#I know we hate emails on this site | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ms-demeanor · 9 months

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since twitter has become actively hostile to its users, so they came to tumblr, and reddit has become actively hostile to its users, so they came to tumblr, what do we do now that tumblr is becoming (more) actively hostile to its users? i’ve been here for over a decade so i know tumblr users are the type to cling on despite everything and revel in undoing every change, but i’m so tired of the way this website breaks the way it fundamentally works in order to appeal to new users. the twitterfication of the site seems so much worse than when people jumped ship after the porn ban, and even then, only small communities (and twitter) cropped up as solutions. you might not be the person to ask for a definitive answer, but i figured a tech blog might be interested in considering - what do we do when there’s nowhere left to go?

Okay so, I mean this very seriously: how has tumblr meaningfully become like twitter?

I don't personally find the sidebar view obnoxious and it seems to me like just another layout change that's pretty typical to tumblr. New users are getting signed up with a bit more emphasis on algorithmic feeds, but that is still very easy to change (MUCH easier than on any other social platform) and the algorithm has been there for everyone for quite a while, we just typically don't notice it because a lot of long-term tumblr users don't go into the "for you" feed.

I don't think that tumblr *has* fundamentally broken the way that it works to appeal to new users. My dash now is still very much like my dash in 2019, and still very much like my dash in 2018 (though much less pornographic). Reblogs are still reblogs, likes are still likes. Replies, for all that they seem like they've been around forever, are new and good and I think they work well. I'm irritated that the notes menu doesn't have a "view all" option but I think that's a worthwhile tradeoff for an easy way to see tags.

I *do not* understand why tumblr has broken linking back to previous reblogs but I don't think that's out of an effort to act like twitter; it is a bizarre choice that I dislike and don't understand but I also don't think that it has fundamentally changed the way the site works and i mean you've been around long enough that I'm sure you've had the same experience I have of going into the notes of a post and randomly clicking until you found a version that you wanted to reblog without a bunch of bullshit at the bottom. Tumblr has always kind of sucked, this change DOES suck but it doesn't suck in a way that is particularly novel or insurmountable. (For instance, I think this change sucks MUCH LESS than when they made posts with links invisible to the search, that is something that is genuinely bad that has been long lasting but doesn't get brought up much in lists of the ways that tumblr has gone wrong)

Tumblr *is* changing, but I think it is changing more incrementally and less terribly than other parts of the internet. I also hate the floating clown, the login walls, the dash-only view for blogs (you can't archive it and I HATE that), and - to an extent - the new lightbox on mobile. And I dislike that less than I thought I would but I don't think it's a fundamental change that necessarily impacts my interactions with the site - it *adds* a feature that I don't care for but it doesn't *break* anything that I require to have a good time on tumblr - in that way I think of it very much like Live. People hate Live so much and I find that perplexing because it is so easy to simply ignore it.

But that's not really your question; that's just some stuff I want people to think about because as much as tumblr has changed in the last two years it is nowhere near as fucked up as the recent things that twitter and reddit have pulled.

So, as to your question: where do we go?

Well. Not to be an extremely old person on the internet, but damned if I don't miss email lists. And forums. God I miss forums. Neither of those things has all the bonuses of platforms like twitter or reddit or tumblr or facebook, but they were great ways to hang out with people you liked on the internet.

The internet is changing. I can feel it, you can feel it, I'm pretty sure we're all like cattle in a field lifting our noses and hearing some distant rumbling and becoming slowly aware that it's almost time to run. There's a coming stampede and it isn't here yet but you know it's on its way. You're not imagining that, that's how things feel right now and there are a shitload of things contributing to it.

Things like SESTA/FOSTA and KOSA (which has not passed yet but is a big red flag waving on the horizon) have been eroding away the way that users on various platforms can function. Some platforms have consolidated in ways that harm users; some new platforms have popped up and shaken up the map of the internet; some platforms are being torn apart brick by brick by owners who don't care about the users. It kind of seems like people are actually looking up and realizing that advertising is A) bad and B) doesn't actually work and I think we're running straight toward another advertising-based crash like we saw in 2017. It feels like all the desperate things that tumblr is doing is just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic as the internet as a whole starts to sink into the ocean.

Honestly, I don't think it's that bad. I think it *feels* bad, but I think we're looking at a slow whimpering death of the platforms, not a bang. I think tumblr is going to hang on at least for a few years and I think it's going to end up like livejournal and myspace, which both still exist as websites that are recognizable as updated versions of the sites they were in 2004-2010. The thing that I think would really, honestly hurt tumblr in a fundamental way is if it moved to a more algorithmic and data-sales based model of advertising, and I think that's still pretty distant. I think Automattic is aware that killing the chronological feed would be the one unforgivable sin that would cause a mass exodus and a final crash, and I think when we see that, when we can't just scroll through the feed and see what our friends did that day in order of when they did it, that's when the party is over here.

But that's still not answering your question.

So, where do we go? What do we do? Well, for now, I'd say it's a good time to get contact info for your friends across various platforms. Get email addresses, get phone numbers.

Now is also the time for you to set up a personal website. NeoCities is currently the best place to do this, though it takes a lot more effort than just starting a blog on tumblr. I think that various oldschool blogging sites like Wordpress and Blogger/Blogspot/whatever the hell the google one is are a better place to have your emergency backup than a more platform-y platform if you aren't up to doing something with NeoCities.

If you've got the ability to do so and a group of people who are interested in the same core subject, set up a forum. There's a decent amount of off-the-shelf forum software out there and a text-and-small-images forum isn't prohibitively expensive, but it's never going to be huge and you're never going to have the kind of spread and virality and random connections that you would on a platform with millions or billions of users.

If you can't set up a forum, setting up or joining a discord server for your friends is a decent enough option at the moment, and may be a very good option for people who are looking to keep their interactions more private.

But yeah i think right now is a great time for people to start setting up their own personal websites, to start visiting actual webpages again, to start bookmarking their friends' websites, and to start collecting contact info that isn't tied to platforms.

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dduane · 21 days

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So it came to my attention a couple of weeks back that the version of Stealing the Elf-King's Roses that until recently was available over at Ebooks Direct had somehow managed to evade being updated using the cutting-edge Vellum ebook software, when we were doing all the other books in the store.

I have no idea how this happened. Anyway, I've been taking care of that update, and the book will be available again in a day or three.

Meanwhile I'm having the usual conniptions over new cover art and font choices. Fantasy covers these days need to have one or another of a group of very specific looks. So do SF covers. And when you have a novel that splits the difference between the genres (or bashes them together...) the way this one does—as STEKR is an alternate-Earth police procedural—it can seem impossible to get it right. You don't want to leave people who're buying-at-a glance feeling, later on, that they thought they were getting one thing and were sold something else.

The art above is okay enough to go forward with. (Though I'd feel better if I could get Lee something a little more like her judicial robes and less like a "little black [cocktail] dress".) The real problem right now, though, is the font choice.

After some consideration I grabbed the one above from Derek Murphy's fabulous DIY cover site. (Simply because how could I not try a font called The Princess And The Frog?...) But I'm going to go back tomorrow or the next day and try using a much more SF-looking font, and see how that comes out. Who knows... maybe when it's in the store again, we'll offer both cover versions and see what people prefer.

Anyway, this is just an early warning for those of you here who may have picked up the book earlier (possibly as part of our whole store bundle*). When the updated book goes live, you're entitled to be updated to the new version of STEKR, with its improved graphics on the inside as well as the outside, if you feel like it. Just drop a note to the store's support email address, quoting your order number, and we'll refresh your download links when the book's back up in the store.

Meanwhile, for those who may not know anything about this novel: look under the cut for the description.

*Which, along with all our other bundles, is on sale at 20% off right now.

It's CSI, Jim, but not as you know it...!

Psychoforensics specialist and freelance prosecutor Lee Enfield works with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office as a lanthanomancer—a magic-worker trained in Seeing and revealing the truth. When she and her fayhound partner Gelert are brought in to do discovery for the investigation into the murder of an Elf named Omren dil’Sorden, at first it seems an ordinary homicide: just one more hate crime in a city and culture where violence against the immensely wealthy, uncannily beautiful Alfen is becoming more and more commonplace.

But Lee and Gelert discover that there's more to this Elf's murder than meets the eye. When political pressure from above the DA's office pushes the two partners out of the investigation, Lee's unwillingness to drop the case gets her and Gelert drafted into a mission to the heart of the forbidden realm of Alfheim. Their involvement makes them targets of a shadowy conspiracy involving powerful multinationals and governments of the Eleven Worlds, intent on taking the secret of the Elves' power for themselves. Drawn into an ambivalent and potentially deadly alliance with the shadowy and much-feared Elf-King, and with the fates of entire worlds on the line, does Lee dare trust her Sight to reveal his true motives—and can the Elf-King be trusted to be on anyone's side but his own?...

This stand-alone fantasy police/legal-procedural novel by DD, originally published in 2002, is reissued exclusively here in a new edition -- revised and updated, with an afterword about the project's genesis and an appendix featuring never-before-published background material on the Eleven Worlds.

#Stealing the Elf-King's Roses #Eleven Worlds meta

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end-otw-racism · 1 year

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End OTW Racism Link Round-Up: Week 1!

We are now in week two of our action demanding that OTW live up to its commitments to address racist harassment & abuse, which ends May 31st! There was a lot of great discussion during the first week, so we wanted to post a round-up of some of the longer-form discussion/analysis that people have been sharing (we're going with posts on Tumblr, Dreamwidth, and other sites, as well as Twitter threads that are longer than three tweets). These are posts that we think would be helpful to consider as fandom engages in the necessary conversations about these issues.

If we've missed something you've written, we'll be doing another round-up of week two, so it's not too late! You can either submit it on tumblr, tweet at us, or email us at endotwracism [at] gmail [dot] com. We do reserve the right to only share posts that are in line with the intent of the campaign and that we believe are adding to the conversation.

Tumblr

beatrice-otter: Why AO3 needs to be accountable for reducing fandom racism in its internal culture and the archive [link]

pretty-weird-ideas: End OTW Racism and the “Fed” Accusations [link]

aretethegreattelleroftales: You don’t understand what EndOTWRacism is asking for here, and because you clearly do not understand it, you should have known better than to speak on it. [link]

vex-verlain: In response to the reactions I’ve seen to #EndOTWRacism [link]

unrealromance: I don’t really understand how people don’t know the difference between ‘whoops I’ve fallen into a racist trope’ and 'I am literally writing hate speech that is unveiled, mask off’. [link]

pretty-weird-ideas: Codification of a Living Document as a solution to Harassment on OTW [link]

indifferentvincent: RE: End OTW Racism Derailment [link]

elumish: In light of some of the backlash to the End OTW Racism protest, and particularly the concern that an anti-harassment policy would lead to abuse of reporting mechanisms or censorship of unpopular authors/ships… [link]

seepunkrun: How to Find and Attend OTW Board Meetings [link]

indifferentvincent: The people who use the excuse of saying ao3 is an ‘archive’ and so 'must preserve’ the most vile, intentionally racist fics just sound like the most privileged motherfuckers on the planet to me. [link]

spacebeyonce & pretty-weird-ideas: wow this is such a normal and rational thing to say about having a diversity consultant to help ao3 fix their bullshit. [link]

indifferentvincent: I have to assume this is in regards to my promotion of the end-otw-racism call to action, because I don’t know what else it could be referencing. [link]

princeescaluswords: Writing Doesn’t Happen in a Void [link]

mousieta: There is a place, a magic place, a giant, ever growing park filled with sandboxes of every color and shape imaginable. [link]

Twitter

spacebeyonceart: alright so I want to talk about this post I made two years ago now that the #EndOTWRacism ball is finally rolling. [link]

generalfrings: This shit makes me so goddamn angry, yall. [link]

eruthosish: One of the calls of #EndOTWRacism is to improve the AO3's Terms of Service and how the AO3 deals with fanworks that are part of an offsite harassment campaign, so I wanted to share a story about the only time I have ever reported offsite harassment and had Abuse agree with me. [link]

buttonthemdown: They've proven they can move quickly *when they want to*, but the fact the OTW hasn't made an official statement acknowledging their lack of action and pledging to do better sends a signal they don't care about their POC fans. [link]

Clonehub7567 Seeing the reactionary dismissals of #EndOTWRacism from white fans who pretend to care about racism is reminding me of the backlash i/we got for #UnwhitewashTBB. [link]

hydrochaeris3: ppl who are worried that not participating in the call to action will get them labeled racist..... first of all once again yall are showing that you care more about what others might label you than putting forth tangible effort into caring for a community [link]

m_sketchyart: If you think that #EndOTWRacism is censoring your escapism, here’s a thought to chew on: why is being anti-racist a threat to your escapism? Is true escapism not also leaving racism, antiBlackness, fatphobia, abeism, misogyny, etc out of your escapism? /rh [link]

lunedraws: Have you wanted to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, re: racism, in one or more of your fandom spaces? This is a concise and timely line of actions we can take. [link]

aliasmarionette: One thing I see a lot in #EndOTWRacism comments which are in favour of the status quo is assumptions about who we mean by fandom, and about the user base of the Archive. [link]

SapphicScholar: New profile photo while participating in the important fan-led campaign to demand that OTW make good on the promises it has already made to address issues it has already acknowledged as problems in the archive—that is, instances of extreme racist harassment and abuse [link]

Fansplaining: Since the endotwracism campaign has begun, we wanted to highlight the timeline they've put together about the OTW's communications re: hiring a diversity consultant since their initial statement of commitment in the summer of 2020. [link]

gwenpendrcgon: ive seen so much backlash over #EndOTWRacism which shouldnt surprise me (also majority of this comes from tumblr is also to be expected) but most if not all backlash received by this event is done is such bad faith and complete wilful ignorance [link]

fiercynonym: so op of the #EndOTWRacism post on reddit dm-ed me and the situation is even more fucked up than i originally knew??? [link]

kitschlet: seeing a lot of people confused about what the OTW can do to address racism [link]

generalfrings: poor AO3 maintaining a 'absurdly heavy site'. all that text! [link]

RukminiPande: Fan scholars should be paying attn to #EndOTWracism. [link]

Saathi1013: The thing to notice about all the assertions that people know who's behind EOTWR is like... Okay, there are a few things, actually [link]

buttonthemdown: If you think that victims of racism need to "develop a thicker skin" you're a fucking racist [link]

mousieta: if i could have people understand one thing abt #endotwracism right now is that This issue matters not because racism makes you feel bad, or uncomfy, or squicky but because racism is actively harming Real Living Breathing Fans right now. [link]

fiercynonym: okay so…you know how OTW has been saying, when asked at meetings, that they have a budget surplus of about USD $1 million? well…manogirl & i did some digging, and it might actually be more than TWO AND A HALF MILLION USD. [link]

runpunkrun: Speaking of OTW Board meetings, if you're interested in attending, here's what you need to know [link]

Dreamwidth

satsuma: A Chronic Habit of Avoiding Responsibility? #EndOTWRacism [link]

bcgphoenix: I have a lot of feelings about OTW and End OTW Racism as a book conservator/general preservation person, most of which verge into tl;dr territory. [link]

killabeez: Looking at past archive policies [link]

nyctanthes: End OTW Racism (Fannish Fifty #47) [link]

chestnut_pod: Be more democratic, be more autocratic, OTW [link]

Other sites

Lady’s Weblog: End Racism in the OTW [link]

The Rec Center: #384 Final Thoughts [link]

Stitch’s Media Mix: I’m Supporting #EndOTWRacism [link]

#end otw racism #racism in fandom #otw #ao3 #organization for transformative works #archive of our own #fandom racism #link round-up

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kanmom51 · 3 months

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I have always wondered why JM Stans hates JK. I have seen posts about how JK is being the Company's favorite and that Scooter is trying to use JK to out sell JM. I don't believe it but I do want your opinions on this. I know you will probably say that's a very stupid thing to ask for but I see it a lot and I wonder why they keep saying that JK and V are the companies favorites. And also do you think the company didn't actively promote JM? This Fandom has finally twisted things around. I just need to know your thoughts on this matter. Thanks

Hey love.

Ok, where do we start?

Maybe from the end.

It being that it does feel at times that JM gets the raw deal from the company. If it's intentional or just because he's too nice and doesn't speak up enough I don't know. But this has been going on for years. The way the promotions for Face were handled, the way his name or photo somehow seem to disappear at times from official sites. For example the official BTS US store had all the members apart from JM in the index.

The issue has been since fixed, but it took angry JM stans posting and sending messages and emails to the company to notice it and make it happen.

Or, another example is JM's Like crazy Korean and English version streams being counted separately by Spotify.

Little things that make you ask "why him?" or more so "why is it always happening with him?"

Now, it's not that Jin has been forgotten at times as well (being cropped out of group photos at times). Somehow it's always those two, but with JM it's way more frequent and feels off.

Saying that, I do feel that some JM solos tend to make JM out as a constant victim (perhaps part of allowing them to be his saviors). While doing that they are constantly making comparisons with the others and while doing so also try to tear the others down.

I think this is part of the issue with solos. Forgetting that these 7 men are part of one band. A band they ALL want to be part of. Something they have said multiple times in the past and recently as well. 7 men that love each other (not to mention the elephant - cough couple cough - in the room).

It's more than ok to have a preference. A member you feel you like more or feel more connected to. It's a different matter to call yourself a fan of a single member elevating him by tearing down the others and constantly calling for said member to ditch the others and go solo. Spewing hate at the other members in that person's name, supposedly for him. Obviously you are not a fan of BTS when you do that, but more so you are not a true fan of said member who loves the others you constantly attack and wants to stay with them as a group, as he constantly and repeatedly tells us all.

Like the whole comparison made between JM's promotions and JK's (two totally different stories, different artists' objectives, different markets). And let me be clear here. I am not saying it felt like JM's success, which was, I feel, unexpected, was downplayed or not properly formally and publicly recognized. At the time it certainly felt that way. What we don't know is what JM's feelings were on the matter. Did he want it that way or was it a company decision? I know how it looks, but at times we need to understand that there are so many undercurrents and we don't get to see most of what's under the water. We only see what's shared or not shared with us, by the powers at be's decision. For example: Later on, in his documentary we saw that JM did get a cake for the #1 billboard achievement. So was it his choice not to post a pic? At the same time we saw his success, again, kind of being downplayed in articles, in BPD's interview, so this is one of those things I am leaving with a big question mark. Was he given the well deserved acknowledgement (even if not publicly)? Was it downplayed from the start, even towards him? And if so, why?

That being said, attacking JK, writing hateful posts about him, his looks, his artistry, his character not only would not make a damn difference as to how JM is being treated by the company but goes against everything that JM is and everything that JM feels towards JK.

Same issue, btw, with all solos. JK solos and the hate towards JM, the person JK loves the most in this world.

Do you see what I mean?

That was a little long winded, lol.

So, I do take issue with the need to cut down at another members success only to lift JM's up (he don't need no lifting, he's bloody amazing). I can assure you that is something he personally would not want, being the beautiful soul that he is, he wants the others to succeed and is not in competition with them.

I also hated this need to cut down JK even before his music came out, during JK's promotions, when he was choosing to mirror JM, a clear friggin calculated choice with a clear friggin purpose, by calling him lazy and a copy cat.

First of all you could see, if only you had eyes and kept them open, how throughout ALL of his promotions JK was mirroring JM. It was with similar outfits (even using the same exact black leather pants). It was with wearing the top part of an outfit to which JM wore the bottom part in his promotions. It was with his hair style and colour choices and references to JM's album. Anyway, point being once again that attacking another member does nothing to help lift JM up.

I always find it funny that JM solos hate JK so much.

The person that JM loves more than anyone else, and who loves JM more than they could ever.

The person who knows JM more than they could ever.

The person that JM chose to spend the 18 months of his army service with together, 24/7!! This was not forced on either of them. This was their choice.

Could it be jealousy perhaps? You know, JK gets to get JM and they don't.

Or perhaps this need to be the savior - poor JM needs them to save him from the big bad JK and the big bad company.

p.s. - maybe, just maybe, if indeed JM is being targeted by someone in the company, that's the issue that someone has with him. The fact that he will always come first for JK. The fact that because of him they can't control JK. Well, JK is not someone easy to control, but a. with JM in the picture some of his priorities are different (like wanting to spend time with him, like wanting to go public with their relationship) or perhaps the effect JM has had on JK, being his catalyst (JK's words) and all; and b. Outright homophobia. JK is the golden goose and he is in a long term relationship with a man, a bandmate. It makes life much harder for those that would rather milk the badboy hetero fuckboy image to the limit when said person wants to be accepted for his true self...

Well, that was definitely me digressing from your questions. Oopsy.

Bottom line:

Something kind of feels off with how things seem to go with JM and official content at times over the years (that includes photos, sites, spotify etc.) including his solo promotions.

That said, the comparison with other members, in my opinion, is unjustifiable. Because first and utmost they wouldn't want their fans to be comparing them. They all put themselves out there for their fans and all heartedly supported each other on that journey. Every single one of them had a different kind of solo debut. This is about different music genres, collabs or not, writing their own music or not, promoting out side of Korea or not, even down to the language of the songs. And with this also comes the different kind of promotions. Music shows or live/recorded performances for army, in bigger or smaller venues or even a tour, like Yoongi did.

The comparison with JK is just unfair to both of them. Especially given the very special relationship those two have. Both being the other's biggest fan and supporter.

That aside, the two went on two very different journeys. JM went on a personal journey releasing his first album taking part fully in it's creation, it being a very personal story he was telling us. JK, on the other hand, for whatever reasons (some of which he told us some of which he most likely didn't) decided to go with songs written by others, choosing to challenge himself with singing in English, and new genres and vocals. The choice for an album in English could very much have been pushed by the powers of be, and I do not want to go into the discussion of just how much influence SB has or not, other than say that Bang PD, a very smart and savvy man, knows his way around the music industry and business worlds and has much more influence on JK than anyone else, and that JK is a grown ass man and has told us on more than one occasion that he tends to make decisions for himself, even if at times they might not be the right ones, he goes with his gut. JK also told us he wants to be a huge superstar and singing in English, what can you do, opens up the US and other markets for him in a way that singing in Korean wouldn't.

But even putting that aside people seem to forget that from the get go JK was always the Golden maknae, the one that not only the company saw as their golden goose, but also all other members put on a pedestal. Not saying that's right. Not saying that's fair. But it is what it is. The company is a money making business. And now that BH are under Hybe, although they have autonomy (mostly) on the music, the costs and promotions, they don't have free reign over. And if it's about money making and profits, at times these will be the guidelines as to into what and where the money goes as far as promoting an artist. Let me be clear here. I'm talking here about costs and profits as in how much hard cash was put into a member's promotion over another's. This here isn't about other shit that's happened, such as no public acknowledgement or counting streams of different versions of the same song together or separately. That is another issue. What I'm trying to say here is that the starting point was and never will be the same also due to financial decision making.

Ok, so I think that maybe I've made more of a mess here than anything else, lol.

My bottom line is that even if I feel that JM is being wronged by the company in one way or another (and this goes for any member that might be wronged as well), I would never turn on another member and blame them for it nor would I compare between them. You can like or dislike the music each and every one of them released. That's fair enough and makes sense too. But belittling a member just to try and lift up the other one, that is just wrong in my books.

#ask

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under-loch-n-key · 3 months

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Longggg Sherlock & Co plot rant. You have been warned.

I know the creator of Sherlock & Co. found the idea of writing Moriarty into the series intimidating. Plus, not knowing how to do Sherlock's "death" over a podcast and such. But I had an idea.

I love the idea of Professor Moriarty being some sort of hacker/online troll and MORIARTY is the name of a dark web corporation that is trying to hack into the Sherlock & Co. Company to send Sherlock puzzles/cases. You lot know those shady anon hackers on the dark web in films and certain websites? Like that.

I think it would be cool if at first Moriarty leaves hate/weird comments on John's podcasting sites and Watson just thinks it is some hater and thinks nothing of it and deletes the comments. He just grumbles about the comments being a continous thing.

Suddenly the comments stop. Watson isn't complaining about it, he is relieved by that because they were really annoying him. (no matter how many times Sherlock & Mariana told him to ignore them.)

Later on, Watson gets these emails from an unknown email of some shady guy (Moriarty) taunting Sherlock (and the rest of the company) and sending them on goose chase cases (Like the BBC did in that one episode with the phone calls, in a way?)

When Moriarty becomes the main centre of the podcast episodes, instead of Sherlock dying, he gets kidnapped by Moriarty's network. Watson and Mariana embark on and have to solve their most important case yet "Where is Sherlock Holmes?" This would give us some cool dynamics and more screentime between Watson and Mariana.

Watson starts to panick because he thinks he isn't like Sherlock and Sherlock did tell him that he would never be able to figure out stuff the way he could. Mariana is there to support and be there for him. Watson and Mariana have to channel their inner Sherlock Holmes to solve the case.

Idk whether I like the idea of Sherlock expecting this to happen and leave behind clues in some way. I do know though, that I like the idea of the following cases being them trying to work on finding Sherlock.

When they do, Sherlock is banged up and Sherlock tells him "I trusted that you would find me, Watson. You really are a persistent fellow."

And Watson just runs up and hugs him and Mariana joins in and they are just mother henning him like crazy.

Watson tells Sherlock "Don't do that to me again. Don't disappear on me again, you hear?"

And Sherlock is like "It's not like I was expecting to kidnapped, John. Besides, your podcast wouldn't last without me."

Watson just huffs and tells him "No, no, it wouldn't. Just come here," and then goes to hug him again.

Mariana pulls away from them both in realisation and she tells them "Boys, I don't mean to break up our moment, but we still do have one problem."

They both look at her and Sherlock nods and says "Moriarty. He's still out there."

I want it to be implied that they came face to face while Sherlock was kidnapped.

"He? Sherlock, you saw him?" Watson replies.

"Indeed, Watson and I think I know where he'll be waiting next."

*cue Sherlock & Co. End of episode music.*

Anyways, then we get to the episode of the Reichenbach fall, they have their final facedown. Sherlock doesn't die, but Moriarty does fall.

Watson would 100% be grumbling about how he can't pick up any audio over the sound of the falls.

Sherlock and Moriarty would begin fighting and Watson would start describing the scene in a panicked tone.

Sherlock calls over "Not helping, Watson!"

After more sounds of fighting and nervous ramblings from Watson. Sherlock & Moriarty turn the corner of the falls into a blind spot.

All Watson hears and sees is a cry and someone fall and crash into the water.

Watson panicks and shouts "SHERLOCK!" then dashes up to where they were fighting. Sherlock is sitting down and catching his breath.

Sherlock would probably make a smartarse comment like "Ah, John. Glad you make it. Help me up will you?"

"You're not dead."

"Clearly, or else we wouldn't be speaking. Now, would you please help me up?"

"Right, yeah." Watson helps him up.

"So, you, erm, you killed him?"

"I did. His baritsu was lacking, so his demise was inevitable."

"You're a clever, bugger, mate. Now, lift home?"

"Yes, of course."

I think it would be funny if the episode ended like this. They get home and Mariana starts mother-henning them both and she is scolding them both in Spanish about being more careful, how much she cares for them both, etc. Then she hugs them both.

Later on, we cut to them sitting in their chairs and talking about, well, everything.

"It's good to have you home, you know? I- well, Mariana and I both missed you."

"Mm. It's good to be home, Watson. I prefer the smell of our flat to the vile odour of where I was."

"Do you want to talk about it? Because, I, erm, am always here if you need a good talk."

"Not at the moment, Watson, but I will keep that in mind."

Long pause.

"So, Moriarty's network.. is it?-"

"Gone? Mm. No, but it will be taken care of."

"How? They are bloody HUGE, Sherlock. Shouldn't we, I don't know, contact Lestrade? Actually, the whole bloody Scotland Yard?"

"They're useless here, Watson. I'll leave this to the government."

"The government? Sherlock, we both know what they are. The government is not reliable in the slightest."

"Mm. The government you are discussing, yes. They are indeed unreliable, but in this instance I am discussing a WHO not a what."

"Friends in high places?"

"No. Much much worse."

"Oh, erm, an enemy then?"

"Mycroft is not an enemy, but certainly not a friend."

"What the devil is a 'Mycroft'?"

"My brother."

There's a long silence in the audio

"YOUR WHAT!?"

*Cue end of episode music*

I think this concept would be a cool way to be introduced to Mycroft, Watson realising his capibilities since meeting Sherlock, more screentime with Mariana and John's friendship, a way to do the podcast without killing Sherlock and having the time gap between Sherlock's "death" and resurrection, etc.

If you made it to the end of my Sherlock & Co plot concept ramble, good for you. Lol. Anyway, I just thought this would be a cool concept. The rant kinda blended into a fic, but oh well.

Do you lot like this idea? I thought it would be neat.

If John (or even the creator of Sherlock & Co) sees this ever, I will spontaneously combust. 😳

Enjoy my story/plot rant-

(Sorry for any typos, I am sick and half-asleep)

(I am so normal about them, I swear-)

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azuremist · 2 months

Text

Cohost sucks, too (but not for the reasons that one user said)

So, you may recall a person on tumblr saying that Cohost sucks, which accused a transfem on the cohost team of predatory behavior. That was transmisogynistic bullshit, and was blatantly untrue.

But cohost does suck. Just for reasons unrelated to that.

Listing everything loosely in an order of “weird and sort of annoying” to “holy fuck”:

Tag capitalization is determined by how the first person who used the tag capitalized it

You have to personally email support and wait for them to get back to you if you want to delete your account

They call themselves a “not for profit” or “non profit”, despite being registered as a for profit LLC

There is only one moderator for this site of 30k+ users, which means reports aren’t responded to for weeks at a time

Staff and the userbase have a very odd parasocial relationship. The staff chronically overshares, call users their ‘friends’, and have gotten mad at users for reporting too many things on weekends, after hours, or holidays (with the subtext being that you should not expect them to do anything after hours). They even publicly post about how they are worried about paying rent because of the site’s financial situation, which is frankly disgusting. Especially when you see people in the comments barely able to scrape up the $5 USD to give them for the subscription service.

A member of staff publicly bragged about how Cloudflare forgot to bill them for hosting, which is not only wildly unprofessional, but could likely get them sued. (And Cloudflare could, at any time, ask them for the money they owe, for the record.)

Staff say that they want to be transparent with financials, but are incredibly inconsistent about financial updates

The platform is losing $10k-40k USD each month

Meanwhile, staff currently pays themselves $94k USD a year, per person. Sure, that’s not as much as the average person with their job title… but Cohost is losing tens of thousands of dollars each and every month, so that doesn’t really apply.

On top of the previous two points, staff doesn’t accept volunteers, and they’ve consistently implemented features that make no difference to the financials of the company

TL;DR:

The cohost staff are tech people who wanted to do a startup, got a loan from a rich friend, and is doing nothing to make the site sustainable. Meanwhile, they’re paying themselves almost $100k USD a year while still guilt-tripping their dirt-poor, largely queer userbase.

It sucks, because I really believe Cohost could succeed. You know what, no — I know Cohost could succeed. Between the Elon Musk-ification of Twitter (who has deemed Tweeting “I hate trans people” fine, but automatically blocks people from Tweeting “I hate cis people” for hate speech), and the owner of tumblr going mask-off transphobic Zionist… Right now, maybe more than ever, there is a serious niche of ‘social media for queer fandom nerds’, just waiting to be filled! And on the surface, Cohost is perfect!

And I like everything about Cohost… except for how it’s being managed. I want to see it succeed, because it could be amazing, if the people behind it just made better decisions. But, ultimately, I do not trust the people running Cohost to help it realize its potential.

Alas, it seems this isn’t the tumblr alternative we are looking for.

#cohost #tumblr #tumblr alternative #long post #azure does a thing #this one’s been cooking for a lil while

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stusbunker · 1 month

Text

Spotless: Pizzicato

Chapter Nineteen

Featuring: Dean Winchester/Reader, Dean/Bela, Dean/Cas (unrequited)

Other characters: Miriam Talbot (OFC Bela's mother)

Word Count: 2567

Warnings, etc: Mutual pining, putting out other people's fires, and old baggage, unbeta'd

A/N: Castiel and Trouble's friendship is something I didn't realize she had been missing until he was in front of her. There are a couple of big truth bombs in this chapter and I hope I handled them respectfully. This is an AU and it is not indicative of this author's feelings on canon or any other fandom shipping practices.

Series Masterlist

Posting on Dean’s instagram account was par for the course as the band’s publicist. You bothered to know what a hashtag was, for one. For another it also allowed you to check traffic on posts and actively moderate things to help the comment section look best for Dean’s image. Afterall, Dean trusted you, you weren’t going to leak anything or make him look like an idiot.

You were a goddamn professional and this wasn’t the hardest thing you’d done in the last year, but Jesus fuck were you pissed.

Dean hated tattoos. Really, he hated needles. He was black out drunk when he and Sam got their matching flaming pentagrams. He actually had a panic attack the next morning after realizing he let someone “sew ink” into his skin. By sheer force of will and through the bond of shared grief, you got him to go with you for Jo’s memorial tattoo on the tenth anniversary of her death. It was in your all-time top five ultimate Dean-Y/N memories.

And now it meant jack shit.

You edited and cropped the photos, sent two back to Bela to post on her account and then posted the lion’s share onto Dean’s, making him look like the diligent boyfriend while Bela was busy in the chair. You thanked Billie for taking care of “his girl” and made sure the shop was the location and tagged. You wanted to punch something, it looked so good. Then you sat back and let the interwebs do its job.

Okay, in actuality, you emailed about twenty different people, had a conference call with the tour management marketing team, scheduled radio station drop ins and followed up with Meg on the expected release of Dean’s photoshoot and interview. These days it may just end up online, but you hoped she was able to score him real physical print space.

It was just as you were winding down for the night, when your phone rang. It was past any reasonable business hours and you were already done with your skin care routine, but then you saw the caller id.

“Miriam! Hi!” You tried to sound pleasantly surprised.

“Don’t Miriam me, young lady. What is going on out there? Is it drugs? I thought we missed this stage when she quit acting for college. You’d tell me if this hoodlum was pressuring her into risky behavior wouldn’t you?”

Which was a lot to unpack right off the bat like that, luckily you had experience dealing with Bela’s mother.

“It’s just a tattoo. She’s not on drugs, I promise.”

“And what about this Dean? I knew they were seeing each other, but this seemed a bit more intimate— not exactly in the public eye.”

Oh, she was good.

“He’s not on drugs either. And—- he actually isn’t thrilled with tattoos. This might be all Bela, if I’m being honest.”

“Have you seen the things they’re saying? The things they’re calling her, Y/N?”

You rolled your eyes and heaved yourself out of bed, you needed your laptop if you were going to continue this conversation rationally.

“Let me look into it— what site were you on?”

“Oh, I’m not sure. Olivette, one of the boardmember’s wives, told me she read about it online during dinner.”

You inhaled deeply and started your usual rotation of sites, you’d have to add some new tags to follow Bela’s buzz more closely going forward.

“And you’re sure this wasn’t just bad blood from Olivia? I’m not finding much besides general surprise.”

“It’s Olivette. And yes, I’m certain. She wouldn’t make me worry without a reason.”

And then you realized what you were missing, it wasn’t just People or TMZ you had to worry about. You went to Hello!’s twitter and you found what had Miriam Talbot’s friend in a huff.

You started scanning the comments, gathering the most common complaints and judging their amount of influence via cursory glances. You did not know a lot of the news personalities or celebrity bloggers in the UK. You were going to have to meet with Bela and figure out a better approach going forward.

“Okay, Miriam, it’s almost eleven here. I know you probably called me as soon as you woke up, but consider me on the case. Alright? Bela’s fine and this is just a minor hiccup.”

“If you’re sure, Y/N, dear.”

You sighed. “Of course. I would warn you if there was anything to worry about. But please just let this run its course. You know how the tabloids are.”

“Unfortunately I do, that’s why I called. Please keep me updated if anything else comes up?”

“Will do. You have a good ni-day!”

“Goodnight dear— and thank you.”

You smiled at your lap. “Anytime.”

You let her hang up. Then you promptly pulled up your contacts list and warned Bela that her mother was sniffing about online and to call her at a decent hour. And finally, you spent the next four hours (or so) online until you had swam to the bottom of the cesspool and decided it wasn’t worth your time. At least not right then, not so exhausted.

Three days passed since the snobby UK gossip rags’ judgment rained down and, as expected, it had already just about fizzled out. You sat in a cafe with a quad shot flat white, waiting for your lunch date to arrive. Not truly a date, though it wasn’t a meeting either.

It was a diplomatic mission.

Then you spotted him and your stomach swooped, feeling the loss of his presence in your life all over again.

“Hey, Cas.” You stood and held your arms open for a hug, which he accepted with a timid smile.

“It’s good to see you, Trouble,” his gravelly voice murmured in your ear. He still smelled the same.

You pulled back and looked him in the eye, searching for anything but the sincere blue reality in front of you. He held no grudges, not with you, without even discussing it you knew he was still your friend.

You then punched him squarely in the shoulder. “That’s for ghosting us all for the last nine months, assbutt!”

He grunted, and rolled his eyes. “I can accept that.”

“Good. Because I missed you. We all miss you.”

He tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in challenge.

“So— heard you have a kid, huh. That’s —- weird.”

Castiel exhaled and shook his head. “Who told you?”

“What? Nobody. I have eyes. And spend enough time online to draw some conclusions.”

“Kelly told you.”

“She didn’t have to. She’s amazing by the way— are you a thing now, now that you know he exists?”

Castiel looked affronted. “Me and Kelly? Oh, no. That was a teenage mistake. We were young. And we’ve both matured into vastly different people. But I respect her and I think— I hope I’ve earned her trust.”

“Tell me about him—- he’s what? Twenty-twenty one?”

“He’s twenty three and very talented. Kind, impossibly optimistic even.”

“Yikes, tough combo out here.”

“Tell me about it.”

You shared a look and he smiled at you like he knew what you were thinking about. Like you were reliving the same joke.

You blinked away the sting in your eyes.

“Go get your dark roast and get back over here, we’ve got things to discuss.”

His eyes softened, but Cas didn’t argue with you.

You sipped your drink and tried not to let all of the questions that had been building for months run away from you. He was back both too quickly and too slowly. You cleared your throat, the awkwardness you had been fighting back rushed to the surface.

“So— I presume there is more to you calling to get lunch. Not just asking about Jack and goading me about my latest tattoo?” Cas wasn’t one for small talk.

You nodded and swallowed around another perfect mouthful of milk and espresso.

Castiel’s face went through a journey when you didn’t quickly reply. “He doesn’t want to see me—- he made that quite clear.”

“And what about since everything?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know Dean’s called you. He might not have been big enough to actually apologize in a voicemail, but I know he wants to fix things— he misses you as his friend, too.”

“Then he should be able to suck up his pride and make the effort,” Cas snipped, the first sign of the lingering anger from his and Dean’s fight.

“I haven’t exactly seen much of your effort. Do you not want to fix things?--- And I’m not talking about coming back to the band— that ship has sailed. I’m talking about twenty years of friendships you just walked out on.”

Cas stared at his coffee, his eyebrow ring arched with his bitchy expression. He hated being corrected, you knew that. But this had gone on long enough.

“I’ve spoken with everyone but Dean,” Cas explained. “It’s not perfect, but it’s progress.”

“You never spoke to me,” you spat.

Cas’ eyes softened again. “I always knew where your loyalties lie, you took your time, too.”

“Wait— even SAM?!”

“Sam and I haven’t lost contact this whole time.”

You sucked in air. “Oh, he is so dead.”

“Y/N. It wasn’t like we were plotting or anything. He was worried about me, I was worried about Dean.”

“Yeah, but if Dean knew—”

“Ask Sam, but I don’t think he could hide anything from Dean if he wanted to.”

You knew he was right. Ever since Sam got sober, transparency had been something Sam put into his closest relationships anyway. Beside Dean being ruthless and stubborn, well, you supposed Cas was right.

“Why do I feel like this band just doesn’t want me to be able to do my job?”

“Your position as group therapist is fairly tenuous. Especially with Pamela involved.”

“I meant my real job. If I had known you were on decent terms with, well, everyone but Dean, it would have made things a lot easier, young man.” You couldn’t help but smile now. Sure you were hurt, but the eggshells you had been stepping over for so long really only took up a single corner of the floor.

It was freeing.

“I never meant to cause you any distress.”

“That doesn’t make it go away, Cas.”

He bowed his head, but popped back up to meet your gaze. “I know. I apologize. I didn’t want you to think that I was done— with any of you.”

You pinched your eyes closed quickly and then reached over the table to squeeze his forearm. “Okay. So— you’ll come to Dean’s birthday party, then?”

Cas patted your hand with his left and sat back, breaking the contact and sat with the invitation for a heavy moment.

“What makes you think he’d want me there?”

You glared at him, all tattooed and handsome and absolutely clueless about how much his absence has affected Dean. Sure, Dean got to keep the band, but it wasn’t the same without Cas. Cas has had to start over entirely, become a dad and rebuild his career all without any of the support Dean has had around him through his own troubles.

“Look— I know you’re Mister Independent and I don’t want to set back any of the progress you’ve made without him needing you around. But he still looks for you whenever we all go out. And hanging out with Kevin, made it abundantly clear to him that you were available— you just weren’t interested.”

“Why do you always make it sound like we were an item?”

You rolled your eyes. “Look, we all know Dean has attachment issues. I’m not saying anything was kinky between you guys— that’s not my business. But, as friends, you guys deserve to at least get some answers— closure or forgiveness can come later, if you get there.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that to get me off your case?”

“Yes, really.”

You smirked and Cas’ smiled with his eyes, fidgeting his lip ring with his tongue.

Cas cleared his throat and took a sip of his coffee before changing gears. “So, your friend Bela and, uh, Dean?”

You groaned and hid your eyes in your hand. When you looked up he was laughing at you.

“What?!”

“Stop— we both know what it’s all about.”

“Kevin seems to think Dean’s whipped.” Mischief continued to dance in Cas’ eyes.

“Well, it’s about time.”

“I told him, the only one who has had Dean whipped in over a decade is you.”

You choked on your spit, sputtering at Cas’ bluntness.

“They don’t know it’s for show do they?”

You inhaled deeply. “Sam knows. Dean and Bela have their own private agreement about it all. But, uh, yeah, you pretty much guessed right.”

Cas watched you thoughtfully, futzing with his lip ring with his top teeth now.

“How are you holding up?”

“Me? I’m fine, why?”

Cas nudged your ankle under the table with his combat boot.

“As someone who was definitely in love with him for most of my life— I know the symptoms.”

You sighed and shivered at being seen and having your long held suspicions confirmed. You rubbed your upper arm, trying to fight the goosebumps. “I’m fine. Nothing has changed. He’s just been working on himself and that is— distracting.”

Cas hummed, head cocking to the side as if looking at you with a different angle would give him more insight.

“I mean it. He’s in therapy and everything. Sam and him are working out. He’s been insanely focused on the latest album—”

“He’s doing penance.”

“Maybe. But he wants to be better. It’s not just guilt. I don’t know how to explain it. But, you’ll see what I mean.”

Cas eyebrow popped up again.

“You will,” you insisted.

“You always were able to read me weren’t you?”

You chuckled at the back of your mouth, short and knowing. “Guess it comes with being stuck with each other for so long.”

“Shared trauma response,” Cas teased.

“Or that.”

You finished the last of your drink and looked around the cafe.

“So, where we going to eat? I think we’ve had enough heavy— sushi?”

“You buying?”

“Phantom Traveler is covering this as a business lunch.”

Cas stood and pushed in his chair. “Okay, well then, bring on the seafood.”

You stood and let Cas walk you outside, his hand on the small of your back until he could offer you his elbow on the sidewalk. You smiled up at him and pulled him tight to your side.

“I’m glad you’re back, Cas.”

“Well, we’ll see if everyone agrees with you, won’t we?”

The afternoon passed quickly, catching up and sharing memories that were now tinted with the grief of the last lost year. Things made more sense the longer you thought about how the band had been acting, especially way back at the Animal Shelter where Cas’ niece had been more than willing to put in her two cents. You texted Sam while you waited for your meals, warning him where you were and what you knew.

‘Have fun.’

His only response. Asshole.

But everything kept from you, kept from Dean, wouldn’t last forever. It couldn’t. Now you at least could control the narrative a bit more by being in on it all. Or most of it at least.

Tagging:

@deans-spinster-witch

@mrswhozeewhatsis

@cosicas-cuquis

@fics-pics-andotherthings-i-like

@suckitands33

@ladysparkles78

@deans-baby-momma

@stoneyggirl2

@sassy-pelican

@leigh70

@globetrotter28

@winharry

@lastactiontricia

@rockhoochie

Chapter Twenty: Arpeggio

#spotless series #rockstar au #slow burn #dean winchester fanfiction #dean angst #dean/reader #dean/bela #friends to lovers #it's no longer a love triangle or maybe it was bela who made it a square

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roo-bastmoon · 8 months

Text

Jimin needs your help

Puppykitties, Jimin is up for an award. He worked for ten straight months on FACE. He earned the highest first week sales record. He made history as the first Korean soloist to capture BB Hot 100 #1.

This award show is three days before his birthday and it's very likely he will attend. As a show of ARMY's love and appreciation, we shouldn't let him leave empty handed.

I'm going to walk you through how you can help under the cut.

A few things to know:

We have less than five days. Voting stops at 6pm KST 10/02 (5am EST).

Voting resets every day at noon EST.

One email account = one vote per day.

Gmail lets you make an unlimited number of free email accounts. (Hint: I have 10 gmail "fandom personas" I use for buying, streaming, and voting.)

You go to this link HERE.

Go ahead and select your device settings so that it auto translates to English.

Go to LOGIN. Create an identity using one of your Google email accounts. It will ask you for a name, birthdate, country, and phone number. I like to use things I can easily remember and that are in the right area code for where my computer is set up.

Once you have created an identity for this site (it remembers you later), you go ahead and scroll all the way down to select JIMIN and then NO.

You say no because you are not trying to get a ticket to the award show--you just want to quickly get through the vote.

It will ask you if you are sure because you can only vote once per day. Click you are sure, and you can scroll up to see CURRENT STATUS if you're curious to see how Jimin's doing in the poll.

Then you LOGOUT and repeat these steps for each gmail account you have. You do this every day until the clock runs out.

At this moment in time, Jimin is right behind Lim Youngwoong with a 5% gap. (For perspective, we made up a 10% gap just today, but it requires everyone to PUSH.)

You know those lovely Korean ajumas love them some Lim Youngwoong, and he seems like a straight-up decent fella, but our Jimin deserves to be recognized for his hard work on his first solo project. The ajumas are currently asleep, but they will wake up around 9pm EST and start voting again, and they take it Real Serious.

We need every ARMY to make at least five accounts (ten is better) and vote for Jimin once a day for the next five days. BTS should always win fan-voted awards.

Side Note: I recognize there was some controversy because during the first two rounds of this survey, Yoongi fans had voted him in the lead. Then yesterday, haters started dragging Jimin to hell and back in the award site comments and on Twitter. That, of course, was a rallying cry for Jimin fans. You can love or hate Jimin solos, but you have to acknowledge they are organized and dedicated.

Now Jimin is in the lead, and ARMY must pivot from voting for Yoongi to voting for Jimin, if they wish to follow the "vote for whoever is in the lead" guideline. Splitting the votes will assure the ajumas win. I'm not going to argue with you if your conscience dictates you vote differently. It's YOUR vote; that is your private business.

But I believe that no amount of distaste for fans should overshadow your love for a member. And of all the BTS members, Jimin is the only one who has never won an end-of-the-year award, and he will likely be in service the next time the opportunity comes up, so I hope we can all row together and get this race won.

I wish you best of luck, ARMY. Let's get it!

Love, Roo

#jimin #park jimin #jikook #i'm putting jikook in the tags because jimin is one half of jikook but feel free to block me if that drives you crazy i understand my dears

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newwavesailor · 3 months

Text

It's going to hit the fan.

Hey, Max here.

You probably won't be seeing my traditional posts for a good while, because for all I know, this may be the last post of mine you'll ever see.

Yes, we're talking about the Kids Online Safety Act/KOSA.

If you've been on Tumblr for the last week or so, you've no doubt heard about this bill and the mass havoc it's going to cause if it passes. I'm not going to give you every little thing that's going to happen (because I barely know the half of it) but here's a play-by-play of the worst it has to offer.

The Kids Online Safety Act/KOSA plans to:

Require most users of websites to give big tech companies their ID. (Not the case, or so I've heard.)

Block off content related to marginalized communities.

Erase fandom-related sites deemed "dangerous"

So yeah, this is bad.

So, what can we do?

Contact your Representatives. Contact your Senators. Call 'em. Email 'em. Spam their social medias. Do whatever you can. Speak loud and proud how much you hate this bill. Because it's not just the right. Both the left and the right have given support one way or another. Sign petitions! They exist for a reason!

Go to badinternetbills.com to sign a petition. But act quick, because this may just go into effect tomorrow.

So yeah, that's the lot of it. Hate censorship. Embrace freedom of speech. Because being silent is one of the worst things to be.

This may just be the last post I make here, or any social media. So in the event of that being the case, I give my final message: Farewell, and never stop being you.

#kosa bill #stop kosa #kosa #bad internet bills #kids online safety act #stop kids online safety act #internet censorship

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themagnusprotocol-avaragerant · 22 days

Text

Good evening listeners!

Episode 1.

This summary is going to include the theory that Elias, Jon and Martin are all voices in FR3DD1! I’m sure you all can do your research.

I’m going to start off with my general thoughts! This episode was long and I’m sorry for the rant, it’s supposed to be concise but I got distracted! Please let me know what you’d like me to focus on in future, I’d love to hear your ideas!

What are my thoughts?

- At the beginning, we seem to be listening to this episode from the recording of a PC. Maybe the very same PC that holds Jon and his friends? Who knows!

TEDDY: Teddy’s leaving party! That totally isn’t gonna bite him in the arse! I find it quite surprising as I thought institute workers couldn’t leave. Though, this is the OIAR. Not the institute. But I think we’ll be seeing our little friend quite soon!

COLIN: Colin is a little ray of sunshine, isn’t he? Can’t wait to see how he handles our little friends in the computer! He seems to be under the sort of “curse” that prevents him from leaving. Teddy seems to know it. Which begs the question, why can Teddy leave? He has been working on this program for 2 years, and has tried everything under the sun! At the end, he seems rather frenzied. He is frantically searching through drawers and talking to FR3DD1. He seems aware that Freddy can hear him, and determined to find out! I wonder how well that went for our past team, hmm?

GWEN: It seems Gwen’s anger is unfounded. Why? I haven’t a clue. Maybe we’ll find out why she hates Alice in later episodes? She also seems to want to be head of the OIAR badly. Maybe something to do with her being a Bouchard?

- “modified version of Windows NT 4.0” maybe that detail will be useful!

SAM: Sam on his paperwork ticked a box called “response 121”! I’m sure that’ll have 0 consequences later on whatsoever! Don’t you?

Our statement is read out by our good friend Norris! This I believe is Alexander, our voice actor for Martin!

The statement is an email. Here are the details!

To: Darla Winstead ([email protected])  From: Harriet Winstead ([email protected]) Date: May 12, 2022 Subject: Re: Re: checking in

I won’t explain the whole statement, you’ve probably heard the episode! But i will link the transcripts for you who want to do a little digging!

A brief summary of it: a woman who is mourning the loss of a lover suddenly gets a call from a voice sounding suspiciously like the dead man himself! She goes to the cemetery only to be met with “some of him”, as the creature put it. This sends her into a panic!

And it turns out we get another statement too! This one seems to be read out by Chester, who I believe to be Jon, but it doesn’t give us a clear name! Here are the details!

Forums.lostcityurbex.com.

Board index. Spelunking. Sites.

New topic: Magnus Institute Ruins

By RedCanary on Sunday April 10, 2022. 3:31pm.

A brief summary: a spelunker called “RedCanary” goes to explore the Magnus institute ruins after some form of fire happened years ago. He seems spooked out, finding “symbols and stuff and some pretty suspicious stains on some floors.” Aswell as a sense of anxiety he didn’t have before! He ended up getting banned due to Gory images, something about eyes? Maybe it’s our good friend Jonah leaving his mark! Who knows?

Please let me know if iv missed anything at all! Feel free to mention any theories you may have. I want this to be an area where you can get those little cogs turning!

And as always…

Thankyou for listening.

#tmagp #tma podcast #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #tmagp 1 #tmagp theory #tmagp summaries

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mayakern · 5 months

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I was so scared to order any of your skirts because I don't wear skirts because they inevitably make me hate my body and also what is gender and especially because I'm Canadian and shipping here is astronomical and so are customs fees. But I finally took the plunge with your sale and bought four (two mini, two midi,) and holy crap I love them?

I can just wear them with my crappy Amazon tank tops, and I've been spinning in circles until I feel dizzy, and I can put my Steam Deck in the pockets, and the minis don't make me panic and think my ass is hanging out and my sensory issues don't hate how they feel, and I can just have? fun? wearing a skirt???

You have no idea how much I love that your site calculates the duties and stuff upfront, because DHL is Satan's own shipping service and will charge you through the nose to deal with that on your behalf (like there's a choice,) so I didn't have to spend a month wondering what limb I'd have to sell to pay them back for their "services." Thank you, thank you, thank you, @thedoomfairy!

I'm gonna have to get more plain black tops and leggings, but also I'm really looking forward to seeing what skirts come out next.

PS, I know you don't generally combine orders, but I pre-ordered a petticoat, and if there's any way to add skirts onto that order when they're ready, I'll be all over that (got my eye on the swords and the pomegranate and and and-). Like I said, shipping to Canada... Yeurgh.

PPS, I'm sorry I forgot how punctuation works, it's just that these skirts may be the best thing I've ever bought online

ahh i’m so glad you like the skirts! 🥰 thank you for taking a chance on them, despite your previous bad experiences!

unfortunately we have reached a size where, logistically, combining orders is very difficult for us. this is doubly so for international orders because the service we use to calculate and prepay duties reeeeally doesn’t like it when orders are split or combined. it messes up its calculations.

MAYBE if you make an order around when petticoats start shipping out and email in and are very very nice, we may be able to do something, but i wouldn’t count on it, and we definitely wouldn’t be able to hold items ordered in january until march 😅 sorry

#ask #store

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k-evans-reads · 1 year

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In Living Color

Chapter 5 - Part One

Summary: When Natalie Marton, lead character designer for Buzz Lightyear, meets the voice of Buzz, Chris Evans, the sparks are undeniable. But when their work pushes them away from each other, both physically and emotionally, will the sheer differences between their worlds be enough to force them apart?

Pairing: Chris Evans x Pixar Animator OFC Natalie Marton

Word Count: 4,182

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: None.

Previous | Main Masterlist | In Living Color Masterlist

May 2021

The furious scratching sound of Nat’s graphite pencil was the only thing that could be heard in her office as the California sunshine poured through the big windows. She could see by the dent in the fibers of her paper that she was pushing down too hard as she worked on some of the character sketches on her to-do list, but when she glanced over at her phone, she knew exactly why she was holding the pencil with such force.

Nat knew that she should just close her phone, after all it wasn’t as if she’d missed a text from Chris with as many times as she’d checked their text thread over the weekend. But it still was just as quiet as it had been since Saturday when Chris had texted her to tell her something came up and he couldn’t meet her after all. At first Nat hadn’t given it much thought, knowing with the way they had kissed and flirted that Friday night that his longing to see her the next day had been authentic. But when the calendar had flipped from Saturday to Sunday, and now to Monday and still no word from Chris, she realized she’d officially been given the brush off.

It wasn’t a new feeling for her, and she knew it deep deep down that the fleeting chance they’d held together was gone. He’d come to his senses and realized Nat was, as many had before, not good enough for even the guy in the apartment down the street, nevertheless the man in the sprawling home perched on the edge of Laurel Canyon, who made more money from a single movie than Nat could ever hope to make in her career. She was used to getting close to someone, only to have them realize that she was just too much to handle, not ever being able to fully understand her and looking for a way out and it seemed that Chris was no different.

But that didn’t mean that it still didn’t hurt.

She hated to admit just how much it was bothering her, wishing she had just stuck with her more recent realization that she’d be better off alone for the rest of her life and not given a second thought to Chris. If she had, it’d be saving her the pain she was feeling. Nat reached over and quickly exited out of the text conversation, hating how it felt as if it was taunting her and shoved her phone in her purse, realizing it was about time to leave.

Even with the disappointment she felt in her heart at the moment, she knew that there was a man in her life that had never disappointed her and she was on her way to pick him up right now. She’d spent the entire morning watching her notifications not only for a text from Chris, but also for the flight updates from her dad’s airline, and just as she’d gotten up, her phone buzzed with the final update that his flight was about to land.

Making her way out of her office and down the hall, she poked her head into Jamie’s office, just as some of the other department head’s left the manager’s meeting in his office. “Hey Jamie, I’m headed out to pick up my dad,” she reminded him, shifting the bag on her shoulder as his head popped up from where he’d been typing an email.

His brows were furrowed for a split second until he nodded, reminding himself, “Oh that’s right, he’s coming today.”

“Yep and he’s staying until Saturday morning so I get almost a week with him,” she grinned, unable to suppress the happiness she felt at that. It’d been a long and lonely few months in Los Angeles, going from working in-office and living with Shane prior to lockdown, to moving home and surrounding herself with her family during quarantine, until she finally moved back to California in the late fall. And while it certainly had been an adjustment now, she had begun to realize what life would be like in her new reality only once she’d returned to working on campus in the early spring.

“That’s so great Nat, I’m excited for you,” he smiled at her, and Nat knew just how truly happy he was for her. Both Jamie and Mark were the people she was closest to outside of her family and had been for years, so they knew just how much it meant to her to have this time with her dad. Nat stayed leaning against the doorframe when Jamie asked, “Are you taking the day off or are you coming back?”

“No, I’ll be back today. Dad is going to just hang out in my office and read his book so I’ll see you in a little while,” she explained, and as her phone chimed with a text from her dad – presumably telling her they landed. With a rushed smile, hurried goodbye and a repeated promise to come back to finish out the day, she headed out to her car and headed out of the campus.

Nat dumped her bag into the passenger seat before starting the car and heading toward the exit of the parking garage, but she hadn’t even been able to pull out onto the road when the phone ringing chimed loudly through the speakers in her car. She smiled as she saw Heather’s name on the call, knowing it was time for the traditional Marton sisters Monday lunch break phone call.

She barely began to say hello to her oldest sister when Heather interrupted her, asking, “Is dad there yet?”

“No, I’m on my way to the airport to get him now,” she replied as she slowed to a stop at a red light.

The phone beeped momentarily before Alex’s voice filled the car’s speakers as she said, “Hey, I’m here! What did I miss?”

“Nothing, we just started,” Heather informed her. “I’m pretty surprised Nat doesn’t sound more excited about dad almost being there. I figured you’d be bouncing off the walls, Nattie.”

“I know, there hasn’t been a day in the past month that you haven’t mentioned it in the group text,” she could hear Alex laughing from the other end of the call.

Nat slid her black sunglasses on her face before pulling onto the freeway, running a hand through her thick curls before being unable to hold her feelings in and told them, “I am excited, I’m just having an emotional crisis.”

“A real one or a Nat version?”

She tilted her head at the comment, laughing at her eldest sister’s comment before wondering, “What’s a Nat version?”

Heather scoffed, supplying, “When you get in your artist mood and feel all nostalgic or cry over a pretty tree or some shit.”

“No this is real,” Nat shook her head even though she knew that neither of her sisters could see her.

Her sisters were silent for a moment until Alex quietly asked her, “Is it a guy?”

Nat sighed, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel as she slowed to a stop as she waited to get off the freeway. “Well-“

“Oh my god it is! Who is it? What’s going on?” She immediately recognized Alex’s voice as she rapidly fired her questions, interrupting Nat without a care in the world.

Nat hesitated, unsure how much to open up to her sisters. While she feared sharing her thoughts would speak her worries into existence, she needed some advice. Finally, she began, “Do you remember my friend Chris I mentioned?”

“No, who is that?” Heather wondered, not being able to keep it all straight between her hectic job, kids, and keeping up with Nat and Alex’s lives.

“He’s the co-worker,” Alex piped in before Nat could even answer and then quickly demanded, “Okay hurry up and spill, I need to know.”

“I just don’t know what’s going on,” she confessed with a huff, frowning as she drove through an intersection. “We’ve been friends for a little while now and a few times it’s felt flirty but I wasn’t sure.”

“Flirty as in what he’s said or how he acted?” Heather tried to clarify.

“Both,” Nat answered, quiet as she tried to gauge their reactions. “But then on Friday we kissed.”

Alex let out a low whistle, causing Nat to purse her lips as her sister murmured, “You could have led with that.”

Nat couldn’t repress the smile and her fond eye roll at Alex’s statement. “But here’s the weird thing. So we were flirting a lot at Mark’s birthday party on Friday and then we just were like touching and well just flirting I guess. Then he walked me to my Uber and we kissed,” she explained quietly.

“Have you seen him since?” Alex asked, her voice curious.

“That’s the weird thing,” she told them while finally turning off at the right exit. Nat still couldn't figure all of this out in her brain and hope that her elder sisters could tell her something she missed and explained, “He seemed so into it and brought up us getting together the next day but then he texted me Saturday and said something came up with work and I haven’t heard from him since.”

The line was quiet for a moment before Heather muttered, “Yikes.”

“See? I knew it was bad!” Nat’s left hand flew off the steering wheel as she tossed it in the air, deflating into her seat with a sigh as she asked them, “He’s giving me the brush off isn’t he?”

“I won’t lie, Nattie, it kind of sounds like it,” Alex hated to admit it.

Although it wasn’t surprising to her, Nat still was hopeful that maybe their answer would somehow be something different. A long sigh escaped her before she muttered, “I’m not really surprised. He’s out of my league anyway,”

“Maybe it was something with work though, I mean, it is only Monday afternoon,” Heather pointed out, but she knew her eldest sister well enough to know that she was trying to cheer her up and soften the blow.

“It’s just so unlike him to just not say anything though,” she conveyed, knowing that it was true. In the few months they’d known each other, she had come to learn just how vocal Chris was, their text chain rarely lying silent for more than a few hours. “I just don’t know how to read this whole situation.”

“Don’t text him, let him be the one to pursue you or not, that way you’ll know,” Alex tried to guide her younger sister, speaking from her own experience.

Nat hated how much this hurt. She didn’t want to be attached to someone like this again and hated that she’d let herself fall for someone so unattainable so easily, telling her sisters in a defeated tone, “After Shane I didn’t even want another relationship and this is partly why.”

“Honestly I was a little surprised when you called and said it was about a guy. I just didn’t think you wanted to be involved with someone yet,” Heather admitted, knowing that the facts didn’t all line up.

“I didn’t… but things with Chris just sort of… happened, I guess. Or I thought they did,” Nat furiously blinked her eyes as she kept driving toward the airport, hating that she could feel tears trying to sting at her eyes.

The line was quiet for a long moment before Heather wondered, “… You really like him, don’t you Nattie?”

“I wish I could say no, but I can’t,” Nat knew it was the truth. She wanted nothing more than to say it didn’t bother her but she knew that’d be a lie. She didn’t know how she’d ended up in this position, hating how easily Chris had become a fixture in her life, which only made it hurt that much more when she was met with his sudden rejection. “I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter anymore obviously but thanks for listening.”

“Of course, we love you Nattie,” Heather told her, the sympathy in her voice hurting Nat’s heart even more. “And who knows, maybe things will work out.”

With a small roll of her eyes, Nat muttered, “I doubt that.”

Nat was thankful when the conversation shifted to Alex filling them both in on the latest funny things her son had said and Heather adding in her own anecdotes about her children, only making Nat longing to just be with all of them right now. But the melancholy feeling that had plagued her the past few days and hidden her normal sunny demeanor was quickly gone when she saw her dad walking toward her car with a suitcase in hand. It took Nat no more than two seconds to get out of the car and nearly tackle her father in a hug, needing his love and presence so dearly.

The drive back to the Disney Campus felt as though it flew by as she and her dad caught up on what little time had passed since they’d spoken in detail with each other. As they pulled into the employee lot next to her building, Nat told him about what was going on at work, about her meetings earlier in the morning, and what the rest of her day looked like.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she admitted as she put her car into park, turning the key and pulling it out of the ignition with a sigh, feeling every last bit of tension from the situation with Chris leave her body as she looked at her smiling dad.

Eric looked at her with a grin that became a smirk as he joked, “Me too, you’ve escaped my dad jokes long enough.”

“Oh you mean the ones you text me almost every day?”

“Yeah but now you get them in person,” he shrugged, following Nat’s lead as they got out of the car. With a quick stop at her trunk to grab his suitcase, they headed into Nat’s building to drop their things before going to grab lunch at the commissary.

As they made their way down the sidewalk into the building, Nat bumped her shoulder against his as she honestly said, “I’ll take it if that means I get to have you here.”

Eric was quiet as they made their way into the elevator and Nat felt thankful the doors slipped close without anyone else joining him when he asked, “...You okay Nattie?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged, unable to make herself seem more convincing than that. “I’m just being me, I guess. I’m just feeling emotional.”

“About what?” He asked her quietly as the beeping of the elevator passing floors echoed in the small space.

“Just… a lot of things,” she sighed with a shrug, shifting uncomfortably as the anxieties flooded her again. “Coming back here after the pandemic was just a lot harder than I expected.”

“Just adjusting again? Or what do you mean, Nattie?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. She’d been struggling and all but spiraling since Chris flaked out on her last minute on Saturday, but it hadn’t been helped by the already-present thoughts in her mind. She missed home, she missed being around her family, and she missed getting to share her days with someone that wasn’t Mark or Jamie. Heather had Ryan and Alex had Zach, and for five years she had Shane, but even a year later she was struggling to reconcile with what her new reality looked like, especially in this new world. “I guess that ever since I came to California I’ve been just so involved in my job. You know that I love what I do, it’s truly my dream, but I guess with everything happening with Shane and then spending so much time back at home, now coming back here and getting back to my normal life, it’s just made me kind of wonder if this is really what I want the rest of my life to be?”

They were quiet as they made their way out of the elevator and a short distance down the hallway before they stopped at Nat’s office. Once the door shut behind them, she avoided his eyes, knowing he was worried as he quietly asked her, “Are you thinking of quitting?”

“No, it’s not that. I think just coming back here has made me realize that I’m… lonely,” she shrugged, dropping her stuff quickly before she grabbed her wallet and work badge out of her bag as she hung it over her chair. “I just see Heather and Alex with their families and I just want what they have. I want my life to be more than just my job.”

Eric nodded, following Nat once he’d rolled his suitcase next to her couch. “That’s normal to feel, Nattie. Most people do want a family of some sort, I think you’ve just been too busy for so many years that you haven’t noticed,” he explained, falling into step with her again as they popped back out of her office and into the hallway, retracing their steps back outside.

She was silent on the elevator as some interns joined them on the ride down to the lobby, not wanting many people to overhear it. “You’re probably right,” she finally told him as they stepped back out into the California sunshine, her arms wrapping around herself as she led her dad to the commissary.

He huffed out a laugh and a grin had settled on his lips when Nat turned his head to look at him. “I usually am,” he reminded her.

“I would argue with that but sadly it’s true,” she laughed in agreement, pulling open the doors to the commissary and leading him inside.“I think for now I just want to try to take a little more time off work and come home more often. I’m planning on coming home for Ella’s 9th birthday since Heather said she was going to do a family party. Maybe if I spend more time at home then I won’t feel this way as much.”

Eric laughed again as he reached for a tray and followed Nat through the crowded employee hall, his eyes taking in the different offerings. “I don’t know, with the way Alex’s pregnancy hormones have been lately, I think the more time you spend around us, the more you’ll be happy to come back to California,” he joked as he reached for a turkey sandwich.

Once they’d each picked out their lunches and he’d insisted on buying her lunch, they found a table tucked in a back corner, sitting down across from each other. He’d begun catching her up on the latest things going on back at home, the funny stories he’d heard at work and the newest gossip from the neighborhood but halfway through one of his stories, Nat’s eyes drifted from looking at her father across the table and landed on a tall frame that was walking toward their table.

“Chris?” She asked, her brows furrowing as she quickly wiped her face with a napkin. “Um hi, I didn’t uh, expect to see you here today. Is there something for Lightyear going on today?”

“No, I have a late shoot tonight and so I just wanted to stop by to see you. I went to your office but Mark told me you were here,” he explained, an awkward look on his face as he met her eyes before gesturing between her and her dad. “Am I interrupting?”

“No, no, sorry, this is my dad, Eric. And dad, this is my friend Chris,” she introduced them, watching as Chris easily charmed the man.

“It’s so nice to meet you Eric, I’ve heard so much about you from Nat that I feel like I know you.”

“Well I always love to get to meet Nattie’s friends,” Eric joked before gesturing to the empty chair next to Nat. “You should join us for lunch.”

“Oh I don’t want to interrupt and I really don’t have too long anyway,” he politely declined “Nat, can I steal you for just a minute?”

She was quiet, looking to her dad for a second, but he gave her a reassuring smile and waved his hand, “Go ahead, Nattie. I’ll be here.”

“Okay,” she murmured, taking a drink of her water before she followed Chris through the busy commissary. Luckily, everyone else in there was too preoccupied to notice the brunette in front of her and they slipped out the doors without a second glance, but Nat paid it no mind as she fiddled anxiously until they stopped walking once they made it away from the busy entrance of the building.

He turned to her, frustratingly silent. Nat watched as his eyes moved from her to his feet, then finally she told him, “I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“Well I wanted to come by and apologize for not being able to get together this weekend because-”

She held up a hand and shook her head, her voice quiet as she – despite how she truly felt – said, “Chris, it’s really fine, you don’t have to explain. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is to me because I really wanted to see you. There was an issue with lighting in a scene but they only had the location until Monday so we had to do a reshoot this weekend which nobody was expecting and that’s why I wasn’t available. We were so slammed I didn’t even get a chance to call you,” he explained, pausing as he met her eyes and shrugged, a deep frown on his face. “I’m really really sorry, Nat.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” she assured him, feeling the last bit of tension she’d been holding deep in her body leave at his explanation – it’d been nothing more than a shitty last minute reshoot, it wasn’t him changing his mind. With a smirk and a slight shrug of her shoulders, she added, “Although I was starting to think that maybe everything on Friday was just because you can’t hold your liquor.”

Chris raised a single brow as a smirk appeared on his face as well, reminding her, “I believe we had this conversation before and I think we both know a Bostonian can handle plenty…”

“I’m not so sure about that anymore,” she shot back, relieved at the way they effortlessly slipped back into their banter.

“Guess I’ll just have to prove it to you then,” he told her with a jut of his chin. “How long is your dad here for?”

“I’m dropping him at the airport on Saturday morning.”

“Oh,” he paused, nodding before he shrugged and – all too casually – added, “I’m leavin’ on Sunday for Europe to do some filming… I’m having a party on Saturday night though for a few friends so if you’re free, I’d love it if you came.”

Nat took a second to school her expression, feeling those flutters from Friday night again at his offer. “Well I feel it’s my duty to come and see you proven wrong,” she sarcastically replied.

“It really is,” he chuckled before nodding to himself. “So I’ll see you Saturday, then.”

She nodded as she watched a few squirrels on the large green space across from them, but then turned her head and told him, “I’m not sure you should keep going around saying things like that. Last time you did, you blew me off.”

“Very funny,” he rolled his eyes with a smirk that told her everything she needed to know. He shoved his hands in his pockets for a moment as he looked around, then sighed and said, “I hope you have a good time with your dad this week, Nat.”

“Thanks, I will,” she told him, touching his arm for a moment and getting his attention. “And thanks again for coming by today.”

He nodded with a tiny shrug, then said, “Of course… bye Nat.”

Nat stood there as she just watched the look on his handsome face, seeing that beautiful soft smile on his face before he reached out and rested a hand on her arm, spreading warmth throughout Nat’s body before he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. She could smell that musky cologne of his so well with his body being this close and it didn’t go unnoticed by her the way that he lingered his face next to her, waiting for a moment to read her body language but Nat didn’t want to wait any longer and turned her head to look up at him and lean in to kiss his lips in such a different way than the few days before. This wasn’t passionate and full of need like it was on Friday. This kiss was different. It was soft and gentle but somehow felt… intimate. As if they finally were being completely transparent about how they felt about one another, even if they didn’t need words to do it and suddenly Saturday couldn’t come soon enough.

A/N: We can't wait for Thursday's chapter!!! As a reminder, next week we will NOT be posting In Living Color due to the holidays, but we do have something planned, so keep an eye out!

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