#tempe train crash

[head-post]

Violent protests erupt in Athens on second anniversary of devastating train crash

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Greece on Friday, marking the second anniversary of the Tempe train crash, The Week reported (Updated on 3 March at 11:30 a.m.)

The protests, which turned violent in central Athens, underscored widespread public anger over systemic failures and the government’s perceived inaction in addressing the causes of the tragedy.

In Athens, protesters clashed with riot police near Syntagma Square, hurling Molotov cocktails and smashing paving stones, while police responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Paramedics were seen carrying at least one injured protester away from the scene.

The crash on February 28, 2023, killed 57 people, including 11 railway employees, and left dozens injured. It exposed severe deficiencies in Greece’s transportation infrastructure and sparked demands for accountability. While rail officials had been charged, critics argued that politicians and higher authorities escaped responsibility.

The protests were part of a mass mobilisation led by the victims’ families and supported by labour unions, including the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE). Yannis Panagopoulos, president of GSEE, called for the full truth to be revealed.

The full truth must come to light, and those responsible, no matter how high their position, must be held accountable.

A general strike disrupted flights, rail services, ferries, and public transportation across the country. Many private businesses and public services closed, with storefronts displaying messages of solidarity for the victims’ families.

Demonstrations were held in over 300 cities and towns in Greece and abroad, with tens of thousands gathering in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens.

Political fallout

The protests have created a politically precarious moment for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative government. While his party maintains a strong lead in the polls, public dissatisfaction over the Tempe disaster has boosted support for anti-establishment parties. Opposition leaders are considering a censure motion against the government.

Mitsotakis acknowledged the public’s grief and demand for truth, pledging to continue efforts to improve rail safety.

Every Greek participates in this mourning, united under the common demand for truth.

A long-awaited investigative report released on Thursday blamed human error, outdated infrastructure, and systemic failures for the crash. The collision occurred on a single rail route between Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, highlighting the country’s reliance on an aging and underfunded railway system.

The aftermath of the crash was marked by chaos, with survivors describing tumbling carriages, fires, and shattered windows. The recovery and identification of victims were gruesome, as many bodies were severely burned or dismembered. Funerals were held across the country, with many broadcast live, turning private grief into a shared national experience.

Read more HERE

[kittzuxp]

no matter how much i would want to reblog a post, i won’t be reblogging much of anything other than the tempi crash.

even if i cant go to the protests. doesnt mean that i cant speak up about it. (im not good at explaining)

a handful of posts about it:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

(5 is in greek)

«Δεν έχω οξυγόνο»

«Πάρε με όταν φτάσεις»

«Δεν ήταν ατύχημα, ήταν δολοφονία.»

[staarboyyy]

Necessary evils | Negotiations chapter ii

Ben [ Soldier boy ] x reader | no pronouns

explicit - minors dni

tags / warnings ; dubcon, reader has vagina, intoxication, weed use, cocaine mentions, slight angst, porn with a plot, destructive mutualization, lap sitting, pleasure denial, grinding ("the knee thing"), slight underwear fetish, m!masturbation, couch sex, free use elements, creampie, verbal threats, reader takes initiative (aka fucks around and finds out, with feelings!), is soldier boy a warning? if so, soldier boy antics!,

summary ; after the night in the alley, you cant help but wonder caused it all.

word count ; 5.3k

a/n ; [ Reposted with a full ending and edits ! Thank you for the support, even on accidental posts :"D] can be a stand-alone fic, but really meant to be a chapter 2 for my first fic on tumblr, Negotiations <3 thank you all for 200 followers, ill never be able to express the gratitude in my heart that has flourished in this community!! heres to writing format improvement, cheers! *tink!

Ben grunted as he pushed himself from the creaky motel couch, sighing quietly while his eyes scanned the room silently - As he landed on a small shoe box pushed underneath a desk, he bent at the waist to grab ahold of it, sliding it out with a hum. Upon flipping open the lip in time with sitting back down on the couch, made way for the harsh and bitter smell of weed and tobacco. His large hands sifted through the different items, plucking a glass pipe and grinder from the box and setting it next to him. The motions of this gave way for a strange familiarity, the smell, and movements of packing the bowl reminding him of hiding weed from his father decades ago. He was always insistent a boy like him should be 'straight-edge', clean, and practically from marble. He gave a quiet chuckle as he brought the pipe to his lips, glancing up at the ceiling. Before down towards the floor. No way in God's green earth had his father made it into Heaven. He gave a light stomp as he flicked the lighter over the bowl - It was muscle memory, though since his father died he made it a point that he'd never rest, not even after death. With a gracious inhale, Ben's lungs filled with smoke, pulling down the thickening barriers of his throat, mind reeling black and white grainy family photos. It made him sick to dwell on his family. Though the exhale cut sharp through his lips, throat stiffening at the burn that sliced that part away from him. He went in for another, heel coming down once more to thump against the floorboards, a smirk now pulling at the corners of his lips. Smoke filled the apartment, not unusual for this time of night, even as it made its way into your sleeping nostrils.

Working with Hughie and Butcher was not your intent. You told yourself this, as you watched the two men unfold into animals, lacing their arms with bands and injecting temp v at any opportune moment. It made it difficult to sleep, knowing the two were out at night, rampaging the streets in hopes of finding Soldier Boy's past team; And also the tense presence of Ben sitting on the couch, just a foot or two away. You stirred at the strong smell, shifting slightly as you adjust yourself on the worn-in couch, propping your elbow up on the armrest with a soft grimace. It wasn't comfortable by any means, but the exhaustion of the day had hit you like a freight train.

"How long was I out?"

"An hour or two. You fuckin' crashed, figured you'd need it."

Nights such as these came with a sense of peace; Like a lion and crane feeding at a watering hole, side by side with eyes unwavering as you do what they must to get by. The peace was faint, gritty between Ben's fingers as he packed a bowl down gently, shifting his jaw. He brought the lighter up to the pipe once again before his eyes set on you- The bowl sizzled as he inhaled, smoke drifting from his nostrils as he effortlessly pulled from the pipe, puffing it as if it were a cigar. His next motion came at a strange interception of his mind and body, hand moving to offer the lit pipe towards you. He gave no words, though it seemed he wouldn't have been able to conduct them into genuine conversation nonetheless.

Typically, you'd shake your head, or wave your hand, leaving the Supe to his devices - Though, the crickets shrouded the night air, pulsating through the thin windows and swelling at the shine of the moon, thick clouds parting like curtains to expose the soft light. This wasn't a night typical for you. You reached out, pursing your lips slightly as his rough skin grazed yours, his thumb lingering on your smaller fingers for a few moments. You tentatively brought the pipe to your lips, eyes casting over the man; He looked painfully human like this, relaxing back into the couch, spreading his thighs with a grunt as he looked back toward you quizzically. You pulled from the pipe, thumb pressing against the small hole, releasing as the bowl crackled a hot orange. The smoke cut down your throat in a harsh wave, coasting over your muscles with a hitched breath as your grip on the pipe tightened slightly, tears wetting the corners of your lashes at the fire lit in your lungs and throat. The smoke escaped you in small puffs, between coughs, dishing in the occasional sip of water from a crinkled 'room service' water bottle. It seemed to entertain Ben strangely, watching you quietly as you recovered from the harsh breath of smoke with an extended hand to take the glass piece back from you. The thick veil of smoke in the air twisted in ribbons as you spoke.

"Remember when you talked about our deal? What made you," You trailed off, recalling the night with a creeping burn ringing in your ears, the feeling of his hands seared into your mind.

"Mhm." Ben didn't miss a beat replying in a deep hum, his eyes now settled closed as he relaxed back into the couch with a sigh. "I don't know. "

He knew the question was coming, though with the anticipation came no rousing answer; In truth, he didn't know. He hadn't been drawn to you before that night, and now finding his pulse speeding due to just being in close proximity of you was... A shift. That was for sure. Ben shifted his jaw slightly, head leaning off to the side a bit. Sex was materialistic, something traded, an exchange - Kissing though. It made Ben's fingers clench into slight fists beside himself, pulling in a slow inhale as his mind returned back to the alley. Your lips against his. The thrum of Ben's heart began to pulse in his temples, rushing down his abdomen as he recalled the feeling of it all. His eyes opened, shifting his weight and keeping his gaze pinned to the space in front of him.  "You think I'm a bad guy?"

"...Yes." You weren't sure what he wanted to hear in that moment, his blue eyes fixated on the spot in front of him as your attention fell from his expression to his hands. How they fisted the spaces in the couch beside himself; Yet the geiger counter Hughie left behind remained still. Not rage, not frustration, or a slew of memories. You couldn't place what was eating away at him, not exactly. Though as you confessed yourself, in a single word - The first thing to come from Ben was a chuckle. His fists uncurled, clearing his throat as his eyes moved over the room with a shake of his head. The answer didn't seem to satisfy him - He didn't know your scale of what was and what was not bad, no way to place where he was in your mind, let alone on a metaphorical scale of morality. He brought a hand to his face, palm, and fingers rubbing at his stubble before looking over toward you. His expression was unreadable, not necessarily negative, the lingering breathy chuckle leaving behind the remains of a smirk. Ben wet his lips, parting them for a moment.

"You scared'a me then?" Ben breathed the question, his tone far different from the one he asked a few moments ago. It was a hardened thought as if he'd already concluded the answer before he even asked - Though he wanted to see it. That moment where the searching in your eyes falls to a fearful pricked gaze, goosebumps on your skin as Ben's question truly dawned on you, the man tilting his head slightly, brows still furrowed. He knew that you were scared, but his face read he had no inkling of such a thing; A truly evil man, is one who can be good when he chooses to be.

"Do you want me to be?"

It was a good answer, one that left Ben in yet another warranted corner, grappling with his rather intrusive blood flow. With another shift of his weight, he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, inhaling sharply through his nostrils. The dust of cocaine surely didn't go unnoticed, Ben wiping the remainder of it from his upper lip with his thumb, and rubbing it over his tongue. He wouldn't let any go to waste, especially considering Butcher would be now... less inclined to support his rather persistent habit. It showed though; That widened gaze, pupils dilating and lips parting just enough to make way for slow breaths - The smell of whiskey and tobacco. He was always high, smoking even more than Frenchie, but there was a strange tension when he cut lines on the coffee table in front of everyone. It was a different level, the elated silver of his blue eyes pinning people to the spot, unwavering, unblinking. Terrifying, And yet there you sat.

"I think you're already past that. The whole scared thing. I mean shit, you're damn well traumatized."

"I'm stronger than you realize, you know?"

"I could pin you with one hand and take you over my knee with the other." Your throat dried, his gaze inspecting your reaction with a tentative inhale, breathing out a hum as he reached for the pipe still white-knuckled in your hand. He wasn't wrong - He had proved that, yet your stomach twisted into a tight knot at his little hesitation to make it crystal clear. His index and middle finger curled inwards twice, gesturing to the pipe with his eyes still searing into yours. You handed it over with a quiet sigh, eyes breaking away from his before he could dig himself deeper into your mind. You weren't sure how he did it, explored the darkest pits of your mind and clutching them with a forceful intimacy. You recalled the kiss, intermingled with hitched gasps and pleads for mercy, as your hand grazed his. It was warm, his ravenous hands working in stark contrast to the sudden plush in his voice and groans. It was nearly human. Ben paused for a tense moment, eyeing the pipe and parting his lips as the warmth of your skin rested against the callous of his own. You chewed your lip, sneaking a glance at the man who now visibly gathered his thoughts, tensing his jaw as he surrendered the words away, pursing his lips to punctuate his silence.

Sometimes you still wonder what he was going to say. Before he pulled his hand back from yours, before clearing his throat as he caught your stolen glimpse. He set the pipe down onto the small table, watching the bowl fizzle out with you, the black layer slowly crumbling to a dull white ash.

"I was going to ask why you kissed me,"

"I know." You tensed, half expecting him to be far past dozed off during the rolling periods of silence between you. Your eyes moved from the long put-out bowl to look in his direction, though he was already looking at you. The weight of his gaze fell onto your shoulders, beading down your body in slow waves. Ben wet his lips, pursing them once again; And you knew that was all you were going to get. It was nearly impossible to pry him from his mind when he sunk back, his eyes distant for a bleary second, before being blinked away, darting around for the closest vice to pull him back.

But there you were. His vice. The drug no material high could compete with, your soft lips shaping into words he could hardly conceptualize past the thick veil of his rushing pulse. He wanted to constrict himself, for the sake of himself, clench his damn fists and look away from your lips. He swallowed, jaw tight as you leaned closer to him in an inaudible allure, tying the both of you to a painful high. You could feel his breath, hot against yours as he inhaled slowly, his hands unlocking themselves from the couch to reach toward you.

     As Ben's large hands moved, he inhaled deeply, his eyes never leaving your lips. The warmth of his skin against yours sent an electric shiver down your spine, and you found yourself leaning your body closer to him. He swallowed hard, his adam's apple bobbing in his throat and conflict in his eyes, the battle between his selfish desire and his self-control. But as he allowed you to press your weight against his own, his lips brushing against yours, you knew that he had lost the war. 

     Bens's lips moved against yours, slow, painstakingly hesitant as if you were made from glass. His hands moved to your waist, pulling your body closer to him as he deepened the kiss. You could taste the weed on his tongue, mixing with bitter liquor, the soft scratch of his stubble rubbing against your skin. You moaned softly against his mouth, your hands moving to his chest, clutching tightly at the collar of his sweatshirt, still dotted with water from his hair. He groaned, the sound deep, and pulled from his chest, a breath of surprise passing his nostrils as you pulled yourself impossibly closer to him. Your legs rested beside his, straddling his lap as your fingers moved to his cold wet hair, tangling themselves through the soaked strands. His tongue traced your bottom lip, his mouth practically watering as you began to grind yourself down against his stiffening cock. A familiar pulse strung itself in your desperate movements, an instinctive dance you couldn't help but lose yourself in, your heart thrumming in your chest, heartbeat quickening in your ears. You took in a ragged breath, lips still pressed messily to his as his hands gripped your hips with a pleading grunt.

"What're you doin' to me, huh baby?" Ben whispered against your glossy lips, his eyes still closed, forehead gently resting against yours. You wish you could answer feasibly, and bring your swelling need to words, but the feeling of being against him was intoxicating. His grasp was like steel, unwavering, fingers moving in practiced gropes, invasively pulling your thighs further apart with little effort on his end. Your struggles, the moments your thighs hitch together or your back arches an inch out of place, were hardly anything to him. His hands molded you in forceful need, the heat of your skin and the sound of your breathing; He wanted it all, all of your weight against his statuesque body, the feeling of the gathering heat between your thighs grinding against his cock. 

"Deals a deal," You reminded the Supe with gritted teeth, pulling on the hair at the nape of his neck. Though it did nothing, hardly feeling like a tug, he tilted his chin up, relaxing his shoulders into the couch. Your heart thundered in your chest - You felt like a mouse balancing on the paw of a lion waiting to strike, as you pestered and teased him. He clawed into your hips, palming your ass with a shudder as you lowered your head to his jaw. Your lips traced his stubble, humming softly as you reached his neck, grinding your hips down against him.

"Oh, is that what this is?" Ben spoke in a shallow rumble. "I should'a known better." You felt yourself lift from his lap, his hands bringing you into the air with ease to lay your back on the couch, grunting softly as he pinned your hands beside your head, positioning himself above you. Your breath swam shallow in your chest, swirling from your lips in a mix of moans and echoed pleas. For just a split second, the crushing heat of fear cut through your arousal in a searing slash, your thighs quivering, instinctually going to snap together. Ben's knee caught the space between your legs before you could deny him further, his pressing need to predict your movements drawing a whimper from your throat. He was like stone, no matter how your thighs wriggled, it all resulted in your clit pressing snug against his knee. You could feel your cheeks burning, rushing with the same heat that pulsed itself in your aching cunt. Ben watched your expression shift, releasing your wrists slowly as he pressed his knee experimentally against your heat. You let out a pitiful mewl, watching him slowly reach one of his hands down to grope his clothed length, the veins in his arms bulging as he dipped his fingers past his waistband with a sharp exhale.

     The noises you made stirred something in him, his cock twitching with each strained breath that caught your throat. Ben tugged the waistband of his sweatpants down, wetting his lips with a strained grunt as he freed his aching length. You shuddered, feeling his gaze on your face as you watched him wrap his hand over his thick shaft, moving in time with a slow grind against your pussy. Precum pearled at the tip, his thumb rubbing over his slit with a sharp exhale as he gazed at you hungrily.

You'd never forget those eyes, obscured by the drape of his dripping hair as he stroked himself to the image of you before him. Sweat beaded on his temple, brows arching as your back did, letting out a soft grunt as his eyes clung to your features. Ben's other hand released your wrist; He knew well enough he didn't have to restrain you to get what he wanted. His fingers traveled over your arm, rough palm rubbing against your burning cheek, before hitching his grip to the waistband of your thin shorts. His thick fingertips pushed past the fabric with an eased grunt, stretching the elastic band down to expose your underwear. Ben's jaw tensed before his lips fell open to take in a gritted gasp, gripping his cock as it pulsed at the mere sight of you. Your thighs swell over the edges of your underwear, the pearls of sweat pooling in the curves of your features. The air was thick with your hot breathing, eyes pinned on his cock, and how you affected him with each piece of clothing peeled back. Though by the time you had shed your shorts, his patience had worn thin, standing to his feet to properly rid of his sweatpants; Your breath caught in your throat as you did your best to keep up with the man's motions, how quickly his muscular arms crossed over his wide shoulders, pulling the sweatshirt from himself. Scars etched through his skin behind his chest hair, moving with his body as he sauntered toward you.

"Take everything but those lil' panties off, before I rip it all off you sugar."

You manage to comply, prying away the fabric confining your now sweat-glazed skin, pooling in the curves of your body. You could hear his breathing hitch with every article shed from your frame, your shirt discarded messily over your head. You were left as he wanted, as he demanded, head lulling off to the side as you looked up at him. Ben looked almost smug, satisfied as his hand, unmoving at the base of his aching cock, began to stroke slowly, lips parting as he admired you. Your hands clutched at the spaces beside you on the couch, imagining how your nails would feel grinding into his shoulders, raking down his back. The heat wound tight around your senses, breathing shallow as he took two steps toward you, free hand extending to tap your knee with his index and middle finger.

"Open these up, don't be all innocent now." He spoke in a husk voice, blue eyes perched on your chest, admiring how it contoured in decadent shadows with each of your delicate breaths. You wanted to hesitate, though his calloused fingers remained unmoving on your knee. Your body rushed in a hot pulse, cheeks searing as the thought dawned on you.

If you didn't open them, he would simply do it for you.

"That's it now, pumpkin." You shuddered from his pleasure at your eyes leering away from his invasive stare, knees wobbling slightly as you spread them for the man in front of you. They were a simple white pair, nothing special you thought; You dimly remember pulling them on this morning, eyes raking over yourself in the mirror with a chew of your lip. You would never imagine someone taking such a violent and carnal need to see you like that - Like this, Ben's fingers sliding down from your knee to the soft of your thigh. He kneaded your flesh, shamelessly jerking his cock as his touch left a fire in its path, rampaging your mind as he drew closer and closer to your needy heat. A whine hummed through your chest, perhaps racketeering with a man known for his selfish dalliances was less than wise, you thought - Regret, hesitation, it pulsed in your mind in an evil concoction, it strung tight in the path of his hot touch, how small grunts escaped him with each arch of his rough palm against his member. You wanted to sputter an excuse, your lips parting, the words about to spill from them; Before his hand rested on your cunt. The strings that tightened your throat, binding each one of your movements to him and his reaction to you, snapped. Your stomach fluttered as if you were on a rollercoaster, the aching tension of the rattling chain releasing, the traction giving way to an indescribable rush and sending you rocketing downwards. You knew you were being pulled, chained, and bound to the force of a man above you, all by the tips of his fingers now circling your clit in time with his strokes.

"Fuck," You huffed shakily, hardly able to conduct the electric shivers stippling your movements as you let your weight relax into his fingers. Your hips rocked slowly, clit pressed snug against the calloused warmth of his fingers. Ben's hand moved with a deliberate rhythm, his thumb flicking over your clit as his fingers danced circles around it. He watched your body, the way your chest rose and fell, the way your eyes fluttered, and your lips parted. His breathing grew ragged, and he grunted with each stroke of his cock, the head glistening with precum. You felt the fire inside you, spreading from your core, igniting every nerve ending. The room seemed to fade away, leaving only your body, Ben's touch, and the sounds of your own ragged breaths.

"Look'atchya," Ben whispered, his voice thick with a pillowy rumble. "Soaking through your panties," You didn't didn't respond, your throat too tight to form the words. You only nodded, silently pleading, the motion of your head sending another lashing rush, the pangs of denied pleasure practically agonizing.

Ben's eyes met yours, a hunger and a want for you in them. He licked his lips and leaned in, his breath hot against your cheek. "You're fucking depraved," He whispered, his fingers dipping pulling at the thin cotton, hot against your sensitive flesh. He smirked, his thumb now toying in circles over your clit, pulling it taut with each pass. "Gettin' all wet for a bad man like me,"

Your back arched with a moan, head falling back against the couch, his words sending a thrilling shiver down your spine. The way he spoke to you, the way he looked at you, it was all far past intoxication. You felt like you were drowning in lust, the water rising higher and higher, threatening to swallow you whole. His fingers played with you, circling your clit with a deeper pressure, teasing you, making you squirm.

Ben's other hand slid up your thigh, grasping the underside of your knee, pulling you closer, and simultaneously spreading your legs. His cock, thick and heavy, rested on the soft mound of your pussy, teasing you with the promise of what was to come. You whimpered, needing more, needing him.

"Please, Ben," You begged, your voice a ragged whisper. You'd damn yourself later for sounding so pathetic eyes stinging with tears of need, cheeks hot with your desperately rushing pulse. He watched you for a sick moment, holding his thumb to your clit, lips twitching into a sadistic smirk as your squirmed frantically. You shuddered out a gasp, frustrated and desperate. His fingers stilled on your pussy, Ben's rough palm now stroking the base of his member. Your body jerked slightly, the denied pleasure mingling with a bitter pain. Ben's lowered the head of his cock, letting his girth slide between your pussy lips with a strained grunt. Pressed against your glossy entrance, rubbing against it in slow circles now, your hands reached his shoulders, nails carving into the muscular flesh.

"Beg for it."

And you did. You remember your lips hanging open, drawing in shallow breaths as you couldn't tear your eyes from the tip of his cock; How he teased you with each small breach. Tears wet your lashes, shame and need wrestling in your chest with each heaving breath between obscene words. You couldn't recall the words, the magic phrase you spoke to please him just enough to give you what you craved more than anything. It was too foggy, too spun out by the responding movement of Ben's hips.

"Nasty little thing," The man praised, hooking your knees against the curve of his elbows, yanking your ass to the edge of the couch. You cried out quietly, unable to gather your breath before the hot boiling mix of pleasure and pain began to wash over your sweat-glazed body. He slid inside, slowly at first, lip twitching as he groaned quietly. Your cunt pulled him in, the velvety breathlessness of your moans and pleads beckoning him to fill you. When his hips hit yours, the pillowed warmth of your ass slapping gently against his thighs, he admired you for a fleeting second - How your cunt wrapped over the hilt of his cock, your hips already rocking as the bitterly sweet familiar feeling of him swept you away entirely. You'd never admit to him how perfectly he fit inside, how a tugging part of your heart yearned to hear his soft moans, to hear him plea for you. Though with a hesitant draw of your eyes to meet his, you could feel the ice-hot revelation shackling your aching cunt around him, how his refusal to use you slowly seemed to short-circuit your blinded mind. He knew what you wanted; But he knew the darker side of you as well. The part of you that could never love him, but craved his calloused touch, the taste of his whiskey, the smell of his smoke. Ben thrust violently into you, the couch creaking in sharp squeaks as he practically lifted your ass from the edge of the couch, eyebrows knitting together as the new angle set a flame in his movements. Your breathing couldn't keep up, sweat dampening your hair as your hands uselessly held onto his shoulders with white knuckles. Your words floundered from between your plush lips, eyes rolling back with the rushing force of each one of his thrusts. It spun your feeble mind, melting in his hands, your grasp falling away from his shoulders with a pathetic sob. It was useless; Whether you were moaning in ecstasy, or fighting tooth and nail, he could use you when he saw fit. Use you brutally, your cunt quivering around his invasive cock, his hands moving to your waist now.

"Stop your fuckin' squirmin'!" You hadn't realized you were until his rough hands pinned you down to the worn fabric of the couch below you. He palmed your hips like a sex toy, admiring the feeling of your pussy continuing to milk him despite stilling inside of you. The head of his intrusive member pressed and rested in the small curve of your cervix. His eyes sized you down, undressing your naked body, pulling the innocence from his perspective of you; This is how you wanted him to treat you? To admire you for a transient instant before reeling his hips back, and snapping them forward with a vulgar clap of your ass. He stayed deep inside, only pulling out a few inches before slamming back, stamping the head of his cock against your cervix, pushing you to your absolute limit - All with a sickening smirk on his face, beads of sweat falling down in small pools down the curve of his jaw and prominent edges of his muscular neck and chest. Your hands explored every inch of his skin, drinking down whatever opportunity to feel him, to pry underneath the facade. Sparks flared behind the thin lids of your eyes, lashes wet and messy with tears, cheeks aflame as your body followed in smoldering suit. Ben didn't let up his thrusts, the telling pulse of your eager cunt, the incandescence moans choked from your throat. "That's it now angel, that's right - That's it, soak my cock, baby." The man's voice was mesmeric, unable to pull his attention from the unsteady breath in your growing moans. The undeniable limerence pulsated in his veins, the simple sound of your voice threatening to spill him over the edge. The ambrosial tone of your connection bound your senses to him, all the hot sparks that frayed your skin now tightened themselves in your aching cunt.

"Cum for me," Ben's words hardly pressed past the thick veil that lashed and licked hungrily at your heartbeat and body, a hot white pleasure shocking your quivering cunt. The man above you groaned, pulling your hips down to meet his, the sudden sensation of his cum filling your convulsing cunt washing over your hot skin. You tensed, legs locking around the other's waist. He gripped the back of the couch, splintering and cracking the wood underneath his iron grasp, shuddering out a hissed breath with each shallow thrust of his hips. His movements slowed, drips of his sweat dotting your skin, the heat of your mingling breaths thickening the oxygen you gasped desperately for. Slowly, he pulled himself from your pussy, letting out a strangled moan as the tip popped out, his warm cum following in a slow trickle.

Your eyes were half-lidded, eyes swimming up to find Ben, watching his toned body pull away from you, his slick cock still half erect, your juices dripping messily down his strong thighs. Your legs shook, still raised, as if stuck in that obscene position until he demanded you do otherwise - Though when the warmth of his palm met the soft of your trembling thigh, he pushed down slowly. Your legs relaxed, meeting the couch with a grunt, Ben's hand lingering on your skin for a brief moment. You knew the pain would come later, the bruises flowering over your hips, returning to the silent tension that Ben insisted was better for both of you. He took a seat beside you, his chest rising and falling with a steadying breath before looking towards you with a lazy chaste expression.

"You tell anyone about this, I'll fuckin' kill ya." You couldn't help but turn your head, speaking softly between gasps for air.

"If you were really going to kill me, Ben - You would have done it already."

[court-jobi]

Hi there, I had silly idea of Bakugou × reader in established relationship where she one day compares him to arcanine from pokemon, I mean look at it, it looks like Bakugou 1:1 lol

Omg anon, I confess... I had to go back in the databanks to remember this Pokemon from my younger years- but boy am I glad I did! This was a joy to write, and made me giggle seeing this ask!

Be prepared for fluff and hilarity ahead, y'all. It's 11PM and I wrote this instead of washing dishes...

Uncanny Resemblance

Words: 1.5k

For my My Hero Academia Masterlist, check it out here!

Read on Ao3

Placing the ice cube tray back in the freezer, you grimace over the lack of coolant coming from the top exhaust fan in your fridge. 

“Ugh, this is gonna be a pain when that heatwave comes,” you sigh with preemptive regret, “Really don’t wanna lose all this chicken in here…”

“Who cares about dumb chicken,” Kaminari pipes up from behind you, “What about the ice pops??”

You scoff good naturedly- Bakugou’s brand of sarcasm occasionally comes out of your mouth instead of his, despite your goal to be the more palatable half of your partnership.

“Those are for when my blood sugar crashes, darling– it’s not your personal stash when you come over.” 

Trying not to let too much air out of the tepid freezer, you shut it in favor of adjusting the main fridge’s controls to not suck up too much power. When Bakugou comes back with the new filter and coolant, you’re sure things will chill back up to temp in no time. 

Doing so leaves you plenty of time to putz around the kitchen while Kirishima keeps his particularly talkative company from eating you out of house and home. He’s already two sodas in, and despite your endless hospitality, even poor Eij wants to try and bash some manners into his friend from taking advantage. 

“C'mon man, just pick your racer already,” Kiri chides Kaminari to place his attention more on his controller than his appetite.

It’s then that your phone vibrates on the coffee table, drawing Kirishima’s eye.  There lies a small, yellowish icon beside the chat name ‘Backpack’, which he snidely recognizes as your nickname for Bakugou. 

“Hey, uh, doll? Your man’s textin’ ya!”

Head back in your fridge drawer, you call out, “Oh, check it for me? He might be asking about the brand we need!”

Drawing the notification down, Kirishima nearly chokes on his own spit at what he finds.

Yes, Bakugou’s asking which of the two labels he’s holding is what you’re in the market for… but in the margins of your texting exchange is a hilarious sight:

Bakugou’s contact photo is none other than a Pokemon. 

It’s here that Kirishima remembers his training; much like in a game of cards, it’s best not to reveal all your tells too quickly when you come across a secret. Don’t get cocky, and move with stealth. 

In a move sneakier than he’d claim to be, he screenshots the full contact detail, and texts it to himself. 

“What’d he say, Kiri?”

Hearing your voice clearer, Kirishima turns back casually and repeats Bakugou’s question, 

“He’s asking if it’s the green or blue label one!” 

“Uhhh, I think it’s green. Let’s go with that.”

“.... He’s askin’ how sure you are.”

Testily, you balk at Kirishima’s relay, “Does he not trust me?! YES, tell him it’s green.”

“... He’s askin’ what percentage sure y~”

“OH MY GOD!!”

Snickering to himself, he finally hands you your phone to ultimately set him straight, blowing up Bakugou’s contact photo on his own cell for further inspection. A second too long looking at this furry, blonde fire type you’ve chosen to represent your sweetheart has Kiri screwing his eyes shut and huffing a little laugh through his nose. 

Kaminari knows a damn good joke when he sees one, and bugs Kirishima to let him in.

“What’s got you crackin’ up?”

Kirishima tilts the phone his friend’s way- who bends over in completely silent laughter just as Kiri had, only more chaotic. It makes Kirishima react all the more, wheezing mutely into his palm to keep himself from letting you know he’d been looking in places he likely shouldn’t.

Kaminari mouths a bad idea. ‘SHOW HIM!!’

‘NO’

‘YES’

‘She’s gonna know!!’

‘Bro. BRO CODE-’ Kaminari mimics thumbs flying across a keyboard, ‘you GOTTA tell him~ He’ll be pissed!’

‘Yeah! THAT’S BAD!’

‘BUT IT’S FUNNY!’

On one hand, the photo contact is too rich of a laugh not to share with Bakugou; but on the other hand, it will all but confirm he went snooping on your phone more than intended. He’d truly hate to violate your trust… but you had asked him to look at it. You gave express permission.

Kiri’s fateful, recurring mistake; he listens to Kaminari regardless of the consequences.

“Ok, y’all are too quiet,” you finally round the kitchen island, “Picking a circuit can’t be that hard– whaaat are you two doing.”

Wearing matching doe-eyed looks, shoulder to shoulder, you take stock of how these two fully-fledged Pro Heroes look like grown-up children on your couch. 

“Oh, Kiri’s just enlightening me to the grand secrets of the universe!” Kaminari chimes back.

Not buying a minute of it but also preserving blissful ignorance, you simply retrieve your phone and squish yourself in between the two boys on the couch for an ounce for control. 

Instead of prying, you merely check into your self-care app and select your daily rewards, a song of ‘don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask’ under your breath as you make yourself comfortable.

Under Kaminari’s goofy thumbs up, Kirishima sucks on the edge of his lip and sends a quick little message to Bakugou before settling in for a game. 

–Not five minutes later, you hear the keys all but clash against the door before it opens and shuts with a bang.

“OKAY, WHICH ONE OF YOU BASTARDS DID IT?!”

You three whirl around in a turn befitting a sitcom. Sandwiched between both boys’ shit eating grins, you look alarmed at Bakugou: wondering what you did to be lumped into his ire.

“-not you-” Bakugou pegs you with a placating look to settle your panic, “I mean the MORONS who TOOK YOUR PHONE and made me a FUCKIN’ ARCANINE??”

With the expected vitriol blasting from Bakugou’s equally spiky hair as the Pokemon held up in his phone, Kirishima and Kaminari doubled over laughing. 

Meanwhile, you held a frozen look somewhere between hysterical and nervous.

“H- eh- I’m sorry, what?” you feigned confusion– just for a little bit longer.

Bakugou tabled the plastic bag containing your freezer parts, then sulked over to you, shoving Kaminari’s skull aside roughly so he could lean over the back of the couch in his place and show you himself.

“They set me as a freaking POKEMON as my icon– why don’t you keep this thing locked, huh??”

Swallowing your own chuckle, you peeked back up at him with guilty brows.

“Did they do it?”

“WELL YEAH!” Bakugou charged back brusquely, staring down a howling Kirishima, “WHO ELSE woulda pulled a shitty character like that to be what comes up when I call you?!”

All too sweetly, you tried again,

“And you’re sure they’re the ones who did it?...”

For an exhausted moment, Bakugou isn’t following you– until he does. Your little smirk all but screams it. 

You bat your lashes for good measure while he puts it together: “I mean, the resemblance is uncann-”

“HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN A FREAKING CARTOON IN YOUR PHONE, WOMAN??!”

Playfully defensive, you giggle through your defense, 

“It’s cute! You look like one!”

“I DO NOT!”

“Well it’s not like I have an album of pictures with you actually smiling to put there!”

“FINE THEN-”

Bakugou swipes your phone straight out of your hand, reverts the camera to selfie mode, nearly puts you in a headlock, and waits for you to quit squirming already before giving you a deceptively gentle kiss on the cheek-

At the very moment you look back at the camera with adorable realization, he snaps the photo, then releases you entirely. His grumpy scowl is back in full force, as if he hadn’t just posed for the sweetest photo of your entire relationship.

Tip-tapping for just a few more menus, he places your phone firmly back into your hands. 

“There. And don’t you dare change it. NONE of you.”

You squawk in delight, finding his face has not only been set as your lock screen, but also your home screen and of course- his profile photo. The redhead on your left and blonde on your right both coo their ‘awws’ on either side of you seeing their Bakubro showing an ounce of emotion immortalized for all eternity.

Before you can even rally to soothe your likely embarrassed boyfriend, you follow the sight of said grumbling man as he’s taken the bag’s contents to the freezer. He’s handling it all a bit roughly, but is setting to work himself so you don’t have to fight with it again for the third time today.

It’s a sweet gesture, and makes you only adore your prickly Arcanine who had clearly chosen a protective stance once he came home– never once considering you’d have been the one who did the ill deed against him. The similarities are painfully obvious to everyone in the room… and perhaps that realization was hitting him a bit close to home, even in jest.

You’ll owe Bakugou a playful apology, which you’re sure an indulgent scratch along his back and through his hair will fix.

Never before have you been happier for Kirishima to have chosen you as the little sister to mess with~

[bigmammallama5]

Photography of my October train kiln firing! This was a slightly faster firing with a small crash-cool at the end (reach and hold peak temp, then open the kiln and "crash" the temperature down to encourage more shiny glaze surfaces). I did get some Shiny surfaces, but I also had some odd glaze beading. I think I'd have to try that again to see if it was a weird coincidence or a result of crash cooling. My pots still did get a lovely range of color. The sculpture has not been cleaned up yet, and eventually I may add photography of him to this collection.

[ilikepjo24]

Hello everyone, Kate here. There is a serious matter that I truly need to address so please, would you take some time of your day and read this post in its entirety? Reblog it and make the situation known?

This Friday, there will be a huge nation wide strike happening in Greece and oversees, in hopes to punish the crime of the horrible train crash that happened in 2023 in the Valley of Tempe, Greece and the complete disregard of the government towards the situation.

Two years ago, a series of mistakes in scheduling and organization due to neglect, as well as poorly maintained control equipment for the sake of decreasing the cost of maintenance, lead to a passenger train riding on the wrong lane and on the same train tracks as, and opposite of, a freight train that was heading right for it.

The resulting crash of the two trains lead to a giant explosion, the impact of which had as consequence of 57 lives, mostly students. The ones that didn't die on impact where trapped in a flaming metal container until the cruel circumstances killed them, or where heavily injured.

But that's not all. Since the crash, there are a few details that have come to light.

Investigations commissioned by the Greek Supreme Civil and Criminal Court and the relatives of the victims have shown that incredibly soon after the crash, the scene of the crime was covered by concrete, which we believe was done on purpose as an obstacle to further investigations.

Additionally, none of the materials that were listed to be on the freight train could have possibly resulted in such a big explosion, leading to the mostly confirmed theory that the train was carrying illegal, undocumented, flammable materials.

In the past couple of years, the relatives of the victims have been fighting incredibly hard to ensure that the situation will be properly investigated, and to bring attention to the European community as a whole.

Meanwhile, members and allies of the governing party have bluntly denied claims of a crime, opposing the notion of the subject becoming widely known across the EU and being deceitful and patronizing the entirety of the Greek population and insulting towards survivors, relatives of the victims.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current prime minister, has repeatedly denied the happening of a crime and has actively discouraged and worked against investigations.

Adonis Georgiadis, the health minister, has actively and openly encouraged violence against protesters and strikers.

Afroditi Latinopoulo, president of a far-right party named "Voice of Reason" ("Φωνή Λογικής"), has openly and repeatedly opposed the matter going to the EU.

On Friday 28/2/2025 (DD/MM/YYYY) we will be protesting to make our voices heard. Most of the population will be on strike and taxis will work for free to help people reach the places the protests will be taking place. I will not be in my workplace, and I will be protesting instead.

There are over 250 strikes and protests happening worldwide, and if there's any going on in your area, I would encourage you to show up and speak up. The following link is a list of all the protests happening within and outside of Greece for the matter.

https://tempi2023.jodi.graphics/

I would be incredibly grateful if you could stand by me, my phone, and justice in this matter. I would be incredibly grateful if you attended a protest happening in your area. I would bf incredibly grateful if you could just spread the word.

Thank you for your time.

[sheepie-self-ships]

By the time I’m posting this this art is a few weeks old, but I HAVE DOODLES AND I ALSO HAVE LIKE STORY BITS 👉👈 a little s/i story lore to drop…,.,,, spoilers for s.tex I guess?? Not really 💀 the art isn’t related to the writing, more so I just had the ideas to put them together to see how it’d go

First off, Ace is employed by the train yard s.tex takes place in after the events of the musical as a temporary locomotive mechanic due to E.lectra, GB, and CB all crashing during the final race (in my mind they just didn’t get fixed after One R.ock n R.oll Too Many quite yet), and they needed some extra hands to help out with the wreck and also restoring the trains 😭

They’d just gotten out of trade school so they were struggling to find a job, so they figured this temp position would be good for them to at least get some experience if nothing, and buy them some time while they look for a more permanent thing

So Ace joins the team and is shown around, and those three are like completely out of commission, all their parts are mixed together, I’m pretty sure CB has some burnt planks and stuff that need to be replaced and such, it was just a bad time all around

Ace is put in a small group to restore GB, and once all his parts are separated and unsalvageable parts are reordered, the group starts working on getting him back up and running as fast as they can. He is their champion engine after all, even if he didn’t win this championship.

Once he comes to, I don’t think he respects them at alllll. Ace is probably the youngest worker in there, since they just got out of school. Granted, I don’t think he respects any of the mechanics, sigh. But right out the gate, he’s a wiggle worm, he won’t stop talking, flirting, and generally getting in the way of the job getting done, and being an overall nuisance to everyone working on him.

Maybe one day he sees Ace coming into the shop in an already sour mood, and he chills out, just to get through that day. Ace is busy with him, working in silence and he doesn’t care enough today to give them a hard time. Normally they’d respond to his banter, but he can already tell it wouldn’t be great for either of them so he kinda just sits there finally.

This is a real relief for Ace, and even if he gets back to his regular self by the next day, he’s a bit more likely to calm himself if it’s needed.

They get to know each other more due to forced proximity, and eventually his flirting gets more serious day by day, and he looks forward to them working together.

When they finally get done restoring G.reaseball, he still wants them to work with him, so he pulls some strings and gets them on his team permanently (Ace has no idea he did that)

And they kinda groan, but it’s not the worst gig they could get stuck with… the guy was funny sometimes at least

Also surprise!! More sketchbook scans :3 these are the informational Aceball ones hehe

————

TAGLIST

@scaramutual @okiria @scientistkerberos @arsene-fixates @dreamwinged

@thetalesofforest @sunflawyer @l0v3sickl0s3r @charge2005 @wuffverine

@catships777 @sparkyscissorhands @natetrx-selfships-n-shit

[starsfic]

So while I am taking my lil break from writing, I decided to do some next year planning because I'm bored. It will all be under #next year planning.

Summaries:

AU where to promote his garage chain, Wukong recruits his nephew Red to be a sexy model in the ads. Qi Xiaotian's YouTube recommendations are suddenly full of this one garage chain's ads.

AU where newly powerful Sun Wukong gets way too into his innocent monkey prince act and gets courtnapped. Thankfully, his courtnapper, the Six-Eared Macaque, and his rescuer, celestial soldier Azure Lion, have some cool weapons that Wukong can steal.

Every time a Smiling Critter dies in the factory, they wake up in the cartoon world, sharing a body with their cartoon counterpart. Everyone has settled into this weird new normalcy...until Dogday and Catnap die hours apart.

AU: In the aftermath of the train crash, the Player now finds themself stranded in the sinister Playcare, run by the Smiling Critters and their leader, CatNap. With their only hope re-routing power and diverging the Red Gas, the Player finds themselves allies among the residents, including the sole heretic of the Playcare.

Jadepeach AU where Ao Lie doesn’t get hit with the Samadhi fire and, in the present, he and Wukong are an old married couple, teaming up to train both Qi Xiaotian and Long Xiaojiao.

AU where Qi Xiaotian agrees to try and break the curse of Prince Red. Unfortunately, Red has a fondness for his new giant minotaur form...and so does Xiaotian. Smut.

AU spin-off of Ladybug, where Sabine calls PIF to help her get revenge on the school. Marinette's whole expulsion was done improperly and reeks of issues that need some...discussion.

After successfully leaving the leadership of the Demon Bull clan to his son, Old Bull moves out to the country to retire. A chance meeting with retired chef Zumu Zhu gives the two a new friend and a chance to play matchmaker for their wonderful grandsons. Unfortunately, said grandsons already know each other…and not in a good way.

After their identities are forcefully revealed, the former temp heroes decide that, to send Hawkmoth on a wild goose chase, they have sleepovers together. It is one of those sleepovers where someone asks "Hey, does anyone else get a bad feeling about Chat Noir?"

LMK: Fairytale AU where Long Xiaojiao finds herself as the detective of figuring out who is eating the village sheep. Who is the red bull?

[leonsliga]

How to get football autographs: a crash course

Fair warning: this will be a long post.

We’ve all heard it by now: the best way to get footballer autographs is to attend open trainings or wait outside their hotels and stadiums on match days. But what if you live far away or can’t afford to fly to training or games? Not to worry! Whether you’re a collector, a fan, or a little bit of both like me, quite a few clubs are still willing to send out autograph cards, as long as you send them a stamped addressed envelope.

You’ll find helpful how-to videos on how to do just that, along with links to some country stamp websites, below. These videos actually inspired this post:

Postal service links:

United Kingdom

https://shop.royalmail.com/postage-and-packaging/first-and-second-class-stamps - You can’t print UK stamps, but you can buy them off the Royal Mail website (see above link) or off Amazon in most cases

Germany

https://shop.deutschepost.de/shop/internetmarke/selectPostageIM.jsp?invalidAccess=true#porto-international (you’ll want to buy the printable compact letter—Kompaktbrief in German—stamps for 1,70€)

Spain

https://www.correos.es/es/en/companies/send/stamps - Unfortunately, I’m completely useless at navigating the Spanish postal service (AKA Correos), but here’s the link regardless. Maybe you’ll have better luck than me 😅

France

You can buy printable stamps using the link above

Postage Questions:

What materials will I need to send a request?

You’ll need a letter containing your autograph request, 2 envelopes (one bigger and one smaller), a stamp/stamps (depending on size and weight) from your country and the stamp/stamps of the destination country.

I’ve bought my stamps. What size envelopes should I get?

I recommend getting c4 envelopes, as they’ll be big enough to hold your autograph request letter. These will be the envelopes you’ll mail out. If you go with a c4 envelope, I’d recommend purchasing c5 envelopes as your smaller envelope. These will be the envelopes the clubs return to you with the autograph cards inside, and you’ll slide them into your c4 envelope when you’re ready to mail them.

Be sure to include the club’s mailing address and your country’s stamp on the large envelope and your address + their country’s stamp on the smaller one

Where can I find a club’s mailing address?

You can usually find a club’s mailing address, along with their attitude towards fanmail, on the “contact us” tab on their webpage. If you can’t find it there, search the name of the club on fanmail.biz; they have the mailing address of just about every football club you can imagine.

What should I put in my autograph request letter?

The main thing here is to include which footballers’ autographs you want (if you don’t have a preference, you don’t have to do this; you can always say you’d be happy to add whatever player cards they’re willing to send to your collection, or something like that lol). Apart from that, what you include is entirely up to you! I wouldn’t recommend sending a super long letter, but if you want to add a personal touch, you can always mention one of your favorite memories of that club and their achievements. It doesn’t hurt to throw in a thank you at the end either :) one last note: you can address your letter to the club or the player whose autograph you’re requesting; it’s entirely up to you!

Do I have to send a stamped addressed envelope to every club?

Not necessarily. If you want to save money on stamps and envelopes, try emailing the clubs first. If you’re lucky, they’ll send the autograph cards directly to you and pay for the postage :)

Now onto the most important question: does it work? The answer is that it depends on the club you’re sending the request to and sometimes even the league they play in. I’ll break it down by league below, detailing either my own experiences writing to the club (if I’ve written to the club and heard back, I’ll state it outright) or that of YouTubers who have reached out to them. If you don’t see your club here, assume they either don’t reply to fanmail, or I haven’t heard of any success stories yet.

Premier League

Some Prem clubs still send out autographs, but not all. Here’s the ones that do:

Manchester United - pre-covid I’m pretty sure they sent out only hand-signed autographs upon request. Unfortunately, they seem to have cut back a bit on this in recent years; nowadays they tend to send a mix of hand-signed and pre-printed, facsimile signatures (this was the case for me when I wrote to them a few months ago and a few YouTubers that wrote to them as well). Still, pretty amazing given the size of the club that they’re willing to do this. As a United fan, I can’t help but feel a little proud :)

Liverpool - they definitely take the “you’ll never walk alone” motto literally, because they also still answer autograph requests with squad photos and signatures, at least as of 2021. To add a personal touch, they usually include a certificate with your name on it. Even though they’re United’s biggest rivals, I can’t help but respect them for this.

Arsenal - another big club that’s not too big for their fans; to my knowledge, they still send out hand-signed autographs. In doing research for this post, I even stumbled upon a video of someone who got an Arsenal match program, 2 squad photos, and autographs on the back of one of them. Talk about a big haul!

Tottenham - usually send pre-signed, photocopied autograph cards

Chelsea - sent out pre-signed, facsimile autograph prints as of 2021

Manchester City - sends out facsimile signatures only, according to several YouTubers (I’ve never contacted the club personally, so I’m not sure if this is still the case). If you do reach out to them, let me know what you hear back!

Crystal Palace - hit-or-miss. They tend to reply with pre-signed squad photos. They usually include a “south london and proud” bracelet from what I understand though, which is a fun perk!

West Ham - you might hear back from them, you might not (I didn’t when I tried a few months ago, but I know several other people did). If they do reply, you’ll likely receive hand-signed photos.

Aston Villa - sent out mostly pre-signed cards as of 2021

Everton - sent out predominantly hand-signed cards as of 2020

Leicester - send out a mix of photocopied and hand-signed cards, as of 2020 - they generally include player cards from the entire squad

Bournemouth - sent out pre-printed cards as of 2021

Newcastle - still sent out hand-signed photographs as of 2020

Bundesliga

If you want hand-signed autographs, look no further than the Bundesliga. In my experience, they send out the most hand-signed cards of any football league, and it’s not even close. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a club that doesn’t send out hand-signed cards. I’m assuming it’s the same story for the 2. Bundesliga (I know Schalke sends out hand-signed cards at the very least).

Bayern Munich - generally, they prefer you purchase cards on their website. Unfortunately, you have to be a member to buy signed cards on there; otherwise, you have to settle for pre-signed prints. That said, I’m pretty sure that if you purchase the player cards on the website and send a few back to the club to be signed, they will return them with official autographs. I sent in a request for Manuel Neuer’s autograph earlier this year and enclosed his player card, and they sent it back hand-signed. I included my membership number in my request just in case, but I know they’ve sent hand-signed autographs to non-members in the past (i.e. the YouTuber mentioned towards the beginning of this post). If you do reach out to Bayern, let me know how it goes. My fingers are crossed for you regardless 🤞

Borussia Dortmund - probably the most reliable of the Bundesliga clubs when it comes to autograph requests. They now limit you to 4 footballers per request, so you’ll have to be selective. That said, they usually reply quickly and send out hand-signed autographs every time. I have yet to hear of anyone who hasn’t received something back when they sent an autograph request to BVB.

Bayer Leverkusen - when I requested autographs from them, they sent me some back. I requested 3 players’ autographs, along with Xabi Alonso’s, and received all 4 cards back hand-signed. Quite a few YouTubers have had success hearing from them as well. Even though they’re having a fantastic season, they clearly haven’t neglected their fanmail, which is cool to see :)

Eintracht Frankfurt - sends out hand-signed autograph cards, even as of this season (they sent hand-signed cards when I reached out to them two months ago). If they’re your club, you’re in luck.

VfB Stuttgart - hand-signed cards

RB Leipzig - hand-signed cards

FC Union Berlin - hand-signed cards (I haven’t heard back from them yet, but it’s only been a week and a half at this point)

SC Freiburg - hand-signed cards

Borussia Mönchengladbach - hand-signed cards (I just heard back from them a week ago, and I think I got a mix of hand-signed cards and pre-signed prints)

FC Augsburg - hand-signed cards

SV Werder Bremen - hand-signed cards

VfL Wolfsburg - hand-signed cards

VfL Bochum - hand-signed cards, sometimes of the entire team (I received 4 cards in response to my request)

TSG Hoffenheim - hand-signed cards, often of the entire team

FC Köln - hand-signed cards

FSV Mainz - hand-signed cards, often of majority of the squad

La Liga

If you’re a fan of a Spanish club, you might be a lot less lucky, sadly. Only one club still sends out hand-signed autographs to my knowledge, and only one other club sends anything back in response to fanmail.

Real Madrid - occasionally sends out posters with pre-printed, facsimile signatures.

Sevilla - this is the club to ask for hand-signed autographs. That said, you probably won’t get more than one or two. I’d recommend being specific about which player(s)’ autographs you want in order to avoid being disappointed.

Ligue 1

Maybe the French league is more your speed. It’s a mixed bag here; while few answer fanmail, the ones that do are more often than not the most generous of any football clubs on this list.

PSG - the Parisians do still respond to autograph requests, but pretty much exclusively send out facsimile signatures.

Olympique de Marseille - have sent out pre-signed cards of their entire team in the past, along with a poster

FC Metz - sent out a mix of hand-signed autographs and pre-signed prints as of 2021

LOSC Lille - sent out autograph cards as of 2021

OGC Nice - sent out autograph cards as of 2021

RC Strasbourg - sends out autographed postcards, and if you’re lucky, they might include a squad photo and some stickers along with it :)

AS Saint-Étienne - send out hand-signed cards, although I’ve also seen them send squad photos addressed to the recipient, along with 2 issues of their club’s magazine

Eredivisie

PSV Eindhoven - sometimes send out autograph cards with facsimile signatures (pre-prints)

Swiss Super League

FC Basel - sent out hand-signed cards as of 2021

BSC Young Boys - sent out hand-signed cards as of 2021

Austrian Football Bundesliga

SK Rapid Wien - sent out hand-signed cards as of 2021

LASK - hand-signed cards (as of 2021)

Scottish Premiership

Glasgow Rangers - occasionally sends pre-signed prints (at least, as of 2021)

Ekstraklasa

All clubs listed below have sent out hand-signed autograph cards in the past:

Śląsk Wrocław

Legia Warszawa

Lech Poznań

A-League

Western Sydney Wanderers - signed squad photo

MLS

Whether you’ve got a particular club in mind or you’re just a fan of one of the big stars (i.e. Messi), you’re probably in for disappointment. Autograph collecting isn’t super big in the U.S., and MLS treats autograph requests accordingly.

Seattle Sounders - one of the only two clubs in MLS that actually sends a response to autograph requests - one lucky collector was even able to get a hat signed by the entire squad! (see here)

NYCFC - sends out hand-signed autograph cards occasionally, usually only one or two

*side note: unfortunately, it seems like most people have only reached out to European clubs, (with the exception of the A-League and MLS), so I can’t speak to whether clubs on other continents fulfill autograph requests. If you reach out to any clubs in leagues not mentioned here, let me know and I’ll update the list :)

Lingering questions:

How long does it take to hear back from clubs?

In my experience as someone living in the UK, I’ve heard back from every club I reached out to within 2-3 weeks (closer to the 2 week mark in most cases). It depends on how far away you live from the club though. I heard back from Manchester United within a week of mailing my request, but they were the exception, not the rule.

Tldr: expect to hear back within a month (maybe a month and a half in extreme cases)

Do clubs answer autograph requests during the off-season?

In my experience, no. I tried this a few years back with no success.

Can I send a shirt to be signed by a player?

I wouldn’t recommend it, as you may not get it back. If you do, the club will probably just return it to you unsigned. You’re better off just requesting an autograph card imo.

Do national teams send autograph cards?

Some do! Last I’ve heard, the German national team still answers requests with authentic signatures and the Croatian national team has sent out signed cards previously as well. The Czech Republic sends out unsigned squad cards. Last but not least, the Dutch national team has sent out fan posters in the past.

Apart from David MC’s autograph series, here’s some of the other videos that helped form this list:

[styxsbos]

Prayer for Justice

You may be aware that today (28/2/24) marks one year from the fatal train crash at Tempe where >57 people, mostly students, lost their lives, many burnt to ashes or dismembered. To this day no justice has been served and no politicians are being held accountable for their actions. Here is the first prayer I've ever written.

O Odin, the all seeing one,

Please arm the people with intuition, search for wisdom and compassion

So there will be change

O Tyr give us courage

So we can bring Justice to those suffering from corruption

Give us the courage to fight

Against all odds

And see through deception

O Hel, merciful one

Please tend to the ones that come to you

Help them cross safely

May they find their path to you

O Eir, divine healer

Please stand on the bedside of those burnt, cut, bearing scars

Stand on the bedside of those who suffer from the worst of nightmares

May their trauma be healed

May Spring bear the crops of Justice and Change

As light shines and uncovers

The pain that winter bears

[hellsgreatestfashionista]

((I know that this isn't my typical content, and I have said that I will keep my political beliefs seperated from my RPing, but this isn't just politics at this point. It's a murder of innocent children, and as a Greek person, it affects me deeply and personally, so I have to speak out about it. The following video is informative content on what is currently happening in Greece, and hopefully many other European countries.

This Friday, there will be a huge nation wide strike happening in Greece and oversees, in hopes to punish the crime of the horrible train crash that happened in 2023 in the Valley of Tempe, Greece and the complete disregard of the government towards the situation.

Two years ago, a series of mistakes in scheduling and organization due to neglect, as well as poorly maintained control equipment for the sake of decreasing the cost of maintenance, lead to a passenger train riding on the wrong lane and on the same train tracks as, and opposite of, a freight train that was heading right for it.

The resulting crash of the two trains lead to a giant explosion, the impact of which had as consequence of 57 lives, mostly students. The ones that didn't die on impact where trapped in a flaming metal container until the cruel circumstances killed them, or where heavily injured.

But that's not all. Since the crash, there are a few details that have come to light.

Investigations commissioned by the Greek Supreme Civil and Criminal Court and the relatives of the victims have shown that incredibly soon after the crash, the scene of the crime was covered by concrete, which we believe was done on purpose as an obstacle to further investigations.

Additionally, none of the materials that were listed to be on the freight train could have possibly resulted in such a big explosion, leading to the mostly confirmed theory that the train was carrying illegal, undocumented, flammable materials.

In the past couple of years, the relatives of the victims have been fighting incredibly hard to ensure that the situation will be properly investigated, and to bring attention to the European community as a whole. Meanwhile, members and allies of the governing party have bluntly denied claims of a crime, opposing the notion of the subject becoming widely known across the EU and being deceitful and patronizing the entirety of the Greek population and insulting towards survivors, relatives of the victims.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current prime minister, has repeatedly denied the happening of a crime and has actively discouraged and worked against investigations.

Adonis Georgiadis, the health minister, has actively and openly encouraged violence against protesters and strikers.

Afroditi Latinopoulo, president of a far-right party named "Voice of Reason" ("Φωνή Λογικής"), has openly and repeatedly opposed the matter going to the EU.

On Friday 28/2/2025 (DD/MM/YYYY) we will be protesting to make our voices heard. Most of the population will be on strike and taxis will work for free to help people reach the places the protests will be taking place. I will not be in my workplace, and I will be protesting instead.

There are over 250 strikes and protests happening worldwide, and if there's any going on in your area, I would encourage you to show up and speak up. The following link is a list of all the protests happening within and outside of Greece for the matter.

https://tempi2023.jodi.graphics/

I would be incredibly grateful if you could attend a protest in your area. I would be incredibly grateful if you could encourage your friends, family, coworkers and peers to do the same. I would be incredibly grateful if you could reblog this post and spread the word.

Thank you for your time and your patience. I hope that on Friday I can thank you for your contribution to the justice efforts as well.))

[norsesuggestions]

On the topic of 19th century polar expedition were everyone are greatly unprepared for what they were actually doing

Well the original reason i started to look up different polar expeditions was because i stumbled over the swedish engeeiner Andrée attempt to reach the north pole in:

A hydrogen balloon!

When the technology was new! And he knew very little about actually using the balloon. But he knew even less about the north pole.

They went in summer because:

1.

"The north pole got great weather in the summer for a balloon. Always sunny and and calm above the still ocean and smooth ice sheet"

(In reality summer means non stop fog and shifting winds. The ice sheet is melting and then freezing when the temp hovers around zero degress. This means it melts, moved and crashes into itself non stop.

The ice at the north pole is not you know. Anchored in land. Except at the edges were it sometimes reaches land. But in the summer it does not always reach land. So, no calm ice sheet, it is stormy broken landscape of arctic ocean with gigantic ice sheets crashing into eachother, breaking eachother, building up fun ice walls etc while the wind and oceans moves them around)

But! Andrée was gonna go with two lads across the north pole in a balloon.

2. Start in Svalbard and then just go were the wind takes them. Then he would land in "alaska, russia or canada" and just "walk to the nearest town and then take the train back to sweden idk"

(seriously his plan for post north pole flight was. Well i will be somewere in the arctic, i guess i will find humans and then go home?

At least, to his credit he knew and admitted that humans lived nearby the north pole, and he would be able to. Talk to them about how to get home. On the other hand, he was swedish so.... sweden has 30% of its surface within the polar circle. He started his travel from Norways Svalbard. So honestly, living in total ignorance of the people in northen sweden and norway would be absurd. And that it logically should be lots of people in equally northen places who knew in which direction the nearest train station/harbour were.

But! Some southern 19th century swedes would not have realised this so??? The bar is so low it have sunken to the south pole, but!)

But problem here is of course not that he gets that there are people to talk to when you have crossed the north pole. It is, that he do not grasp he might need to walk 1 week to reach these people. And what would our three stockholm dwelling southern swedes wear for their north pole expedition?

3. Normal southern swedish winter clothes! For you know around -10 to about -0 C. And living in a city were one can walk inside at any time.

Anyway their balloon crashed two days into the expedition on the that summer arctic ocean ice. And they needed to walk back to Svalbard archipelago.

It took 3 MONTHS. Because somehow Andrée had lived in denial that he might you know. Just crash into the arctic ocean. So all that. "I will just go the city and buy some coffee" planning did so not work out.

It took 3 months because Andrée and his two other expedition lads had no planning to actually needing to trek across the previously mentioned moving ocean ice. Also, the ice was as i mentioned MOVING.

Something they did realise. They did have all the academic skills in have to measure there movement across earth via stars, but not the.. pracitcal skills to solve how to get were they wanted to go.

Tbh i impressed that these 3 stockholm lads, all academic types, made it 3 months. What i mean is that, i would except most current day stockholmers to die much earlier tbh.

They also hunted polar bears like it is no big deal??? I mean they had guns so it was not difficult as such. But once again, tbh would expected my fellow stockholmers to be eaten earlier.

In general they appear to be good at hunting, which tbh finds interesting in contrast to other failed polar expedition were they run out of food. Perhaps swedens population having a hunting tradition were it was a important part for both getting food and the get money for ones household helped?

What i mean is that hunting was not just a upper class hobby as in some european countries at the time. It was just a normal way people got food.

Anyway, ones again the bar is low it sunk to the south pole haha. The 3 lads of Andrée expedition knew how to hunt and prepare wild animals. As the majority of people living within and near the polar circle

ANYWAY

In the end they did reached the Svalbard archipelago again. Finally not on moving ice anymore! But it was a remote island few ever visited... Shortly afterwards they all three die.

Exact cause of death is unknown, but personally i am surprised these 3 stockholmers even lived 3 months on sea ice?? 3 unprepared stockholmers? Like i am just like, obvoiusly they would not survive, there are so many things that can kill when you are just 3 indoor lads out in the arctic so....

We know all these details btw because in the 1930s the found the expedition and all there papers. And photos! Lots still able to be looked so

Anyway this was a rambling info dump of what i learned about the Andrée expedition these lasts days

[smolfrosted]

Had a wacky ass dream literally a minute ago

Ok so I’m living in like a farm area, I have multiple siblings but I’m the oldest and our dad is Hajime Hinata for some fucking reason

Don’t remember who my mom was but we had one and both of them decided that they were gonna ditch all of us and skip town, except they didn’t hide it from us

A lot of shit ended up happening, I exposed them to the town for abandoning their kids, they went on a train twice and a little bit of KomaHina ensued before the train promptly crashed twice

A little kid gave me a fern and asked if he really was my only friend, I said yes but that it was because I had just lost a lot of friends, before getting called to a house that wasn’t ours and was like a farm side mansion by my mom, who might have been my actual mom and was sorting through someone’s jewelry

I put on a Star of David and was called back outside by my actual aunt, she was asking me if I had seen the second train crash and if I had submitted anything for it after I jumped out the window and talked to her

Also at some point my brother (note I don’t actually have siblings irl) had been super like hyper and shit and I at sometime found his socks bloody and figured out that he was on drugs for whatever reason and it was fucking with his body temp and I don’t remember how but that lead to his feet bleeding while he worked

Then my mom (irl) busted into my room and woke me up so here we are

[bigmammallama5]

Stupid hurricane is postponing our train kiln firing this weekend. We’re still unloading the soda kiln tomorrow (unfortunately I don’t get to help, I wasn’t able to take work off) and we’ll load the train Saturday when it’s more calm. But then it’ll sit there for two weeks until the 12th.

And idk one of our new residents is trying to change stuff about the firing after we signed up and I’m not really getting good vibes about him. Previous firings have had slow reduction cools (less oxygen, pulls out more reds and flashing, deeper color variation, more matte) but all of a sudden he’s saying he wants to crash-cool the kiln (after holding at peak temp you partially open the kiln and crash the temp down for smoother shinier surfaces but far less flashing and color depth) which is not what i had in mind for ANY of the work I made for this firing. Might keep my big sculpture guy out if he insists on crash cooling bc that’s not at all what i wanted for him. He might not be fired for a year at this point but that might just have to be the case.

*edit for clarification: our new resident is encouraged to lead firings to his style and taste, but he is wanting to alter firings we have already paid for before his employment without any kind of discussion on changes.

[the-commissions-deadliest]

TUA OC - Bonnie Astor

Faceclaim: Ruth Connell

Name: Bonnie Astor

Alias: The Huntress (One of the 43)

Age: In her 40s (Older than The Umbrella Academy folks as a result of time travel shenanigans)

Gender: Cis Woman (She/Her)

Sexuality: Homosexual, Homoromantic

Occupation: Temps Commission Employee – Originally hired as an assassin, would later be promoted to The Handler’s second in command. Despite years of service to the Temps Commission her true loyalty lies with The Handler and not the company itself.

Personality Traits:

Positive Traits: Adaptable, loyal, caring (to a very select few), hardworking, observant, good with words and people

Neutral Traits: Ambitious, secretive

Negative Traits: Vindictive, manipulative, quick to hold a grudge, brutal, stubborn, apathetic towards the feelings and wellbeing of strangers

Abilities/Power:

TW: BODY HORROR AND MENTIONS OF BONES BREAKING

Bone Manipulation: Bonnie has the ability to claw through her skin and rip the bones out of her body to use as a weapon; not only are her bones of a higher density than the average person, once they’re removed, she’s able to control the sharpness of them thus making them effective weapons. These weapons are truly an extension of her in every way. Her body promptly grows a replacement for any bone she removes.

Regenerative Healing: In addition to regrowing bones, Bonnie’s body has the ability to heal bone breaks and skin lacerations in mere moments.

Skin Manipulation: Has the ability to soften her skin at will; combined with her naturally sharp, clawlike nails it’s very easy for her to really dig in there to reach her bones.

Contortion: Has the ability to contort her body in unnatural and unsettling ways. Consequently, is able to hide away in tiny corners and ambush her enemies.

Bonnie’s abilities don’t come without consequence, though she can heal injuries and regrow her bones in mere moments it’s very painful for her to do so and can be quite exhausting. To cope with this, she takes several different types of painkillers daily to stabilize the pain and ensure she can use her abilities in a fight if needed.

Backstory:

On October 1st, 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth simultaneously at noon despite showing no signs of pregnancy until labor began. Bonnie was one of these children, born to a young woman in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her mother didn’t have the resources to care for an unexpected child and thus when a wealthy couple offered her a large sum of money for her baby, she accepted. And so, under the instruction of Reginald Hargreeves, the couple bought Bonnie and 6 other kids to create The Phantom Academy, a sister academy to The Umbrella Academy. Based in Canada, The Phantom Academy were often referred to by Reginald as the Hargreeve's cousins. Bonnie was the Number Two of The Phantom Academy.

At first, Bonnie was difficult to train due to her hesitance when it came to using to her abilities; the young girl just couldn’t understand why she was being pressured to do something that caused her pain. Her parents would hire a nanny specifically to look after Bonnie, hoping to ease her difficult behaviours and tendency to lash out; Bonnie would become very close to this woman. Eventually, fed up with her stubbornness, Bonnie’s parents decided the only thing to do was to force her to use her powers by threatening the things/people she loved. Namely her nanny, keeping her trapped and threatening to withhold things such as food from her unless Bonnie used her abilities, essentially forcing her to trade her own bones for these things. It wasn’t long until Bonnie had become the “perfect obedient” child her parents wanted her to be. And so, much like The Umbrella Academy, Bonnie and her siblings would spend their youth successfully fighting crime in Canada. That is, until everything came crashing down for The Phantom Academy.

When Bonnie and her siblings were 17, they would be sent on a mission that would change everything. Bonnie was apprehensive about the mission claiming that they didn’t think it was going to end well with Bonnie being the most vocal about. However, their parents and brother referred to as Number 1 (whom Bonnie had been known to butt heads with in the past) disregarded her concerns. This mission ended in the death of all siblings aside from Number 1 and Number 2 (Bonnie). Infuriated that this tragedy could’ve been avoided had her parents and brother just listened to her, this caused a traumatised Bonnie to break down and to start lashing out again even going as far as getting brutally violent with her brother.

Instead of addressing her trauma and grief regarding the situation, Bonnie’s parents ultimately deemed her a lost cause, that helping her would be more trouble than it was worth. They told the world she had died along with her other siblings, that Number 1 had been the only survivor all while keeping Bonnie locked away in The Phantom Academy manor. They deprived her of her painkillers, effectively keeping her weak and in pain so she couldn’t fight back and leave. This went on for a few years until one warm summer evening, on the anniversary of her sibling’s death, Bonnie snapped and pushing through the pain, fought back and left for good; Bonnie was never seen again, being recruited by The Commission shortly after leaving.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.28

202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. 1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés. 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. 1835 – Elias Lönnrot signed and dated the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called foreword to the Old Kalevala. 1844 – A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who was also on board, was not injured from the blast. 1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America. 1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 28,000 civilians. 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. 1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit. 1966 – A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett. 1969 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco. 1974 – The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote. 1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. 1983 – The final episode of MAS*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers. 1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers. 1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. 1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh starting a 51-day standoff. 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths. 1997 – A Turkish military memorandum resulted with collapse of the government in Turkey. 2001 – The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area. 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre. 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415. 2023 – Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.