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#also i spent 2 hours making this from 1-3 am
citrusacidic · 1 year
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coderra creep factor exploration on this fine evening
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kinokoshoujoart · 9 months
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i’m going to cry… rock’s child inherits the most feral abnormal messed up dna of any child ever and still ends up being the most well-adjusted one (rock’s nurture overcoming his and his child’s nature)
(this is from this rrreddit post. if you’re wondering why molly and rock’s kids are low energy…. i have no idea why 規則正しい was translated “energy” either because it‘s more like “orderly”…? i’m not native in jp so idk)
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seenthisepisode · 30 days
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~~~
#i am close to tears - beware there is a rant about my life in the tags ahead so watch out - it's nothing VERY serious but it's... well#also this is literally about supernatural convention so it's not like a serious problem but it is a problem for me personally#so anyway last year when they announced misha for purgatory con 8 in dusseldorf i was like yes yes yes and i bought the tickets because:#1. i had a whole year to plan a trip 2. going to spn con was this little dream of mine because i've been in this fandom for years so#so i thought hey i deserve a little treat. i want to and deserve to go to a con and they just announced misha and i'd love to go#(and then they also announced jensen. and then jared too so like all 3 main guys will be there so !! a Treat !! yay!) and also Why Not#because it's in germany so it's the closest i would ever get a convention because i am from poland [*] no conventions here sorry#so i was like yeah the stars seem to have alligned yeah AND I BOUGHT THE TICKET. and the thing is SOLD OUT. and 3 main actor men are there#and a lot of mutuals that i'd finally love to meet maybe if they feel like it or whatever but i'd love to meet tumblr people so there's tha#and now. i just spent 3 hours after work looking for flights and everything. and. the conclusion. after 3 hours of looking at every possibl#way for me to get to Dusseldorf at the days of the con. well. the conclusion is i have no way to get there. and i am stuck.#and there are flights and they are not even that expensive. but the HOURS are horrible. i checked different airports and even looked at#flights to dortmund and i literally have no way to get there in a way that makes any sense... because arriving at 4pm on saturday is#too late. and the other option is being there at 8 am - cool - but i have no way of getting to the airport at 4 am. i'd have to take#additional day off from work (not an option). and i literally don't know what to do. it's almost 1 am and i should be happily asleep and i#am trying to solve this problem lmao because on one hand i really want to go and i want to figure out a way to get there 1. on time 2. in a#way that won't cost me 1/3 of my paycheck ; and on the other hand i just want to email the organizer to return the ticket or resell it to#someone because i know there will be someone who wants to go because the event is sold out#WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS HARD......#AS I WRITE THIS I AM FULLY AWARE THIS IS SUCH A FIRST WORLD PROBLEM i know!!!!!! fully aware!!!!#but i just :(( really wanted to go :((( but i am slowly leaning towards the option of not going :((( because money and time :((#and the kilometers between me and the con place :(((((#personal
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opens-up-4-nobody · 2 years
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...
#do i feel guilty abt spending like 4+hrs working on my CV during normal work hours today? yes#but also i spent 5 months getting paid part time when i was working 10+hr days 6 days a week#so i feel like it balances out#also i need to update my cv as things happen bc i instantly forget so many things i do#like i forgot i was named on at least 1 publication. like completely forgot until i searched my name on google scholar#also i have like 25 posters/presentations to my name. and only like maybe 5 of those are ones that r just in name#ive given a lot of talks/poster presentations lol#my cv is so long. i prob should have shortened it more before i sent it to the dude im talking with#but like. idk im gonna meet him next week so like if i commit a little faux pas by sending a too long cv im sure its fine. hes already#interested enough to chat. and therefore i have to bust my ass preparing to meet with him#bc hes from the most prestigious uni ive contacted. so like really theres no way ill get in. but i will shamelessly try#god. ive gotta really study hard. like i mean i dont have to but ive been so burnt out for so long that ive been slipping when it comes to#hardcore academic stuff. like my memory of genetics and chem stuff is slipping. and generally i find it difficult to wrangle my thoughts in#a way that makes sense. so i really wanna be prepared to talk to him#lol my boss is gonna get back from Europe like hey ur gonna follow me to las vegas? and im gonna be like haha fuck that i dont wanna live#there. i am currently 1 foot out the door. im at the bus stop waiting for someone to give me the money for the science bus#give me funding to study cool stuff!!!!#ugh and i still need to look for more ppl to ask. like i want at least 2 or 3 US options on top of my 3 potential UK options#and like im really considering contacting some ppl in Germany bc like all the papers i look at are german. the germans are doing cool#cyanobacteria bullshit. and im jealous and i dont speak german but hey ive got a year to learn#so idk maybe ill see if my boss talked to anyone cool while she was at her conferences. pls boss tell me abt the other cool cyanobacteria#ppl 🙏 but idk. i feel like ppl dont quite get what im interested in. bc its astrobiology but really its more evolution and understanding#the fundamentals of life. so like no i dont wanna go to mars. i wanna understand what freaky shit life was doing millons if years ago#ugh. im being a slacker. ive gotta shift into try hard mode.#but also i wanna draw and finish my fanfics 😭 we'll see what happens#unrelated#also thank u to the ppl who sent kind words on my post yesterday! im still shadowbanned so i cant reply to u 😭
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lqvesoph · 27 days
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She’s WHOSE daughter??? || LN4
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lando norris x webber!reader
summary: Quali day in Melbourne also means some secrets are being spilled…
part 1 | part 2 | part 4 | part 5
masterlist | taglist
Part 3
The flight to Melbourne was only about three hours. Three hours that Daniel spent sleeping while Lando and you talked about god and the world.
He told you a lot about his family, his parents and siblings and his two little nieces. Your heart swelled a little at the pictures of him holding the two girls on vacation last summer.
You glanced over at Daniel and then turned your gaze to the British boy next to you.
"So, I was thinking-"
"So, about today morning-"
The two of you started at the same time, chuckling and looking down. "You go first", you quickly said, wanting to hear what Lando had to say first.
"About this morning, I… I really like you. I feel like I know you, which is pretty strange considering the fact we haven’t known each other that long. But I wanna get to know you more because… I really like you", he spoke, shyly glancing at you, only to find you smiling at him.
"I would love that, Lando", you smiled, reaching to grab his hand and interwind your fingers. "Can we please keep it low when people are around though? Because I really need to tell Oscar first before he finds out from stupid gossip pages and I don’t think his home race is the place to tell him that I’m dating his teammate", you chuckled at the last sentence.
Lando nodded in understanding and pulled your hand up to his lips, kissing your knuckles lightly. "That’s totally fine by me", he smiled, dropping your interlaced hands back into your lap.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"What on earth are you doing here??", your best friend called when he spotted you lingering in the back of the Mclaren garage. He quickly signaled his engineer that he’d be back shortly before walking over to you.
"You’re not even wearing any sort of Red Bull colour", Oscar stated after he looked you over once, mustering the white summer dress and lack of Red Bull hat.
"C’mon, I can’t go ‘round parading Red Bull as an Australian at the Australian Grand Prix, especially not when my best friend who’s also Australian drives for a different team", you chuckled, your eyes finding Lando’s for a second who still stood in front of the computer, looking at data along with his engineer. He sent you one of his adorable little smiles before shifting his attention back to work.
"I think this is honestly the first time you’ve ever stood inside here for more than 5 seconds and without me forcing you", Oscar chuckled.
Before Oscar could drag you to his side of the garage, Lando showed up behind him, a wide grin on his face.
"And who do we have here, Red Bull’s princess in papaya", he smirked. Your smile immediately brightening at the sound of his voice. "Well we’re not as far as me actually being IN papaya, I’m colour neutral today", you replied, making Lando raise his eyebrows before pulling his Mclaren hat off and pushing it down on your hair in a quick motion.
"Heyy!", you protested with a giggle and tried to slap his arm away. "That looks way better, wouldn’t you say Oscar?", the brit laughed and turned to his teammate, whose invisible question mark was getting bigger and bigger.
Thankfully his race engineer called him back before he could pose any of his million questions. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t still keep his eyes on the two of you, catching the gentle squeeze Lando gave your hand, that held on longer than necessary.
📍Melbourne, Australia
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tagged: landonorris, oscarpiastri, danielricciardo, ybsf
yn.adams: Feels great to be back in Australia and especially at Albert Park!! Quali up next🏎️
comments:
landonorris: Loads of papaya right here🧡
> landonorris: Even a papaya sunset🤭
> fan: How did he convert her over to McLaren???
> fan: That d must me hella good if she’s willing to change teams…
oscarpiastri: How am I only posted once???
> fan: Oscar asking the important questions!!
> fan: Fr tho how did she post Lando 3x??
danielricciardo: I’m sorry, is that papaya I see there??
kellypiquet: You look absolutely gorgeous!!
> yn.adams: Luv uuuu
ybsf: THE BEACH PICTURE!!
liked by landonorris
fan: That’s a lot of papaya for you, miss🤨
fan: Posting Lando 3x in one post…
fan: Daniel with the truck LMAOOO
fan: Not a single photo from the Red Bull/RB garange🫣
> fan: Lando be turning her into a Mclaren fan
load more comments…
*~**~*
Your heart swelled with pride when you saw Lando jump up to P4 on the leader board, your smile just slightly getting bigger. You clapped your hands a few times, celebrating Max’s pole with the other crew members but secretly also Lando’s good starting position for the race tomorrow.
You quietly hushed out of the garage to walk down the paddock to Mclaren, waiting for Lando to arrive.
"Heyy!", he called with a laugh. You giggled and opened your arms for him. His curls were slightly damp from the sweat but you pushed your fingers through them anyway as his arms wrapped around your waist.
"I’m proud of you!", you muttered for only him to hear and felt him smile and squeezed your hip. "Thank you", he smiled and pulled back.
"You wanna come inside?", Lando then asked, nodding towards the papaya hospitality. You hesitated for a second but nodded and resisted the urge to grab the driver’s hand.
He smiled for a few pictures and waved at fans before opening the door for you.
"Lando, debrief is at 6", Jon reminded Lando before said boy grabbed your hand and dragged you towards his driver room.
He pushed the door shut behind you and unzipped his orange race suit, the black fireproof coming to show.
"These are so hot", you muttered, letting your intrusive thoughts take over as you trailed your fingers along his chest. Lando chuckled and pulled you closer by the waist. "You wanna take ‘em off?", he joked teasingly but the glint in his eyes told you he really wouldn’t mind if you did.
You chuckled and pulled his lips on yours, his tongue finding its way into your mouth shortly after. Lando pushed you back until the back of your knees hit the couch and he let you down on his carefully, all while letting his hands roam up and down your body.
You whined when he sucked the gentle skin on your neck, his hand coming to rest on the back of your thigh. You put your hands on either side of his face and pulled him back up so your lips could touch again.
"Lando, have you seen- oh wow, that’s why you didn’t come to congratulate me!"
The door opened, making you push Lando away from you and scrambling up to sit straight on the couch.
Oscar stood in the doorway, putting his hands on his hips. "Respect, mate. I didn’t think you’d be brave enough", he said, turning his gaze to Lando.
You squeezed your eyes shut, praying that your best friend would keep his mouth shut.
"Huh?", Lando asked, a confused expression gracing his face. "Just because Mark has always been against his daughter dating drivers, I mean I tried when I first met her but respect mate", Oscar kept talking, now crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Mark?", Lando questioned, his confusion growing as the seconds passed. You silently begged Oscar to finally quit talking but he didn’t catch on.
"Mark, her dad? Mark Webber", Oscar explained, now confused as well.
"Your dad is Mark Webber?", Lando called, turning his head to you.
Just then your phone chimed with a new message.
dad: What’s going on with you and Lando?
taglist
please tell me if you want to be added to the taglist or text me if you want to be taken off x
@champagneproblems17 @meko-mt @scopeiguess @bwormie @d3kstar @c-losur3 @lupitakapro @endlesssummer10 @sheslikeacurse @im-a-ghost666 @m0cha-bunny @claudiajacobs @noncannonships @light-23 @impossibleapricotlampbat @somewherewedontknow @asfaraslifegets @spookystitchery @brune77e @alilstressyandlotdepressy @berrnuu @leclercdream @urfavsgf @neodeliightt @eiffel-hood @tbsloneely @maplesyrupsainz @amalies-stuff @bicchaan @planet-faerie @landorris @soleilgrec @nikfigueiredo @basicchelsea @sarahkaliii @charlesgirl16 @phantomxoxo @lilipiggytails @honethatty12 @bingussthirdtoe @chasing-liberosis @jerricrojane @everbizzare @wherethefuckisthething @sltwins @nixisracing @a-beaverhausen @annie115 @harrysdimple05
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vinceaddams · 1 year
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Top 5 historic clothing items we should bring back into style (stockings on men, big cuffs on coats etc.)
Well I am very biased, because my everyday clothes are mostly 18th century menswear inspired, but for a list as short as 5 it's good to narrow it down!
1. 18th century shirts. Big puffy soft linen shirts. Best shirts. Comfiest shirts. Though tragically, since they get softer with more washing, they're at their absolute most comfortable right before they wear out.
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(This one's from the post where I copied the tiddy-out violinist painting.) Besides being the nicest softest comfiest, they're also the most economical, being made entirely from rectangles. And they're versatile, they look good with lots of different garments! Someday I will do a very detailed youtube tutorial for my machine sewn shirt method. I've done so many now that I think I've finally got it down.
2. Adjustable waistbands. Why did this ever stop being a thing? 18th century breeches have lacing at the back, then in the 19th century trousers have a buckle tab. Now they do not, even though we're all still humans with bodies that change. (These are my orange silk breeches)
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Do you know how many hours of my life I've spent taking in or letting out the waist seams of modern trousers? I don't know either, but I've been an alterations tailor since 2019, so it's got to be a fair amount.
All that waist altering wouldn't be necessary if they still made them adjustable! Waistlines fluctuate, so too should waistbands!!
3. Shoulder capes attached to coats. This was a thing in the late 18th century, and in the 19th, and I think into the early 20th too. It adds extra protection from the rain and snow, and it looks cool.
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(c. 1812, The Met.)
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(c. 1840-60, MFA Boston. The cape on this one is detachable)
You can make them long or short, and stack them up like pancakes or just have one. I've got 2 small ones on my corduroy coat, and one on my dark blue wool. Both cut from almost the same 1790's-ish pattern.
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I also want to give a shoutout to fitted sleeves! I love me some two piece sleeves with a distinct elbow! And the coat pockets were bigger back then.
4. Indoor caps. I don't care what era or how fancy you go with it, I just want people to wear caps indoors when it's cold! This one's super simple, it's just a tube of linen tied with a ribbon.
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(Detail from Le Marchand d’Orviétan ou l’opérateur Barri by Etienne Jeaurat, 1743.)
If it's cold in your apartment you need slippers for the feets and a cap for the head. Speaking of which.
5. Medieval hoods. This one is wayyy outside my usual era, but the wintery below-freezing weather has just started here and the knit hat I've been wearing isn't quite long enough to cover my ears. I want to make a simple hat with ear flaps, but I also wouldn't be opposed to trying to work something vaguely similar to this into my wardrobe. It looks so warm!
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(Image source. Also she has a printable pattern available!) I actually made one of these once, an entire decade ago. But it was scratchy blanket wool and I've since given it away.
That's some of the main things I think we should bring back! There are lots of other things too, like men's nightgowns, and waistcoats with little scenes embroidered on them, but for this list I tried to be mostly practical.
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selkies-world · 5 months
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Language resources
(Duolingo alternatives)
For those who no longer use or trust Duolingo, I've put together a list of resources - apps, learning methods, programmes, etc - with a list of whether or not they are free, and my personal experience with their success at teaching a language. I have also included new ones that I haven't tried yet but which I have researched; for these, I have included a rating of how much hope I have for them panning out in the future.
[I grew up bilingual & went to a multicultural school that had a student body consisting of children from refugee families who spoke little to no English. The school prioritised teaching the entire student body the minority languages, and finding a bridge language we could all learn together to fill in any gaps in communication. Due to this, I spent the last 4 years of primary school learning new languages with the rest of the student body.
We would have a school-wide lesson for 1 hour once a week - usually with a child or staff member fluent in that language leading the lesson at the front of the gym with a microphone so we could hear the correct pronunciation in time with reading the native spelling & English phonetics on the projector screen at the front of the hall. We were expected to use this language in the corridors when we spoke with teachers or staff members and when we passed by other students regardless of what their or our native languages were. As far as fluency went, we were expected to be able to recognise and say greetings and goodbyes, enquire to each others well-being, know how to ask for assistance, how to ask for medical help for various things, how to ask where the bathroom was, to give and receive directions around the entire school, as well as colours, names of things found around the school, make small talk about our activities of the day and our family, and why we were out of class - all with relative ease & mutual understanding.
We changed language after every break, so it was roughly 8 hours of lessons in each language, before we would start again with a new one.
Alongside this, the older students in the school (final 3 years, aged 9 - 11/12) would learn French 3+ hours a week for those 3 years so their writing, reading and speaking standards were acceptable for the beginning of high school. In 1 of these years, we also studied both of our native languages for the first time, for 6 weeks each.
I left traditional schooling at 11, and while I was home-schooled I taught myself Italian, Russian, and Latin from scratch, along with relearning my preferred native language, and 2 forms of sign - I used Makaton as a young child and in school as I have a form of mutism, but as a teen I realised I associated this language with the severe trauma I experienced at school, and so suffered from flashbacks and dissociative episodes when I used it. This, along with medical concerns, led to me learning BSL, and then SSE. Today, I use a combination of English, SSE and my native language in everyday settings. I have a mental block for learning French due to it being heavily associated with my trauma.
I am saying all this not for sympathy, but so that you can see firstly how much I enjoy and value learning languages, and in order to show my experience levels with learning languages. I've used, tried, and tested all of the learning methods I will be talking about in this post. I have either used or done a lot of research into the apps and programmes discussed in this post.
And yes, I have prioritised ones that teach endangered languages, indigenous languages and languages that aren't often included in language media such as Hebrew, various forms of Arabic, Navajo, Gaelic, and others. I have also included ones that teach and / or document sign languages and sign communication systems.]
Please note that the following lists are arranged in no particular order. They are not ranked best to worst or by any other X to Y ratio. They are simply ranked according to how I remembered, tested, or found each of them.
Apps
1: Fluyo.
Rating for hope / faith: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: n/a
Cost: unknown
Status: not yet publicly available
Please note that while Fluyo is not yet available, its Kickstarter page is flourishing, its app is in development, and the developer is a man of colour who has continued to devote himself to this app and its development despite rising health concerns, developing a life-changing disabling condition, and numerous set-backs. His YouTube channel is very educational, and he has also written a book on language-learning. If you would like to know more, you can learn about him here. Fluyo is set up like a computer game with multiple cute characters who are interactive rather than stationary, and I genuinely have high hopes for it once it is released.
2: Babble
Personal experience: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free trial for the first lesson, but a paid subscription is required for any further lessons
Status: available to download
3: Language Drops
Personal experience: ☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆
Cost: free for some lessons, but a paid account is required for access to all lessons
Status: available to download
4: Fluent forever
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: free access to basic lessons to build your confidence with the language, but a paid subscription is required for unlimited access
Status: available to download
5: Lingopie
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: free trial for 7 days, but a paid subscription is required after that for continued use of the app
Status: available to download
6: Fluenday
Hope for: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to download
7: Language flower
Hope for: ☆
Languages available: ☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆
Cost: free, as far as I can tell
Status: available to download
8: Sign BSL / Daniel Mitchell
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to download
Please note that Daniel Mitchel offers a BSL version of this, along with an ASL version.
9: Bright BSL / sign lab
Personal experience: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness:☆☆☆☆
Cost: free for some lessons + premium for all other lessons
Status: available to download
Please note that Sign Lab offers this app for the following sign languages: BSL (Bright BSL), ASL (ASL Bloom), LSF (Pause LSF / Langue des Signes, yoDGS, Libras (LibrasLab), Italian Sign Language (MeLISegno), and Toleio: Norsk Tegnspråk.
10: BSL zone
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to download
11: Reverso context
Personal experience: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to download
This is less for learning a language, more for quick reference / fact-checking a translation.
12: Pimsleur
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free 7 day trial, but a paid subscription is required for continued use
Status: available to download
13: Memrise
Personal experience: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free for introductory levels, with a premium option to unlock majority of lessons
Status: available to download
14: Busluu
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: Free, with a premium option to download lessons, more repetition, and extra lessons
Status: available to download
15: Hello Talk
Hope for: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to download
16: Rosetta Stone
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: monthly subscription is required
Status: available to download
17: Lingo Deer
Personal experience: ☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, with a premium option for all lessons beyond Basics 1
Status: available to download
18: Beelinguapp
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: free trial, but a subscription is required for total access
Status: available to download
19: Lingvist
Personal experience: ☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆ (though it does have an option to suggest other languages for them to add, and which language you would like to learn from, and they'll email you when / if that language becomes available)
Effectiveness: unknown
Cost: free
Status: available to download
[Please note this one is not photosensitive friendly or seizure friendly. I had to close the app as soon as I opened it due to the design on their opening page, and even when I reopened it and clicked straight through, their colour scheme was still upsetting to my senses.]
20: Lingvano
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free for a few lessons, but for access to all lessons, a paid subscription is required
Status: available to download
21: Duocards
Personal experience: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, but a more advanced version is available for premium accounts
Status: available to download
22: Chatterbug
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free with limited access, but a paid version is available
Status: available to download
23: Mango languages learning
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free trial, with a premium account required for further access
Status: available to download
24: EdX
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost:
Status: available to download
Please note that EdX is an app which houses courses on multiple subjects, not specifically a language-learning app.
25: Mondly Languages
Personal experience: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆
Cost: free, though it does repeatedly offer you a subscription account for an experience catered to you and your interests
Status: available to download
Please note this one may be triggering to those who are photosensitive or whose senses are upset by rapid moving gifs. There is a crown in the top right-hand corner which vibrates very quickly.
26: Speakly
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free trial, with a subscription account required for further use
Status: available to download
27: Pocket sign
Hope for: ☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, as far as I can tell
Status: available to download
28: Lingo legend language learning
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, though I think there may be a premium option either available but unmentioned, or in the works
Status: available to download
Please note that this app offers you the chance to vote for which languages should be added to its interface, so they can prioritise which ones to fund.
29: INC sign language app
Hope for: ☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to download
For those with religious trauma, please note that INC stands for Iglesia Ni Cristo, and the INC Sign Language App "is a project of the Christian Society for the Deaf under the Christian Family Organizations Office of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ)". While it does not appear to prioritise religious content, the content does feature people dressed in suits as if for attending a church sermon.
30: My signing time
Hope for: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: 14 day free trial, and a subscription is required after this point
Status: available to download
Please note that this one is aimed at babies / toddlers & families.
32: Falou
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, with a premium option if you want to learn more than 1 language & unlock additional courses in your chosen language
Status: available to download
33: Earworms
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: free for the demo, then after that, the lessons are broken into two "volumes" to buy individually, or 1 bonus-pack which contains both to buy once at a slightly reduced cost.
Status: available to download
Please note that Earworms used to be available as CD lessons, which is when I first used them. The CDs were in Volumes and were more expensive than all costs on this app. I used them 10 years ago and still remember what I learned despite not getting to use the language very often, so I can guarantee their method is very effective.
34: Qlango
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, with a premium option for the final 3 levels
Status: available to download
Please note that this one is laid out more like a semi-immersive lesson plan rather than a game. However, it is currently my favourite one.
Other resources
1: Signing hands (YouTube)
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆
Cost: free
Status: available to watch
2: Military style
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆☆
Cost: n/a
Status: available to begin for free, though it will be difficult for you to find an environment that allows you to experience this authentically. If you would like to learn more about what the military style is, I will speak about it further below.
3: Textbooks / Reading materials
Personal experience: ☆☆☆☆
Languages available: ☆☆☆☆☆
Effectiveness: ☆☆☆☆
Cost: free, or otherwise up to you (what you are willing / able to spend on it)
Status: available to start whenever you feel like it
You can find numerous language-learning resources listed at the end of this post. I also recommend buying an up-to-date dictionary and thesaurus in your chosen language, and studying it. Study the grammar noted in the front, and then actually read the dictionary. It will seem strange, but it will benefit you in the long-run. Make notes as you go, highlight and colour some things in as you see fit.
Learning methods
1: Immersion
Over and over again, we are told that immersion is the best, most effective way to learn a language. This is because this is how we often think children learn languages - and we're partly right about that.
Immersion is the process of immersing yourself in the chosen language, with one single choice: learn the language, or suffer.
If our brains have to choose between struggling to pronounce a few words while gesturing to something we want and clinging onto sounds we hear like trying to hold onto a wet otter, or not getting what we want, we're going to choose to sound & look like an idiot, pointing and saying basic sounds, even if trying to remember the reply is like trying to remember Pi.
With enough time, though, we pick the language up remarkably well when we have no choice but to pick it up. This is the method which has us mimicking accents and gestures and expressions in order to best gain what we want: to express ourselves, our needs and our desires.
However, immersion is often critiqued because unless you have the means to fly to the country that speaks your desired language and live there with 0 influence from your native language for 6+ months... Well, you're not fully immersed, are you? Language apps try to give you an immersive experience, but you can always put your phone down. Depending on where you were educated, you may have had an immersive language class, where you had to learn the language or not be able to join in and so failed by default.
Good ways to mimic immersion are: finding radio channels in your chosen language and watching TV shows in your chosen language without subtitles, and listening to music in your chosen language.
2: Flashcards
Flashcards often tend to be a popular way to test your memory and retention of a particular subject. However, using them to begin learning a language can lead to a loss of motivation.
If you are creating the flashcards yourself, I would recommend creating them in 2 sets: 1 which is the traditional flashcard (your first language OR a picture on one side, and the translation on the other side), and 1 which has twice as many, with only 1 side being used. This second set should be designed like playing cards - the word or picture on one side, and a plain back.
This second set can be used when you're wanting to boost your motivation or confidence - arrange the cards face down, and begin playing the children's game of Pairs. Another option would be Snap.
When you return to using the traditional flashcards, you'll have a better foundation to build on if you've taught yourself to see these as fun, and taught your brain to associate these cards with quickfire responses - such as are brought to the surface during childrens' cards games.
3: Stickers
This is a method which seems obvious once it's pointed out, but seems confusing if you've never done it before.
Simply put, using stickers is when you create or buy stickers with the translation of everyday objects, words and phrases in your chosen language, and put them up around your house. "Door" goes on the door. "Cupboard" goes on the outside of a cupboard, "bread" goes on the inside. "Fridge" goes on the fridge door. "Milk" goes behind the milk so you see it every time you pick the milk up. "Lightswitch" goes above / under the lightswitch. Etc etc etc.
This is a memory retention technique used for multiple scenarios. Nurseries and schools may sometimes have the Makaton sign for something shown in a large diagram stuck to the walls / surfaces. Carehomes may have the names & purposes of objects stuck to the surfaces / objects in the dominant language, for the residents with memory issues or communication barriers.
While this is a good technique for quickfire memory boosts, it can be a slow way to learn a language from scraps, and is better suited for when you are semi-familiar with the written form of the language you are learning. It is also a good way to get everyone involved, as everyone in the home will be interacting with the stickers.
4: Forced conversation
This one is controversial, but can be very effective if it is approached with an open mind, clear communication and previously-agreed upon rules and lines.
The method of forced conversation is exactly what it sounds like: it is when you are engaged in a conversation in your target language, in which the person whom you are conversing with refuses to speak your original language. However, no matter how poor your language skills are, or how uncomfortable you get, they do not stop the conversation, and you do not let to leave the situation until they are satisfied you have communicated well enough, and have understood them. This will usually be "proven" by them giving you instructions, asking a specific question, or requesting you do something for them - if you follow the action through, you have understood them, if you try to give a vague answer and do not do the task, you have not understood them, and the interaction is forced to continue. Again.
This method is controversial because it is not immediately inclusive or welcoming for those who are shy, have anxiety, any form of Mutism, or who have a neurodiversiry or learning disability which impacts their communication. In formal situations, it is often these people who fall behind or get put off from learning a language if forced conversations are the only method they have the option of.
However, if there are adaptions made and accommodation previously discussed and provided, this can still be a viable method which is inclusive to all.
If the person speaking your target language is previously informed of your communication issues or complications, and are instructed in how to accommodate you (ie: Do they need to point at something, or use picture cards as prompts? Do you prefer using picture cards? Do you get distracted if they use hand gestures? Do you need fidget toys provided? Will it be easier for you if you are not forced to maintain eye contact? Will it be better for you if one or both of you are moving around rather than sitting down directly across from each other? Do the lights need to be altered in your environment to make the sensory experience less overwhelming? Do you use noise cancelling headphones? Do you focus better if there is music on in the background? Are there certain tones of voice or volume levels that need to be avoided? Does constantly changing body language stress you out? Do you have a stutter or speech impediment that may impact your pronunciation? Etc.)
Accomodaring these issues, and coming up with a signal to take a break (ie, if you have issues telling the difference between "I am angry at you personally" and "I am tired today" in vocal tones and facial expressions, will you get upset if you think the person is angry at you for not knowing their language? If so, do you need a signal to take a break so you can clearly communicate your stress, and they can give you an answer in your original language and clarify anything which is upsetting or confusing you, before continuing the conversation in your target language?) or to speak in simpler terms? Is their one subject you can talk about particularly well (a hyperfixation) which they can use in the conversation to help you engage?
All of these accommodations may seem intimidating, but if all those involved are aware of these accommodations going into the conversation, it can make the interaction much more positive and productive.
Forced conversation uses the same logic as immersion: if your brain has to choose between looking / sounding like an idiot who stumbles over words, or a very uncomfortable situation which lasts longer each time you make a mistake, your brain will choose to look like an idiot in order to achieve what it wants.
5: Repetition
Repetition is a very common method of learning a language, though it is often criticised for being ineffective.
It is when a phrase or word is said by one party, and repeated by another. If the second party does not pronounce it correctly, the first party repeats it again. This continues until the second party gets it correct. Then the pattern is repeated with another phrase / word. Once a certain number of words have been said correctly by the second party, the first party will return to the start and repeat the process again, with the second party having to say the phrases / words correctly multiple times before being able to move onto the next. The entire process continues in this loop until the second party is saying things correctly with ease.
This method is part of what makes up both immersion, flashcards and military style methods for language learning. It can also be used with textbook learning.
However, it is often critiqued because once the second party is away from the first party and left to their own devices, their confidence in their previous pronunciation will falter, and when they return to the lesson or need to use the language again, they'll be at a lower level of achievement than they were when they left. It is also very tedious, and can become boring.
6: Music
When I spoke about immersion, I briefly mentioned music. I also said that we assume children learn language via immersion. However, as adults we often overlook something else which plays a crucial role in teaching children language: music.
Children learn language, rhythm, speech patterns, and turn-of-phrase via songs, rhymes, riddles, fables, tongue-twisters, and music.
This is why it can be priceless to learn songs in your chosen language. Lullabies. Nursery rhymes. Children's songs. Pop songs that are ridiculed as being too simple or written without talent. Theme tunes from children's shows. Traditional rhymes and tongue-twisters. Most of these can be found via a long time on YouTube.
Music works in a unique way, worming its way into our minds. Our brains are hardwired to recognise and remember patterns - and music is made up of patterns. This is why we get songs stuck in our heads for no reason. Being able to use this to your advantage to learn or remember a new language can be an amazing experience.
7: Subtitles and language swap
This is a method which can be useful when you are learning more than one language, but are more familiar with one than the other.
It is where you watch / listen to a certain media in 1 language, while reading the subtitles / lyrics in another language. This way, the language you are more familiar with / fluent in will fill the gaps of understanding the less familiar one.
You can then challenge yourself by removing one language (muting the media & only reading the subtitles, or removing the subtitles and only listening to the provided audio) and seeing how well you follow along / understand.
This can also be used with your target language and your original language.
8: Writing it down
This is another form of repetitive learning which can be useful when studying / retaining for an exam, but can also be useful when you are first learning the written-to-verbal patterns of a language.
One method is longterm recall: this is where you write down short notes, words & phrases in your target language 1+ hour after engaging with your learning resources. This tests how much you retained. It is a physical show of how much you have actually learned.
Another method is short term recall & build-up: this is where you choose a single word / phrase, and write it as lines (Ducks are green and brown. Ducks are green and brown. Ducks are green and brown. Ducks are-) until your page is full. Then go back to the start and write over the top of your own writing, staying as close to your original marks as possible. Repeating this pattern multiple times until your page rips or the words become close to unreadable tricks your brain into focusing morenon your handwriting than on the language - as such, you will start to see the phrase / word as a pattern to follow, and it is then left to your subconscious mind to retain it while your conscious mind prioritises hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
9: Textbook
If you're more academically inclined, you may prefer a textbook method of study. This is the style used in most night classes and / or some traditional education classes.
Textbook methods have everything arranged by date and time, and learning goals are broken down & laid out according to a set calender: by x, you will have learned this amount, by y, you will have learned this amount, so on so forty until the final set date when you will be "fluent" or a certain level of reasonably fluent.
Most of the time with this method, you will be following guidelines, activities and lesson plans previously arranged in a chosen textbook, and that textbook will be your sole or primary resource.
10: Bilingual books (page by page)
Using page-by-page bilingual books can be confusing and is often overlooked in regards to adult education - however, it can be somewhat interesting to try.
On one page, the text will be written in your original language - on the opposite page, the same text will be repeated in your target language. Seeing the two side-by-side allows you to read your target language and instantly refer back to your original language if you get stuck on a word or phrase.
There is another form of bilingual books often given to children: line-by-line. These feature the image / picture, with the original text written clearly and simply, usually no more than 1 or 2 sentences per page. Directly underneath them will be the translated text written in a different font.
11: Same story / movie, different language
While this can be a fun method, it isn't always the most beneficial if you're looking for accuracy - however, it can be useful if you're wanting to test yourself.
It uses a similar logic to the subtitles & language swap method: you put on a movie you are familiar with, but you put it on in your target language with 0 subtitles. This allows you to engage with the language while using the familiar movie / story as a bridge.
12: Military Style
This is perhaps the most effective technique to use of you have a set amount of time to reach a specified level of understanding / fluency in a language. However, it is also one of the most difficult to fully replicate yourself.
Military style is a form of forced immersion combined with forced conversation and repetitive loops, but with reward and punishment techniques to make you prioritise learning the language over your own comfort zone / personal boundaries.
An example of this style would be party 1 having party 2 engage in forced conversation in front of an audience, then having them repeat a phrase they got wrong over and over until they get it right - all in front of the audience, with a rule set which forbids party 2 from sitting down or disengaging the interaction until they have finished the task. Nobody in the audience is allowed to help party 2. Party 1 continues to push party 2 outside of their comfort zone by having them continue the conversation, repeating any mistakes until they are corrected, and the conversation does not end until it is completed.
After that, party 2 has to do 100 push-ups while repeating the phrase they got wrong the most - and they have to pronounce it correctly while doing the push-ups. Any mistakes, and they go back to 1, regardless of if they were at 7 or 98.
This combined punishment of mild public humiliation and physically pushing their body beyond its limits makes the brain see learning the language as the solution to ending this treatment - as such, party 2 will be far less likely to repeat those mistakes again.
Alongside this, there is forced immersion, in the sense that nobody is allowed to speak their original language in any context or to anyone - they must use the target language or be ignored at best or ridiculed at worst.
Understandably, this method is difficult to replicate on your own or outside of the army.
However, there are some tokens which can be taken from it: notably forced repetition & physical exercise.
Set yourself a challenge using any of the previously mentioned learning methods or apps. Keep note of your mistakes.
At the end of the challenge (say 30 minutes of learning) count up all your mistakes. Now do a push-up / squat / pull-up / sit-up / etc for each mistake you made while repeating the phrase out loud. If you stall too long on making a connection in your mind or stumble over the sounds, start counting from 1 again. Repeat this until you're continuously getting the mistakes correct.
At the end, go back to your lesson and repeat it. Did you get less mistakes?
Thoughts & considerations when it comes to learning a language - for language savants and novices alike
"If you don't use it, you lose it" is probably one of the most hated phrases in terms of learning anything new - and especially in terms of learning a language. I think a better expression would be "If you don't make room for it, you won't keep it".
If you don't make time to learn a language, you won't learn it.
If you don't challenge yourself to reach a certain standard, you won't achieve any standard.
If you don't make the effort to retain the new information, you'll forget it.
When you learn a new language, you have to make room for it in your mind. You have to be willing to make mistakes and continue, knowing you're not doing it perfectly. You have to be willing to make it a priority, even if nobody else in your life sees it as one. You have to be willing to be frustrated and tired and bored. You have to be willing to get every single thing wrong and try again. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable with the new sounds you're making and you have to be willing to be patient while your brain digs out a new burrow of tunnels and connections which didn't previously exist.
If you genuinely want to learn a new language, you have to make room for it in your mind and life. Even when sometimes it's a tight fit.
Resources, as promised
Reading, writing & textbook materials:
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Structured notebook 1
Structured notebook 2
Structured notebook 3
Something worth checking out 1
Other things to invest in:
A dictionary in your target language
Picture cards
Flashcards
Stickers
Books in your target language
Children's books in your target language
Nursery rhyme books in your target language
Magazine subscriptions in your target language on a topic you find fascinating
Newspapers in your target language
Poetry in your target language
1 paid language learning app - a lot of the time, you get what you pay for. Not always, but usually.
Notebooks, stationary, etc
Headphones / earplugs
Media in your target language
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museum-spaces · 10 months
Text
One of my favourite things from my new job;
belligerently enforcing break times and end of shift times.
It is brilliant. I love it. I give out warnings [you have 5 minutes before I kick you out] and drag people away from their desks if they haven't had break. I have only had to hover menacingly once.
Everyday I wait until about 1-2 to take my break, stick my head in my second's office and ask if she has taken hers. She always deflates because she hasn't. So we go outside together with Ianto and talk shop.
She has spent the last 10 years working through her lunch and staying late without claiming her hours. It sounds like all 3 of the previous full-time employees did that.
Over the last year or so she realized that it isn't sustainable but she is struggling to make the shift. Thus, shop talk.
She is also very happy that I am enforcing breaks and home times for the contract employees too. She recognizes that her thinking regarding work/life balance is... disordered. She's told me before that she doesn't quite 'get' when people can't work full time and school full time because she did it her whole career. But also recognizes that that is a 'her' problem, not a healthy attitude.
I will drag this museum into a proper, healthy workplace if it kills me.
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miloformula123fan · 1 month
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Could you do fic for Toto Wolff with wife reader? He opted to hold her hand during the celebration of the Merc's double podium because there were too many people. "Move through the crowd while holding hands so as to not lose one another – and not letting go afterwards". Just something fluff and comfort. Add something if it's not right. Tag me later!! Thanks :)))
sorry it's so short! but I loved writing this fluff, and honestly churned it out in like 1 hour.
also if you have older requests i am working on them, I am just also working on school work.
luckily, all my assessments are nearly done, and holidays are next week so yay! more updates :)
Please keep requesting - y'all have awesome ideas we agree on a lot of stuff :) - my guidelines are here, and if you want some prompts, they are here.
also feel free to come in and start chatting to me in my asks, would love to get to know y'all better
and if you want to be added to my taglist lmk :)
toto wolff x wife!reader
“AND THAT IS A MERCEDES 1-2 TO THROW THIS CHAMPIONSHIP WIDE OPEN AT THE SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX AND 3 YEARS AFTER WINNING HIS LAST GRAND PRIX HERE, LEWIS HAMILTON HAS WON HIS 104TH CAREER VICTORY AND WHAT A WAY TO DO IT IN HIS LAST SEASON WITH MERCEDES.”
The rest of Crofty’s speech was drowned out by the cheers of the garage around Y/N as the team who had gone so long without winning, especially Lewis’ side of the garage cheered and yelled and as the pit mechanics came back from where they’d been on the fence yelling and contributed to more noise.
Y/N felt a little overwhelmed. She hadn’t really been in the garage since 2021, due to her husband’s tensions during the year and her wish to continue to just focus on her own career. She tried to insist she was the team’s bad luck charm after Abu Dhabi, until people had pointed out that she’d also been there during the dominant 2020 season. And as she had spent 2022 and 2023, which also were not great years for Mercedes, she’d agreed to do a lot more of her work remotely and come to the grand prixs. She insisted that she was bad luck at the first grand prix, and Toto had basically dragged her along to Saudi.
Maybe she was their good luck charm, she thought, as the garage exploded when Max and Sergio had crashed into each other, making both the red bulls retire. The Ferrari’s had been having problems all weekend but no one truly hoped even when they were sitting in a 1-2.
At least until they’d crossed the line. And then they’d had hope. And then the celebrations had begun. Someone had already found champagne and begun spraying it around, no one thinking about the podium, until all of a sudden everyone was and they were all rushing around and Y/N was all caught up in the rush and being pushed around by everyone, trying to find Toto until she felt a hand slip into hers.
She jumped back, not wanting some strange man holding her hand until she looked up and realised that it was in fact her husband who was trying to hold her hand.
“Sorry…didn’t realise it was you.”
“That’s okay Liebe. I’ve got you. Now lets go watch Lewis on the podium, okay?”
The second she nodded in agreement, Toto slipped his hand back into Y/N’s as he tried to push through the crowd again. Being tall and the team principal helped, and as they weren't coming for the pre podium celebrations, which is where everyone else was rushing towards. As the drivers were hugged and yelled at again by the mechanics (honestly how were they going to have voices tomorrow, and how were the red bull mechanics’ voices not very raspy after doing this practically every week for the past few years). Y/N thought she was going to have to cancel her meetings for the next few weeks as she would just be unable to talk.
Toto pushed through the throng of mechanics, pushing through the Mercedes and Williams colours everywhere, trying to get a good position at the front, and then the announcers began, and Toto and Y/N were wedged against the barrier and they decided to stop and watch the podium.
Y/N watched as Albon mounted the podium, grinning to the feral screams of the Williams mechanics to her left. She’d ended up wedged between James and Toto, smiling at James’ excitement on Alex being on the podium. She smiled at him as the noise from the Williams side of the podium celebration. He smiled back, almost bouncing up and down by the excitement of what Williams was achieving. And as Lewis, George and Bono bounded onto the podium, bringing up a round of screaming and even Y/N raised her hands. And as she raised her right hand, she could feel Toto’s hand, still intertwined with hers. She smiled, locking eyes with Toto.
His eyes twinkled as he smiled down, before his attention was brought back to the podium and yelling at the drivers.
The German and British anthems blared out, and while Y/N knew most of the words of the British anthem (it was mostly just the same words on repeat ‘god save our king’). And while Toto was able to sing the German anthem while Y/N butchered it here and there. She loved listening to her husband singing or talking in his natural language. It was very hot, if Y/N had to admit it.
As they left the podium to go back to the garage, Toto had still not let go of her hand as they continued winding between what felt like millions of people crowding the pit lane.
When they finally returned to the Mercedes garage, and walked up to Toto’s office, Toto finally let go of Y/N’s hand and started to gather up his work and laptop to get ready to return to the hotel.
“Hey, toto?”
“Yes liebe?”
“Why were you holding my hand?”
“Well, I didn’t want to get lost, and I didn’t want you to get lost, liebe.”
“Yeah, but why didn’t you let go of my hand when we got to the podium”
“Do I need an excuse to hold your hand, darling?”
“No but…”
“Then I kept holding your hand because I wanted to keep holding your hand. Is that a good enough excuse?”
“Okay Liebe.”
Toto put all his files and laptop in his left hand after shrugging on his overcoat, and then offered his right hand to Y/N.
“Can I keep holding your hand liebe?”
“Of course you can darling.”
---
taglist: @leosxrealm, @pear-1206, @tallrock35, @wolf-knights, @janeholt3
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tossawary · 3 months
Text
The 3-day trial system in "Ace Attorney" is absolutely nuts. I know the game is intentionally making fun of corrupt & dysfunctional legal systems and is also upping the pacing to create a sense of urgency & excitement, but I truly underestimated just how hysterically funny it would be to play this trial system. They have created some WILD logistical worldbuilding.
Like, someone gets murdered on Day 1. Phoenix Wright finds out about this on Day 2 and goes to talk to them. This person has less than 24 hours to find their own legal representation before a public defender is assigned to them, and Phoenix has to do his own investigating before the trial tomorrow morning. Day 3 is the first day of the trial, in which Phoenix is doing everything he can to prove innocence and somehow also solve the actual murder in the middle of court, and hopefully at least get the Judge to agree that they need another day of investigation and interrogation. There's an in-universe rule that a trial can only go for 3 days, so by Day 5, the third day of the trial, this nonsense needs to be wrapped up. The first game doesn't explicitly say that this is a death penalty system, but it's heavily implied at points, so depending on the case, Phoenix has THREE DAYS to potentially SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.
And this is all hilariously, horribly BONKERS for Phoenix, but it's just as awful when you start getting into all the little bureaucratic details of trying to make this legal system actually work. A public defender might get a case at 5 PM for a murder trial at 10 AM the next morning?! (I know public defenders are often horribly overworked IRL. This is part of what the game is mocking.) Autopsies are being performed within, like, 12 hours of the murder?! They're getting results back from the forensics labs within 24 hours?! How much of the city budget is SPENT on law enforcement?! The overtime hours must be horrifying. No wonder things are constantly falling through the cracks; people are fucked if their defense attorneys are on vacation that day or if the witnesses aren't answering their phones that day.
And, also, like, did the courthouse not have OTHER trials scheduled for that day? Are they reserving a courtroom in this courthouse for emergency murder cases? Even if there's a 3-day limit to speed things up, it's a big city, shit happens, how are they seeing people this quickly? Are there just separate courthouses for all crimes below various degrees of murder? (Obviously, family law and small claims and minor crimes and such must be handled somewhere else, but still.) Or are people in Japanifornia getting last minute calls from the overworked scheduling people at the courthouse like, "Hi, witness for an assault trial, your testimony has been rescheduled because someone was murdered last night. This could take 1-3 days. We'll let you know." Then that poor witness is like, "Shit, I took a day off of work for this??? I have to call my boss again now. Fuck you!!!"
It's tempting to write an AA fic about a series of murders in this world, in which people are obviously being framed for these crimes but it's not clear who the real murderer is, because this is all happening to keep postponing a different trial, because murder cases apparently go to trial immediately in the AA universe as #1 priority. Someone needs this extra time to steal the evidence from the police station and frame someone else for their crime, because if this postponed trial goes to court, then a different, older, unsolved murder is sure to come to light.
This features a public defender OC who is... the most exhausted person... of all time... trying to hold the line of human rights. The burnout rate must be horrifying.
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potato-lord-but-not · 2 months
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“There’s something aesthetically pleasing about the word noon. Its palindromic spelling feels appropriate for the middle of the day, when the sun is directly overhead and the hands on the clock are pointed upward in a straight line. It’s even spelled with letters found more or less in the middle of the alphabet.” (“What Time Is…” par. 1)
Perhaps unfortunately for my argument, this article goes on to explain how the word ‘noon’ originally referred to the ninth hour of the day, that of course being 3 o’clock; because the sun and with it the people rose at six. It is derived from the Latin word for ‘ninth’, ‘nonus’. The word’s meaning apparently shifted during the twelfth century, because of the prayers of monastic orders. The second of three daily prayers would occur at noon, and the time of this prayer eventually became earlier, landing at twelve. This is believed to have been so the monks could break their fast sooner. Of course, this is not universally agreed upon and other theories include shifts in seasonal daylit hours, and European Medieval people’s struggles to have accurate timekeeping.
None of my sources suggest that three o’clock was considered the middle of the day at any point in time, therefore I would like to argue that the word noon did not originally refer to the middle of the day, but eventually, when it was given to the time that is more deserving of that title, came to do so. I believe that the denotation “middle of the day” is something that is both scientifically and culturally awarded, and that for whatever reason the people (however unknowingly) creating the Old/Middle English language believed twelve o’clock to be so. If you wish to create your own cultural norms, by all means go ahead, just remember that the word culture refers to a group, so you’ll need to find some people who agree with you. (Which, hey, maybe you already have, maybe most people agree with you and I’m just being pedantic.)
Anyways um hi, sorry about this, I did in fact make a tumblr account solely to send you this, because the idea of doing so was too funny to me to not.  Also, I just discovered that the Oxford English Dictionary website has a pay wall these days and I am DEVASTATED I tell you, devastated. But yeah, I’ll stop, have a good weekend, I love you, I hope your morning spent on public transit hasn’t been too boring.
Works Cited
“Culture Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024.
“Noon (n.).” Online Etymology Dictionary, www.etymonline.com/word/noon. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024.
“What Time Is ‘Noon’?” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/noon-history-ninth-prayer-hour-nones. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024.
OFC you’re leaving citations on A TUMBLR ASK OH MY GODDD anyway I do believe I’m starting a cultural shift because everyone I’ve asked so far has NOT said mid-day is noon they’ve ranged from 11-1 to 1-2 (albeit a bit earlier than my 2-3 answer but STILL)
Yknow what fuck it let’s do a poll bb
anyywayyyy everyone say hi to my girlfrienddd give them a nice warm welcome to tumblr <3
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mylovelies-docx · 6 months
Text
Sorry, I Love You - Part 10
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?! I'm finally posting Part 10 after an unplanned/unexpected hiatus?
Yes. I am. Sorry for the long wait!
Plot: You and Bucky have a good thing going - best of friends that also have more than a little chemistry between the sheets. Everything is fine until you develop feelings for the man who doesn't want a relationship. What will happen when Bucky finds out?
C/W: Angst, HYDRA experimentation, mentions of death. (Dear sweet Hyunjin in the gif below also a CW for myself and other Stays)
Word Count: 3,075
Tag List: NOW CLOSED! If you'd like to keep up with this story, please follow my blog and turn on notifications! ❤️ you :)
[Prologue][Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4][Part 5][Part 6][Part 7][Part 8][Part 9]
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You hear Bucky’s key rattle in the front door and the soft snick as it closes downstairs. You’d arrived at your shared home only minutes ago, but that was plenty of time for you to race upstairs, lock your door, and start bawling into the pillow. You hiccup and choke, suffocating the sounds into the cotton fabric clenched between your teeth. 
Why?! Why did Bucky have to go and say that shit? As much as you had hoped and begged the universe for Bucky to say those words to you earlier this year, it responds to your pleas now?! You’ve spent months resigning yourself to having him as a friend only – that’s what he said he wanted! 
Why would he change his mind? Is it because he’s had a change of heart? Doubtful. Bucky was very certain in his decision to shut you down and out of his life. So what? Is it because you’re hanging out with Petre? Is he jealous? How? Why?
Bucky’s actions towards you tonight make no sense. Why would he say something that he knew would upset you? And if he didn’t think they’d upset you, what’d he expect? That you’d run and leap into his arms, no more words needed? Why the hell would he think that’s what would happen? He can’t just act like he didn’t completely eviscerate your heart that night in the alley and that morning in the kitchen. 
Those days are burned into your memory, not a day goes by that you don’t remember the way your words affected him and his response. He was so betrayed and angry that he lashed out at you for admitting that you wanted more than the no-strings-attached, friends-with-benefits situation that you had. 
But now – now! – he wants to say you could be together? Together in what way? As fuck-buddies again? Hell no. There’s no way that you will ever put yourself through that pain and hardship again. Not for him, not for anybody. You want something real. 
You’d wanted something real with Bucky, but he’d shot you down as soon as you’d brought it up.
Bucky’s footsteps shuffle from the front door and up the stairs, stopping just outside your door. You hold your breath but continue to flinch as your lungs spasm on unuttered cries.
A soft rap sounds at your door and Bucky murmurs your name softly into the doorjamb. You squeeze your eyes shut and keep your voice as calm and level as possible, but it still cracks when you say his name. “Leave me alone, Bucky.”
“Doll, I –”
“I don’t want to hear it!” You respond vehemently, chucking your wet pillow at the door. It smacks against the wood with a thwump and lands in a sad heap on the floor. It looks just like how you feel. “Just go away.”
You can hear Bucky suck in a shaky breath, but you refuse to picture his watery eyes and quivering lip. He has a right to feel like shit, but you are under no obligation to try and assuage his guilt when he’s the one that caused this whole mess.
His bare feet tread across the hallway and into his bedroom, his bedroom door barely making any sound as he closes it behind him. His shower starts up a few seconds later and stays on for nearly an hour. After that, his bed creaks and there’s not another sound to be heard.
You don’t sleep that night.
***
“I need to leave.”
“What?” Nat hisses through the phone. It may be 4 am here, but the team is having dinner together right now back in New York. Nat’s whispering voice is her attempt at keeping this conversation between the two of you while she walks away from the dining room to talk. You can hear her boot-clad leg thunk, thunk, thunk its way across the hardwood floors as she finds privacy.
“I need to get away from Bucky,” you explain further.
“What did that fucker do this time?” Nat questions menacingly, already gearing up to kick Bucky’s ass with no information.
You heave a sigh and watch your breath fog in the air, the cloud hanging heavy in front of your face before slowly dissipating in the humid, cold air. “He… he said something about us. As in, him and I. Like we could go back to how we were.” You bite your chapped lips and worry the dry pieces of skin with your teeth. “I didn’t handle it very well.”
Nat is silent for a long moment, the other end of the line buzzing over the long distance. Finally, she says, “He said he wanted to be friends with benefits again?”
“Well not exactly,” you hedge. “He got all weird and jealous when I was hanging out with Petre last night like I always do. We got into a fight and he said that it could be us sneaking off together like we used to and I just… I lost it.” You hurriedly wipe an oncoming tear out of your eye, surprised you’re even hydrated enough to produce anything after last night’s sob fest. You suck in a shaky breath and continue. “Nat, I can’t do it again. I can’t.”
“I know, honey,” Nat consoles, her voice soft as she shushes you. “I won’t let you do that to yourself again, either. You know I’m here for you – and so is the rest of the team.” You make a questioning noise at that last part and Nat explains. “Well… the whole team kind of knows why you left.”
“...they do?” You press the palm not holding your phone against your forehead, pushing hard to focus on anything but the embarrassment the situation makes you feel. You chuckle humorlessly and say, “Everybody must think I’m pathetic now.”
“We absolutely do not,” Nat states defensively. “Wanda and I were giving him so much shit after you left and no one knew why – Bucky eventually had to tell everyone after I nearly put him in a coma when he finally found the guts to spar with me.”
You do crack a genuine smile and laugh at that. “You’re telling me Wanda was mean to him?”
“Well, I mean,” Nat laughs as well, “she didn’t put smiley faces on his pancakes when she made everybody breakfast. Trust me when I say everyone noticed her displeasure with him.”
You feel the overwhelming urge to wrap Nat and Wanda up in hugs that are long overdue. The love for your friends overflows from your heart and manifests in your words: “I love you guys so much.” It’s no substitute for the hugs you want to give, but it’s all you can offer at the moment.
“We love you, too,” Nat replies. You’re both quiet for a moment, you soaking in the silence of the frozen outdoors and Nat chewing on the question you can practically hear filling her mouth and pushing against her lips.
You sigh heavily. “Out with it, Nat.”
She sucks in a breath before starting. “You know I’m always on your side…”
“Uh-huh.”
“...but are you sure that’s what Bucky meant?” she finishes.
“Huh?” you question dumbly. “What else could he have meant? He accused me of going off and fucking Petre every time we left a room – TMI, but that’s exactly what Bucky and I used to do. So when Bucky said we could be like that, I don’t see how he could have meant anything else.”
You hear a smack from Nat’s side of the line and a grumbled ‘stupid motherfucker…’ before she composes herself and resumes the conversation. “Do you want me to talk to him?”
“Not particularly,” you respond. “I’d rather you just come and get me.”
“You know I would in a heartbeat, but this mission took a long time to set up…”
“Yeah, I know,” you sigh. “I wouldn’t actually leave over this, but it’s just nice to know that you’d come and get me if I asked.”
“Always,” she says. 
You and Nat chat for a little longer before you end the call, citing your need to head into ‘work’ soon. You hang up, feeling better for having spoken with your best friend. 
Your improved mood lets you ponder on what Nat was trying to get at about Bucky’s intentions. Does she know something you don’t? The answer is likely yes, her being who she is and all. But if she has reason to doubt your interpretation of Bucky’s actions last night, don’t you owe it to yourself to find out for sure?
Mind made up, you send a short text to Bucky. 
Can we talk?
A few seconds pass as you type out a follow-up message, but you’re interrupted by Bucky’s text.
You’re not here. Where are you?
You smile at the realization that Bucky had to have sprinted to your room, saw your empty bed, and then searched the entire house in record time before sending his text.
Your stomach fills with anticipatory nervousness, but you remind yourself that you’ve already gone through hell without Bucky once, so if there’s something in the way of being in each other’s lives you need to clear it up.
I’m getting an early start at work. I’ll call you during lunch?
Please. 
***
The morning rushes by in a blur. Your tasks take you up, down, and around areas of the HYDRA facility you’ve never had access to before. You can’t be seen lingering around any certain area, but you take every opportunity to peek inside rooms and hallways when no one else is around. 
There’s one particular hallway that catches your attention – not because there’s any screaming or moaning coming from the cells along the walls, but because there is a steady beep, beep, beeping coming from multiple heart rate monitors. 
You’re unable to investigate since a scientist with dark hair stands at one of the open cells at the end of the hall. His clipboard hangs down at his side as his other hand rests on the doorjamb as he watches whatever is happening inside. He’s too far away for you to get a good look at him, but his height and build seem… familiar. You stare for long seconds as he continues to linger, wracking your brain for how you recognize him, but footsteps down your hallway cause the man to startle and scurry away in the opposite direction.
The person who scared the man away rounds the corner towards you. You recognize them as the scientist that had sent you down here in the first place. Quickening your pace, you rush over to them.
“Hello, sir. Here are the materials you requested.”
“Yes, quite,” the man says as he takes the samples from your hands. 
He riffles through the sealed bags and paper work, a concentrated look on his face. You stand politely next to him, your hands folded in front of you while you wait for a dismissal.
“Argh!” the scientist exclaims in anger. “That absolute buffoon! She can’t even label correctly.” He looks up and pins you with a cold stare. “You. Go collect the bloodwork – and do it correctly!” 
He shoves a piece of paper with the subject’s ID number and location into your chest. You reach up quickly to catch it and bow your head in deference. “Yes, sir. Right away.”
He storms off, stomping his way to presumably berate the poor technician who collected the samples the first time. 
You sigh, glancing down at your phone. It’s well-past lunchtime and you need to call Bucky, but this task needs to be completed first. You’ll call Bucky soon and hopefully he’ll apologize and clear everything up. The anxiety from this morning returns and causes your stomach to tighten and a lump to form in your throat.
It’s okay, you tell yourself. He’s been trying to apologize since it happened. If he confesses the reason behind why he got weirdly jealous last night, you will tell him that he has no reason to be – that there hasn’t been anyone for him to be jealous over. Especially not a civilian during an undercover mission. 
Would that be too much? Would he think that if you haven’t been with anyone since you left that you’re still hung up on him? Even though you told him you’d never actually loved him (a massive, bald-faced lie), would he still accept your words at face value even when your actions contradict them?
Why did he say all that last night? 
If he doesn’t want to have any kind of intimacy with you, why’d he suggest being friends with benefits again? Did he suggest being friends with benefits again? It certainly seemed like that was what he was implying, but Nat’s words from this morning makes you doubt your assumption. 
If he wasn’t talking about reverting back to your situationship that you both clearly regretted – for different reasons – then what?
Ugh, you sigh. This is too much. You’ll figure it out when you call him.
You find the medical supply closet and collect the needles, tourniquets, vials, and labels necessary for the samples. Looking down the list, you see that the location is actually the hallway you were interested in earlier. Gathering your supplies onto a cart, you head out.
***
You’ve collected two of the samples when you run into Olaf, the contact you last spoke with when you first arrived. You had just left Subject #268’s room and nearly ran right into the man.
“Oh, hello,” you greet sincerely before registering the wild look in his eyes and his bloodless face. “What’s wrong?”
Olaf shoves you back into the room and looks around frantically. “I need to go,” he states, frightened. “I need to leave and I have to take my family with me.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” you murmur, setting your hand on his shoulder. “Deep breaths.” You show him an exaggerated inhale and exhale, staring into his eyes and trying to calm him down. “Tell me what’s going on.”
The breathing exercise does nothing for him. Olaf grabs your hand and squeezes hard. “They know.”
“They know?” you question. “Who knows what?”
“They know that I contacted the Avengers!” He nearly shouts. You shush him with your other hand over his mouth, but he rips it away and continues. “They know I brought you here and that we’re trying to shut this place down.”
“Hold up,” you plead. Your heart races in your chest at the implications. “Why do you say that?”
“I heard them!” he rasps. “I heard them discussing the ‘rats in the organization’ and that they’re finally ready to get rid of them.”
“And you think that’s us? Why?”
“Why else would they mention my name and the Avengers in the same sentence moments later?!” Tears leak down Olaf’s face and his breaths heave in and out of his chest.
“Okay. Okay,” you say, a million thoughts and plans running through your mind. “Get out of here. Go get your family and run – it doesn’t matter if you look suspicious since they’re already aware of the situation.”
Olaf nods his head rapidly and starts to back out of the door and into the hall. “What about you?” he questions weakly.
“Don’t worry about it,” you say. “I’ll wrap things up here. Just go!”
He nods again and turns to run down the hall, but stops dead in his tracks. A horrible, gut-wrenching feeling invades you. You step out into the hallway and find…
“Petre?” you whisper.
Petre stands there, with his dark hair and clipboard – he’s the one you saw in this hallway earlier. Your brain short-circuits while trying to put all the information together. 
You hear Olar whimper behind you. You turn your head and mutter quickly: “Go.” Olaf bolts down the hallway and out of sight.
You turn back to face Petre, his eyes wide and breathing heavy.
“What are you doing here?” you ask him. “How much did you just hear?”
Petre hesitates for a moment before responding. “Enough.”
“Petre,” your voice is hard. “What are you doing here?”
“They…” his lip quivers. “They have my sister.”
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. “They have Sasha? I thought she was just sick?”
“She is,” he says. “They said that they’re the only ones who can cure her, so my parents… we agreed to their treatment plan. But then they started asking for more and more things – things mother and father weren’t comfortable with. But they said we have to comply if we want Sasha to get better – so I came here at their demand.”
You suck in a deep breath. Something about Petre’s broken, dejected demeanor sends a wave of foreboding through you. “Grab Sasha and run, Petre. You know who I am now. I can help you.”
Petre shakes his head sadly. “She’ll die.”
“No. No, Dr. Cho can figure out what’s wrong – she can help Sasha.” But Petre’s head continues to shake.
“They give her something everyday, something that will kill her if she doesn’t receive her next dose at the correct time. I… I’m sorry. I have to protect my sister.”
A tear slips down Petre’s cheek as he begins to back away from you.
“Petre, please,” you beg. “Give me five minutes.”
“I can’t,” he whispers, and takes off.
You curse and start running. The only thing you can do is get to the control room and wreak havoc. You thunder through the hallways of the compound, dodging scientists and slamming and locking the doors that separate different wings from each other. 
The lights shut off. A loud, blaring siren rings through the facility and emergency lights flash red. On, off. On, off. Your eyes try to adjust to the darkness, then are assaulted by the light only fractions of a second later – the strobing effect causing the scene to look like stop-motion animation. 
You recognize the area you’re in, realizing that the control room is only a few doors away. Shouting and the clambering of combat boots to your left catches your attention. A whole host of agents run towards you, weapons drawn. 
You put on a burst of speed, grabbing the control room door jamb and swinging inside. You close the door and drag a desk to barricade it – it won’t hold for long, but it’s better than nothing. You turn to find several men rising from their desks, startled looks on their faces.
Grimacing, you begin the arduous task of taking lives.
Tag list: @jackiehollanderr @rabbitrabbit12321 @12345sebby @blackwood-bodecker-housewife @lauraashley93 @themorningsunshine @happinessinthebeing @nash-dara @calwitch @stany0url0calwh0res111 @pono-pura-vida @learisa @introverbatim @kentokaze @marvelogic @kaz11283 @terry2227
Part 11
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lolasimms · 1 year
Note
hcs about your married life with abby pls 🙇🏽‍♀️
wife abby headcanons pt.1
part 2 part 3
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౨ৎ she’s an early bird and is almost always up at 6 am.
౨ৎ starts her morning off with cuddling you and then she’s off to the gym.
౨ৎ you wake up to an empty bed most mornings which usually you rant to her about.
౨ৎ your breakfast is usually simple, overnight oats and fruit, which she bullies you for.
౨ৎ she on the other hand insists on eating a high protein breakfast, for “gains”.
౨ৎ she’s a certified gym rat, which you find super hot.
౨ৎ when you’re really horny she takes pre-workout to make sure her stamina is up for you.
౨ৎ this usually leaves you saddle sore and aching for the next two days
౨ৎ she gets off on your overly domestic nature, especially when you take care of her.
౨ৎ if she’s got a cold or a throat infection you always pamper her and insist on feeding her soups and tea.
౨ৎ most weekends are spent lounging around the house as she’s not a very social person, neither are you.
౨ৎ some weekends are also spent at her father, Jerry’s place.
౨ৎ the three of you make dinners, play board games and he loves breaking out the photo album to embarrass her.
౨ৎ she earns a lot (she’s a doctor) so she’s always spoiling you.
౨ৎ loves to wine and dine you, especially when you both have time off work.
౨ৎ she can only cook staple meals, so she’s always impressed by the food you make for her.
౨ৎ she tends to overwork herself and usually comes back home tired.
౨ৎ despite the fact that she comes home exhausted she still insists on pleasing you.
୨୧
“Abs we shouldn’t, you just got off a 12 hour shift, you need to rest.” You press your wife but she’s ignoring you and pulling you into her.
“Doesn’t matter baby, I’m perfectly fine. Need to please my wife, you know what they say.” Both her hands are griping your thighs and pulling you towards the end of the bed.
“What do they say?” You question, accepting defeat, and allowing her to manhandle you.
“Happy wife, happy life.” In one quick motion, she’s tugged your pyjama shorts, along with your underwear off.
“What if you fall asleep mid eating pussy and I crush you to death?”
“Trust me baby, death by your pussy would probably be the best way for me to die.”
You tried scooching up toward the pillows , but Abby’s hands had a tight grip on your thighs. She wasn't going to let you get away. You were all the way at the end of bed now with her head in between your legs. She was tasting every bit of you, nibbling and marking you up. Your hands made their way to her hair, grabbing handfuls as her tongue swiped over your clit. All feelings of exhaustion from her taxing 12 hour shift were thrown out the window once she got to taste you, and you were fucking enjoying it.
You gasped. "Mmm...Abs..." Abby was loving every minute as she lapped you up. She pulled you closer, practically burying her face in your pussy. Your moans only added fuel to the fire burning inside of her. She was sucking your clit now and you could hear how wet you were for her. As she worked your cunt, two of her fingers were deep inside of you, fucking you for all you were worth and drawing a whimper from your throat. She was so fucking enthusiastic about eating your pussy and damn good at it too.
"Fuck, you taste so sweet." She panted, her breath like fire against your skin. "Gonna make you cum for me."
୨୧
౨ৎ The two of you love watching tv shows together, though she has a habit of not paying attention.
౨ৎ You’ll be well into a show and she’ll be wondering where a certain character went, when they got killed off like 5 episodes ago.
౨ৎ Falls asleep in your lap while you’re watching movies and shows because the poor thing works so hard.
౨ৎ Your name in her phone is ‘wifey’
౨ৎ Once again, she loves to spoil you, against your will of-course.
౨ৎ Buys you things if you look at them for even a second too long.
౨ৎ Her anniversary presents are always the best.
౨ৎ She insists that you don’t buy her stuff simply because you being her wife is enough.
౨ৎ On your 5 year wedding anniversary you open a box that has a pregnancy test in it, as you’d been discussing having children.
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yellowbunnydreams · 5 months
Text
Bunny Ears (Part 5) ~William Afton X F! Reader~
~Hello, hello hello! I hope you're all enjoying this little more fluffy story so far. Some of your tags kill me when I see reblogs and I appreciate them so much! Also I am so sorry that this one is exceptionally long!~
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Tag List: @ruh--roh-raggy @h4nluv @sleepy---head @do-double-g @confiscated-peaches-main @dij-ology @viviennemuerte @robin-the-enby @shari-berri @randymeeksisafinalgirl @hallow1090
Cw: CW: Minors DNI, (18+ ONLY), Female Reader, legal age gap (Reader- 20's, William - 30's), divorce/processing divorce, Afton being a sarcastic hot ass, Henry being such a dad, grumpy x sunshine (more to be added). Faz-Fuck TM
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True to William Afton's word, you were placed on office duty for at least a week before you could return to normal work. Henry had even drive you to the local pharmacy after work and loaded your bike up onto the back of his car, buying you a soft wrist compress and some painkillers despite your protests and insisting that you would be being driven to and from work by either him or William for the duration of your 'light duties'. There were no ifs or buts allowed from either of them, Henry once caught you trying to walk to work and you had spent an hour in his office listening to him lecture you on why it was such a bad idea. You could have sworn that he nearly cried several times during it.
You had decided to try your luck walking in again today, knowing that the pair would be looking for your Freddy's uniform and your bike, you decided to place a thin jacket over the top to mask it, hair tied up and a hoodie beneath the jacket, hood pulled up as if you weren't sweating in the heat. Twirling your wrist back and forth as you tried to avoid it locking up with the compressive bandage on, you were lost in your own thoughts as you walked. It was sufficiently early in the morning that you were sure that neither of them would spot you even if they happened to be driving out.
Suddenly you heard a voice calling your name, and of course like a fool you stopped and turned your head. Spotting a car that you hadn't heard cruise up besides you and come to stop, blinking as you took in the black colour muscle car that you probably didn't know much about if your life depended on it before your eyes fell onto the owner who had climbed out of the door. Paling as you watched William Afton lean against the door with his arms crossed across his chest.
"M-Mr. Afton, you look...nice..this morning." You complimented, which he truly did, although it wasn't his usual colours that he wore to work. Still wearing his black slacks, he wore a Spring Bonnie shade of yellow shirt, the sleeves rolled up and a purple tie on. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he scowled although you could see some amusement in his eyes.
"That shit works on Henry, not me. So, it's a little early for a walk isn't it?" He almost growled your name at the end, making you feel slightly weak at the knees and your stomach sink as you began to realise how much trouble you were about to be in with the taller, older man. Opening your mouth as if to speak before he raised a large hand, finger up to shush you.
"Get in the fucking car, don't make me chase you cause I will assure you, you will get your cardio for the month in if that's the case." Staring into your soul, scuffing your shoes on the pavement as you reluctantly moved to the passenger side, William turned to watch you, your fingers on the door handle before you looked back at him, offering him a sheepish smile.
"Don't you mean get in the faz-fucking car, sir?" You could see his lips quirk at the corners and the joke clearly hit somewhere to make him amused, but he remained otherwise serious as he began to stride round to your side, brushing against your back as he opened the door for you and gestured for you to get in.
"No, I mean get in the fucking car young lady, I'm already thinking on how to punish you for making me do this shit." The thought of him punishing you made you shiver and blush, realising that you imagined his large calloused hands on you for a brief moment and feeling incredibly embarrassed. Not that you hadn't been thinking about the glimpse of him shirtless that you had gotten a few days before.
He climbed into his side with a practised ease, cracking his neck slightly and sighing as he put the car into gear, pulling off and heading towards Freddy's. You sunk into your seat as you heard him mutter to himself.
"Henry is not going to let me live this one down." Sounding slightly bitter about it, you raised and eyebrow and looked at him quizzically.
"What is Mr. Emily not going to let you live down?"
"He... I told him you were probably going to try some shit like this this morning, and he told me to lighten up, that you wouldn't after the lecture he gave you about being safe." He groaned, one hand on his thigh and the other on the steering wheel as his eyes darted about the roads, purposely avoiding yours. "He's going to call it my fucking 'dad sense' or some shit and call me old."
"Well sir, you are like...five years older than me?" You guessed, being a bit generous to try and win him over a bit more, causing the man to snort and look at you, pointing at his greying temples with his free hand.
"Does this look like five years to you? If so, wow your future is looking bleak. More like ten and even that is depressing enough." William sighed, running a hand through his hair and concentrating on the roads again. Cranking up the radio so that the rest of your drive would be in silence.
Arriving at Freddy's, William got out first and opened your door for you, hovering a few steps behind as he escorted you into the building where it seemed eerily quiet. You were there a lot earlier than usual and most of the staff hadn't arrived yet for morning duties. But walking through the empty halls with William, you didn't feel unsafe or uneasy doing so. Though you felt your stomach twisting into knots as you approached the offices together, knowing that Henry would be disappointed in you before you even saw his face, you tried to remain positive that whatever the two of them could come up with for the day couldn't be that bad.
"Morning Mr. Emily." You chirped, making the man sat at his desk smile as William unlocked his office behind you. Watching him run a hand through his curly hair and leaning back, eyes bright as always despite the early start.
"Morning miss..." Your name trailed off as he looked at you, suddenly squinting before his eyes widened, conflicted between a frown and a smile as he looked between you and William.
"Don't say it Henry." William warned, not needing to turn around to know what was about to be said by his business partner. Although you watched Henry almost bouncing excitedly at his desk.
"You totally used your dad sense! God you're so old William." He teased, making the taller man sigh and tip his head back in frustration.
"Henry, you're older than me." He retorted, opening his office door finally and stepping inside, flicking on the lights and scowling slightly as he rubbed at his face, disturbing his glasses and messing with his hair again before he ran his fingers through it and fixed it again.
"So, you're still a dad!" Making William sigh in annoyance as he looked at you, almost pleading for the happiness of his friend to dispel for just one moment to give him peace. Raising an eyebrow and gesturing to you to step into his office, your name sounding too pretty from him as he spoke again.
"You can spend the day with me sweetheart, I figure being bored to death by the more technical side of this job might be a better punishment than a lecture." Afton shrugged, making you look between the excitedly bouncing Henry and the calmer of the pair, and quietly choosing to be in for a chance of peace rather than seeing Henry tear up again as he lectured you again like you were his daughter.
"See you later Mr. Emily." You smiled, waving to him and stepping into William's office and hearing the door close behind you, William stepping around you with his fingers brushing your back to let you know where he was whilst he moved.
Compared to the explosion of children's drawings, family photos and colour that made up Henry Emily's office, William Afton's was much more organised in its own chaotic fashion. The main wall had a large pin board hung up on it, with neatly organised and spaced mechanical and electric diagrams for various animatronics and projects pinned up on seemingly colour coded pins that only he knew the order of. Two photo frames hung up too, one with William and a young blonde girl in a tiny turtleneck and cardigan, holding a toy Spring-Bonnie, the edge of the photo clearly cut as a mystery hand floated on the girl's shoulder, opposite to William. The other was a slightly younger Afton and Henry, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders and each holding the head of their animatronic suit under their arms, you could vaguely make out a building that said 'Fredbear's Family Diner' in the background.
The rest was fairly standard, except for the pile of animatronic parts and tools that laid scattered amongst the paperwork on his desk, all dark colours, including curiously a couch that was pushed up against one wall. The leather cracked and worn, a pillow set up on one of the arms and a faded blanket folded neatly over the back.
'Does he sleep in his office?' You thought as you looked at it, brow furrowing before you took a seat opposite Afton, trying to see what he was up to even if you didn't understand.
"So, you're a dad Mr. Afton?" You asked, breaking the silence and hearing a 'hmm' coming from the man before he looked up, brow furrowed in concentration and clearly having not heard your question. You gestured to the picture on the wall with the girl, smiling softly as you looked between it and him.
"Oh, yes! That's my little girl, Vanessa." He said, a bit of pride creeping into his voice as you noticed his left thumb moving against his ring finger, a lump forming in your throat as you noticed the glint of a gold wedding band on the finger. Of course he was married, what woman wouldn't want to marry somebody like him? Business owner, good looking, good with kids.
"She looks adorable." You commented, tearing your eyes away from his hand back to the picture, trying to spot which of his features she might have inherited.
"Yeah, probably haven't been the best dad to her but I try." Glancing back down at his paperwork and clearing his throat, he wondered why he opened up to you so easily. But he supposed he knew somewhat where he stood with you, you were easily flustered by him but you had genuine care about him and Henry it seemed. His thumb continued to twirl the ring on his finger absently, eyes unfocused as he wondered if he should mention his soon-to-be-ex wife to you, but decided against it.
William looked up at you again and offered a warm smile, adjusting his glasses on his nose before running a large hand through his hair again. Something he often did when he was somewhat nervous, although he wasn't entirely sure why he felt that way around you. Taking a moment when you looked away from him again to admire the way your eyes looked, their rich vibrant colour, the way your eyelashes fluttered as you breathed slowly and deeply. He swore at himself internally as he swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling dry as he realised what he was thinking about you.
"Oh, before I forget, I collected these for you to look through." He chuckled, snapping him and you out of the reverie each of you had fallen into, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a stack of papers, some crinkled around the edges and messy, making you raise an eyebrow as you gingerly took them, pausing as you saw your name written in childish crayon on the top one.
Your fingers brushed the crayon markings like they were some ancient script that you had to be careful with. Flicking onto the next one, and the one after, your heart melted as you spotted a pattern to them.
'The day --- saved Spring Bonnie'
'--- Helping Spring Bonnie!'
'--- and Spring Bonnie'
The childish spellings and writing made your name incredibly hard to read on most of them, but you felt your eyes welling up as you carefully leafed through each sheet of paper and spent time looking at childish drawings of you and Spring Bonnie holding hands, or trying to help him up. There weren't many in the pile, but enough to make your lip quiver and your eyes feel hot and prickle with tears.
"I've got some too, children keep giving them to Henry or me and asking if we know Spring Bonnie or you and can we 'please give them to them?'. I thought you might like to know that you and Spring Bonnie are officially considered the best of friends by the kids." He smiled warmly as he noticed how you stared at the drawings with such emotion. William felt his fingers twitching as he wanted to reach out and comfort you, but he remained professional as he didn't know how you would feel about that.
"Thank you sir, this is-"
"William, you can call me William when we're alone." He interrupted, smiling lopsidedly as you glanced up at him, your cheeks burning up slightly as he gave you that sweet, warm smile that made the edges of his eyes crinkle slightly and of course, the idea that you could address him so informally made the butterflies reappear in your stomach.
"Then thank you, William, may I keep one?" You asked, taking care to say his name rather than addressing him as your boss. His smile grew a little as he heard you saying his name for the first time, his own chest tightening at the sound and he nodded his head, gesturing to the stack in your hands.
"Please, take as many as you want sweetheart. I'll grab us some coffee whilst we work."
Standing from his desk, he towered over you, his hand hovering near to your still lightly bruised shoulder before he thought better of it, heading for the door and turning the handle, pulling it so that it would open.
But it didn't.
Trying again, the door rattled and shook, but refused to budge. Frowning, William braced himself with his other hand against the frame and yanked, worried about breaking the door but no matter what he tried to do it to it, it wasn't budging. Eyes widening as he realised that you were trapped together, pressing his ear to the door and listening hard, he could faintly hear the sounds of the pizzeria filling with screaming kids and music already.
"Well....Fuck." He sighed.
~~
Both of you had tried the door for twenty minutes before William picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear, dialling quickly and hearing the thing ring a few times before a familiar voice answered him in it's usual cheery tone.
"'Yello?"
"Henry! Thank fuck, me and -"
"William, what have we said about swearing on property?" Henry chuckled as he stood in the end of the employee hallway, listening to the phone call and making sure to keep quiet enough so that William wouldn't suspect where he was, glancing out into the dining room.
"Faz-fuck that, you stupid bonnie-bitch! Me and," he said your name in the angriest tone you had ever heard on him, and even though you knew it wasn't directed at you, it made your stomach turn and body shake with anxiety at what was about to happen. "are trapped in my office, the door's stuck! Come fucking help us, or I swear to god Emily, I will force you into one of the working animatronics."
Henry couldn't help but grin at William's threats, knowing that he was really pissed if he was calling him by his last name, but Henry also knew that nothing was really meant by it. Looking out into the hall, he could see everything was running smoothly and that the staff were handling it all well despite being one down for the day.
"I'll be right there Afton, I'm just sorting something out and I'll be there in a moment." Feigning concern as he hung up on the larger man, straightening his tie and clipping his phone to his belt, turning it off so it wouldn't ring again as he headed back out into the diner, greeting parents and kids with vigour as he went.
William slammed the phone down and groaned, taking his glasses off and rubbing his face with his hands, elbows on his desk as you tried not to panic at the idea of being trapped in such a small space for potnetially the rest of the day. Your leg bouncing and heel tapping the floor as you brought your fingers to your mouth, ready to bite at your nails as you avoided looking at the handsome man opposite you. Seeing him with his hair messed up made you want to run your fingers through it and return it to normal for him, but you knew he was a married man and that you couldn't do such a thing to him.
"Good job we have a bathroom and a mini-fridge in here." He laughed, somewhat bitterly as he knew Henry would find some distraction that meant he wasn't going to be there as soon as they both wanted.
You felt your eyes prickling again, and your hands trembled as you realised that you were stuck. Sniffling lightly and trying to hide your concern and fear from William as you sat in the uncomfortable chair opposite him. The large man noticed however and he looked up, frowning as he heard the sound and feeling his heart melting as he noticed you trying not to cry infront of him. Standing up, he made his way around his desk and crouched infront of you, wincing slightly as his knees popped lightly at the movement but turning your chair so that you could see him and he could see your bowed head properly.
"Hey hey! Sweetheart, bunny, why are you crying? Is being in the same room as me for a while really that awful?" He teased slightly, trying to get you to smile, you choked out a laugh as you wiped at your eyes, trying to get them to stop watering.
"N-No, it's your terrible sense of humour I'm worried about." You giggled, trying to be funny and seeing William chuckle at your attempt. He looked strange without his glasses, but decidedly still very handsome as he grinned up at you before pretending to be hurt, placing his hand over his heart and making a shocked mock expression.
"Well, I promise not to ask for your ID whilst we're together if that makes you feel better?" Making you laugh more and nod, he felt his heart hammering as he realised how vulnerable you looked, how fragile and breakable compared to himself and it made him ache to comfort you even more.
"Can I touch you sweetheart?" He asked, hands hovering as he waited before you nodded slowly, wondering what he was going to do. Carefully, he placed his hands on your ribs under your arms, picking you up as he stood and your arms instinctually wrapping around his neck, legs hanging over his hips as he carried you. It was only a few paces to the couch in the corner, but those moments together set your heart into overtime and you couldn't help but get a smell of his cologne. Something earthy and spicy, and the faint scent of motor oil and sweat like it was engrained into his skin.
Almost whimpering as he had placed you down on the couch, grabbing the blanket from off of the back of the couch and wrapping it around your shoulders gently. Wandering off and dragging over an old TV on a wheeled stand, placing a tape into the VCR player and wandering off again, bringing back two sodas as the screen flickered to life and quietly began playing a cartoon of Freddy and friends, happy bouncy music clearly made for kids in the background.
Sitting besides you, Afton offered you a soda and helped crack it open for you, making you mumble thanks as you sipped at it, the high sugar soothing your nerves although it didn't stop your mind thinking about how his large hands hand felt against you.
"I figured we might as well watch something whilst we wait, things like this used to help me when I had panic attacks." He explained in a low soft voice, making you look up at him curiously, not sure you could see the giant man who was always so refined and poised with most people having panic attacks. But he grabbed the pillow and laid it across his lap, avoiding your eyes as you swore you saw a little blush on his cheeks in the flickering colourful lights. "You can lay down if you want, you can still say no, I'm not acting as your boss at the moment." Giving you a reassuring smile before he turned back to the screen.
Both of you playing the waiting game and thinking of the other without a word more between you.
~~
Henry finally managed to pry the door open, the pizzeria finally closed down and allowing him to escape back to the offices. The noise startling William awake slightly, although the weight on his lap made sure he didn't move too much. Henry grinned widely as he saw the scene before him, your head on Afton's lap and William's fingers tangled into your hair as if he had fallen asleep soothing you. He couldn't remember when he'd started it, or even when you had fallen asleep, but groggily he looked up and spotted Henry looking at the pair of you, grinning like a fool as William tried to quickly and efficiently extract himself from you without disturbing your peaceful sleep.
"So, I think you've certainly become more people oriented recently William." Henry teased as the man grabbed his glasses and rubbed at his face, hair messy and eyes still puffy with sleep.
"Shut the fuck up Henry, one word of this and I'll end you." He hissed, making Henry throw up his hands in mock surrender. Still grinning madly as William turned to look at you again, hoping that Henry didn't see the soft smile that crossed his face before he padded over to wake you up and let Henry take you home.
He didn't trust himself not to do something stupid if he was left alone with you. Something stupid like develop feelings.
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steddieas-shegoes · 1 year
Text
Chapter 4
Chapter 1  / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3
Steve arrived home to Robin anxiously pacing.
“Steve! Oh my God. I thought you died.”
“Robin, I literally talked to you an hour ago.”
“You could’ve died in the last hour!”
He smiled at her dramatics. She had his location the entire time, and she easily could have called him any time in the last hour if she was that worried.
She wrapped him in a hug, which was shocking enough on its own, but Steve couldn’t help his confusion when she also kissed the top of his head.
She held him for over a minute and Steve started to wonder if someone had died and she didn’t know how to tell him face to face.
“Robs?”
“Dingus?”
“Is everything okay?”
“Are you okay?”
Steve realized Eddie had probably told her everything. Oh for fuck sake.
“I am begging you to never bring anything of this up to me ever. Like, even if you think it’s okay to talk about it, assume it isn’t. I am never going to talk about this with you. Not ever. Not even on my deathbed. Not even when I’m drunk.”
“Eddie said you should.”
“I will. With Eddie. Not you.”
Steve turned to walk to his room and ignore Robin for the rest of the day, but he could hear her footsteps following him.
He sighed and turned around.
“I’m fine. Eddie took care of me. I’m going back there tonight so we can talk. I’ll keep my location on and you can check in with both of us, okay Mom?”
“Wait wait wait wait. You’re going back there tonight?” Then, she seemed to remember how he even ended up with Eddie. “WAIT! Your tattoo! Show me!”
Steve could do that much at least. He’d been talking about this tattoo for so long and he was really excited about how it turned out.
Eddie had unwrapped it and done the first round of cleaning and moisturizing, making sure Steve was paying attention so he could do it by himself today.
He hadn’t been able to look away from it for nearly ten minutes, the colors more beautiful after the redness of his irritated skin went away.
He held his wrist out to Robin, unable to keep the smile from his face as she looked at it and smiled up at him.
“He did great with this. Will is gonna flip.”
“I hope he likes it. He has an appointment with me tomorrow so I’ll be able to show him.”
Will was one of his best kids. He never had to actually worry about his future, Will knew exactly what he wanted, got good grades, had nearly perfect attendance, and worked towards his goals without any help from Steve. He’d been through a lot though as a child, and his mom had insisted that he regularly meet with Steve just to talk.
He came to appointments once a week, but him, along with his two best friends Dustin and Mike, would often spend their lunchtime in Steve’s office. They weren’t exactly popular, and bullies targeted them often for their size and their interest in more nerdy things. Steve let them, even though the principal had told him he was setting them up for failure in real life. Steve always said this was real life and feeling safe wasn’t a failure.
But this tattoo would really mean a lot to Will. He hoped so, at least.
“When are you going to Eddie’s?”
“7.”
“Bring protection.”
“Nothing’s gonna happen.”
Robin just gave him a look and walked away.
Nothing was gonna happen. Eddie said so.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
When Steve got to Eddie’s place, he was already home, and…cooking?
“Something smells good.”
Steve made his way into the house, brushing past Eddie and looking around. He hadn’t spent much time noticing things earlier, but now he could.
There was a lot of art on the walls, but none of it looked like what was at the shop. This looked more abstract, with a few random watercolors sprinkled in. He noticed pictures frames along the shelves and bookcase that held more records than books. The coffee table looked cluttered, mostly books and sketches spread out along the top.
The couch was old, but looked comfy, and the armchair in the corner seemed mostly unused. A few hats hung from the corner it was placed in, none of them looking like anything Eddie would wear.
Did he have a roommate? Is that how he could afford a house?
“You can set your stuff in my room if you want. You remember where it is?”
Eddie’s voice being so close behind him startled him, but he immediately relaxed when he felt a hand on his hip.
“I remember.”
Eddie squeezed his hip once before letting him go, walking towards the kitchen instead of following Steve.
Steve took in the pictures hanging up in the hall, but didn’t get a close look at any, already rushing to get back to Eddie so they could talk. Robin had given him another look before he left that said there’d be more than talking happening tonight, but he really trusted Eddie when he said they’d be taking it easy.
He dropped his bag on Eddie’s bed, smiling to himself when he saw that the bed was made.
Eddie didn’t seem like the type of person to make his bed, so maybe he was trying to impress him?
Steve shook the thought away. Nothing is happening tonight. He may not even want you in his bed after you talk.
He made his way back out to the kitchen, where Eddie was closing the oven door and placing a casserole dish of something that smelled like heaven on the stove.
“What did you make?”
“Breakfast casserole.”
“Breakfast? For dinner?”
Eddie smirked. “No laws can hold me down.”
Steve resisted the smile he felt trying to creep onto his face.
Eddie really did a number on his whole “I don’t smile for anyone” exterior.
“What’s in it?”
“Well, normally I do a french toast one that has fruit and maple syrup, but you didn’t seem like the type to enjoy that.”
“Excuse me? That sounds amazing,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest and stared at Eddie.
“We can have that next time.”
Next time, next time, next time.
“This one is hashbrowns, cheese, eggs, and bacon with biscuits as the base.”
“That sounds…heavy.”
“We can eat heavy. We don’t have any physical activity to commit to later.”
Steve couldn’t help it, he started pouting.
A small part of him had hoped that maybe after they talked, something would happen. Not necessarily sex or even subspace, but some making out, maybe some handjobs? Yeah, he’d hoped.
But he recognized the boundaries Eddie was setting, and he respected him for sticking to them, even if he really wished he didn’t.
Eddie poked Steve’s bottom lip playfully.
“No need to pout. If our discussion goes well, maybe next time?”
“Promise?”
“You’re gonna be trouble, aren’t you?”
“I dunno. Am I?”
“And a brat. Noted.”
Steve had never, not even at peak spoiled rich kid, been called a brat. Not even jokingly. He was a little offended, but he could see the hint of a smirk on Eddie’s face letting him know that would be part of their discussion.
“Are we gonna talk during dinner or after?”
“That’s up to you. I’m happy either way, sunshine.”
Steve felt warmth spreading in his chest at the nickname. He’d never been called sunshine either. Being terminally grumpy since your teenage years kind of eliminates that possibility.
“I have some questions so maybe we could start there during dinner?”
Eddie nodded and turned to grab plates and forks for dinner.
“Before you start though, I wanna make sure you know that I will always be honest and do my best to answer your questions, but there are some things I don’t know. I’m not a professional. I’m certainly experienced, but there may be things you want to know that I’ve never done. I don’t want to mislead you, so if there’s stuff you still need to know after this, I have contacts who can probably help.”
Steve felt so out of his depth here. Eddie had fucking contacts for this.
“Stevie? You okay?”
Steve shook himself out of his thoughts. He couldn’t let himself feel nervous about this. Eddie was kind and wanted him to understand and wouldn’t expect anything of him. He could do this.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry. Just feels a little overwhelming.”
Eddie paused mid-scoop and glanced at Steve. He set the serving spoon in the dish and walked the few steps over to Steve, wrapping his arms around him gently and hugging him to his chest.
Steve quickly found his spot, nuzzling against his collarbone like he belonged there.
“That’s why we’re taking this slow, having discussions first. You can’t go into all of it the way you did last night. It’s dangerous.” Eddie rubbed his back slowly and Steve fought back the noises trying to escape from his chest. “I won’t feel comfortable doing anything at all with you until we’re both comfortable, okay?”
Steve nodded against his chest.
Eddie pulled back and tilted his chin up to look at him.
“You have to use your words, sunshine.”
“Okay.”
“You understand what I said?”
“I understand.”
“Good boy.”
Steve couldn’t contain the whine he let out. Jesus Christ, what was happening to him? He’d never been like this. He’d never made that noise before in his life.
“Alright, sunshine. Let’s eat.”
Steve didn’t want to separate from him, but Eddie didn’t go too far. He made sure Steve was right next to him as he grabbed their plates and walked to the table, setting them down next to each other instead of at the chairs across from each other.
“Don’t want you too far,” Eddie said with a fond smile.
Steve hated the way his heart skipped a beat. Eddie was going to send him into cardiac arrest if he kept this up.
But he did his best to ignore it, take a deep breath, and sit down in the chair.
His anxiety was high, and he was worried he may not be able to even eat, but Eddie took a bite and looked at Steve expectantly.
Steve picked up his fork and took a bite.
“Damn, this is good.”
“Thanks, sunshine. It’s hard to fuck this one up, but I’m glad you like it.”
Steve smiled at him and took another bite.
Where to begin?
He knew Eddie would let him lead, acting as more of a guide for the conversation than anything else, but Steve suddenly didn’t know where to begin.
“Um. I guess I kinda wanna start by saying something?”
Eddie nodded, smiling softly at him and showing him that he could be patient with whatever Steve needed to say, even if it took him some time.
“I’m not, like, a virgin. I mean I know when it comes to this stuff I kind of am, but I’ve had a lot of sex. With women and men. I mean, I almost got engaged once. I’m not new to that.” He ignored the amused look on Eddie’s face and continued, though his voice wavered. “And I’ve seen some stuff in porn or whatever. I’m not completely oblivious to how this works.”
“I don’t think you should go off of what you’ve seen in porn.” Eddie cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, I just didn’t want you to think that’s accurate at all. Most vanilla porn isn’t even accurate, let alone any type of BDSM stuff. I don’t want you to think I have a dungeon or something with whips and chains attached to the walls. That isn’t what this is about for me or most anyone, really.”
Steve felt himself flush.
He’d said he wasn’t a virgin, but he’d never talked so openly about sex with anyone. He reminded himself that Eddie was still very much a stranger to him, and this kind of talk is something that close friends or significant others might have.
“What is it about? For you, I mean?”
There. That was a good start. Learning more about what Eddie did might help Steve understand what he was trying to accomplish.
“I mean, for everyone it’s about power and control or submission. But everyone has different ways of accomplishing those things and things they’re comfortable with.” He took another bite and chewed while he seemed to think of his answer. “For me, it’s about being in charge of someone’s release, whether it be sexual or not. Making someone feel good in a way they can’t experience on their own or with someone else. Having the power to know exactly what they need and give it to them or hold back. Find what makes that person tick and use it to make them feel better than ever.”
“That’s what you like? Seeing someone else get off?”
Eddie let out a small chuckle.
“I guess in a simplified way, sure. But that doesn’t always happen. You didn’t get off last night did you?”
“No, but I was dropping apparently.”
“Before that though. You still got to subspace, and you stayed there a while, even though you never got sexual gratification from it. You just felt good. Sometimes feeling good just means a plateau, not a peak and then fall, ya know? I like to help someone maintain that plateau as long as possible.” He took another bite and nudged Steve to do the same. “I love helping someone peak, too. But that isn’t always on the table.”
“What if I want it to be?”
“Getting ahead of yourself, sunshine. How about you have a couple more bites while I talk?”
Steve nodded and took another bite, watching Eddie as he formed his thoughts.
“Sex is obviously a part of this. I won’t say it doesn’t end that way most of the time. But there are parts of this that aren’t sexual at all that are still just as good. Your tattoo wasn’t sexual at all, right?” Steve shook his head. “Exactly. But you got there. Sometimes, it’s more just giving up the control. Some subs don’t even like the sex parts, you know. They like someone to give them rules and tasks to follow and punishments for when they don’t. I have a friend who is a sub who doesn’t even take off his clothes during his sessions. It’s different for everyone and it’s usually trial and error. That’s why safety and trust is such a big part of it.”
Steve felt like his head was spinning.
“Is that why people use safewords?”
“Yeah or the stop light system, or in some cases, just physical signs. That has to be agreed on before you ever go into a scene, even if it's someone you’ve done scenes with before and trust. You may love being spanked until you bruise on Saturday, but end up hating it on Monday if you’re not in the right headspace for it. It’s not just the sub trusting the dom with everything, it’s the dom trusting that the sub will use their safeword if they can’t keep going. Sometimes that’s hard for people to understand. It goes both ways. Both parties have control, just in different ways.”
“You know a lot about this.”
“I’ve been in a few serious relationships with the dynamic and all my friends have been part of the scene for years. What I don’t know firsthand, I’ve heard plenty about.”
“Okay, but what if I do want the sex stuff to be part of it?”
“If you do, then you have to be open about hard limits before you start. You have to have a safeword and use it if things start to go bad. You have to let yourself test the waters, but not jump into them if that makes sense.”
Steve nodded. It did make sense. He was probably jumping the gun a bit, but he felt like maybe he could trust Eddie to find and test his limits.
“So you wouldn’t wanna do that with me?”
“I didn’t say that, Stevie.” Eddie turned to him and placed his hands on his knees, massaging them lightly. “I’m not a jump right into anything kind of guy, even with just plain vanilla sex. But I’m really careful about starting with sex stuff right off the bat. Oh, stop pouting, sunshine. I’m not saying no.”
“But you’re saying no now.”
Steve knew he was still pouting, and maybe being a bit unreasonable. He normally took things slow too, at least when it came to more than random handjobs or blowjobs at the club. It still made him feel like Eddie might not be interested in him the way he was interested in Eddie.
“I’m saying not yet. There’s a difference. I’d love to be able to do that with you. But you need to experience more first.”
“Like what?”
Eddie studied his face for a moment. Steve felt like he could see right through him, which would have alarmed him more if he wasn’t certain that Eddie was going to be able to make him float again.
“You like to be praised.”
It wasn’t a question, but Steve nodded. He’d figured that much out at least.
“That’s a good start. You can be praised for a lot of things. Sometimes just being told to sit still and being told you’re doing good can make a person float, you know.”
Steve didn’t think he could do that. He certainly believed some people could, but he figured it would take a lot more for him.
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Do you want to try?”
“Now? I thought we weren’t doing anything tonight?”
Steve was suddenly overwhelmed with nerves again. Despite the fact that he’d wanted something to happen when he first got here, he was now wondering why the hell he thought that was a good idea.
“It doesn’t have to be now. But it would certainly be a good start when you’re ready. Simple, non-sexual, easy to safeword out of if you get uncomfortable, unlikely to drop from it. It’s just an idea. You can always say no.”
Steve didn’t want to say no. He was nervous, sure, but he wanted it. He wanted to try. He wanted to make Eddie proud.
“Could we try tonight?”
“If you finish your supper and we talk about a safeword, yes.”
Steve took three more bites and ignored Eddie’s laughter at his clear excitement.
“So, what can we use for a safeword?”
“Up to you, sunshine. Mine is Metallica.”
“Can I use yours?”
Eddie thought about it for a moment.
“For tonight, yes. But you should have your own in the future.”
“Don’t like sharing?”
Steve smirked at Eddie, who rolled his eyes but smiled fondly back at him.
“More like you may not want to keep doing scenes with me and having your own safeword is best.” He got up and brought their plates to the sink while Steve waited patiently in his chair. “You can go sit on the couch. I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”
Steve sat on the couch with his hands folded in his lap, trying to push away any nerves he had over what they were about to do. If all went how he hoped, he’d maybe go to subspace again. Eddie sounded like he could get him there, but he didn’t know exactly what Eddie would have to do.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Eddie came into the room and sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him into his side.
“Alright. We’re gonna relax for a few minutes first. You’re tense and you won’t be able to just go right into it.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for, sunshine. Just let me hold you for a few minutes, okay?”
Steve wanted nothing more than to never leave Eddie’s side, his arm wrapped just tight enough around him so he felt like he couldn’t escape, his body warming him up just enough for comfort.
He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, and he didn’t really care, all he knew was the next time Eddie moved, he had to open his eyes.
“Alright, sunshine. Gonna move you a little so your head is in my lap, okay?”
“Mhm.”
Eddie adjusted him so he was laying with his head in his lap and his legs out along the length of the couch. He had a hand in Steve’s hair, scratching at his scalp gently, while his other hand was tracing circles on his arm.
“Mmmm. ‘S good,” Steve mumbled against Eddie’s thigh as he let his eyes slip closed again.
“Good.” He felt a gentle tug on his hair and his eyes shot open. Eddie was smirking down at him, but went back to gently scratching at his scalp. “Just testing. You remember the safeword?”
“Metallica.”
“Good boy. You use it the second you feel like you have to.”
Steve ignored the flutters in his stomach at being called a good boy again.
It went on like this for a little while, nothing new happening. Steve started to wonder if Eddie understood what the purpose of this was, when he suddenly felt Eddie stop all movement.
He whimpered, then felt Eddie’s hand tug at his hair harder.
“You have to stay quiet, sunshine. Keep being a good boy for me.”
His tone was different. Not quite stern, but not as soft as before either. Steve didn’t have to know him better to know that he should listen to him.
“I’m going to watch a show. You just sit right there for me and look pretty.”
Oh. Jesus Christ.
Steve was already hard. From that? Really Steve?
He managed to stay quiet this time, but he knew the second Eddie touched him again he would moan.
But Eddie didn’t touch him again.
He turned on the tv and casually looked for a channel. When he found one, he watched with his hands by his sides, not even resting against Steve’s skin.
Steve knew this must be part of it or they wouldn’t be doing it, but he felt himself growing frustrated at not getting any attention.
Minutes passed like that. Steve wondered when Eddie would acknowledge him again, but didn’t want to risk saying something.
Then a hand was in his hair, playing with the ends as if Eddie had never stopped.
Steve let out a content sigh and closed his eyes again.
“Being so good for me, sunshine.”
Steve smiled to himself, keeping his eyes closed so he could relax fully against Eddie’s lap.
The noise from the tv turned distant, but the fingers in his hair felt like fire. Or maybe ice. Both? Could be both. They just felt nice.
Steve drifted, not realizing he was going until he was already gone.
Eddie knew the moment it happened’ Steve’s entire body relaxed entirely against him and the couch, and he let out a sigh that could’ve been held in for years with how loud it was. He didn’t open his eyes, but Eddie didn’t need to see them to know they’d be glazed over.
“So perfect, Stevie. Feeling good, huh?”
“Mmm.”
Eddie smiled down at him, even though he wouldn’t see it.
He wouldn’t let him stay down for long, just for the rest of the show.
Not that he was watching the show.
Not when he had Steve in his lap, floating away because of his gentle touches and words.
Chapter 5
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gabriel-the-messenger · 6 months
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Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
Please play this game I am begging on my knees
Whats not to like:
1
Big robots fighting with oversized weapons
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A lovely photo mode for all the screenshots you would ever need
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Endless mech costumisation
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Endless LOGO and DECAL constumisation
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(This logo took about 3 hours of my day but I regret absolutely nothing)
5
Not one. Not two. But THREE great stories (with NG+ and NG++)
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6
"621, the Balam Corporation wants you to burn down this orphenage for a handful of COAM. It's just a job, all of it. Stay focused on the job 621"
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Handler Walter my beloved🥰
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(He's actually just a disembodied voice in the game, credits to u/Count15 on Reddit for the fanart)
Also, shoutout to the lady in my head that calls me Studmuffin (love you Ayre)
8
Coughing baby vs hydrogen bomb (i.e : if you're gonna commit war crimes and/or throw away your humanity, do it in style)
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9
(this one is just for you @zealfruity, if you're anyone else you can scroll past this one)
You can make a Transformer!
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(This one is by iiiveliii on TikTok. I haven't found any great Starscreams, meaning YOU should be the first!)
10
If you're not @zealfruity, welcome back! So, for my last and final point:
THE MUSIC
If you weren't already enamoured by the visuals of this game, wait t'ill you hear its soundtrack.
These are two examples I cherry-picked from my favorites, but there's nothing more atmospheric than fighting giant robots while having these bangers in the background.
CLOSING REMARKS
AC6: Fires of Rubicon is an amazing game. It takes about 50-60 hours to complete (including NG+ and NG++), but I've sank more than 100+ hours into it as of writing this post. It offers an experience unlike any other, letting you not only build and costumize your massive war machine to your heart's content, experimenting with many different playstyles, but also let's you experience an amazing story with many hidden facades (in true FromSoftware style (did I mention this was a FromSoft game? Dark Souls FromSoft?)) and fight interesting and varied bosses.
Be warned, I have struggled on quite a few bosses, and even the tutorial boss is considered a "filter". However, when you do beat these ennemies, you feel a rush unlike any other.
I've spent all this time writing this and yet I haven't even talked about PvP, and thats because my enjoyment of it varies extremely depending on who I'm fighting. Some people run builds based around the meta (which I personnally find a bit boring, but if that's your vibe then go all out), but I find the truly entertaining matches to be players who aren't afraid to experiment, bringing unconventionnal weapons or builds and trying out interesting strategies. Some also throw all of that out of the window, and I've had quite a few matches end up with me and them simply throwing our weapons out and punching each other to death.
All around, I obviously could not recommend this game more. It's a good 9.5/10 for me, with my only criticism is that I wish there were more long-range and ballistic weapons (I'm a sucker for the sound of bullets ricocheing).
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