it but. haven’t you been here for like years now 😭

[goeticarchaeologist]

Today In Why Microsoft Word Sucks

Today, like most days, I started my day with a nice cup of coffee, and opened up Microsoft Word so I can work on my Master's Thesis, due in January, there's just a few edits before I send off to my supervisors, so I'm on a bit of a deadline, but no worries, just a few small minor edits. Except! I opened up my thesis, cracked my knuckles ready for a day of editing, when, oddly, there was far more red lines than there should be, on all of the authors, my references section, and various technical words. Apparently, Word updated. And for some reason, my dictionary of custom words has been deleted and it won't let me add words to my dictionary. My entire references section is now one giant red line due to all of the author names, but also because I have a lot of sources in Swedish, German, and French, so all of those words aren't recognized anymore. Not to mention various technical stuff, swedish words, anything with an accent, ect. I've used the same dictionary for over 10 years, so there is a lot of data there that is lost. So, I googled, and tried every single, link that even partially pertained to my problem. I've signed out and in, restarted my computer, signed out and in again. I checked the dictionaries themselves, and the words are actually gone, its not just using a different dictionary Repaired Microsoft 3 different times, restarted my computer 3 more times Since this was due to the World's Shittiest Update, I attempted to restore back to a previous version. Still didn't work. Repaired one more time. Attempted to uninstall and reinstall except now I cant reinstall for some reason, there is simply no download button, or I get a blank page, or an error message Complete Panic Attack. I need Word to finish my master's dissertations (I don't know if i can use LibreOffice or anything else considering I have a template I'm supposed to use. I have uploaded copies of my thesis to the cloud and to a flash drive, but I can't edit it without Word) Ok ok, so maybe if I do a System Restore Point back to yesterday before all of this update crap it will fix itself? No uninstalls, no deleting my dictionary? Nope. Silly me. Still no Microsoft office, just now more error messages when I try to open it. Cue Panic Attack Part 2 Electric Boogaloo now with Crying and Screaming Still can't reinstall because there is simply no download option or a blank page. Can't repair it. Just more error messages. Try to contact customer support. The link is broken. New Link. Error message. Refresh. Blank Page. So now I'm just completely screwed. No idea what to do now. Scared to email my supervisor and don't know how to contact customer support. Attempting to download using my student account. Its been an hour, and it is still downloading, while I slowly lose more and more of my sanity and internet connection.

I'm going to go take a nap. Maybe this is just a nightmare....

[thatdragonzeek]

New stuff I’ve thought of over the past week for the Suspect One AU (working title) !!!

It’s basically an entire plot line so!!

Spoiler stuff ahead!

Ya know how Akari gets dropped into Hisui with the Arc Phone and the mission to “seek out all Pokemon”??

YEAH, SO

That, but Ingo and Arc Transceiver (his xtransciever is it wasn’t obv) and his mission is!!

“Protect my champion” or something like that

“champion” used in the terms of like “one who fights on behalf of someone else” That champion is Akari!!

Ingo still loses his memories, but the Arc Transceiver tells him his purpose, and while he doesn’t know who this champion is yet, he knows that’s what he’s supposed to do

stuff continues on as usual, Ingo quickly becomes part of the Pearl Clan and becomes Lady Sneasler’s Warden not long after

About a month after Ingo arrived, Akari arrives, however

She is a small child, like think 2 or 3 yrs old, starting to talk, but not yet forming coherent words or sentences

She has the Arc Phone, and seeing as it has the same symbol as the one on his Arc Trans, he knows immediately that this is the so called champion.

The Phone is just,,,, blank. doesn’t turn on, but we are DERAILING HERE SO

Akari ends up w the Pearl Clan. No one knows why this literal CHILD has fallen from the rift, and no one knows what to do with her. She has no name or guardian

Before he figures out about the Arc Phone, Ingo is sympathetic for the child. He sympathizes w/ her, but he’s not sure how to care for a child, so when Irida suggest it (”she’ll need someone who understands what it’s like to not know where she’s from” or some other logic, haven’t fully thought out that interaction)

So he tells her he’ll think abt it, fully intending to flat out refuse, and just goes back home to Lady Sneasler. He ends up seeing the glowing Pokemon (arceus) who “gave” him the Arc Trans in his dream that night, and it just repeats, “protect my champion” and Ingo is like “???? Who? Is that?”

It happens twice more before Arceus realizes how dense this idiot is and goes “oh my ME, the CHILD”

Ingo is hesitant at first to take her in but he??? does?? and he calls her Akari (it just felt like a good fit)

Yes this is a dad Ingo AU, and it literally took reading ONE FIC with dadgo in it for me to go “HOW COULD I FIT THIS IN THE AU?”

Anyways, Irida gives him the Arc Phone when he takes her in and it just stays in a drawer for ages while Akari grows up

fjhejkunhukchnek this text post is jumping all over the place in terms of chronology but jkfhkjef idc!

The first time Ingo runs into Melli again after adopting Akari, it’s just “there is a child on your back” “yes” “???????” “yes” and Melli doesn’t bring it up ever again, Ingo just has a daughter now, okay??

Time jump 9 or 10 years to the point the main part of the fic actually takes place in, the Arc phone eventually activated, giving Akari her mission.

Ingo doesn’t tell her immediately. At this point, Akari is like 12/13, and Ingo has become fairly protective of his daughter. But she finds the device and he explains to her what it is

After a week of constant nagging, he finally caves and she joins the Survey Corps (I know the game states “you look to be around 15″ but like I’m gonna ignore that and make it 13. Akari’s actual age is not known. They assume her to be around that age, so they’re like “yeah sure”)

Her first Pokemon is one of Lady Sneasler’s children. She literally hands just an egg to Akari. The Professor still gives her one of the PLA Starters because you cant battle with an EGG.

She chooses Oshawott, coz Dawn uses a water starter and also Dark type helps against Psychic type, which is good against Sneasel’s Fighting type and I want her to have a balanced team so technically Oshawott is her first mon?? Pax the Hisuian Sneasel becomes her main Pokemon so

She was raised in ancient Hisui rather than present Sinnoh, so she has some semblance of responsibility, but she still has a natural gift for catching Pokemon, plus with her dad being a great battler and battle strategist, she’s got that going for her, too

Also because Ingo raised her, she’s picked up some of his mannerisms, like the pointing, train terminology, saying incomprehensible (to other Hisuians) shit like “All Aboard”

No inside voice w Akari, she was raised by the loudest person in all of Unova

A few months after she’s joined the survey corps, Emmet arrives with the help of a certain time traveling pokemon, and said pokemon get’s injured

Akari finds him, thinking from a distance “was that my dad???” but realizes it’s not

She’s heard her father talk of a memory of “a man who looks like him, but in white” as well as that Zoroark often try to trap him w this

Naturally she is cautious, is this a zoroark? But he doesn’t ask for her father, and he has an injured pokemon, so she decides, “screw it, lets help him, Lady Sneasler will be able to tell if he’s a person”

And she is! After she does a double take because !! That is her Warden? But it’s not?? Is it??

“my dad is a warden, he’ll help your friend”

One of the funniest things is that, like, in the years they’ve been existing in the highlands, Ingo and Melli have somewhat become friends

mostly Melli just needed someone to complain to and Ingo was the only person around

he actually listens, too! unusual for melli

Melli has definitely developed some sort of crush and uses every excuse to be in his personal space

Ingo, despite not liking physical contact much (autism Ingo go brr), has grown accustomed to his fellow warden just draped over him in a dramatic fashion complaining about e v e r y t h i n g

Also personal headcanon time! I see Melli as AFAB nonbinary he/him. he uses cloth wraps to bind, and has trained his voice to be more masculine sounding

He often hangs out at Ingo’s house when his binding wraps have been washed and/or are drying because he knows Ingo will call him by his proper pronouns regardless

that info all adds up to a glorious scene that i am drawing where Emmet and Akari arrive at a time when Melli is Not Binding, but is draped over Ingo in his dramatic fashion.

Akari excitedly greets her dad and Melli (she def knows about Melli’s crush. she approved)

Meanwhile Emmet’s brain is just short circuiting while he takes everything in

Melli with blue hair, who is draped over Ingo

Ingo with silver eyes, who hates physical contact, who has been missing for 10 years, and who always liked the name Akari

Akari, who has blue-black hair and grey eyes, looks to be around ten years old, and has greeted Ingo as “Dad”

not to mention her Pokemon is clearly the pre-evo to Lady Sneasler, who’d greeted Ingo as though she were his Pokemon

He has no idea what is actually happening but suddenly he’s like “omg he has a family back here he is never going to want to come home why didn’t i look into if he had a family”

Meanwhile Ingo Does Not Recognize Him(tm) and upon seeing the injured Celebi, he just carefully takes it from a very still, very unresponsive Emmet and immediately starts to administer care to it

Emmet’s arrival in Hisui is what triggers the frenzy of the nobles

IT IS 10:50 PM I AM GOING TO BED BUT YEAH ENJOY ALL OF THOSE

[spanishskulduggery]

Hi! I'm studying B1.2/B2 level Spanish and I want to learn * words to express things more*...(recently I learned,, conectores del discurso,, and some ,,frases hechas,,)

I'm sorry if you already posted something like this, I'm a new follower and I just saw that you have this account since 2013! (P.S.between it's hard for me to study words for any language; I have to write 1 word 10 times to memorize it,and others just read it once)

Have a great day!🌸

So I'm going to attach some of the (what I call) academic connectors. They're just words that I find really helpful for explaining things or especially in oral exams or written exams to sound more coherent and link your sentences together.

I suppose the more correct term is something like particles of speech or something along those lines, but they're the kinds of phrases you will want to know if you have any intention of writing in Spanish and especially if it's in an academic setting:

de hecho = in fact, as a matter of fact

no obstante = nevertheless, regardless

de todas formas = in any event, regardless

sin embargo = however, nevertheless

con respecto a (algo/alguien) = regarding (something/someone), with regards to (something/someone)

en cuanto a (algo/alguien) = regarding, with regards to

por lo general = in general generalmente/normalmente = generally / normally

mayormente = for the most part, mostly, mainly en su mayoría = mainly, in its majority, for the most part

en realidad = actually, in reality

actualmente = currently, nowadays hoy en día = currently, nowadays, today

antiguamente = formerly, in the past, previously

por lo tanto = therefore, as such

a su paso = “in its wake”, “in its path”

a medida que = "as", "while (something is/was happening)"

ya que... = since, given that...

así = like that, that way

así que... = so..., that being the case...

pues... = then / since..., that being the case...

entonces = then [in a sequence of events] / then, consequently

por consiguiente / consiguientemente = consequently, as a consequence

de una vez = for once de una vez por todas = once and for all

por enésima vez = "for the umpteenth time", "for the hundredth/millionth time" [hyperbolic]

al principio = in the beginning, at the start

al fin = at the end, in the end, at last, finally

lo primero es lo primero = “first things first”

por último, finalmente = lastly, finally, ultimately

dicho eso... = that being said...

susodicho/a = aforementioned

de antemano = beforehand

a lo largo de (periodo de tiempo) = throughout (time period)

durante = during / for

últimamente = lately, recently

según (algo/alguien) = according to (something/someone) / as per

de acuerdo con (algo) = as per (something), in accordance with

por lo visto = apparently, "it would seem..."

desde luego (que) = of course, surely

en absoluto = absolutely not, in no way

a pesar de (algo/alguien) = despite, in spite of (something/someone) pese a (algo/alguien), despite, in spite of (something/someone)

a partir de = starting (at a point), since, from a partir de hoy = starting today, from today on a partir de aquí = from here on out a partir de ahora = starting now, from now on a partir de entonces = from that point on, from then on a partir de mañana = as of tomorrow, starting tomorrow

de ahora/hoy en adelante = from now on, from this point on

en tal caso... = in that case...

por defecto = by default

principalmente = for the most part, mainly, mostly

además = furthermore, in addition

por casualidad = by chance, coincidentally

al azar = at random, randomly

al menos / por lo menos = at least

al contrario = on the contrary

por el contrario = by contrast

en cambio = in contrast, by contrast, conversely

al revés = upside-down, inside-out, topsy-turvy

(todo) patas arriba = “upside-down”, “everything in chaos”, “turned on its ear/head”

de igual manera = in the same way de igual forma = in the same way del mismo modo = in the same way igualmente = likewise, in the same way

de manera diferente = differently de otra manera = differently, in a different way de otro modo = differently

tal y como = just like, exactly tal y como es = exactly how it is

de/en cierto modo = in some way / in a sense de cierta manera = in some way / in a sense

en algún sentido = in a sense en cierto sentido = in a sense

de una manera u otra = one way or another de una forma u otra = one way or another

apenas = hardly, barely a duras penas = hardly, barely

a secas = plainly, simply

en lugar de, en vez de = instead (of) [you’d phrase this as en lugar de algo “instead of something”, or en su lugar “in its stead” or “in its place”; it takes some getting used to]

por accidente, accidentalmente = accidentally, by mistake

todavía = still

de vez en cuando = “from time to time”

a la vez = at the same time, simultaneously

en promedio, como media = on average

por las buenas = “the easy way”

por las malas = “the hard way”

de corto plazo = short-term

de largo plazo = long-term

a cambio (de) = in exchange (for)

a propósito = on purpose, not an accident

por cierto = by the way

a/en todos los efectos = for all intents and purposes en todo sentido = for all intents and purposes

mientras tanto = meanwhile

hasta = until, up to / even, including hasta que + subjuntivo = until (something happens; subjunctive)

incluso = even, including

al pie de la letra = “to a T”, exactly, precisely, “by the book” tomar al pie de la letra = to be very precise and methodical

(tomar algo) a la ligera = (to take something) lightly

por dondequiera / por doquier = “everywhere”, “every which way”, “all over the place”

de cabo a rabo = completely, through and through

al fin y al cabo = “at the end of the day”

por (el) otro lado = “on the other hand”

que yo sepa = as far as I know que tú sepas = as far as you know que nosotros sepamos = as far as we know [follows conjugation rules for subjunctive saber]

es decir (que)... = that is to say..., in other words...

o sea... = in other words...

And obviously por and para which are their own issue but they come up a lot. Which is understandable but they’re a big hurdle even for people in the C levels

There are others that are better understood with examples because it’s not enough to just write it. So:

aun vs. aún -aun with no accent is “even” and is synonymous with hasta or incluso -aún with the accent is “yet” and is synonymous with todavía

o sea -The expression o sea is used as “in other words”; do not confuse it with óseo/a which is “osseous” or “bone-related”, an adjectival form of hueso “bone”. Some people do write it as one word “osea” but it really should be separate... and sea is technically subjunctive ser

certain expressions with femenino de indeterminación -a solas “one-on-one” or “privately” -a sabiendas “knowing full well” -a ciegas “blindly” or “in the dark” -a escondidas “secretly”  And many others, some of which were in the longer vocab list above

subjunctive phrases [use with care] -There are many phrases with subjunctive that you eventually need to know and they can be helpful in essays, though again this is its own topic. Things like para que “so that (something will happen)” or con tal (de) que “as long as (something happens)” are sort of subjunctive phrases of unmet conditions... things like “unless” or “until” things happen are subjunctive in many cases. Some like aunque become “although” with indicative and “even though / even if” in subjunctive... I say use with care because this is more of a functional vocab list not a grammar lesson.

solo, sólo, y solamente -solo/a as an adjective means “only/single/a single person” or it means “alone” -solo as an adverb is synonymous with sólo. The accent mark there is a vocal inflection so it’s like “ONLY”. You use either as “only” or “just”. Since it’s an adverb, solo will not change for gender/plural -solamente is “solely” and is synonymous with solo/sólo

pero vs. sino -pero is “but” when you’re changing the topic or providing different information; no es de Alemania pero habla alemán “he’s not German but he speaks German” -sino is “but rather” when you’re correcting someone’s statement; no es alemán sino francés “he’s not German (but rather), he’s French”

I would also say it’s worth understanding how ya works because it’s got a lot of uses

I’m also going to attach some links to my tags that will help you navigate and find more of what you might be interested in:

Vocabulary

Idiomatic Expressions (especially the older entries tend to be more universal; the newer ones are expressions I tend to find and am interested in sharing so if you go into my archive and look for the tag “idiomatic expressions” or “expresiones idiomaticas”

Grammar ...which is probably not what you need right at this moment, but in case you want to peruse my stuff on different grammatical concepts I have everything from present tense to imperfect subjunctive

[the-swedes-knees]

Time in A Bottle (Agent Mobius x Reader)

Summary: Everyone has a guilty pleasure. For Mobius, it's a slice of pie in a very specific slice of time.

Word Count: 1.8k

Located in the middle of Downtown, bordering on the corner of old-time druggies and newly gentrified condos was a moderate sized building with an exorbitant monthly rent. 

It was a theme restaurant, if the theme was 'we opened in 1953 and we'll be damned if we change the decor'- done up in chrome and frosted glass windows that clashed against the surrounding brick and mortar. The neon sign bearing the establishment's name had burnt out years ago, but it wasn't the type of place one would seek out.

Unless you were Mobius, that is.

[09:45:00]

Technically, he shouldn't be here.

His unit was nearly a mile out, or, more accurately, they would be within the hour. Dates like this, where a simple flap of a fat pigeon's wing could ripple into Nexus event after Nexus event had a name. A proper designation in their severity and frequency of necessary resets.

But he just always referred to them as 'a real pickle'.

You glance up at the front door as the brass bell affixed to the frame jingles loudly. The man that enters looks around the place before making eye contact with you and smiles. He points to the empty bar and you nod your head.

Once you finish refilling the other customer's drink, you see that he's made himself comfortable in the middle stool.

"Hey there." You greet from the opposite side of the counter. He offers a sheepish greeting in response as you set a water down in front of him, balancing a plastic straw on the rim of the glass. "Can I start you off with some coffee? Just made a fresh pot."

"That'd be great, thanks."

You place the mug and matching saucer in front of him and pour. For a moment you look up at him, and he's smiling a very genuine smile- something very rare these days.

As soon as it's full to the brim you're reaching under the counter and grabbing a clean glass sugar pourer, placing it right next to his cup.

"How'd you know?"

"Customer service intuition, I guess." He thanks you before unfurling the napkin containing his flatware. Like someone with real proper manners, he drapes the napkin over one of his legs before stirring an ample amount of sugar into his drink.

You can't help but notice just how much he fits in to the whole aesthetic with his well fitted brown suit and slim tie. New York offered a multiplicity of personalities, and you'd become quite numb to anything and everything that would walk through that door.

Yet, someone about this man was intriguing, familiar in a way. Like in the past life he was a PI that you hired to confirm your husband's affair.

Both a confidant, and a stranger.

"Feel free to take your time, but, do you know what you'd like?" You note his closed menu pushed to the side. He raises his eyebrows and nods while mid-sip, and you pull out a notepad and pen from your apron.

"Sure do, could I get two slices?" He points the vintage rotating pie cooler to your left and specifies his selection.

Easy enough. You put two generous slices onto separate plates, and he declines your offer of whipped cream or ice cream on top.

"Good choice, this one's my favorite."

"You don't say." The knowing twinkle in his eye wasn't noticed as you busied yourself with refilling his coffee. He holds his hands up in mock defeat and sighs. "Well, I guess you'll have to join me." The ceramic scraped against the quartz tabletop as he pushed one of the plates across the bar, directly opposite himself.

"I'm on the clock-"

"Don't worry, another customer doesn't come in for-" He pauses to flex his arm, riding his jacket sleeve up just enough to check his wristwatch. "12 minutes and 43 seconds."

[09:52:16]

"Am I supposed to trust you on that?" You raise an eyebrow, and his only response is a slight head tilt and pushing the second slice a nudge closer to you.

It wasn't every day courteous men offered you a break in the form of your favorite desert. Your face screwed up in contemplation as you looked at the only other two patrons in the diner before giving in and grabbing a second set of flatware. "Well, it is slow-"

"For a Friday?" He has another bite before setting down his fork and dabbing at his face with his napkin.

"Is it Friday already?" You sigh, bent over the counter to take a bite of the pie. Delicious as ever. "Hardly feels like it, all the days are melding together."

"I think this one will stand out."

"What is the date, anyway?"

"May 4th." You make a hum of acknowledgement and he gives you a lopsided grin. "2012, incase you forgot the year too."

"I'll mark it in my calendar," You laugh, using your hand to cover your mouth as you continue to chew. "'The Day I Met-'"

"Mobius." He introduces himself, extending his hand over the counter and you shake it. His grip is firm, authoritative. Before you can reply with your own name, he refers to you by it while maintaining perfect eye contact.

You can't explain why, but it feels so right when he says it. Like it was perfectly made to be pronounced in his charming Texan drawl with just the faintest hint of gravel.

While you're fixed in a stunned silence his eyes deliberately dart to the lapel of your uniform. You follow his gaze and laugh at yourself for neglecting that you were indeed wearing a nametag.

"So Mobius... like, from maths?"

"Yeah, like math." He eyes his untouched water and picks up the plastic straw. His fingers move carefully, removing the straw from the perorated paper. You watch with curiosity as the man twists the paper once and pinches the two ends together with his thumb and index finger.

Mobius holds his opposite hand out to you, confident, waiting. With a bemused smile you allow him to guide your hand. His skin is warm, presumably from the way he had cradled his coffee mug, but it's comforting in a way. His rough hand guides you, your finger tracing the geometry of the paper-straw shape.

"A path that twists and turns... but always ends back at the same spot."

"I wasn't very good at math." You admit, and gesture around as if working in a place like this was a testament to that fact. "Why does it matter that it always ends where it began?"

"Well, that all depends on perspective. Maybe it doesn't matter. But to the one who observes it, it makes all the difference." You quirk an eyebrow, silently pressing him to elaborate. "Maybe that point's... where you got your first kiss, the feeling when your favorite football team scores a winning touchdown, a perfect sunset-"

Mobius catches himself trailing off, and looks down at his plate. He puts another bite onto his fork and cheers it to you.

"Or having pie in good company."

You look around the mostly empty diner before bracing your arms against the counter, leaning in as if you were to whisper some great secret.

"Has anyone ever told you you're a bit odd?"

[09:59:06]

"No-" His eyes crinkle as he laughs. "No, that's a new one. But you find it charming." He winked, actually winked, and leaned back in his stool, smirking into his coffee.

Your fork was halfway to your mouth as your just stared at him, frozen. You feel your mouth open and close a few times as you try to think of a somewhat dignified response.

"How would you know that?"

"I just know things." He shrugged.

"Like what?" You challenged.

"How about, Paul- over there." You crane your head to follow his line of eye, your coworker currently bussing a table that had just left. "Worked in this place five years, loves Coke- from the glass bottle, nothing else. Has a girl on the Upper East Side and runs a decent sized internet radio station out of his apartment."

"You're one of his listeners." You narrowed your eyes at him, a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Oh, no. Hyperpop... not my style."

"Alright, BBC Sherlock-" You countered. You give a subtle head tilt to a woman sitting in a far off booth, papers spread out on the table around her pancake combo. Whoever she was, she definitely wasn't a regular. "How about her?"

"Mrs. Braverman. Youngest of eight siblings, English teacher at the charter school up the avenue. Actually prefers imitation maple syrup to the real thing."

You know very well Mobius could be talking out of his ass. But he's confident, nonchalantly so- like this was a game to him and he was obviously winning.

"What about me?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Your anticipation is palpable as he swallows his final bite, taking the time to wipe his face of crumbs before smiling softly at you.

"You are... a poem of a person. Charming, capable, when you walk into a room people notice- even if you convince yourself that they don't." His gaze is steady, patient, and he's looking at you as if you're the only person in the universe. "You have big dreams, far beyond all... this... and you're gonna make it."

[10:04:59]

The sound of the door chime breaks you out of whatever hypnotic state you had found yourself in. Sucking in a breath and blinking away the very beginnings of tears in your eyes you tell the new customer to sit wherever they like.

Mobius took this chance to check his handheld, sighing at the time and the ever-growing slope of the branch variation.

The reset charge would be set soon, with or without him there.

"Look at that. Duty calls." He stands up and pulls a billfold from his jacket pocket, not even counting as he puts the cash down on the counter.

Mobius turns to leave, but hesitates. He turns back around to face you and places his hands on his hips. Allowing himself to play into the fleeting illusion just a tad longer.

"One more thing I know about you-" Mobius rubbed his chin in careful consideration. "You have a date tonight."

"Ah-" You wag your finger at him and shake your head side to side, "got one wrong."

"Did I? Ah- well... How about we change that?"

You pause. The plates you had been holding found their way back to the counter as you set them down slowly. Once again in a very short time span, he had left you speechless.

"That... was possibly the lamest pickup line I've ever heard." Though you mean it to be snarky, it sounds more like praise coming from your smiling lips. "I get off at 6:30."

"Alright." He looks perfectly pleased with himself as he lightly knocks on the counter with his fist. "It's a date."

Walking out the door, Mobius gave one last look at the diner before reporting to the event site.

He knew would see you again, always at 9:45.

[arsquare]

For the Wip challenge

6. Traitor arc real

9. Height difference 1

10. Cycles

17. Pathologic

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

WOW we got some diversity in this ask. to start off we have 6. Traitor arc real, which was an illustration that I did in a fit of madness after I saw some tags alluding to Sagisawa's Lost Traitor Arc <- go read @kitreadsbirdmen's essay on this I am no longer asking

So yeah it's a wildly unpolished drawing that was going to make me explode if I didn't get it out of my system. @midnight-revelation has better words than I do about this so behold:

NAAAURRR!!!!! SAGISAWA!!!! ABANDONED ON THE STEPS!!!!! FOREVER WAITING FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL NEVER RETURN!!! AS EISHI SLOWLY BECOMES TAKAYAMA, SAGISAWA SLOWLY BECOMES EISHI: A BIRDMAN LEFT BEHIND. A BIRDMAN WITH GREAT POWER, LEFT LARGELY UNTAPPED. SOMEONE WHO FINALLY MADE THAT CONNECTION THEY HAD BEEN LONGING FOR ONLY TO HAVE IT YANKED OUT OF REACH. SAGISAWA‚ THE ABANDONED. SAGISAWA, THE TRICKSTER. EDEN IS COMING. WILL YOU STAMP YOUR FEET WITH HOW UNFAIR THIS IS OR WILL YOU CONTINUE TO FOLLOW HIM IN ADORATION? WHICH PATH WILL YOU CHOOSE? Sagisawa just looks so… tired in this piece‚ like he's been waiting for so long, and the longer he waits, the more time passes, the further and further he gets the heavenly rays of light, until he wakes up and realizes that he fell asleep waiting. The sun has completely set. The light is gone. Eishi is gone. He's not coming back. And neither is he. And he takes his first step on the path of darkness in his traitor arc.

Look, I can't do a Traitor Arc rewrite justice but I'm just saying that someone out there should do it. I have so many feelings about this. Also everyone should know the blur in the window is Karasuma.

9. Height difference 1! It's the only one on the list that's about the characters from my ballroom dancing manga lol. they're idiots your honor

technically I suppose this is done, but there was supposed to be more pages to this. I can't even really remember what was supposed to happen afterwards though LMAO

I love them! At some point I will probably start posting more about them... Well, I'll have to get myself out of my birdmen hell first. We'll see how long that takes.

10. Cycles! This one is a fic! Karasuma Eishi & Umino Tsubame!

The basic premise is that, well, you know that thing where Karasuma's vision gets fixed, Kamoda's digestion is better than ever, and Sagisawa's dust allergy goes away after they become birds? Well I think about that every time I can't see something or have a tummyache or have a dust allergy moment and one time I was having my period cramps and I was like "damn. I bet this never happens to Umino. I bet she wouldn't get period cramps. I bet they wouldn't even have periods at all. I bet they would just reabsorb their uterine lining instead of doing this stupid thing that the human body does"

Obviously, while I think getting periods is kind of a cringe flaw of the human body, NOT getting your period is also scary as hell. (<- guy, having had absolutely zero sex and a late period: wow what if I am secretly pregnant though. what if I'm about to become the next virgin mary. did you think about that)

Essentially Umino misses her period and freaks out and goes to talk to Marilyn and Tatsume about it, and it turns out Karasuma (<- trans guy in this fic) has been experiencing the same thing. It's a coming out fic in a way I guess.

I just think the premise of transgender Eishi is the funniest thing. Like sorry Umino I was not deliberately trying to hide it from you or anything but while it doesn't really come up in conversation it DOES become kind of apparent in the teambuilding group stripping exercises that you happen to be excluded from so uh. lol. hi. sorry. uh, same hat ?

Here's a snippet of all time from it:

It is only one sentence. I know. HOWEVER it is a sentence of all time SO!

17. Pathologic! So it's like a well-established trend at this point that if I get overly weird about something I always manage to find a way to connect it to Pathologic. DCMK got hit with it, and BIRDMEN got hit with it too a while back. It's not a serious AU by any means, but I DO think Sagisawa would make the birdsties do the stage play for fun (Karasuma isn't having fun though but that's fine)

I am extremely correct in casting Takayama as an executor, Karasuma as the Bachelor, Kamoda as the Haruspex, and Sagisawa and Umino as the two halves of the Changeling. I just think it would be neat. (Takayama is the perfect Executor. Come on, nobody breaks the fourth wall like the Executors and Tragedians. Bonus points for Executors being birds.)

I don't know what was up with me when I drew Takayama's hand but it's a hand of all time. And that's Eva up on the wall btw. if you even care

[unhealthyfanobsession]

Do you think you’ll continue with the lawyer Nessian fic. It was so amazingly written I’d love to read more! I love all your writing anyways I’ll be happy with anything❤️

Ok not *technically* a Drabble request BUT I’m not ready to commit to a full lawyer AU that happens in order however I did just drum up a part 2 that we’ll say is several years before the previous lawyer AU. Nessian teasing in a bar and Rhys being a dumbass.

FYI the lawyer Drabble I’m talking about can be found HERE.

“I’m in love,” Rhys slurred. Cassian, a decent bit bigger than his brother and two drinks behind him, had a gentle buzz so he could only surmise that his brother was well passed sober.

“Congratulations,” Cassian grinned, clapping his hand on Rhys’ shoulder. “May I lay eyes upon the future Mrs. Dumbass.”

Rhys stared at him flatly. Blew a laugh out of his nose. “She’s not marrying you, brother.”

Cassian snorted, casting his eyes around the elegantly decorated little lounge they’d stepped into for the night. Lounge, not bar. Because they were mature adults now looking to take the edge off after a long day of work, not college students looking to get fucked up.

It was different.

It was different because the cocktails cost $20 and were served in actual stemware instead of red solo cups. They were evolving. Growing. Cassian was a lawyer now and Rhys was supposed to be doing actual work for his dad’s company so… no more dive bars.

Now they frequented little lounges where accountants and lawyers and bankers sat in tailored suits and discussed… adult things.

It was all very civilized.

And yet here was his brother. Every bit the horny college student they were trying not to be. Oh well, old dogs and all that.

“End of the bar.” Rhys jerked his head to the left and Cassian grinned.

“Might be a little old for you, champ.”

Rhys wrinkled his brow and turned to look at the grandmother doing a crossword puzzle on the far left side of the bar. A martini glass in front of her. Good for grandma.

“Other end of the bar!”

Cassian smirked. He didn’t need to turn his head, since he’s noticed her the second she walked in, but he still did. Just so he could look some more.

“Ah, you mean the deliciously dishevelled leggy brunette with her suit jacket on the chair beside her who just ripped the pins out of her hair like they personally offended her and then laid them in a neat little pile beside her Kobo?

“Mmm,” Rhys grinned, “I’d like her to rip those fingers through my hair.”

Cassian rolled his eyes. “Go for it, brother.”

Rhys grinned wider. “I think I will.” He straightened up, ran a hair through his artfully mussed hair, and pulled on the lapels of his Gucci suit jacket until they were even again.

Cassian snickered into his Old Fashioned. Rhys could straighten his jacket all he wanted. He could pretend he wasn’t drunk all he wanted. It wouldn’t matter one bit.

Not with Nesta Archeron.

Nesta Archeron who hated men that stunk of trust funds and privilege more than anything else in this world.

This would be fun to watch.

Watch her try to ignore him at first. Eyes glued to the page of her book, hand reaching up to wave through the air like Rhys was an annoying fly she could swat away.

Rhys, to his credit, was a clever little bastard. He asked the bartender for a refill of her drink and set it down in front of her then sat himself one stool down from her.

He didn’t move her jacket to sit next to her, which would have had her going feral. He just sat there, waiting.

After a few moments Nesta let out an exacerbated sigh that Cassian could hear from across the room. There was his girl.

Well, not his girl. Not even a little bit his girl, but… someday.

Cassian decided that he was going to Marry Nesta Archeron the first time she kicked his ass up and down a negotiation meeting. It was a couple years ago now. He’d been young and new at his firm. She was young and new too, but the words learning curve were not in Nesta’s vocabulary. Everything she did, she did with perfection.

Including getting rid of men she didn’t want hitting on her.

She said something to his brother that made Rhys’ half drunk, cocky, smile fall halfway down his face.

Cassian would’ve given his left eye to know what she said in that moment. She had a knack for jumping at the jugular and Rhys… oh Rhys. So obvious.

After a few moments and the continual fall of Rhys’ face, Cassian decided it was time to intervene. He knocked his drink back and straightened out his own suit jacket. Armani, still overpriced and designer but not so obvious or try hard as Mr. Up On The Trends with his Gucci. Nesta appreciated classics.

Simple. Clean lines, solid colours, classic. Which was why it was so fun just how attracted she was to his half wild self.

Unlike Rhys, Cassian plucked Nesta’s light grey suit jacket up off the stool beside her and reached over her head to hang it on a coat hook at the end of the bar. Settling himself into the chair beside her like it was exactly where he belonged. Which it was.

She turned around with an indignant shriek and a fire-breathing snarl that narrowed into just a hard glare when she realized it was him. Touching.

“This guy giving you trouble, Nes?”

Rhys choked on his whiskey and Cassian fought his hardest to keep a straight face.

“I so don’t need your saviour complex right now, Cassian.” Nesta scoffed.

“No,” Rhys rolled his eyes. “She was doing perfectly well scaring off everyone in a 10 mile radius all on her own.”

Nesta smiled sweetly, “I was just playing your game.”

Rhys sputtered again. Looked up at his brother. “This devil woman that you apparently already know,” he glared, “is all yours. I’m going home.”

“Be sure to drink plenty of water!” Nesta sing songed after him. Rhys flipped them both off on his way out.

“What’d you say to him?”

Nesta smiled. A pretty, feline little thing. “He said he wanted to chat. Suggested 20 question, which is the lamest, oldest, crustiest line in the book. So I went first. Asked just how small his dick was that he felt the need to overcompensate with the swagger and the gratuitous displays of wealth. He thought he was quite clever to use his question to ask if I wanted to check for myself how not small his dick was and then I asked if his daddy never loved him and that’s where all of that machismo masking painfully obvious and deep seeded feelings of inadequacy and insecurity came from. I was going to offer him my friend’s number before you showed up. She’s an excellent therapist.”

Cassian laughed. Hard. For a very long time. He loved Rhys, but sometimes the kid could use a nice set down. It was always sweeter when delivered by a beautiful woman. Not to mention, Cassian himself had gotten the same ice cold rejection the first time he met Nesta. When he asked if she wanted to get a coffee and she looked at him like something she’d scraped off the bottom of her shoe. That Rhys was chased off so easily just proved he couldn’t take the heat.

“You know the walking trust fund, I presume?” Nesta boredly sipped the drink Rhys had bought her. And even that was somehow amusing.

“Only for the last couple decades or so,” Cassian grinned. “He’s like a brother to me.”

“Explains a lot.”

“Your insults are more impactful when you clarify which person is being insulted.”

“I was going for the two birds one stone method.”

“In that case, consider me wounded, sweetheart.”

Nesta scoffed, “Unfortunately not mortally.”

“Oh Nesta, if I weren’t here you’d die of boredom and you know it. No one else can run you up and down the courtroom like I can.” Now. Cassian grinned as he watched the word flash across her eyes. He’d never live that first blunder down.

Nesta rose an eyebrow. “Bold of you to assume you present any challenge whatsoever.”

Cassian signalled for another drink and leaned forward. “Alright, I’ll bite. Who in this entire city can give you more of a run for your money?”

“Vanserra.” Nesta looked him dead in the eye. And managed to keep a straight face. As if that wasn’t the funniest fucking thing he’d heard all day.

“Oh yes, Nepotism and Nepotism LLP certainly has us all shaking in our boots,” Cassian blew out a breath. “What are you working on now?”

“I’m working on upholding attorney-client privilege.”

“So, the Suncurser merger.”

Nesta looked up. “How did you-”

“Helion and I are old friends. I checked the zoning on the lots he was buying before the merger went ahead to make sure the expansion was even feasible. But, as you know, M&A isn’t my thing. So I may have… given him a referral.”

“Are there any rich playboys in this city that you aren’t friends with?” Nesta finished off her drink and pointedly didn’t signal for another. “And if you think I’m going to be grateful to you for sending this my way you’ve got another thing-“

“Helion is my friend.” Cassian repeated, cutting her off. “He believes in this merger and he wants it done right. You’re the best, Nesta. Why wouldn’t I send him to you?”

“It’s not just to get in my pants?” She narrowed her eyes.

Cassian laughed again. “Oh no, sweetheart. When you invite me into your bed it will have nothing to do with work. It’ll be because you’re tired of denying how much you want me.” Cassian leaned in closer, one hand resting on the back of her chair. “Tired of denying the thrill that shoots through your whole body when we lay into each other. In the court room or out.” His nose brushed against hers, just a little, and Cassian felt Nesta tense up. He smirked, mouth just inches away from hers. “Tired of denying how right this is.”

Nesta’s voice was rough, husky. “So your plan is to wear me down?”

Cassian smirked. “My plan,” his hand came up to stroke the silk covered expanse of her upper arm, “is to marry you, Nesta Archeron. But sure, we can start with wearing you down.”

***Feyre and Nesta look physically similar so you can’t tell me drunk Rhys wouldn’t hit on Nesta in a bar before realizing he’d made a terrible mistake and running away thank you***

Also tags yourself, I’m the grandma doing the crossword puzzle with a martini. She’s an icon and she is the moment.

[cocochannel00]

The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

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JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the  kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

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THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

March 2021 Part 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. 

This is a LONG ONE, it’s been A WEEK everyone. 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Lovely Writer Ep 5 - a little slow this week, but at least Gene finally flirted back, and very cute flirting it was, too. Also we got Aey’s motivation, background, and love interest. Thank goodness for that. 

Brothers Ep 8 - still pants, what can I say? Clearly I am a BL masochist. Very embarrassing for everyone concerned. 

1000 Stars Ep 9 - the conflict over Tian’s father was REALLY well done. The plot of this drama is excellent, the leads are great together, and yes I totally cried. What, you didn’t? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Word of Honor (China) Ep 16-18 - big battle fighty fighty stabby stabby. Ep 17 switches to “this drama isn’t big enough for two chaotic-neutral godlings!” So what do they do? Drink together and bicker... A LOT. Then in Ep 18 we all get the dubious joy of really freaky puppets. (I HATE puppets.) Also how is China letting this be so SO VERY VERY GAY?  Also, I wanna walk through the forest wearing a smanshy purple robe and waving a big fuck-off white fan around simply because I’m a pretentious fuss monger. And frankly, I feel like this is an achievable life goal for me. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 4 - not gonna lie, this is looking to be one of my top 3 BLs of 2021. It’s SO GOOD. Big bonus to this ep for treating stalker behavior like the mental illness it is and not as some dumb representation of enduring love. 

The Most Peaceful Place is My Place (Vietnam) Ep 1 - finally dropped (find it under NƠI BÌNH YÊN NHẤT LÀ VỀ BÊN EM on O2′s channel). It’s got actors already comfortable with BL and looks pretty good so far. An angry tsundere uke reunited with his ex, a stoic chef, giving us lots of snap, crackle, and pop out the gate. 

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 2 - I want to love it, but it is just moving too fast. There’s not enough character dev and then they’re throwing flashbacks in? It feels like a treatment rather than a show, and a rushed treatment at that. Bummer. 

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 2 (AKA Ep 3-4) - let the cheesy popcorn continue! Idiot remains an idiot; ingenue remains an ice queen; nice gay guy remains nice and gay; obsessive stalker brother is getting ever more whackadoddle. Of course these last two have the best chemistry. (It’s caregiver codependency and the salvation trope. We got us a Leo/Fiat situation going on.​) Plus lots of classic BL tropes because OF COURSE there are lots of tropes. 

Occasionally, I am tempted to argue that shows like H4 or Cherry Magic or Ossan’s Love aren’t technically BL because of the office setting and age of the protags - but then they all behave like high school students anyway, so *shrug* 

Stand Alones

Cute little Taiwanese micro BL Friend or Lover dropped, about bisexual realization within a friendship group. Normally these are too short for me, but this one did pretty good with its 15 minutes of charm, plus it’s abad boy + shy softy pairing. 

Breaking News - Thai BL

Fish Upon the Sky released its actual trailer. The upside-down kiss is gone, which makes everyone sad, and it seems far less rivals to lovers than the first iteration, which makes ME sad. But it still looks good and a more classic BL than GMMTV has given us in a while. New trailer focused more on the makeover trope and they’ve upped Mix’s role (the object of everyone’s affection) now that he’s proved himself. (Or they are using him more to carry the trailer since he has a fan base form 1k*). Starts April 9 on GMMTV in 1K*’s time slot, probably with a 10 ep run. 

2gether the movie is apparently coming April 22 to Thai theaters. F4 Thailand must be having issues or GMMTV just wants to milk the BrightWin cash cow. It’s rumored to be a combination of 2gehter + Still 2gether with some extra scenes and ending. Also, one assumes a lot will be cut out, if it’s movie length.

Call It What You Want released its updated trailer. If anything, it looks more scary than before. What are we in for? April 9th. 

Nitiman got a release date, May 7 on One31. 

I Told Sunset About You 2 got an updated release date of May 27 on LineTV. 

Second Chance the series is coming to LineTV on March 29. I don’t know much about this one. Tons of familiar faces (mostly TharnType side dishes) and some nice looking new talent but a dearth of eng subs. I think it may take on Brothers’ time slot. Line did eng subs for Brothers so maybe they will do 2nd Chance too? 

Close Friend the series is coming April 22. This is a combination of 6 couples with 6 story arcs as music videos (maybe)? It’s an epic fan service with familiar faces like OhmFluke (UWMA), MaxNat (LBC also in Y-Destiny), YoonLay (YYY also in Y-Destiny), KimCop (GenY), and JaFirst (TT2).

Y-Destiny starts March 30, and has starting dropping couple’s trailers. I’m still suspicious given the director but it seems like there is plot (or plots) and a theme. Looks to be a series of 7 single ep vignettes (amended, see comments, might be 2 eps each for 14 eps total), different couple each time, some with supernatural elements, all with decent chemistry and acting chops. 

Sun MaxNat’s tutor/student arc

Mon jaded rich kid meets poor innocent  

Tues sports romance enemies to lovers 

Weds the messy realistic actual dating one 

Thurs hot ghost boyfriend (sad) 

Fri YoonLayPerth coping with loss and finding new love (sad). This one will all rest on Lay's acting so we know it’s in safe hands. Our boy is going to KILL it. 

Sat time-slip memory loss reunion romance 

I’m thinking we can’t expect any of these to end happy or be classic BL. They’re gonna be more slice of life-ish. 

Gossip - BL Outside of Thailand 

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) got a legit teaser (eng sub here). @curriculumvtae​ reports that it’s releasing April 15th on WeTV (Philippines & Thailand) and Idol Romance (South Korea), while Will of Thai Bl says it’ll be on Viki too. It’s a short run of 8 ep built on a fake relationship trope (arranged marriage variant):

Ryu Ho Seon’s (Kang In Soo from You Wish) arranged marriage turns out to be with his expected bride’s brother, Choi Ki Wan (Lee Se Jin from Mr Heart). Ryu tries to undo the marriage, but his ill mother opposes this saying the scandal would be too much. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hyeong (Jang Eui Soo from Where Your Eyes Linger), a senior at Ryu’s school, comes to congratulate him and falls in love with Choi. Then one day, the original bride disappears.

Okay it seems a bit twisty turny for ONLY 8 EPS, but oh my goodness how excited are we? Our first intentional historical BL out of Korea!

We already knew Hong Kong was doing a remake of Japan’s Ossan’s Love under the same name (not my favorite Japanese BL but so very popular) but it’s now reported to be coming to Viu in June. Who knows how the CFA will take it. Depends on whether Hong Kong bows before the NO GAY KISSES regs or if they are going to use this as a political nose thumb... things could get cray with this puppy (the original has several kisses and s shower scene). Are we back in Addicted territory only with added comedy and civil unrest?

Speaking of Japan, Absolute BL (AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko) dropped sooner than anyone thought, March 27. But being Japanese who knows how/when/if we get subs. Protag finds himself trapped in a world of BL, but being straight he fights against any hot guy that draws near, but the whole world (literally) is conspiring against him. It’s a parody adapted from a yoai.

What with Absolute BL from Japan plus Lovely Writer and Call it What You Want from Thailand, is 2021 the year of BL being ultra self referential? Sure feels like it.

In Case You Missed It

Faded a gay micro film from Taiwan from 2017 deals with parental acceptance and serves up a ton of BL tropes (piggyback, forehead kiss, etc). I’m pretty sure this was a propaganda piece for legalization of gay marriage, and it’s an interesting nugget of BL history as a result. Yes, it ends happy. It’s cute. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Man there’s a lot going on right now! Spring has sprung... I suppose. 

P.S. I cannot believe I missed Absolute BL as a blog name. Numbnuts = me.