#they give me LIFE!!

[mxxnlightwriting]

Writemas 2024 Day 14

Thanks to @agirlandherquill for hosting this wonderful event!

Tari’s Note: I know I'm late with this one, but I needed a few days to rest, so here I am, working on it now! I'll also work on the other days I missed in the upcoming days, so I likely will be behind from now on. I hope that's okay! I have a masterlist for this challenge if you want to read this story from the beginning!

Prompt(s): An archway Synopsis: Rae goes to meet Emily after her shift at work, and they agree to spend the rest of their evening together. Genre/age group: adult contemporary sapphic romance Word Count: 0.5k

The town slowly drowned in darkness as the sun set in the distance, bringing out all the colourful lights spread across the windowsills and streetlamps. Rae kept her head down as she walked towards the town centre, unsure of why she was heading this way. She knew why, but she kept telling herself she didn't. For some reason, that helped her grow less expectant.

As soon as her brother's booming voice reached her ears, she lifted her eyes to find the town square more put together than she remembered. Henry chatted with Emily and Henrietta next to a large white tent that Rae was sure none of them had built, but all had given some unsolicited advice about. When they noticed Rae approaching, they opened their small circle and allowed her to join them.

"Are you done with work for today?" Henry asked, his breath creating soft clouds of mist.

"Yes." Rae's eyes slipped to Emily, who was smiling at her. "Are the three of you done here?"

"For today, yes," Henrietta said, pointing to the large tent. "Tomorrow we have to set everything inside, but the structure is already put together so that means we're on schedule."

"That's good, I guess." Rae nodded to herself, keeping her hands in the pockets of her jeans. To Emily, she asked, "Do you need me to take you home? You didn't drive here today, did you?"

"No. I still haven't found someone to fix my car." She pouted.

"I could make some calls," Henry said, surprising both Emily and Rae. He glanced between them and blinked. "What? I could call Pete tomorrow morning. It doesn't hurt to help."

"You seemed pretty against my help earlier today," Emily whispered but thanked him for the help, which seemed to please Henry enough.

Rae said her goodbyes to Henrietta and her brother, and she and Emily left the town centre towards the town hall building where the main door was opened.

"So, I, hm," Rae cleared her throat, "I could also drive us to my place. I could cook you dinner. If you want."

Rae's heart raced as she stared at Emily a few steps ahead of her. She stopped under the building's archway and turned to face Rae with a small smirk.

"And what will you cook for us?"

Us. There it was again. Rae could seriously get addicted to that word.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I don't remember what I have in the fridge, but I'll make us something. Do you want to stop by your place first to grab a change of clothes?"

"I thought this was only dinner."

Rae ruffled her hair and joined Emily at the top of the stairs. She stepped closer until Emily leaned on the stone wall behind her, her eyes focused on Rae as she smiled.

"I just want you to be comfortable," Rae said as her thumb ran lazy circles on Emily's cheek. "But it would only be fair if you spent the night at my place after I did it at the cabin."

"Do I get to choose whether I want the bed or the couch?"

Rae nodded and leaned closer to Emily until their lips touched in a light kiss. "Whatever you want," she said.

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© mxxnlightwriting 2024 All Rights Reserved. Copying, reposting, translating and/or modifications of my work are strictly prohibited.

[eydilily]

(look at what i have to offer) — this is the spider's nest.

[sopuu]

animation of jimmy getting owned in real life

bonus gif of him celebrating i made for funsies :] oh the oblivious bliss...

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[redpapercraness]

to lose you

[selfhealingmoments]

[laughingcatwrites]

As a reminder that good exists out there, a coworker recently confessed to me that he found out his child is questioning their identity (kid's gender redacted for this post). The kid is keeping it from him, so he can't say anything to them or show that he knows, but he's doing his best to get mentally prepared and educated so that he'll be ready whenever his kid does feel comfortable enough come to him.

For context, this guy is a big, bulky middle aged dude who loves sports and typical outdoor "manly" activities. As his coworker and friend, I know he's a kind and sweet teddy bear of a person, but his kid probably views him as a stern, authoritarian figure, the way most teenagers view their parents. His family lives in a conservative area, so I'm sure between that, their dad's looks and interests, and the fact that their dad is a Figure of Authority, the kid is worried that they won't be accepted.

But you know what? When he found out about his kid, the first thing he did was reach out to his closest queer friend and ask for resources for parents of questioning children. His biggest fears are that his kid will be bullied or discriminated against and won't feel comfortable enough to be themself. His second action was to find himself a mentor in another parent who went the same situation (kid coming out in a conservative town). The other person is preparing him for some of the struggles his kid may face and the fights he may need to take on as a parent to make sure his kid is safe and treated well.

Something I want to emphasize for people focused on language as the primary method of allyship is that when we spoke, he used some outdated terms and thoughts about gender and sexuality. That does not make him bad. These were the terms and thinking used about questioning teenagers when he was growing up and he never needed to learn more current ones. But now that he does have that need, he's throwing himself in head first because that's his kid and he's darn well going to make sure that his kid feels welcomed and has a safe place to be themselves even if they never come out to him.

[avarkriss]

listen. listen to me so carefully right now. (if you're in the eclipse path/planning on viewing). please don't stare directly at the sun tomorrow. i am begging you - do not stare at it. if you got eclipse glasses off of amazon/other, please put them on in your house and make sure you can't see anything; if you can still see like regular sun glasses, they are not safe for eclipse viewing, you will burn your retinas, and we cannot fix that. eclipse glasses should be iso/ce certified, and aas (american astronomical society) approved. please make smart choices and protect your eyes. please.

[lilislegacy]

Percy at ease

Percy calm, but a little on edge

Percy when mildly angry

Friendly reminder that Percy jackson - our beloved silly adorable seaweed brain - is absolutely terrifying. When he’s angry, when he’s scared, when he’s on edge - he’s not warm and fuzzy.

No other character gets that reaction from people. Jason (the sweetie) is perceived as calm and in control, nico (our favorite self-outcasted outcast) is perceived as solemn and creepy, reyna (girlboss queen slay) is perceived as confident and assertive, and annabeth (our girl) is perceived as fierce, clever, and formidable. They are all intimidating to an extent.

But not like Percy. No. Becasue even when he’s at ease, he’s described as wild and disobedient. And when he’s not at ease, even if just little bit, he’s perceived as powerful, dangerous, and scary. Someone who NOBODY wants to mess with. Nobody even questions his power. One look from him has literal gangs running the other way. One look from him has Leo so scared that he’s literally shaking, and feeling the same innate fright and alarm that he does when jason summons an ear-piercing, earth-shaking, deadly bolt of lighting.

like… HELLO??? can we all just sit on that for a moment?? good lord

One angry look from percy has people thinking one thing: Run.

Percy is, canonically, the character that people find the most frightening and intimidating.

And unless he’s in a good mood - which you better hope he is - the reality is that most of us would be completely terrified of him if we met him.

[winnie-daze]

Locked out

[facelessmime]

I think Uzi would give away her feelings with her tail a lot despite her edgy persona. And I wonder what that means for Cyn sometimes 🤣

I genuinely think Cyn would probably enjoy this, yelling "wee!" Even haha-- but it was too funny not to visualize this way.

Anyway--

Bonus Below!

[hinamie]

9 / 266

[bluesngolds]

unstoppable force meets immovable object

[forgetful-nerd]

The real reason we’ll never get another Turtles Forever is because if these three met then they would absolutely destroy everything in their paths.

Also they’d verbally eradicate any villain’s self esteem in like 10 seconds.

[datcravat]

It seems there's a new lawyer in town!!!

[erebus0dora]

i am a simple person

i like when things are mirrored

i often think back to the actual acceptance & quiet one 500+ y.o. might be truly longing for