#that is shaped by its occupants as much as its occupants are shaped by it

[powerfulkicks]

*in a half fugue state* a discord server as an ever changing house

[moonlitdesertdreams]

On the Surface

A/N: Nothing important, please enjoy and send me more ideas! Tags: Fallout, Cooper Howard, Cooper Howard x F!Reader, Cooper Howard x You, Ghoul x Reader, Lucy MacLean WARNINGS: None Summary: Lucy knew traveling with the Ghoul would be tough, but no one told her it would be so... weird. Especially when he stops to pick up another companion along the way.

Word count: 1.2k+

(GIF credit to @talesfromthecrypts)

Lucy surely didn’t know what to expect when she trudged along after the Ghoul and Wilzig’s dog, charmed by its new companion. 

She followed, weighed down by the revelations Moldaver had laid bare. It had pulled the curtain away from her entire life and ripped her heart to shreds. Between seeing her father flee and leaving Maximus, her mind was heavy with pain. 

The Ghoul was absolute zero on the comfort scale. He walked silently, only breaking it to mutter hypothetical questions at the dog- so affectionately called Dogmeat- and cough dryly. Lucy decided they had to have been walking for hours through sparse woods and dry ground before a flickering light appeared on the horizon. 

And after everything she’d been through, she fully expected another fight. 

But the Ghoul seemed to gain some motivation at the sight, and moved along at a quicker pace than they had been. Lucy was able to make out the shape of a small campfire burning, less than ten feet away from a fairly large, but crudely-built cabin. It was tucked into a patch of dead trees, and had what she thought to be clothes hanging on clotheslines outside. Even the dog was excited, barking loudly and jogging up to the cabin. 

Lucy stopped a few yards away, apprehension freezing her limbs into place. The Ghoul continued on, hopping lithely onto the front porch and knocking at the door. Again, she expected the occupant to come out, guns blazing, and be killed by the man at her door. 

Maybe he’d even make Lucy carve pieces of them off to make jerky again.

What she didn’t expect was the door to open, and the Ghoul to crack a smile she’d never seen. A figure- a woman- stepped out onto the porch. Lucy watched them exchange a few words before the woman leaned in towards the Ghoul and…. hugged him?

What the fuck even was this place?

The Ghoul, always cold and callous with Lucy, chuckled out loud. “Miss me, sugar?”

When she pulls away, the woman is beaming. “Every day.”

Lucy probably looks like a whole fool, jaw gaping and brow furrowed in confusion. She stares at the woman, who eventually turns an eye to her. 

“What’s this? Gettin’ some on the side, Cowboy?” The still unnamed woman trots off the porch towards the Vault-Dweller. 

Upon closer inspection, the woman doesn’t appear as angry as her statement. She’s got long hair wrapped into a complicated braided style to keep it up and out of her face. There’s a smattering of freckles over her sunburnt nose, and a jagged scar running the length of her right cheek. The gnarled tissue pulls her mouth into a scowl, but she’s otherwise well-kept. She’s probably three or four inches shorter than Lucy, but no less intimidating. 

“Calm down, woman.” The Ghoul bites. “This is Lucy MacLean.”

The woman pauses, looking back to him for confirmation before staring back at Lucy. “MacLean, eh? I can see it.”

Spurs clank as the Ghoul takes those slow, scary steps towards the woman. “Thought you might be interested in comin’ along. We’re followin’ her dad. Hank.”

A smile twists the lady’s lips, fighting against the wretched scar on her face. “Come on in. We can leave in the morning.”

And that’s how Lucy finds herself in the rickety cabin. The woman- who still hadn’t offered up a name, much like her Ghoul friend- had led her to a room and tossed a scratchy blanket and pillow in behind her. Despite her gruff exterior, she had told Lucy there was a pantry in the kitchen full of non-perishables, and cans of purified water hidden in the back. And though water sounded beautiful, Lucy was more stoked about the water purifier connected to the house. She was told there was cold but clean water in a makeshift wash room to clean up.

So Lucy took her time to freshen up in the first relatively put-together place she’d been since coming up from the Vault. The little cabin did have lights, thanks to a generator that hummed along outside. She was able to scrub the grime from her face and hands, and attempted to do the same with her Vault-suit. There was an old Nuka-cola  bottle on the floor in the washroom with ‘SOAP’ scratched across it in cursive. It lathered like any other that Lucy remembered, and she felt like a new person walking out of the wash room and back into her own little space. 

Unsurprisingly, her empty stomach reared its head in protest, and she decided she’d make one last trip to the pantry before bed. There were no voices outside of her room, just the humming of an old Television setup she’d seen on her way in. Lucy tiptoes back to the junction of the living area and pantry, but stops dead in her tracks. The lights are all off, and it takes a moment for her eyes to adjust. 

The living area right inside the door, the one she’d passed by on her way in, was occupied by both the Ghoul and his mysterious friend. However, instead of the simple sofa she’d observed prior, it was now pulled out into a bed. 

A bed in which the woman and the Ghoul were curled up,  completely unconscious. 

Lucy almost feels bad intruding on the situation, but she’s more bewildered that anyone could show such affection towards the irradiated man she’d come to hate over the past few days. And they’re not even just sharing the bed, they’re tangled together and… cuddling? The Ghoul is on his back, head propped on a pillow and hat still on his head but tipped down low to hide his disfigured face. The long coat he’d worn day in and day out is hanging over the armrest beside his bandolier, guns easily accessible. And the woman, looking relaxed as ever, is curled up on her side with her head on his chest. The Ghoul has one arm curled around her shoulder, the other loosely gripping his inhaler device as he sleeps. 

Lucy collects her jaw off the floor and scoots along to the pantry, snagging a couple ration bars and a can of water before heading back. She tries not to look again as she goes back to her room, but the temptation is too great. She pauses, turning back only to hear the click of a gun being cocked. 

In the darkness, she can only see the whites of the Ghoul’s eyes and a flash of teeth. “Move along, Vaultie.”

Lucy obeys, and practically dashes back to her room. 

So when they move out in the morning, Lucy pretends not to notice anything. When the pair stops their trek and leans in close to murmur directions at each other, Lucy taps away at her Pip-Boy. 

There’s even a time where she returns from gathering water to find them locked in a kiss, coats swaying in the Wasteland wind. And Lucy had immediately backed up, lingering in the treeline until they broke apart. 

The displays of affections continue with the travels, and it wasn’t odd to wake up to the sight of the woman curled beneath her Ghoul’s arm, content as ever. Days pass, and Lucy doesn’t mention it. It’s kind of cute, she comes to think. She didn’t dare mention anything in fear of the Ghoul’s wrath. 

So their odd trio trots along through the desert, letting Dogmeat take the lead. 

And Lucy? Well, she's learning to be blissfully ignorant towards the abnormalities on the surface.

----

thanks for reading, much love ❤️

Read More: Fallout Masterlist

[odinsblog]

“I'm observing such a huge gap between different social groups that I didn't even realize were different. I, you know, most of my friends are in the media. A lot of my journalist friends are just much better informed.

A lot of them have had experience reporting in Israel, Palestine, and are quite critical of both Israel and the antisemitism narrative. Then, like, my wife is a lawyer, and her circle is a little bit different, right? It's not dominated by media people, like people in the law or in other professions seem to be broadly much more kind of taken by the sense of profound insecurity and shift in the American Jewish experience.

I think we sort of see different things, for example, when we watch the hearings in Congress on antisemitism on campus.

The university presidents, of which there have now been two hearings, one with three presidents, one with the president of Colombia, and there will be many, many more. And what I see is a right-wing campaign against higher education that is weaponizing antisemitism as an idea, right? Not antisemitism as a practice.

And what they see is, with the possible exception of the president of Colombia, is people who represent institutions or lead institutions that they feel an affinity with, often institutions that they graduated from, who are not standing up for them. Which I find that viewing of those hearings somewhat shocking because people seem to be turning off their critical faculties. But people, intelligent, educated, politically astute people don't turn off their critical faculties unless they're scared.

So I think the underlying fear is real. But just because it's real, it doesn't mean it's justified.

I think a factual account of what we're seeing on campuses now is that this generation of Americans is far more critical of Israel than their parents' generation. And this is true of both Jews and non-Jews. I think that they look at information available to them and they see a 57-year brutal illegal occupation.

And they don't understand how it's possible that their parents and the politicians that their parents support and the politicians who come and give commencement addresses and all that other stuff that I can say about politicians, how it is possible that these people support that state? I think that is an entirely understandable view. It also reflects a huge generation gap.

I think some of those young people are assholes, and some of them are antisemites. I think it's a small minority of the protesters, and it is not actually part of the critique. The protesters' demands, the protesters' organizing beliefs are not in any way or shape antisemitic.

And then there are Jewish students who were brought up Zionist, who were brought up to identify strongly with the state of Israel, who are, I think, a little bit like my cousin in the settlements again. They see these protests, and even probably the participation of their fellow Jewish students in these protests, as threatening their core identity, as threatening their ties to their families, as threatening everything that they were taught for the first 18 years of their lives is true. And of course they feel rattled, of course they feel unsettled, of course they feel threatened.

Like, wouldn't you, if you felt that everything you had believed in was being turned on its head, and if you, by apparently reasonable people? And so you have a couple of options. One is to look at what the protestors are saying, to engage with the facts, to engage with the critique of everything you've ever believed.

There was a terrific, George Curran's podcast a couple of weeks ago with three Columbia students, one of whom sort of narrated that kind of trajectory, getting to university and finding this stuff out and having their mind blown. That's a very difficult path, and it's a very difficult path, especially if you are, say, a first year student in 23, 24.

And then there's the easier path of staying integrated in your community, in your beliefs, and saying this is antisemitic.

Because unfortunately the things that the protestors are talking about are so horrible that you can't say, okay, let's agree to disagree, that you can't hold both of these things in your mind at the same time.

You can't continue to hold your family's uncritical, long-standing support of Israel, and an understanding of what is happening in Gaza and the occupation that has preceded the war in Gaza.

So yeah, of course they feel rattled. That doesn't mean that they're being surrounded by antisemitism.”

—Masha Gessen, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, discusses campus protests (part 3 of 3)

[najia-cooks]

[ID: A group of pastry pinwheels on a blue plate next to a bowl of yoghurt garnished with parsley. End ID]

صفيحة يافاوية / Safiha yafawiyya (Yaffan pinwheels)

The dish

صَفِيحَة يَافَاوِيَّة ("ṣafīḥa yāfāwīyya") is a type of safiha, or flatbread, believed to have originated in the coastal city of يافا (yāfā; "Yaffa," sometimes "Jaffa"). While other versions of safiha consist of a flat piece of dough topped with meat, Yaffan safiha are made by rolling dough out to a transparent thinness, folding it to enclose a filling of meat or spinach, and then whirling it around into a pinwheel shape. More highly valued in Yaffa than flat safiha, Yaffan safiha inspires proprietary feelings amongst residents and emigrants. The technique has, however, spread to other areas in Palestine, as well as to Alexandria, Egypt, where a large number of Yaffan exiles have resettled.

Yaffan safiha may also be called "حواية" ("ḥawāya"), after a kind of towel that is stitched into a spiral and placed on top of the head to cushion it while carrying jugs of water, or trays that are hot from the oven. One Yaffan woman remembers her mother assembling these pastries at home and then bringing them, in a large copper tray, to the baker, so they could be cooked in a shared oven for a small fee. The baker's wife would have to wait to use the oven another day. The usage of communal ovens by those who do not have an oven in their home is still common practice in rural areas of Palestine.

Traditionally, the dough used to make Yaffan safiha includes only flour, salt, oil, and water. Some modern Palestinian recipes leaven the dough with baking powder; or include milk powder as a way to use food aid from NGOs, which seek to alleviate the effects of the Israeli occupation's extreme restriction of transport, travel, and agricultural activities on Palestinians' diets. With a spinach filling and without milk powder, the safa'ih may be described as "صيامي" ("ṣiyāmī): a word derived from "صِيَام" ("ṣiyām"; "fast") but which, due to the abstention from meat mandated during the Lenten fast, is colloquially used to mean "vegetarian."

Golden brown and fragrant with olive oil, these safa'ih combine layers of crisp, flaky dough with a savory, well-spiced filling. Recipes for both a 'meat' and a spinach filling are provided. A side of yoghurt and a garnish of mint round out the flavors of the filling and add tanginess and textural contrast.

[ID: Close-up of two pinwheels cut open to reveal a spinach filling and a 'meat' filling between thin layers of pastry. End ID]

The Bride of Palestine

Yaffa is a port city with an ancient history which, until the 20th century, was the largest Arab city in, and the cultural and economic capital of, Palestine. For this reason it has sometimes been called عروس" "فلسطين ("'arūs filasṭīn"); "The Bride of Palestine." With the 1909 founding of the nearby Tel Aviv, Yaffa began to be considered its "twin" or "sister" ("האחיות") city; it had a distinctly Arab character where Tel Aviv was almost entirely Jewish. Yaffa was thus considered in disctinctly racialized terms: both attraction and threat; a source of authentic rootedness in the land which could be tapped, but also a potentially contagious bastion of Oriental "weak[ness]" ("חליש").

Yaffa had been a popular destination for culinary tourism in Mandate Palestine, with young settlers heading to the seaside to escape from religious studies and religious dietary restrictions—associated with diaspora Judaism and a lack of connection to a homeland—and to eat earthier Arab foods such as hummus, falafel, kebab, and ful.

In 1948, Zionist paramilitary organization Irgun dropped several tons of British bombs on major civilian areas of Yaffa in order to overwhelm resistance and empty the city of its Arab population; they destroyed the much of the Old City in the process. The neighborhood of المنشية (Manshiya) was destroyed shortly thereafter. Beginning in December of 1948, Yaffa was, part by part, annexed to Tel Aviv.

Today, despite the annexation and the Hebraization of the street signs, Yaffa maintains an Arab character in popular discourse. The call to prayer is heard in the streets, and the أبو العافي (Abulafia) bakery and أبو حسن (Abu Hassan) hummus restaurant and remain where they have been since the 1760s and 1970s, respectively. But increasing gentrification, rising rent prices, cafes and restaurants which cater to tourists and settlers, and the construction of Jewish-only residential projects threaten to continue the ethnic cleansing of the ancient city.

Yaffan Cuisine

Israeli occupation has tended to collapse some of the regional distinctions within Palestinian cuisine, as Palestinians are forced into exile or else crowded into Gaza and into smaller and smaller enclaves within the West Bank. Some dishes, however, still have variations that are associated with particular cities. Stuffed red carrots (محشي الجزر الأحمر; "maḥshi al-jazar al-'aḥmar"), cored and filled with rice and spiced meat, are a dish common throughout Palestine but cooked differently everywhere: in a sauce of lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, and red tahina in Gaza; in tamarind paste in Al-Quds and Ramallah; and in orange juice in the orange-rich Yaffa region. Abu Hassan restaurant serves مسبحة (msabbaha), a Yaffan classic in which chickpeas and tahina are mixed with green chili pepper, and lemon juice.

Donate to an evacuation fund

Buy an eSim for use in Gaza

Help Anera provide food in Gaza

Ingredients:

For the dough (makes 32):

500g flour (4 cups + 1 Tbsp)

1 tsp table salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

Enough water to form a soft, tacky dough (about 1 3/4 cup / 500mL)

For the meat filling (makes 16):

125g vegetarian ground beef (as a substitute for minced lamb)

1 small yellow onion, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste

1/2 Tbsp ground sumac

1/2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses (optional)

For the spinach filling (makes 16):

500g spinach, washed and chopped

1 tsp kosher salt, for removing water

1 small yellow onion, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp table salt, or to taste

Squeeze of lemon juice

1 tsp shatta (hot red pepper paste)

1/2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses (optional)

Some recipes include sumac in the spinach filling, but this is not considered traditional.

Instructions:

For the dough:

1. Measure dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add oil and mix briefly. Add water, a little at a time, until the dough comes together into a slightly tacky ball. Knead for five minutes, until smooth and elastic.

2. Divide dough into 16 balls of about 50g each. Roll it out into a cylinder and cut it in half repeatedly; or weigh the dough using a kitchen scale and divide by 16.

3. Pour some olive oil in a tray or baking sheet and coat each dough ball. Leave them on the tray, covered, to rest while you prepare the fillings.

For the meat filling:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil on medium-high. Add meat and fry, stirring often, until nearly cooked through.

2. Add onions, salt, and spices and fry until onion is translucent.

3. Remove from heat. Stir in sumac and pomegranate molasses. Taste and adjust. Let cool.

For the spinach filling:

1. Mix spinach with salt and let sit 10-15 minutes. Squeeze to remove excess water.

2. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in medium-high. Fry onion, salt, and pepper for a minute until translucent.

3. Combine all ingredients. Taste and adjust salt.

To assemble:

1. Oil a clean work surface, as well as your hands. Spread a dough ball out into a very thin, translucent circle by repeatedly patting with your fingers while pushing outwards. Be sure to push outwards from the center so that the circle does not become too thin at the edges. A few small holes are okay, since the dough will be folded and rolled in on itself.

2. Cut the circle in half with a sharp knife. Spread 1/16 of either filling in a thin line along the cut edge, leaving a margin of 1 cm (1/2") or so.

3. Roll the edge of the dough (the cut edge) over to encase the filling. Continue rolling, trying as much as possible to exclude air, until you have a long rope of dough.

4. Roll the rope around in a tight spiral. Tuck the very end of the dough underneath and press to seal. Place on a preparing baking sheet.

5. Repeat until the filling and dough are used up. Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Bake the safiha in the top third of the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden in color. 

Serve warm with yoghurt.

[reasonsforhope]

Paywall-free version

On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, what began as a fringe experiment has quickly become central to the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness. To Justin Tyler Jr., it is home.

Mr. Tyler, 41, lives in Community First! Village, which aims to be a model of permanent affordable housing for people who are chronically homeless. In the fall of 2022, he joined nearly 400 residents of the village, moving into one of its typical digs: a 200-square-foot, one-room tiny house furnished with a kitchenette, a bed and a recliner.

The village is a self-contained, 51-acre community in a sparsely populated area just outside Austin. Stepping onto its grounds feels like entering another realm.

Eclectic tiny homes are clustered around shared outdoor kitchens, and neat rows of recreational vehicles and manufactured homes line looping cul-de-sacs.

There are chicken coops, two vegetable gardens, a convenience store, art and jewelry studios, a medical clinic and a chapel.

Roads run throughout, but residents mainly get around on foot or on an eight-passenger golf cart that makes regular stops around the property.

Mr. Tyler chose a home with a cobalt-blue door and a small patio in the oldest part of the village, where residents’ cactus and rock gardens created a “funky, hippie vibe” that appealed to him. He arrived in rough shape, struggling with alcoholism, his feet inflamed by gout, with severe back pain from nearly 10 years of sleeping in public parks, in vehicles and on street benches.

At first, he kept to himself. He locked his door and slept. He visited the clinic and started taking medication. After a month or so, he ventured out to meet his neighbors.

“For a while there, I just didn’t want to be seen and known,” he said. “Now I prefer it.”

Between communal meals and movie screenings, Mr. Tyler also works at the village, preparing homes for the dozen or more people who move there each month.

In the next few years, Community First is poised to grow to nearly 2,000 homes across three locations, which would make it by far the nation’s largest project of this kind, big enough to permanently house about half of Austin’s chronically homeless population.

Tiny-home villages for people who have been homeless have existed on a small scale for several decades, but have recently become a popular approach to addressing surging homelessness. Since 2019, the number of these villages across the country has nearly quadrupled, to 124 from 34, with dozens more coming, according to a census by Yetimoni Kpeebi, a researcher at Missouri State University.

Mandy Chapman Semple, a consultant who has helped cities like Houston transform their homelessness systems, said the growth of these villages reflects a need to replace inexpensive housing that was once widely available in the form of mobile home parks and single room occupancy units, and is rapidly being lost. But she said they are a highly imperfect solution.

“I think where we’re challenged is that ‘tiny home’ has taken on a spectrum of definitions,” said Chapman Semple. Many of those definitions fall short of housing standards, often lacking basic amenities like heat and indoor plumbing, which she said limits their ability to meet the needs of the population they intend to serve.

But Community First is pushing the tiny home model to a much larger scale. While most of its homes lack bathrooms and kitchens, its leaders see that as a necessary trade-off to be able to creatively and affordably house the growing number of people living on Austin’s streets. And unlike most other villages, many of which provide temporary emergency shelter in structures that can resemble tool sheds, Community First has been thoughtfully designed with homey spaces where people with some of the highest needs can stay for good. No other tiny home village has attempted to permanently house as many people.

Austin’s homelessness rate has been rapidly worsening, and the city’s response has whipped back and forth... In October [2023], the official estimate put the number of people living without shelter at 5,530, a 125 percent increase from two years earlier. Some of that rise is the result of better outreach, but officials acknowledged that more people have become homeless. City leaders vowed to build more housing, but that effort has been slowed by construction delays and resistance from residents.

Meanwhile, outside the city limits, Community First has been building fast. [Note from below the read more: It's outside city limits because the lack of zoning laws keeps more well-off Austin residents from blocking the project, as they did earlier attempts to build inside the city.] In a mere eight years, this once-modest project has grown into a sprawling community that the city is turning to as a desperately needed source of affordable housing. The village has now drawn hundreds of millions of dollars from public and private sources and given rise to similar initiatives across the country.

This rapid growth has come despite significant challenges. And some question whether a community on the outskirts of town with relaxed housing standards is a suitable way to meet the needs of people coming out of chronic homelessness. The next few years will be a test of whether these issues will be addressed or amplified as the village expands to five times its current size.

-via New York Times, January 8, 2024. Article continues below (at length!)

The community versus Community First

For Alan Graham, the expansion of Community First is just the latest stage in a long-evolving project. In the late 1990s, Mr. Graham, then a real estate developer, attended a Catholic men’s retreat that deepened his faith and inspired him to get more involved with his church. Soon after, he began delivering meals as a church volunteer to people living on Austin’s streets.

In 1998, Mr. Graham, now 67, became a founder of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a nonprofit that has since amassed a fleet of vehicles that make daily rounds to deliver food and clothing to Austin’s homeless...

Talking to people like Mr. Johnston [a homeless Austin resident who Graham had befriended], Mr. Graham came to feel that housing alone was not enough for people who had been chronically homeless, the official term for those who have been homeless for years or repeatedly and have physical or mental disabilities, including substance-use disorders. About a third of the homeless population fits this description, and they are often estranged from family and other networks.

In 2006, Mr. Graham pitched an idea to Austin’s mayor: Create an R.V. park for people coming out of chronic homelessness. It would have about 150 homes, supportive services and easy access to public transportation. Most importantly, it would help to replace the “profound, catastrophic loss of family” he believed was at the root of the problem with a close-knit and supportive community.

The City Council voted unanimously in 2008 to lease Mr. Graham a 17-acre plot of city-owned land to make his vision a reality. Getting the council members on board, he said, turned out to be the easy part.

When residents near the intended site learned of the plan, they were outraged. They feared the development would reduce their property values and invite crime. One meeting to discuss the plan with the neighborhood grew so heated that Mr. Graham was escorted to his car by the police. Not a single one of the 52 community members in attendance voted in favor of the project.

After plans for the city-owned lot fell apart and other proposed locations faced similar resistance, Mr. Graham gave up on trying to build the development within city limits.

In 2012, he instead acquired a plot of land in a part of Travis County just northeast of Austin. It was far from public transportation and other services, but it had one big advantage: The county’s lack of zoning laws limited the power of neighbors to stop it.

Mr. Graham raised $20 million and began to build. In late 2015, Mr. Johnston left the R.V. park he had been living in and became the second person to move into the new village. It grew rapidly. In just two years, Mr. Graham bought an adjacent property, nearly doubling the village’s size to 51 acres and making room for hundreds more residents.

And then in the fall of 2022, he broke ground on the largest expansion yet: Adding two more sites to the village, expanding it by 127 acres to include nearly 2,000 homes.

“No one ever really did what they first did, and no one’s ever done what they’re about to do,” said Mark Hilbelink, the director of Sunrise Navigation Center, Austin’s largest homeless-services provider. “So there’s a little bit of excitement but also probably a little bit of trepidation about, ‘How do we do this right?’”

What it takes to make a village

Since he moved into Community First eight years ago, Mr. Johnston has found the stability that eluded him for so long. Most mornings, he wakes up early in his R.V., feeds his scruffy adopted terrier, Amos, and walks a few minutes down a quiet road to the village garden, where neat rows of carrots, leeks, beets and arugula await his attention.

Mr. Johnston worked in fast-food restaurants for most of his life, but he learned how to garden at the village. He now works full time cultivating produce for a weekly market that is free to residents.

“Once I got here, I said, This is where I’m going to spend pretty much my entire life now,” Mr. Johnston said.

Everyone at the village pays rent, which averages about $385 a month. The tiny homes that make up two-thirds of the dwellings go for slightly lower, but have no indoor plumbing; their residents use communal bathhouses and kitchens. The rest of the units are R.V.s and manufactured homes with their own bathrooms and kitchens.

Like Mr. Johnston, many residents have jobs in the village, created to offer residents flexible opportunities to earn some income. Last year, they earned a combined $1.5 million working as gardeners, landscapers, custodians, artists, jewelry makers and more, paid out by Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

Ute Dittemer, 66, faced a daily struggle for survival during a decade on the streets before moving into Community First five years ago with her husband. Now she supports herself by painting and molding figures out of clay at the village art house, augmented by her husband’s $800 monthly retirement income. A few years ago, a clay chess set she made sold for $10,000 at an auction. She used the money to buy her first car.

“I’m glad that we are not in a low-income-housing apartment complex,” she said. “We’ve got all this green out here, air to breathe.”

A small number of residents have jobs off-site, and a city bus makes hourly stops at the village 13 times a day to help people commute into town.

But about four out of five residents live on government benefits like disability or Social Security. Their incomes average $900 a month, making even tiny homes impossible to afford without help, Mr. Graham said.

“Essentially 100 percent of the people that move into this village will have to be subsidized for the rest of their lives,” he said.

For about $25,000 a year, Mr. Graham’s organization subsidizes one person’s housing at the village. (Services like primary health care and addiction counseling are provided by other organizations.) So far, that has been paid for entirely by private donations and in small part from collecting rent.

This would not be possible, Mr. Graham said, without a highly successful fund-raising operation that taps big Austin philanthropists. To build the next two expansions, Mr. Graham set a $225 million fund-raising goal, about $150 million of which has already been obtained from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the founder of the Patrón Spirits Company, Hill Country Bible Church and others.

Support goes beyond monetary donations. A large land grant came from the philanthropic arm of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin-based cinema chain, donated an outdoor amphitheater for movie screenings. Top architectural firms competed for the chance to design energy-efficient tiny homes free of charge. And every week, hundreds of volunteers come to help with landscaping and gardening or to serve free meals.

Around 55 residents, including 15 children, live in the village as “missionals” — unpaid neighbors generally motivated by their Christian faith to be part of the community.

All missionals undergo a monthslong “discernment process” before they can move in. They pay to live in R.V.s and manufactured homes distinguished by an “M” in the front window. Their presence in the community is meant to guard against the pitfalls of concentrated poverty and trauma.

“Missionals are our guardian angels,” said Blair Racine, a 69-year-old resident with a white beard that hangs to his chest. “They’re people we can always call. They’re always there for us.”

After moving into the village in 2018, Mr. Racine spent two years isolated in his R.V. because of a painful eye condition. But after an effective treatment, he became so social that he was nicknamed the Mayor. Missional residents drive him to get his medication once a week, he said. To their children he is Uncle Blair.

Though the village is open to people of any religious background, it is run by Christians, and public spaces are adorned with paintings of Jesus on the cross and other biblical scenes. The application to live in the community outlines a set of “core values” that refer to God and the Bible. But Mr. Graham said there is no proselytizing and people do not have to be sober or seek treatment to live there.

Mr. Graham lives in a 399-square-foot manufactured home in the middle of the village with his wife, Tricia Graham, who works as the community’s “head of neighbor care.” He said they do not have any illusions about solving the underlying mental-health and substance-use problems many residents live with, and that is not their goal.

“This is absolutely not nirvana,” Mr. Graham said. “And we want people to understand the beauty and the complexity of what we do. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on the face of the planet than right here in the middle of this, but you’re not fixing these things.” ...

From an experiment to a model

Community First has already inspired spinoffs, with some tweaks. In 2018, Nate Schlueter, who previously worked with the village’s jobs program, opened Eden Village in his hometown, Springfield, Mo. Unlike in Community First, every home in Eden Village is identical and has its own bathroom and kitchen. Mr. Schlueter’s model has spread to 12 different cities with every village limited to 50 homes or fewer.

“Not every city is Austin, Texas,” Mr. Schlueter said. “We don’t want to build a large-scale village. And if the root cause of homelessness is a loss of family, and community is something that can duplicate that safety net to some extent, to have smaller villages to me seemed like a stronger community safety net. Everybody would know each other.”

The rapid growth of Community First has challenged that ideal. In recent years, some of the original missional residents and staff members have left, finding it harder to support the number of people moving into the village. Steven Hebbard, who lived and worked at the village since its inception, left in 2019 when he said it shifted from a “tiny-town dynamic” where he knew everyone’s name to something that felt more like a city, straining the supportive culture that helped people succeed.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes said more staff members had recently been hired to help new residents adjust, but Mr. Graham noted that there was a limit to what any housing provider could do without violating people’s privacy and autonomy.

Despite these concerns, the organization, which had been run entirely on private money, has recently drawn public support. In January 2023, Travis County gave Mobile Loaves and Fishes $35 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to build 640 units as part of its expansion.

Then four months later came a significant surprise: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the use of federal housing vouchers, which subsidize part or all of a low-income resident’s rent, for the village’s tiny homes. This will make running the village much more financially sustainable, Mr. Graham said, and may make it a more replicable blueprint for other places.

“That’s a big deal for us, and it’s a big deal on a national basis,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s a recognition that this model, managed the way that this model is, has a role in the system.”

Usually, the government considers homes without indoor plumbing to be substandard, but, in this case, it made an exception by applying the housing standards it uses for single-room-occupancy units. The village still did not meet the required ratio of bathrooms per person, but at the request of Travis County and the City of Austin’s housing officials, who cited Austin’s “severe lack of affordable housing” that made it impossible for some homeless people with vouchers to find anywhere else to live, HUD waived its usual requirements.

In the waiver, a HUD staffer wrote that Mr. Graham told HUD officials over the phone that the proportion of in-unit bathrooms “has not been an issue.” But in conversations with The Times, other homeless-service providers in Austin and some village residents said the lack of in-unit bathrooms is one of the biggest problems people have with living there. It also makes the villages less accessible to people with certain disabilities and health issues that are relatively common among the chronically homeless....

Mr. Graham said that with a doctor’s note, people could secure an R.V. or manufactured home at the village, although those are in short supply and have a long waiting list. He said the village’s use of tiny homes allowed them to build at a fraction of the usual cost when few other options existed, and helps ensure residents aren’t isolated in their units, reinforcing the village’s communal ethos.

“If somebody wants to live in a tiny home they ought to have the choice,” Mr. Graham said, “and if they are poor we ought to respect their civil right to live in that place and be subsidized to live there.” But he conceded that for some people, “this might not be the model.”

“Nobody can be everything for everyone,” he said.

By the spring of 2025, Mr. Graham hopes to begin moving people into the next phase of the village, across the street from the current property. The darker visions some once predicted of an impoverished community on the outskirts of town overtaken by drugs and violence have not come to pass. Instead, the village has permanently housed hundreds of people and earned the approval and financial backing of the city, the county and the federal government. But for the model to truly meet the scale of the challenge in Austin and beyond, Chapman Semple said, the compromises that led to Community First in its current incarnation will have to be reckoned with.

“We can build smaller villages that can be fully integrated into the community, that can have access to amenities within the community that we all need to live, including jobs and groceries,” Chapman Semple said. “If it’s a wonderful model then we should be embracing and fighting for its inclusion within our community.”

-via New York Times, January 8, 2024

[useless-catalanfacts]

Are cats important in Catalunya? Barcelona's mascot (they sadly never use) is a cat, and the mascot for the Olympic games in Barna was a cat too. Or is it just coincidence? :eyesemoji:

Hello!

First of all, I'm very glad to see someone getting the city's shortened named right (Barna). I had almost accepted that it's a lost battle to get foreigners to stop calling it Barça! (Barça means the football team, not the city).

Cats are used as a symbol of Catalonia sometimes, because Catalonia is shortened to "Cat": think for example how the internet domain for sites in the Catalan language is ".cat", how the government of Catalonia is named Generalitat de Catalunya but gets shortened to "GenCat", or how some people cover the E of Spain in the driving plate with a sticker saying "CAT" (this last one used to be very popular in the 2000s and until the early 2010s but stopped because the police got serious in fining the people who had it).

Example of what a Spanish licence plate looks like (all EU countries have the blue band with 1, 2 or 3 letters that identify what EU country it's from) and an example of a plate with the CAT (Catalunya) sticker over the E (España) band.

For this reason, a cat was used for years as a symbol of Catalonia:

It was created by a Catalan independentist organization Lliga Anticolonial (Anti-colonial League) in the late 1990s or early 2000s as a response to the symbolic occupation of the Toro de Osborne (Osborne Bull). For context, the Osborne Bull is this:

The bull is a symbol of Spain. These gigantic (14 metres tall!) billboards in the shape of the bull species used in bullfighting (a Spanish tradition of torturing and slowly killing a bull in public while people cheer, seen as a national symbol of Spain and Spanish manhood) were set up by an alcohol brand since the 1950s. There were dozens of them, next to the highways and roads everywhere in the state of Spain, and this silhouette quickly became a symbol of Spain just as much as the Spanish flag. In fact, you'll find many Spanish flags used by fascists include this bull silhouette at the centre. There are also all types of merch with it and Spanish nationalists often put a sticker in their cars with this silhouette (used to be very popular in the early 2000s, the stickers in cars in general have stopped being so popular nowadays).

In the 1990s, there were new laws in Spain against billboards on roads/highways, because adverts distract drivers and result in accidents. However, this bull had become such a symbol of Spanish nationalism that they made an exception for it. All the billboards in certain places were taken down except for the Osborne bulls.

Meanwhile, as you can imagine many people in the nations occupied by Spain were not happy to have these giant symbols of Spanish nationalism around our land, it feels like a symbol of occupation. Like a "remember we own you". For this reason, independentist groups in the Catalan Countries and the Basque Country often cut down the bulls or sprayed murals and political slogans of liberation on them. When the new laws against billboards came, everyone was expecting to finally have to stop seeing our land branded with these symbols of occupation, but as I said before the Spanish courts did an exception. Then, more people than ever before decided to get organized to cut down the bulls, but they kept putting them back up and persecuting the "vandals", and the Spanish Justice System even gave the Osborne Bull billboard in El Bruc the legal condition of national heritage to legally protect it and be able to persecute activists who protested against it more! (El Bruc is a town in Catalonia that is very symbolic for Catalan people because of the folk tale of the Catalan resistance against French invasion that is one of the most widespread folk tales in Catalonia, but in this town the Spanish Army has had its biggest army headquarters in Catalonia so it has become a place of occupation and stronghold of the Spanish army).

During all of this battle of symbols, the occupied nations came up with their own symbol to symbolize their resistance: the cat and donkey in Catalonia, the cow in Galiza, and the ardi latxa sheep in the Basque Country. Organizations sold stickers of these symbols to raise money for good causes related to our cultures.

(I explained why this autochthonous species of donkey is a symbol of Catalonia in this previous post).

But, in the end, cutting down the bull billboards was successful and many weren't put back up. The last bull billboards in Catalonia was cut down by activists in 2002. Nowadays, you can still find about 100 bull billboards around Spain, but not in Catalonia.

The cat and donkey kept being popular for some more years, but eventually they lost popularity once the bulls were out of our daily lives. For some reason though, the donkey has remained popular as a symbol of Catalan-ness in Northern Catalonia (the part of Catalonia annexed by France, so the one that never had the Osborne Bull in the first place!). If you visit Northern Catalonia, you'll still find many cars with the donkey sticker and many souvenirs with the donkey.

There's the reason why the cat is a symbol of Catalonia, it used to be a very popular one but it has lost popularity nowadays. I must say that it's with this ask that I've seen Barça's mascot for the first time. I didn't even know they had one, but yes, it's a cat. But the mascot for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona (called Cobi) was supposed to be a dog drawn in cubist style. But you're right that it looks like a cat 😅

[jazzyblusnowflake]

You've got some cool headcanons for Nuzi and Vuzi, but what about the third? You got any for EnVy?

Wow i suck at answering these on time smh. sighhhh, in my defense i procrastinate answering some questions cuz i don't wanna just put together some random stuff and call it a day-

i actually wrote some stuff for some asks before but had to delete it last minute cuz i thought its worth putting more time than that, i guess TvT sorry, im probably taking this too seriously idk.

My eNVee headcanons TvT:

[yall know the drill, the drone versions only, the human versions aren’t involved, and no nsfw- for now.]

k so, light envuzi involved too, Uzi is the mediator here, whether u consider her a friend here or their mini toaster in the middle- also there's some of the stuff from my future version where V is safe and sound thankfully. and also maybe some stuff from their past too.

With how N was realizing that V was lying or hiding stuff from him in a constant manner, naturally he grew to grieve the loss of who V USED to be, and with that loss he tried to accept that he has to let her go, because the V he fell in love with was long gone. despite this, when they both started teasing each other over their relationship with Uzi and N started to bite back a bit at Vs behaviors with more self confidence, they grew to form a completely different kind of relationship. Uzi was just having fun seeing them try to win her over lmao; but in the end they kind of started enjoying eachothers company again. Uzi felt happy seeing them get closure for the things they went through and was more than happy to support them through it.

Back at the manor V was fixed up after J and N, she was one of the later drones added to the family, she hardly spent much time at the manor at all before the great yeetening happened- she was originally a maid drone for a family before she was broken and dumped in the drone corpse junkyard. Maid drones are programmed with sweet and soft AIs with more round/short body shapes to have a friendly image in a household, they are made to be able to deal with both adults and kids, and they are best made for cleaning and setting up the house in mind. N was made as a butler/chauffeur before getting broken and yeeted in the junkyard [yes he can drive]. Due to V getting broken for some sort of mistake during work, she was left scarred after her reboot to make any more mistakes, which left her slightly jitter-ish and clumsy. Tessa put N in charge to help her around and although at the beginning V didn't talk much and felt unsure, slowly N became her safe space- especially since Tessas abusive parents remind V alot of her old household. N in turn thought V was always cute, he helped her with her work, having more steady hands, which ended with a lot more hand touching and blushing on both their ends :p

N was the one that suggested glasses for V which Tessa decided to try doing to see if it would help her visual efficiency in any way, and it did. V as a DD often tries to rely on her real eyes rather than look through her main visor, the glasses remind her too much of N...

N and V sometimes used to get out of the manor in secret spots to spend some time away from the chaos to help V calm down. during this time they would read books, learn stuff from each others past lives, and sometimes draw lol, but V just liked watching and listening to N, she felt happy with him. although unlike N, V felt a bit nervous around the animals in the area XD

N and V actually have shared kisses, just not on the lips. with N kissing her on the back of her hand as a gentleman and V giving him kisses on his cheek [Tessa's idea of a cute plan to put them under a mistletoe lol], but Vs last words to N was a promise to give him a kiss before she became comatose. as more drones in the manor stopped working and Ns efficiency and work became less useful to the manors occupants due to him wanting to spend time with V all the time, Louisa and James started becoming more impatient with Tessa's drones, which lead to the whole "get rid of them" line...

back in the current time V is obviously trying to protect N in her own traumatized way; but even then, most of the things she had done to "shelter" N, was probably not the best choice one could make, and some of it was done out of jealousy towards N and Uzi getting closer. However, slowly she started convincing herself that N deserved someone like Uzi. V had convinced herself that she deserves nothing. She was willing to give up everything for N and keep him safe from the beginning, even if it meant knocking N down a few limbs/heads just to keep him away from danger- which is problematic in itself. she made choices based off fear and urgency. she was always traumatized.

When N and V started getting along together a bit more and hanging around a bit in the human cities- V takes N to a bookstore she found once and they spent the whole day in the shelter of the store reading different old books. V still does not admit she did this to see N happy again lol.

When N started showing V affection again, V started becoming heavily touch starved and dependent on him again, just like the manor days, which she feared, which caused a minor set back for a while where she tried to avoid N. Uzi had to come and fix this shit cuz apparently only she can scold 2 dinosaurs without feeling intimidated. after N and V kiss for the first time PROPERLY after the whole solver BS ends, V just gets more touch starved and she hates both N AND Uzi for this lmao.

N and Uzi know that one of the only ways to make V calm down is to act soft with her, occasionally praising her and calling her nice things; even when V is literally threatening to bite their head off- [shes bluffing-.......mostly.]

N is usually the one that initiates any closeness with V. after their first kiss, N does tell her that she's done stuff that he might not be able to casually forgive, but at the same time he has seen her grow, and she does have good in her that he still loves her for.

V has nightmares and hardly ever sleeps, and when she does, its usually cuddling N or Uzi.

V tries to wear her glasses more often in the future. N likes it a lot :"3

V is surprisingly a good mom :p [spoilers for my au lmao bye] but yeah, since her original OS was for a maid, she still has some functions to be good with little ones. she cant help herself, she just really likes babies and kids.

N likes sometimes ballroom dancing with V for old times sake...

[i think this is as far as my brain will allow me, please excuse me as i jump off a cliff :") ]

[manonim]

Jie, the main character of “Fox Servant”. She’s the first servant of Monkey King hiding a lot of secrets but is always ready to serve her master.

Full Name: Jie Huang

Alias(es): The Monkey King’s servant, Greedy Fox, Sly Fox, Fox, Demoness, The Fox Demon Queen, Ms. Jie, Ma’am, ?, ?, ?…

Species: Fox demon (eight-tailed)

Gender: Female

Affiliation(s): ?, Monkey King’s ally,

Occupation(s): ?, DFK’s diplomat(formerly), The ruler of Fox Kingdom(formerly), Sun Wukong’s servant, Zen Huang’s wife

Weapon(s): Mirror blade

Place of birth: ?

Age: 2000+

Home: Megapolis

Likes: Peace and quiet, coffee, eggs, tidiness, spending time with Gou, traditional clothes, playing Go, staying at home

Dislikes: Loud places, garlic, stinky things, height, Jade necklace, celestials, talking about her past, cats, changes, physical touch

Family:

Zen- her husband

Yī- her first child

Èr- her second child

Sān- her youngest child

DFK- father-in-law

? - ?

Friends/Allies:

No info yet

Enemies:

Celestials(formerly)

?

FDK(formerly)

DBK family (formerly)

Macaque

Spider Queen

LBD

?

Status: alive

Abilities:

illusion- Jie can create an illusion of objects, sometimes places, she uses it mainly in fights but it’s no use against enemies with strong senses (Macaque) or the users of gold vision (MK and Wukong)

shape shifting- Jie can transform into a fox, human or into a male version of herself. She can also change into one of her acquaintances (for example MK) but can also change parts of her body (like hair colour). While doing so she needs to stay focus or she will come back to her true form, that’s why she doesn’t use this ability while fighting

energy manipulation- Jie can use her energy to attack an enemy. It’s something that helps her while fighting with opponents stronger than her but because of how much energy it costs Jie uses it mainly as an emergency. (This ability allowed her to break the contract with her previous masters)

ability to see and gather souls- Jie can see souls of living and distinguish between them. This way she can recognise the power and personality of their owners. She can also steal the souls and then transform them into energy to give herself strength (though she is forbidden from doing that right now)

teleportation- Jie can teleport to many places as long as she knows the location and has enough energy for that, the distance depends on how much energy she has.

six sense- Jie has the ability to feel danger before it harms her in any way, it works only when the one threatened is her.

strong sense of smell- Jie has a strong sense of smell. It can be helpful but it’s becoming a problem once she’s close to something with an unpleasant smell

possession- Jie can posses the abilities and body of creatures she choose to possess. But it works only when the body’s souls is weak or gone

half immortality- Jie doesn’t age nor caught diseases but she can still be killed

astral projection- Jie is able to separate part of her soul from her body and wander like a ghost. It's different from Wukong's ability because Jie can't control her body while being a projection, once her soul comes back to its place she can keep her memories.

Personality:

Jie seems to be someone quiet, calm and cold hearted because that’s how she wants others to see her. In fact she can be very nervous or care deeply about someone but she won’t show it. She doesn’t show her true feelings if she doesn’t need to. She also likes to spend time alone, after spending hundreds years on her own she feels uncomfortable with other people. Without the ability to start a conservation she feels just anxious. She barely talks about the things she likes.

Jie has problem with trusting others and she doesn’t see herself as a trustworthy person either because she always puts herself and things of a high value to her first when she’s in danger. Sometimes she catches herself being carefree near MK’s group or Wukong but will immediately scold herself for that, she knows her place or at least she thinks she does. Jie isn’t sure whether she’s good or bad person and doesn’t accept others opinions about it. She is someone who doesn’t want to be hurt but she’s much more afraid of hurting others, she’s living with a ghost of her past and a lot of guilt.

Despite her being pretty sceptical and cold Jie can sometimes be a good listener and even better advisor, she actually enjoys being listened. When she starts doing something she makes sure to do it as well as possible

History:

Not much is known about Jie’s history yet, the only part we currently know for sure is that Jie worked in the palace of Demon Fox King, then took over the crown and ruled the kingdom on her own for hundreds while causing many wars. At that time she got married and had three kids. Later Jie was captured by the celestials and judged by the Jade Emperor who took away her title and sealed half of her power. Later for some reason she left the kingdom and traveled while trying to avoid Monkey King and the pilgrims so that she wouldn’t get killed. At the end of her journey she started living near the mountain where Monkey King sealed DBK, later the place became Megapolis where Jie lives till now. When DBK’s family planned to release him Jie decided to join forces with Monkey King to protect her peaceful life, to do that she became his servant.

Besides that it was stated that Jie knows the smell of underworld and probably has some connection to LBD. She also suffers from trauma which we yet don’t know when and where started.

Relationships with canon characters(opinions):

Sun Wukong:

Jie is Wukong’s servant, she spends with him a lot of time but the great Monkey King still keeps surprising her with his immaturity and energy. Despite her efforts to keep the distance between them Jie finds herself more and more relaxed in his presence, yet she keeps her guard up because she knows too well that you shouldn’t allow yourself to depend on someone else than yourself. But even if she doesn’t want to admit it yet, the fact that Wukong starts trusting her more and more makes her happy.

MK

You can easily guess what Jie though about MK when she found out that the stability of her life depends on some delivery boy. It took her some time to accept him as her master’s successor but as someone who can see people’s souls she couldn’t disagree that he was pretty much a honest and good hearted kid. He also showed her that he can work hard and that he truly cares about others safety. What I must add is that MK’s childish behaviour and energy annoys Jie but reminds her of her youngest son at the same time.

Mei

Jie still can’t forget the chills she got when she first met Mei. From the beginning she could say that this girl has a really strong soul which is so wild that it can barely stay in one place and that ominous energy in her body… but anyway- when Jie noticed that Mei is the descendant of the dragon she wasn’t too happy about it, later when she followed the bull clone into Mei’s house to make sure it won’t lay a hand on the Dragon Blade she got to know Mei better and felt bad about her circumstances. Then when Mei wielded her sword Jie was honestly terrified since Mei in her eyes is both powerful and dangerously unstable but when Jie noticed how strong and determinate she is to protect her friends she though of her old good friend and decided to just keep an eye on Mei for now. (Mei also adores Gou so she’s currently Jie’s favourite)

Pigsy

Jie doesn’t know a lot about him yet but she definitely loves his noodles, she’s also relieved that she’s not the only rational one taking care of that reckless Monkey Boy.

Tang

Tang was pretty suspicious of Jie when they first met, which didn’t really matter to her but she was surprised hearing him apologise. The monk’s soul is always thirst for more knowledge which makes him pretty interesting.

Sandy

Jie had her first proper conservation with him when she was going through a hard time and Sandy helper her made up her mind. You probably think that Jie sees nothing wrong with this gentle giant but don’t forget about her ability to see soul and oh man… Sandy’s soul is really weird! In her whole life Jie has never saw someone with their soul parted in half- one is gently and warm like a sunshine while the other is ominous and unpleasant to even look at. Still Jie respects him because she knows that the one to create this balance is no one else but Sandy himself and that can’t be an easy task. The only thing that Jie can’t stand is his love to cats while Jie dislikes them but she can live with that since Sandy likes Gou.

DBK family

Jie doesn’t have any opinion of them, once they try to destroy the city their her enemy and when they live quietly she doesn’t care. She wants to avoid picking a fight with them since she’s not sure whether she could fight any of them. The biggest threat is DBK but Jie believes that Wukong will handle him if needed (or at least she hopes). She had some confrontations with Princess Iron Fan but fortunately it ended well and Red Son… For Jie he’s just a very loud kid with anger issues

Spider Queen

Jie knew Spider Queen for a long time, or rather the two of them just acknowledged each other as rulers of demon kingdoms. Jie felt bad hearing about the fall of Spider demons but doesn’t approve Spider Queen’s actions, for her a Queen without her people is no longer a ruler. It would be better if Spider Queen just gave up and got a new life.

Macaque

From the start Jie isn’t a fan of that Monkey. Literally everything about him disgusts her, especially his smell of the dead and the way he tries to become a villain. Jie had only one look at his soul and noticed that it’s broken which means Macaque has been going through something but it only irritates her more because Macaque is destroying his soul more by acting against his nature which Jie finds stupid.

Yin and Jin

Honestly Jie doesn’t even remember who they are.

Lady Bone Demon

No info yet

Relationships with my ocs (opinions):

Zen

I can ensure you that Jie loves Zen but as for now she doesn’t feel ready to confront him again, she feels like she failed him as a wife and even if she knows deep down that he still loves her she isn’t brave enough to look at him. Remembering him also bring some dark memories who Jie hadn’t fought off yet.

Kids

It’s similar situation to Zen, she loves them but feels like she failed them as a mother. As for now she believes they can do better without her around. She’s really proud of every single one of them and would more than happy if they could live on without thinking about their pathetic mother. (Btw by the time she left the kingdom all her kids were grown up, the youngest- Sān was around 18)

Trivia:

- Jie has a strict week-plan of chores she needs to do for Monkey King, for example: cooking, tidying his cave and also bathing Wukong’s monkey friends. For Jie it’s a pretty fun way to spend her free time but she would be more happy if her pay was bigger

- Jie actually saves money for a coffee machine

- She not only saves letters her husband sends to her but also her own, which she didn’t have a courage to send

- She’s wearing a hairpin with magnolia which she bought with Wukong because it reminds her of a magnolia tree in her old garden in Fox Kingdom

- Jie’s favourite type of coffee is cappuccino without sugar

- Starting from season 1 Jie regularly visits Sandy for a cup of tee, she developed a habit of complaining about Wukong in front of the giant

- Zen and Èr are the only ones who know when Jie lives, Zen can’t leave the kingdom since he is it’s ruler but Èr visits his mother from time to time to check up on her. This way Jie gets to know how her family is doing.

- Jie’s personality changed a lot through many parts of her life

- Before becoming Monkey King’s servant Jie had many different jobs to get money, her last job was a bookstore’s cashier but she had to quit because it was closed due to the owner’s financial issues

// The ‘?’ Are for now hiden

This is an actual Jie’s ref for season 2 of Fox Servant

What do you think of the new logo?

[girlkisser13]

artemis cabin headcanons

the hunters of artemis

• when a hunter join the hunt, they no longer get periods as a blessing from artemis. (another reason to become a hunter?? jk i love women WAY too much).

• obviously, they’re all feminists.

• most of them can't take sexist jokes, so be careful unless you want to get shot with an arrow.

• they keep in touch with the girls that have left the hunt.

• when two hunters fall in love, artemis usually shows mercy, knowing the vow spoke of leaving behind the company of men not women.

• they’ve definitely bumped into the valkyrie on more than one occasion. artemis doesn’t like them very much because she doesn’t want her hunters to become einherjar.

• she’d rather they have the peace and calmness that they deserve.

• much like the camp half-blood necklace beads, the hunters have charm bracelets. they get a charm in the shape of a moon once they arrive and then a star shaped one every ten years they serve artemis.

• trans girls are ALWAYS accepted into the hunt.

• but if a trans guy wants to join the hunt (pretransition), artemis will straight up refuse to take them, subsequently kicking of their gender crisis.

• she’ll also do this with pretransition trans women (to their great confusion).

• the minimum age to become a hunter is sixteen, unless there are special circumstances (it just doesn’t sit right with me that most of the hunters are in their preteens).

• this is a big decision and shouldn’t be made at such a young age. let these girls go through puberty and find out whether they really want to forsake men forever.

• plus, it’d actually benefit the hunters to be more physically mature; they’d be a lot stronger and therefore faster due to the muscle development.

• they have a hotline number that women can call if they feel extremely uncomfortable or fearful in a situation.

• they'll discretely escort her out and then beat the shit out of whoever is scaring her. <33

cabin exterior

• the cabin is primarily made of wood, with vines and ivy creeping up its sides, blending seamlessly with the surrounding forest.

• the cabin's roof is adorned with silver tiles that shimmer like moonlight, casting a gentle glow at night.

• carvings of various wild animals, such as deer, wolves, and bears, are intricately etched into the wooden walls, symbolizing artemis's connection with nature and wildlife.

• during the day, the cabin appears almost invisible from a distance, thanks to its natural camouflage of leaves and branches, making it a perfect sanctuary for the hunters.

• the entrance is flanked by banners with the symbol of the moon and arrows, representing artemis's hunting prowess and her role as the goddess of the moon.

• hidden paths and trails lead from the cabin into the deeper parts of the forest, allowing the hunters to come and go without being seen.

cabin interior

• the walls and floors are made of polished wood, giving the cabin a warm and rustic feel. the wood is adorned with carvings of forest scenes and animals.

• soft, silvery lanterns hang from the ceiling, casting a gentle glow reminiscent of moonlight. at night, these lights give the cabin a tranquil, otherworldly ambiance.

• the bunks are arranged in a circle around a central hearth. each bunk has a curtain made of light, airy fabric, providing privacy while allowing the occupants to feel connected to the room.

• the decor includes tapestries and rugs featuring scenes of forests, wildlife, and the moon. the cabin is filled with plants, flowers, and small potted trees, making it feel like an extension of the forest outside.

• each hunter has a personal space to store their gear. this includes a rack for bows and quivers, hooks for coats, and shelves for other hunting equipment.

• the central hearth is always burning with a controlled, magical flame that provides warmth and light. it's surrounded by comfortable seating made of logs and animal pelts, perfect for gathering and sharing stories.

• a section of the cabin is dedicated to practicing archery and other skills. it includes targets, dummies, and plenty of space for physical training.

• one corner of the cabin has shelves filled with books about nature, wildlife, and mythology, along with maps of various hunting grounds and sacred sites.

cabin traditions

• they have an annual remembrance day on the first full moon of june where they honor the fallen hunters of that year. artemis always ensures that there is a beautiful strawberry moon lighting up the sky.

• when they visit camp half-blood, they to have archery contests with the apollo kids (and other kids that have archery skills). they share their advanced skills and techniques, often leading to informal training sessions where the campers learn new tips and tricks from them.

• they hold special training sessions particularly focused on survival skills, hunting tactics, and self-defense. these sessions are a blend of physical training and imparting the wisdom of living harmoniously with nature.

• the hunters hold workshops on making traditional hunting gear, such as bows and arrows, and other crafts related to their way of life. these workshops are hands-on and give campers a tangible connection to the hunters' lifestyle.

divider by @strangergraphics

[dolliedarlin]

THE PA | SIX ⏤BAKUSQUAD POLY

SUM. : its paradise finally finding and spending time with your soulmates, you want to treasure your precious time together for as long as possible

PAIR. : bakusquad poly x personal assistant reader

LENGTH : 5.6k

G. : fluff ; soulmate au ; poly au ; prohero au ; timeskip au ; time spent together is precious

WARNING : sexual tension ; kissing ; suggestive ; a fat slice of cuteness 

A/N : i’m so sorry for the extended wait my loves, thank you all so much for waiting so patiently for this update. a lot of things happened this past year. There are many reasons but I don’t have the time to explain, all I can say is that I’m so so grateful for all of your patience and I hope to make up for it by writing every day now that it’s the holidays and I have the time to write something other than my thesis/dissertation. 

PREV.

“Um…Bakugou-san?” you whisper hesitantly, resisting the urge to fidget about, considering the position you were currently in.

“Hmmm?” the blonde gruffly hums from behind you. Still too skittish to answer, Bakugou takes advantage of your silence to shift his attention away from paperwork and wrap his arms around your waist, pulling you closer and nuzzling his face into your neck, “What is it?” he whispers back after revelling in your alluring scent, beaconing him to keep you trapped for longer in his lap. 

“I have a lot of work to do too,” you wail with a whine, face and neck overheating from his touch. The close contact and affectionate skinship is something you still have to get used to and you’ve begged all of your soulmates to give you time to get accustomed to it. They try their best to honour your wishes but also admit that they will always have their moments of weakness, even Bakugou. If it has anything to do with you, they will always have a weakness.

“Just a few more minutes,” Bakugou presses his words into the exposed column of your neck as he further buries his face into your skin. His large hands roam the rest of your body but one eventually finds its place clutching the curve of your waist as the other rests against your shapely thigh. You’re flustered to say the least but understand that it’s only natural for your soulmates to get this needy as you have a terrible habit of pulling away from their amorous advances, no matter how demure. It could be a simple brush of hands but you still panic from it. You feel horrible for being so timid but the others have assured you that they find your shyness to be very endearing.   

You’re always holding up such a sophisticated and elegant appearance as his personal assistant; your eyes focused, your frame confident and your tongue polite and professional with a touch of dignified zest, befitting a woman of your occupation and standing. You have the job because you are capable, punctual, reliable and hard working - you do your assigned tasks exceptionally well. But to see you reduced to shy glances, an acquiescent frame and clement articulations has the proud hero on his knees and ready to service you in every which way. It’s what you deserve, after all, as his beautiful, beautiful soulmate. 

You’re always holding up such a sophisticated and elegant appearance as his personal assistant; your eyes focused, your frame confident and your tongue polite and professional with a touch of dignified zest, befitting a woman of your occupation and standing. You have the job because you are capable, punctual, reliable and hard working - you do your assigned tasks exceptionally well. But to see you reduced to shy glances, an acquiescent frame and clement articulations has the proud hero on his knees and ready to service you in every which way. It’s what you deserve, after all, as his beautiful, beautiful soulmate. 

You’re always holding up such a sophisticated and elegant appearance as his personal assistant; your eyes focused, your frame confident and your tongue polite and professional with a touch of dignified zest, befitting a woman of your occupation and standing. You have the job because you are capable, punctual, reliable and hard working - you do your assigned tasks exceptionally well. But to see you reduced to shy glances, an acquiescent frame and clement articulations has the proud hero on his knees and ready to service you in every which way. It’s what you deserve, after all, as his beautiful, beautiful soulmate. 

Bakugou almost laughs at himself for being such a hypocrite; he’s always the first to berate his other soulmates for smothering you with affection and using you as a distraction from work. And yet…here he is, distracting you and himself during the work day. Defeated, Bakugou finally lets his head fall back and breathes out a chuckle indicative of his trounce. 

“Alright, you can go…” smiling up at him in thanks, you move to get off his lap but are stopped by the slight squeeze of his hands, “but first, gimme those lips,” he doesn’t give you a moment to respond before he’s confining your lips to a passion-filled kiss. It wasn’t just one kiss he took from you, he took several, growing hungrier and hungrier after each one until he finally let you go with a proud grin. You hurry to the door and wish him well on his own workload, too embarrassed to meet his gaze as you close the door behind you. 

If you had even an ounce of courage to catch a glance of him before exiting his office, you would’ve seen him licking his lips and wiping your smudged lipstick from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. A satisfied smirk contours the line of his lips as he examines the pretty colour on his thumb and kisses it with a hum of fulfilment. 

You always taste so sweet… 

He’s typically not a fan of sugar but the sugar on your lips is something he’ll always hunger for. 

Making it out of Bakugou’s office, you immediately pull out your pocket mirror and check your appearance. Smudged lipstick. You click your tongue but smile and go about reapplying your favourite colour when you make it back to your desk. Your hair needs fixing too and new ruffles on your work dress needs flattening but it’s easily manageable. Looking around, you’re safe from any prying eyes and sigh in relief before continuing to go about finally doing your work. 

You love your soulmates dearly and wish you could reciprocate their advances with just as much vigour but you care for their careers and public image too much; they’ve worked so hard to get this far, you can’t let them throw all that away just for you. 

At least nobody but you, Bakguou and a small handful of upper management individuals and Proheros actually enter the top floor of the Dynamight Agency so you’re pretty safe from any prying eyes or loose gossip. As long as you maintain your clean and professional appearance in front of your colleagues, you and Bakugou will be free of any scandalous rumours. 

Since uncovering your bond with the other five proheroes, you’ve since then successfully moved into their shared modern, luxury estate. It appears that there are gated clusters of high-end properties scattered strategically across Tokyo, where only the top Proheroes reside, so that, when called to emergencies, they are able to arrive at locations in their allocated radius at a reasonable time. 

It’s early morning and you’re freshly out of the shower after having finished your morning exercise at the home gym, when you smell something delicious in the air. 

You had already combed hair oils through your damp hair, did your skincare and pulled on your undergarments in the spacious bathroom; you were ready to return to your room so as to get dressed but your rumbling tummy couldn’t resist the enticing seduction of aromatic food in the air. 

Tightly tucking your bath towel snug around your figure, you cautiously make your way to the downstairs kitchen, trying to figure out who would be in there so early in the morning. Usually, the only other person awake right now is Bakugou as he likes taking his morning run in the crisp cool air of daybreak. Other than him, you find it hard to place who could be cooking up breakfast so early in the morning. 

It wouldn’t be long before you finally find out who the culprit is, however, and you couldn’t be happier to make the discovery as it came with a great view. Standing at the stove stood Kirishima, shirtless and with a simple apron on, his chequered pyjama bottoms loosely clinging onto his frame from the sharp lines of muscle carving out his brawny waist and hips.     

“Good morning, (Y/N)!” Kirishima greets with his back still turned, shocking you but it’s to be expected. His trained senses must have traced your figure from the top of the stairs all the way to the kitchen door. 

“How did you know it was me?” you ask, tilting your head and leaning against the door frame, amused by his jovial attitude. Just seeing him (or any one of your soulmates) makes you happy. 

Kirishima shrugs his shoulders, “the sound of your footsteps are different to the others,” his answer made your brows raise in surprise. Was he really that acutely tuned into you and the others’ gaits? 

“What are the differences?” you ask out of pure curiosity as you watch him step away from the stove and plate the delicious breakfast he cooked up for everyone. 

“Yours are the softest and most steadily paced. Sero’s are almost silent and are the slowest but most consistently paced, Bakugou’s steps are relatively quick and stomp-y, like he’s always trying to get somewhere quickly,” both of you chuckle at his carefully used descriptor for your typically hot-headed soulmate. Kirishima is now reaching into the cupboards to lay out everyone’s favourite drinks with their favourite glasses or mugs, “Mina’s steps usually kinda follows a tune or rhythm and Denki tends to be the most ‘messy’ but fun,” he puts into air quotes as he approaches you and pulls you close by the waist. You place your hands around his neck as you tilt your head up to peer at him with questioning eyes, “his pace ranges from slow to fast and wide to short strides,” you both smile at each other and he leans in to press his forehead against yours, “now…it’s breakfast time~” he chimes and pulls back with a grin. 

You giggle and nod, completely forgetting your state of dress, the morning fuzziness clouding your usually alert state, “right, thank you Ei~” you sing happily, stomach already craving for a bite of the filling breakfast laid out across the table. 

“No; thank you~“ Kirishima matches your tune-filled voice but his statement brings a question to the tip of your tongue.

“What do you mea-? Ah!” you squeal when the red head playfully bites your exposed shoulder. 

“You’re so cute, babe,” he whispers and kisses your skin, an apology for the reddening bite he marked into it. 

“Ow! Stop it!” you laugh and try to push him away.

“No can do, I gotta bite you for being so cute and sexy,” 

“What did I do?~” you whine. This makes Kirishima pull away with a raised brow, giving you an up and down look before prompting you to look down at yourself. 

“Oh!” he hums in satisfaction from your flustered stance when you quickly realise how severely underdressed you are. Granted you have your underwear on but you were still in just your towel.  

“I know you don’t mean to but,” Kirishima whistles softly, winking at you after he makes a show of looking you up and down again, “you look so…tempting right now,”

Feeling uncharacteristically courageous, you flirt with your eyes and smile innocently, “maybe that’s what I want to do…” 

Not a second passes before you’re swept up into your soulmate’s muscular arms and placed to sit on the kitchen counter. Kirishima already has your lips in a heated dance with his own as his hands hold you close at the waist. Your own hands make their way into his soft hair, untamed by his usual gel. At some point, your towel comes off and Kirishima throws away his apron. Although it starts off heated, your passionate lip-lock tango with the red-head slows to prolonged kisses, as soft as moonlight and as relaxed as the lazy summer breeze. The main focus shifted in that same change of pace. Instead, the two of you focused on each other’s skin, enjoying the warmth and touch of the other. It felt nice to feel the skin of your thighs around his naked waist as well as feeling your exposed back with his rough hands. It made you sigh contentedly into his mouth as he smiled against your connected lips. 

At last, the two of you part for air but stay pressed against one another with your foreheads touching and your eyes staring deeply into each other’s loving gaze. 

“You’re so soft…” Kirishima compliments in a hush, so that only you could hear him - not that there was anybody else around to eavesdrop on you. It’s one of the main reasons why he loves touching you so much. He loves how your skin seems to always welcome his touch with a softness unique to you. His other soulmates have their own individual feel but yours is a delicate velvet that the roughed-up hero always appreciates - similar to Mina but still exclusive to you. 

“And you’re all scarred up…” you return, eyes somehow frowning at him.

“I’m not a rough person,” as if to demonstrate he gives you another feather-soft kiss. 

You giggle, still speaking in whispers, “I know…but it’s sexy,” he grins widely and pulls away to laugh aloud. 

“You really need to stop that, babe, you always make it so hard for me to be gentle with you,” an embarrassing heat rises to your cheeks as you look away bashfully. He moves back, leaving you sitting atop the kitchen counter and returns shortly after to pull his giant shirt over your figure, swamping you in the fabric. Once dressed in his shirt, Kirishima brings you down from your perch and chuckles at your appearance. He loves seeing you in his clothes so much; it makes you look so much more lovable than you already are.

“I’m sorry,” you don’t really mean the apology from the cheeky smile on your face but Kirishima accepts it, he doesn’t really want you to stop either. 

“Should we wake the others-?”

RING! RING! RING!

A blaring alarm cuts through the once calm atmosphere and prompts Kirishima to check the hero device he and the rest of your prohero soulmates always keep on their person. 

 “What is it, Kiri?” you ask, worry in your eyes as the red-head quickly goes about getting dressed into his hero suit. 

“There’s an emergency nearby so I’m heading out,” fully-dressed, Kirishima grabs a quick bite of breakfast before heading to the front door with you following close behind, “don’t worry, beautiful,” he reassures you with a smile after putting on his shoes. 

“I know you’re strong but please be careful,” he thanks you for your concern and pulls you into a final kiss before he’s rushing off. 

“I’ll be home soon!” He calls back as you wave him goodbye from the open doorway, attempting a brave smile with concern swimming in your hollowed-out chest. Within the house, there’s a flurry of movement as the others abruptly rise from their sleep and rush to put on their own hero suits - they probably rose to the alarm too. Even though more of them were soon going to be joining Kirishima, you felt more assured then when you saw him rushing off to the scene alone. If they work together then they’ll be able to stay safe.

You know they’ll get home safely.  

A rustling from the shrubbery nearby catches your attention and you freeze in place. This is a gated private community, the likelihood that someone could sneak in would be very low on the scale. Approaching the uniform, decorative flora in your outdoor slippers and Kiri’s shirt, you peak over and spot nothing. Relief washes over your head. The paranoia over potentially getting caught by paparazzi and aggressive media personnel was slowly getting to you and it’s anxiety inducing; you can’t even happily spend time with your newly discovered soulmates. 

You shake any remaining negative emotions out of your frame and re-enter the house, ready to wish the rest of your soulmates goodbye as they ready themselves to join Kirishima for a villain attack. 

It’s a surprise how you could have ever survived so long without having Mina as your selfcare partner. You already took good care of your skin and hair before but, with Mina, the routine became so much more fun and entertaining, especially when she was able to rope in the others to join you. She could be very convincing. 

Denki was the one who actively sought you two out to do some selfcare together; Kiri and Sero were up for doing anything with you two, trusting in your knowledge of the topic and love of them to be well taken care of. But it was Bakugou who put up some resistance. He always eventually succumbed to your demands, however, grumbling here and there under his breath but you could see that he enjoyed being pampered, especially when it was by you and Mina. You two are their favourite girls after all. Soon enough, you’re sure he will be the one to seek you two out for the weekly routine pampering session, he was a man all about routine, after all.

One of the main things you liked to look forward to about this whole routine was the shopping aspect. It was always fun to pile skin care and self care products up in your individual baskets, hoping to share your findings with one another when you met up at the check-out counter. 

This time, Mina had been very excited to shop together with you all in search of a new clay mask she had been anticipating the release of from one of her favourite skincare brands. The two of you planned an entire night based around that clay mask and Mina made sure she was off patrol duty so that she could experience it with you. Sero was kind enough to take on her shift so that you two could spend quality time together, to which you both rewarded him with plenty of kisses and cuddles. 

“If either of you want another pamper night but it falls on Mina’s shift, always tell me first and I’ll happily switch shifts,” Sero voiced out, his face littered with lipstick kisses and a dopey smile stretched out across his lips.

One problem was that the search for that particular clay mask took longer than expected. It appeared as though everyone had been out to purchase it too so splitting up to cover more ground in the store was definitely a good idea. The two of you managed to meet up at the spot the clay mask was being sold and swiped up two tubs of it with an enthusiastic cheer. 

“Let’s hurry and pay so we can start our selfcare date night early today,” Mina whispered in happiness beside you as you nodded along. You displayed a smile despite the ominous feeling you felt following you about the store. It was your paranoia acting up again; you hate to say it but you easily complied with it by keeping a modest distance from the pinkette who had been trying to link arms with you on the way to the cash register, “what’s wrong, (Y/N)?”

“Oh nothing…” you hesitated but let her have her way in standing close to you. It’s just your paranoia, you don’t want it taking over fully and tarnishing your relationship even though it came from a good place. 

Night soon fell and after seeing off Sero, you and Mina moved to her room, where she played her self care playlist through her portable speaker, laid out some yummy snacks to share along with all the self care necessities the two of you would soon be spoiling yourselves in. The first order of business was a shower. You took it together and helped each other with your hair, giggling at the bubbles the shampoo made, talked through your favourite body scrub, helped give one another shoulder massages when helping to lather up the body wash and squealed in unison from the final burst of ice-cold water to tighten up your hair follicles. 

“That took longer than expected,” you laughed, catching sight of the clock on the wall. It had been about an hour or so since you and Mina entered the shower together. 

“Yeah but it was worth it, that was such a fun but relaxing shower,” Mina sighs in content as she stretches out in her bathrobe on the bed. The shoulder massage you gave her did magic to her usually tense back muscles, she’ll be sure to brag about this to her other soulmates in the hopes that she’ll be able to playfully induce some jealousy whilst simultaneously praising more of your hidden skills and talents.

“Yeah~” you reciprocate her sigh of content, “as much as I love the boys, I love our girl time too,” the two of you hummed in agreement and stayed sprawled out on the bed with a towel under your wet hair for several more minutes before eventually agreeing to continue your self care session. 

While your hair was still wet, you treated your scalp and hair-ends with hair oils, using a scalp massager on each other when doing so. After that came the much anticipated clay mask. 

“We have to be careful with clay masks,” Mina warns as she applies the mask onto your face as you close your eyes, she was using the small spatula provided and secretly admired the sweet features of your face while doing so. This was a good idea. The pinkette loves seeing you relaxed and happy rather than stressed and serious, though a pair of furrowed brows, a firm gaze and your elegant silhouette did have a big, flustering effect on her. 

“Why is that?”

“We can’t move our faces once it begins to dry because then it’ll crack,” 

“Oh yeah…” she giggles at your realisation, how could you have forgotten that? Nevertheless, it was eventually your turn to apply the mask on her. 

“Mmmm~ you have a really gentle touch, (Y/N),” Mina praises, her voice lazy from the peacefulness and happy from your company. You wanted to reply but your mask was already setting in and you didn’t want to ruin Mina’s work in applying an even coat for you so you settled with humming in return. 

When Mina’s mask was done, the two of you resorted to communicating through writing. You both danced to songs with straight faces and helped give each other cute pedicures while waiting for the timer you set up. It was really hard to keep from laughing when you danced to songs, staring at each other with straight faces. You were doing a pretty good job until Mina turned to the side, faced you and started to twerk with the most deadpan face you had ever seen on her. 

Naturally, you had a laughing fit, cracking up your dried mask and soon had the pinkette cracking up her mask too when your laughter became too contagious. 

“Oh my god! Your face! Your Face!” you wheezed.

“No! Look at your face! HAHAHAHA!” the two of you laughed your butts off until you heard the boys walk into the house from downstairs. You wanted to go and greet them but Mina shook her head and pulled you close, “you wanna do something fun?”

How could you say no? 

Now you’re waiting at either side of the door and waiting for one of your four potential victims to pass through and scare the living daylights out of. You were hoping it would be Denki first but from the heavy footsteps and light cordial whistling, you could tell that it was going to be Kirishima…

And, soon enough, the red-head walked into view as you and Mina shared a mischievous look, anticipating his surprise. Just as the red-head was a step or two away, you both jumped out and pulled funny faces to accompany your cracked up face masks. 

“Woah!” Kirishima jumped and clutched at his heart but laughed it off like the good sport he is, “You two really scared me there! Haha! Looking cute~” he gives you both a kiss and walks off but not before giving you both a light slap on the butt, “Good luck with the other three~”

Denki was the one that came next and he had the most exaggerated expression; screaming like a little girl. It sets you and Mina off into hysterics as you high-five with the pride of achieving such a funny response. Of course, the blonde didn’t like this or, at least, pretended like he didn’t because his revenge only came in the form of tickles. He too wished you and Mina good luck with the others. 

“Next time you two decide to do masks, don’t forget to invite me to join in too!” The electric hero pouts cutely while you and Mina give him kisses of apology before promising to include him in your next face mask session. 

Sero didn’t get scared like you hoped. Instead, he grins toothily at you both and leans down to meet your eyes since he’s so tall and gives you both a soft kiss on the lips. 

“Nice try cuties,” he chuckles at your adorable pouty faces, having to hold himself back from cooing at you, “if only Denki didn’t come before me and squeal like a little girl,” the three of you laughed loudly before shushing up in anticipation for the final victim as Sero walks off as well. 

When the time finally came, Bakugou flinched and Mina didn't miss the opportunity to tease him for it. Naturally, the spiky blonde’s hot-headedness makes him angry and he scoops you and Mina up in both arms before stomping off into the bathroom. 

“Wash that stupid mask off already! It’ll dry out your skin!” 

So he has been listening to your ramblings about self-care…

Sero has developed the most romantic pastime and, at your shy request, he also takes the time to teach you what he’s been able to learn on his own. 

Sat in between his long, outstretched legs, Sero guides you through a melodic arrangement of chords on his acoustic guitar. He is patient and his large hands guide your unpracticed fingers through the movement with a kind warmth. In his dark eyes, there is a soft tenderness reserved only for you in appreciation for your interest in his hobby and the genuine effort you put into doing your best. 

It’s already been a few weeks and you’re already a handful of sessions in with him. The start was rough and full of giggles but now you were already able to successfully play a sweet little tune with minimal help from the tape-hero. 

Time spent together like this always sets such a comfortable atmosphere that will only be remembered with fondness, at least, it does for Sero. For you, a perfectionist at heart, remain unsatisfied with your nominal progress. 

“It’s okay, pretty, no need to push yourself. You have the prettiest little hands so don’t stress too much over being unable to reach the tough chords right away, you’ll adapt over time,” in an attempt to comfort you, he presses a languid kiss to your temple from behind.

“My hands aren’t small!” you stretch out your hands and wiggle your fingers in a feeble attempt to demonstrate your statement. 

“Well…” Sero stretches out his own hands to compare his against yours and smirks at the defeated groan you give. 

“Your hands aren’t a fair comparison because yours are just abnormally big!”

“And yours are abnormally small…” he teases and tightly wraps his arms around you in order to tame your small tantrum of protest. You’re too cute sometimes, “It’s not a bad thing, Bonita,”

“You make it sound like a bad thing…”

“These pretty hands have done a lot of things. Amazing, incredibly things and now they’re attempting to learn a passion of mine, something they aren’t obligated to do, which, in my opinion…” he holds your hands in his and brings them to his lips, whispering into the skin covering your knuckles, “makes it the most amazing thing they’ve ever done thus far,”

In the silence, Sero presses another kiss against your temple and realises the sudden new heat of your skin. It’s a clear indication of your newly flustered state and makes the signature toothy grin splay out over his lips; you really are the cutest. 

“You’re too much sometimes, Hanta,”

“Listen…” he whispers into the skin of your shoulder after already having pulled down your shirt collar for better access, “if you want, you can have free access to my guitar whenever you’re free,” he promises, “even if I’m not around, you can practise as much as you want. You have my express permission,” he kisses your shoulder once more, “surprise me, Bonita,”

Every chance you were able to practise without Sero, you took the opportunity with determination underpinned by your deep desire to surprise him with your solitary progress. 

A week or two passes and you’re finally able to repeat the tune that Sero often strums effortlessly on the guitar and you rush to demonstrate your success to him as he is relaxing in a hammock within the garden between two trees.

“Sero! Sero! Look at what I can do!” You call out, giddy with excitement and his guitar in your arms. Stopping before his hammock, you wait for him to sit up with a lazy smile and focus his full attention onto you. You then begin to play with a look of full concentration on your face and triumphantly serenade him with the same romantic tune he’s been subtly serenading you with during each of your guitar sessions. 

Once you strum the last tune, he showers you in applause and whistles in glee at your achievement. 

“That was amazing! You did so well, come here, Bonita,” he opens his arms for you whilst still in the hammock. With a squeal of happiness, you join him and cuddle up in his arms, the guitar leaning against one of the trees you were nestled between, “I’m so proud of you,” he praises as you kick your legs in happiness, “you’re so cute when you get all giddy like this,” he presses a kiss to the crown of your head and his voice lowers dangerously, “it makes me want to do unspeakable things to you” he laughs as you squeal from the shock and embarrassment his confession brings you, “but, I did make a promise and I’m following strict instructions from Katsuki to be gentle with you. For now, it’s going to have to wait - until then…” Sero lifts your chin up to look deeply into your beautiful eyes and playfully pouts at you, “try to stop being so unintentionally seductive,” he tucks your face into his collar as holds you in an affectionate embrace. A calm wind rocks your cuddled up figures within the hammock and your heart beats in momentary happiness.

You don’t want to admit it but you feel the ominous feeling of being watched once again and quickly make an excuse to return to the house. The excuse you come up with has you mentioning something about remembering the forecast for rain later so Sero gets up soon after you and puts his hammock away whilst taking a mental note of your unusual behaviour to potentially discuss with the others later on. 

“How is this possible?!” Denki gapes in astonishment from beside you, his hands clutching at his hair as you smile triumphantly. The blonde has taken you out to his favourite arcade, a secluded treasure tucked away in a quiet alley within the city. He’s a regular who manages to fail at winning any plushies at all the claw machines and yet, here you were winning him a pikachu plushie on your first try. 

“Here you go, Denki,” you chirp happily, handing over the Pikachu toy. It suits him so well, he deserves to have it and you’re happy to have made the effort to win it for him.

“How did you do that?” The electric hero almost begs on his knees for some sort of guidance. There’s no way you could have defeated the undefeatable claw machine without having some sort of secret technique or past experiences. He always loses all his tokens trying to win plushies and you make it look so easy. He wants to get you a cute plushie too!

“Haha! I don’t know,” you shrug with a bright smile, “I just know that I wanted to give you that Pikachu toy,” at your answer, Denki forgets all about his jealousy and allows his awe of you to skyrocket. You’re so cute. So very cute!

“Eeep!” you squealed from being swept up in his arms. With your hands on his shoulders, you look down at him as he adoringly stares up at you. There are countless butterflies in your stomach that you try to suppress but it’s no use when you catch sight of his devoted, lovestruck expression. 

“You’re too good for me,” 

Seeing as the arcade was mostly deserted, you dared to lean down and press a kiss against his awaiting, pink lips, “I could say the same about you,” Denki grins widely at your comment and locks your lips into another kiss. 

You offer to win him another plushie but he insists on winning you one himself so as to even the odds. Unfortunately, despite his determination, he ends up losing all his tokens and you were left comforting him on his loses. He was really cute about it though. There was a fire in his eyes that sealed his determination into a pointed focus aimed solely at the claw and the buttons of the machine. It was admirable and his actions alone were worth all the plushies on display put together and more. 

“Thank you Denki,” 

“For what?” your soulmate deflates and melts into his seat, strawberry slushie cradled in his hands for comfort, “I didn’t win you a plushie even though I used up all of my tokens,”

“You put up a good fight and that was what mattered,” you pressed a soft kiss against his cheek, prompting a bright blush to flourish over his expression. 

“I still want to win you a plushie though…” he mumbles under his breath, pouting like a defeated and grumpy child, making him even cuter in your eyes. 

“Maybe next time…”

The sinister feeling prodding your senses around every public interaction with your soulmates is just your paranoia. For the most part, you’ve been as careful as possible to keep the intimate interactions private. You need to keep your soulmate's reputation and public image in mind, afterall. They take such good care of you that you should do the same but in your own way. Having multiple soulmates is incredibly taboo and you don’t want to ruin your new found happiness. All you want is to treasure this bliss forever. 

NEXT ; BNHA MLIST

TAGLIST : 

@hangesidekick​ ;  @emotionalfangirl2002​ ; @kookie02​ ; @lordbugs​ ; @answer-the-sirens​ ; @toobsessedsstuff​ ; @moonbinnie0983​ ; @kinba-ri​ ; @beaniebanby​ ;  @themoonandlover​ ; @ravensfeatheruniverse​ ;  @barbra-annbunny​ ; @Modmochi ; @maybeisthemoon​ ; @a-book-lover-things​ ; @thathoneybee3 ; @lostinbooksblog​ ; @moonlightaangel​ ; @cocoa-bitter​ ; @mysteriousparker​ ; @mha-baku-todo-deku-kiri​ ; @dangerousluv1​ ; @pansexualproblemchild​ ; @peacchfuz​ ; @skywalkerstyles​ ; @chwlogy​ ; @acuario2​ ; @juliannaelee​ ; @levimeko​ ; @neutralchaosintheworld​ ; @saccharisa​ ; @no1herothatlookslikeavillain​

[savannahsdeath]

↳ ❝ [ ALICE IN BORDERLAND AU ] ¡! ❞

୨⎯ e. williams x reader ⎯ ୧

MDNI! you and ellie meet another soul, which brings you hope... but quickly takes it back again

this isn't the best since i'm sick but i was impatient to finish it so enjoy !! next games n chapters should be more interesting 🫡

warnings: mentions of death, acid/poison, pressure and fear

prologue ⋘ chapter one ⋙ chapter two

DAYS ON VISA : 1

the last few hours were a mist of confusion and denial. you and ellie were wandering around the city without much sense nor any plan. all of the walking has drained your energy and you could feel your legs begin to ache with each step. the silent streets offered only a glimpse of reality, yet it was one that made little sense, leaving you both with conflicting feelings of doubt and concern, not sure what to believe or do next. though the silent city seemed to offer no clues as to where everyone had gone, its silence became a disturbing reminder of the reality of the situation, as if to taunt you.

your wandering eventually brought you and ellie to going into building after building, and despite entering each one with the hope of finding someone, they all offered the same eerie result. you could hear nothing inside, aside from the faint echo of your footsteps as you walked through the rooms.

"wait, this one's locked" you began, standing in front of a not big house with its front door firmly shut. you tried pulling on the handle, but found it firmly locked from within. in the midst of all the chaotic disappearance, this was a strange sign of... normalcy? you wondered, if only for a moment.

"maybe they locked themselves inside" ellie suggested. "i mean, who wouldn't, after something like this happened?"

it made sense; the unknown and sudden nature of the emptiness could have easily sent people into a state of panic, desperate to hide away from the unknown and keep themselves safe. the closed house certainly seemed to suggest this possibility, a sign that someone was still here, just locked away from the outside world.

the two of you stood outside the house for a few silent moments, debating what to do next. everything remained empty and still, aside from the sound of your own voices speaking softly in the chilly evening air, and your feet shifting on the cold ground beneath you. you tried pulling on the handle a little harder, but still it did not budge, remaining firmly shut. the absence of any noise made the situation all the more unsettling, as if the house itself was a silent witness to the chaos unfolding around it. your heartbeat picked up speed as you began to contemplate the possibility of breaking down the door, and as if reading your thoughts, ellie reached out to touch your arm, a gesture to remind you to keep your composure and remain collected.

you paused mid-motion, suddenly recognizing the sound of footsteps just outside the door. it didn't take long to realize that someone was indeed in the house, their actions producing the faint echo of footsteps on the floor. the sound was quiet, but distinct, as if whoever was inside was walking slowly and carefully, trying to minimize the noise they made.

you stepped back from the door as the hidden occupant's footsteps stopped. after an uneasy few seconds of silence, you heard the faint sound of a lock clicking, followed by the soft whoosh of a door knob turning. the sound of the door shifting in its frame filled the silence, as it opened slightly, revealing nothing but a crack of darkness on the other side. the vague shape of a shadow behind the door was all you could see, its identity still a mystery.

you remained still, letting your eyes adjust to the darkness behind the door. the faint outline of a human shape remained, albeit without any clear details. a soft breathing drifted out from the door, its subtle yet distinct rhythm hinting at the presence of a person. it was the only sound within the silence, filling you with an uneasy feeling, though nothing compared to the sudden appearance of a whisper. in a quiet, barely audible voice, the person behind the door spoke.

"hello...? is someone there?" the voice drifted softly through the air, its whisper almost sounding like a faint breeze. it was clear that whoever was waiting behind the door was hoping to avoid attracting attention, though their question was a clear sign that they were aware of your presence. the shadows created by the dim interior and the dim exterior light made it impossible to decipher any details about the person speaking.

"yes" you answered, the sound of your voice filling the air to confirm your presence.

you remained still, letting the person behind the door take the lead. with a quiet and subtle creak, you could hear the door slowly inching open to reveal the shadow behind it.

the figure turned out to be a man, his eyes meeting yours in a silent glance as he took in your presence. while he had a look of caution in his eyes, his demeanor seemed calm and reserved, almost apologetic in the way he watched you. he looked to be way older, perhaps in his mid-40s or so, though his worn and overworked appearance made it difficult to pin down his exact age.

"come in" the man said, softly gesturing for you to follow him inside the house. he slowly walked past the door frame, letting his body pass into the darkness of the interior while expecting for you to do the same.

you cautiously looked at ellie, as if to ask her what to do.

"do we have a choice?" she shrugged and encouraged you forwards. "ladies first."

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

you stepped past the man into the kitchen, ellie close behind you. the light was dim, yet much brighter than the rest of the house that remained shrouded in darkness. you could see everything more clearly, including the man himself. his appearance was somewhat tired and overworked, though his soft demeanor betrayed no sense of danger. he had not spoken since he led you inside, keeping a respectful distance as he allowed you and ellie to settle into the kitchen.

the man looked at you both, taking in your appearance with an understanding look. "newbies, i'm guessing?" he asked, his soft and calm voice indicating that he was well aware of your confusion and uncertainty. his look of understanding remained unchanged, as if he fully understood your doubt and the situation you found yourselves in. "i'll cut to the chase then" he said, stepping a little closer and speaking in a more clear manner. his demeanor became slightly more serious, as if he was taking on the role of the one in charge of the situation. "do you know what's happening right now?"

"we know that everybody's disappeared" you told him, gesturing the space around with your hands. "everyone. all of these buildings are empty."

the man's expression remained neutral, giving off the impression that he had already known this, and thus was not the least bit surprised by the news. instead, his demeanor conveyed a sense of solemnity and understanding of the gravity of the situation. "yes, that's right." he nodded.

the man began to fill ten shot glasses with water, laying them neatly on the counter top as he talked. one of the cups seemed suspicious, because he carefully took it out from a drawer, already filled. "something big is happening in the world, like nothing i've ever seen. something powerful and unknown, beyond our understanding. i think it's better to focus on what we do know. there's no point in trying to piece it all together, we'll just go crazy. we have to accept it. we can worry about how all this happened later, for now we should think about what needs to be done." the man took the suspicious cup and placed it between the other nine glasses, seemingly making no distinction between it and the remaining cups. he quickly rearranged them, making you unable to remember which one was the different one.

the man suddenly smiled, his whole expression shifting into a more playful and cheerful tone. "well, i guess we're playing a game." he looked at the glasses, which he had now carefully arranged in a pattern where all of them looked the same. he pointed at them with an excited smile on his face, as if to challenge you and ellie.

GAME 1 : 3 of ♦️

- the players may not physically interact with the dealer

- there are 10 shot glasses arranged in a row on the counter. each glass contains water, except for one glass which contains a lethal poison

- the player and the dealer will take turns playing the game. during the player's turn, they have 1 minute to choose one (and only one) of the following two actions; failing to do so results in an immediate game over:

- make the second player drink the contents of the leftmost glass (from the player's perspective) on the counter, and remove that glass from the row

- make the second player drink the contents of the leftmost glass and the second-leftmost glass (from the player's perspective) on the counter, and remove both glasses from the row

- apart from the abovementioned actions, the player may not interact with the glasses and/or their contents in any other way (e.g. the player may not pour away the liquid in the rightmost glass)

- during the dealer's turn, he has 1 minute to choose one (and only one) of the same actions as the player, except he takes glasses from the right from his perspective

- the game begins with the player's turn

- at any point in time, if the dealer drinks the poison, the player receives game clear

- at any point in time, if the player drinks the poison (or breaks the game rules as stated above), both players receive game over

ellie hesitated, the gravity of the man's explanation sinking in as she processed the situation. "you're crazy" she said, looking at him with a mixture of bewilderment and confusion. the man remained nonchalant, seeming unfazed by her words.

you then piped up, asking "what if we don't want to... play?"

the man stepped aside and reached into a drawer, withdrawing two cell phones and pressing one into your hands. as you turned it on, a plain black text revealed: days on visa: 1. you peeked at ellie's but it showed the same thing as yours. he then gave a brief explanation of the visa, which he assured you are the remaining days of your life that will increase everytime you play a game by the difficulty of it.

you both sat in silence, taking in the information. you had thought all the rules of the game had already been revealed, but now you had this new information to take into consideration. you looked at ellie, who shared your bewildered look of confusion as you processed the knowledge that you both only had one day left to live.

"are we supposed to be satisfied with just one day?" she asked, her voice containing a frantic touch of amusement.

you both had a hard time choosing, and the man seemed to be growing impatient with your reluctance to begin the game. after a few more moments of silence, he broke in, seeming ready to make the first move. "i'll go easy on you, i swear, newbies. you go first. choose one or two, just pick something."

"this is three of diamond. if you win the game you get another three days added to your visa" the man explained. he didn't seem to care about the implications of playing a life-or-death game every day in order to simply prolong your life for another 24 hours. he simply expected you and ellie to accept the circumstances and begin the game without question. "it's not like you can choose anyway, but you couldn't have come across a better chance. i mean, it's a simple game, there's really nothing else to say. one of the glasses has acid in it. so choose wisely, play carefully, and good luck." the man ended his brief explanation with a playful smile, as if he was really looking forward to starting the game regardless of your decision.

after a few moments of hesitation, you decided to play it slow and choose one. you carefully picked the first glass between the ten and held it up to ellie's face, waiting for her to take it. her head tilted back and she lifted the glass to her lips, drinking the whole liquid in a single gulp. you watched her, still unsure about the whole game, expecting her to either burst out in pain or scream as the acid burned her throat. instead, she simply set the glass down with a contented sigh.

the man watched your expressions closely, smiling brightly at the sight of your relief. but though her lips were not burnt by the acid, the game was not over yet. he nodded, indicating that he's ready to play.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

you'd made it through eight glasses and each had been safe. the odds may not be in your favor, but you had managed to beat them up until now. finally, you were at the final round of the game, with only two cups remaining. as you realized the dilemma in front of you, you also realized there was only one logical choice: you had to choose one glass, because even if you tried playing two, it wouldn't spare you from death, ellie would still be drinking poison. the only way to avoid it was to pick a single one and hope for the best.

you reached forward and carefully picked a cup, feeling the tension build as you held it out to ellie. she looked at you with a nervous expression, clearly feeling equally stressed about the situation as she prepared to take yet another sip of what potentially could be acid. you held your breath as she lifted the glass to her lips, sipping from it. after a full swig, she lowered the glass without a reaction, just as she had done four times before.

with only one glass remaining and the man's turn, you knew that there was a one hundred percent chance this would be the acid shot. he seemed to understand this as well, smiling cheerfully as he nodded to the glass in front of him. "it's my turn, isn't it?" he chuckled and gave another small laugh as he picked up the glass and raised it, as if to celebrate a victory. "to the remaining two!" he toasted and gave you an understanding smile, as if to reassure you both that the game would end well for you. "you might not want to see this, though."

as the man raised the glass to his lips, his eyes met yours with a serious and focused expression. he did not shy away from your stares, knowing that there was no point in avoiding you the sight of consequences. you could not move from the unbelievable sadness of witnessing a life ending before your eyes, and yet you felt ellie's hand consciously grip your arm, pulling you away from the tragic scene.

✧˖°

game inspired by: HippoOfGreen on reddit

taglist: @ellieswife @coff1nn @abbyily @littlegingerperson2 @marianeski @onlinelesbo @mayagrahh @acatstalkingyou @rayslender @imprettyandpink @sillymelodyy @destructive-path @ellieslutybitch @elliemywife @saxiigami @flowexr @dsybouquet @ellieswifee @stickynachomaker @elliesaesp @elliezlils11utt @pank0w @xiaos-wife1 @machetegirl109 @teawithnosugar @lostwsoo @iove-bbb

[thegreatstoryteller]

The Great Shift: Speed Dating

Ok, so dating in your 30s can be hard. Even harder after the world has suddenly decided all of its inhabitants would suddenly swap bodies! If you thought it was hard to truly get to know someone before, it was nearly impossible now. You’d think that the differences and bodies people were exposed too would lead to more emotionally intelligent people, but no. Instead shallow just comes in all sorts of new flavors these days!

-

“Wassup I’m Aidan!.I’m 24, well now I’m 34 due to the shift. And well you can see I’ve got a lot of good assets to show.”

I rolled  my eyes as this wannabe tough guy was trying to impress me. Sure he had an incredibly built body and intricate tattoos, but it was all surface level!

“Nice to meet you Aidan. You go to all of these speed dating events without a shirt?” I asked gingerly sipping my water.

“Only when I’m talking to a handsome guy like yourself.”

Gag. If I had a dime for every post shift hottie said that. 

“Charming. So Aidan tell me about yourself. I mean before the shift what did you do for a living? What do you do now?” I asked.

He scoffs. “I used to be a computer programmer. You know boring office stuff. Then I swapped into this juggernaut and been living at the gym ever since. Quit my old boring work and been trying to become a trainer at my local gym.”

“So let me get this straight. You were able to sustain yourself on a safe indoor office job and now you’re trying to go into  a new occupation you have no experience in because you want to flaunt your muscles?” I inquired further arching my eyebrow.

“Um... when you put it like that...” Aidan stammered looking called out.

“Next!” I rang the bell on the table signalling the rotation and the next person to join my table. 

Aidan slumped his massive 6′5 frame away looking dejected, but as soon as he started flexing to himself he shrugged and moved on. Maybe another guy would like this wannabe muscle guy. I just hope he was so driven by those muscles he’d have the motivation to maintain them. So many people received huge powerful bodies, but without the knowledge to maintain them they just went to waste.

“Hey there sexy? Fred is the name, dating you is my game.” A beefy looking firefighter said, with a burgeoning gut about to strain his suspenders. 

“Wow. Coming on a bit strong Fred. Please. Start from the beginning.  Your name is Fred. Great. What’s with the fire fighter attire? Are you a fire fighter or was your body a fire fighter before the shift?” I asked wincing at this cringe intro.

He smiles and strokes his beard appreciatively while at the same time flexing his beefy arm. “Well I’m not... yet! This body used to be the best firefighter in the district! Then all of a sudden the shift happen and I go from university student studying engineering to the most buff in shape guy with 6 pack abs I’ve ever seen!”

I look down and notice the obvious lack of abs. “Ok. Makes sense... so now you’re trying to  be a firefighter? Just like your body before you. That’s... noble. I’m really glad to see you give back to the community.”

Fred smiled. “Thanks! I’ve been trying for awhile now, but I can’t get through the physical test! It’s like I’m not as strong as the guy who used this body. Weird. Right now I mostly play video games and stream shirtless in these suspenders. My viewers love seeing me. I’m FireXFighter69 on Twitch and YouTube! Check out my video on-”

“Next!” I say ringing the bell once more. 

“Damn. Didn’t work out... are you gonna finish your food there? You hardly touched it.” Fred pointed at the snacks provided at the table.

“Sure Fred. Good luck on your next date.” I said as Fred left with the plate of food.

Some people could be oblivious of their own faults and try way too hard. Am I asking too much for people to just be honest and not hide behind some sort of facade? I get people can be nervous, but it’s certainly better than trying to get to know a character who isn’t even real.

“Hey there bitch!”

“You’re hot as fuck and I know you need a real man to show you how it’s done.” 

I didn’t know how to respond to such an abrupt entrance. I thought Aidan was cringe, but this guy was a whole new level. Flexing in my face, flipping me off, calling me names? Was he trying to neg me in less than 5 minutes?

“I can see you’re stunned by my natural masculinity. I don’t blame you. I’m an older guy given a second chance in this buff young jock. I found myself out of shape at 50 thrown into this guy mid football game. I’m no stranger to the gym so i just buffed myself up even more than that kid could. Now I’m here and ready to fuck you. So. What do you say? Wanna get out of here and ditch all these idiots?”

“Next! Sooo much next! You don’t get to dominate the conversation like this And you are NOT the type for any reasonable person here. I hope you find some sub willing to put up with your shit.” I retorted with a glare.

I see the guy in front of me blanch embarrassed! “Bastard! You’d be lucky to have me. I oughta!” He raised his hand to slam the table! Or me! But soon security escorted him out.

“I.... wow. That’s the worst one to end on. But I might as well go. There are clearly not any guys for me here.” I was about to get up when this cuter guy came over.

“Hello! I... wow. I saw what happened. Great job for standing up to that guy. He seemed like such a creep. I’m Elijah by the way... were you heading out?”

I was caught off guard. This man was so handsome! He wasn’t posturing like the rest, but I still he was making an honest effort despite his trepedation. His voice faltered a bit, but its deep resonate tones made that sound sweet. He was holding himself in a reserved posture, but even as he nervously clasped his hands I could see biceps  raise and strain his shirt.

“I was... but I think I’d like to get to know you. I’m Omar. I just turned away a few guys who were being absolute jerks. How about you? Elijah was it?” I said a bit blushing.

“Yeah! Well I recently graduated post great shift. I finished my last semester at the local community college in a new body. I’m in my neighbors body. Big guy! Great beard, but I’m still getting used to maintaining it. I’ll admit. I’m working part time at the local library till I find a job more suitable for what I studied in school. I’m 22, but my new biological age is 35. I do some painting in my free time and love exploring new parts of the city now that a lot of it has been rebuilt since the shift.” Elijah explained.

“Oh! Have you checked out the bar across town? It used to be a gay bar called The Tank! Now it’s changed its name to The Sea! Since there’s so many more sexualities represented there!” I offered.

“Haha! Love that. That’s clever! The tank has gotten bigger! I get it! I uh... Maybe you and I could continue our conversation there, over drinks?” Elijah blushed.

“I’d like that. Let’s get out of here!” We both stood up and took each others hands. Gosh his were so warm. Not to mention they felt so strong. He’s got quite the grip! I took a few steps so enamored by him I nearly fell, until he caught me in his arms. My face went right across his chest as I looked up to him before standing back up.

“Thanks for the catch. I uh.. Wow. You’ve got quite the cologne. What’s that scent?” I asked so curiously.

“Oh! Sorry!” Elijah was blushing even more. “I’m not wearing any. That’s just how my body smells. Hope it wasn’t bad.”

My eyes widen again. “It’s fine. Perfect actually. I love it. Lead the way Elijah.”

Elijah giggled. Hearing such a deep voice let out something so whimsical was the cutest thing I’ve seen tonight.

“I feel so lucky walking out of this place with you Omar.” Elijah said.

“Oh come on. I’m sure you would’ve found an awesome guy to spend then night with. You’re quite the charmer.” I retorted.

“I’m not the one looking like Henry Cavil!” Elijah laughed.

We both laughed. It was true. Ever since I looked like a celeb dating has been so hard. People try so hard to impress me, that it was such a breath air to talk to Elijah like a normal person. 

“Well tonight I really do feel like the man of steel because you are making me quite hard.” I smirked at Elijah, now blushing to the max.

“I... I... normally cheesy lines like that don’t work on me, but coming for you I.... gosh let’s get to that bar!”

We ended up walking aware from that speed date very satisfied. Perhaps even the hot people need help finding love after the shift. Who knows. I never said I was perfect, but tonight I sure am excited to see how far Elijah and I go!

[gremlins-hotel]

alfred rocking some different flight jackets (nerd stuff under cut)

The flight jacket, an iconic piece of any aviator's outerwear. Before they ever became symbols of fashion and the 'exalted' place that came with the occupation of pilot, the flight jacket as we know it was first made for function. Aircraft of World War I and the earliest designs were open cockpit machines, and many would remain that way in the Interbellum. All that to say this paramount paraphernalia's original purpose was to keep an aviator warm in the sky.

Keep in mind that the images above may not reflect every specimen of their type. Jackets differed in design by manufacturer, production block, and even by the military branch (Navy jackets also often have a different name) & unit ordering them. A great example is the wide range of looks for the quintessential B-3. My apologies in advance for them being all American designs. I would love to show off some of the British flight jackets, but I would rather do a little more research (and practice drawing Arthur more)!

A-1 (1927-1931) A thin leather jacket designed for lower altitudes and made with a flattering fit high on the waist, the A-1 was the kickstart to the wide variety the Army Air Corps would come to know. The A-1 had differing designs between the Navy and the infant Air Corps, and early A-1s are distinguished by having seven buttons and a knit collar, which later models did not keep. However, later models did retain the knit waistband and cuffs.

A-2 (1931-1943) The direct successor to the A-1, the A-2 quickly replaced its older brother. This is one of the more recognizable jackets from the States after becoming the standard for the Air Corps in the early 1930s. The quality of the jackets would fall due to wartime rationing, with early designs of horsehide and silk becoming goatskin and cotton, however, the general look remained. The A-2 was still primarily for open cockpit designs, lower altitudes, and warmer climes. Identifiable from the A-1 by its snap-down leather collar, zipper, and varying shapes and sizes of a hook-and-eye clasp at the collar to close it.

G-1 (1938-present) This looker would replace the A-2 in form and function during the 1940s, first becoming popular with the Army and Navy before being adopted by USAAF. Originally named the ANJ-3/AN-J-3 the jacket gained its new designation by the time the Air Corps caught on. The G-1 came with a mouton collar and a bi-swing back to allow for greater arm movement, meanwhile, it lacked the over-zipper 'wind flap' of its predecessors. A keen eye for pop culture might realize that this is the jacket from the 1986 hit Top Gun.

B-3 (1934-1943) Ah, the B-3! Commonly known simply as the "bomber jacket," the B-3 was made with a high-altitude bomber in mind, unlike previous designs. Incredibly bulky and lined with sheepskin the B-3 was made to keep crews at 25,000 feet above from freezing in their unpressurized cabins, with many such as the early B-17 Flying Fortresses possessing open waist gunner ports. The wide collar could be closed with two leather straps and the jacket did not come with the famous knit waistband or cuffs that others did. "The General" was a B-3 design made specifically for General George S. Patton, who popularized the B-3 outside of the Air Corps. (The B-3 had a slimmer cousin - the B-6 - designed as the 'quality of life' inside bombers improved, such as pressurized cabins.)

B-7 (1941-1942) Short-lived, the B-7 Parka was manufactured for pilots operating in the brutal cold of Alaska. However, not much is known of it due to its limited production. In fact, the B-7 was discontinued swiftly due to its high manufacturing cost. Either way, the B-7 is a funky one-off that is easily distinguishable from the lineup by its three-quarter length and coyote-lined hood.

B-15 (1944-1954) The infamous green flight jacket that many today typically know as the "bomber jacket". The B-15 quickly replaced its older brother, the B-10 (1943-1944). Like other designs it had many variations. Similar to the G-1, the B-15 shared the same pocket design and lack of a wind flap, yet the B-15 was cloth with a mouton collar and a knit waistband and cuffs. The shell was produced in a range of materials including nylon and cotton-rayon. It was lighter weight and far less warm than its sheepskin predecessors and spoke to the advancements in aviation technology. A quirk of its design that soon became standard was the designated pen pocket on the upper left arm.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[albaricomics]

These are, in my opinion, the main 4 movies in which Nacho Sama got inspired to create That's Not My Neighbor

⚠️ TW for slightly disturbing movie posters

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Listing them all down:

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1954).

A professional photographer with a broken leg whiles away the time by spying on his neighbors through his window. However, his pastime becomes serious when he witnesses an apparent murder.

Us (Jordan Peele, US, 2019).

Adelaide Wilson and her family are attacked by mysterious figures dressed in red. Upon closer inspection, the Wilsons realise that the intruders are exact lookalikes of them.

The Thing (John Carpenter, US, 1982).

A research team finds an alien being that has fallen from the sky and is starting to hunt them down. Things take a sinister turn when they realise that the creature can take the shape of its victims.

Rec (Paco Plaza & Jaume Balagueró, Spain, 2007).

A reporter with her cameraman accompany a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building to discover an infection spreading inside, with the building being sealed up and all occupants ordered to follow a strict quarantine.

None of this is oficially confirmed, but I've enjoyed the game x100 times more now that I have this bit much of context or just knowledge of some similar stories that could potentially be the inspiration behind.

I like that in Rear Window we have a genuine look and depiction of a neighborhood life in the 50s and general dynamics, in Us is the very horror of having a thing that looks exactly like you in front and threatening to take your life and identity away, The Thing is the most alike to the game since it's explicitly a doppelganger problem where the crew constantly have to check on each other to make sure they're with real people, and last but not least, Rec has this tension and horror growing increasingly as the neighbors panic and turn into each other trying to figure out who started an infection that will allow them not only to mask but to also transform into a horrific monster ready to bite. From this last one I love that the biological team that gets in to check on the situation look exactly like the DDD in their suits, that one of the neighbors is behind everything, and that the apartment they have to reach is 02 on the THIRD FLOOR... I hope that's a coincidence, Nacho.

I'll wrap it up, these are amazing movies, to this point they're mandatory hw (first one is suspense, even comical at times, but the other 3 are sci-fi/thriller/horror so be careful on that).

[bugbump]

They had been cold for millenia, held deep in the earth; but now it was warm… so warm, and soft…

Cradled in flesh, the fossilised trilobites began to twitch and shudder. Their rough surfaces cracked and crumbled, eons of mineral deposit falling away like the shell of an egg. Chitin glimmered, antenna waved, gills breathed - until at long last, the creatures swam once more!

His belly rolled slow and heavy with their movements, its shape subtly changing as they swam and crawled en mass. Each trilobite moved on its own looping path, seeming content to trace endless circuits around the tiny ocean of his womb; but every now and then, that rhythm would be broken by the shock of an antenna probing at his cervix, and the resultant clenching of his uterus would send its inhabitants into a frenzied scurry.

What began as another uterine twinge had intensified into a persistant squeeze. The weight in his pelvis had grown so heavy that it could not be lifted, no matter how much he tossed and turned, or how hard he kneaded at his taut skin. The only hope now was to surrender his body to the next contraction. Without resistance, flesh billowed into his tunnel, filling him from the inside out, his heavy womb and its many occupants tumbling down, down, down… ᴘᴏᴘ The bulge in his boxers throbbed and tented, straining against its fabric confines. His everted ovipositor was seeking a suitable place to deposit his brood. And so, after wrangling the writhing organ into a loose-fitting pair of trousers, its instinctive twitching became his guide.

The tide pools. Several of them already overflowed with trilobites, and his restless ovipositor was eagerly pumping more into the shallow water behind him. Here he could finally admire them, until the waves came in and took them back home. And then... Well, perhaps the oceans were overdue for another Cambrian Explosion.

[erogenousmind]

Safe and Sound

Cathrine knew this room. She knew its shape, its dimensions. She knew the soft chair and the wooden writing desk at which it sat. She knew the fabric of the curtains and the matching bedspread. She knew the numerous pillows atop the bed, knew how easily her head would sink into them. She knew the soft blanket, so fluffy and warm. She knew how it felt when it wrapped her up, when she could disappear into its folds and everything outside the room melted away.

She couldn't place it, but there was something childlike about the room. There was an innocence to it, a calm. Like it's occupant wouldn't know a thing about the stresses of life. Couldn't conceive of the responsibilities of independent life or of obligations that lasted longer than they could be held in focus. It was as if Cathrine was shielded from all those things here.

There was a house around this room, of course, and a whole world around that. Cathrine was dimly aware that she must have passed through the house to get here, must have at some point approached the front door, but it all felt so distant somehow. Nothing outside this room really mattered while she was here. And it had been so important to get here. To be right where she was right now. Right where she had been told to be...

The room had called to her. She remembered hearing its song echo down the hall as she had approached. Remembered the way she seemed to float toward the open and inviting door. It hadn't felt as if she'd been pulled, but she hadn't made any conscious effort to move forward either. She listened to that haunting melody and it drew her closer. It became more clear the closer she came. She could hear it so clearly now. A song of peace. Of innocence.

Cathrine felt the headphones shift as her head lolled back and for a moment she was aware of another room. Somewhere else she was sitting and listening. A whole different world. But the song reminded her how much better it felt to be here. How much simpler it was to listen and be in this cozy room. To be safe. And that other world melted away...

The song had called her from so far away. It had caught her, drifting on the wind when she saw the house. So picturesque. It reminded her of something, but the pull of the song had been too strong for her to focus. The front door too inviting. The call of the room too powerful.

But now, drifting here, she realized what it was. She knew where she was. The perfect order to this place. The shape, the design, the colors. This was a dollhouse. And that, Cathrine realized dimly, meant she was a doll. Softly, the corners of her mouth turned up into a gentle fixed smile. The light faded from her eyes even as they sparkled with pristine beauty. She was a doll in her dollhouse. And she was so happy. Happy to be played with. Happy to be cared for and loved. Happy to be enjoyed. And happy to have her decisions made for her.

The song moved her now. A doll didn't have to move on her own. The closet doors opened before her and she beheld the most perfect wardrobe a doll could ever ask for. The song dressed her exactly how it desired. Cathrine felt so beautiful. The song moved her about the room, sitting her at her desk or twirling her round and round. The song made her dance, and Cathrine felt so graceful. And through it all she was so blissfully happy. A doll didn't have a care in the world. As long as she was looked after, she knew she was loved and safe. She was so small, so delicate. But the song would always look after her. The house would always keep her safe.

And when it was done playing with her, the song prepared her for bed. The sheets were pulled up to Cathrine's chin and she felt the most gentle lips as she was kissed goodnight on her forehead. She would sleep as long as was desired of her. She would wake when she was needed again. She would play and dance and be the best doll she could be. She could remain in the room, remain in her perfect dollhouse, forever. Her body might be needed elsewhere from time to time. She might even have to play dress up again. Pretend she was an adult doing adult things. Whatever was needed of her.

But her spirit could always remain here. She could always be a perfect doll for this perfect dollhouse. She needn't have a care in the world. She could be small and delicate, loved and safe. And the bed was so cozy. The blanket wrapped her up, body and mind. The song sang its lullaby to her and Cathrine was transfixed. The plastic smile remained on her face and she drifted down so deep. Perfectly content. Safe and sound. Happy...