#but not as pretty and more extreme weather and not halloween | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

age-of-greta · 8 months

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Harvest Moon

Author’s note: hi it’s been a minute!!! Here we are starting our Halloween szn series eeeekkk!!! I meant to post this last week but I got caught up. My plan is to post the next two on Fridays and the final one on Halloween. Anywhoooo this was my first crack with a Josh fic so I hope you love it!! Click here for the vibes :)

Pairing: Josh x reader

Warnings: cursing, sexual content, minors DNI

Word count: 2.8k

It was a particularly yucky day outside. It was overcast, windy, chilly, and a light drizzle fell from the sky. Definitely not the weather you had anticipated when you suggested a pumpkin patch date with your boyfriend. You had been so excited to go, take pictures, choose pumpkins, drink cider, and enjoy the day with your favorite person. But the weather had quite literally put a damper on things. Maybe it’s because it was your first fall together or maybe it’s because you had felt extremely sentimental, either way you wanted this day to go perfectly. You and Josh had been together for around 10 months now after a drunken hookup at a New Year’s party blossomed into something beautiful. Almost out of a fairy tale. You struggled to put it into words, but it just felt like he had completed you. You felt whole when he was with you. Which is why you tried to remain optimistic about this day despite the goddamn weather. You adored fall, and all year long you looked forward to having someone to share these activities with. Josh had even made sure to schedule his band’s tour around your fall calendar. That melted your heart into a million pieces.

You sat now by the window staring out into the gloom fidgeting with the frays on your cream cable knit sweater. You wondered if you should change your outfit to dress more appropriately given the circumstances. With your chunky sweater you wore a brown corduroy skirt with sheer black tights and brown chelsea boots. Josh always joked when you wore them that they looked like they were straight out of Jake’s closet.

You saw headlights flash in your driveway and you jolted up with excitement and fled to your door. When you opened the door he was walking towards you with a perfect smile and flowers in hand. He looked so handsome. Light khaki pants, white high top vans, and a white sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up. He sported a triangular necklace and his hair was perfectly unkempt.

“Hi beautiful. How are you?” He asked, as he pulled you into a tight hug.

“Better now.” You gushed, taking in his scent of patchouli and teakwood.

“Got these for you.” He said with a bright grin as he handed you the orange daisies.

You smiled and accepted them. “So romantic! Let me put these in water and we can go.”

You walked back into your kitchen and found a cream colored vase under your island. You filled it halfway with water and plunged the stems in, Josh had already pre-cut them. He was exceptionally thoughtful like that.

“Ready?” You asked with excitement.

“Let’s go.” Josh said, reaching out his hand for you.

You climbed into his Jeep and he shut the door behind you. You clicked your seatbelt as Josh flickered with his phone before entering the car. The engine whirred to life as he smiled and placed his hand on your thigh. Josh hummed Neil Young softly in the background. You glanced over and studied his features. He was so pretty. So soft. Your Josh.

About ten minutes into the drive you realized that Josh wasn’t going the direction he needed to get to the farm you had said you were going to. You furrowed your browns and glanced over at his silent GPS. Forty five minutes away? That seemed impossible. The farm you had discussed was only 19 minutes from your house.

“Where are we going?” You asked.

Josh looked over at you and gave you a lazy smile before shifting his eyes back on the road. “The pumpkin patch.”

You cocked your head to the side. “This isn’t the way to Abbott Farms.”

His eyes stayed on the road but he lightly gave your thigh a squeeze. “Nope.”

You made a face, but before you could speak he continued.

“We are going to a different farm, somewhere where the weather will be nicer. I checked the radar the past few days, so I’ve been planning for alternate farms all around here based upon the weather. We are traveling southeast and the bad weather is going more northwest. We should be clear. I know how excited you are for today, so I figure the least I could do was drive you into some better weather.”

You were floored and your heart swelled with love and adoration. That was Josh. The most kind, thoughtful, always planning two steps ahead. Your Josh.

“That’s very thoughtful Mr. Kiszka. How’d I get so lucky?”

He let out a laugh. “I don’t know how you landed such a catch. By the way there are some snacks in the back if you want some. I packed them for the longer car ride. Your favorite m&ms are somewhere.”

You let out a laugh. “Josh! You’re the best. Thank you.”

He grabs your hand with the hand that’s been on your thigh and laces his fingers with yours. “You’re welcome my dear. I love you.”

“I like this one!” You yelled to Josh as he jogged to keep up with you.

You had just set your sights on the perfect pumpkin. It was large, round, and was the prettiest shade of orange. You and Josh had arrived at the pumpkin patch nearly an hour ago. First he took you through the corn maze, which you had both figured out rather quickly. Then you got warm apple cider before your mini photoshoot together. Josh never complained once about the hundreds of photos you made him take with you or of you.

“So this one is it huh?” Josh asked, staring down at you with your pumpkin. His hands were on his hips and he was slightly out of breath from jogging uphill.

“Mhm.” You said, giving your new prized possession a rub.

“And you’re sure this pumpkin is better than any pumpkin down that giant ass hill?” He asked, in a joking tone.

“This is the one.” You assured. “And the hill is not that giant.”

He sighed and gave you a smile. “Then we shall have it.” He grabbed the rather large pumpkin and threw it on his shoulder as you both headed back down the hill. Eventually, he would get a cart as you saw the gourds in boxes. By the time you had left you had acquired three large pumpkins, 2 smaller ones, and a plethora of gourds. You were beyond satisfied with your haul. Now it was time to go back to your house and carve them.

Josh loaded up his jeep and began the drive back to your house. It had been quite a blissful way to spend two hours. Josh slightly cracked the windows and blasted the heat so you two could admire the foliage. He truly made you swoon.

When you returned to your house Josh carried in your pumpkins while you lit fall candles and changed into more comfortable clothes. Josh had brought over his “spending the night” bag and changed as well. You wore a pair of fuzzy brown joggers with a white cropped tank. You put on a pair of socks that had little pumpkins all over them. Josh had gone with cream colored sweatpants and a black t-shirt. No shoes of course. You both settled down in your living room, an array of carving tools at your use, both pumpkins plopped down on top of trash bags. There was a black and white horror film that Josh had chosen just beginning. It was one of the many Frankenstein movies. He was such a film geek and you loved that. Your Josh.

“Okay pumpkin. What are you carving on your pumpkin?” Josh asks, giving you a particularly bright smile.

“A scary face I think. Jagged teeth all the way. What are you planning? Something elaborate?”

“Spooky. And no nothing elaborate. Probably a happy face. Everyone loves a happy pumpkin.” He says, reaching up and giving your cheek a pinch.

“Don’t forget to save the best guts! Our homemade pumpkin pie will be what dreams are made of.” You remind him.

“Got it.” Josh says, reaching over for the big knife.

He stabs into his pumpkin and pops off the top. Then he helps you get your knife into your pumpkin, safely. You two spent around 30 minutes de-gutting and carving your pumpkins. It was a surprise reveal type of situation. You had both turned your pumpkins away from one another, sitting in near silence as you both focused on your craft. You had given your pumpkin a set of triangular eyes, a small triangle nose, and a sharp set of gnarly teeth. You left a bit of the flesh out of your pumpkin to give it the appearance that it had just eaten something. You smiled at your creation, satisfied with your work.

“Almost done slowpoke?” You asked Josh, who had a look of sheer concentration masked on his face.

His expression broke and a small smile appeared. “Slowpoke? You can’t rush art baby.”

“Then how do you write songs in less than one day?”

He lets out a chuckle. “I plead the fifth. Anywho yeah yeah I’m done. This is going to blow you away.”

“Ready?” You ask, he nods.

“1…2…3…!”

You both reveal your pumpkins to one another. Josh had created, possibly the cutest pumpkin you had laid eyes on. It had round eyes with small triangles remaining as pupils, a heart nose, and a cute toothy smile.

You giggled at his pumpkin. “Josh! It’s so cute!”

He stifles a laugh. “And yours is horrifying!”

“Thank you.” You reply back with a smirk.

“Okay I’ll clean, light these guys up, and stick them on the porch. You wanna start your pie and I’ll meet you in there?” Josh asks.

You nod and get up grabbing the bowl of pumpkin guts. Josh had already picked out all of the seeds. Thoughtful.

You went through the bowl and pulled out the best chunks, putting them in your food processor to make a purée. Then you gathered the rest of the ingredients you would need. You had already pre-made the crust, so you dusted flour around your island to knead it a bit and press it in the pan. Once the crust was pressed you started to bake it slightly before putting your filling in. Josh returned to the kitchen and began to help. He was actually really good at baking. You two were always baking something together, it was a bonding time between the two of you.

“I think we should add some more nutmeg than the recipe calls for. It will give it that extra pow!”

You let out a laugh. “More nutmeg? Someone’s feeling a bit wild right now.”

“Oooh call me a rebel baby.” Josh said, in a buttery velvet voice as he approached you and planted a rather wet kiss to your lips. He reached behind you and grabbed the nutmeg, returning to the batter.

He dashed some more in and gave it a nice big stir. You grabbed the crust out of the oven so it didn’t overbake.

“Wanna try?” Josh asked, scooping some batter onto his index finger.

You nodded and opened your mouth. You made eye contact and sucked on his finger for just a second longer than necessary.

A smirk appeared on his face. “So naughty.”

“Extra nutmeg was a good call.” You said, innocently.

You grabbed the batter and began to pour it into the crust. Once the bowl was essentially empty, you sprinkled the pie with extra cinnamon and threw it in the oven.

You turned around to see Josh eyeing you. You knew what he was thinking.

Still, you pretended to be oblivious, and started to throw the dishes in the sink and clean up the island. Josh grabbed the batter bowl and slinked around to you.

“You got something right there.”

You slightly furrowed your brows. “Where?”

He stepped close to you, incredibly close.

“Here.” He said, obviously wiping batter onto your neck.

“Josh!” You said with a surprised laugh.

“So messy.” He said as he clicked his tongue. “What ever am I going to do with you?”

“Whatever you want.” You said faltering, voice just above a whisper.

He leaned in and licked a stripe up your neck, getting all of the batter off. He didn’t stop once it was gone, giving you a small bite on the most tender of flesh.

You leaned your head back and let out an exhale and his hands met your hips. He kissed up your neck until he met your lips, his tongue already eager for yours. You reached up and wrapped your hands into his hair, giving a few gentle tugs. That always drove him crazy. He groaned into your mouth and pressed his body into yours, his hands touching everything he could. Then, in a swift motion he gave your ass a nice squeeze and lifted you up onto the island. He stood in between your legs and began to kiss down your neck. You shuddered with anticipation and butterflies circled throughout your belly. He nipped at your collarbone while his hand found the swell of one of your breasts. He slowly pulled your top down before continuing his descent. His tongue rolled over your nipple as he began to suck and bite. Your head fell back and you were fighting to keep your eyes open as the sensations overtook your body. One of his hands met your hip and you were about to start begging. Luckily, he was working rather quickly as he slid your pants down leaving you just in your panties. His warm hands traveled all around your thighs as his mouth met yours again. When your lips disconnected, he made eye contact with you before sinking to the floor on his knees. He grabbed the back of your thighs and threw them over his shoulders, pulling your body closer to him. He started to lightly kiss the inside of your thighs. You threw your hands back to brace yourself, still wanting to sit up just the slightest to get to see some of the show. His tongue licked up over your clothed center and you let out a soft moan.

That’s one thing that always got Josh going. Your sounds. He loved being cheered on, call it a frontman thing.

He hooked his fingers under your panties and yanked them down, leaving you bare in front of him.

“So perfect.” He growled as he connected his lips to your center.

You let out shuddering breaths trying to breath through the ride you were currently taking on his face. Josh continued to send you over the edge as he added two fingers into you, dipping first then taking the plunge.

“Josh…” You whined lowly.

He briefly disconnected his face from you, replacing his tongue with his caressing thumb.

“C’mon baby I know you’re almost there. Be a good girl and give it to me.”

His encouragement and tongue back in that certain spot was enough to send you over the edge as you threw your head back and gave into pure bliss. Josh dug his fingers into your flesh as you ground yourself further and further until you swore you saw stars. You were a mess as you tried to come back to your senses. Josh always made you feel like you were in a sensory deprivation tank when he was done with you. The only thing that made you come back to Earth was a timer dinging.

Fuck. You thought. How long had Josh had you on this counter? The second ding is what really brought you back to life as Josh continued to slowly kiss your thighs to ease you back.

You took a deep breath to collect yourself. “The pie’s done.” You said, reaching down and wiping your slick off of his face. “Hopefully you haven’t ruined your appetite.”

He grins at you. “My appetite? Darling I’m insatiable, particularly for you. But, I’ve just had the sweetest thing known to man, not sure if the pie will compare.”

You giggle at his antics. “Wanna continue this later?”

He starts to get up and leans over and plants a kiss on your lips. “Yes ma’am. Let’s see how this pie looks.”

He helps you down off the counter and pulls your pants back around your waist, giving your ass a squeeze.

You clean up a little, then grab your oven mitts so you can get your pie out to cool. Josh opens the window above the sink as you sit it on the windowsill.

“Smells good. You’re so talented.” He said as he wrapped you into a hug from behind, pressing his lips to your temple.

He was so kind, so supportive, so gentle, so sweet. He got you in a way that no one else could even begin to. He was the flame that lit your soul. Ignited you. Preserved you. Saved you. That was him.

Your Josh.

#greta van fic #greta van fleet #greta van fleet fic #josh kiszka #josh gvf #josh kiskza fanfic #josh kiskza smut #josh x reader #josh kiszka x reader #gvf smut #GVF Halloween series

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whinlatter · 7 months

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Wild card trick or treat: go nuts, friend.

Send an ask with “Trick or treat!” to the writer who reblogged this & you could receive a 3-sentence fic, drabble, headcanon, sneak-peek at a WIP, the last sentence they wrote, a new fic idea, random line from a fic, picture of their notebook, a deleted line they love, an idea for a sequel, something they’re researching, behind-the-scenes info on a published fic, or something else!

an excuse to post hinny deleted scenes??? 👀👀👀

i bit off more than i can chew with this delightful trick or treat challenge but i do have literally mountains of dumb harry/ginny letters that didn't make the cut in beasts so here's some deleted scenes/the two of them doing what they do best (flirting by post, shooting the shit). do i love these lines? not particularly, but i love these two and i couldn't find anywhere for this extremely dumb exchange to go in the fic so sharing it here in honour of halloween will have to do! thank you sm @turanga4!

Gin,

How’s your week? It’s shit here. Work’s shit, weather’s shit, house is shit. Today I also stood in literal dog shit and I couldn’t even scourgify my shoe because I was in a street full of Muggles so I had to wait until I was in the employee entrance at work to try clean it out. And then when I walked in someone said ‘what’s that smell’, and then someone else started retching and someone else started pointing and going ‘shit is that Harry Potter’. So then I had to try to pretend like it wasn’t me that had shit on my shoe until the room had cleared and I could finally sort it out. And now I’m worried the Prophet is going to run a story about how Harry Potter smells like shit, or start calling me The Boy Who Lived in His Own Filth, or bring those Potter Stinks badges out of retirement and send them into mass production, or something.

Yours (drowning in shit) -

Harry

—

The Boy Who Lived in His Own Filth (catchy),

I’m sorry your week has been so full of shit (literal and figurative). It does seem cosmically cruel that you can save the Wizarding World and still find yourself standing in dog shit. You’d think the universe would give you a pass, or something. Really, no treading in dog shit for the rest of your life seems the least the universe could do for you, given how much trouble you’ve gone to. I’m outraged on your behalf and willing to write to whatever necessary higher power to make this right.

It’s pretty shit here too. I miss you (yawn, lame, boring). When you inevitably go into hiding from the brutal Prophet expose of your personal hygiene habits you are very welcome to hang out with me up here/hide out in Hagrid’s cabin and help me try to explain to him the proper consistency of custard.

Yours in shitty solidarity,

Hagrid’s long suffering sous chef

—

Dear Hagrid’s long suffering sous chef/custard de-lumper in chief,

Thanks for the sympathy. I miss you too, a lot (yawn, lame, boring). Ron’s just asked if I’m writing to you ‘again’ like he doesn’t write to Hermione each time there’s a Y in the day. He just asked what we even talk about. So if he asks I told him we’re working on a big list of his flaws and most embarrassing moments to read out at his thirtieth and/or him and Hermione’s wedding, whichever comes first. Now he’s saying we’re ‘very childish’ and keeps trying to get a look at the parchment to check if I was lying or not. Oh wait no now he’s going up to his room to write Hermione about his very busy exciting day spent reading evidence logs and complaining about the canteen’s stingy pie portions. What a lucky girl.

Keep fighting the good custard fight.

Yours,

Harry

PS. Thanks for the offer but have to say no to hiding out in Hagrid’s hut. Fang’s poos are huge. I can’t risk it. Can I not crash in your dormitory? The steps up to the girls’ rooms don’t still turn into slides, do they?

—

Outrageous and scandalous attempt to wangle your way into my bed, Potter. Of course the steps still turn into slides. What, you thought because there was a war on and the castle got pounded to smithereens the relics of archaic magical paternalism designed to defend young witches’ virtues would somehow cease to function? How naive. Anyway, I for one am grateful for the slides, if they stop you bringing your stinky shit covered shoes into our dormitory.

Tell Ron I'm writing you absolute filth. Like debauched sexual propositions, truly eye-watering stuff. That said, if you think for a second I’m not going to back my dear brother in his campaign for generous pie portions then you’re out of your mind. Despite the sneering of critics (you), we Weasleys believe in the importance of hearty pie helpings, almost as much as we believe in the importance of perfect custard viscosity.

Yours,

Ginny

PS. You're literally not going to believe this - wrote this letter at Hagrid’s, was heading out and sealing it up to send and I literally stepped in one of Fang's enormous shits. What are the chances???

#hinny #this is extremely dumb content #but they're dumb jocks at heart so it works #literally just harry and ginny flinging poo jokes at each other across the scottish border #hinny fanfiction #ginny weasley #harry x ginny #beasts #trick or treat challenge

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voldemorts-tap-shoes · 7 months

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Happy Halloween y’all 🧡🖤🎃👻

Here’s some Partners in Crime to wrap up spooky season!

Vampire Weekend

There’s a lot of downtime to being an Auror. Way more than Ron would have expected before he started hanging around the department two months ago to research his next novel.

Harry, it seems, is always busy as the Head Auror, but if the team isn’t actively working a case, they’re most often sitting around the DMLE just waiting for the next one. Dean and Seamus fill the time with gobstones, exploding snap, and whatever else catches their amusement in any given moment. “If we don’t have work to do, that means no one’s dead,” Seamus had said with a shrug when Ron brought it up.

The lead detective in the unit, though, never seems content to just relax. Ron has watched Hermione help other Aurors with their own paperwork, clean the office top to bottom more than once…watched her practice defensive spells that one day that he had followed her down to the Ministry gym because he’d been sure that was just an excuse to skive off and go do something fun. It wasn’t.

Hermione Granger is an unstoppable force of nature, and Merlin help anyone who chooses to get in her way.

Ron needs a lot of help, these days.

He’s learned at least as much about her in the downtime as he has from watching her solve homicides, but one thing has been consistent: Hermione works too hard. And she hasn’t exactly taken kindly to his suggestions that she take a break every once in a while, as well-meaning as his advice is. He’s pretty sure she thinks his goal is to distract her or pump her full of questions for his book, but he really does just want her to slow down a bit. How she’s not completely burnt-out at the end of every day is one of the mysteries about her that he hasn’t yet solved.

Hopefully, he can convince her to cut loose for just one night and come to his Halloween party this coming weekend, but he hasn’t worked up the gumption to ask her yet. He’s worried she’ll bite his head off, but hoping that she’ll enthusiastically agree and show up in a skimpy costume. Realistically, though, he’s expecting a polite decline that falls somewhere in between the two extremes.

“You can go home, you know.” Hermione’s voice startles him out of his thoughts, and he turns to look at her. She has one eyebrow raised in amusement and a smirk playing on the edge of her lips, making him wonder just how zoned out he was in his thoughts. “You look nearly bored to death. You don’t have to sit around the DMLE while we’re not working a case.”

“Not bored, just thinking,” Ron defends himself. “Besides, if I go home, how will I know when we do have a case?”

“I’ll owl you.”

As much as she doesn’t like him being here, he doesn’t really trust that to be true, but before he can argue, something else draws his attention. The Muggle phone that sits on Hermione’s desk, which may as well be a paperweight for how often he’s seen her use it to make a phone call—exactly never, so far—rings so loudly that it buzzes his eardrums.

“See, if I go home I miss things.”

Hermione rolls her eyes as she reaches for the handset. “You’ve never seen a Muggle phone ring before?”

“Not here. What the hell do Muggles call Aurors for?”

He’s beyond intrigued, but his only answer is a widening of Hermione’s smirk as she picks up the phone. “This is Detective Granger…Oh, hi Darren…I know you are not just calling me to ask how the weather is. I’m only across town.” She shakes her head and shoots a conspiratorial smile at Ron, as if he should be equally amused by Darren’s antics. “No, we’re free at the moment. What have you got?”

Hermione listens while her mouth twists into a deeper and deeper frown over whatever this Darren bloke has to say. Ron is sure he’s making the same face, only his consternation is over wondering who the hell this Darren bloke is. He’s never seen Hermione with anyone, and she’s never mentioned a boyfriend, but he’s also never heard her use that voice before—friendly, teasing, the opposite of the business-like tone he’s used to.

“Are you sure?” she asks finally. “I mean, that’s impossible unless—you’re kidding…Okay, we’ll be right there. What’s the address?” Hermione scribbles his response into the little notebook she carries everywhere while Ron cranes his neck to see what she’s writing. “Great. See you in a few minutes.”

She hangs up the phone and calls to Dean and Seamus as she reaches for her coat. “Who’s Darren? Where are we going?” Ron fires off as he prepares to follow her. “What’s impossible?” And seriously, who the hell is Darren?

“You might want to grab a fresh quill,” Hermione says with a grin. “I think you’re going to like this one.”

***

Read the rest on ao3

#romione #ron weasley #hermione granger #ron x hermione #castle au #partners in crime #murder mystery

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tote-bag-study · 2 years

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how to romanticize college and other helpful tips

hey guys!!!

this is actually an assignment for my social media class i am taking this summer, but i thought it would be a good idea to share how to romanticize college and some other college tips to go with it.

first...dorm room ideas

i recomend making a shared pinterest board between you and your roomates (if you chose to live with others) before you guys start buying your room decor.

you need to start the romanticization of your college experience before you even sit down in a classroom and start taking notes. make your dorm room a space you enjoy. so decorate it exactly how you want to and make the space your own. don’t be afraid to have your interests as a part of your room decor. your part of the room is a reflection of you.

here’s some inspo for you guys

i really like this one lowkey

now for fashion

if you haven’t found your personal style yet (me my freshman year of college) or you have a pretty set sense of style already, you need to be aware of what the weather is like where you are going to school. i go to school in northern indiana and had to learn (as a socal girlie) that sometimes you have to give up being fashionable when it comes to crazy weather conditions like extreme heat or snow (in my case). even when you have to sacrifice for the weather you should always try to look your best in your own style while still being comfortable in your own skin. i know the sweatpants are calling your name bestie....they do that to me too....of course they are amazing to wear to stay comfy, however, they shouldn’t be an all the time thing when it comes to outfits.

TRUST ME!!!

when you look your best you’ll feel your best and when you feel your best you’ll do your best. save the comfy clothes for long nights studying in the library. i’ll link some pictures to give you guys some ideas

i really like the earth tones and levi’s rn

also crop tops and baggy jeans are really cute

i have way more outfit ideas on my pinterest board that goes with this post

now onto school bags!!!!

this last school year i had a tendency of carrying both a backpack and a tote bag. i would keep essentials like my wallet, keys, water bottle, the book i was reading at the time, and my makeup bag in my tote bag and leave all my school stuff in my backpack. for this coming school year i found something super awesome it’s the green wellness tote by typo. this thing is GIANT and can carry everything i would carry in both my tote bag and backpack while still keeping everything organized. it has huge front pockets and a removable pouch on the inside of the bag so i can hold everything.

i mean EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!

i’ll drop the link in the link section of this post.

but you can’t forget to personalize your bag. i use pins, pocket bac holders from bath and body works, and keychains to personalize my bag and put my own unique twist. trust me when i say having hand sanitizer on hand is extremely important so make sure you’re carrying yours at all times. i personally like the bath and body works hand sanitizers and the pocket bac holders for them are super cute. they actually just put their fall and halloween stuff out and i’m a fiend for that kind of stuff.

now for some study tips

first things first you are going to college to get your degree so studying is important!! i feel like the best way to study is to make it fun for yourself. have your study spot, have a couple good playlists, noise canceling headphones, a study timer app, and get to it. i’ve found for me using apps like notion (you get the unlimited version of notion free if you use a school email) to take quick notes in class and then physically writing them out and make them as aesthetically pleasing as possible. writing pretty notes makes you want to look at them more and actually study from them.

a study timer is extremely important!!! especially if you keep a study planner/journal like i do. it spaces out your study time and holds you responsible for your studying. i use the pomodoro method and am an active user of the forest app. if you guys want to be friends on forest i’ll put my friend code in the link section of this post. it’s honestly such a helpful tool for holding yourself accountable. if you don’t want to purchase an app there are a ton of free versions of the app out there that work just as well as forest.

links

wellness tote: https://cottonon.com/US/wellness-tote-bag/1684455-04.html?dwvar_1684455-04_color=1684455-04&cgid=tote-bags&originalPid=1684455-04#start=4&sz=60

pinterest for this post: https://www.pinterest.com/rossejamss/get-into-it-yuh-college-edition/

study playlist 1: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/35MCxZePcfFVSBzlvDRynv?si=01af4965047344a4

study playlist 2: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vCbBiJYlVROLcrbLypgUZ?si=2dd3ac8e5e2f463f

study playlist 3: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0T2AhgtKGHzyZ3qjTWdSBg?si=260eefe677b9498e

forest friend code: 6H4PQVYSG

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kaiisers · 1 year

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none of the following works belong to me. credits to rightful authors. contains mature content, aimed for +18 audiences. reader discretion is advised. most of these works are f! or afab! reader. ALSO! minors + blank + ageless blogs will be blocked.

⿻ last updated: may 27, '23

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cw. f!reader, nsfw, some sexual content, mostly fluff and silliness

biting them affectionately. ──── lucifer, mammon and belphegor

the attic. ── belphegor, beelzebub ── 2.9k

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ First you were his, then you were theirs.

cw. gn!reader, nsfw, dark themes, developing relationships. Belphegor-centric POV. Sexual content, mentions of temporary death/blood/injury (Lesson 16 events), emotional manipulation, blood-drinking, kink and relationship negotiations, jealousy/insecurity, voyeurism.

truth or dare. ── belphegor, beelzebub ── ~3k words

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ Agreeing to a game of Truth or Dare with the youngest two demon brothers may not have been your best idea…

cw. Belphegor Being a Little Shit (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Mean Belphegor (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Dom Belphegor (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Soft Dom Beelzebub (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Beelzebub Has a Large Penis (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Truth or Dare (but make it sexy), Threesome - F/M/M, Attic Club Sandwich, Mildly Dubious Consent, Blindfolds, Dirty Talk, Oral Sex, Rough Oral Sex, Praise Kink, Size Kink, Extremely Dubious Consent, Inappropriate Use of Demon Powers (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Non-Consensual Somnophilia, Double Penetration, Under-negotiated Kink, Implied Marathon Sex, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

weather the storm. ── satan ── 3.1k

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ When Satan gets angry, you have your own way of helping him blow off steam.

cw. f!Reader, nsfw, smut, hurt/comfort, Dom/sub undertones, rough sex including marking/biting, jealousy and possessiveness, brief discussions of safeword usage and boundary limits.

what are you the god of, again? ──── lucifer, mammon, leviathan

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ turns out, fallen angels can have more than one sin.

cw. afab!reader; Lucifer (1182) overstimulation (f!receiving), squirting (if you squint); servicedom!Lucifer, oral (f!receiving), some sacrilegious connotations (heavy in Lucifer's, but they're literally a fallen angels though so that should probably go without saying) ∻ Mammon (1748) implied nsfw; confessions; pretty tame, actually, it’s mostly just heavy-petting and fluff and i swear i tried to make it slutty but we’re in our ~feels~ with Mams today ∻ Leviathan (1315) oral (m!receiving); soft!Levi (but not sub!Levi); kinda bimbo!reader; kinda collaring but ~stylish~

when they go down on you. ── the demon brothers ── 1.9k

cw. headcanons, nsfw, smutty. Typical demon possessiveness, mentions of teasing and overstimulation, demon forms mentioned (Lucifer, Leviathan), marking (Satan), 69 mentioned (Belphegor)

you have a cute face. ──── the demon brothers

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ whilst staring at his face, you've come to the conclusion that he has a very cute face— and of course you have to let him know.

cw. gn! reader

𖨂 ⸱ ꕤ ⸱ BEELZEBUB

3:33 AM | BEEL’S OBSESSION.

cw. f!reader, demon form!beel, size difference, dubcon, pussyjob, multiple orgasms, creampie, belly bulge

beel, the munch.

cw. pussy eating, monster fucking (?), really long tongue, semi public sex, slight voyeurism, overstimulation

good puppy. ──── 900

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ where beel is hungry but it’s not for food after you teased him at a halloween party as puppy girl.

cw. fem!reader - minors/ageless blogs - pet play/collaring & buttplug - beel calls the reader “puppy” - oral (fem receiving, but the focus isn’t on that.) - anal - cursing - spanking / rough

untitled.

⌜ ୨୧ ⌟ being his first

𖨂 ⸱ ꕤ ⸱ BELPHEGOR

4:50 PM | sweet dreams.

cw. f!reader, c. somno, pussyjob, creampie

#⨳ 𓏲˖ 📓 ˖ ࣪ recs archive ָ࣪ 𓏲⋆.#🖇️ ˑ ִ ֗ other !#🖇️ ˑ ִ ֗ obey me !

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garden-with-squid · 5 months

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Yearly Garden Review - 2023

1/11/2024

The garden has improved so much over the past year. I grew, harvested, and learned so much more than I did last year. And that’s despite the weird weather - this was a very wet, gloomy year in SoCal, even into June and July.

Highlights:

We loved the tulips this year and plan to plant out more chilled bulbs soon.

Surprise potato harvest in bed 2

Bed 3 was so incredibly beautiful in the spring - purple alyssum beneath fresh, green growth. The alyssum also helped with water retention and attracting beneficial insects. The soil in bed 3 felt loose and healthy compared to other beds that time of year.

Larger harvests of peppers, eggplants, and so so many tomatoes. I couldn’t believe how tall the tomato plants grew! We ate them all the time and they were delicious, especially the Black Cherry.

We cooked and ate more of our harvests. Delicious omelettes, pasta, soups, and stuffed peppers on Halloween.

Installed ollas - extremely helpful! Really helps keep water more consistent.

Grew delicious broccoli. There are side shoots still growing too. I didn’t realize how big broccoli plants actually get. Bed 2 looks great still.

Ordered a tea plant. It’s pretty dead now, but it was nice having a camellia for a bit.

The jasmine bounced back and bloomed a bit!

Got local compost and made my own potting mix

The dragonfruit is still alive, and hopefully will grow more this spring.

Notes for improvement:

I struggled to germinate seeds, both direct sown and started indoors. The care/watering is hard for me to do consistently. It was a real shame to kill all the shallot seedlings in particular - I was really hoping to grow some since they’re harder to find in store.

Lots of dead plants. If I stopped talking about any particular plant in the logbook, it’s because it died. The rosemary and lavender plants in bed 4 will probably need to be replaced this spring. A lot of flowers and container plants didn’t make it. For some reason, sunflowers struggled a lot too.

Aphids, cabbage worms, and rodents. Barrier protection would probably help a lot, plus more consistent watering. I did see a good number of ladybugs and larva this year.

Garden fatigue hit at different points in the year, usually when work was stressful or it felt like my garden wasn’t as good as it should have been. But it helped to remind myself how much better I’ve become since last year, and that it will continue to get better as I gain more experience.

Looking forward to the year ahead, I want to harvest many things in the summer/fall - okra and watermelon for my uncle, more nightshades, onions, pumpkins, and flowers. I want to try growing on the trellis (I plan to install one more). Most of the work will happen in March/April - that’s when the cover crops in beds 1 and 3 will be ready to turn in and transplant time for all the summer crops.

I’m currently using the wintertime to take a break, only checking the garden once a week or so. While I could grow a winter garden in my zone, I find I’m very lazy on cold mornings, and having a season of rest is important to me symbolically.

I think I have a solid foundation of skill and experience to build on, so I hope to have a very productive garden this year. We’re also supposed to have another wet season coming up. So we’ll see how that affects things. Very fitting for Year of the Dragon!

#garden logbook #yearly garden review

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pidgeonspen · 2 years

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Reference sheet for Darla, my Fallout/Sonic crossover OC! Inspired by Fini-Mun/Deebs’ Fallout: New Mobius and Hebby’s Wasteland Zone concepts. ♡

Darla is a ghoul - a person who, instead of succumbing to radiation poisoning, was transformed by it. Ghouls are marked by their rotting visage, their incredibly long lifespan, and high immunity to radiation. Darla here is a special type of ghoul known as a “Glowing One” - ghouls who are so heavily irradiated that they. well. Glow. They also give off an aura of radiation that can heal other ghouls, but its bad news for everyone else. Here is what she looked like before she became a ghoul:

As always, bio under cut!

( content warning for cheating/unfaithfulness, rape mention, child death, suicide mention, emetophobia and more! )

Name: Darla Devons Species: Cat ( Based on the Sphynx breed ); Ghoul (Glowing One) Age: 125 ( Was 38 at start of ghoulificiation, became a glowing one at 115) Sexuality: Pansexual

Hobbies: Hunting big game (deathclaws, radscorpions, fogcrawlers, etc), managing her guns, crafting and knitting, setting traps, exploring Skills: Darla is an excellent shot and has a lifetime of experience hunting all sorts of Wasteland critters and monsters, as well as defending herself from other types hostiles; experience with animal husbandry and growing crops; crafting (she makes blankets, coats, ropes, baskets weapons and furniture - she especially loves making stuffed toys for children); basic first aid; tracking and setting up traps

Strengths: Being a ghoul, Darla can move very quickly in short bursts; she’s a quick thinker and light on her feet; incredibly agile and sure-footed. Her tail is extremely flexible and can be used to trip or grab others. She can leap pretty big distances. Excellent vision at night. Weaknesses: Poor vision in daylight; the sunnier, the worse it is for her. Low stamina; she has to be smart about her movements, and while she’s quick, she can’t run for very long.

Personality: +Positives: Playful and spry; Affectionate; Adaptive; Independent; Experienced; Modest; Kind-hearted and nurturing -Negatives: Blunt; Vindictive, prone to being petty; Unforgiving, holds grudges and doesn’t believe in second chances; Stubborn

"Do no harm, but take no shit” is an excellent way of describing Darla’s outlook on life. Despite the horrors that have befallen her, Darla strives to live what remains of her life to the fullest and chooses to strive to remain kind. She is, however, a deeply traumatized individual who suffers from trust issues, and who no longer can find it in her to forgive those who have wronged her. Darla doesn’t suffer fools and won’t let others walk over her. She can be a little intense, but she tries to offset the intimidation by being playful - she loves bad puns (especially cat puns!) and groan-inducing jokes. It’s her favorite way of letting people know she means them no harm - and she’s embraced the fact that she looks a little spooky. She has an adoration for goofy and cute halloween-themed decor. Despite her past, Darla holds no ill-will towards Raiders and the like; having been alive as long as she has, she’s come to the conclusion that they’re jus people surviving the only way they know how. There are terrible, shitty raiders - but there as also ones who are pretty decent people trying to survive.

For as whimsical and sweet as Darla can be, she harbors a lot of self-loathing and loneliness, though she’s not keen on opening up to others about her problems or needs.

Likes: Bad puns; cute “spooky” things; fancy dresses and delicate, feminine attire; guns; gumbo and spicy foods; drinks (she’s a total lightweight); gossip Dislikes: Black-and-white thinking; being touched (unless its from someone she trusts explicitly); seeing children hurt or crying; cold weather; herself

Backstory

Darla was born in the small settlement called Arsen, to a family of farmers. She had a fairly average childhood, helping her parents with the fields and livestock, and eventually going hunting with her father when she was old enough. The Devons family were invaluable to Arsen's community as their biggest supplier of meats and resources derived from the creatures of the Wasteland.

When her mother died of illness, Darla had been just 16, and took up all of her mothers duties to keep business afloat. She often daydreamed of going out and seeing the world beyond the tiny community she'd known all her life, but knew her father and the townspeople relied on her. The Devons had struck quite a few lucrative deals with passing caravans, and became renowned not for the yields of their farm, but for their hunting abilities.

People from nearby settlements had begun flocking to Arsen, often requesting that the Devons deal with troublesome beasts that were getting too close to their homes, or to hunt down creatures that had been slaughtering precious livestock. Over the next decade, Arsen had grown from a small, unremarkable settlement to a thriving, large community. Darla and her father taught anyone who asked how to hunt and track, and the two were in turn dearly beloved by their people.

Darla was 28 when her father passed. Two years later, a drifter named Fisher stumbled into town with a broken arm. Darla welcomed him into her home, and the two became fast friends. Fisher's stories of his adventures, and the sights he'd seen during his travels, captivated Darla, who had for so long felt trapped in her stable but mundane life in Arsen. Fisher would come and go, bringing Darla more tales and trinkets from his travels, and within 3 years, they married and had their first child, Cleo.

Over the next couple of years, Darla and Fisher two more children; Tucker and Trinket. Trinket had been the last to be born, but unfortunately, the months leading up to her birth would be a horrid turning point for Darla's entire world.

Fisher had begun having an affair with Darla's longtime neighbor, Sky, and the two had been conspiring on how to get Darla and her kids out of the picture so that they could take over the business. A few months after Trinket was born, Fisher put a plan into action; he contacted an old gang he used to run with - a slaver group known as The Scarlet Shackles, led by a ghoul named Duke, and struck a deal: they could have Darla and the kids, as well as a cut of the profits from the Devons Homestead, in exchange for protection and covering up the truth.

Darla was betrayed, tricked and sold into slavery, being dragged back to The Shackles' headquarters towards the north. Trinket and Tucker did not survive the journey.

As they neared their destination, however, the group was attacked by raiders, and in the chaos, Darla and Cleo fled, with Darla hastily picking up a pistol from one of the fallen Slavers. With just the faulty pistol and the clothes on their back, and already so far from home - and shaken by the chaos - the mother and daughter fled into a nearby mine shaft to take cover. What they didn't know, however, was that there was quite a bit of radiation pouring out from within the mines, which had at one point been a dumping ground for nuclear material. They didn't have long to figure out their next move, as the remaining Slavers were already upon them. Darla, finding herself and her young daughter cornered, fought back viciously, and the ensuing damage caused the mine to partially collapse upon Darla, Cleo, and the Slavers.

When Darla woke up, it was to Cleo's weak cries for help. The child had been partially pinned under debris, and despite her efforts, Darla could not free her. What else could Darla do but stay and soothe her last surviving daughter, while desperately trying every few hours, for days, to free her? As they both succumbed to the radiation, Darla sang lullabies and told Cleo stories from her childhood, of the wonderous and amazing creatures she'd seen in her days as a hunter. And when Cleo died, part of Darla died with her.

The days following Cleo's death were a haze for Darla. Radiation sickness ravaged her body. She vomited, suffered intense headaches, found it near impossible to breathe, her skin peeling and falling apart painfully, and all while too weak to move. She waited there for death, but it did not come. Instead, she slowly began to regain her strength... and her resolve to take vengeance on Fisher. Eventually, she ambled out of the shaft, and found her senses heightened. She made her way back to Arsen, and in the cover of night, slipped back into her old home, where she found Fisher and Sky asleep, and brutally murdered the couple. Their screams woke the neighbors, who rushed over to find a ghoul covered in blood and gore, standing over the mutilated corpses of Fisher and Sky. No one recognized Darla - or, if they did, they assumed her feral. The people of Arsen attacked, and Darla fled, escaping into the night, horrified at what she'd done - and heartbroken that the people she'd spent her entire life serving had so quickly forgotten her.

Darla was 38 when her body stopped aging due to the ghoulification process.

The next couple of decades all sort of blurred together for Darla. She had left Arsen as a broken, suicidal shell of who she used to be, coming close to losing herself and feeling afraid... But she found new reasons to keep going. Every so often, she'd stumble across children of the Wastes - orphaned by circumstance, abandoned, or rescued from Slavers, she took them in, protected them with a ferocity unlike any other, and taught them how to survive. Through aiding them, Darla found the resolve to live, to become stronger, and to understand what it truly takes to survive in the Wasteland. Darla raised and rescued many children over the years.

Darla was 95 years old when she stumbled into the ghouls-only city of Honeymoon, which she eventually settled into and made her home, once again providing for the people by means of hunting and working the land. A small part of Darla wanted to settle down here, to try and start over. The residents had all been extraordinarily kind to her and the children that followed her, and she was loved by her community. It had seemed as though finally, finally, Darla could call someplace home again, perhaps even start a family. She could no longer reproduce, but she had her adopted kids. Life was good.

... Until one day, it wasn't.

20 years after settling into Honeymoon, word reached Darla that a group of slavers had been terrorizing the locals of nearby settlements. The Scarlet Shackles hadn't lost all their members that fateful day when Darla lost Cleo, and were thriving after all this time as one of the biggest, most expansive slaver companies in the Wastes; what's more, Duke was still the leader - a name she recognized all too well. Darla was determined to ensure no one would ever suffer as she had; if no one else would step up to take them down, she would. It was time to settle this old score.

Darla set out alone on this mission, her heart full of anger and hatred and turmoil. She raided the main encampment, an old Nuclear Reactor, guns blazing, tearing into slavers left and right, with little to no regard for her own well-being. Duke, recognizing her instantly, fled, and Darla gave chase, right down into the core. After a long, drawn out fight with the radiation in the room rapidly healing both as the struggle went on, Darla blew off one of Duke's legs with her shotgun, and pinned the enemy ghoul under her as she tore into him with her claws, screaming and crying the whole time.

When Darla finally emerged from the Core, she felt... different. Lighter. Stronger. Faster.

She had absorbed so much radiation that she had become a Glowing One, capable of healing other ghouls and unleashing deadly radiation unto non-ghoul adversaries. But more than her newfound power, Darla found peace. She could finally move on with her life, and finish the new beginnings she had started in Honeymoon... Or so she thought. When she arrived at her home, Darla was almost instantly shunned by her community.

Ghouls already faced extreme prejudice from the other inhabitants of the Wasteland, and Honeymoon was always on thin ice with its neighbors; to house a Glowing One would be inviting more conflict. Darla was exiled, once again shunned by the people she had come to love.

But this time, Darla didn't despair. She made peace with herself, and resolved to find her own happiness. She had spent her whole life living for others, and now, finally, Darla would live her life for herself. For the past 10 years, she's done exactly that, wandering the Wastes, hunting game big and small, doing what she loves and seeing the world and all its horrible, dangerous beauty.

#my art #my sonic fcs #Sonic OC #Sonic FC #sonic fan character #OC: Darla #I hope yall love her as much as I do!!! She's my baby!! Baby meemaw!!!

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horrorforemetophobes · 1 year

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2022 in Review!

Hey, horror hounds! How's 2023 treating you so far? As we tread into another terrifying twelve months it's time we reap the remains of 2022 for the macabre morsels we left behind. It was a big year for horror, so get comfy in your crypts for a morbid movie marathon! No-Skip The Menu Nope Deadstream We're All Going to the World's Fair Nanny Prey They/Them Men Scream Orphan: First Kill Medusa Skinamarink The House Halloween Ends Some Skips Fresh 1:20:00-1:20:32. Severity: 7/10. Character v*s with graphic audio, then is visible in bathroom until 1:20:40. Other Content: Blood, gore, injury detail, threat, assault, murder, cannibalism, removal of human flesh, cooking human meat, spiked drinks, imprisonment, isolation, sex, nudity. Barbarian 0:56:40-0:57:00. Severity: 4/10. Character v*s onscreen with non-graphic visuals and sound. Other Content: Blood, gore, injury detail, assault, kidnapping, dubious sexual consent, sexual assault, incest, slurs (f****t), isolation, imprisonment, breastfeeding, guns, car accidents, alcohol use, drug use. Smile **Please note this film contains a scene with a dead cat and it's very upsetting!!** 0:00:28-0:01:02. Possible v* visible. 0:22:45-0:22:47. Mentions of st* p*mping. 0:36:35-0:36:51. Possible v* visible. 1:24:58-1:25:02. Character dr**ls. 1:33:46-1:34:35. Character has overdose, possible v* visible. Other Content: Blood, gore, intense injury detail, suicide, mental illness, prejudice against mental health issues, medication, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, overdose, trauma, graphic animal death, fire. Piggy 0:16:53-0:17:01. No v*, but character ch*s. 0:29:14-0:29:28. Severity: 5/10. Character v*s onscreen with visuals and sound. 0:35:43-0:36:35. Character has hiccups, can be watched muted. Other Content: Blood, gore, injury detail, murder, kidnap, dead bodies, dead animals, butchery, child endangerment, fatphobia, bullying, cyberbullying, implied grooming, assault, threat, guns, nudity, porn, masturbation. Sissy 0:13:10-0:13:13. Severity: 7/10. Drunk character v*s onto another character with visuals and sound. Aftermath visible until 0:13:20. 0:13:22-0:14:00. No visuals, but character g*s and c*s offscreen. Scene can be watched muted. 0:14:24-0:16:07. Same character is onscreen on floor of bathroom stall, but nothing happens. 1:30:00-1:30:13 No v*, but character ch*s on blood. 1:31:45-1:32:07. No v*, but character breathes deeply and g*s. Other Content: Blood, gore, injury detail, graphic depictions of self harm, scars, alcohol use, bullying, discrimination towards mental illness, graphic child injury, animal injury, animal death, unrealistic portrayals of mental illness, murder, assault, guns, drowning, hallucinations. No Exit Character is referred to throughout as “s*ck” 0:11:38-0:11:57. Character is shown having an overdose, no v* but has been flagged as a skip. Other Content: Blood, gore, intense injury detail, graphic drug use, overdose, addiction, child endangerment, child illness, child abuse, kidnapping, dysfunciontal families, isolation, extreme weather, guns. Avoid The following films are suggested to be skipped entirely if you're emetophobic. If these are ever requested I'm more than happy to cover them, but for now I'd suggest giving these a miss. Triangle of Sadness - This movie has a graphic twenty minute v* sequence, and tbh I'm not sure the film's worth seeing despite it. Hatching - There are frequent graphic v* scenes in this film, and there are likely to be several versions of the film as it's generally pretty gory. If I ever do cover this film I'll be very clear about which version is covered so the timestamps are accurate!

#Emetophobia #emetophobic #emetophobe #horror for emetophobes #horrorforemetophobes #horror #Horror Movies #horrormovie #2022

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notebooknonbinary · 2 years

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Byler Week, Day 2: Seasons

This is Extremely not on November 1, but I started writing on the 31 and just couldn’t finish it until today. I’m not completely happy with it but, here ya go❤️

Day 2: Body Swap/ Fake Dating (a tiny bit fake dating but more like someone thinks someone is dating but isn’t it)/ Season

Brief Trigger warning for mention of SH. Only like two sentences but they’re there.

Finally on Ao3!!

Will used to love the snow.

Snow days meant staying home from school; they meant going outside to build snow-people with Jonathan. It meant pretty scenes to try and draw. Sometimes Mike came over, or Will went over to his house. One year, after a particularly heavy snowfall when Will was eight, he, Jonathan, Mike, and Lucas had built a sprawling fort in front of Will’s house. It had four rooms, built in snow-shelves (Mom had come out to help with that part), and had been guarded by three very ugly snowmen.

Later, when they got too cold, they came inside for potato soup and hot chocolate. They were excited at the prospect of maybe adding a few more rooms—and trying to figure out how to trap heat without melting the building, so that maybe they could sleep outside that night (Mom shot that down immediately). Still, they had plans to at least start to decorate it so it wouldn’t blend in with the rest of the snow.

Then Lonnie got home. And crushed the front of the fort (as well as its three snow-guards) with the car.

All of the boys had been devastated, naturally. All their hard work had gone to waste. And they couldn’t even tell off the culprit, because none of them had a death wish to try and berate Will’s dad.

The four had gone back to Lucas’s house—for safety’s sake, because Lonnie hadn’t been exactly pleased about the nonexistent damage to his car. The three younger had whispered about acts of revenge they’d never go through with, while Jonathan had entertained the suddenly appearing Erica (barely five and wanting her brother’s attention). Mike and Will had slept over at Lucas’s that night, grumbling over the loss of the fort they had definitely (not) been planning to sleep in.

Still, the incident hadn’t dampened Will’s love for the snow. During summers (in the years before the Upside Down), Will daydreamed about snow suddenly appearing and cooling him off. He preferred cooler weather over blazing heat, even if the compromise meant school would start. Mike who ran hot, but always felt a little cold, couldn’t comprehend wanting snow over summer. Karen was forever tutting over Mike coming home, sunburnt down his back and on his legs because he’d spent the whole day swimming without any sunscreen (he always ended summer practically plastered in new freckles). Even though Halloween was Mike’s favorite holiday, Summer was his favorite season.

After the Upside Down, after the Mindflayer’s possession of Will, things had changed. Halloween was no longer Mike’s favorite holiday, and Will hated winter.

The first snow, only a few weeks after he was released from the Mindflayer, Will had opened the door and had a panic attack at the blast of cold air. His nightmares worsened, to happening daily, and made him question what was real. Mom kept him home for the week, trying to keep Will from burning himself as he took three hot baths a day, drank only hot drinks, and ran their heater bill up. She had to hide all the lighters in the house as well, after she found him holding a lit one to his thigh:

“I need to make sure,” he’d sobbed. And Mom had cried along with him. “I have to make sure He’s gone.”

That evening, Mom had invited Mike over to spend the night, even though the Party had mostly been told to stay away. Mike’s presence was enough to stop the worst of it. And, though they never mentioned it or told anyone else, Mike had slept in his bed that night to keep Will warm. Will had been too out of it to get flustered at getting cuddled by the boy he had a crush on.

It helped. And by the next Monday, Will was back at school, a little worse for wear, and a new prescription for anxiety medication in his backpack.

A little less than a month after that incident was the Snowball, which hadn’t exactly given him any reason to try and like winter at all anymore.

It had started out okay, to be fair.

Will had arrived early, so Jonathan could set up the photo booth he’d be running for the night. Lucas had been next, followed by Max. Will could tell they were sending each other soppy eyes—the kind Jonathan and Nancy had been sporting as of late.

And then Mike had shown up.

Will always thought Mike looked handsome, but there was something about that night. Will thought he might swallow his tongue. He hoped he wasn’t blushing all that much.

But, maybe if he was, and Mike saw, would that be so terrible? These past few weeks, ever since the possession, Mike had been sticking close-by.

Maybe…

Mike gave him a grin when he stopped by them. “You clean up pretty good, Byers!”

Yeah, if Will had been blushing before, it was doubly so now. “You too,” he managed to blurt.

Mike ran a self conscious hand over his hair. “Really?” Will nodded a little too vigorously. Mike's smile softened. “Thanks Will.”

Not long after that, Dustin appeared, completing the Party (but for one missing, a mean little voice whispered in the back of his head, the most important). Dustin, in Will’s opinion, looked like a million bucks. His hair looked fancy, sort of like Steve Harrington’s. And his suit was the nicest out of all of them. Will appeared to be the only one thinking that though. He watched Dustin’s face fall as their other friends didn’t appreciate his new hairdo.

Just as Will was about to pipe up in Dustin’s defense, the song overhead changed. Slowed. Time After Time. He’d heard over the radio a couple times and he liked it (though he wouldn’t say so to Jonathan). It was a good song to slow dance to, maybe.

Lucas clearly thought so too, because he began to stumble over an invitation to Max, who smirked, teased him, and tugged his hand towards the dance floor.

Will smiled, then chanced a glance at Mike, who was watching them go, looking slightly confused.

Then, before Will had a chance to say anything, a girl he’d never talked to (but might have seen in a few of his classes) came up to them. She was looking at him, for some reason. “Hey Zombie Boy,” she asked, smiling shyly. Will tried not to flinch at the nickname. “Do you want to dance?”

Will automatically turned to Mike, hoping that he might have an excuse for Will to turn her down, without hurting her feelings. “Um…I don’t…” He pleaded with his eyes for Mike to save him.

Mike was not a mind reader. With his head, he gestured for Will to accept her invitation.

Well, now Will had to accept or he’d feel bad. “I mean…sure, yeah, cool.”

She beamed. With one last look at Mike and Dustin, he followed her out on the dance floor.

Mentally he was firm with himself, he would dance for one song and then politely excuse himself, so he could get back to Mike his friends. He wasn’t sure he’d want to make friends with someone who called him Zombie Boy.

“So, um, I know you’re in a couple of my classes,” he said, still trying to be polite. “But, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

She beamed, cheeks turning rosy. “That’s okay! My name’s Rose, or Rosie to my friends!”

That was an invitation, he suspected. At least she wasn’t trying to ask him out—the thought was more than a little terrifying. “Why did you want to dance with me, Rosie?”

After all, he and his friends weren’t exactly considered popular.

“I’ve seen your drawings in art class,” she says immediately. “You’re really good. And you’re not mean to girls, like so many other boys.”

He was a little bit flattered (though self-conscious) that she liked his art. He was about to thank her, when there was the scattered sound of mean giggles. They both looked over to see three girls walking away from a crushed Dustin.

Rosie made a frustrated noise. “She’s such a snob.”

As they were watching, Dustin was ignored by two more girls. Just as Will was about to excuse himself to go comfort his friend (who’d gone to sit at the bleachers), he saw Nancy go over to him first.

“Who’s that?” Rosie asked, as Nancy began to lead Dustin over to dance.

“That’s our friend’s older sister. She’s chaperoning.”

“That’s nice of her to dance with him.”

Will was tempted to see what Mike thought of Nancy dancing with Dustin, but when he looked over to where they’d left him, he was gone.

“Anyway,” Rosie said. “Thank you for agreeing to dance with me. I know you didn’t really want to.”

Will bit his lip, ashamed and caught out. “I’m sorry. I am having fun!”

Indeed, Will was almost glad she’d asked him. Although he dreaded her potentially asking him to be anything other than friends. But the smallest, pettiest part of him was glad to be making a friend that none of the rest of his friends had interacted with. He’d felt a little left out that the other three boys had a friend that he had never really interacted with before this last month. And Max was more Dustin and Lucas’s friend than his.

So the idea of a friend that was just his, was a little bit cool.

He was about to ask, officially, if she’d like to be his friend, when he caught sight of the back of Mike’s head. He’d found a girl to dance with.

It took him a long moment to recognize her. It was El.

He’d only met her a few times since she’d closed the Gate. She wasn’t as standoffish with him as she was with Max, but they still hadn’t talked much. When the Party got the occasional permission to hang out with her at Hopper’s cabin, he and Max usually hung out—silently commiserating about feeling left out.

There was a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, watching her dance with Mike. In the back of his mind, he knew what it was (jealousy), but he refused to acknowledge it.

Then the funny feeling took a downturn into devastation, because Mike leaned in and kissed El.

Will swallowed down the urge to throw up. He gave Rosie a pained smile. “I had fun dancing with you. And I’d like to talk with you more, but I need to go talk to my brother by the photo booth.”

He saw her glance in the direction of Mike and El (still kissing). She gave him a sweet, understanding smile and let her hands fall to her sides. “Thank you for dancing with me, Will. I’ll see you in Art on Monday.”

As quickly and quietly as he could manage, Will navigated his way outside. He immediately started to shiver, but, for the first time since the snow started, Will didn’t focus on it. He simply wrapped his arms around himself. He was too focused on what he’d just seen.

Stupid, he thought to himself. He already told me he liked Eleven. Why am I so shocked? Why does it hurt so badly?

There was a pain in his chest. Not a physical pain. His heart hurt.

He already knew why it hurt.

The warm wet of tears began slipping down his face, turning cold as they went down his face. Within a few moments the tears turned into silent sobbing.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there—perhaps only a few minutes, or maybe a million years. He sat and cried, and felt his skin burn and bones ache from the cold. Eventually, though…

“Hey Will, what’s wrong?”

Dustin sat down beside him, leaning to put a comforting arm over his shoulder. Will was far too into his tears at this point to swallow them down and answer. So he simply continued to cry, putting his face into Dustin’s shoulder. Dustin hugged him closer, not seeming to care that his suit jacket was getting wet.

Finally, as Will’s tears began to slow, he spoke. “I thought you were dancing with Nancy?” His voice came out rough and croaky, and he cleared his throat.

Dustin gave him a small grin. “She danced with me for two songs, but she’s here tonight to chaperone. Even my charms can’t compete with extra credit!”

Will giggled a little. “I didn’t get to tell you earlier,” he said quietly. “But I think you look very cool tonight. Like Steve.”

Dustin blushed. He half reached up self consciously to his hair. “The rest of the Party—”

“—are brain-addled by crushes tonight. They wouldn’t actually notice anyone else if it bit them on the nose.” Will tried to keep the bitter sadness from his tone, but from the startled look he got, he didn’t quite succeed. When Dustin opened his mouth, Will shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

They sat in silence for a moment. “Well, the dance stinks this year anyway, do you want to skip the rest and have a sleepover?”

Will swallowed down grateful tears. Dustin was a good friend. “I’d like that.”

They went back inside to use the phone, made quick goodbyes to Lucas and Max, who had found a table for the moment, then Will’s mom drove them home.

(Mike was still dancing with Eleven when they’d left. Later, part of Will waited for Mike to call on the walkie to ask where he they’d gone, but the call never came. Will resolved to bury his hurt. At least he’d always have the Party and DnD.)

After that night, he was quieter about the cold scaring him. Mike was caught up in his new relationship, and he’d never told the rest of the Party. He simply bundled up more. He’d managed to make his nightmares silent, somehow, tricking his Mom into thinking they’d abated some.

And he snitched a lighter from his Mom's secret stash—for emergencies.

Things changed after the Snowball for Mike, both good and bad.

The good thing was that El was his girlfriend now! The thought alone was enough to have his stomach break out into anxious butterflies. He hoped he’d get used to the change soon so the feeling would stop—it made him a little bit queasy. Even though he couldn’t take her to dates at the diner, or to the new mall that was opening soon, it still felt special. It was El, of course it felt special.

The bad thing was, something was going on with Will and he couldn’t figure out what. He and Dustin had left early (Lucas said one of them hadn’t felt well, though he hadn’t said which one). Mike had thought about walkie-ing him after he got home from the dance, but thought Will might be asleep. And if Will was sleeping without nightmares, Mike was loath to wake him.

But, when he went over to the Byers house the next day, Joyce turned him away. She said that Will had come down with a bad cold and couldn’t see anyone. Joyce had never turned Mike away before, even when Will was sick.

Will was at school the next day, looking a little worse for wear. He was quiet too, and spent more time talking to Dustin during lunch than to Mike—Which was fine! Dustin was Will’s best friend too! But…

But when the girl from the Snowball that had asked Will to dance came up to Will in the hallway to talk about the class that only they had, Dustin grinned and elbowed Will and Will rolled his eyes and shoved back. Something in Mike’s stomach twisted.

“She's just a friend,” Will murmured after she was gone. Mike glared at her back.

“And Lucas said that about Max, and where are we now?” Dustin countered.

Will scoffed. “You danced with Nancy, but she’s dating my brother. Not everything has to have hidden feelings involved.” He seemed to notice Mike staring at that point and turned pink.

Suddenly Mike felt sick. Did Will have a crush on that girl? Why hadn’t he told Mike?

Why did that idea make him feel so badly?

“Mike, are you okay?” Will asked. Mike tried to grin at him.

“Just ready for the weekend!”

“Mike…it’s Monday.”

“I know but I won’t get to see El until Friday.”

Will’s face shuttered closed. “That’s true.” He shut his locker. “I’m going to meet up with Rosie before art class, I’ll see you guys later.”

He sped away down the hall.

Dustin’s brow was furrowed as he looked between Will’s retreating back and Mike. That was his thinking face. What had he figured out?

“What?”

Dustin blinked and the look disappeared. “Nothing, just…” He shook his head. “Nothing. We gotta go or we’ll be late for Spanish.”

Later that day, unbeknownst to Mike, a conversation was had:

“No, Dustin, I don’t have a crush on Eleven. I don’t even know her!”

“But you were upset at the Snowball, and your face gets all funny whenever Mike mentions his dates with El.”

“I just…” A sigh. “Everyone else is growing up and dating, and it feels a little bit like being left behind.”

“I mean, I may be getting taller, but I’m not dating anyone, at least.”

“That’s true. If we’re behind the others, at least we’re behind together.”

Will will never like the cold and snow. But after they defeat Vecna and close the Upside Down—after he and Mike get together—if either of them has a bad day, they can go to the other’s house for cuddling and hot chocolate. These days they’re both having nightmares a couple times a week, but, if they’re sharing a bed, they feel safer and sleep better.

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rocklandjbrin · 10 months

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🍁 [MAPLE LEAF] What is your OC's favourite season? Why and what do they do during it? 🍀 [FOUR LEAF CLOVER] Would your OC spend hours looking for a four leaf clover? 🌾 [RICE SHEAF] How picky is your OC with food? What will and won't they eat?

Maple Leaf

"Least favorite's probably- yeah, winter. Snow's pretty to look at and all, but don't exactly love freezin' my tail off, 'n my knee tends to ache worse in the cold which does wonders for the festive spirit. Gets dark so early, too. Still has it's perks though, New York tends to really go all out with decor. Favorite? I dunno, spring's pretty nice? Warmer weather but not sweltering. Fall has Halloween though, and that's pretty fun between the costumes and free candy. Oh right, and my birthday in November. But then summer's got more free time and different events and stuff too... I dunno, maybe summer, 'part from when it's scorching... Summer and fall might be tied. Yeah, I'll settle on a tie."

Four Leaf Clover

"Probably not hours, think I'd get kinda distracted or bored, 'less maybe I was lookin' with a friend or something. A while though, sure. 'specially as a little kid."

Rice Sheaf

"'m not picky at all, I'm open to trying almost anything, long as it's edible and not like, ridiculously risky like that sea creature that's gotta be prepared in that extremely specific way or else it's toxic or something. That's a little much for me. I've eaten stuff I've dropped on the ground, so I'm not picky there 'less it's obviously dirty like if it dropped in a mud puddle or something... even then if I was hungry enough might try to eat around it." He snorts, "I actually grossed out a couple girls in my class before, ate a cracker that someone had stepped on, off the ground. Mostly did it to get a rise out of 'em. It was pretty hilarious."

#Ohmygosh Rock nO XD #But also that cracker story was actually inspired by a memory of someone back in high school XD #Thanks for the ask :D #uncxntrxllable

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hecateisalesbian · 11 months

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UNO REVERSE. GIMME ALL 50 OF 'EM.

For the wild card... what was your least favorite question out of all of these to answer?

Do you have freckles? i think? Yeah? Only like a few tho

Do you drink tea or coffee? How do you take it? hohoooo your gonna regret asking me this question >:3 For Tea I have a very specific tea brand I always buy and it’s the Arizona Green Tea Diet and then yknow occasional Peace Tea and on some occasions tea leaves. For Coffee when it’s at Starbucks I get one Grande size Vanilla Iced (Gay) Latte with 2 Splendas and almond milk! At home though I just brew up some coffee and put creamer and vanilla unsweetened almond milk with a 1:3 ratioish and a spoonful of Splenda.

What was the last song you listened to? The entire Nimona album lol

Do you sleep on your back, stomach or side? Back or Side because I rotate but never directly on the stomach

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Yes. The amount changes tho. But rn I have a stuffed animal called Rat Cat and then my dog 🐶

Do you prefer drawing or writing? they equally suck

What’s your ideal number of blankets to sleep with? i always always always have to sleep with a very specific blanket for my anxiety and that’s really all I need

What’s your favorite band/artist? errrrr Lovejoy or Lemon Demon or Mother Mother?

When is your birthday? Not sharing that but my fake one is March 7th

How tall are you? Like 5’2”

What color are your eyes? Very dark brown (boring Ik)

Who are five (or more) people you want to hug right now? My Irl friends and my sister

Fears? Bugs, Spiders, T h e D a r k

What’s your favorite color? Purple obvs 💜

What’s your favorite season? Fall, because depending on where you are it’s so wonderful and the weather is perfect and everything is so pretty and also it’s SPOOKY SEASON 🎃

Want any tattoos? What of? Many. Idk how many but my basics are a sibling tattoo with my sister, a matching tattoo with my mom that I’ve already designed, a star, sun, and moon tattoo with my sister and my mom, a snake or two somewhere, some flowers maybe, a semicolon, etc

Want any piercings? Where? YES. Lots of places! I want to deck out my ears, probably get some nose piercings, lip piercings, eyebrow piercings, and then idk from there

Who is the last person you texted? My friend

Do you have a best friend? How long have you been friends? I used to but not anymore

What/who do you miss? My sister

How was your day today? Well I woke up like 2 minutes ago

How much sleep did you get last night? Idk man I just pass out whenever

Do you believe in aliens? Idk theirs probably smth else besides us on this dingy space rock

When was the last time you cried? Why? When I sneezed 6 times in a row a minute ago

What’s your favorite decade? Hmmmmm. Idk. Early 2000’s maybe, 60’s-80’s seem cool

What are some seemingly childish things you like? Stuffed animals, ‘kids’ shows, wanting to play on swing sets

What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times? Uhhh Idk if this is my favorite but I really really like the book series called Strange The Dreamer!

How are you, really? Idk

Does it take you a long time to make decisions? I’m extremely indecisive

What are you looking forward to in the near future? Doing some musicals/plays, Halloween, seeing my sister again, going to a con

What are you looking forward to in the distant future? Moving lol, hopefully finding a partner

If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go? My home state Colorado

Do you sleep with your door open or closed? Who- who sleeps with it open? Ew. Closed.

What’s your favorite flower? I don’t have one 🤷🏼‍♀️

Do you currently have a squish? 😎 🤏🤨🕶️🤏 a what. Okay after a quick google search this looks like a QPR. I used to but not rn

Do you like your middle name? I love it! It holds a lot of meaning to it and it’s actually the name I choose after realizing I’m trans (and also I generally hated my first name)

Do you prefer dogs or cats? Im allergic to cats so I have to say dogs but I love cats. But snakes are number one 🐍

Do you have any phobias? Arachnophobia

Do you stay up late? Well let’s just say im daggers friend from two days ago

Do you like the beach? Do you prefer it sunny or cloudy? Hate the beach. Clouds all the way. Mountains are THE BEST

What’s your favorite cartoon? The Owl House 🦉

Tag 5 of your favorite blogs @bloodied-dagger @el-fandom-birb @haystarlight@imhumanguysiswear@stars-and-birds@threegoblinart@childlikegoblinqueen@artkittycatty@tardismama@fandomsandflyingstingrays@rosy-tickles@ALL OF MY MUTUALS

Do you have siblings? How many? Uh I have two blood related sisters, two step brothers, and one brother in law

Who was the last person you said “I love you” to? My dog probably. Other than that my mom

Is there anyone you would die for? My sister, my dog, my friends, my parents

What do you need when you’re sad? Happiness lol. Naw in all seriousness my dog

Have you memorized your phone number? If you haven’t I hope you like dying

Who’s someone you can trust with your life? My sister

What does your last text say? “Oh”

My least favorite question was all of them because I woke up 6 minutes ago why am I doing this

#asks

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kamreadsandrecs · 1 year

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Title: Saturnalia: A Novel Author: Stephanie Feldman Genre/s: thriller, horror, urban fantasy Content/Trigger Warnings: rape, sexual harassment, emotional abuse, body horror, violence, death, mentions of disease- and weather-related catastrophes

Summary (from publisher’s website): The Saturnalia carnival marks three years since Nina walked away from Philadelphia’s elite Saturn Club—with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. In doing so, she abandoned her closest friends and her chance to climb the social ladder. Since then, she’s eked out a living by telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck, a solemn initiation gift that Nina always considered a gag but has turned out to be more useful than she could have ever imagined. For most, the Saturnalia carnival marks a brief winter reprieve for the beleaguered people of the historic city, which is being eroded by extreme weather, a collapsing economy, and feverish summers—whose disease carrying mosquitos are perhaps the only thing one can count on. Like Thanksgiving or Halloween, Saturnalia has become a purely American holiday despite its pagan roots; and nearly everyone, rich or poor, forgets their troubles for a moment. For Nina, Saturnalia is simply a cruel reminder of the night that changed everything for her. But when she gets a chance call from Max, one of the Saturn Club’s best-connected members and her last remaining friend, the favor he asks will plunge her back into the Club’s wild solstice masquerade, on a mysterious errand she cannot say no to. Tonight, Nina will put on a dress of blackest black, and attend the biggest party of the year. Before it’s over, she will discover secret societies battling for power in an increasingly precarious world and become custodian of a horrifying secret—and the target of a mysterious hunter. As Nina runs across an alternate Philadelphia balanced on a knife’s edge between celebration and catastrophe, through parades, worship houses, museums, hidden mansions, and the place she once called home, she’s forced to confront her past in order to take charge of her own—and perhaps everyone’s—future. Buy Here: https://www.unnamedpress.com/books/book?title=Saturnalia Spoiler-Free Review: Oh man, but there is A LOT going on in this novel. Just: A LOT. It’s kind of hard to know where to begin really. Since I was just coming off my speedrun of Vols. 1-4 of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, I figured my brain would appreciate something a little different, and what could be more different than a straight-up horror novel? I built myself a little list from my (massive) TBR, but since I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to go with, I fed my top five choices into a randomizer, and figured I’d go with whichever came out on top. And since this is the one that turned up at the top, I decided to give it a go. And it’s turned out to be a pretty great read, though it’s more anger-inducing than scary, truth be told. What grabs me most is the world in crisis (climate, social, all the crises really), and how the rich seem to be doing everything they can to run away from something they caused in the first place. They plan to leave and pretend everything’s okay, partying like nothing’s wrong, while elsewhere people suffer and die because they have no money and no prospects, and the world continues to burn. Selfish people broke the world, and they’re now running away from it, and they’re not above draining every other resource left - including other people - just to secure their own safety in the face of the apocalypse. Basically most every nasty, anger-inducing thing in this novel can all be traced back to selfish greedy people (aka the One Percent) who didn’t give one flying fuck about humanity and the world, and are so short-sighted that they’re willing to destroy everything around them if it will help them gather all the wealth and power they possibly can and hang onto it as hard as possible. This, despite the fact that they could have USED that money and power to make a change for the better, to help as many people as they could, to SAVE THE WORLD. But they don’t care because they’re greedy selfish fucks who only care about themselves. And the sad thing is: THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE RUNNING THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. So if you read this novel and think “man, this world is pretty fucking bleak”, well: that’s where the world we have right now is headed in five, maybe ten years, unless, we, idk, make guillotines more fashionable tout suite. I know this seems like this book is very depressing, and yes, it is, not least because of how close these events are to reality, but I think that’s important. It’s important to see the logical consequences of where our current world situation is going, so we can actually DO something about it before it’s too late. This book doesn’t really put out an overt call to action, but portraying these things, even as part of the novel’s overall worldbuilding, is still pretty powerful. Another important thread in this novel is about what it means to live on the fringes of wealth and power, ever-wanting it for yourself, for whatever reason. You may want it to protect those you love, or you may want it to protect yourself, or you may want it just because you want it. But either way, the One Percent don’t care about you; they only think of you as a tool to use for their own games. They only care about themselves - as individuals, not even as a group. And they will do everything to protect themselves, even if it means burning the world around them - and you, along the way. As I said earlier, they’re greedy selfish fucks. They don’t care. Anyway. Those are the central themes of the novel, the core around which the story is built, and for the most part, the story itself holds up, though there are a couple of rough spots. Take the characters for example: they’re all pretty interesting for the most part, though some are more compelling than others. Nina isn’t half bad as protagonist and narrator: she’s flawed, sure, but she’s flawed in interesting ways that make her a pretty good narrator for everything that happens in the story. The rest of the cast is pretty interesting to read about, though I do wish that some of them had been given a little more screentime, as it were. I also had a slight issue with the way the movement between past and present was handled. I understand that there was likely a need to spread out flashbacks to Nina’s past so that they’d be interpolated with the appropriate moments in the present, but there were times when they’d cut into moments when the present was very tense and I was very interested in the action going on during that moment. This became less of an issue as the novel progressed though, so that was only really a problem for the novel’s first fourth. As a note, I think this novel occupies a weird space in terms of genre. I picked it up because it was billed as a horror novel, and it KIND OF is, but it doesn’t read like too much of a horror novel to me as much as it does a thriller or a mystery. It does have some creepy moments, though not the kind that would make me want to read it broad daylight. As I said, most of the horror of this novel comes from the fact that it’s about the One Percent and what their greed and selfishness are doing to the world; that’s horror of a kind, made scarier by the fact that it’s real. So overall, this is a pretty fun read, if you’re willing to acknowledge the fact that it’s going to make you pretty damn pissed about the state of the world right now. It’ll also make you want to look at your relationship with wealth and power, and the whys and wherefores of wanting them, which can be uncomfortable if you’re the ambitious type and/or are working towards “bettering your situation in life”, as it were. It’s got a few rough spots, but I think the plot and the central mystery will help in overlooking those spots, not least because they happen early in the novel and do kind of disappear as the book goes on. Rating: four and a half mandrakes

#book review #book reviews #saturnalia #stephanie feldman #mystery #thriller #horror #books #sff #urban fantasy

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dustofeve · 2 years

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for the questions, 15, 27, and 42? :)

Ty for the ask!!<3

15.) name one musical album that greatly impacted your life? why?

Tomb for Two by Lebanon Hanover!

I had just graduated high school and had 0 friends or really any direction in a pretty big city...this album was super comforting to me in those times and I must have listened to it fully no less than 100 times my freshman year of college😅 The album led me to many local shows that played similar music and I met many awesome people from there! The sound of that album is extremely nostalgic to me now :)

27.) your latest obsession? and why?

AUTUMN. Autumn activities. pumpkins, movies, candles, baking, apple-picking, Halloween, changing leaves, colder weather...am really feeling it this year. Also colder weather means I get back into Minecraft as per my annual winter hyperfixation :P

42.) what’s your favorite item you’ve purchased secondhand?

Hmmm. I haven't really had the best luck overall at thrift shops in person, but I have gotten a few pieces online. Here's a couple pics I have saved!

Also a pair of Tripp pants..I've also received a pair of Demonias and a super heavy, chained-out Tripp-style skirt as gifts :)

I have very few clothes and jewelry honestly. I really wish I had more </3

#me #ask #ty for the ask!!!#i love answering these #brb listening to tomb for two now hehe<3 #personal

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garset-grocery · 2 years

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Alright you scallywags, listen the fuck up. I’m about to explain to you why fall is my favourite fucking season on the face of this earth. I massively Vibe with this season.

First of all, it’s the best weather you could ever possibly have, at least where I live. It’s not hot as balls like summer, and it’s not cold as hell like winter. Don’t get me wrong, all the seasons have their perks (except spring, fuck mud season) but fall weather is simply divine. I LOVE wearing multiple layers (for fashion, obviously) without sweating like a pig, while also not having to cover myself head to toe in snow gear just so I don’t die when I go out for lunch. Absolutely fantastic.

Second, I have SO much to say about the Vibe itself. This is a bit specific, but I have this weird thing where I feel more conscious of my surroundings when I’m outside in autumn? Idk, maybe it’s the knowledge that this season and its beautiful sights are fleeting, maybe it’s just the fresh air, but I feel like I take in more detail about my environment when the wind has a chill bite to it and the leaves are pretty colours. I’d compare it to mindfulness.

Third, A E S T H E T I C. This is a dead horse that’s been beaten so much it’s practically dust at this point, but I am a SLUT for the autumn aesthetic. I mean come on, what’s there not to love? You’ve got the aforementioned pretty trees, orange everything, and of course, the spooky. My entire personal aesthetic is based completely off of the fall/Halloween experience. The crunch of a dead leaf underfoot. The swirling storm of fiery colour when the cool wind kicks up a cloud of leaves. The feeling of temporary, of cyclical decay, the last death rattle. The final stages of decomposition before the long dark, when all the land slips into dreamless sleep. The preparation, the stockpiling, the harvest. The stubborn hope burning in all things that says if all goes well, I will wake up. I will see the sun and the colours of life again.

But I’m a spooky bitch, so of course my absolute favourite part is Halloween. I mean seriously. It’s HALLOWEEN. It’s the one time of year where it’s socially acceptable and ENCOURAGED to revel in all things dark and morbid and creepy. Any other time of year, if I walked around in a black hooded robe and goat skull mask in the shadowy undergrowth of a city park, I’d probably get the cops called on me. But during October? Normal human behaviour, probably doing a photoshoot or something. I just love, LOVE the fact that we have an entire holiday dedicated to spooky ghosts and werewolves and vampires and murderers and giant fucking spiders everywhere. And the fact that it hasn’t been TOTALLY commercialized like other holidays is a really nice bonus for me. There’s no month-long reruns of tired Halloween carols on the radio, no Halloween advertisements telling you to buy all of this year’s Halloween merchandise (ok maybe a little bit of that but it’s tolerable) and there’s overall only a marginal amount of Halloween oversaturation in the media during the weeks leading up to it (at least as far as I’m aware, I don’t have cable TV). The most that big companies are willing to do to dip their fingers in the spooky money pot is some horror movie reruns on TV and some themed candy bars. Other than that (and the entirety of Spirit Halloween, being an outlier) corporations don’t really want to do more with Halloween because it’s by definition a dark, scary holiday with roots in dark, scary folklore, which I imagine is difficult to tap into while also keeping your company image squeaky-clean and stakeholder friendly. And that’s where I think the beauty of Halloween really shines.

See, I might be totally wrong about this, but in my experience, Halloween is very much a Folk Holiday. Yes, it’s extremely widespread and mainstream, but what I’m getting at is that it’s not as forced on us as something like Christmas. It’s still mostly in the hands of the public to decide whether they want to celebrate it or not. And, my god, they DO. Like I said earlier, it’s one of the few times where people are openly invited to explore the darker corners of the human experience. Not only that, but to have fun with it. It’s FUN to go to a haunted house. It’s FUN to dress up as shadowy revenants of death and try to scare the shit out of each other. Hell, it’s basically the only time of year that you can hype your friends up to go try and summon a demon in a graveyard or something without looking like a total psycho. It’s very much all around a fun thing to celebrate fear and the things which cause it, instead of just avoiding them altogether. You can also express yourself really freely, either dressing up as something you or other people find creepy, OR dressing up as something you love and have an interest in. It’s basically the international Cosplay Day. And there’s free candy. Incredible.

So yeah, that’s about it I think. Just thought I’d dump this on y’all since nobody else will listen to me ramble about Halloween for hours. Related: I need to know the cheapest place I can get a lot of chicken wings. For Halloween reasons.

#autumn #fall aesthetic #rant #Halloween #spooky #fall #longest post I’ve made so far tbh #this literally took me a week to write over my lunch breaks

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