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#and if it sucks that's on YOU all for voting wrong
The Inevitability of the Fate of the New California Republic
I know I'm late to the discussion, but I have a Fallout show hot take - I like that the NCR, as we know it, is gone.
Why? Because Fallout: New Vegas essentially says that they're doomed to extinction.
Three of the major faction leaders (Benny, Mr. House, and Caesar) all point out flaws with the NCR. Caesar, however, has the most interesting take on the NCR. Now, I'm not saying I agree with Caesar about literally anything aside from what he says about the NCR, because, of all the characters in the game, he has the most well-thought-out critique of the NCR:
Do you want my opinion as a former citizen, or future conqueror? {shrug} Actually, my opinion's the same either way. As a young man I was taught to venerate {mocking slightly}President Tandi of Shady Sands. "The Founding Mother of the New California Republic." Did you know her Presidency lasted 52 years? And that her father, Aradesh, was the Republic's first President? Does that sound like democracy to you, or a hereditary dictatorship?
If the Courier points out that Tandi was, in fact, voted in to office every time, Caesar responds:
Because the council didn't dare oppose her. She was too popular. She had the people's love. So things ran smoothly, more or less. And as soon as she was gone, as soon as there really could be "democracy" - what happened then? Ever since losing its queen, the NCR has been weaker, more diffuse. Democracy has been its weakness, not its strength.
Finally, if the Courier asks how democracy is the NCR's weakness, Caesar says:
Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of citizens. The NCR is a loose conglomerate of individuals looking out for themselves. It's lost virtue. No one cares about the collective, the greater good. It's not built to last. I'm just hastening the inevitable.
And the thing is, he's not wrong. Speak to Brahmin barons on the Strip, and they'll essentially tell you the same thing. NCR soldiers will complain about the lack of supplies. The Great Khans hate them because the NCR massacred their people at Bitter Springs (which none of the NCR characters particularly care to talk about). Kimball, the leader of the NCR forces, is a fucking dumbass who's military strategy is to amass all of his soldiers at a single point and he's so bad at managing things that he needs a fucking mailman to come in and save the day.
The NCR was running on borrowed time the moment Tandi died. The Fallout showrunners obviously played, and understood, New Vegas.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk. In summary, the NCR sucks, Independent Vegas is the best ending, and New Vegas fucking rules.
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knifemartin · 1 month
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18 month timeskip crew choose your own adventure!
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bunnyb34r · 9 months
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Ahsgsgsgdgdg we had a shit 1 issue election and it FAILED and so everyone on nextdoor are going on people's "vote yes!" posts and gloating it's so funny
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foone · 2 months
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Your posts are in an AI model
and then Tumblr decided to sell them to AI models.
Now, don't get me wrong, tumblr selling out the users to AI companies is bad, yes, they shouldn't do that. It sucks.
but don't lets get this confused: your posts were already in there. Tumblr selling them is about tumblr making some money and about the AI models having more exhaustive post collections. It's not about your posts being in an AI model, vs not being in one. That battle has already been lost.
Can you find your post on google? Then it's almost certainly in an AI model already. Think about it: These AI sites showed up before all the sites were making deals to sell their users' content, right? How do you think they built them in the first place?
They scraped the posts. Just like google and bing and such do when they build their search indexes.
It's a fundamental part of how the open web works: you want your posts on tumblr to be visible to users, right? You want them to be readable?* Like, look how much stuff broke when twitter changed their whole read-while-not-logged-in policy, ruining a bunch of thread links/NSFW links. And if it's visible, it's scrapable. That's what the AI models were built on.
I've done website scraping before (not for AI models, of course. I was doing search engines and website archival), this is just how it works. You hire a few relatively smart CS graduates and tell them "build me a scraper that'll give us a bunch of tumblr posts" and they go off for a month or two and come back with a database of a few billion posts, and you stuff that into your AI model. That's how they got all the deviantart and flickr and twitter and pinterest and so on posts. They didn't pay for them: they just took them.
They only ever pay for this shit because either:
they fucked up in such a way that the site might be able to sue them for taking rather than paying
They can buy them cheaper than they can finish taking them. Maybe they'd need to pay the CS grads for an extra month? well, that might be more expensive than just throwing the site a couple hundred thousand bucks.
ANYWAY: my point is, don't treat this "oh no tumblr is selling our posts to AI" like it's a big thing that might happen and it would be bad to happen. Yes, it's bad, tumblr shouldn't do this, this'll let AI models get continual updates of content for far easier than just scraping them would be, tumblr betrayed user trust, and so on...
but realistically, this is not a black and white matter of "if only tumblr didn't do this, then we'd be safe from AI models!"
Nope. We already lost that battle. I'm sorry, and it does suck, but that's just how it is. The avalanche has already started, it's too late for the pebbles to vote. * I'm assuming here that you don't run a private blog that's set to only followers or something. You'd be safer then, of course, but you're not really my target audience for this rant
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Listen, friends.
Someone is going to be elected president in November. There are going to be two options. There is no world in which someone who is not Biden or the GOP nominee -- presumably, somehow, Trump -- win the election.
Is Biden my favorite politician? No.
Has he accomplished a ton of good things in the last three years? Absolutely yes.
Pretending otherwise is disingenuous and dangerous.
If you do not vote, you are voting for fascism, full stop. Because you know who always shows up to vote? Your shitty racist neighbors, and the white nationalists trying to stop affirmative action, and the homophobic gun owners who want the party that's made dismantling marriage equality and civil protections for queer people a part of their platform, and religious fundamentalists who believe that women should be the subject of their husbands. They vote in drives, because they don't demand perfection from their candidates, just that they hate the same way they do, and do it loudly.
This left wing thing where people yell about how voting for a candidate that doesn't check every box is a valid political protest is deeply stupid and absolutely wrong. All this accomplishes is to discourage voting and make people stop trying to push for better from our politicians.
Not voting for a candidate that doesn't do everything you want them to is giving a point to the one that wants to bring out loud fascism to the US.
There will be a winner in November, and it's going to be A or B. The system sucks, but it's the one we have, and if we don't vote for the one who is actively working for at least some of the right things, we're going to end up with the one that's working for stripping rights away from the majority of Americans.
Just fucking vote.
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literallyaflame · 3 months
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i am genuinely baffled by “if you choose to vote you’re an evil idiot” vs. “actually, voting will save the world” discourse. this is such a non-conversation to me. first of all, yes, of course biden is evil. he’s the president of the United States. his job is to preserve the interests of the country that revolutionized genocide. putting pressure on that system requires coordinated external action and accumulation of power
but unfortunately, as it stands, run-of-the-mill abstention purely on the basis of “they all suck” is little more than an exercise in personal moral superiority. don’t get me wrong, abstention can be useful! but it fails to damage or “punish” our system because voting is not mandatory in the US. in fact, many right-wing politicians have poured their time and energy into making voting as inaccessible and unattractive as humanly possible. “you’re better off not voting, blue states are just as bad as red states” no they aren’t, lol. “yeah, you’re right! voting is the only way to—” i assure you, we cannot rely on this system to destroy what it was built to uphold. both of these worldviews overemphasize the power of electoral politics; neither is particularly constructive.
i don’t have beef with my politically active friends who (for whatever reason) abstain, there are compelling reasons for it, but—personally—i vote with the same exhausted banality that i use the cart return at the grocery store. like? I refuse to lionize the system, but there’s no sense pretending that i don’t live inside of it. does that make sense? is this thing on? i’m so tired lol
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fairuzfan · 2 months
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As an american myself I can understand why people are so scared that arab-americans are refusing to vote for biden since im terrified of what trump will do to our country. I very much feel forced to choose between two very evil people where i have to choose who will probably do less overall damage. But yelling at arab-americans isnt the right move. Im terrified at what decisions ill have to make with voting, but its not like all arab-americans who refuse to vote for biden are trump supporters and in fact many of them were going to vote for biden before october 7. I dont know what we should do about voting, but yelling at grieving arab-americans who cant bring themselves to vote for biden when biden helped kill their family is just wrong. I get the fear, i really do because i feel it too, but that doesnt make it right.
Like as a disabled person I'm pretty nervous about trump presidency ngl. I need meds that allow me to function on a day to day basis. But I cannot in good conscious vote for the man that killed my family's loved ones. Not to give too much info but a family member's best friend was Heba Abu Nada... when they learned of her death they cried for three days straight and asked me not to say any news about Palestine for a week back in October. Even when I told them that Heba's poem became viral, they just nodded at me and said "a lot of talented people in Gaza died" before going quiet, staring out in the distance. That's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life and I can't bare to think of voting for the man that caused that amount of sorrow to anyone. So imagine every single Palestinian family — they all have their own stories and their own grief. So telling them "that means absolutely nothing" and being told to suck it up isn't going to make anyone want to trust you that you have people's best interests in heart. I don't know. It just is so so obvious how little people care about other people and to me that's the most.... shocking thing.
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dotster001 · 7 months
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Hiii!!! first, before I start I'm very socially awkward and my English sucks so this might be a bit cringe to read... but I just have to say, I LOVE your writing!!! you have such a cool writing style and your way of writing characters is always in character you're just AWESOME!!!! if it's not too much to ask, can I request a fight between all the dorm and vice-dorm heads (just dorm heads is cool too) when they overhear that the reader/MC has a crush (i simp for all of them)? again, love your writing so much!
Battle Royale
A/N: you have no idea how surprised I was that this wasn't the one voted for the last day. 😂 it's fine though, and I hope you enjoy!
3k follower Masterlist
Trein had held you after class today, and you were a little scared, to say the least. You didn't think you or Grim had done anything wrong today, but you could never be too sure.
Once the last student had left, he looked up at you.
"You've been acting odd lately. I've raised two children, and taught thousands of students, so I know why."
You didn't think you'd been acting odd. But you weren't the most self aware out there, if the numerous overblots you'd nearly missed were anything to go by.
"Oh?" You asked.
He sighed heavily, and gently took your hand. 
"You've ingratiated yourself into my heart, like one of my own kids. So I'm going to tell you this; none of the boys at this school is worth the trouble."
"Huh?"
"I don't know which one you have a crush on, but there are less than a handful that deserve the attention."
Your cheeks began to warm, and you gasped. You hadn't thought too deeply about it, but there was definitely someone you'd had your eye on, maybe a bit too much, recently. If Trein had noticed…had he noticed as well?
"I'll uh, I'll keep that in mind."
"Please do," he gave you a firm stare, then turned back to his papers.
You were so out of it, that you didn't notice your two friends who had stayed behind for emotional support.
….
"It's definitely me."
"In what world would it ever be you!"
Trey entered the kitchen to check on the bread in the oven, and sighed to himself as he watched the freshmen fight with each other.
"What are you up to?" He asked.
"Nothin-" Deuce muttered, but was cut off by Ace.
"If Y/N had a crush on someone, it'd be me, right?"
Trey stared at the two, then slowly turned to the oven.
"Where is this coming from?" He asked.
"Trein kept Y/N behind today, and told them whoever they have a crush on isn't worth it."
"Hm. And you both think it's you, because?"
Both of them froze. They could hear the challenge in Trey's voice, and neither of them knew how to approach it.
"Well, why wouldn't it be?" Ace snapped. "We hang out with them more than anyone. If it's anybody, it's me or Deucey." 
Trey smiled at the temporary unification of his freshmen, and calmly asked, "Wouldn't it make sense if they went for someone with more life experience? Someone more mature?"
The freshmen were silent again, before Deuce asked, tentatively, "Has…has Y/N said something to you?"
Trey hummed, putting together Riddle's dinner tray.
"No. At least, not verbally."
And then he left the kitchen. He couldn't wipe the soft smile from his face. Riddle noticed it as Trey poured his tea. 
"Did something good happen?"
"Hm? Oh, the freshmen found out Y/N had a crush on someone, and assumed it was one of them. I told them it would probably be someone more mature."
Riddle hummed thoughtfully. "True," he sipped his tea, "Y/N would go for someone more mature, who is someone who was also not that much older than them."
"Oh, you think so?" A challenge.
"Yes." A retort.
….
From there, Riddle took his information to the housewardens meeting, who took it to their vicehousewardens, who in turn spread it to the rest of the school.
In less than a couple hours, Malleus and Leona were literally at each other's throats, as the rest of the school egged them on.
"Y/N has more class than to fall for a mangy housecat!" A bolt of green lightning nearly hit Leona, who dodged at the last second.
"They certainly would never fall for a scaly lizard!" The air around Malleus filled with sand.
"Shouldn't we put a stop to this?" Silver asked Lilia, who was busy restraining Sebek.
"Kids will be kids," Lilia laughed in response.
Ruggie tapped Azul on the shoulder, holding out his open hand. "Five thaumarks to join the pot. Who do you think will win?"
Azul smirked, "Neither, because Y/N is surely in love with me. They've all but said so."
"Sure, sure," Ruggie rolled his eyes. "Because out of everyone they could choose, it would be the person who takes 20% of their tips, and not the person who shares home cooked meals with them."
"I couldn't help but overhear your discussion, boys, but don't fool yourselves. The only person Y/N could possibly fall for would be the embodiment of the fairest Queen," Vil hummed as he passed them, fully intent on stopping the fight which was already well out of hand.
But he was halted by a hand on his wrist. 
"Schoenheit, don't be a silly boy and embarrass yourself," Lilia hummed, his eyes turning more crimson than fuschia. "Besides," he laughed lightly, going back to playful, "rumor has it, Y/N is in love with someone with life experience, something I have more of than anyone else here."
"Sure," Vil muttered at his peer. He was quickly pulled into the fight when he reached them, purple magic joining the sand and emerald lightning.
Rook was watching the fight with wide eyed enthusiasm. His emerald eyes were taking in everything they did, studying their moves for use at…well…a later date. 
Idia's tablet, meanwhile, was focused solely on Rook, the terror practically radiating from it. It was muted, but if it wasn't, people would have heard Ortho hyping him up. But Idia did not want to fight the hunter. Not with the way his eyes were glittering with blood lust.
Jade was about to prevent Floyd from elbow slamming his way into the fight, when all the boys were forcibly separated by an unknown force. All eyes traveled to Trein, who was staring at them all in disgust.
"Animals. The lot of you," he snarled, staring everyone down. "Anyone involved in any way will be punished accordingly."
….
"Why did Professor Trein keep you behind today?" Asked Jack, who was blissfully unaware of the war going on. He had offered to help you study after class, and had been curious as to why he'd beat you to Ramshackle.
"Oh," you hesitated. "Well, he noticed I'd been behaving odd lately, and told me to be careful."
"Y/N's in love, and teach said no one was good enough!"
"Grim!" You cried, burying your face in your hands.
"Oh," Jack said, trying to be as cool as possible. "Who is it?"
You peaked through your fingers, opening and shutting your mouth a few times.
"If you don't tell him, I will," Grim snickered.
"Don't," you whined. You took a steadying breath, and began, "Okay. It's…"
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ellieluvr420 · 2 months
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Eye for an Eye Pt.1
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MASTERLIST (and information about Palestine) Please read!
SYNOPSIS: Your body yearned for the touch of your girlfriend, the warm embrace that calmed your mind but you couldn't give in, the anger you harboured for her at disappearing with her group for three months without any warning, explanation or even a mention of when she would be back stopped you in your tracks any time you got close to giving in. You loved Abby so much but looking at her made you sick, you couldn't push the feelings down no matter how much you craved for things to go back to what they once were. You hadn't planned this but the anguish in those green eyes mirrored yours and sucked you in before you could think twice about the repercussions of your actions. You made your bed when you made the deal with the auburn-haired stranger, eventually you'd have to lie in it.
Okay i know the vote isn’t over yet but there is a pretty overwhelming majority so here it is! i’m sorry if this is not what u wanted but i promise friends?never is gonna still be getting regular updates, that will be prioritised until it is complete i was just too excited to not put a little something out. love u all as always xxxxxxxx
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In and out. In and out. Focus on your breathing, focus on it to quell the pit of rage burning deep inside you. That was all you had done for weeks and even at the resolution, when everything was as it should be, still the fire burned on. In and fucking out. Your breaths got deeper, shakier, more frequent again as the weight of her sleeping peacefully by your side consumed you, it had once consumed you with love and it still did, quietly in the background, but it was now overshadowed by the screaming torment of the rage you felt when you looked at her or even felt her presence. It had been like this ever since she got back. Weeks and weeks of refused touches, unanswered questions, shameful glances, you were stuck in this loop because she kept you in the dark. But humans adapt, better than most, so you adapted to the dark, learned to sneak around in it, hunt in it, live in it. You could never leave, neither could she, you were bound cosmically, and you cursed it every day. It was a paradox; how could you love someone so much you felt like your world would burn if they weren’t in it but hate them so much you never wanted to see them again? You couldn’t make sense of it, she’d come to understand your feelings but she was blissfully ignorant to how the swarm of indifference surged through your mind and clamped down on your heart.
You sighed and spared a glance at her sleeping form, the peaceful expression of her face only screaming at you to smother it with the pillow you had laid restlessly on. Weeks and weeks, every morning, you wake up, you stare at her sleeping face and you wish you could just make her sleep forever, it made you want to join her, to sleep and never wake. The anger had become so palpable you actually dreamed of killing her and then yourself just to break free from this never-ending cycle. You tip-toed around each other, you avoiding her like she was the plague because in your mind she was, and her treating you like an unexploded bomb that could go off at the slightest wrong movement. She knew it was her fault, she had made you this way but she had to believe you could both move past it without her shedding light on where she had disappeared off to those months ago. She knew what it would do to you both, leaving for three months without a word, just a quickly written note, no warning, no reassurance, just vanishing. She knew it was stupid to think she could come back without a word as to where she had went and everything would be the same but there was a tiny sliver of hope in her that it could happen. That hope was dashed away when a door was slammed in her face and not opened for her again for two weeks but when it did eventually open, that tiny sliver of hope came flooding back, a flame had ignited in her at the thought that everything would be okay but the flame was slowly dying the more weeks went by without a change in your demeanour. She could feel the hatred, the resentment, the hurt radiating off of you whenever you were near and there was nothing she could do to stop it anymore, you were stubborn, that she knew, but this, this was torture, karma getting its own back at her.
You couldn’t contain it anymore, the energy within you, staring at the wall and focusing on your breathing couldn’t help you now so you threw the covers off of you, rushing out of bed to storm out of the bedroom.
“Babe?” Her quiet, groggy voice sounded out from behind you and your body burned.
“What Abby?”
“Where are you going?”
“I dunno, be back soon.” You echoed the words in her letter and it stung, a physical pain ricocheting through her chest making it hard for her to breathe as she jumped out of bed to follow you.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” You paused and spun to face her, your dark circles were craters under your eyes, your face gaunt and paler than it typically was, your eyes completely vacant, devoid of any emotion.
“I mean I don’t know. Don’t try to find me.” She wasn’t sure if you were doing it on purpose but once again you echoed the contents of her letter as you yanked your boots from the ground, opening the door and slamming it behind you without even a glimpse over your shoulder at her defeated expression. She huffed and dragged her hands down her face as she reluctantly went back to her room, collapsing on the bed. It was times like these she was glad Isaac had moved her to a suite of her own, the thought of Manny witnessing this sending a shiver through her. She knew you could both get through this, she knew, so why was doubt invading her every cell?
You weren’t lying when you said you didn’t know where you were going, you couldn’t go back to your room, it only reminded you of the memories of those three months when she had disappeared and you had locked yourself away, refusing assignments, refusing most food, refusing contact with anyone that wasn’t her. It was too painful to be there, it made being in Abby’s room calming despite her looming presence but this morning it had overwhelmed you, so you kept walking and walking until you ended up at the mess hall. You didn’t remember taking the route there but you had and it was too late to turn back because eyes were on you, familiar eyes, beckoning you over to them.
“Hey stranger! Where you been hiding?” Manny, he had once been a positive presence in your life but he was the antithesis of that now, he had left with her, they had all left with her, leaving you here in the dark and they wanted to play nice now they’re back, you couldn’t. His smile juxtaposed your death glare as you scoffed and looked past him like he wasn’t even there. He could see the anguish in your face, evident in all your features that were nowhere near the radiance you typically emitted, he knew what had happened to you, who had happened to you, his part in it weighing on him heavily. You don’t acknowledge him, you walk straight past him like he’s a ghost, straight past him and all the others waiting expectantly for any sign of forgiveness, straight to the double doors at the other end of the hall, ramming through them like you’re made of steel. “Well fuck.” He mutters as they all watch you storm away out of their sight.
“Are you surprised?” Nora remarks.
“Well no but it’s been almost two months now. She hasn’t cracked one bit.” His eyes never leaving the doors you had exited through.
“She’s seeing Abby, has she said anything about how she’s been?” Mel chimed in with a concerned tone.
“Nada. Fucking nada. It’s radio silence from both of ‘em. I barely even see Abby unless we’re on assignments together because she’s always locked up in her room. I’m worried about ‘em both.” His voice was laced with sadness and there was a tense atmosphere clouding over them as there always was when what they had done was brought up, it was never directly spoken about, it felt like poison to speak it aloud but even a hint of it was enough to make them all shrink into themselves, becoming wrapped in their thoughts.
You trailed the halls of the stadium, circling round and round until your legs ached and your mouth was dry, you had seen people dotted here and there as you walked, smiling politely at any that you mistakenly made eye contact with. You walked past another faceless body as the deafening thoughts drummed around your mind. There was a muffled echo, distant but growing closer until you’re interrupted by a hand enclosing around your wrist, you knew who it belonged to without even having to look causing you to snatch your wrist free from their grasp as you jumped back with a scowl.
“What are you doing? I was worried.” You scoffed at her concerned expression as her eyebrows scrunched. You went to walk away but she was too quick, hands squeezing your hips and pushing you back against the wall you had jumped toward in a bid to escape her first grasp. “Stop fucking walking away from me. When is it gonna end?” You just stared back in disbelief, unmoving in her strong grip, her glassy eyes mocking you, she doesn’t care, her actions had been the opposite of someone who had cared.
“You’re so fucking full of it Abby. You’re worried? Bite me, you don’t worry about anyone other than you.” You spat at her, the shock of your words causing her to loosen her grip around you enough for you to break free and begin storming away from her again.
“I- I just wanna talk. Please.”
“You had your chance to talk. You had so many fucking chances and you wasted them so don’t give me that shit. You wanna feel better about what you did and my forgiveness is the only thing that will do that. Too fucking bad Abby.” You don’t slow as you grit over your shoulder to her but neither does she, following your every movement only a step behind.
“Well if you can’t forgive me why are you still with me? Why do you sleep at mine every night? Why do you still say you love me back when I tell you I love you? What’s the fucking point of it?” You freeze, a choked sob catching in your throat as you look up to the ceiling to beg the tears to just stay in your eyes.
“Because I do love you Abby.” You mutter barely loud enough for her to hear. “How don’t you understand that?” You sound broken, like a shell of yourself.
“Make me understand.” You scoff and chuckle dryly at her as you shake your head.
“I don’t owe you that.” You continue walking again but this time she doesn’t follow, stuck in her place.
“I have patrol! I won’t be back until later.” She calls out to you.
“Thanks for the heads up!” You call back sarcastically. “This time.” You mutter under your breath as you storm further and further from Abby.
You don’t know why you ended up back at Abby’s room, it was so stupid, you couldn’t stand seeing her but her room was the only place that felt safe, you stared at the key that she had once slammed down in front of you as you refused to acknowledge her pleads to just talk, the memory making your blood run cold. It was the first time you had even answered her repeated pounds against your door, two weeks after she had returned, though you opening the door made absolutely no difference because it was like she wasn’t there at all. You had unlatched the door, so it opened a sliver before immediately walking away from it leaving her to hesitantly follow you inside. She watched as you sunk down onto your bed, staring at the wall opposite instead of sparing a glance towards her as she stood over you. She had just stared down at you, pleading with you silently to just look at her but you never did. She slammed the spare key to her room down on your bedside table before sighing and leaving disappointed for what was only the first time to come over the next two weeks. It became a routine, she’d knock, you’d unlock the door and walk away, she’d come in to desperately get you to reason with her but when you showed no signs of a change in your demeanour, she’d give up and leave you alone, letting herself out shamefully. She was just too good at leaving you.
When you had turned up at her door, using the key she had given you, she was stunned, almost so stunned she didn’t see your tear-streaked cheeks and red, glassy eyes but she did notice, she noticed and a lump formed in her throat that she desperately tried to swallow down as she just watched you. Even in her own room you barely acknowledged her only choosing to mutter a small ‘can I stay here tonight?’, the second she vigorously nodded her head you drifted towards her bed, collapsing onto it and immediately burying your face into the pillow to muffle your sobs. She had rubbed your back but when she tried to cuddle into you and wrap you in her embrace you pushed her away hard enough that she didn’t try again. You had gone back to hers everyday since then and the routine hadn’t changed from that point on though you had grown from hurt and beaten down to hostile and the tense atmosphere was painfully tangible. It remained the same as you let yourself into her room, knowing she would eventually come back from patrol later that day and you’d have to face her once again
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Abby felt completely dejected, she was tired and her adrenaline that had powered her through today was fleeting, she was panicking about Owen after seeing Danny’s body and hearing what Nora had told her, everything was backwards and knowing you wouldn’t be there as a comfort to her only made her feel worse as she turned the key to unlock her room. She knew you were here but that made no difference these days, even when you were here you weren’t here and that broke her. 
“Hey.” Her voice was meek and cracked as she looked at you, standing in front of her with the same vacant expression you had worn for months, she couldn’t hold it in anymore, the dam broke and hot, salty tears began flowing down her cheeks as her choked sobs filled the quiet of the room. 
“What’s wrong?” You had moved closer, your eyebrows knitted together in concern as you spoke softly, juxtaposing your harsh tone she had gotten used to, it only made her cry more which drew you in closer until your hand was on her shoulder and squeezing. “Abby what happened?” 
“I- nothing, nothing. We just got ambushed on patrol, I think I’m just tired I don’t know.” You nodded but you were looking at her like you were expecting her to continue, you were coaxing the words out of her and she had no control. “Owen shot Danny and now he’s missing and I just don’t know what to do. Nothing’s the same anymore.” 
“No it isn’t.” Your voice wasn’t as soft as it had been, it wasn’t mean but it wasn’t soft, she warily peeked at your face and the sight of it hardened once again caused another choked sob to rack through her body. She stepped towards you and dropped down to her knees as she wrapped her large arms around your waist and squeezed as she pressed her cheek into your stomach. 
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have left the way I did and if I could take it back I would but I can’t keep doing this, I miss you and I miss us, I need you, everything’s different I need us to be the same. I’m sorry.” Your hand came to her hair, stroking gently. 
“Tell me where you went.” 
“I- I can’t.” She sobbed more as your hand snatched itself away from her hair before you reached behind you and desperately tried to unclasp her from your waist. “No please, please don’t go. Please I can’t do this without you.” 
“I don’t fucking understand Abby, why won’t you just tell me?” 
“You won’t be able to look at me the same.” 
“I can’t look at you the same now so what difference does it make?” Her eyes meet yours as she looks up at you from her place on the floor and the sight of her lip wobbling as her cheeks were red and tear-streaked almost made your resolve waiver but you couldn’t. You wished you could forget but you couldn’t. 
“Please.” She begged but it fell on deaf ears. 
“Let me go Abby.” She blew out a breath as her eyes clamped shut and she swallowed a sob, her arms loosened around you letting you break free from her grasp to practically run to the front door and leave. She didn’t watch you go from her position on the floor, she just sat and collapsed into a fit of sobs as her door slammed signalling your departure. You couldn’t keep it together once you had walked out of her room, everything felt like it was coming crashing down as you paced the halls. It wasn’t enough to leave Abby’s room, you still felt suffocated, you needed to get out of the stadium. You headed straight for the secret hole in the fence that only you and Abby knew about to make your escape and the second you emerged into the drizzly outside of Seattle you could feel your lungs filling with air that you desperately needed. You considered going back in but when you turned back, your lungs felt like they were constricting again and you ran in the complete opposite direction until your legs were tired and your lungs burned. You didn’t have a gun, or a knife, you were completely defenceless so when you heard the shrill cries of infected, you immediately looked for an entrance into any one of the buildings that surrounded you. 
You spotted a window open just one story up at an old theatre and you sprinted towards it and up the stairs of the fire escape to climb through. Once you were inside, you shut the window softly and began making your way through what you assumed was the backstage area of the theatre, the red, velvet curtains called you towards them and as you stepped through you gasped at the sight of an auburn-haired girl sleeping on one of the chairs. She looked a couple years younger than you, nineteen or twenty you assumed, and despite the sleep her face still looked screwed up and tense. You edged closer to her, careful not to make any noise and when you saw her gun on the seat next to her you grabbed it, pointing it at her while kicking at her shoe. She stirred slightly and then her eyes flashed open revealing bright green eyes staring back at you in disbelief.  
“Don’t scream. Who are you?”  
tags: @emiliabby @liasxeatt @kawaiibreadbouquet-blog @tphmnv
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piss-pumpkin · 2 months
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Drunken confessions (kind of suck)
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Leo valdez x reader, about 3.4K words, gn reader, tw- drinking/alcohol on part of the reader. Party time bitches.
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Leo, like he was most days, was hunched over his desk in bunker nine. Tinkering with the new version of the demigod-safe cell phone, while the people he made it for were outside, probably training, laughing maybe. Hanging out without him. He sighed, pushing his chair back and running his hands through his hair, out of his face. 
“Hey!”
Leo jumped, spinning around to face you, your voice cutting straight through the stagnant air and straight through him. How he didn’t hear you come in was a mystery. “Hey,” he said, confused smile on his lips. “What are you doing in here, you can’t be out of training yet, it’s still early.”
You hummed, coming up in front of him, and standing over him, arms crossed. “I’m not, I’m on a quick break,” you smiled, leaning down slightly closer to his face. “But Piper told me that you brushed her off earlier when she asked if you were coming to the party tonight.”
Leo winced. Right. The party. More than the regular Friday night affair in the Dionysus cabin, it was a big one. He wasn’t sure what they were celebrating, his best guess was a birthday, or a holiday he’d forgotten. “Yeah,” he said, sucking a breath in through the teeth of a pained smile. “I was gonna skip it.”
His smile faltered when he saw your face fall, and lips purse. You sighed, and hopped up to sit on his desk, to the side of his projects. “Why?” You whined, crossing your arms.
Leo turned around to face you, and tilted his head back and forth, side to side, and sighed. “Well, I got plenty to work on here,” he said lamely, gesturing at all the little parts sprawled out in front of him. 
You huffed, not quite buying it, clearly. “Leo, you’ve been working non stop for like, days. You need a break,” you said, looking down at him sceptically.
He groaned. You weren’t wrong. When were you ever?“Parties aren’t really my thing,” he laughed, leaning his head back. “Believe it or not.”
You stifled a laugh, “Oh, I do believe it.”
He smirked, sitting up a moment. “What, you don’t think I can dance or something? I didn’t expect you to agree with me so fast, Y/n,” he teased, pointing up at you accusingly, “I’m hurt.”
You threw your hands up in surrender, “Hey, I call it like I see it,” you laughed. “But let it be known, I do think you could tear up a club, I think you could have moves.”
Leos eyes softened as he smiled. “Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, you flatter me,” he said, resting his head on his palm. He couldn’t help smile up at you dumbly. His workshop was never particularly bright, even with all the lights on. The lack of windows always kept it relatively dim, much to Leo’s distain. But you managed to sit in just the right spot, so that the light hit your face perfectly. 
You smiled, and playfully flicked him on the forehead, and as usual he pretended to be annoyed. “Leo, it’ll be fun, a good way to get out of the bunker,” you raised your arms, gesturing around, eyes following your hands. “Dude, the air in here can’t be good for you. I feel like I’m getting asthma just breathing in here, there’s dust and metal crumbs everywhere.”
Leo grimaced. Once again, you weren’t wrong. He glanced around, and even in his desk there were leftover piles of metal shaving from past projects. And a few small puddles of probably oil from god knows what. Probably shouldn’t have that so close to the phones. 
And you weren’t done. “And besides, it can’t be that bad if I’m there with you,” you said, smiling down at him. Leo could practically feel himself folding, despite everything. He sighed as you continued. “How about this,” you said, determined glint in your eyes. “I won’t leave your side, the whole night, okay?”
Yep. He was a goner. You held out your pinkie to him, promising that your words rung true. He sighed, giving in completely as he clasped fingers with you, and shook on it. “Alright, fine,” he relented. “When is it?”
You grinned, playfully hitting him in the shoulder. “That’s the spirit,” you said. “And besides, if it sucks, we can just ditch it and hangout… in the woods or something,” you shrugged. “It officially starts at like, eight, so we can get there like, nine maybe.”
He couldn’t help but smile, idly fidgeting with a few spare gears his hands seemed to find on their own. “Alright, you’ve convinced me,” he said. Not a lie. As much as he dreaded a big crowd when he wasn’t in the mood for it, you could probably make any night fun. But there was one downside to that. He decided not to think about it. Get there when he gets there. 
You smiled, watching him tinker. “Okay, I’ll come by here later, before we go, yeah?”
”Yeah,” Leo nodded.
You hopped off the desk, and it suddenly felt much too big, far too spacious without you there. Like you were the key to make it seem right. You gently hit him in the shoulder on your way out. “Kay, I’ll be here then. In the meantime I got Pegasus duty,” you said, starting for the door. 
He waved you out, and turned back to his desk when you shit the thick metal door behind you. His plan had been derailed, and he struggled to remember exactly what he was doing before. His eyes landed on a few small pieces, and remembers what part of the phone he was building. Right. Focusing. 
                                              …
Somehow, seemingly in a blink, you were back, and Leo couldn’t believe it had been five hours. Yeah, you might have a point about him losing track of time stuck in that bunker. Reluctantly, he let you drag him away from his work desk, folding as soon as you took his hand. 
Leo cheered as you linked arms with one of the Stolls to down a shot with him, and laughed as you dragged him over to dance. And you kept your promise, he was dragged along through every misadventure you wanted to go on. Like always, he supposed. 
And like always, you went a little hard. Harder than you should have, probably. And Leo didn’t particularly like to drink, so he was right there to help you when you were stumbling, and take you through the woods back to the bunker to crash on his couch. 
You stumbled, but not only did Leo have fast reflexes, he was waiting, watching you carefully. He caught you, sighing as he threw your arm over his shoulders. “Come on,” he groaned, taking your weight.
”Thank you,” you chirped, leaning your head happily on his shoulder. “That was very nice of you.”
Leo grimaced, and looked at the ground away from you.  Maybe if he did he’d have a better shot of maneuvering the two of you away from the rocks and twigs that could trip you. 
“Leoooo,” you said, lightly shoving him. 
His face fell, he couldn’t help it. He knew what was coming the moment you took your first drink. 
“You’re pretty,” you smiled, nudging him with your elbow. 
“Thanks,” Leo said flatly, keeping his eyes forward as he made his way to the bunker. His feet moved left, right, up and over the pebbles and the ferns, trying to get you there safe. He spared you one glance though, as much as he didn’t want to.
Yep. Bad move. You were smiling at him lovingly, the moonlight reflecting off your eyes. The sun had to be rising soon, right? Leo sighed, losing his stoic conviction. “You too,” he chuckled. 
You grinned, letting out a quiet, “Yippee,” and what could Leo do. Nothing. But you weren’t done, never were. “I’m glad we’re best friends,” you said, entirely too sentimental when drunk. 
“Me too,” he replied simply, arriving to the bunker. He fiddled with the door code, and then kicked it open so he could keep you up. He led you to the couch,“Alright, down you go,” he snickered, dropping you. 
You sat down, and leaned back, dissolving into the cushions. “Don’t go back to work,” you said quietly, leaning your head to one side. Leo hadn’t even realized he was walking to his desk.
Leo smiled, turning around to face you. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” He scrounged around on the table until he found a few pieces of scrap metal, and then came back to sit on the opposite side of the couch. 
“I think you work too much,” you huffed, leaning your back in the armrest. 
Leo shrugged, “somebody has to make the demigod phones, and repair the swords.”
”It doesn’t have to be you.”
Leo leaned against the cushions, heaving a small sigh. When were you ever wrong? He curled his legs up in front of him as he nestled his face against the fabric. “You have a point,” he surrendered. 
“That’s me,” you agreed, folding your arms. “Full of points.”
Leo chuckled, and a brief silence fell over the room. You were starting to close your eyes, and slump further into the couch, and he felt himself doing the same. With a sigh, he stood up, fighting through the tiredness in his bones, to get the light. When he came back, he leaned over the back to see you, his eyes adjusting to the dark. “I take it you want the couch?” He asked, brow raised.
You shifted a bit, half asleep already. “I can have half,” you said, pointing to the empty side. “Other sides for you, I don’t mind.”
He pursed his lips. Careful territory. “Okay,” he said, hopping the back of the sofa. He did his best to tuck his legs up, as to not encroach on your space. Your head seemed to be buried in the pillows, he smiled as he watched you sleepily maneuver your way out to breathe, and find a comfortable position. It appeared he was safe this time. He could relax.
”Leo, sometimes I think we should date.”
Or not. His eyes flew open to look at you, but you’d melted into the silhouette of the sofa. He sighed, cracking his back against the armrest. “You know, I don’t disagree with you, Y/n,” he said, hands rubbing the circled under his eyes.
He heard a faint gasp, “Really?” 
He winced at how happy you sounded. You always did. “I’d honestly love to,” he relented, not bothering trying to look at you. “I’ve had a crush on you forever.”
Another gasp, and you were sitting up now, he could feel the cushions move beneath him. “You mean it?” You asked innocently, voice cutting straight through him. 
He groaned, and sat up and opened his eyes. Your fake silhouette was much closer now, sitting on your knees. Maybe too close for comfort. Or not close enough. “I do.”
”Then we should date,” you asserted confidently.”
This was the part he dreaded the most. “Remind me tomorrow, then, and we can,” he said. Same as always. He silently scolded himself for indulging in this conversation. Or maybe for volunteering his bunker for you to stay.  
He couldn’t see well in the dark, but your frown was clear as day. “But I might forget,” you pouted, scooting closer. 
He sighed. Suppose there was no avoiding it. “Then I guess we won’t date,” he shrugged casually, a hint of malice creeping into his voice. He avoided your eyes that shone through the shadow, and the full familiar ache in his chest. 
“How about you just remind me,” you suggested, raising your finger in the air with certainty like you’ve thought up an amazing plan. 
Leo flinched. “No,” he snapped, sounding more mean then he meant. His face fell as you shrunk away, clearly confused and hurt. He sighed, cradling his face in his hands and letting out a far softer, “No.”
”W-why not?” You asked, recoiling into the cushions. 
He couldn’t help shoot you a pained look, and sigh once again. What was the harm in telling? Changes are you wouldn’t remember anyway. “Because you only like me when you’re drunk, Y/n,” he conceded. “I swear, almost every time you drink you get like this.”
You stayed silent a moment, and blinked a few times. “I-“ you started, reaching a hand up towards him, but quickly restricting it. “That’s…” you couldn’t seem to find the words, needing another pause. “I liked you earlier, too… and yesterday.”
”Then why can you only say it now?” He spat, resting the back of his head on the armrest. 
He could see the cogs of your brain turning, as your hand gripped the couch with force. “It’s hard, Leo,” you said rather pathetically. “You know that!”
Leo actually had it in him to laugh at you now. As if. “Yeah, sure,” he snickered. “You’d have trouble confessing to me,” he said, rolling his eyes. “That’s too hard to believe, I think my hypothesis seemed more likely.”
You scoffed, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” you announced, punctuations yourself by standing assertively and pointing at him. It was seconds later that you started to wobble, your silhouette moving.
Leo groaned, getting up to catch you again, taking your arm to steady your balance. “Y/n, you’re miles out of my league, it’d be the easiest thing in the world for somebody like you to ask out somebody like me,” he said, trying to get you to sit down.
But you had some fight in you. Suppose that was typical, Leo thought. You pushed off him to point even harder, your finger getting alarmingly close to his face. “Don’t be mean to yourself!” You commanded, incredibly confident. 
He tried to suppress a smile, but couldn’t. The corners of his lips tugged up as he sighed, clenching his jaw. “Okay, fine,” he said, gently moving your hand away from his head. “But my point still stands, I think your standards just get lower when you’re like this.”
You finally let him take your arms, and sit you down. “I think I have pretty high standards.”
He couldn’t help shake his head as he smiled, “yeah, sure.” When you were down on the couch, he threw the pillow from his side to you. You didn’t catch it, but you square in the face. After you shot him a look, you shoved it behind you to lean on, finally lying down on your side. Leo could make do without the extra cushion if it meant you’d finally give up.
”Leo, I think you should be nicer to yourself,” you said quietly.
Leo banged his head against the couch, lamenting that this conversation was still happening. He shook his head. “You might be right,” he said. “But just-“ he looked up at the ceiling, making out the vents and fans and pipes that lines it. “I can’t believe that you like me until you tell me when your sober.”
”I always mean too.”
He pursed his lips. As hard as he tried to stay casual, brush you off, he was losing. Hurting, even. Like every word you said was a weight on his heart. “Maybe I’ll ask you tomorrow then,” he sighed. “Then we can see for sure.”
You exhaled, like a sigh of relief, and seemed to melt. “That’s good,” you said. 
He waited for more words, but they never came. You were finally out. He smiled slightly, burying his face into his hands. He’d survived, at least, the onslaught of your affections. Low chance you’d remember any of this tomorrow, he wasn’t held to his word. But he might keep it anyway, and ask you about this. The first time you drunkenly confessed, he brushed it off. The second time, recoiled in fear, and since have written it off as you getting a little silly. You’d probably laugh when he told you, and you could both make a joke of it until next time. 
                                              …
You were lucky the bunker was dim, because your head throbbed with every movement and shine of light that caught your eye. You groaned, doing your best to sit up. ‘Twas an arduous task indeed.
“You’re up?” Leo asked happily, sitting cross legged at his work desk. 
You shoulder your eyes from the light, and looked over at him. “Dude,” you managed. “What time is it?”
Leo tapped a phone on his desk, and told you it was around one. Phone? You stood up, maybe too fast, because your head pounded harder, and you stumbled slightly. Ugh. The room was spinning in the entirely wrong direction. Or maybe any direction was bad, and rooms shouldn’t spin at all.
in a blink Leo was there, one arm out to catch you if you fell. “You alright?” He asked. 
You nodded, talking seemed too hard in that moment. Smiling, you grabbed the hand he had outstretch to pull yourself up to stand straight, and started to his desk. “You finished the phone?” You asked, squinting down at it. It looked pretty done, but you had to ask. Just to be sure.
He came up beside you, tapping it again to show you the lockscreen. It was a photo from last night, Piper was on your shoulders trying chicken fight a tall cyclops. You cringed, sucking a breath in through your teeth. Unfortunately you remembered that one. 
Leo snickered. “It’s basically done,” he said, picking it up, “First one can be yours.” He flipped it in his palm so it was facing you, and your jaw fell open slightly.
”For real?” You asked skeptically, taking it. The blue light was a little bright, you’d have to turn that down. “I think the first should be yours, you made them.”
”Yeah, but I made them mostly for you and the others,” he shrugged. 
You pursed your lips, suppressing a smile. “Fine,” you conceded. He was entirely too sweet, wasn’t he? “But, you said, pointing at him. “Your number has to be the first one I add, alright,” you counter, brow raised.
He rolled his eyes, but you saw the smirk building on his lips. “Sure, fine,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender. He went back to his desk to retrieve another, and started tapping at it, and eventually came to you with a number, which you happily added. 
When the headache dulled, and you felt like facing the world, you and Leo decided to go to the dining pavilion. It wasn’t exactly a meal time, but the gods and canon magic should make an exception for you, Dionysus would probably approve of the night you had, anyway. When you grabbed a plate, there was food. Small victories. 
“Oh my Gods, you were saying some shit last night,” Leo laughed, sliding into the seat next to you, “At one point you said you could beat Percy at surfing.”
You cringed. “Please tell me he won’t remember that,” you said, picking at toast with your head in your hands. “If he takes me up on that challenge I’m fucked.”
Leo laughed, shaking his head, “Doubt it.”
You smiled, and took a bite of breakfast. Definitely best not to remind Percy about that. 
Then Leo pursed his lips a moment, staring intently at you while you ate. Your eyes narrowed and chewing slowed as you met his gaze. Before you could ask, he shook it off, physically even, shaking his head as he looked back at his phone on the table. “Yeah, you were on a roll last night,” he laughed. He started counting on fingers each silly thing you’d done. “There was the Percy thing, you tried to get matching tattoos with Piper,” he said, on the second finger. “You kept trying to go on the roof,” he snickered, and then paused, presumably to think. “Oh, and you tried to ask me out,” he laughed, putting up a fourth finger. 
You practically choked, feeling your face get hot, probably blushing like mad if you had to guess. You glanced over at him, and his little lopsided grin, “I what?”
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Part 2
Guys Leo is literally my husband. Idk what to tell you. Anyway I just think the idea of somebody constantly confessing while drunk and forgetting is is adorable.
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wolfjackle-creates · 3 months
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Answer My Call Chapter 2 Part 2
Happy WIP Wednesday! So last week, we had a tie between Bring Me Home and Answer My Call. The tie breaker didn't come in until Monday after I'd already finished the entire Bring Me Home chapter and half the Answer My Call one.
So y'all will be getting two fic upates today then I'm going to sleep. I'm tired after a full day of work with a call out. XP
If you want a say in next week's update, vote in the poll!
Story Summary: Jazz, Sam, and Tucker manage to help Danny escape the GIW, but they can't follow him and are under too much surveillance to communicate with each other. Sam snuck Danny a phone as he ran and Jazz sends him a text every day, hoping to hear he is all right. But he's not the one getting the texts.
Jason was away for several months on a mission with the Outlaws. When he finally returns home, he is surprised to find dozens of messages from an unknown number begging a Danny to tell her he's okay. Looks like there's not going to be a break between missions this time around.
Chapter 1: AO3 (user locked), Tumblr
Chapter 2: Part 1
Word Count: 1.3k
-----
After the performances—an odd mix where the main band yielded the stage to a poet or an accordionist when they needed a break—Jazz and Todd continued to mingle.
Jazz waited until about fifteen minutes had passed before reaching into her bag to search for her phone. “Todd!” she cried.
“Jazz? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find my phone! Shit, what time is it?”
Todd pulled out his. “Eleven fifty. Did you have it when we arrived?”
“I don’t know! I haven’t checked it. Where could it have gone?”
One of the other attendees broke into the conversation. “Lost your phone? What does it look like? We can help you look.” She was a woman in her forties or fifties. Next to her was another woman who nodded her agreement.
“Thank you, that’d be great.” It didn’t take much effort to bring tears to her eyes—all she had to do was remember that Danny was still missing. “It’s a Samsung in an unfortunately standard black case. The lock screen has picture of and my brother. My name’s Jazz, by the way. And this is Todd.”
“I’m Mel and this is my wife Jayden. I’m sure we’ll find your phone soon enough.” Then, in a voice loud enough to cut through the chatter, “Oi! Anyone see an unattended phone lying around? Jazz here misplaced hers?”
Even Mel, though, had to admit defeat after half an hour of searching through the entire apartment yielded nothing.
Jazz sat down on the floor and let herself cry. “And by now we’ve missed the last train. I’m sorry, Todd. What a disaster.”
“Hey, no. None of that, now. Tonight’s been a blast. This sucks for sure, but I can get us an uber or something—”
“How far are you kids going?” asked Jayden.
“Too far,” cried Jazz. “I live out of the city. Parked at Alewife and took the red line in.”
Jayden winced. “Well, we parked nearby. Is there somewhere close we can drive you?”
Jazz blinked up at them. “You’d do that?” She turned to Todd. “I just want to go to sleep. Is there a motel nearby we could stay at?”
Todd pulled out his phone and searched. “Looks like there’s a Holiday inn just down the street or a La Quinta that’s a little cheaper just a bit further out.” He smiled ruefully at the women who’d been helping them. “If you could get us to either place, we’d be more than grateful.”
One of the residents, an older man named Rob, took a seat next to them. “Hey, kiddo. What’s your email? We can contact you if anyone finds it.”
Jazz smiled at him gratefully and gave it. If it wasn’t so necessary, she’d feel bad for lying to and worrying all these people. But they were in so much danger. To the women, she said, “Would the La Quinta be too far out of the way? If I end up having to get a new phone, I’d like to save as much money as possible. Thank God I still have my wallet.”
“Sweetie, it’s totally fine,” assured Mel. “We’d take you all the way home if we didn’t live on the opposite side of the city.”
“Thank you, but that’s really okay. I just want to go to bed and worry about it tomorrow.”
“Come on, dear.” Mel reached out a hand to help Jazz up. “Let’s get you cleaned up then we’ll be on our way.”
Jazz thanked Rob for his help before Mel led her towards the bathroom with an arm around her shoulder.
Less than forty minutes later, Todd and Jazz were alone in a hotel room together. She pulled the blinds shut and finally let herself relax.
When she turned back to the room, Todd was looking at her with one eyebrow raised. “Want to explain to me what all of”—he threw out his hands—“that was about?”
Jazz glared back at him. “You didn’t tell me you died! Damn it, if I’d known in advance—!” she cut herself off and took a deep breath. “Never mind. What’s done is done.”
Todd was deadly still. “How do you know that?”
Jazz threw her hands in the air. “It’s obvious to anyone who knows how to tell. Including the Guys in White who I told you are dangerous to ghosts and liminals! I had plans for what I’d say when they found us, but those won’t work if you’re dead!”
“Wait.” Todd held up his hands. “You’re saying I can be persecuted under those Anti-Ecto acts?”
“Yes! You’re more ghostly than me, and I am watched every minute of every day.”
Todd narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a moment before asking, “Have you heard of Lazarus Water or had any dealings with the League of Assassins?”
“No! I have no idea what you’re talking about. Quit changing the subject. My brother is the only thing that matters and you and Red Robin promised to help me find him.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do!” Jason’s eyes flashed green, and Jazz glared right back at him. “The League of Assassins are the ones who brought me back to life with Lazarus Water. I need to know if you and your brother are mixed up with them because that would change our approach. If it’s a rogue government agency, that’s one thing. If it’s also the league, we’ve got a whole set of other problems.”
Jazz sat down heavily on one of the bed. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t— It’s been a long few months. After a long few years.”
Todd sat down across from her and nodded for her to continue. “Tell me what happened.”
“It started three years ago. My parents, they’re ghost hunters. Been building weapons to detect and hunt ghosts since before I was born. But three years ago is when they finally finished their life’s work: the ghost portal. Only it didn’t work at first. Then my brother Danny and his friends decided to be stupid. They went to check it out. I wasn’t there and the three of them don’t talk about it, but something happened down there that day.
“My brother died and the portal was working. Only, he didn’t die all the way. He became half-ghost, half-human. And that would have been bad enough, but with the portal open, ghosts came through from the Infinite Realms, sometimes called the Ghost Zone by humans. Some were benign, but many of them came to cause problems or hurt people. Danny stopped them.”
Todd held up a hand to stop her. “Your brother became a supehero? How didn’t the Justice League hear about this? How old was he?”
Jazz shrugged. “I don’t know about the Justice League. It could be that no one ever contacted them. It could be they didn’t believe us. And it could be that no one cared. Danny felt responsible though, since it was his fault the portal turned on. And he was the only one with the ability to stop the ghosts, so…” She held up her hands in a what-can-you-do gesture.
Todd closed his eyes and let out a careful breath. “I can guarantee you the JL didn’t know about your town. A fourteen-year-old would never have been left alone to monitor an interdimensional portal if we had.”
Jazz had no idea what she thought of that. Danny had done it all alone. So finding out he could have had help? She shook her head. What-ifs were a waste of time. “Well, he did. But the government didn’t like that a ghost was the main defense against ghosts. So the Ghost Investigation Ward, more commonly called the Guys in White or GIW was formed. At first, they were as incompetent as any other ghost hunter. But they didn’t stay that way.”
“What happened to your brother, Jazz?” asked Todd.
-----
Next
Sorry to end it there. But it's the right length and I need to go to bed. XP
Hope you enjoy!
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Not much to say about this one. When I went to the event at this location, my friend and I very nearly missed the last train. It was pulling into the station as we entered. If we'd been 2 or 3 minutes later, we would've been stranded so far from my car, I don't even want to know what that uber or cab would've cost.
Luckily Jazz and Jason had a few good Samaritans nearby.
Next up: We learn more about what happened to Danny!
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AITA for abandoning my party in the middle of a notoriously tough dungeon?
i (26m) was playing ffxiv and had just unlocked a new dungeon. all my friends were asleep and i was too excited to wait, so i decided to go against my social anxiety and run it with randos.
the scant handful times i'd run dungeons with randos before went great - earlier that day after another dungeon i'd even gotten player commendations from two of the players in a party i was healing for - so i was more or less confident this time would be fine as well.
boy oh boy was i wrong...
i got matched with three players we will simply call tank, healer, and dps (age and gender unknown for all three). i went in as a bard (all my other jobs were too underlevelled), filling the remaining dps role.
things went awry almost as soon as we set foot in that dungeon. i died in the first room to some enemies that aggro'd on me and ganged up on me. the rest of the party left the room pretty much immediately after all enemies were dead.
i politely asked to be resurrected, to which healer reluctantly complied. they told me to "just rez next time", which would've sent me to the beginning of the dungeon. in hindsight that would've prolly been fine since it was only the first room.
after i caught up to the others i once again got swarmed with monsters. this is gonna be a pattern if you couldn't tell. after i'd died to this pattern a couple times tank yelled at me for "constantly pulling everything ffs".
for those who don't know, tanks (at least in this game) have a special ability that basically acts as an aggro magnet. i have a strong suspicion tank wasn't using said ability considering how often i got swarmed, but we'll never know for sure.
now the mid boss was where it truly went to shit. no matter how much of a distance i kept from that damn thing, no matter how well i evaded its aoe attacks, i just kept dying over and over again. one time the rest of the party even got sent back somehow. i'm not sure how.
and why did i keep dying you may ask? because healer never healed me. not once after they resurrected me at the beginning did i notice my hp go up aside from when i used hi-potions or my one (1) healing spell, both of which have a very long cooldown. i think they were glued to tank the entire time, completely neglecting me and dps.
and yet, i was the one taking the blame for everything. for pulling the enemies tank should've pulled. for constantly dying, which i couldn't help because healer never once touched me after that first resurrection.
it was really starting to affect me so after i let my dead body be sent back to the beginning of the dungeon i finally put my foot down and left the dungeon. this disbanded the party, not only kicking everyone from the dungeon, but likely also penalizing all 4 of us because of my actions.
i will clarify that this wasn't just any old dungeon; it was aurum vale. it's a dungeon you need to be at least level 47 for. while i don't know much about it myself, judging by the way my friends talk about it the semi-universal verdict is that it sucks major balls. it' would's not be a fun dungeon to have to redo, that's for sure.
i was on the verge of tears for well over 30 minutes afterwards, both from the emotional afterquakes of fear and anger but also from the guilt of abandoning these people like that.
so, am i the asshole? am i too sensitive? should i just have sucked it up and kept going?
tldr; i felt like my party of randos were blaming me for being the weakest link while doing their own jobs poorly, and decided to prioritize my own feelings by leaving the dungeon, dissolving the party and forcing the others to start all over again
Oh no. Oh honey. I am so sorry Aurum Vale is just like that. I'm gonna put the poll here and some extra INFO/advice under a readmore because it's a bit long, but please read on before voting.
First: don't let leaving bother you too much, it didn't kick everyone from the dungeon, that's not how it works. If one person leaves, the queue just refills the party with a new person and the dungeon continues like normal, or everyone else now has the option to leave without penalty.
Aurum Vale's first room is a motherfucker--basically it's an older design with lots of wandering monsters, so on the first room especially you need to hug the left hand wall as tight as you can to aggro as little as possible. Let the tank go first and grab aggro on mobs. Don't pull for the tank, especially at this level range. Let them do their job. I can't say for sure whether they had their aggro-generating stance on, could go either way, but I can see why they got annoyed at someone pulling stuff they weren't ready for yet. While wall-to-wall pulling is pretty standard in this game, that's the tank's call to make, not the dps's--and some of these older dungeons with funky level syncing or enemy pacing make wall-to-walling more difficult and not for everyone.
(BTW, as an aside, tank stance works as a personal buff, not a magnet--they do still need to hit things to grab their aggro, sometimes more than once if someone else has already established on them. If they already have a pack they're working on and you grab something way on the other side of the room, you'll have to bring it over to them so they can take it off you!)
If you do die to mobs between bosses, sometimes the best thing to do is just release and respawn! If you get a rez, you'll have a debuff that makes you weaker for a while. Definitely if it's the very first room, releasing is the move most of the time.
As for dying to bosses: was it definitely the mid boss, the cyclops? Because the other two (the plant and the morbol) both have mechanics that make you take slow damage over time unless you eat a fruit to get rid of it. You want to eat a fruit every 2-3 stacks of the debuff that you get because that's where the damage starts to get more severe; before then, the healer can probably handle you.
Basically, it seems like this party mistook inexperience for malice and was rude to you in response. Not healing you, for example, is absolutely inexcusable. You did some things suboptimally that made the dungeon harder for the group, but honestly we were all there once, don't let it get to you too much. Try it again with your friends bearing the stuff I mentioned in mind, and it'll go much better! But as an aside it SUCKS to heal, if you have a more experienced friend you should let them handle it haha
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atlafan · 1 year
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You’re about ready to kill him. There you are, sweating, chest heaving, mascara running down your cheeks, and he’s laughing. He’s got a drink in his hand and he’s snickering like a 12 year old boy that said the word fart and thought it was the funniest thing ever.
The evening started out with the two of you going to some big staff awards ceremony for your boyfriend’s company. Harry wasn’t sure if he’d win anything, but he knew he was nominated for a few, so he wanted to make sure you came with. Fine. You had no problem with that. It would be an excuse to get dressed up and have a fancy dinner.
Harry’s sort of a big deal at his company, but he’s very humble about it. He loves what he does. He doesn’t do it for the recognition. So when he won four awards, that were all voted to him by his colleagues, he was eternally grateful. He was a little tipsy by the last one, but so was everyone else. There was an open bar, and bottles of alcohol on the table itself.
There was word of an after party at another location. Fine. You and Harry both like to dance and have fun, and he was on such a high there was no way he would have been to just go home and go to bed. So, with a drink still in his hand, you climb into the back of the town car that his company was paying for. As soon as the door was closed, and the partition was up, Harry set his drink down and looked at you.
You’d been torturing him since the second he picked you up. You were wearing this incredible dress that was form fitting and left little the imagination. And because the material was so flimsy, you didn’t want to wear any underwear in fear of showing panty lines. It’s just one of those dresses that if you even wore a thong it would throw the whole look off. You explained this casually to Harry on the way to the event. He didn’t say anything so you didn’t think he cared all that much.
But you were wrong. So very wrong.
The look in his eyes told you that you were in for it. But you also knew that the club you were headed to is literally a ten minute drive away. What could he possibly do to you in ten minutes in the back of a car with a cheap partition?
“Do you want me to suck you off?” You ask coyly. “Because I’d be happy to give you some road head , Mr. Salesman of the Year.” You lean in and kiss him. You can feel him smiling against your lips.
“No, we’ll save that for later. Think I’ve got whiskey dick right now anyways.”
“Fair enough.” Just as you’re about to lean back into the seat, he loops his fingers around your forearm. “What?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to fool around at all, sweetheart.”
“We don’t have a lot of time.”
“We’ve got…” He looks down at his watch. “Seven minutes. I think we both know there’s a lot I can do in that amount of time.”
You both launch on to one another. In all honesty, you wanted to pounce on him before you even got in the car, but you didn’t want to make him look unprofessional in front of some of the higher ups. A quick make out session is a perfect thing to hold you over until you get home later. Only, Harry has something else in mind.
He’s quick to get you on your back. You giggle as he struggles to tuck up the skirt of your dress. It’s tight around your thighs, but he eventually gets it up around your hips. Before you can tell him there’s not enough time for this, he parts your legs and spits onto your pussy.
“Don’t ever do this to me again.” He warns you. “Knowing you were sitting there all night, so easily accessible to me and I couldn’t do anything about it?” He gives your pussy a slap, jolting you. “Rude.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” You pout as he puts your legs over his shoulders. “I just wanted to look nice for your eve-ohhhhh my god.”
Harry is usually slow with you, usually gives you time to get worked up. But tonight, right now, he’s going full force. You tighten around his tongue and clutch at the headrest of your seat. Normally you’d grab at his hair, but you don’t want to mess it up. His curls are just too perfect tonight.
He wells up his spit, puts it right inside of you. You can feel it dripping down to your asshole. He sucks on your pussy and it feels so fucking good. His nose rubs and bumps against clit. You’re eternally grateful you found a man with a good pussy eating nose. His fingertips press bruises into your hips as he slurps and devours you.
He gives you one last good tonguing before coming up and kissing you. It’s filthy, but you can’t find it in you to care. He grips at your hair, yanking your head back so he has access to your throat. Two fingers plunge deep inside of you while his other hand squeezes at the sides of your throat. Your mouth falls open and your eyes start to water. His tongue swirls around yours, and you moan into him when he starts to really give it to you hard with his fingers. You’re so slick, you can hear the wet sounds between you. You raise your hips so he has a better angle, and he starts rapidly beating into your g-spot.
“H-Harry.” You say through gritted teeth.
“We’re gonna be there before you know it, come on.” He grunts, not letting up for a second. You wonder how his arm hasn’t gotten tired or how his fingers haven’t cramped. “Know you can do it. You’re always so good for me.”
“It’s too much.” You gasp when he lets go over your throat to rub your clit.
“You want to come sooo badly, can feel you squeezing around my fingers.” He looks down between them. “You’re so fucking wet.”
“Harry.”
“I know, baby, I know. Feels so good, doesn’t it.”
“So good, so fucking good.”
Just as the car comes to a full stop, you come hard around his fingers. He doesn’t let up on your clit though, so after he pulls his fingers from you, you find yourself still having the sensation of orgasming, and you accidentally squirt onto his chest. Thank god his shirt is half undone.
“There we go.” He coos as you start to come down. There’s a tap on the window, and Harry rolls it down about halfway. You’re not even decent yet, so you kick him in the thigh. “Yes?” He chuckles at the driver.
“We’ve arrived, sir.”
“Thank you, we’ll be just a minute.” Harry looks back at you. You’re squirming as you get your dress back down. You look completely fucked. Your makeup is smeared, and your head is cloudy. He starts laughing.
“It’s not funny.” You grunt. “Stop looking at me like that. This is your fault! I’m going to look like an idiot.”
“Take your time to compose yourself, it’s not like we’re double parked or anything.” You were. You were double parked. You kick him again, which just makes him laugh more, only this time he turns to look out the window and bites his tongue to stifle his laughter.
“I’m going to get you for this. Just wait until we get back to my place later.” You use your phone to help you fix your face. “Making me squirt in the back of a cab. You’re insane.”
“It’ll be a fun story to tell when we get inside and we’re the last of the group to arrive.”
“What?” Your face falls when he opens the door to get out. He extends his hand to you and take it. “You’re not serious, are you? They don’t need to know me like that.” He doesn’t answer you as he helps you out of the car, double checking you don’t have any wet spots on your dress. “Harry.” He still doesn’t answer you. “Harry.”
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qqueenofhades · 3 months
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As someone whose country went through a brutal dictatorship, we still see the bleeding wounds it's left- even 50 years later. The idea of not exercising the right to vote is absolutely unthinkable to most citizens. Granted, voting is obligatory, but everyone I know does it voluntarily and enthusiastically. The discourse I hear around it in the US evidences a narrow perspective, which is so upsetting to see, especially within leftist spaces.
The right to vote is something every citizen must, sadly, defend. Most Latin American countries know all too well what happens when fascism and treason disguised as conservatism take centre stage. I hope it won't be too late when the people peddling anti voting crap to younger generations realise the harm it causes.
All around the world, the reason fascist authoritarian dictatorships of whatever ideology stay in power is precisely either because citizens aren't allowed to vote, the vote is outrageously rigged (think of the 99% margins routinely racked up in places like Russia and Venezuela) or they rely on repressing the vote through intentionally disheartening liberal, left-wing, progressive, or other similarly oriented voters, who often do much of the work themselves with constant internal attacks and purity tests and adopting the rhetoric of anti-voting propaganda in the name of purity. Despite all their populist claims to enact a monolithic Will of the People, all these anti-democratic authoritarian movements are terrified of a genuinely representative popular vote and will do anything to stop it, because it turns out that if you give them the choice, people anywhere in the world don't super like being repressed, extorted, and terrorized in the name of Ideology, and will give your tiresome fascist ass Das Boot.
In the American context, the Republicans have gone full masks-off illiberal authoritarianism and they desperately hate the idea of people voting, which is why they have filed endless lawsuits, passed endless restrictive laws, disenfranchised even their own voters, shrieked election fraud, and everything else to try to jerry-rig their position as extremist minority oligarchic rulers for life. Which is why it is befuddling, to say the least, to see people insist that voting doesn't work, it doesn't matter that much, it isn't an effective tool against fascism, it's Morally Wrong, or all the other idiot "justifications" they come up with. All you have to do is look at how fucking terrified the bad guys are of a minimally equitable electoral system (such as getting rid of the Electoral College, which would pretty much ensure a Republican never won the presidency again if it had to be selected by -- gasp! -- an actual nationwide popular vote). That's why I don't even buy into the "voting sucks and is the bare minimum" rhetoric that gets peddled as a sort of tempting carrot to get the recalcitrants to do it -- don't worry, you can still post your mean tweets about Biden and that totally is more effective! Voting is A BIG DEAL. Voting works. Americans don't realize this because they are lucky enough to never have lived in a country where it wasn't available to be taken for granted and therefore scoffed off.
Voting, having the right to vote, and the large-scale ability that it confers to change the structures of society, is a MASSIVELY powerful tool that has largely not been available to most people throughout history (and is still unavailable to a large chunk of the world today). That's why there were bitter and protracted battles to get women and African Americans the right to vote in America. That is why the GOP still particularly targets those voters today, because the simple act of exercising your civic franchise in your best interests (and therefore not in the MAGA TrumpCult's interests) is so terrifying to them. If it was meaningless, none of this would matter. But it does.
Here, Imma make it real easy for you. If you have any reason to think your voter registration is lapsed, inactive, or nonexistent, if you have recently moved and don't know your status or your polling place or whether you get a mail ballot or whether your evil DeSantis governor has recently taken you off the rolls, or if you have never done it before, or if you want to do one basic thing to oppose fascism today, click this simple link. Do it.
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markantonys · 2 months
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AITA for joining a "cult" that thinks my sister and mom are Darkfriends?
First, some backstory. I (30m) have always been an outsider in my family. It wasn't anything to do with my parents - dad (dead) always spent all his time with me instead of my younger siblings, and (step)mom (43f) always gave me extra attention compared to her bio kids because she didn't want me to feel neglected - or with my brother (21m), who's always looked up to me. It was all because of my sister (19f). She's hated and bullied me ever since she was a toddler, and I have no idea why. I guess maybe she doesn't think I'm her real brother, or blames me for telling on her whenever she did irresponsible things like climb trees and talk to strangers. All I've ever done is try to keep her safe, but she's never appreciated it.
Anyway, there's this organization (my sister claims it's a cult, though I don't think that's fair) that's dedicated to serving the Light. My mom always hated them and kept them banned from our country because she thinks they have an agenda against women who can channel, and she's one herself, as is my sister. I used to believe her, but after reading one book written by the organization's founder, I realized that my mom has a totally biased view of them and they're actually doing really important work founded on admirable principles. So when my sister went missing at the hands of women who can channel, I decided I'd had enough of those women lying to everyone all the time and I joined this organization.
I did have my view of them shaken when I found out my mom had been kidnapped, abused, and murdered by one of their leaders (turns out she's actually still alive though, don't worry about that), but I challenged that leader to an honorable duel and killed him to avenge my mom, and my friends and I rooted out a handful of other corrupt members of the organization, so now with that small minority gone, the rest of us can continue doing the Light's work and spreading awareness of the evils of the One Power.
To be clear, I OBVIOUSLY don't think my sister and mom are Darkfriends; it's only everyone else who uses the One Power who is. I've explained this to my sister multiple times but it only makes her angrier instead of grateful that I'm making an exception for her and choosing to believe the best of her. It feels like I can never do anything right in her eyes, but maybe I've somehow got the wrong understanding of the situation. So, AITA?
******
u/dainbornhald: NTA. Your sister's problem isn't actually that you joined this organization (which totally does sound 100% Light-serving). She doesn't think you're her real brother and is just looking for any excuse to continue the bullying, manipulation, and gaslighting she's been using on you since she was a toddler. [+5k votes] u/childbyar: Came here to say this. Sister sounds like a textbook abuser, and, honestly, almost definitely a Darkfriend. I'd go no contact with her, OP, and maybe get a restraining order if you have to - she's obviously unhinged. [+1.2k votes]
u/amyrlinseat: You joined a cult that thinks your sister is a Darkfriend based on an innate characteristic about her that she didn't choose and can't change (unlike you, who DID choose to join this cult), and you're whining that she's mad at you for it??? YTA [-749 votes]
u/luckyfox: YTA for the cult thing, but this whole family's got serious mommy AND daddy issues (take it from an expert). Sister resents you for getting all your parents' attention growing up, and you have a victim complex about being a stepchild/half-brother. I can only wonder what might be going on with the middle brother who wasn't mentioned much here. You guys need to go to therapy. [+2 votes] u/galaddamodred [OP]: My brother always seemed very well-adjusted, but a few hours after I made this post he actually died going on a suicide charge in battle because he thought he was unimportant enough to risk and no one would care much if he died in the attempt. Which sucks because now the only sibling I've got left is my sister who hates me. [+273 votes] u/luckyfox: oh my god [+312 votes]
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chaotic-archaeologist · 9 months
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got a question for ya regarding sex and online safety.
Background; I am an adulty adult. I have been able to and have voted in more than 3 elections. [I know you take interactions with minors seriously]. I am also ace and autistic. as a result I have never felt the urge to date and I normally don't mind having friends close by.
However, I also just moved for the 4th time since 2019 and would like to meet people.
So I downloaded Grindr. already got my first dickpic lol. I have also been chatting with a fellow who I like and would like to be friends with and I also wouldn't mind exploring my kinks with people... but I have never had to worry about safe online sexy stuff before so I don't know the basics beyond normal internet safety.
What do I do‽‽‽
Okay first, thanks for clarifying the adulty part. This is an awesome question, and here's the advice/steps that I personally follow for situations like this.
Have your first meeting in a public place. Go for coffee or ice cream or lunch or dinner or whatever. But don't meet them alone. This way, if you get uncomfortable with anything that's happening, they're much less likely to continue with that behavior after you attempt to extricate yourself.
Make sure there are no expectations. Plan not to have sex on the first date/meet up. Grindr often tends to ignore this rule since it's very hookup centric, but you're absolutely within your rights to insist on taking things as slowly as you want to.
Don't rely on the other person for transportation. If you choose to meet someone, get yourself there and plan to get yourself back. Walk, bike, drive, public transportation, unicycle, it's all good. But there's much less room for pressure if you're not depending on them for a ride home. This segues nicely into my next point:
Do not tell them where you live. At least, not right now. Plenty of people on Grindr are willing to "host" meaning you can come to their place. That's fine for them, but I err on the side of never giving anyone my address until I've had a thorough chance to assess their character and meet them a few times.
Tell someone where you will be. Let someone who cares about you know that you're going out, where you'll be, and what time you expect to return. Establish a time to check in when you're going home/if you choose to extend the meeting. There are also apps like Noonlight that can function similarly.
Be careful about what you consume. If you're going to enjoy and mind alternating substances, be very, very careful. This goes for anything from getting drinks at a bar to any and all of the recreational drugs on the market.
Be prepared for a little bit of awkwardness. Meeting someone in person is often very different than chatting online. If the conversation is awkward or halting, that's okay. Give it a little time (but also don't be afraid to trust your gut if it's telling you something is wrong).
Communicate clearly. If you have any needs—which can range from an allergy, not being able to stand for long periods of time, needing them to speak loudly so you can hear them, safety concerns—the best way to get those met is to be upfront. You don't need to disclose the reason why you need something if it makes you uncomfortable, just state what you need. People worth spending time with will respect that. The same thing goes for your wants.
Use protection. Maybe this isn't applicable for you specifically, but I think it belongs on this list. Condoms. Dental dams. Gloves. Someone on an app telling you they're negative for any number of things is not an actual guarantee they're not lying to you. Not wanting to use protection (not just for anal/vaginal intercourse, but for oral sex as well) is a huge red flag. Decide in advance what your boundaries are and stick to them.
If it sucks, hit da bricks. Fundamentally, you owe this person nothing. There is no consequence for saying "you know what, I'm not feeling this and I'm going to leave." Be as polite as you want to, but put yourself first.
At the end of the day, the only thing you have control over is you. How you react, where you meet this person, what you do—that's what you control. Hopefully any meet ups will be fun and relatively safe, but just in case, set yourself up for success by maintaining what control you can.
From one adult to another, these are all suggestions rather than rules. Many people on Grindr choose not to follow various ones, and that's fine. Take some time to think about what you're comfortable with and make your decisions accordingly.
Also, best practice for someone sending an unsolicited dick pic (if you don't want them) is just to block that person. But sending a return picture like this one is a hilarious option.
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-Reid
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