#yay we are online at the same time

[fear-is-truth]

girlll i get to see my work husband today 🤭 i work from 4 to 10:30!!! im so excited omg i’ll keep you updated!!

- 🍒

WOO HOO you get to see nicholas chavez + josh hutcherson lookalike AND get paid ?!! gurl you are truly living the life !! 🤍

[oysterie]

taking british literature 1 this semester because american lit 1 was full

[burnthybread]

ONLINE FRIEND MET^_^

[bad268]

can I request a clingy Kimi Antonelli

where he’s obsessed with kissing reader and overall being affectionate to the point he does not want to let go of her before the race and Toto is like “leave the poor girl alone Kimi” while Susie is like “you were like that before”.

HELP IDK HOW TO END THIS BUT YA ALSO LOVE YOUR WORKS 💗💗💗

Clingy Antonelli (Andrea Kimi Antonelli X Reader)

Clingy Antonelli Universe

Fandom: RPF/Formula 2/3

Requested: Clearly (I loved this too much lol I'd be down to do a Clingy Antonelli series and we need some fluff after this race lol)

Warnings: none.

POV: Second POV (You/your, but it does say 'poor girl' once)

W.C. 1025

Summary: Sweet reunions bring Clingy Antonelli to the surface.

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

~~(^Pinterest)

It was a common occurrence that you were in the paddock with Kimi. Ever since you decided to attend school entirely online, you were by his side, and it may (or may not) have been because of the begging you received from Kimi.

It started when he was in karting, and he just wanted someone familiar to talk to. Then, when he moved to championships, he was always one of the youngest ones competing, and it was weird being the odd one out. Around the same time, you were given the option to switch to online school. He begged you to do it, so you could travel with him. How could you say no?

Not to mention, you loved taking pictures, especially of your favorite person, and PR from both Prema and Mercedes would pay you for some of the pictures. It was just easier to pay you since you always took pictures of Kimi. 

But that’s beside the point. You were doing what you normally did whenever Kimi was a guest on the F1 paddock: sit beside him silently as he listened in on a meeting. Sure, it was not your favorite thing to do, but it was a standard. And most of the time, the meetings did not even concern Kimi; he just had to sit in them because he was their junior driver.

You were sitting in the back of the room, holding his hand and not paying attention at all. That is until Kimi started pulling at your hand to get your attention. You turned your head and met his eyes. The look he gave you was one you recognized immediately, a silent plea for you to sit on his lap. With a joking sigh, you moved onto his lap as he smiled laid his head on your shoulder after giving you a kiss on your cheek.

“You’re more clingy today,” you whispered to him, “What’s up?”

“You’re going to leave for two weeks,” he complained as his arms tightened around your waist. “I know you miss your family and friends, but I won't see you again until right before the race.”

“Don’t worry, amor (love),” you consoled as you rubbed his arms, leaning further back into his hold. “I’ll be back before you know it, and we’ll be back traveling in no time.”

“Yay,” he chuckled before cutting himself short, “And I’m not clingy.”

“Oh come on,” you replied in disbelief, turning your head to meet his eyes. “Clingy Antonelli is my favorite.”

~~

Despite being with your family for once, Kimi would call you at any chance he could. He just needed to hear your voice and see you before doing anything racing-related. It was one of his superstitions, and you did not plan on standing in the way of it. 

Flash forward to when you finally came back. Due to the time difference, it was only 12 hours from the last time you talked to Kimi, but for him, it was nearing 20 hours. He knew that he had to give you space at some points, but this? Nope. He was sure that your plane should have landed ages ago, yet you still were not on the track. You had yet to answer his calls or texts, and he was starting to get anxious. 

He was pacing around the garage, half listening to his strategy team go over the plan for the race. He half-registered some Mercedes personnel walk into the garage but did not think anything of it since he remembers them saying they wanted to see him in action this weekend. Little did he know it was Toto and Susie Wolff in the flesh. They talked a little bit with the team before they turned their attention to Kimi.

“Is he always this nervous before a race?” Susie asked Toto, knowing that he had seen Kimi racing in FRECA before, but she did not remember him saying that Kimi got nervous.

“Not that I remember,” Toto responded just as confused before he turned to Kimi’s race engineer with a questioning look, gesturing in Kimi’s area.

“He’s missing his lucky charm,” Anthoine laughed, shaking his head. It’s said when you talk about someone, they appear, and that’s exactly what happened. Like clockwork, Kimi’s head snapped toward the garage door as he heard your unmistakable laugh. Kimi immediately took off, trying to find you. It did not take long because you were right around the corner, about to walk in with Ollie. Kimi wasted no time, picking you up in a tight embrace as he peppered kisses all over your face. Anthoine chuckled again as he pointed at the two, “Oh, look. They’re back.”

They all let you have your moment in peace. Kimi needed it. His nerves were through the roof, everyone could tell, so despite knowing that he needed to get in the car as soon as possible, they stepped back. The last thing they needed was an anxious driver on the track.

You could not even hear what Kimi was saying, just a bunch of anxious thoughts coming to light. You let him rant as much as he needed before he finally set you down and placed a long kiss against your lips. He pulled away all too quickly for your liking before leaning against your forehead, whispering, “you’re never leaving me again.”

“My flight got delayed, and my phone died,” you whispered back as he went back to placing butterfly kisses all over your face. “I wanted to call you.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” he sighed, hiding his face in your neck and breathing you in “You’re here now, and that’s what matters.”

“Leave the poor girl alone, Kimi,” You heard a voice behind Kimi chuckle, causing you to look over his shoulder. It was Toto and Susie Wolff, which caused your eyes to widen and your face grew red in embarrassment. Immediately, Susie’s arm came up to smack Toto in the shoulder.

“Oh, leave them alone,” She countered, “You were just like that before we were married.”

“Oh, he’s just being Clingy Antonelli,” you laughed, nervously. “I’ll get him into the car, don’t worry.”

~~~

Part 2 ->

Series masterlist

~~~~~

© BAD268 2024. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

[tkingfisher]

I have had a WEEK.

First Hound got into some chocolate. Ok, this happens to dogs all the time, it’s not baking chocolate, and I know perfectly well that it is not INSTADEATH. Online calculators by weight are like “Yeah, that’s nothin’.” This dog has eaten rotten toads, hardback books, cigarettes…she is a canine garbage disposal. She has also never been sick a day in her life.

Then she starts eating grass. Except Hound does not know what grass is, so she is just in the garden tearing off Random Leaves. I end up chasing her around going “That’s an elm! That’s sticky germander! That’s a rare Himalayan salvia! What are you DOING?!”

Obviously this happens at one AM. Because of course it does.

Then finally she makes a noise like a murloc having an orgasm and all the plants come back up.

Fine, I think. That’s that. Nature takes its course.

Which just proves that I am, in fact, staggeringly naive. The next morning, Hound is breathing shallowly and lethargic. We drive her to the vet school ER an hour away. We explain about the plants and the chocolate and the murloc noises to a nice young vet with a manbun who looks about fifteen years old. They take Hound back, and discover Hound is having severe arrhythmia. Which is a chocolate toxicity symptom. Except we all agree that the quantity she got hold of absolute should not have done that, but hey, maybe she has developed an unexpected sensitivity. They keep her overnight. I leave a large deposit on my credit card. We drive an hour home.

The next day I come pick her up. A nice vet who actually looks old enough to drink gives me a list of symptoms to watch out for, including extreme lethargy. They give me back some of the deposit. Hound comes home.

The next morning, she is extremely lethargic and furthermore, Not Eating.

In a hound, loss of appetite generally happens several hours after all clinical signs of life are extinguished. I drive her an hour to the ER. A nice vet who appears twelve says her heart is working perfectly fine, and suggests pancreatitis. Let’s do an ultrasound. Err…in a few hours, they’re kind of slammed. I go to a coffee shop and attempt to work.

The ultrasound fails because they can’t see around Hound’s stomach, which is enormously swollen. They do an X-ray. There is something weird in there. Foreign body, it looks like. Not blocking anything, just sitting there. “Foamy mass” is the term being used. It has air bubbles. Chocolate wrapper? Weird mass of leaves? (Oh god, was she eating frog eggs out of the pond again?) The vet decides to induce vomiting to get the prize out of this particular canine Kinder Egg. I sit in the waiting room and attempt to work.

An hour and a half later, the vet comes out and says, in awestruck tones, that they have given Hound two doses of their strongest emetic and she will not vomit. “This dog has an iron stomach!” she says. I explain about the toad and the cigarettes. She asks if they were at the same time. (They were not.) Hound stays overnight. I leave a second, larger deposit on my credit card. I drive an hour home.

The next day, the vet calls me, says “So I wanted to give you an update—oh crap! STAT TRIAGE! I’ll call you back!” and hangs up. Some hours later, she calls me back. No, the foamy thing is still there. Stomach is less swollen, though. They’re still hoping she passes it. By the way, did I know Hound has erhlichiosis? I did not, but at this point, nothing surprises me. Hound stays overnight again.

The next day, Hound is transferred to Internal Medicine. Her protein levels are weird, but she is not retaining fluid. (Yay?) If the weird foamy mass is not gone, they will have to perform surgery tomorrow. I leave a third, even larger deposit over the phone. Hound stays overnight again.

The next day, a new vet, of indeterminate age, but with a strong desire to make sure that I understand every single aspect of every single test begins explaining to me about blood protein levels and that they need to do a targeted ultrasound to make sure she doesn’t have a GI bleed. I am so deep in the hole at this point that I’m just like “Yeah, whatever, do it.” Hound stays overnight again.

He calls the next day to say that she has no bleed and no pancreatitis. What about the foamy mass?

What foamy mass?

The…the one that was…I saw the X-rays…?

Well, there’s nothing there now. Maybe she passed whatever it was. No blockages anywhere. They went over her innards with a fine toothed comb. She’s eating like a horse, incidentally. Would I like to take her home tomorrow?

I drive an hour. I get Hound. The vet’s working theory is an erhlichiosis flare-up brought on by chocolate shock. She gets antibiotics, anti-nausea meds, and special bland food in case her appetite decreases. I receive a tiny amount back on my deposit. We drive an hour home.

Hound, cognizant of her delicate digestive state, immediately attempts to break into the litterbox and eat cat poop. I deliver a lengthy lecture on the evils of dumpster diving. Hound gazes at me with great earnestness, then belches gently in my face. Learning happens to other people, not Hound.

The face of a canine garbage disposal who cost me more than my first car

[bloggingboutburgers]

I think everyone will benefit from properly tagging posts. xreader fics abd ship fics ONLY include the relevent _x_ tags but none of the character's name on its own, allowing all the usual fanart, theories and such to stay on the main name tag and not be crowded out by horny fanfiction (I say this as someone who very much enjoys very horny, very smutty xreader fanfictions. I want to be able to search the fics I want directly without having to trawl through headcanon posts, fanart, unrelated ship posts, etc.).

No one really has a tailored experience on the internet (I'm glad tumblr is at least a little more user dictated than advertiser algorithm based), but I do get the frustration and discomfort that comes from the abundant hornyposting feeling inescapable.

It's tempting to take offence to persistent cries against xreader stuff. I like special POV episodes of shows for the same reason I like xreader fics. My favourite characters WERE the company I kept, my only real form of companionship (albeit simulated) for many many years. Not because I am allo, basically. I sought something to meet my social needs growing up where I was unable to find community or companionship in real life.

Unfortunately, because they are usually sexual in nature I just came to associate a need for human connection with sex (so am I allo or just conditioned to blend sexual, platonic and romantic feelings and actions together?). I was just happy to feel like I had someone to hang out with. I knew they weren't real and that I needed to find real people to connect with (not for lack of trying, kids are just cruel. Finally made friends as an adult, yay).

Didn't intend for any of that to be so sad or pathetic, but hopefully it gives context for the prevalence of xreader fics. Alongside the varied reasons people write / read them (no just blind allo horniness), especially in light of the widespread loneliness epidemic over the past decade.

It's still more than ok to not want anything to do with them either (be it due to being aroace or not - I know plenty of allos who find xreader fics cringe).

Something I need to clarify here – we get it. Well, we don't fundamentally get it, but trust me, we've been told time and time again why people would write/draw/be into xreader content (it's all part of the package of "aroaces MUST put themselves in allo people's shoes at all times"), and we know they're perfectly legitimate reasons, and we don't find it sad or pathetic, or cringe. At the very least I don't at all. That's not what it's about. It's not something as surface-level at that.

The thing is... The same kind of understanding effort is VERY rarely put forward in return for us. And the fact that we're perceived as naysayers is symptomatic of this. We're not crying against xreader content. People are free to do whatever they want. We just want it to be tagged to keep ourselves safe, and so we can appreciate some variety and find fandom content we can properly connect with with the identity we have.

The issue isn't that there is xreader content, or heck, that there's lots of it. It's that, as @kaoruko-han put it, "everyone is assumed to be into this", and that you can't express something as simple as "I'd rather read something else" without being finger-pointed as a villain.

Yeah, no one has a tailored experience online, but there's still a very clear lack of balance on what is acceptable to tailor to or not (and for us, that includes tumblr). And trying to find fan-content while being sex-repulsed? Bruh, you'd better pray on your lucky stars and be ready to trudge through an ocean of stuff that's loaded with the very thing that makes you scared, uncomfortable or downright triggers a feeling of sickness in you, because a lot of it ain't tagged. An alarming amount of people don't bother, because why would people like you exist, right? There's only ever them, and puritan bigots. It's that black and white in a lot of people's heads.

Here's the difference though: we, too, want people to be able to vibe to whatever fan content they want. We just wish "people" included us properly in this case. As it stands now, trying to find fan content that won't give you an uncomfortable feeling as a sex-repulsed person feels kinda like this (I'll try to illustrate that to the best of my ability as a vague comparison, please no one take that as a clear parallel, I'm literally just trying to explain how it feels in a way people who have no idea how it feels might understand): you're not into gore at all, you don't wanna look at it, but your streaming platform keeps recommending you those series that are loaded with gore. You try to filter it out, but no matter where you go, you keep being recommended those series. And no one ever gets your discomfort and you're being branded as nothing but a wet blanket for not wanting to see gore. It's kinda like that.

At this point I admire sex-repulsed or romance-repulsed people who still TRY to find anything at all in fandom spaces. I've stopped reading fanfic altogether and I've largely stopped engaging with the large majority of fandom spaces for those reasons. And that wasn't an easy choice, or one that I find fun because it feels incredibly lonely, but it's the result of years of exhaustion and strain on my mental health trying to navigate something that's so hostile to me at its core, even if it's unintentional.

So... Yeah. We know the reasons, just like the content itself, they're kinda impossible to ignore. But we are largely being ignored in this, and it's not just something at an "ick" or "picky" level ; for a sex-repulsed person, being spammed with sex entails much more than that. It's not even frustration anymore at this point, it's downright despair a lot of the time. So... Yeah, like you said, everyone would benefit from stuff being more properly tagged. For us it'd be so huge to know our safety is taken into account – that we're taken into account at all. Thing is, we're not, and we're so invisible in this and most other things that at this point, I don't have much hope. Sex-related controversies allo people can understand would sooner create a change than anything done for our sake.

[cherrybombfangirl]

I see Autistic/ADHD Lloyd headcanons all the time, but none for his parents which is weird because both ADHD and Autism are genetic. So lets fix that, and during Autism Awareness month no less, yay, #RedInstead bitches!

Autistic Garmadon and ADHD Misako Headcanons (for Autism Month!)

Misako hate is not welcome, we don't do that here, you will be blocked. Autistic Misako headcanons are welcome, I love you if you have that headcanon :). I'm autistic and adhd, so a lot of these will be based on my experience, and I'll try to keep it mostly fluff headcanons, featuring a little bit of Lloyd's autism and adhd <3

Autistic Garmadon

He and Lloyd share a lot of the same autistic traits

Like how if you distrupt the routine or there's a change in established plans both of them will start getting anxious and irritated

You don't distrupt the routine! Stick to the schedule damn it-

Or how both of them CANNOT stand bright lights, never turn on the overhead light, lamps and low lights only. and only predictable/controlled loud noises like music is ok, other loud noises bad

Also they both auditory stim ALL the time. Same song on repeat for days until the new favorite comes along, and they have the same taste in music (rock and punk), so while working on stuff or training one on one they'll blast the same song on repeat

Also both of them are hyperempathetic and get emotional very easily. Hence why they're a lot more emotional and open around each other

Also the Pathological Demand Avoidance is VERY STRONG with both of them. tell them to do something and they'll immediately dread and despite that thing and that thing is the last thing they want to do. (i.e. *is about to go do the dishes* "Hey can you do the dishes?" ... "I was about to. Even wanted to. Now I hate them and that's the last thing I want to do. Thanks for that. Fuck you.")

Both of them also have a very hard time unmasking (for different but similar reasons of how their childhood was), and get exhausted and burnt out fast. Luckily being around each other helps them unmask a bit easier

Garmadon loves Mac-n-Cheese, he'd eat just that for the rest of his life if he could. But only Misako's recipe, all other Mac-n-Cheese tastes WRONG (Lloyd also loves Mac-n-Cheese, but only his mom's recipe)

Sometimes he straight up forgets to talk. Like, he doesn't need to, he doesn't like talking to people, and he just... forgets that he has the ability to talk. So sometimes he might go a while without talking, thinking nothing of it. Then he'll vocal stim or use his voice and shock himself a little because oh shit i forgot i have a voice-

He hid it for a while because he thought it was embarrassing, but he has a huge special interest in sharks, and he is the number one shark defender, he could talk about them for hours (his favorite species is the Lemon Shark and Cookiecutter Shark <3).

^After he starts unmasking a bit he starting being a bit more open about it as well, and that year for his birthday Misako gets him a shark onsie. He just about melts, immediately puts it on, and wears it almost every night. (She thinks its adorable)

For a really long time, he thought the things he was experiencing were a side effect of being part dragon/oni, but then Wu told him "I don't experience any of that, sorry." and then he thought it was a side effect of the venom, but then after the Final Battle it was gone AND HE WAS STILL EXPERIENCING ALL THESE TRAITS, so he couldn't figure out wtf was wrong with him

^Misako was like "Idk sounds normal to me *shrug*" (She has ADHD, of course it sounds normal to her XD)

Lloyd knew he was autistic and adhd for a while because of the other ninja, who were also varying neurodivergencies. When he told his parents about it, they both didn't think anything of it because they didn't know it was genetic yet.

Then Garmadon found out it was genetic and was like "No... me? No way... I'm just an anxious introvert, there's no way."

Then he takes like ten different online assessment tests, and is like "Yeah, i knew it, i knew i wasn't autistic, those questions were worded dumb anyway. No I don't have a problem with socks, you see I have a system-"

And then Lloyd (who connected the dots once he found out autism was genetic) was like, "Dad... Dad... that- that is autistic... having a system for socks to avoid having problems with socks, avoiding places with loud noises and bright lights, and prefering to be by yourself or in silence is very autistic..."

Garmadon: "WHAT"

They figured out how to unmask and fuction as their authentic selves together and it's awesome

ADHD Misako

Similarly, she and Lloyd share a lot of ADHD traits

Like fidgeting, A LOT, always needing extra stimulation and needing to fidget. Usually with nail biting or lip chewing, until they learn less self destructive stims

They also hyperfixate in the same way. Both of them will get lost in the hyperfixation for hours, forgetting to eat, drink or sleep. until they try to stand up or someone reminds them. (Lloyd hyperfixates on comics the same way she hyperfixates on archeology)

Both of them have the worst sense of time and object perception. ("Oh yeah that project will only take fifteen minutes" *takes four hours*) (*losing track of important items and forgetting to eat ro drink water all the time*)

Rejection sensitive dysphoria is very strong for both of them, constantly worrying about annoying other people and being a burden, so they're people pleasers a lot and the slightest whiff of rejection sends them into a self hate spiral that can last for days or weeks (It took a very long time for her to get out of the self hate spiral after her and Lloyd meeting for the first time and him blowing up at her, which she thought she deserved for her huge mistake that she deeply regretted. Eventually they talked and Lloyd came to her and said she shouldn't hate herself forever, he wanted her to be his mom, and she could make up for it now. She still gets into that spiral sometimes.)

Also both of them zone out a lot. Sometimes many thoughts. Sometimes zero thoughts. Staring into space (they love car rides for this reason)

Both of them can be very all or nothing in a lot of things. No social interaction or all the social interaction. Doesn't talk at all or can't shut up. Constantly overshooting it.

Also due to the lack of object perception, both of them are kind of terrible at driving. They can't tell how far away the signs are until they're right in front of it, and are always taking turns that are way too big. Over or underestimating distance a lot. (Garmadon is a pretty terrible driver too, he gets overwhelmed easily). (Also Kai and Nya can confirm that teaching Lloyd to drive was a nightmare, Zane had to do it)

Always hyperfixating on something archeology/history related, she's a huge nerd and cycles through ten different topics (she was a weird kid that liked the morbid stuff in history). Usually dinosaurs, she's secretly obsessed with dinosaurs and hyperfixates on them all over again every other week. A lot of the time Garmadon has to remind her to eat or sleep because she'll be lost in hyperfixation for several hours.

Also has a lot of anxiety and has a hard time sitting still, always has to be moving or fidgeting with something in her hands

Similar to Garmadon, she didn't think anything of it when Lloyd told her he had ADHD, and when she found out it was genetic she thought, "No, it couldn't be me, I just have anxiety..."

She was in denial about it for a while, until Lloyd talked to her with Kai and Jay (Also ADHDers).

Kai asked, "Your teachers sent a lot of notes home about you being 'a pleasure to have in class' weren't you?"

Misako: "How the fuck did you know?"

Kai: "That was me before I had to drop out. I was the perfect little teacher's pet. So was Nya."

Misako sat there for a minute having a crisis because everything made sense now but also like no way, really?

She and Garmadon love talking about prehistoric sharks like the Megladon because that's where their interests intersect

^he also gets her dinosaur encyclopedias every year for her birthday and she loves it (they have diagrams of skeletons and fossils and stuff)

[transid--tips]

tips for transjapanese asian indv? we’re using subs but we’d love to do more than that!

got our many transjapanese headmates to help with this one ehehe.

this is our transjapanese advice

consume media from japan or ones popular in japan. anime and manga is the most widely known so you will have plenty of others to converse about it with. jdrama, jpop, japanese radio are also worth giving a try to. googling medias that are popular or have dedicated fanbases is also great.

watch things either in the japanese dub with english subs or even english dub with japanese subs.

eating/cooking japanese foods is probably one of the best ways to get into the culture. restaurants can be great if you can find any good ones locally, or traveling to find authentic japanese food places. but what we recommend is finding a local asian market. even if it isnt ran by a japanese person, most are very knowledgeable about japanese foods and can give recommendations and tips with making meals. plus its an amazing way to get involved with your local asian community.

speaking about community, connect with other japanese folks and asians. online is a good starting point for building your confidence around being perceived as cisjapanese. going out locally where you live is a big step to take but is worth is. local asian communities are generally kind and accepting of all asian people. side note that you could end up meeting other transjapanese people irl, since its one of more common transIDs.

participate in japanese holidays. you can do this in the privacy of your own home or go to any local events if you can find them.

take time to learn about japanese fashions and decide on some subcultures you might want to try out. also getting a kimono/yukata can be very helpful.

watch youtube videos about japan and its culture. like for example, the manors that they prioritize or things they like to do for fun.

learning to speak japanese can be hard but might be worth it if you have plans of moving to japan or just want a deeper connection to the culture. but dont feel bad if you cant! not all japanese people outside of japan know the language, and thats valid.

being out and proud about being japanese is great. some people may question it but just know that race is a spectrum and not all asians will look the same.

if you feel racial dysphoria relating to your body then you may consider cosmetic surgery. we dont have much to say about this one since its something we are still researching, but do look into it if its a goal that you have.

thank you for reading this and we hope yalls transition journey goes well! we did sprinkle some infodumping in here since we are also transjapanese and in the middle of our transition. but thats alright because this is an autism safe space so that means we get to info dump yay.

[fuck-customers]

I'm sorry this isn't exactly what this blog is for, but I was hoping it could slide. I have something at work that I'd like the opinions of mods and followers, if possible please.

I was wondering if I should ask for/pursue a promotion to store lead, as several people in my life, including friends, family, and a very persistent (annoying) coworker, have been pressuring me to do so. But I have several cons and pros about it. And since all the people in my life are blindly telling me to apply to be a lead, they won't listen to what my concerns are and say that I'm just being stubborn and difficult without listening to why I'm hesitating. So here's why

Pros:

•it would look good on my resume

•get paid $2 more per hour

•I'd get paid for training. Yay

•it may force me to get better at responsibility, as I'd be in charge of keys and codes

•I'd get slightly more hours per week (more on that below)

•I would get to freely move around the store as I'm doing my tasks vs. being trapped at the register area as I've currently been, which is great for me personally, because I hate being trapped at one station

•I may be able to fix some things around the store that have been driving me nuts as a result of being free to move around (such as changing the godawful music)

•it would probably be a needed confidence booster

•I have several ideas of things we could and should be doing that would greatly improve the store and maybe my manager would actually listen to a lead vs. a regular employee, as she currently refuses to listen to my suggestions (which, for the record, are things like "hey maybe we should put price tags on the products" not only does she refuse to listen, she actively goes out of her way to undo the work I do and tear down price tags/signs)

Cons:

•store leads ≠ full time and current leads get the same amount of hours that I do, give or take 3 hours or so (for example, this current week I have 9 hours, the lead who has been pressuring me to become a lead has 10 hours, and other leads have between 10-15 hours) I would already be a lead if it was a full-time position, but that will not happen. I'd even consider it if there was a significant increase in hours while still being part-time. 1-3 hours more is not an increase in my opinion

•the store is severely understaffed by design and leads have to do several tasks alone at once, such as: run the service department alone, unlock anything customers need throughout the store, fill online orders, backup the cashier when needed (the only other employee in the store) get yelled at by angry customers who demand a manager and do a daily checklist from the store manager that consists of 20 or so tasks to do in a 3 hour shift.

•store leads have nearly all of the responsibilities of the store manager, except they can't hire or fire anyone and they get paid less than half of what the store manager gets paid while having to do all of the same tasks, minus the fun ones (hiring/firing people)

•there are many signs that the company may shut down in the near future, but the company and my store manager are pretending like everything is fine and refuse to discuss it with employees

•leads are also expected to go to the bank for cash deposits for the store/to get change, etc. and I do not have my own car or license (which is not something I want to mention to my manager, as I'm required to have reliable transportation to work there, I just don't have to specify whose transportation it is) and that is a job requirement of a lead that I straight up cannot do. And the public transport in my city is lackluster and taking the bus to and from the bank would easily be an hour long trip or more, when it takes someone with their own car 15-20 minutes.

•I have a very bad memory and I am not confident that I could remember all of the procedures and passcodes that managers are required to remember. I could technically write it down, but I don't want to draw attention to my terrible memory, as I've been successfully hiding it for years. Nor am I confident that I could be responsible for keys and not lose them. And realistically, I'd lose the book/accidentally delete the notes app I made notes on.

•I've been able to hide it for now, since as a regular employee, I am not watched very closely, but I cut a LOT of corners and there are several store policies that I think are extremely stupid and I either straight up don't follow them or have workarounds for them. Obviously as a lead, I'd have to stop doing that, but some of these policies strongly go against my morals. This is just a whining bulletpoint lol

•I'm not great under pressure, and I'm even worse when someone is yelling/swearing at me or talking down to me. I've seen leads get talked to like they're trash by customers and they have been able to successfully stay calm and collected. In situations where I have been yelled at or talked down to, I call a manager to back me up, but that doesn't work if I am the manager. And I don't mean that I'll cry, because in some situations, that may help. No. I mean that my natural response to stress, especially someone yelling at me, is to fight back. I will cuss them out, yell back and I have been known to physically attack. Not at work, obviously, but that's because up until now, I've been able to push aggressive customers off onto my managers. I've also successfully hidden my anger issues from management and coworkers to the point where they think I am always happy and never get mad. It helps to have someone to back me up/deflect off of, but if I am the backup, no one can defend me.

•There are several things wrong with the store that are completely out of the control of any of us employees at the physical location and are the fault of corporate, but customers blame the employees personally and as a lead, I'd have to answer for the fuckups of corporate that I genuinely cannot answer for. (Such as return policies and inventory inaccuracies)

•My manager is very shitty at communicating with her team. I've personally witnessed several incidents that were caused by her not properly communicating with her leads and I don't want to wind up in a position where I'm responsible for resolving the conflict she caused by not communicating. Also

•I have nearly zero respect for my manager. I think she is an absolute moron, but I've been able to hide it as I don't have to work/interact with her very often. As a lead, I'd have to work with her more and it may slip.

•I don't wear a nametag. I very strongly believe that nametags are a great danger to the employees, especially employees like myself who have a very uncommon name with a very uncommon spelling. Yet as a manager, I'd have to "lead by example" and wear a nametag. I would ideally wear a fake name or have several fake nametags to rotate, but my coworkers obviously know my name and would call it out.

•I'd have to double-check on this one, but I think leads, as members of management, are required to watch potential shoplifters and confront/track them down. I'm not sure if this is a requirement of a lead or if the particular leads at my store are going way beyond their job requirements/have been coached incorrectly by the store manager. I know I, as a regular employee, am not required to chase after thieves and I actively refuse to confront/chase thieves for my own safety. But I am not sure if that would change with becoming a lead. My work does not have a security guard.

•I have several ideas of things we could and should do to improve the store, but my manager is very arrogant and refuses to listen to constructive criticism or constructive feedback in any form. It would drive me insane to have to keep doing things the wrong/difficult way just because she won't listen to suggestions. And this isn't just an assumption by me. I have personally suggested things that she blatantly ignored and so have other leads.

Posted by admin Rodney

[spirk-trek]

Hey so, it's me. The debbie-downer vaguing you in the spirk tag. I didn't mention you directly because my post wasn't directed at you, although it was made in response to checking some of your posts because I do have Unification in my filtered list (content and tag), so those fanworks? Behind a button, so my choice to look is all my own. (I didn't send the anon, though. That was someone else, sorry to say.) It sucks that that's how tumblr's system works but yay content filtering! Tumblr didn't always have that.

I didn't make that post to start drama, and I'm not the sort to get my kicks by being a contrarian for opposition's sake (like. I'm a Shatner fan. In a lot of online Star Trek spaces, I might as well say I hate K/S or Leonard Nimoy or kick puppies in my spare time, you know?), but I did make it in anger and for that I apologize. I should have waited longer on it to phrase things better or simply have deleted it from my drafts after typing it out. (But it's out there now and I'll live with it.)

I do understand where the joy of connecting the past to the present comes from (as a lot of your posts do with connecting old and new fanworks together), and that a lot of people are celebrating the Unification short as a culmination of 50+ years of K/S despite their initial separation according to the initial story, but for me (personally! I want to stress that. It's just me and my own opinion here), I keep seeing it as a valuing of what a company is finally offering fans rather than the celebration of fans who saw where K/S's story ended at the time, rejected that ending that was offered by the corporation, and made their own ending for K/S, without looking towards any official channels as a guide for their visions. That's what my post was about, where my anger was from, those questions--what becomes lost in fandom if we accept canon from the corporation that holds the copyright? What does it say if we look towards that same canon as being above what fandom has already envisioned? In a fandom as old as Star Trek's, one that laid so much groundwork that we take for granted, to overlook that worries me.

I suppose the biggest issue here is it's too similar, like a reflection in a mirror: on one side, Unification stands as the canonization of what the fandom has envisioned all along. It culminates. On the other, Unification appears as a bone tossed to finally appease fans who have seen K/S from the start and it feels too little, too late. Ironically enough, the short has seemingly managed to divide people, but it's too early to tell how lasting such a division could be.

Hopefully I've cleared the air by this. Unification clearly is not my cup of tea and I'm honestly not trying to ruin anyone's fun (most of my posts have gone untagged for a reason but I forget tumblr still parses for post content to index. Yikes. That post was tagged, though, because it was a snap decision made in anger and I wanted my thoughts to be seen). One could argue the short wasn't even made for me as I've long wondered if I will watch Generations because I've read the summary and didn't like it. But that's the joy of fandom and transformative works. We can look at the story and pick our favorite parts and rewrite the ones we don't like. If we didn't do that, fandom wouldn't exist, or it would but it wouldn't be as much fun.

Sorry for the essay in your inbox and for causing any confusion and hurt. I hope you've had a great day 💛

i'm not going to lie, it does hurt a little. i wasn't going to answer this publicly but i don't have the time today to have a private convo and i don't want you to think i deleted it or ignored it, so here we are.

i don't think unification made spirk any more canon than tmp did. i don't think the short was made with k/s in mind at all, even as a bone to toss starving shippers. star trek at large was never intended as a love story between them, but people have always seen it anyway. 

i'm conflicted about the use of nimoy's likeness too. despite that, i think that they did it as respectfully as they could have and involved the right people. it was a goodbye, not using him for a cheap cameo or advertising purposes (yes i know it was an "ad" like everything is, but it's not like spock holds up a coke at the end). you can disagree with me, and i understand your point of view. that's why i said i understood where that anon was coming from. 

what i see is william shatner and others taking a story that ended in a way that was disrespectful to both characters, one of which he himself has been playing for the majority of his life, and trying to fix that. it doesn't mean there's no corporate greed involved. both can be true. at least they posted it on youtube, they didn't premiere it or put it behind a paywall. it was just eight minutes, and less than a quarter of that had nimoy's face in it. my favorite part of the whole thing was seeing tos kirk meet his future selves. i love that even though they both die out of their times, they find each other in the end. 

i don't want to be an activist or defend or endorse anything, i just... 

those zines i tagged were 1) a poem by della van hise that was so accurate to the short that others were already reblogging it (i posted it weeks ago). i found it super interesting that she wrote a poem about them meeting again in death before tmp/wok even came out, let alone this short. 2) i was gushing about unification in the tags. 3) another poem about being side by side, which again, i found incredibly relevant. the other one i posted was because it went well with the others visually. it has nothing to do with unification other than the fact that spock is laying down. 

this has just made me sad tbh. i'm not angry and i love your analysis/fan work so much, so :( idk, i don't want anything i post to be divisive or disrespectful. i wasn't even worried about that before. i just really needed a win and maybe i clung to that a little too hard :/

[catboybiologist]

i just had a moment

i wonder how many people on this were, in a way, saved from an alt-right pipeline by realizing and accepting that they're queer.

like 12-13 year old me was going on like /pol/ and shit before the dysphoria hit

just makes you think

Oh yay this is causing me to ramble

I think that being targeted by some form of radicalization was genuinely part of the reality of being a white kid online in the 200Xs to 201Xs.

I don't think I was fully on that pipeline, but I was 3000% an obnoxious neolib atheist as a teenager. The kind of person that describes themselves as "socially progressive, economically conservative", engaged with MRA stuff online with shallow "but what about men" sentiments, thought many protests had "the right idea, but are too extreme, we should just debate", and generally considered myself better than everyone else because of how "smart" and "rational" I was.

You know the type. This was when I was like... 14-17yo. And before you scoff at it being "dumb teenage shit", the alt right targeted those people, at that age and time, hard. I turned 18 in 2016, and that election was my first, coming right off of an online climate relentlessly trying to radicalize kids... So yeah, it was weird.

I feel like the ones that didn't become alt right gradually slid into leftism. Usually, the "revelation" moment was when you're excluded. You realize a lot of these people's "rationality" is based on irrational biases that they're dressing up as "logic", and it all crumbles. PoC and other minoritized groups are excluded form the start, of course, but since being queer is something that doesn't awaken until a bit later in life, it creates a kind of unique experience of potentially falling down that hole, until you realize you can't be a part of it.

But also to be fair... the same environment that caused a lot of the radicalization also fostered a lot of the communities we love. Modern "breadtube", as annoying as that term is, is an offshoot of this as well. Beyond just a few online-famous people, there's larger circles of leftist communities that have organized and done real, active good. I still carry some streaks of that stuff around, and I'm probably less extreme than most terminally online queer leftist circles. But idk. A bit of that weird, "rational worship" online vibe has done good, even if it's also done a lot of harm.

Honestly, everything I'm talking about here is extremely well summarized by Contrapoint's tangent about New Atheism. It's a Patreon exclusive, but it's a topic I saw myself reflected in a lot.

If my ramble here is shitty/incomplete and feels like I'm being apologetic or trying to excuse the alt right, that's an error in communication, not my actual intent- I hope that's clear.

[christiansorrell]

TTRPG Read-Through: Liminal Horror

Here is a read-through I did last year (originally posted on Twitter) of one of the my current go-to game for modern horror: Liminal Horror by Goblin Archives! - Christian

I cut my teeth learning to GM as a Keeper in Call of Cthulhu and I've really been jonesing for a game in this genre that's more in the style of rpg I enjoy these days. I'm hoping this will be it!

Really excited about this. Shifting away from mental illness and trauma, both of which have their obvious problematic pitfalls, is something I could see really opening up what a character looks like and goes through after having things go wrong in interesting new ways.

Big spread on Facilitator and Player Principles. I think this is all very solid advice as a one-time or just-before-play read, but it's definitely too much for quick reference. That said, I always love reminding folks that we "play to find out what happens."

I may be off the mark but these two bullets make me think Goblin Archives is a Friends at the Table listener. Both of these make me immediately think of Austin's openings on there (which is a very good thing, for me).

Very straightforward stats. I like the HP distinction here and how it seems to refill between events/encounters and when drained is when you see actual damage occur. More inventory structure than I expected (I like that tho!) Cool to see character AND party questions here.

I really loved the Backgrounds and character options in The Bureau, a Control-inspired megadungeon-like module for this system I did a read-through of about a month or so ago. Excited to see more of that here. Also, I really need to play as a Very Online character.

Nice open character creation. I enjoy these types of questions: why do you believe there's something weird going on? What ideology guides you? What are your connections in the world, important relationships, etc.? Those create way more juicy bits than stats alone can provide.

I first encountered these kinds of character bonds in Fate years ago, but it's been a go-to house rule of mine during Session 0/1 for anything my group is planning to do longer than one-shot play for. Even in a single session, it can add a lot. Cool to see it here.

It's a d20 roll-under system (no modifiers, yay). Adding fatigue to inventory slots is a great way to make a mechanic out of that. Also, associates were unexpected! Shows this game could be more than just 3-4 bumbling normies going into the unknown (which is what I envisioned).

Combat is fairly straightforward (in a good way). No rolls to hit, it's just damage that is varied. Props to not using Advantage/Disadvantage as a game term like everyone else. Again, the Detachments make me think this game could have some wild situations come up!

Open-ended spell casting here (reminds me most recently of Primal Quest). They come and go day to day which is interesting, potentially changing entirely. I like the failure being equal to the desired effect. Want to kill someone with a spell? Be prepared to die if things go bad.

Okay, these relics are extremely cool. A blade that does MIND DAMAGE and requires recharging by feeding it memories? Good stuff.

Fallout is really interesting. Take enough DMG to go through your HP and it ticks away your Strength until you die (or take crit DMG). Fallout is the same but wears at your Control. Gaining Fallout makes you odder/more open to the true nature of things, but makes you heartier.

This is a good approach bc it means leaning into the things most games gate behind "sanity" here makes you more able to cope with the weird in the future. Feels like a path to more interesting stories (rather than the CoC-style "you are in a sanitarium now" character ending).

Remainder of the book is a small bestiary with monster creation guidelines, spark tables and a lean but comprehensive mystery creation guide along with a sample mystery. The loose framework, a steady clock ratcheting tension, and a focus on lots of clues feels like good guidance.

Having a mystery take only 6 pages feels much more approachable than the very traditional heavy-prep and lots-of-writing mysteries of something like Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. I homebrewed a lot of CoC, and the prep work there can be pretty huge. This feels nice tho.

Overall thoughts: the book is a very lean and focused take on creating horror that doesn't get bogged down in the other ttrpg pitfalls of the genre while also having nice mechanics for associates, large scale encounters, etc. so there's room for a lot of types of stories here.

I'll definitely be trying to knock out a mystery for this as part of the jam. I've got a lot of weirdness to get out of my system and this seems like an easy, streamlined way to do it. Also, excited to play The Bureau and The Mall.

You can pick up the most recent addition of Liminal Horror in print via Space Penguin Ink. You can also find it on Itch. The rules and additional content also available entirely for free on Goblin Archives github.

Also, I wrote an adventure for this system last year: Tunnels in White.

Old money siphoning new money from every corner of your city. An aging mansion, quiet and worn. An old corporation shifting its gaze from development to development, always hungry, always growing.

A warehouse bearing the name Singleton Solutions, small and unassuming in one of a hundred industrial parks like any other, takes in truckload after truckload but never sends anything out. It’s the same for the people. Sometimes, they arrive in towncars, other times in shuttle vans. None come out. Ever.

What you know is something strange is going on inside that warehouse and you are determined to discover what it is. What you cannot know is where and how far the mystery may take you.

You can grab a print or digital copy HERE. It's also available via Itch.

Lastly if you like seeing my thoughts on games and how I make stuff for them, here's my monthly newsletter (which now has a free TTRPG thing to take to your table each month): https://meatcastle.substack.com

[cookieeks-art]

I don't really go here (don't have a computer or console to play the game on), but I got curious about this man after seeing him on my dash, and now I can't stop thinking about him. So here's some art I've made of him in-between scrambling to find gameplay videos featuring him and reading everything I can find about him online. (Feat what I imagine my builder would look like if I had the game. Her name is Frida and she's so far only wearing the basic clothes, bcs I'm not sure if I can properly figure out how she would dress unless I played the game. Also, I projected a little of my own trepidations with marriage on her, mostly because I imagine that even with Pen not wanting to be married it might hurt his ego a little for someone to be so happy that marriage with him isn’t on the table.) The text in the first panel in the comic is taken directly from the wiki, (apparently it’s his response when accepting a romantic confession?), but I apologise if he’s ooc in the rest of the comic, I'm still getting a feel for him.

(ID in alt and under cut!)

[ID:

A digital drawing of Pen from My time at Sandrock. It’s shows him shoulder up, from a profile view, a serious expression of his face. He’d shaded in a warm orange with light blue highlights. The background is a greyish green. In the lower right corner is a doodle of a person with long hair, grasping the air infront of them with a comically feral expression and text reading “I’m so normal about him” ending with a smiley face above her head. In the corner is aslo a signature reading “Cookieek”.

The second image is a digitally coloured sketch of Pen from My time at Sandrock. He’s vivible from the hips and up, and from a 3/4 perspective, standing against a gradient background, and smiling at something off screen. He has one hand on his hip and his cape is flowing beside him. He’s cast in warm orange light, with blue shadows. In the bottom of the picture is a signature reading “Cookieek”.

A comic in greyscale, featuring Pen and my builder Frida, a skinny woman with a round face, a scar on the left side of her chin, and light hair pulled up into a messy high ponytail. She’s dressed in the default builder outfit.

The first panel shows Pen looking down at Frida, smiling smugly with his hand under his chin, two stars around his head, and saying: “Very well! I promise you I will not only be the Protector of Sandrock, but the protector of you. Though you must know, I am in strong opposition to this strange concept called "marriage."”. Frida is looking up at him, her back to the viewer.

The second panel shows Frida beaming up at Pen who’s now the one with his back towards the viewer, she’s giving him a thumbs up, while exclaiming: “Then we are on the same page!” with a smiley face at the end. Beside her head is a small “yay!” written above another smiley, but with an open mouth smile. Pen appears to almost freeze up.

The third panel shows Frida walking away from pen with a pep in her step, a big happy smile on her face alongside a blush. “Terrified of marriage” is written above her head, with an arrow pointing to her. Pen is still standing in the same pose as before, but with a baffled expression on his face, and question marks around his head.

The fourth panel focuses in on Pens face, as he lowers his hand, appearing now to be both confused and slightly miffed, question marks still around his head.

The final panel shows Pen striking another confident pose, looking to the side with his fingers grazing his forehead, sparkles around his head. He smiles, and says “Ha! Poor Skinny! So upset, but trying to have good humor about it! I can see through it easily! But good play, good play.” He’s sweating slightly.

In the right lower corner is a signature reading “Cookieek”.

End of ID]

[obetrolncocktails]

Ignition | Danny Wagner X f!Reader X Jake Kiszka | Part 3

Have you read Part 2?

Warnings: tooth-rotting fluff, sexual tension, HOT DANNY KISS HOT DANNY KISS HOT DANNY KISS!

Word Count: 2091

A/N: This chapter is going to melt even the coldest hearts. I loved writing this--Danny comes easy to me, and it's just so fulfilling to write this relationship. It's a short chapter, so it should be easy to get through it in one sitting. Enjoy!

“Axe-throwing?” You asked, looking at the Google search Danny had typed in. 

“Hell yeah,” He grinned, tapping on the screen to book an online session. “I figured you’d be game for throwing sharp objects and doling out damage to poor, unsuspecting targets.” 

“Are they emotionless, about yay-high, and play guitar?” You asked him, and he pretended to consider. 

“The targets are emotionless, but no, they’re not jake-shaped and they don’t come with a guitar.”

You sucked your teeth. “Damn.” 

“He chuckled quietly, scrolling through the times. “How does six-thirty tonight sound?” He asked. 

“Sounds good,” you agreed. 

As six o’clock rolled back around, he’d reappeared in front of your house. You’d opened the door with a bright smile. 

“No, no! Get back in the house!” He shouted from the car, and you weren’t sure what he meant. 

“What?” You asked.

“Just go back inside like you didn’t see me!” He insisted. You grinned and turned on your heel, stepping back into your house and closing the door. You waited awkwardly in the doorway, unsure what you were supposed to be waiting for. When you heard it, your grin spread so wide that your face hurt. He had rung the doorbell. Stepping toward the door, you opened it, and there he was, standing there in front of you, absolutely gorgeous, and holding the most beautiful bouquet of flowers you had ever seen. 

“Hey there,” he said softly.

“Hi,” you answered with a bright smile. He leaned in, and when you thought he was going to kiss you, he reached to place a gentle kiss on your cheek instead. 

“These are for you,” he said, handing you the bouquet. 

“They’re gorgeous,” you complimented him for choosing a beautiful arrangement. 

“They reminded me of you,” he shrugged, chuckling softly as if he were nervous. God, you wanted to kiss him so badly. 

You hugged the flowers to your chest. “Thank you, I love them!” You leaned in to sniff them. “Do you wanna come inside for a second? I gotta put these in water. I don’t want them to die.” 

“Sure,” he agreed, walking inside behind you. 

“I’m excited for our date,” you told him with a wide smile. 

“Yeah?” He grinned, coming to lean against your kitchen island as you began to rifle through drawers for a pair of scissors. 

“Yeah,” you repeated, looking up at him. You spared no time for thoughts of shame for checking him out from head to toe. He wore black fitted jeans with rips in the knees, paired with a fitted black t-shirt with a large Marshall Music Company logo across it. You noted the dainty, black onyx obelisk necklace he always wore. He looked casual, but you could tell that he had put effort into the look. His hair was freshly washed, and still damp, his curls still tightly coiled and shiny. 

“You look so handsome,” you complimented him, setting the flowers into a vase. 

“Why, thank you,” he said. “And you look absolutely beautiful,” he echoed. You wore a pair of black, platform Doc Martens in hopes to give you a bit of height next to Danny. Your outfit was actually similar to his, as you wore a pair of dark denim jeans and one of your many band tees, slipping on a few rings and putting your hair up in a loose pony tail, pulling out pieces of your bangs so they’d lay in soft wisps, framing your face. 

“Thank you,” you smiled. “I’m glad we got the same memo,” you joked. 

“Well, I don’t think being buttoned up while throwing weapons at a wall would be very comfortable, don’t you think?” 

“Next time I dare you to wear a tux,” you flirted, coming to stand in front of him, reaching for his hands. 

“Are you already asking me out on a second date?” He asked you softly, his eyes sliding down your face to your lips and staying there for a long time.

“What if I was?” You asked. 

“Then I’d say you’re stealing the opportunity from me to ask you the same question.” 

He made you blush, and he loved watching your cheeks redden. “Come on, cutie,” he said, keeping hold of your hand as he walked toward the front door, opening it for you. 

***

“So turns out, no matter how angry I am, I still suck at this,” you admitted to Danny mid-throw. He watched your axe spin in mid air before hitting the outer edge of the target. 

“Well, you’ve never done it before,” he shrugged. “You’re releasing it too early,” he explained. 

“Okay,” you answered him, stepping forward inside of the cage to pry the axe out of the wood. 

“Center yourself,” He critiqued once you stepped back to the mat, preparing for another throw. You reset your feet, evening your stance. Looking back over at him, you noticed just how sexy he looked holding his own axe, his fingers sliding back and forth against the dulled edge of the blade. “Like this,” he said, stepping forward toward you, and your body instantly began to heat up. He set his axe on the floor out of the way, and stepped behind you. “Can I touch you?” He asked politely. 

“Mmhmm,” You answered, your inner dialogue dissolving into the vocabulary of a three year old as he moved closer and closer. 

“Okay, so,” He said, placing his hands on your hips. “You need to be free down here. You should be grounded in the legs, but able to swivel your hips as you throw. He pulled his hands backward and forward, urging you to try out the movement. “Make sense?” 

You nodded, so turned on, you wouldn’t bother speaking. “Keep a slight bend in your elbows,” he continued. “Hand me your axe,” he said, lifting his hand and curling his fingers in a ‘come hither’ motion, and you imagined him doing the same thing, but to you, and in a very different context. You gave him the weapon, and he set it on the floor beside  you. “Put your arms above your head and pretend you’re gonna throw,” he instructed, and you moved your hands over your head. He moved his hands with yours, adjusting the angles of your form before lastly touching your fingers and moving them on top of each other in a way that he explained would allow for better grip. You couldn’t help but move your head to the side as he instructed you, practically staring at him, admiring the angular features of his face, his nose, his dark lashes, and his beautiful hair. He smelled fucking incredible, and it sent your belly fluttering with nervousness. Really, you didn’t care about axe throwing anymore. Him touching you even as innocent as this was, filled you with desire and want that you couldn’t quite articulate. Suddenly, you couldn’t remember the anger that you had felt for Jake–and even more surprising, you let it go completely.  

“Let me see you do it now,” he said, snapping you out of your thoughts. He stepped away and bent down, retrieving the axe and handed it to you, flipping it nimbly so you could take it by the wooden handle. “You’ve got this. You’re a pro,” he said. 

“I’m not, but I appreciate that you don’t mind lying to make me feel better.” He chuckled once through his nose. “You know the exercise where you tell yourself something until it becomes true?” 

You looked at him with a skeptical nod. “I’m speaking it into existence. Manifestation,” he smirked again. 

“What do I get if I get a bullseye?” You asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“If you get a bullseye,” he began after a moment. “You get a kiss,” he finished, crossing his arms across his chest, leaning against the adjacent cage. He made your heart flip with excitement. 

“And if I don’t?” You asked. 

“I haven’t gotten there yet,” he shrugged with a soft grin. “Go on. Show me how badly you want that kiss, Y/n.”

You shook your head, unable to wipe the giddy smile from your lips, careful to move step by step, remembering how Danny had guided you to ground yourself, but loosen your grip and stance just enough to feel comfortable and confident in the throw. Pulling back, you focused on the circular target, stepping forward and letting go, closing your eyes as you heard the loud thwack of metal slicing into hard wood. You didn’t want to open your eyes, but you did, embarrassed when the axe had hit too high, but at least landed on the target itself. “Damn,” you said, sighing heavily. “I was distracted,” you said defensively. 

“That’s too bad,” he said playfully. 

You had spent the rest of your hour-long session laughing and trying over and over to get better and better with your technique and aim, until, at the final throw, you finally got a bullseye, which Danny chalked up to being out of complete beginner’s luck. You loved spending time with Danny, and he made you feel beautiful. He made you want to try for him, to look lovely every time you saw him, made you want to be better for yourself, and so, you had decided you’d stop feeling bad for yourself and pursue him fully. 

The drive home was wonderful; Danny had played so much of his favorite music, a mixture of songs you’d loved, and others you had never heard, but instantly loved. You both had spent far too long parked in your front driveway, just listening to music, and taking each other’s phones and adding each other’s favorite songs to each other’s liked playlists. “It’s like eleven PM,” you said after losing track of time. 

“Looks like we got a bit carried away,” he said with a chuckle. 

“A little bit,” you added, hesitant to end the night. You wanted him to stay and never go, but you knew that he’d have to. For now. 

“Let me walk you to your door,” he said, turning to look at you. 

“Okay,” you said with a weary smile. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked you, adjusting in his seat. 

“I don’t want you to go,” you pouted exaggeratedly. “Really, I had so much fun tonight.” 

“Me too,” he agreed. “But no need to be sad,” he said, reaching to place his thumbs at the corners of your lips, pulling them upward, which made you break your composure, giggling as he forced you to smile. 

“Come on,” he said, opening his door and standing up. You joined him outside of the car, his hand shooting out to take yours once you’d made your way back around. He swung your clasped hands as you both ascended the steps to your front door, arriving at the landing. 

“So,” you said after a long moment. “You never paid up,” you told him, summoning bravery as you looked at him with an expectant expression. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” he responded, his lips cocked in a sideways smirk. 

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about, Wagner.” 

“Oh,” he answered quietly, taking a small step forward. “You mean,” he said, raising his glance up to your eyes, then back down to your lips. You felt his feather light touch as he tilted your head upward by the tip of his finger, his thumb rested along the crest of your bottom lip as he took the last step forward, closing the gap between your bodies, his lips finding yours effortlessly. His embrace was intoxicating, and you let your body move innately fitting into the mirror image of Danny’s as his large hand moved to cup the small of your back, pulling you gently, but firmly against him. You hummed into the kiss, your hands moving from his arms and then around his neck, keeping him tilted downward. You absently knit your fingers through his curls, pulling at them as the kiss deepened, his fingers gripping you tighter until finally relenting and letting go. As the kiss broke naturally, he stayed exactly where you had him, breathless and hovering. 

“Wow,” he murmured. 

“Mmhmm,” you answered in agreement before pulling him down once more, taking more of the prize he’d leveraged earlier during the date. 

“I think I definitely won,” You spoke against his lips. 

“Hm?” He asked. 

“Bullseye or not, I got exactly what I wanted.” With that, he moved his hands down and pulled you upward, pulling your legs around his waist. 

“Then I guess there was a tie, because I won, too.”

End of part 3.

-----

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[putschki1969]

2024/05/04 Instagram post by Wakana

Today, I would like to introduce the merchandise for my “Wakana 5th Anniversary Live ~The “VOICE“Stories~” which will be held on May 12! ️🥳🎉 First up is the T-shirt!!👕 With the live title in mind, I designed a logo with a book📖 When you open it, you'll discover five years' worth of stories in it...I wanted the illustration to capture that feeling✨ The T-shirt is a refreshing light blue colour. The material is soft and very comfortable! 🤗 ↑Btw, I am wearing a size L here👍

Next up we have an acrylic stand, it's been a while since I've had one a part of the line-up!! It's called “Swaying Wakana Acrylic Stand”✨ It features a mini-Wakana gently swaying underneath a botanical moon 😊 Try letting Wakana sway every day😊💕

Last but not least, here's me doing my regular physical challenge, the Y-shaped balance! Yay!!

=> 2024/05/05 Instagram post by Wakana

2024/05/06 Instagram post by Wakana

This is the second installment of my live goods introduction for "Wakana 5th Anniversary Live ~The “VOICE Stories”~" 🥳🎉 Today I will be showing you the pouch and ribbon keychain✨ Let's start with “The “VOICE” Stories Pouch which is a light blue that matches the T-shirt. It's made of soft fabric so it can hold a lot of things. You can put in various things. I was able to put in a mobile battery, an eco bag, my earphones, lip balm, gloss, and a wallet 👝 It also has a handle so it's convenient if you want to take it out of your bag 🤗 Then we have the “Shark-chan Ribbon Keychain”🦈💕 The two ribbons each have a different pattern, so you can enjoy different impressions 🎀 And I am sure it will add a great accent to your bag or backpack! I think it would also be cute if you attached it to your cell phone 🤗 By the way, Shark-chan is removable so you can put it wherever you like! 🦈🦈(Source)

2024/05/08 Instagram post by Wakana

This is the last part of my live goods introduction🧚✨ The final item is an "umbrella" which I've always wanted to make! ☔ This "Shark-chan umbrella" can be used for both sunny and rainy days. The inside is black to block UV rays. So you can use it a lot not only during the rainy season but also now and during the summer time when you are concerned about getting sunburns 🤗 Please bring Same-chan whenever you go out🦈💕(Source)

『Wakana 5th Anniversary Live ～The “VOICE” Stories～』 Live Goods Update!

Good news, the acrylic stand is now available for purchase in Wakana's Official Online Shop! For some reason, it wasn't featured in yesterday's line-up so I was afraid they wouldn't make it available for those who couldn't attend the live.

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE my tummy aches but im being brave about it and im going to fight the pain with the power of love and friendship (aka im going to thank you for the christmas tree messages)

okay let me be emotional for a moment...

because of the current circumstances at home, this Christmas was very different and much lonelier for me. i did my best not to get the blues and i think it was okay for the most part! now looking back at it, without a doubt, the highlight of my Christmas this year was reading the tree messages. it was very late in the night, i had just finished reading Napo's story event route and i saved the best part for desert, barely containing my excitement to finally read the messages. and i expected just a row of "merry christmas"-es 😭 you know, because, i did that? i kept mine all short and i was just shouting some wishes at you.... BUT NO, YOU OUTDID YOURSELVES IN TURN! WHAT WAS THAT! i was right there sobbing in my bed being all "?????" .... i seriously didn't expect 1) to have so many because i did the tree very last minute 2) to receive such sweet messages...

and then i realized, was my Christmas really all that lonely? because, just 3-4 years ago, i didn't know any of you here. before that i never was more than a lurker in online spaces so... i think that's when i had truly lonely christmases, not now. thank you for being here. i don't deserve you... no im sorry if you hate it when i say that, pretend that i didnt say it ( i lowkey think that) (im sorry im in my low self esteem era these past months)

OKAY SO

thank you person called Bread, thank you Lorei for being the first sob of my sob session, it's all YOUR fault that i got so emotional oh my god im totally dm-ing you after this, thank you irl bestie who not only left me a sweet personal message but also roleplayed my faves for me because i screamed (you heard it), thank you kat for your three messages that made me feel all kind of emotions (im touched that youre willing to write this even if i feel like im going to hate it), THANK YOU NINNI HUGS BACK!, thank you Ally i know it was you. using roy to threaten me with a good time.... smh... MERRY CRIMMY SCUM!!!!, YAY TO YOU TOO, SOLACE!! Thank you aqua, you're right, he's good to me 🥺 just as chev is to you, i believe! THANK YOU DREW im still thinking about it. Thank you Fang, I could say the same and you know it 🥺, THANK YOU DEVON!! Thank you so much Ana, I too hope the same, I'm glad I became your mutual! 🥹 Same goes to you too, Oliver! I'm just always so happy to see new faces around, truth is im a little bit shy with interactions at first because i feel annoying... so thank you for becoming my moot! 🙇🏻‍♀️💗 Thank you, sweet Julie 🥹 THANK YOY MYARA, I CRIED A LITTLE! right back at ya, i think that you're an irreplaceable part of our little space and im just so glad to be here and see everything you do and share with us! hope your 2024 is full of joy both on here and irl ❤ Thank you mimi, i feel the same and you better not forget that! Thank you Michelle, love you too!!! THANK YOU, NAMI! Thank you, Impromptu!!!!! Thank you Nori!!!!!!!!! And thank you sui you're so right as ever. nods.

i think thats all im so sorry if i forgot anyone ALSO im so sorry for doing this. i tried to keep my responses vague in case you wanted these to be extra private... i initially was going to dm all of you but. that was because i thought there were going to be like 10 of you!!! again im sorry. love you all so much im an emotional wreck

i hope you had a good time these past few days and i hope we can all look forward to a great 2024 together 🥺 i'd be nowhere without you

@lorei-writes @yanderepuck @claviscollections @yarnnerdally @scummy-writes @aquagirl1978 @ikemendrew @fang-and-feather @devonares @bicayaya @olivermorningstar @queengiuliettafirstlady @keithsandwich @mimi-but-main @xbalayage @namine-somebodies-nobody @the12thnightproject @mcwentfandomtraveling @leonscape