#why would you use a picture of like 50 of them in a box like that why do you need to specify they're 'untouched by human hands' like that

[projectcatzo]

most unsettling way they could've listed this item

[forsoobado137]

I just had this random idea in my head, but like do you think that Nyo America was used as propaganda the 1950s and the Cold War era to promote “American femininity” (I read this one article that mentioned that the a big reason why women were used in ads to promote products was because they were trying to encourage American housewives to be big time consumers to ‘show American superiority’ against the USSR which ties back to American consumer culture of the 50s and the rampant sexism of the time)

Oh definitely. I can already picture the pin-up posters of Amelia. Maybe on of her in a star dress with her nickname as "Miss America". There would be posters of her making food and holding it on a tray, or maybe some of her getting her hair done at a salon. All of them promoting her "all-American beauty".

While I'm sure Amelia liked the photoshoots and art of her, she was very much annoyed by the box she was forced into. The men around her tried to convince her that she was "showing strength" by being a feminine role model against the USSR. But Amelia felt like she wasn't being taken seriously as a nation, much like how many American women felt during the time. She was just a pretty face used to push propaganda.

[irisintheafterglow]

Timeless (pro!bakugo x you)

summary: in another life, he still would have turned your head.

word count: 0.7k

cw/tags: swearing, just straight fluff, gn reader

note: i think my favorite line of dialogue i've written so far is now "kicking ass, looking hot." hope you enjoy this lil drabble!

likes/reblogs/feedback is always appreciated <3

In your excitement, you pull out your phone and dial his number. He answers after two rings and you smile softly. You didn’t usually call him when he was on patrol unless you missed him, so hopefully he didn’t give you any shit about that. 

“Hi darling, whatcha doing?” You fiddle with the ring hanging around your neck, a habit you’d only picked up after you two started dating. 

“The usual– kicking ass, looking hot.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“You’re the one who called me, babe, so you must be missing me. What’s up?” 

“Just wanted to tell you about these funny little photos I found in an antique shop by the deli. I snagged that good French bread you like, by the way.” Your fingers continue to card through the pictures in the cardboard box, one shoulder pressing the phone up to your ear. 

He hums contentedly on the other side of the phone, completely ignoring the first part of what you said. “You’re the greatest part of my life.” 

“I better be. But, anyway, these photos, Kats.” You could practically see him rolling his eyes in boredom, but continue trying to explain them anyways. “They’re cute; it’s like little black and white photos of lovers from the 50s, and in one of them they’re in front of their first house in the 60s.” 

“Why are you telling me about random extras from ancient times?” 

You scoff at his warped sense of time. “First off, this was only a few decades ago. Second…I actually don’t really know.” He snorts from the other side of the phone, and you fight to keep your voice to a whisper as you backtrack, trying to verbalize the vague train of thought in your mind. “I’m serious, Kats. I don’t know what it is about these photos. They just remind me of us.” You pick up one of a young couple standing in front of a vintage car at the beach. The boy has a smug look on his face, and his girlfriend is shaking her head exasperatedly. He must have said something stupidly endearing, just like the boy on the phone with you. 

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I just saw them and I like to think that, even if we were living in a different time, we’d still find our way to each other, somehow.” Another one caught your eye in the box, a family picture at a rest stop in the mountains. The parents tenderly hold a baby each in their arms, beaming at the camera and surrounded by towering trees. The image made your heart ache a little bit, so second-handedly happy for them that it was making you sad. You never would tell him, but you were really missing your boyfriend. 

“You bet your sexy ass I’d find you in another lifetime.” You roll your eyes. His crass language, however intelligent he was, really overpowered his intellect sometimes. 

“I don’t think you’d be using that kind of language if we were in like, the 1400s, Kats.” You find a funny one of a little boy triumphantly holding an ice cream cone in a bathtub and it reminds you of baby photos your boyfriend’s mom had showed you when you met her for the first time. 

“Then I’d kick the shit out of all the other suitors or whatever to win your delightful posterior.”

“Ew,” you laugh, covering your burning face with a hand. “Please don’t say that ever again.” 

“I know you’re blushing. Bet you look cute.” 

“Mhmm, blushing ‘cause of how fucking embarrassing you are sometimes,” you reply fondly, waving farewell to the older woman behind the antique counter. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love you too. You free for lunch or are you headed back to the agency?” 

Your heart stutters. He always seemed to know when you were thinking about him, or missing his company. “I’m free right now, but aren’t you on patrol–”

“Aight, see you in a sec.” 

“Wait, Kats–” You look at your phone in disbelief. He’d hung up on you. Shaking your head, you have a seat on a bench and wait for the telltale noise of explosive rumbling to reach you. 

He was insufferable, yes, but you wouldn’t trade him for anybody else, this century or otherwise. 

if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee on my ko-fi! you can also check out my full masterlist here :)

[graciesbow]

Timeless

...

You were walking down the street looking at all the stores, enjoying the crisp autumn air when something caught your eye across the street. An antique shop! You've always loved antiques, looking at precious things that time left behind. Quickly, you hurried across the street and stopped at the door. 

Open. 

You creaked open the door and got hit with the smell of dust, stepping in the floor squeaked a bit. You couldn't see anyone around but you assumed they were in the back. Slowly you started to inspect little trinkets around you, all the old books and teddy bears and photos. When a box caught your eye on the counter. photos, 25c each. 

You treaded over to the box and looked the through the photos, the first one you saw was very old, black and white of a bride and groom smiling wide. It made you think of you and your husband, Severus. Turning it over the year said 1935. Smiling, picking up next one you saw it was two lovers sitting on the porch of their first house, laughing with a small child. Flipping it over you read the year, 1957.

"Oh hello miss!" You were startled at a voice who called from a door behind the counter, you looked up and saw and older man standing there looking at your hands. "No one has looked at those in ages, I don't remember taking them out." He said surprised. "Oh hello! Yes, I saw this store from across the street and couldn't resist coming in. And these photos are just beautiful!" He walked around a couple of boxes to the front of the counter to see which ones you were looking at. 

"Oh yes! The one of the bride and groom is my favorite one in there." You smiled and look down at it again. "I would love to buy them from you if that's alright, they remind me of my husband and I, I would love to show them to him." 

"Of course, I think these photos would be honored to be taken home, they've been sitting here for decades." Looking in your bag for some change you pulled out 50 cents and passed them to him, "Thank you so much! I'm going to have to come back here with my husband he likes these sorts of things as well."

Taking your change from you and passing you the photos, he grinned and said, "You and your husband are welcome here anytime, I hope to see you sometime soon." You bid him farewell and stepped outside the door hearing the bell ring you begun your walk home, excited to show Severus these photos.

                                       ...

You rushed down the street and to your shared home. As soon as you left it started raining, which couldn't have been more unfortunate due to the fact you had just bought photos. Dusting your feet off on the doormat, you quickly opened the door and dashed inside, eager to get away from the rain.

"Severus! I'm home!" You heard some banging around in the kitchen along with a few grunts frustration. You headed over to the kitchen door where you saw your husband preparing dinner, or trying to. He heard your footsteps and turned around to greet you, but frowned when he saw you. "Your dripping." He said in his normal baritone voice. You looked down at yourself and saw your coat and t-shirt had been completely drenched by the rain. "It's raining cats and dogs out there! Haven't you seen?" He looked outside at the garden and saw how heavy the rain was. " I guess I did not" You smiled and took off your coat and put it on the one of the dining chairs.

"Well, I went to town today and got some things I wanted to show you." He turned down the heat on the stove and walked over to where you sat at the dining table, Standing just behind you. You reached over to the chair to pull out the two photos from your coat pocket. 

"I went to an antique shop today, and look at these!" He furrowed his brows on why you bought pictures of strangers. "What are these pictures, love?" He lightly put his hand on your shoulder." You looked up at him and beamed, "They had these at the counter in a old box, 25 cents each. I picked out these ones because they reminded me of us. You passed him the photos.

Severus looked at them curiously, "And why do these remind you of us, dear?" He looked at you. "Those pictures look like the kind of love you only find once in a lifetime, and that definitely describes us, don't you think?" He looked from you to the pictures and smirked a little. "Yes, I suppose it does." He set the photos down and kissed you on the head. You spoke again, "Y'know, I think in another life you still would've turned my head." You glanced up at him again. He had an amused expression on his face, "And what would that life be?" You looked back down at the table with rosy cheeks and said "I don't know, maybe we met on a crowded street in 1944, or maybe I met you at a park in 1835, who knows. All I know is we would've been timeless in every single one." 

"Yes, love I think we would've." 

[lostgirlfandom]

Fun and Games

Pairings: Duncan Vizla x GN!Reader

Warnings: mentions of bed time fun times, use of weapons, swear words

Words: 963

After living with Duncan for years by now, you would think he’d be use to your shenanigans.  

But he’s not.  

And that’s fine, because he likes how unpredictable you are. Sometimes, it’s you trying a new recipe.  

Others, it’s the weird times. Like now for instant.

Duncan had stood in the doorway to the living room with a paper bag full of food from the store, staring at you.  

Sitting on the floor with one leg pulled into your body and the other extended out as you leaned down to the floor with scissors and multiple pieces of paper spread out. The floor was cover with uncut photos and some cut photos with bits of edges all over the floor in a mess. The sound of your record player in the background softly echoes in the room. You were very concentrated on your task with your brow frowned and your tongue peeking out from your mouth.  

Duncan very slowly walked over to the kitchen next to the living room and sat the bag down on the table, never taking his eyes off of you.  

“What are you doing?.... and why are you on the floor?” He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of him.  

Without moving or taking your attention from your ‘project’ you speak. “Cutting out faces of all the people I think need to go.... and sticking them to the target practice boards.” Your words are slow as you finish cutting a photo.  

Duncan stays silent but slowly feels more confused but amused at your train of thought.  

“Look, this one gets bonus points if you get them in the dick!” You smile as you show a full body photo of your ex-boss who use to use you before you retired as an assassin.  

You lock eyes with Duncan, who still had his eyebrow raised at you. You smiled ‘innocently’ at him and after another pause of silence. “Wanna join?”  

His face goes back into its usual stoic nature and looks at you. His lip twitch for a moment and then sighs. “I’ll get the wine.”  

-

Twenty minutes later.  

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.  

The sounds of a .9mm hand gun goes off in the middle of the snow-covered land.  

Duncan and you had moved a little way from the house, each using your chosen weapon to aim at the targets about 50 yards from a table with bullet boxes and pictures waiting to be used and some pictures already used.  

Duncan put his gun down and looked at the target and swears under his breath as he is now behind by 10 points.  

You giggle as you wrap your arms around one of his, pressing your forehead into his arm.  

“Getting drunk, old man?” You tease as you reach over and take some sips from your bourbon glass. Having moved on from wine and to harder liquor, you both had finished each a bottle of wine and onto bourbon and whiskey.  

He sighs and shakes his head, but his lips twitched into a half grin. “No, darling. Just a slight buzz.”  

You give a hearty chuckle and go to pick up the next round of photos to go and pin them to the targets. Also having a slight buzz, but just enough to feel giggly.  

“Alright, this one has some bonus points.” You say semi-seriously as you walk back.  

You take your clip out and reload some bullets into the mechanism and then putting it back into the butt of the gun. Then taking the safety off and aiming, making sure your hands are in a good position and then squeezing the trigger when you were ready.  

After emptying the clip, you lowered your gun and looked at the target, only gaining another 10 points. You pursed your lips as you looked over at your lover.  

He tilted his head and nodded. “Not bad, love.” He then did the same process as you did and emptied his clip into his target. Gaining 15 points, he grinned as he looked at you.  

You both finished your glasses and then filled up again. You then clipping the next targets to the stands. Sighing, you turned back to him and found him staring at you as he leaned on his hands on the table.  

You smiled as you walked back to him and kissing his cheek briskly. His eyes shined softly as he watched you.  

You paused as you slowly put the clip back into the gun. Your eyes distant as you lost in thought. “Lets... make a prize for the winner.” You smirked at him playfully.  

He stoically leaned against the table and crossed his arm. “... Continue.”

You smiled and leaned forward. “If I win... you have to do that think I like in bed.... and if you win...” You pause to think, zoning out slightly and biting your tongue in thought.  

“You have to submit to me...” He speaks slowly but a very small smirk grows on his lips.  

You break out of your thoughts and stare at him for a moment. “Deal.”  

You both lean forward and shake each other's hands.  

Turning back to the game with renewed enthusiasm to win, you both glare in determination.  

-

Thirty minutes later... you both are walking back into the house. You have a pout on your lips and your feet are dragging. He is walking with a confident stride and a grin on his face. Both of your cheeks red from drinking and the cold.  

“Can’t believe I lost.... Shit!” You say as you move to the kitchen to make you both hot chocolates.  

“Shouldn’t have doubted me, elskede.” He told you as he sat at the table. 

You sighed.  

Tonight was gonna be long.  

[nyx-thedragon]

EVEN MORE NEWSIES THOUGHTS RAAHHHHH

noted down a bunch of things while watching again, so strap in for a bit of a long post!

1- reiterating that i love mr kloppman so much omg

2- mush has his fucking hat on before a shirt what's wrong with him /silly

3- "get the lead outta your pants" is such a fun phrase why don't we use it anymore

4- choreo for "carrying the banner" looks so fun

5- jack mocking davey's scoff i love them so bad

6- young christian bale as jack kelly is so charming

7- why is there just a boxing match going on?

8- medda complimenting les's acting skills <33

9- why is there a trolley on fire? why did they set one on fire?

10- "you can meet my folks" this is literally the first day you met him ???

11- esther jacobs is so pretty wow

12- second hand embarrassment/cringing when jack is telling sarah about what words make a headline good

13- les sleep singing and sounding good, i see you kid

14- "why don't you stay here tonight?" bro put the heart eyes away for a second my god

15- "when i dream on my own / i'm alone but i ain't lonely" <333333 love these lyrics

16- will forever be mad about livesies taking away jack's whole cowboy shtick it's so fun why would they take that away

17- how does jack just know how to ride a horse?? was he taught by someone when he was younger??

18- race & jack siblingism real !!

19- johnathon why do you work for pulitzer he doesn't appreciate you like he should

20- i love how natural the dialogue feels in the entire movie. it doesn't feel or sound like they memorized a script

21- "give him some room, let him think" les jacobs you precious little boy

22- jack and davey just make a great team to lead the strike. davey has the words and jack has the confidence and loud voice

23- "no! we can't beat up kids in the street, it'll give us a bad name!" "can't get any worse"

24- davey going from "i was joking" about the strike to helping organize and getting so into it i love him

25- davey wandering through the other newsies during "the world will know" love him (i have no clue why this stood out to me enough that i felt i had to note it down)

26- davey, again with the heart eyes. you're staring longingly at jack. please have some decorum

27- shoutout to denton for helping the boys. love our man denton

28- boots putting his ear up to the door trying to hear something i love him that's so silly

29- the look jack gives davey when he laughs at jack and les being kicked out of The World building

30- "no pictures" "sure" and then there ends up being a picture

31- spot conlon calling jack "jackie boy" oh i feel like they have some history. like friends when they were younger or something. or they've just known each other for a long time

32- mush and race little dance moment during "sieze the day" <3

now would be a great time to take a breather, drink some water, look somewhere other than the screen for a bit to give your eyes a rest

33- jack and davey are always so touchy with each other my god boys can you keep your hands to yourselves for five seconds please (/affectionate)

34- jack already trusts davey enough to let him hold the rope while he dangles like 50 feet in the air. they've barely known each other for two days these boys are lowkey down bad

35- jack and crutchy are brothers for real !!! i love them !!!!

36- snyder hitting the side of the bed to get that one kid to take his hat off why did he do that why did the hat need to be off ??

37- love how the brooklyn newsies' thing is slingshots it's so fun and cool

38- where did these boys learn how to tap dance

39- crutchy you gotta get better at lying, man

40- dude kloppman really is like these boys' father i just love him so much he seems so sweet

41- sarah jacobs why do you not find it a little weird for jack to sleep right outside your window all night?? i know you know him, but that's still a bit odd

42- "this rabble he's roused" pulitzer that's a great line, i gotta hand it to ya

43- love spot conlon's little walking stick/cane

44- the way the boys all love medda and hype her up <333

45- i need warden snyder dead and i need to be the one to do it oh my god i hate him so much!!!!

46- dutchy and specs are always around each other, as far as i remember seeing. they are a pair, do not separate

47- are davey and sarah twins? i've seen people online and in fics say that they are but it's not said in the movie and i am very curious if this is canon or a fanon thing that everyone has agreed on?

48- pulitzer gesticulates a lot. he's a hand-talker

49- "i don't understand" "i don't understand either but just get outta here!"

50- haven't said this before but i love davey's curly hair

51- weasel actually says "tisk tisk" (tsk tsk) he's such a weirdo for that

52- i also need weasel and the delanceys dead and i need to be the one to do it

53- roosevelt calling denton "denty" they're besties bro that's so fun

54- kloppman taking over weasel's job (edit: upon rewatching the movie again, i have realized that it is, in fact, not kloppman who takes over weasel’s job at the end of the movie. my apologies)

whoo. okay. less than the last one. that's good. i hope y'all enjoyed reading my thoughts and getting a little glimpse into my brain. and if someone could tell me the answer to my "are sarah and davey twins" question i will love you forever please i am very curious.

anyway, drink water, get some rest, and i will see you all later. stay cool

[physalian]

So, I’ve written posts utterly baffled by writers who think tackling the intimate nuances and complexities of minorities/ disabilities/ neurodivergences that they don’t have based on ego and research is just easy and no one will notice. But like… there aren’t rules for any of these demographics. All aces don’t think the same way, that’s why there’s like 20 different specific labels under the ace/demi umbrella.

But the reason I don’t think anyone can get by on research alone if this character’s quirk (for simplicity’s sake) is the whole plot and their defining feature is this: There is no ‘default’ person and the 50s-esque model citizen was a caricature. Odds are somebody isn’t “perfectly normal” just with one little outlier trait. We’re all different mixes and blends so saying “I’m gonna write a gay dude, I read this one blog by a gay dude and I’m an expert” is just. No.

This is also assuming that it’s realistic for your character to be absolutely certain about themselves and can diagnose or label themselves with medical accuracy. We’re all just vibin’, you know? Some might, and kudos to them, still wierd to so confidently write something you researched like cramming the night before a final.

Like, if you tell me you wrote an ace, and you yourself are straight or simply not ace and have no ace friends or relatives and just thought it would be cool, but your book is an intense deep-dive into asexuality, I’d bet very good money that it is not, in fact, a deep dive into asexuality, just your extrapolation based on a modicum of research and your own biases.

You’re missing out on so much personal context. I’m ace. Also, possibly aro? But also unofficially diagnosed as autistic and I can’t get a real diagnosis because reasons. And everyone is different so I don’t know where the boundary lies between “this is an autistic thing” and “this is an ace thing” and “this is an aro” thing. You, intrepid author, can’t expect to articulate that if a real person living with it can’t.

You can’t articulate it, because I can’t articulate it, and I’m probably contradicting myself all over the place in a giant game of mental Twister. Like. Romance sounds great, but I’m also fiercely independent and am too used to doing everything alone to actually picture being a healthy team and not having to carry it like groupwork in high school. That image just does not compute.

Or, romance sounds great, but I can’t love you the way you expect and odds are I’m not going to want to sleep with you… but I’ll watch your favorite TV show with you and I’ll buy you that box of candy that you probably forgot you mentioned wistfully wanting last week and I’ll make sure the fridge is stocked with your favorite snack and I’ll do the driving and I’ll text you memes and funny pictures and song recommendations to make you smile and I’ll do 100 other things desperately trying to make up for the guilt of both wanting you to find me attractive, but not actually finding you attractive, but it's actually finding the effort I make and the choices within my power that I want you to find attractive and not 'nice ass' or whatever, of wanting you around and wanting love, but not wanting sex and I guess if you cheat but it's "just sex" I have to deal because you've got "needs" and you're "normal" and I'm lucky to have you around without putting out. While simultaneously daydreaming about an imaginary person who doesn't expect those 100 other things done from guilt, but I got bills to pay and can't be selfish and, well, that person doesn't exist.

But sure, your ace is gutwrechingly realistic because they're an android or an alien and are incapable of a sex drive anyway and not human because, what? All humans have a sex drive, you donut. You just haven't met the right person yet.

No one is just one thing in isolation and otherwise “perfectly normal”. The arrogance and naivety it takes from so many writers who think this can’t be shocked when the negative feedback comes in. Write inclusively. Do not write the deeply personal struggles of a life you did not live, that someone reading your book can look at and think, wow, I can’t believe how wrong they got it. Do I expect to read a perfect copy of myself in someone else's ace charcater? No. Every ace is different, but there's the "ace" flag for a reason.

[britt-kageryuu]

The guys were digging through like 10 different sized boxes that they found at a flea market. The person was selling entire boxes of random stuff (no refunds or returns, we are not not at fault if you end up haunted).

The wonders of what people will sell for a quick buck.

"So why did we decide not to live stream ourselves opening these up." Mikey asked while pulling a tangle of necklaces and bracelets from a smaller box. Then proceed to attempt to untangle them.

"Because we don't know what is in these boxes, and we might find something that is against the TOS, Annoyed huff." Donnie says as they pull a stack of random computer parts from a box that were not in the worst condition, but not the best either, they look in the box more to see what else might be in there.

Leo dumped the medium size box he grabbed, and out fell a bunch of small pictures some with small frames. He picked one up and went wide-eyed, "Dudes! These are old timey ghost photos! Pretty good fakes, but still cool."

The others grabbed one or two of the pictures, and studied them, they took a few minutes to just look at the pictures, then it turned into a bit of a game of find the reused 'ghosts', because the same 'ghosts' in a couple of them.

Raph picked up the biggest box, and used his claw to tear through the tape holding it closed.

But once he opened the box he let out a scream, and threw the box across the room before leaving the room.

Leo goes to pick up the box, and out fell a bunch of Ms. Cuddles merch still in box. They all let out a laugh.

"I thought he got over that fear?" Mikey questions once he calms down, "Then again some fears is hard to get over."

"I almost want to find the person we bought these from, and give them a tip." Leo says while digging more into the Ms. Cuddles box, "Wonder if there's anything else in here. Also how much would this stuff sell for?"

"Depending on the condition, that one plush there could go for maybe $50. Same with that older board game right there." Donnie says while looking up the toys.

Then from the box fell another box that was wrapped in twine with scraps of paper attached. They all stare at the box for a minute.

"I say we cut our losses on that, and pawn it off to one of the ladies in Witch Town." Leo says while poking the box with his sword.

Mikey moves around to get a better look at the box, "Maybe, we should call Draxum first. Just in case it's useful?"

The twins look at the youngest with doubt, but conceded, "Okay, but he also has to take it, if it's cursed!"

They put away the rabbit toys, and looked into the other boxes before Mikey went to call Draxum for advice.

---------------------

Okay, I couldn't figure what else to add on to this, and I honestly didn't actually have a plan for the box. It was just a 'I need something weird to fall out of the big box' moment. Best I can give is an idea based on a porch pirate story where the person disguised the package as a cursed object, but not sure if if it's fake or cursed.

This is part of my AU, but I welcome people to mess with this idea.

Masterpost

[enjoythesilentworld]

Wille's Month - Voicemail (Free Day)

day 31 @youngroyals-events thank you for everything (more coming in a separate post bc i have a lot of thanks to give)

A collection of voicemails left by Wille.

read below or on ao3 (G, 800)

Simon’s phone. March 29th, 2027, 4:29pm.

“Hi baby! I’m on my way home, I’m just about to stop at the store. Did you say we needed more milk? I’ll grab some anyway, I think I have a coupon. Oh my gosh, you’ll never believe what I saw on my lunch break today. I took a walk around the park and there was this little mama duck, and she had a little trail of babies following after her. I nearly cried. I was late getting back to the shop because I stayed to watch them swim around in the pond. And I- Oh, I just remembered I sent you a video of that. Well, I’m telling you again because it bears repeating. One of these days when we move out of the city, we should get a bunch of animals or something. I think I’d make a good farmer. Or would that make us ranchers? Anyway, I’ll see you in a few. I love you!”

Felice’s phone. November 11th, 2029, 7:13am.

“Felice, we have an issue. I’ve been following this recipe you sent so closely but I’ve managed to screw it up. Why do my egg whites look like this? … I just remembered you can’t see them. I’ll text you a picture. They’re all grainy and weird, though. Are you busy right now? This would be so much easier if we could do this on FaceTime or something. I’d owe you big time. I guess call me when you wake up, if you can? Love you. Thanks in advance.”

Linda’s phone. October 20th, 2027, 5:32pm.

“Hi Linda! Simon and I are running a bit late. Someone had to spend an extra thirty minutes fixing his— Hey! I’m trying to explain to your mom why it’s not my fault we’re late! Sorry, Linda. We’ll be there soon, I promise. Simon is being very safe, though, and definitely not taking his hands off the wheel to try to steal my phone. I made some new cookies with a recipe Felice gave me, too. I’m excited for you to try them! You have to actually give me a sincere review this time. I appreciated all your kindness last time, but I want you to be brutally honest about these ones. Okay, we’re about five minutes out. See you soon!”

August’s phone. February 1st, 2034, 9:48pm.

“Hi, August. It’s Wille. I saw a short clip of the ceremony today. Sorry I couldn’t make it. Mamma seems confident in you, and I actually think you’ll do a good job. I’m not calling you ‘Your Royal Highness’, though… I wish you the best. Bye.”

Sara's phone. July 15th, 2025, 3:06pm.

“Okay, I grabbed what you said. I think— Oh, sorry. Hi. It’s Wille. You know that. Listen, I am worried he’s getting suspicious. I’m bad at keeping secrets from him, you know this. I still think no one should’ve told me and this party could’ve been a surprise for both of us. Sorry, rambling. I think I managed to find everything on the list. They only had two packs of purple balloons left, so hopefully 50 is enough. Oh! The cake looks awesome, too. Felice did a great job. He’s going to love it. Okay, I gotta go, he’s coming. See you— Hi Simon! … No, just a scam call. How—”

Kristina’s phone. September 5th, 2032, 6:11pm.

“Hi Mamma. I’m sorry I missed your call earlier. Things have been really busy over here. The movers showed up on time, thankfully, and everything went smoothly. We managed to get a lot unpacked already. Simon and I just had our first official dinner at our new kitchen table! Let me know when you and Pappa want to come visit. I’d say give us a few weeks to at least get the majority of the boxes cleared out. You’re going to love the view of the lake. It’s so beautiful, Mamma… I’m really happy here. Okay. Call me when you can… I love you. Say hi to Pappa.”

Erik’s phone. June 1st, 2026, 1:52am.

“Hi Erik. It’s your brother. Wille. Um… I graduated today. I didn’t end up finishing at Hillerska. It got shut down. You may actually know a little bit about why. I don’t want to talk about that… The past few years have been really tough, Erik. There are a lot more good days than bad ones now, but it still hurts every day. I miss you a lot. I hope you’ve forgiven me for stepping down from the throne. I think you have. You knew I never wanted it. I’m starting at uni in the fall, and Simon and I are going to live together. I’m really excited, actually. Normal life, and all that. Maybe I’ll even get a job. Imagine that. Former Crown-Prince working as a barista. Um, okay. I should probably get back to sleep. I’ll call again soon. I love you, big brother… Bye.”

[badaceattorney]

-Extremely long pinned post! Everyone’s favorite!-

Welcome to Bad Ace Attorney. I post ideas related to Ace Attorney every day at noon, and I also post other ace attorney related stuff here. My main account is @hotsinglesmusic, and I also post warframe stuff now as @cephalonsugma.

You can (and should) submit your own ideas or just send me whatever you want by using my submission box or by sending me an ask.

Read below for guidelines on idea submissions, my FAQ, a list of tags I use in case you want to search/block them, and literally everything else you could think of.

Idea Categories

I sort all my ideas into formatted categories so that they have consistency.

A Case Idea is for:

The premise, theme, or murder of a case (50s Sci-fi themed case, The victim died eating a sandwich, All the witnesses seem to be ghosts)

Any sort of gameplay/story gimmick (you play as a prosecutor, you have to time your objections using a quick time event, Percieve but for speech patterns)

Any other specific event that could happen during a case (“Athena suddenly begins speaking in tongues” works, but “the judge can cast spells” would be a Character Idea)

A Character Idea is for:

An original character idea (Insert your OC. No really, feel free to send me your OCs. Just prepare for me to maybe roast them a little if I find a way to make it funny, unless you say you don’t want me to do that)

Any sort of name pun idea (a barber named Harry Styles, Minimalist named Leslie Moore, Lesbian catgirl named Kitty De Famme)

A variation/deviation from an existing character (The judge but with hair, Franziska but her whip is a charging cable, Pearl fey if she became a lawyer)

A Plot Twist is an occasional repost adding additional info.

Submission/Ask Guidelines

All idea submissions have to start with "Case Idea:" or "Character Idea:" and fit in that category. This only applies to idea submissions.

I might make fun of your submission/ask a tiny bit if I think of a funny way to do it, especially if you’re being hostile. If you don’t want me to do this let me know, but I wouldn't post your submission if I actually thought it was bad. This is just me joking around.*

Please don't send suicide jokes, rape jokes, racism jokes, or fat shaming jokes.** (Gay jokes and trans jokes are fine because I generally assume that if you're in this fandom and on tumblr you probably know enough about gay and trans people.)

If you think I’m hot/smart/funny/etc you have to tell me (sorry man, it’s the rules)

I will immediately delete any ask or submission that has nothing even remotely to do with ace attorney, my blog, my posts, or me.***

Any ask or submission that doesn’t follow the guidelines above will be answered/addressed privately if possible.

FAQ

Q: Why does your screenshot look weird?

A: Because I’m taking a picture of my monitor/screen and cropping it. I play on my Switch and moving photos/videos from there takes way too much effort. The only time I ever do it is when I really need to post a video.

Q: Why didn't you post my submission?

A: Either I’m extremely busy, in which case I can’t post it right now anyways, or it didn’t follow the guidelines.

Q: Can I make fanart of your posts/characters?

A: YES. DO IT. I will repost it and credit you because other people liking what I made brings me great joy.

Q: Why do you hate narumitsu/wrightworth?

A: I don’t, actually, even though I like Gumworth and Gumwright a bit more. I joke about being the number one narumitsu hater, but it’s grown on me after playing through the Apollo Justice trilogy. However, I sometimes have a problem with the way people talk about it.****

Q: Are you joking about thinking that (insert character) is hot?

A: I am always completely sincere about that specific thing. I do like to make jokes about it but that’s because romance/sex is inherently comedic and I know that my taste in men is slightly unconventional, at least for an Ace Attorney fan.

Tags that I use sometimes

#not a case idea:***** I usually add this tag to any post that isn’t a case/character idea, in case people aren’t interested in anything else from this blog, but I’m not really consistent with it.

#tgaa liveblogging: Me liveblogging my way through The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve. I didn’t liveblog the first game. I will use #aaic liveblogging when I get to that game.

#rants about ace attorney shipping: I’ve started using this tag for when I rant about ace attorney ships, as I often do. Earlier rants don’t have this tag.

#fangame stuff/#magnus cloue spirit attorney: Posts about my fangame, magnus cloue spirit attorney

#music: Music I made, usually for the fangame. I also make other music but this is only the ace attorney music.

#art: visual art, probably made by someone else in response to a post

#poll: Self explanatory

#___ my love: pure simping

Magnus Cloue: Spirit Attorney

I'm making an ace attorney fangame called Magnus Cloue: Spirit Attorney, using some of the ideas from this blog along with my own separate writing.

If you want to learn more, you can browse my #fangame stuff and #magnus cloue spirit attorney tags or send me an ask about it. I would love to include any OCs you have as part of the game if I can find a place to put them.

I’m currently looking for feedback on the writing/plot/characters as I make the outlines for the game’s script, but I also could use some help from writers/artists/2d animators/programmers who know how to use RenPy/musicians who can help me out with making the soundtrack.

Join the server below if you want to be a part of it, or even if you just want to hang out and talk.

—————

*Please try not to take anything I say here too personally unless I say I'm not joking. If you need clarification on if I'm joking, ask me and I will provide it.

**Unless they're actually funny, clever, and respectful, which sometimes they are. You don't need to censor yourself, but understand that after a certain point you aren't making parody, you're just doing the thing.

***If your charity/fundraiser/blog is actually related to ace attorney, me, or my blog I will consider it, but I will be extremely cautious. I’m not going to unknowingly be part of a tumblr scam.

****I think that sometimes the characterization people apply to is very unusual/makes the story worse, and I especially take issue with the way some narumitsu shippers treat ships like Gumworth/nokomitsu or Feeniris as completely invalid or even harass the people who ship them. Also, I think that sometimes people are way too quick to defend any valid criticism of narumitsu (even if it’s only perceived as criticism) rather than admit the ship is anything other than the most perfect ship ever.

*****the tag is called “not a case idea” because at the time I made the tag I had started this blog and there were only Case Ideas, no Character Ideas. I’m not going to go through every post on this blog just to change it to “not an idea”

[thegreatimpersonator]

the famous for being famous part is very true. when the eras tour started it looked like taylor the musician was gaining more prominence, and it was like that from folklore's release all the way up to speak now tv's release. she was very very commerically popular but her music was always at the forefront of the conversation.

and now she's a glamourous doll for an nfl player, even with all her accomplishments, which is very ironic for a woman with a song named bejeweled. swifties can deny it all they want but the nfl's culture places their men first and foremost in the conversation, and as one of america's most powerful and richest organisations, they have completely shifted the public's perception of taylor. even when there are articles about taylor's reactions to the nfl games, what is the main subject of the article? is it taylor swift? no! its taylor swift at travis kelce's game! its taylor swift cheering for travis kelce! its taylor swift making buddies with travis' circle! its taylor swift planning on getting engaged and popping out babies with travis kelce!!

its a very calculated and manipulative narrative and its sickening. the public and swifties are of the impression that taylor is the new all powerful girlboss dominatrix of the biggest male dominated organisation of america, but its actually the other way around. the nfl is using taylor's relationship with one of their own to prop themselves and their games up. even when she's the main character in a game she's still a side character to a man on the field.

(not saying that that's what taylor and travis's relationship actually is. who knows. im indifferent to the guy)

but this is the nfl's publicity tactic. pretending to shine a spotlight on taylor and using her star power to keep themselves in the bigger picture of her fame and stardom. and the worst part is, taylor doesn't seem to care that she's being used to prop up an organisation as toxic as the NFL. its not that she's unaware. she's so indifferent and its sad and it puts feminism back 50 years.

YES! And to add on to your excellent points, it’s Taylor’s own fans who also make every conversation about the man in her life, they always have. A new song comes out? Let’s find out who it’s about. Every time a re-recording comes out the main ex the album is speculated to be about trends on Twitter more than the actual album. Red tv was made entirely about Jake, speak now tv’s catchphrase was ‘John count your days’. Taylor had to get on stage and waste time to tell her own fans to chill tf out. They laughed it off and continue to make everything she does about who she’s with. Reputation isn’t even out yet and the egregious amount of ‘this albums gonna feel so different’ ‘this is gonna be so hard for her now with Joe 💔’ is insane. Who cares. Men don’t control the music why are you making it seem like they rule over her art.

And everything you said about the nfl is so true and that’s one thing I wish swifties would grasp. The nfl is a terrible organization that stands for everything any decent human being would be against. That’s why I was so upset when she showed up to that first game, she’s publicly allowed herself to be the face of the game now. ‘But she’s dating a player what’s she supposed to do?’ Not be in a public box where she can be filmed? Watch the game on the million places she won’t be filmed? Not be decked out head to toe in racist merch supporting the nfl and directly advertising them and the team? It’s all a mess.

[aotearoa20]

Part Three Part One/Part Two/Part Three

Finlay slammed the door behind her with entirely too much force and not a care in the world. That was the last of the radioes in Admin destroyed but the fucking shape. She’s have to check the ones in flare’s control room but she did not have high hopes. They were alone. Part of her was almost relieved. She shuddered as she pictured the damn thing getting fleshy tendrils into the support ship and hitching a ride back to the mainland. God knows what it would do there.

Outside Muir was still wailing, she hoped something would put the poor thing out of it’s misery soon. If nothing else, rushing around the rig like rats in a maze would be far easier if they could actually cross the deck. Every time she crossed from underneath it seemed more and more of the walkways had fallen into the ocean and the… the thing only seemed greater each time she went passed the drill. More foreign and more familiar. It made her thoughts heavy just to think on it

Another sound caught her attention. A sort of laboured wheezing almost like an angry gear box. She turned to see an odd light flickering from under the door of the store room she’d just left.

“Ah what now?” she muttered, hand running absently along the table for something to grab hold of. There was nothing but a pile of scattered papers and a stapler. She picked it up regardless.

The noise petered off. She stood at the edge of the room ready to run if Rennik’s ugly mug or some particularly glowy flesh tendrils shot through the door. What she did not expect was a lanky englishman with a bow tie to come bounding out, talking a mile a minute.

“Hello, have you seen Amy and Rory? I lost them, there was a phase shift, it really should’nt happen.” He spoke without stopping, walking wide eyed around the room.

Maybe she was dead. Maybe the damned thing had skewered her, like it had poor Archie, when the doors opened and this was the batshit dream it was using to send her quietly off into the night.

“What are you on about?”

“Amy? She’s tall and Scottish?”

“Oh aye?”

She’d have preferred the taunting images of her son that flood her vision every once in a while. Better last thought than this babbling fool.

“Like that!” He cried grinning, “Only Ginger. And Rory he’s… not ginger? and also her husband.”

“Who are you?”

He tossed her a wallet. She’d laugh if it were funny. Cadal Safety Inspector was written in bold letters on the piece of paper inside. Her heart suddenly picked up, waking her up from her daze.

“Where’d you come from? Did they send a recovery ship?”

“Yes.” He said. After a beat.

She hadn’t heard it dock. God, they had no idea what they were walking into. They were like a damned plague ship at the minute. How had he even gotten this far in without noticing?

“Fuck.”

She took a step away from him, eyes narrowed. And how’d he get in the store cupboard? That room did not have any other entrances than the one he’d just come out of. And he was not in there half a moment ago. She strode forward and peered inside again.

She must be going mad.

It’s a police box.

“Interesting.” Finlay did not jump. But when her head snapped around to see him come up behind her, she may or may not have brandished the stapler in a less than intimidating way, “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Carol Finlay”

He stood entirely too close to her, just staring. There was something off about his eyes, they seemed too deep. It made her skin crawl. Or perhaps that was just the bubbling flesh reaching further into the store room. It was a bad idea to turn her back to it.

“What?” She ground out and the man tilted his head to the side before speaking.

“This rig falling into the ocean, judging by the size we must be at least 50 miles from shore and,” He stuck his tongue out for a second, “There’s a gas leak. Maybe two.”

“Oh? that’s just wonderful,” she muttered.

“Most people would be relieved to hear their rescue is imminent.”

“Wha - you want me to be more grateful?? You - ”

“ - why?”

Finlay licked her dry lips, “Well, for starters every time you say ‘rescue’ you look into that broom cupboard like a fucking madman.”

“ - Something back home you don’t want to be brought back to?” The look she gave him would have even Rennik withering away, but the man leaned closer and kept her gaze, “Something here you don’t want to bring back home.”

“Who. Are. You.”

The man smiled, “I’m the Doctor”

“Doctor of what?”

“I dabble.”

Oh she had had just about enough of this. Shoving him away she wandered out of range of anything that might shoot through the door.

“And that’s mighty encouraging. Don’t I love going to the hospital and the lad comes in saying hello I’m doctor of whateverthefuck, let’s see what I can do you for.”

“ - who is that?” The Doctor interrupted again, and she very nearly slapped him.

Another wail washed over the rig though and she froze. Who? How would he know it’s a who? Sure she could hear something of a person in the creatures wails but that’s only cause she knew the man. It sounded like a beached whale.

“Its Muir,” she said slowly.

“Muir?”

“Aye he… he was one of the deck hands. He’s a joker but he does good work,” she shook her head. She hadn’t know him well but she knew him long. Had gotten used to seeing his face around the canteen, used to here him running his mouth every time she was outside, “We hit something with the drill and it infected him and some of the others. Changed them, killed most of em’ - or at least I hope it did- but Muir - what’s left of him…”

She let the sound speak for her. The Doctor nodded slowly. Suddenly he clapped his hands together and stood still. Something changed she couldn’t put her fingers on what. He’d always smiled when he spoke before now he just said softly, “There’s no support ship.”

“I figured.”

“But I will get you out of here, and anyone else we can find.”

“What with your wee box?”

“Yes,” he nodded again, so seriously, “is there a tannoy system? Call whoever you can, I’ll find the Ponds and we can get out of here.”

She glanced back at the room and didn’t move, “That thing wouldn’t fit everyone.”

“Oh trust me it’s bigger on - “

“And anyway it’s no going anywhere.”

“Why not?”

“Cause it’s covered with the stuff.”

“What?” He rushed into the store cupboard. She watched from where she stood as he began flapping about, waving a glowing metal gadget around like the madman he probably was, “Nonono, this can’t - you can’t just.”

The shape had curled itself around the base of the door so it could not be opened, thrumming as it always seemed to do. The wet, iridescent sheen seemed to flicker strangely though. Not the cool white light it usually emitted in the dark, it glowed gold.

At one point he grabbed the thing, pulling his hand back just as quickly. Finlay was already rushing forward. He did not notice the tendrils erupting out of the flesh as he stared at the dappled glow about his finger tips. She only just managed to pull him out of the doorway in time. There was the sound of snapping wood and the Doctor twisted out of her grip.

“Oh no you don’t!”

The little gizmo in his hand flashed and whirred and the police box began to sigh like before. Finlay watched in wonder as it started flickering. Like the whole thing was just peeking in and out of existence. The walls around them seemed to shriek and she backed away on the ground as the shape tried to curl tighter. The whole room seemed to shrink and contort and the wheezing became juttering and laboured.

There was another noise like tearing metal and the shape erupted into dozens of golden threads. The Doctor leapt to his feet barely managing to close the door in time and even then a few glittering stands shot through the door and embed in the desks around them. The silence that followed was deafening.

The Doctor, swallowed hard before turning to her, “Well… that shouldn’t have happened …”

[nacrenecitygardening]

In a small apartment in Nimbasa City, with someone else.

Compared to how quiet their house usually was, it seemed like every corner of this place was alive.

A kettle was bubbling away in the small kitchen, somewhere a tune probably way older than they were cranked out of an old stereo, the weird pidove-shaped windchime twinkled in the cold breeze from the open window- It felt. Quaint. Like what a grandparent's house must be like.

Even Miss Sasha's mother was humming along cheerily to the song while moving the boxes that probably hadn't seen the light of day in 50 years. (Okay, maybe not that long, but they looked old.)

(Old as dirt.)

They were sat on the floor of her tiny livingroom, sorting through a mountain of old cardboard boxes filled with the million little knickknacks Clara had apparently collected over the years. (And only Just Now decided to sort through, apparently.)

It was boring, but oddly kinda meditative?

Still, it felt- Well okay, maybe that's not what they'd meant, but- It felt like they were trying to get them out of the way. Like-

'Hey, we're heading to Nimbasa anyway for undisclosed this or that, you should help my mom sort through all her old junk, I can't do it since I'm busy doing something you can't know about.'

And so that's why they were here, sitting on an old rug with dust up to their armpits, going through books older than Relic Castle. Busy and-

Out of the way.

That's how it always was, wasn't it?

Be good, be useful, or stay out of the way.

(Not now, kid, the adults are talking-)

Had the old radio turned to static, or was that just the blood in their ears?

The piercing whistle of the kettle cut through their thoughts and they sprang back to alertness, blinking around as Clara pushed to her feet.

She turned back to them, a spark of cheeriness in her voice as she asked, "Would you like some tea, dear?"

"U-uh, uhm, yeah, sure, thank you." They gave a slight smile. (Nice fumble, Cory, tripped over your own tongue.)

A minute later, they had a warm drink in their hands in one of those charmingly tacky mugs. It was the same kind of tea Miss Sasha loved. (Which made sense.)

Sipping idly from her own, Clara leaned back on one hand and gave them a smile. "I hope this isn't too much of a bother to you, it was very kind of you to help me. I know it's not the most exciting thing."

"It's not a problem!" It wasn't- really that bad. "Uh- sorry Sasha couldn't be here to help too."

Her smile fell a bit, and she looked away from them, shrugging. "She's off in her own world, I can't really blame her too terribly much."

Arc, yeah.

It felt like- Sometimes it felt like she was a world away these days.

Uh- shit. They coughed, putting on a smile. (Don't make her upset, say something else.)

"Uhm, where did you uh, get all this stuff?"

That made her grin, a light in her eyes.

"Oh you know, here and there over the years, from our adventures," she picked up a sort-of tacky figurine in her fingers, "I used to travel quite a bit before Sasha was born, you know, a lot of it came from that."

That was something to imagine, but they could see it.

She carried herself with a confidence, someone with experience who knew what she was doing.

Ignore the ache in your chest, get back to sorting.

So they did.

The crackly stereo switched to some other old jazz song that was probably popular with dead people, and Clara filled the air with rambley tales of the hijinks of her youth or something like that.

They were honestly only half-listening, just trying to focus on their hands. They were going through a box of cassettes or something (Who even still uses cassettes?), and a few old cameras.

At the bottom, beneath the mountain of ancient technology, there was a smaller box (Why?), like some old sewing container.

Pulling off the lid it was- pictures. A bunch of pictures.

They were slotted in neatly, some looking older than others, but not worn, not really. Don't look at them, that's rude, don't- okay, well, they did.

And the first one they pulled out- was Clara and Sasha, who looked about six maybe, sitting on the couch behind them. They looked happy.

"Oh so that's where those were hiding, thank you dear." Oh- she must've noticed.

They handed the photo to her, and she admired it with a wistful smile.

It was okay, then-? (She didn't seem mad.) So they just kinda.. took a look through the rest of them.

There were some of Clara, probably from when she was younger, with a woman they didn't recognize, but most of them were Sasha. Over half the box, dedicated to her daughter.

Maybe that shouldn't be surprising, but, okay- (It's alot more than your parents had of you.)

"She looks like she was happy."

That made her smile, "She was. Oh what a handful of a child she was, never a dull day."

Alot of the photos were in the apartment, they could almost see her running around, happy and loud and messy and just- being a kid. (Not standing in a corner, trying not to take up space.)

They had one in their hands, kid Sasha smiling big and gap-toothed at the camera, a small eevee in her arms, covered in mud.

They didn't look up at Clara, just said, a bit distantly-

"You're a good mother."

It was quiet for a second, and at some point she'd shifted a bit closer to them. Looking up, a soft smile rested on her face.

"I certainly tried my best. I tried to provide for her as best I could."

What was that look in her eye? It looked alot like how Sasha looked at them sometimes.

And for a little while, they slipped back into silence.

But something had- You shouldn't, it's rude- Okay, just, listen. They'd noticed something that seemed.. missing, from all the photos. You shouldn't. But they were curious, so they- did.

"Uh-" Don't stutter, just say it. "Uhm, sorry, uh- just.. Where's Sasha's... dad?"

You shouldn't have said that.

She froze for a second, eyes wide, but cleared her throat and gave a bit of a smile.

It took her a moment, probably picking her words with how slowly she spoke. "Well, I.. I loved him, at some point, I believe."

You should stop. "But- why's he not, uh, here?"

She's uncomfortable. "He... was not the most.. kind man, not really."

She tipped her head, a bitter smile on her lips. "I suppose he simply decided .. I wasn't enough for him."

Stop. No, wait- "But, hold on- he, he loved you though, didn't he? And and- you loved him. You can't leave, that's- that's wrong."

It was supposed to be wrong.

What was that look? Almost- solemn? Was that the word? And bitterness.

Maybe there was anger in there too. "You can love someone and still hurt them. And still be hurt."

"You can love someone, and still hate them."

Bitterness coated her tongue.

Don't think about that, that's wrong, you know that's wrong-

Don't.

(Stay quiet- Wait for your turn- How could you do this when we do so much for you- Be a good child- Not now the adults are talking- We thought better of you-)

Was she talking? It didn't matter.

(You used to be so good what happened- Good kids don't make a mess- You never talk you're so wellbehaved- Stay out of the way- How could you fail- We expected more of you- You're just exaggerating I don't care what the doctors said-)

They couldn't see anymore. Maybe they could, but it didn't matter.

(You can't quit do you wanna be a failure- What happened to you- How do you expect to survive like this- You used to be a good kid- Don't talk back don't say a word- You won't survive a day in the real world- I raised you better than this- We don't tolerate that here- Pack a bag and leave-)

They couldn't hear they couldn't breathe they couldn't feel they couldn't-

You were supposed to be the good one.

//( Plain text: You were supposed to be the good one.)

"CORY!"

Something was touching them they were being grabbed don't hurt them don't hurt them- "DON'T HURT ME!"

"Cory! Please! Dear, please, I promise, I would never do such a thing, please, calm down."

It was-

"Deep breaths, please, follow with me, in," she took a breath, "and out."

A hand was placed on their chest. Okay.

In, out.

"That's it, lovely, dear."

They followed it, in, and out. In, and out.

At some point they'd grabbed onto her arm for support, an anchor in an incoherent sea.

"Very good, you're doing spectacular."

Their racing heart slowly ebbed back to normal. When did they close their eyes?

They opened them again, taking a last shuddering breath.

They were still in Clara's livingroom, surrounded by all the boxes and old junk. They'd backed against the couch, and right next to them.. was Clara, a relieved smile on her face, holding their hand, keeping them steady with her other on their shoulder.

"There we are. That's quite better."

They slumped back against the sofa, letting out a sigh. Dragons above, was that really- they thought they'd gotten better at that.

For a while, they just sat there, listening as that old radio switched to something else and crackled through the air.

After a moment, she spoke up. "Your family wasn't too pleasant, were they?"

They just numbly shook their head. What else was there to say?

Their parents had said they loved them. What it was supposed to mean.

They were supposed to love them, after everything they did.

"You loved them, didn't you?"

At some point. Maybe. "I did, still do, maybe."

Even after everything.

"I.. I loved them." Honestly, really, truly- "I. I think I hate them."

"I hate them."

It.. Part of them wanted to say it was wrong that it felt so good to actually say it. But it did.

That's what it was. It was hate.

After a moment, she smiled. "I'm glad you're alright now, dear, Auntie Clara's here for you, I promise."

They stalled for a second, that still felt.. wrong. "You- really shouldn't do that. Please just- I shouldn't be here. It's- It's not right."

You don't belong here.

Look, you made her sad.

She frowned, "Now why would you say such a thing?"

Well.. "I just- It's not right, this is your family and- I shouldn't be intruding on it. You're all just.. arcdamnit you're all to nice to say anything."

Shaking her head, she had an almost disbelieving look in her eye as she said, "Cory, dear, no, no no no. You're apart of this family now, if you'll have us. I promise you, you were never intruding."

She looked them in the eye, a soft smile on her wrinkled face, "Please, I swear it, you will always have a place here."

Fuck their eyes stung- When did they start crying?

They fell forward into her shoulder, and she hugged them.

"I promise, I promise."

For once in their life, they felt like maybe, just maybe, it was true.

[ivoryminitower]

Echoes of Home: 50 - Tsu'na ("May")

Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC – WoLs on Earth

Mrs. Hobbes met me at the library at 11:00.  She says it is on her way to "church".  I have not seen an Earth temple yet.  I should visit one some time.

Before she left I asked her if the library had anything on the Allagan Empire.  She had not heard of it; I suppose it was only in Eorzea.  But when I mentioned they made advances in magic and technology, she showed me the Fantasy section.  It has books with pictures on the front of people with swords, dragons, imps, odd-looking elezen and, often, something large looming in the background.  It is also considered fiction.  This tells me something of how magic is thought of in Earth.

I had taken off my coat and beret when I got there.  Mrs. Hobbes' eyes did twitch from time to time, but mostly stayed on my face.  Perhaps for her I am a person who likes books more than a person who has not-hyur ears.  Perhaps this is what is needed…to be seen as a person who does things rather than a person who is things.

Husband and I got together and picked up the eastbound bus to get pizza.  We passed two shopping centers that had signs saying "PIZZA", but Husband did not suggest we get off until he saw a sign that said "Pizza Hut".

It was a hut, if a hut can be made of bricks with tall glass windows.  Husband ordered two pizzas, one with sausage and onions and the other with mushrooms and "pepperoni".  Pepperoni looks like slices of sausage, while the sausage on the pizza looked like ground meat.

Neither used flatbread like what Husband made in Limsa.  One was a puffier kind of bread; Husband called it "hand-tossed".  It was easier to bite and chew, though it also tended to bend easily if one picked up a slice.

The other, called "pan", used a spongier kind of bread, and that sponge seemed to be filled with oil.  Seeing how it was stiffer around the side as well as the bottom, I guessed it was indeed cooked in a pan.  The oil made it both more and less filling than the hand-tossed.  It did not feel like I was filled with bread, but rather filled with oil.

"This is 'real' pizza?"

"A couple kinds.  There's variations on the theme, the crust, the toppings…"

"Which one is correct?"

"Whichever one people like eating."

"It is very different from what you made."

"I was improvising.  I didn't have this kind of cheese or crust.  So what do you think?"

I pointed at the hand-tossed.  "I like the bread with stuff on it, but I get tired of the bread by itself."

"Yeah, there's people that leave the outer crust.  How about the pan?"

"Very…oily."

"Some people consider that a feature."

"People like this?"

"Very popular in much of the world."

"People in Wyatt would buy it?"

"We could open an entire restaurant that served just pizza.  If we could open a restaurant.  And sell that much without worrying about taxes.  And health inspections."

"Which is why we use the diner."

"Right.  The Hartmans get to worry about all that."

"So you want a pizza recipe with holes in it to fill with…"

"Toppings, yes.  Maybe seasoning."

I peeled a pepperoni off of a slice and looked at it.  "I do not know how to make this."

"We can work on it.  Buy it in the meantime."

I chewed the pepperoni, trying to guess what it was made of.  Meat, and peppers, and I think vinegar.  Another research item.

We had much pizza left after eating, which Husband said was normal…that "leftover pizza is a thing."  I took the hand-tossed box; he seemed happy with the pan.

We found a quiet place to Return from.  Husband wanted to sleep in the afternoon, since he would be up late following Sam, so he headed to the house.  I switched to Ninja, Stealthed, and went to May's store.

The store closed at 3:00 on Sunday, but May stayed inside a while sorting boxes and moving things to shelves.  I went around the store to see if there was another door and found what Husband calls a "pickup truck" parked near one in the back.  Many people in town have them.  May might need it for the boxes.

I did not know how to get into it, and there was not much space inside, so I climbed into the back and waited.  May came out after a while, got in the front of the truck and drove.  Riding in the back of the truck was not as comfortable as Myra Stillwater's car, since there was no padding and I needed to hold on to the sides so I would not tumble as May drove.

She stopped at a house with two mailboxes, rather than one like the Hartman home.  She went around to the side of the house and up some stairs to a door.  I had to get close to her to get through the door as she opened it, but she did not notice me.

There were letters on a small table near the door.  The name on one was "Resident", on another was "May Fergusen", and on another was "Mrs. May Fergusen".  The home was not large, but I did not see a sign of Mr. Fergusen.

I saw cats.  May's home is full of cats.  Cats made of glass, cats made of stone, cats made of clay, pillows shaped like cats, pictures of cats on the walls, and one actual cat.  I thought at first it was another pillow until it opened its eyes and looked at me.  May petted it as she walked by it and called it "Snuggles".

I do not think Snuggles likes me.  It watched me as I moved through the room.  Though I could not tell if Snuggles likes May either, but it did get off the couch and go to the kitchen when May put food out.

There were some pictures on the wall that were not cats.  One showed May looking younger with a taller man, one showed May with a tall boy, one showed the man and the boy, and two more showed the boy doing what looked like sports.

I looked around the home and only found signs of May living there.  I did not see clothing for a taller man or a shorter boy.  So May Fergusen lived alone in a home full of cats.  I do not know how long she had lived that way, though it was a small home, part of a house, so Mr. Fergusen and their son had likely not been with her since she moved in.

Perhaps, when May heard about my ears, what she wanted to find in me was a cat she could talk to, a "cat person".  But unlike all the cats she had at home, including the actual cat, I was angry with her.  Now she is afraid of an angry cat who comes into her store.  I am a cat that does not want to be petted.  If she thought of me as an angry person she might have acted differently.

I am not a cat, and I will not be one for May.  Some miqo'te did act like cats, meowing and purring and making fish jokes.  I never understood why.  Perhaps they found it funny, or thought not-miqo'te liked it.  But I will not be something I am not, even in this world where I need to not be something I am.

I left when May went to take a bath.  I worried I would need to keep Snuggles from leaving, but it was happy (if it was happy at all) to not move other than to watch me.

I got outside, Returned, switched to Earth normal and walked to the diner.  Husband was not there when I arrived, so I sat at the counter and read for a while.  When he arrived, I asked him about Snuggles staring at me.

"Cat teevee."

"Teevee?"

"Television.  You got a cat that spends a lot of its life inside the same place, never sees anything new, until you come along.  The cat stares at you because you're the most interesting thing in the room.  Probably doesn't mean anything more than that.  Except apparently Stealth doesn't work on cats."

"Would it have attacked me?"

"Sounds like it's too sedentary to work up an interest.  Maybe if you were small and running around under its nose."  He frowned.  "Now I wonder about dogs.  Stealth kept us from getting attacked in Eorzea, but dogs are a different kind of territorial.  We might have to experiment."

We ate dinner and got to work.  I removed my beret and coat to see if things would be like in the Pit.  Working at the register, people only saw my ears at first, and tried not to stare.  Later, when Husband went out to watch Sam, and I was cleaning tables, I walked past people with my tail visible.  No one said anything, and I was relieved no one tried to touch it.  But the room did get quieter.

I am not my ears and tail.  I need to make people know that.

[where-fading-princesses-live]

eBay Rant

Boy, oh, boy do I have a juicy eBay rant coming your way.

 So, I’ve been buying on eBay since 2016 and never run into major issues with sellers.

 The stupidest seller I ever came across was one such person who thought it smart to ship me a *porcelain* doll in a cardboard box with no outer protection, and of course, she broke into a million pieces and I basically got her for free, lol. I never thought anyone could be more stupid than that.

 But this one takes the cake.   🎂

 So, I’m looking at this from two sides—as a buyer and a seller. I’m also a part-time seller myself. I don’t sell very often because I don’t have too much to sell; but if I want to downgrade and need the money, I’ll part with a few items in my own collection. I usually sell occasional doll items and have never had a major issue with buyers (I’ve had more issues with Facebook Marketplace than eBay), but naturally, if a customer had a complaint, I would not have responded in the way this bloke did.

Well, there’s a first for everything, right?

I’ve been buying and collecting high quality photos of old Hollywood stars for some time now and I purchased a Don Knotts photo on Sunday, January 1 (Don Knotts is one of my faves and I have quite a collection on him). The photo finally arrived on Monday, January 9 but unfortunately, it was not the high quality I expected. The seller claimed in the item description that the photo was from an original negative from a film print of a Steve Allen show episode (which are hard to find; only a few episodes exist on DVD). But naturally, the old Steve Allen shows (as most old tv shows back in the 50s) were not on film. They typically ‘’filmed’’ live using a process called kinescope, which is not tape or film, and the quality tends to be very low (you’ll notice any Steve Allen show episodes uploaded to YouTube are very poor quality, because that was the low, cheap quality they processed the show to be shown on the very small tv screens; there is no high definition version that exists, even with restoration. The quality looks worse on our big flat screens, something that was not very noticeable back then on small tube television sets in the 50s). But judging by the seller photo, it looked like it might be a higher quality glossy that I’m used to. I’ve also purchased some photos from the Red Skelton Hour that also used the same process of The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, but they were actual stills used to advertise the show in the newspapers at the time, so the quality was better. So, that’s what I was expecting, more or less.

 But I get a photo that looks like this:

And to be fair, that is the quality of the videos you will see, but the seller photo just made me think otherwise.  Normally, I don’t buy items from sellers who are too cheap to afford a basic scanner to scan their items, because it’s hard to rely on crappy cell phone pictures that don’t determine what the photo will look like in person, but I decided to take a chance, because you know… I’m a simple man. If I see Don Knotts, I click, lol. And I’m a big fan of The Steve Allen Show.

 The seller, despite only being on eBay since January 2022, also had good reviews from buyers (I always review their profile and reviews before buying, if I haven’t bought from them before just to make sure they’re okay). He was at 100% when I bought the photo but more on that later.

So, to make a long story longer, I requested a refund on the day of delivery (January 9). I stated why I was returning the item when I opened the refund request. The seller responded on Tuesday, January 10. First red flag was that he did not use pleasantries. ‘’Hi, how are you? May I ask why you are returning the photo?’’ That’s how I would respond.

 No, here was his abrupt response. And terrible grammar to boot (no punctuation at the end of his sentence, but I’m not here to be a Grammar Nazi).

 ‘’What is wrong with the photo?’’

  (And I’ve blocked my name but really this seller does not deserve to be protected for privacy reasons; he is a cautionary tale for anyone on eBay.)

But another thing that was strange, too, was that I have returned some photos before in the past or requested refunds for photos that were not to my standards, and the sellers were always polite and very rarely ever asked questions about my returns. They always refunded me promptly. There’s really no reason for a seller to ask, ‘’What’s wrong with the photo?’’ Buyers don’t necessarily need a reason for a refund; sometimes they change their mind. Yes, I’m aware of buyer scams, but I’ve cancelled orders before for buyers who just had their own reasons for no longer wanting the item. It isn’t my business to ask. For instance, someone wanted to buy an American Girl Doll from me and changed their mind at the last minute because they had a surgery coming up. Understandable. I moved on to the next interested buyer. The less you ask of your buyers, the better. They don’t need to explain themselves. If they don’t like it or it doesn’t match the item description, they have a right to return it.

 I wanted a refund for an item I thought was going to be higher quality, but I got a very fuzzy, blurry photo. It wasn’t the seller’s fault; it just wasn’t what I expected.

 Well, this guy has only been on eBay since January 2022 (and he’s not just a seller, but also a buyer; in fact, he has more reviews as a buyer than a seller, five pages worth, and he only had seven reviews as a seller at the time I bought the photo), so I should’ve known right off the bat he’s a newbie who isn’t familiar with the standard eBay procedure in how to deal with customers.

 But in my experience, the sellers NEVER directly message me to ask me questions about why I’m returning the item or requesting a refund. I always state why when I make the request.

 I always maintain cordiality no matter how rude the person I’m dealing with (I’ve worked customer service for years, so I’m used to it), so I just responded with an honest answer. I always try to treat sellers the way I would want my buyers to treat me. Most buyers would just yell at the seller for no apparent reason.

 The seller seemed to soften after I kindly explained the issue and only then, did he start to use pleasantries. Because see? Niceness goes a long way. Usually if you’re nice about it, they’ll be nice right back. Usually.

 Well, he clearly stated that I did not need to return the photo and that he would give me a full refund on Wednesday evening (January 11). Good. I thought the matter was solved and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I received a notification via email that the seller accepted my return. eBay did send me a shipping label to return the item, but again, the seller told me to keep it, and I did not want to waste more money sending it back anyway (the item was $10, and shipping was $10. With tax, the total came to be $20.84, for a photo that was not very good to begin with), so I hoped the seller would keep his promise and refund me ASAP.

 Come Wednesday evening, there’s no refund. I waited a few days and heard no response from the seller, so I reached out again on Monday, January 16. Most buyers wouldn’t even wait this long.

 The seller did not respond so I reached out again the following Wednesday, January 18. I never heard a response. Again, the seller promised he would refund me LAST Wednesday. It had been over a week now. I think I gave him more than enough time to issue me that refund. I also saw him listing new items on his store between the time I messaged him three times, so he was clearly more preoccupied with his own business than actually assisting a customer. He was ignoring all my messages. I was not a priority to him.

 I wasn’t sure if I should wait for his response, but I was starting to think I was never going to see that $20 again. My first mistake was not asking eBay Customer Support to step in, but they gave me a message on the 9th when I opened the case that they would only be available to help until January 13, so it was already past the window for me to contact them, and I couldn’t figure out how to contact them through the website directly anyway (there was a number to call which I should have tried, and their live chat wasn’t very useful either). In all my years buying on eBay, I never had to escalate a return case to eBay Customer Support because the sellers always resolved the issue in a timely manner and never ignored my inquiries. Frankly, I just wasn’t sure what to do next. This seller was purposely giving me a hard time.

 So, I was admittedly losing patience now and reached out to PayPal directly on Wednesday, January 18 (PayPal always refunds me for merchants who refuse to do so). I gave them all my documentation. I explained the issue and provided them with screenshots of my eBay order, the conversation I had with the seller showing that he clearly promised me a refund, and an Account Statement that detailed my credit (showing date of purchase, the order ID, and the card I used to pay for the item).

 On Thursday, January 19, I left a negative review for the seller because he ignored all my messages and I think I waited long enough for him to respond, and if he just issued me a refund in the first place like he said he would, I wouldn’t have to be going through all this. This is also the first negative review I've ever had to write up simply because I never had to before. I prefer not to write them if I can avoid it, but this experience has been very trying. Most buyers would just go straight to the reviews and start lashing out at the seller before contacting the seller first, but I think I followed all the steps. I contacted the seller first, chatted politely with him in private, and agreed to settle the issue, so there was no reason for me to write a negative review, and that’s usually how I go about it. I’ve only written maybe two neutral reviews (which one seller had eBay remove and another asked me to change to positive after he refunded me the difference for overcharged shipping), but otherwise, I try to avoid it. I’m not out to ruin a seller’s perfect 100% rating on purpose. But this seller did not handle the issue properly and I think I gave him a fair chance. I also worded my review as kindly as possible despite my frustration. His rating is now down to 99.1% (not counting the false positives he’s received as a buyer from other sellers but more on that later).

 After reviewing the details of my case, on Tuesday, January 24, PayPal denied my case because I accidentally deleted the PayPal receipt, and I wasn’t able to recover the file from my email because it was more than 7 days ago. PayPal did give me from Tuesday, January 24 to Friday, January 27 to provide them the additional documentation of my receipt, but there was no way to recover it. All I had was the Account Statement to show proof of credit. They said ‘’because we never received documentation that proves you are due a credit’’ they unfortunately had to deny me. Because I reached out to PayPal, the Return was automatically closed on eBay on the 18th. Well, I was a little disappointed they didn’t see my side. It was the first time PayPal denied me.

 It’s mostly my fault because it’s the first time I’ve failed to save the PayPal receipt. I usually always archive them in my emails when I place the order and save the receipt until the order arrives in case I need a refund, but I guess I just wasn’t thinking. Oh well. I had 10 days to appeal my case to PayPal, but since I can’t recover the receipt, I decided not to pursue the refund further and let it go. Sure, I’m short $20 now but I know for the future to just save the receipts and ask eBay to step in first. It’s not really a big deal, just a lesson to be learned.

 I thought about disputing the charge directly through my bank or credit card company, but it’s such a hassle to go through all that for $20. If the charge was more, I would consider it, but I also don’t want the bank to think I’m attempting to commit ‘’friendly fraud’’ so again, I just decided to let it go. Life’s too short to worry about stuff like that. It’s not worth the aggravation and I have more important things to worry about.

 On the same day PayPal closed my case, I did manage to reach out to eBay Customer Service via Facebook messenger (which I should have done in the first place) to just to double check if there wasn’t anything more they could do. They were very sympathetic to my case, but they explained because ‘’a dispute was opened with PayPal. Once this happens, it would take precedence over our claims process, and we would no longer have the ability to issue a refund on the order. It definitely isn't that we don't want to help, our hands are just tied. If you haven't already, I would encourage you to reach out to PayPal and see if the case can be appealed, or what other options they may have to help. We hope this is resolved soon.’’

 So, that was that, and I just decided to let it go because there was nothing else to be done, and I didn’t think more of it. That was four days ago.

 BUT WAIT... THERE’S MORE 

So, this morning, I see the seller messaged me at 11 AM, practically harassing me over the negative review I left for him. Like I need more stress in my life, lol.

Sorry, I’m lmfao right now, this is so rich.

  🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

And, oh the awful grammar. Dude, please do yourself a favor and go back to school. I’m losing brain cells trying to make sense of this.

 Something’s wrong with me? Mmkay. No, I think something is wrong with you. I asked you three times for a refund, and you chose to ignore me. You do realize it’s been three weeks, right? Or can’t you tell time?

  First off, I did not ‘’keep the photo free of charge.’’ lol what? 🤣 I paid appx. $20.84 for the photo that you NEVER REFUNDED, so you basically kept my $20 for yourself. Even if I printed out the return label to ship it back to you, you probably STILL would not have refunded me, and I would have been short even more money than I already am right now. (I’d return it now, but I no longer have the shipping label, and I doubt anyone would want this crummy photo. The 2 bids you see were both placed by the Gixen Mirror service on my behalf. There was no other competition.)

 Also, sorry I wasted YOUR precious time sending you three messages, two of which you ignored, and having to go through PayPal and having them review my case for an additional week. Yes, I clearly wasted YOUR time. 🤣 Dude, really. It’s been 20 days since I opened the return on the 9th, and it’s been 18 days since I last heard from you. I gave you more than enough time to refund me, which you failed to do.

 I’m sorry, I just can’t right now. XD I honestly think this guy is brain damaged. Ngl

(Also, a funny thing happened when he shipped me the item. He assumed I was married (for some reason???) and addressed me on the envelope as ‘’Mrs. So-and-So.’’ Like… you *never ever* assume a woman’s marital status, or *anyone’s* marital status for that matter, like for real… I didn’t let it bother me, but still, it was hilarious. I don’t think he’s very smart.)

  🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

In all seriousness, I did not think my review was unfair. I only stated I'd been waiting for a refund the seller promised since January 11. I understand, of course, if he was busy filling other orders, but I gave him more than enough time to refund me and sent him two additional follow-up messages, one on January 16 and another on the 18th and he never responded to my inquiries. He's just now responding.

 I just think it’s ridiculous that I’d been waiting for him to refund me since January 11, and, even if he was busy, he could have temporarily set aside his orders for a measly minute. I’m sure it doesn’t take nearly as long to send a refund. It took him six days to ship my order, so he’s clearly in no rush to fill orders. There was no reason for him not to take two minutes out of his day to issue me a refund. Most sellers I’ve dealt with in the past issued me a refund in no more than three days at most. He intended to drag this out longer than necessary. Also, the cordial thing for him to do, if he was so busy, was to reply to my messages explaining he would get back to me as soon as possible, and I would’ve understood. I’m aware sellers have lives outside of eBay, but usually if there’s a delay for whatever reason, a *good* seller will always keep me informed.

 A *good* seller cares about customer satisfaction, as in responding to customer inquiries at your earliest convenience. If it were me filling a refund request, I would not wait weeks and weeks to get them their money. I would do so right away. And if life happens, just reach out. I basically did all the work messaging the seller regarding the issue. He did not have the common courtesy to reach out to me and explain why it was taking him so long.

One time, I messaged a seller to ask when they would ship an item after a week had gone by since placing the order, and they responded by saying their wife had suddenly passed away and there would be a slight delay in shipping, and of course I understood, and wished them sympathy and simply told them to take all the time they needed. Another time, a seller informed me they were out-of-town on vacation and would ship my item as soon as they returned, and I wished them a good trip and there was no rush. I received both items as promised from these sellers who were kind enough to take the time to explain the delay. This seller, however, did not bother telling me he was busy filling other orders, so how was I to know? Also, a few more reviews were left for him from other buyers a few weeks AFTER I opened my return case, so he should have refunded me first before he filled other orders. Why keep me waiting? And he only had until January 31st before eBay closed the Return. Why wait until the last minute? I feel like he was doing so on purpose, lol. There was absolutely no communication with him. Most sellers will ghost you if you agree on a refund. Sometimes, they say they will refund you and never follow through, and just keep your money, so naturally I assumed I’d been ghosted.

 Again, he just didn’t go about this the right way. If you say you will issue me a refund on January 11, but there’s a delay for whatever reason, he should have reached out to me. Again, I waited several days before reaching out to him, trying to give him time to respond. I tried to follow up with two additional messages which went completely ignored, so at that point, there was no more excuse. The fact that he’s just NOW responding to me on Saturday, January 28, 11 days after the Return was closed by eBay and four days after PayPal closed my case, it just says enough about this seller in general. Obviously, a procrastinator. It shouldn’t take you nearly a whole month to give a customer’s money back. JMO

 I always maintained cordiality and never resorted to threats, so I'm not sure why he feels the need to threaten me now. I have since blocked him, but I did reach back out to eBay Customer Support on Messenger and showed them this seller is going out of his way to harass me. I've been buying on eBay since 2016 and never encountered a character quite like this one. No buyer has ever left me a negative review either because I always try to be reasonable and understanding. I don't want to cause any more trouble, I'm just letting them know this eBay seller is prone to harassing his customers and I just hope he doesn't treat other customers in similar fashion in the future.

 So, eBay did respond and said, ‘’Thank you! You're completely entitled to your feedback, and you don't have to delete it. We'll go ahead and report the seller on our end so our Trust team can take appropriate action based on their findings. On your end, I recommend not engaging with this user further. Please keep us in the loop and let us know if you run into any other issues, we're here to help.’’

 So, I hope nothing more comes of this and this guys just quietly goes away.

 BUT WAIT... THE PLOT THICKENS

I did investigate him further and found out, as a buyer, he has several false positives from other sellers. He’s had at least four complaints from four different sellers for failing to pay for items, despite their constant notices and reminders. I wish I looked into him further before buying from him, because obviously, if he has an issue paying sellers, then he surely has an issue refunding his customers. But I probably wouldn’t have taken that into account, since I rarely request refunds and rarely experience issues with my items. I’m not sure if anything was done about it, apart from the orders being cancelled, or if these sellers tried to contact eBay’s Trust team to report him, but I’m just putting it out there. Unfortunately, sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers, so if a seller experiences an issue with buyers, and they leave a review, it will just be counted as a false positive. I wish I’d read all the reviews thoroughly. So, despite his generally positive reviews from other buyers, I wouldn’t let this deter you. He clearly has issues when it comes to money, whether it’s paying on time or issuing a refund.

If you ever deal with him, proceed with caution.

 I will say this whole experience has given me weeks long headaches and an upset stomach, but I also won’t say it wasn’t at least remotely entertaining. Shakespeare would’ve loved this kind of drama.

[alien-above]

My second coming out.

I think I was 18 when I came out as a lesbian. I don’t remember definitive moments of telling my friends. In many ways they knew before I did. Maybe it was all the drunk rambling about hot women when I lost my inhibitions. It must’ve been, because for all of my teenage years, I had been hanging up posters of male tv show actors and male band members and declaring they were attractive. I remember one afternoon where I was looking through a Kerrang magazine and I was gushing over how hot the lead singer of All Time Low was. Or maybe it was the guitarist. I really can’t remember. And at that time I genuinely thought that I was attracted to whichever one it was, and any other man that I had talked about. I really did. Because being attracted to men, being straight, was the norm and I had never questioned if I was actually feeling that way, or just blindly going along with what everyone else thought. And I suppose at 14/15/16/17 I had never experienced true attraction so I really had no way of actually knowing back then. And maybe that’s weird. Maybe I was weird. Or maybe, again, I just never had the time and space to consider the other gender or any gender, consider who I was.

But at around 18 I had sort of a revelation about women, without really understanding what it meant. Suddenly it was female actors and musicians I was obsessing over, talking about constantly and hanging up pictures of. And that felt right. It really did. I was finally certain about what attraction felt like. And when my brain and emotions caught up to what that meant for me, there just became casual talk in my friend group about me being a lesbian. Never any judgment or doubtful questions from their side. It just fell into my place. And I was so grateful and relieved to be accepted, that life just sailed on after that. But I also never did a lot of “soul searching” about it. Honestly the process of coming out seemed to happen completely without me in a way. Suddenly it just was. And that was it. I had a label now, and that would define my future. I really wish I would’ve given myself more time. Asked for more time, grown up a bit more before settling into something that in a way was just as much a directive of who I was supposed to be, as being straight had been.

I know many people want any lgbtq+ person to know their sexuality or gender when they start feeling and especially expressing being outside of the given norm. As if knowing a persons label restores the balance of things and the world makes sense again. It’s like they’re saying “well if you’ve gotta be different then you at least owe us an explanation of exactly what is so different about you”.

Fuck that. Whether you’re 5 or 12 or 25 or 50 or 90, you don’t owe anyone anything, you don’t have to explain, you don’t have to cram yourself into a nice little box with a nice little label, just so other people know where to store you.

I know that some people think that it’s ridiculous and attention seeking if a person decides to not label themselves, like it’s trendy to not only “want” to be different but also to “decide” that you’re so different that you’re not comfortable with these “perfectly well-fitted labels that everyone else can use so why can’t you, and just give us some peace”

Some people find power in labels and that’s amazing. Other people find just another set of expectations and dictations of who you’re supposed to be and who you’re allowed to be.

And without knowing it at the time, I had let myself be put into a box, before I had even come to terms with who I was.

I told my family in quite an unexpected way. As a protest against their generally homophobic talk. I wasn’t by any means ready to come out, I had barely been figuring things out, very barely confident enough to be myself. But I pushed myself to do it one night, because I was sick of hearing them talk like that, and a part of me thought that if they knew I wasn’t straight, then it would force them to have to reevaluate their thinking and speaking.

That night, that coming out, it wasn’t for me, it was for every other person out there, sat at a dining table feeling ashamed and rejected. It was a challenge in a way. One that I won, my family doesn’t speak like that anymore, they support me and I like to think that they’ve grown to see the world in a different way as the years have gone by.

But it happened. I was now out of the closet to the people closest to me. And I was a lesbian.

I was 18 or 19 back then. Now I’m 27. And I feel stuck and ashamed and uncertain. I’m hiding. And I’m so terrified that my closest friends will think differently of me, if I ever tell them that I’m not sure. I’m so scared that I will let them down, that they will feel betrayed or that they will think that I’ve been lying to them for all these years (and I guess that part is true), that I’m a fraud who was just desperate to be a lesbian.

I came out years ago.

But then 2 days ago I watched Red White & Royal blue, and season 2 of Heartstopper in the same day.

And I got this sort of pressing sadness in my chest, this overwhelming need to be able to be myself, because i knew and I know that I’m not free, I’m not out of the godforsaken closet in the way that is who I am. I think I’m bi, actually.

And what a terrible shame. Terrible, terrible shame. Shame on me. How dare I be the person who proves that every lesbian can be turned by a good-looking man? How dare I ask people to have to change their perception of me? How dare I be 27 and not know for certain who I am?

It’s messing with my head so much that I’m afraid I can never be honest. It’s messing with me so much that I feel like I’ve been slowly drowning in a cage for years and now there’s barely any air left. It feels like if I don’t get those words out soon then I’m not gonna make it. It’s so heavy.

And being openly bisexual, from what I’ve gathered, is not a fun rollercoaster to be on. You’ll be questioned and analyzed and doubted, you’ll have to constantly stand up for your own sexuality because it’s too fluid for pea-sized brains to understand, every romantic or sexual experience you have will be either a defeat or a success in the lgbtq+ community, you’ll be sexualized, you’ll be asked to cross your own boundaries because it’s “hot”, you’ll be seen as more promiscuous, and probably so many more things I can’t think of right now.

Part of the reason I also haven’t told anyone yet, is the simple reason that it’s easier to brush men off that you don’t want attention from, by saying that you’re a lesbian, so they’re wasting their time. It’s an easy out I’ve used many times. And I’ve felt so wrong about it every time because it’s simply not true. And what a fucked up world, that it’s easier to throw the lesbian card than it is to simply say no and have that be respected. But that’s an entirely different talk.

Am I really ready to face all of this, to have that conversation with friends and family, to admit that I’m not a lesbian and that I’m still figuring things out? To have to explain what to me is very personal, about how attraction works for me? To have to then also open up about the differences I feel with romantic and sexual attraction? To explain that I’m also not quite sure if maybe I’m somewhere on the demisexual spectrum as well? And is it too much to ask for them to understand that particular part as well? To have to lay bare every single moment of confusion and realization that has led me to have to speak up to be free? In a way it feels like I’m going to court and I might lose. Well I feel quite certain that I’ll lose and that for a very long time, I’ll be stuck in that courtroom until I’ve explained enough, to peoples satisfaction.

As if this isn’t about me wanting to be happy, it’s about making sure that the people around me are happy with who I am.

I just want to be me. I want to not have to be careful about what I say, I want to be able to gush as much about Henry Cavill as I can gush about Anya Chalotra, I want the freedom to fall in love with a person, without having to stress about whether or not it’s a woman. I want to be able to talk about attraction without hiding half of me, without suffocating myself in the process.

I want to be allowed to be 27 and still be figuring things out.

But still, I’m so afraid of what will happen. And it’s simply just not fucking fair that I have to be afraid. I have never even written about this before, too afraid to put actual words to how I’ve been feeling for so long, too afraid of making it real. But I’m taking a chance, and posting it here, hoping that maybe it will be a step on the way.

If anyone reads this, then please be kind ❤️