#i did go for two three part posts

[metalhoops]

Steve and Eddie: Alternative ‘First’ meeting part 2.

Read Part 1 Here

Eddie Munson never expected Steve to be his friend. He kept waiting for the former king to realise how different their two worlds were. When that day came, he hoped Steve could look back on his time spent with the strange Metalhead with affection.

Several months had passed since the two had their first encounter in the woods outside the trailer park, and he hadn’t scared Steve away yet. Eddie found the boy following at his side every other day when he wasn’t at work. He was loyal as a golden retriever and strangely, almost as happy. When he and Steve run into each other for the first time since Steve’s graduation, one thing was clear: Steve wasn’t happy. 

Now, most days, he appeared more happy than not. Yet, he was still distant. There were things he was keeping close to his chest, but Eddie didn’t feel like he was close enough to push. 

Eddie kept waiting for the moment he’d chase Steve away. He talked the guy’s ear off about Hellfire, now that the school year was back in full swing. They’d both agreed to keep Steve’s flock of wayward children in the dark about their friendship, lest they think Steve was using Eddie to keep an eye on them, ever the babysitter. Steve listened attentively. 

He invited Steve around to watch obscure B-grade, horror schlockfests. There was no way he enjoyed it, but Steve stayed. He jumped at all the right times and laughed at all the wrong ones, just like Eddie. Steve was too good to be true. One day, something had to give. 

When they drove together, Eddie played the music too loud and performed air guitar solos at stoplights. He’d even gone so far as to serenade Steve with KISS songs as the guy helped him put together a dinner that wasn’t from a microwave container. 

He’d expected Steve to roll his eyes and call him a nerd, which admittedly he did. However, right after, he’d equipped himself with a wooden spoon and performed an equally cheesy rendition of a Bob Seger song. 

Hell, once his parents were out of town and they’d stayed the night at Steve’s he’d shown Eddie his best impression of Tom Cruise in Risky Business, complete with high socks, a poorly buttoned button-down, and too-short, shorts. Eddie was so gone for Steve Harrington, and it was horrible because he knew something was going to go wrong.

He was sick of waiting for it to happen. The two had been friends for months, and Eddie was sick of holding his breath, with each passing day knowing that the hurt would be all the greater as his attachment to Steve grew. 

Steve’s parents were out of town, which always made for a more relaxed Steve. He’d invited Eddie to stay the night at his place for the first time. Eddie realised what had to happen next as Steve invited him to crash with him in his bed. 

This was the thing that would finally scare Steve away. This was the thing that would get Steve to finally give up his reformed jock status and call him a freak. He couldn’t share a bed with Steve without him knowing, it wasn’t fair. 

“I kinda like taking the side next to the door. You mind taking the window side?” Steve asked so casually it made Eddie’s heart ache. 

He found it hard to swallow as he bit the bullet and told Steve the thing he’d been dancing around for months. 

“I’m gay, Steve.” He wished he’d been more eloquent, but he hadn’t. He spoke to the shitty plaid wallpaper, his words running together. 

When he finally looked, he found Steve sitting on the bed, his wide eyes looking equal parts alarmed and confused. He wasn’t cursing at Eddie or chasing the guy out of his house, so far, it was going better than he’d expected. 

“Uh... thanks for telling me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you steal my side of the bed,” Steve finally replied. Eddie was goddamn floored. 

“You heard me, right?” Eddie repeated. There was no way in hell this wasn’t the thing that chased Steve away. 

“Roger Dodger. Loud and clear. You don’t like boobs,” Steve paraphrased as he wriggled under the covers. Eddie let out a sound between a snort and a sob because, holy shit, Steve didn’t care. He was also an absolute idiot, but that was expected.

“And you’re still cool with me sleeping with you?” Eddie asked. 

“I don’t like to sleep alone much, anymore,” Steve spoke with a vague shrug of his shoulders. There it was again, the uneasy sense he got that Steve wasn’t telling him something important. 

Eddie didn’t pry, because Steve hadn’t pushed when he’d just goddamn come out to him. Eddie slipped beneath the covers, closest to the window and lay beside Steve until the man fell asleep. Eddie couldn’t sleep, his head still reeling. 

After an hour, he felt Steve twitch at his side and mumble something incoherent. Eddie stayed still, thinking the moment would pass, quick and painless as a sun shower. Instead, Steve started to thrash. Eddie sat up in bed, flicked on the lights, and gazed down at the former king’s pinched brows. It was hard to believe this was the same boy who’d stalked the halls of Hawkins High, looking seemingly untouchable from Eddie’s ranks amongst the outcasts and common folk. 

“Stevie?” Eddie breathed, placing a hand on Steve’s shoulder in an attempt to wake him. 

The other man’s body stilled beneath his hand, and his face remained contorted. In his sleep, he crept closer to Eddie, curling his body around him. He had no idea what the hell to do. Steve hating to sleep alone made more sense. 

“It’s okay, Harrington. I got you. You’re okay,” Eddie mumbled, taking a risk and leaning down to card his hands through the man’s hair. 

Eddie sat there for another half-hour, muttering quiet nothings until he stilled and slept peacefully. 

When morning finally came and the two found themselves dancing around each other in the Harrington’s oversized kitchen, Eddie decided to broach the subject. Steve kept setting off alarm bells in his head, and he had no idea how to quiet them on his own. 

“Steve, I know I’m a shitty listener because I love to hear the sound of my own voice, but you know, if you ever need to talk about anything, I’m here, right?” 

Steve stepped back from the kitchen cabinet to get a better look at Eddie, his face the picture of conflict. He kept looking as though he were seconds from telling Eddie something before going dead quiet. Finally, he spoke.

“I don’t think I’m entirely straight.” 

That hadn’t been what he was fishing for, but holy shit. 

To make matters worse, Steve was sending him all the right goddamn cues. His eyes flickered to Eddie’s lips, then back to his face. He chewed on his bottom lip and ran his fingers through his carefully styled hair. Screw it. 

Eddie crossed the space between them and smash their lips together, pushing Steve’s back against the cabinet. It was a car crash kind of desperation. Limbs and lips everywhere. Steve ended up on the countertop, his legs wrapped around Eddie’s hips, hands in his hair. Eddie’s head was a chorus of holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. 

Eddie Munson never expected Steve to be his friend, but the one thing he’d never expected to ruin their friendship was a kiss. 

Tags

@rhyswritesreadsandcries @lightwoodbanethings @beeing-stuupid @chaoticvictorianspirit @korixae @ihaveahordingproblem @lyriclight @exyvey @ashwinmeird​ @breealtair @eviltwistedpixie @adelicioustragedy @theoncelee @bubblegum192 @aceflavouredyougurt @pluto-pepsi @occasionallyifailtoart @didntwant2come​ @catboyb​adankrivervalleynearyou

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie drabble #steddie ficlet #ficlet #my ficlet #stranger things #drabble #alternative 'first' meeting #multipost fic #long post #back by popular demand #this wasn't going to be a two parter but people wanted it #now I'm tempted to write a part three #hopefully I got everyone how asked to be tagged #I did my best #angst and fluff #Metalhoops writes

[rainbowpufflez]

You’ll never believe what’s actually been taking all my time /hj /lh

Wanted to do another one of these since I haven’t in over a year so I asked my insta followers and they really gave me a lineup of characters 💀

Here’s the post if u wanna see all who suggested what! As I think 3 of them have tumblrs: OG post

T'soni was requested by @spocklingtons

Vince was requested by bestie @j-noodles8

(They both make great art btws)

And Wolfwood was requested by @autisticswagger

#6 characters #six characters fanart challenge #wolfwood trigun 98 #silver the hedgehog #vince dead plate #meta knight kirby #t'soni mass effect #lysandre pokemon #THOSE TWO TWUNKS TOOK ME SO LONG TO DRAW #the first three characters I got was Wolfwood Silver and Lysandre so I knew it was gonna be a wild bunch of characters this time around #yeah I did spend 21 hours on this #no I have no fucking clue (outside the twunks) what part of the process took that long #everyone's being unhinged in the comments over there #so I would call that a win #<- also if you go to the actual post that's why I put that ending slide #all in good jest tho I love those jokes #go crazy down bad community #rainbowpufflez art tag

[arolesbianism]

Thinks oh so hard abt the spiraling upwards clan founders, especially the birchclan founders. Silly lil kitties who's pasts are drenched in blood with the primary regret of not drawing it sooner

#rat rambles #oc posting #warriors posting #spiraling upwards #long story short they had a shitty awful terrible leader who sucked absolutely ass and they tore him to shreds #I mean that literally they pinned him onto the mountain side and slashed and mauled the shit out of him so hard that his lives evaporated #and several of the cats involved in that scene are sill alive and major parts of the story and I love them #oh also the cat that pinned him through a stab through the throat was his own daughter btw everyone hated his ass so much #and for good reason get his ass #alas in the main story I dont rly get to go too deep into how he harmed everyone involved mostly just three main ones #aka bristlestar because shes murtlepaw's ghost mom dawncrackle because hes also haunting murtle and gullspot because shes bristle's kit #so basically all the flashbacks we get involve those three in some form or another #honeystar was also there and involved but Im not currently planning on having her rly talk abt that #most of her more modern angst is the fact that she was forced into leadership against her will #and shes been alive long enough that shes been leading birchclan far longer than she ever lived in her old clan #but she did go through a lot of shit before birchclan was founded and it definitely shaped her a lot #she used to be a very determined and high spirited lil kitty cat who tried to be optimistic #but her family began to slowly be picked off one by one by both the old leader and the one whod later get evicerated #some of the older cats around her hoped it make her back down from her revelutionary ideas but she noticed that and it backfired on them #instead of being worn down to submission she became absolutely Furious and began to lash out more and become more demanding #it got to the point that she really only had two friends in the entire clan and one of them was her aunt whod later also die after coming #out abt having witnessed the leader killing his own kits #that was the final fucking straw for her and she was fully on board when bristle and dawn started looking for cats to join their rebellion #she did get rly frustrated with them as they waited patiently for the right moment but her remaining bestie kept her from going apeshit #so once the big fight finally broke out she was more than eager to join the hoard of cats chasing the bastard upwards #now unlike some of the other cats involved this legitimately actually made her feel a lot better for a while #for the first time in ages she finally felt like she could be optimistic abt smth again and was excited abt the idea of leaving this place #she had lost so much in this damn place since she was an apprentice and just wanted to finally be able to rest easy #but once they got to their new territory and set up camp things went south real fast as a flood fucked everything up #and after losing the only cat she had left in her life and losing her tail and being made deputy on top of that she deteriorated quickly

[brittlebutch]

the crossover brewing in my skull rn is beyond help or reason

#N posts stuff #g-d help me but i think bill n ted could have helped eddie m. like Just a little bit #not in a canon sense maybe but in a general character sense. #like you know how like. cheetahs or whatever in captivity will get emotional support dogs? yeah. #but like. they have the same interests! don't @ me... my metal playlist kicked the whole thing off but it is worth noting #that comics let bill n ted play dnd too; i think the first meeting would have been rough but i think they could overcome it #the byeond help part is the part where i'm like 'if i wrote a continuation of that one AU i did where bill n ted bus out of cali #and have them wind up in indiana somehow it could happen.' canonically the two are only like three years off from each other #you could shrink that! i'm probably not going to write it but i'm truly like. they're in the microwave together now #because of fuckin. iron maiden. and motorhead

[grapecaseschoices]

Bethany Josnel Coleman

Meet BJ Coleman | Wasted Desires by The Notations

🎹 An At A Glance

🎹 the band & the music

🎹 on-stage & on-the carpet

🎹 aesthetic

#insight: josnel coleman #aest: josnel coleman #meet my infamous mcs #grapecase posts #infamous mc #infamous if #this is the tired person's moodboard #im not up to fighting with canvas of late #i was going to add snaps of the seven and seb sections but theyre just qoutes #people [like three moots/followers and two anons ~my entourage~ werresa lmao] liked when i did lloyd and haydens so -- #i may do this for all my infamous and disenchanted babies #we shall see~~~ #debating if i should drop the pinboard link too? but i feel the snippets are part of the allure?~~ who wants to slog through 150 plus pins? #[well aside from me]

[chrisodonline]

Finale Spec/Wishes, pt. 3

Just in case you aren’t one of the two people who are actually following this, see part one and part two. Again, this is non-formatted liveblog/recap style version of my brain. 

Part 3 of ???

Farmer’s Market lady ran when Kensi and Deeks identified themselves, so she was immediately sus. They take her in. Have her in the boat shed. They grill her about Good Queen Bess. Farmer’s Market lady is like, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Kensi and Deeks explain that her booth has not been doing well — more people are wanting vegan-only choices, and others are tight on funds. You sell grass fed beef. Money problems = motive for chicken ransom. Deeks suggests, “Or maybe you wanted to score some money in an underground chicken fighting ring?” Farmer’s market lady is like, “There’s no such thing as a chicken fighting ring. Who would do that?” Deeks follows up with, “There’s a first time for everything. It would be like the GLOW version of cock fighting.” 

Farmer’s Market lady is still like, “And why would I expect to get money out of a chicken ransom?” Kensi offers, “Maybe you weren’t trying to get money. Maybe you were trying to get intel. To watch High Ranking Chicken Guy trip up.” Farmer’s Market lady, “What would I do with intel?” Kensi says sell it for the right place. This guy obviously has a weakness for his chicken. Good Queen Bess is his Lock Screen. Good Queen Bess has her own castle. A desperate man makes bad decisions. Kensi and Deeks just sit and look at her. Deeks adds, “You know we’re checking your phone logs now. Some odd numbers.” FM lady is like, “What’s odd about them?” Deeks explains, “4 of them were only in service for a few days each. Do your Farmer’s Market friends have a need for burner phones?” FM lady looks away. Kensi and Deeks stare more. FM lady is like, “Fine. Someone did call and offer me money to take Good Queen Bess. But I didn’t take her!” Kensi asks why didn’t she say something sooner — or report a possible chicken-napping to the authorities. FM Lady says she thought the person was half-joking. Deeks asks if this person gave a name. FM lady says no. And then when they realized she wouldn’t do it, they threatened her. Kensi is like, “Your life?” And FM Lady is like, “No. They were going to kill my cows. They’re my livelihood! And they were going to poison them and then make sure there is enough on social media to suggest I’ve been selling tainted meat. They’d ruin me!” Deeks says, “I guess that makes sense. I’d hate to see a bovine massacre. I hate to be the one to say it, though. Not sure Southern California is the best marketplace for beef.” 

FM lady starts crying suddenly, “It’s all I know! I moved here with my husband, but then he won a reality show and left me! We were supposed to be the Chip and Joanna Gaines of the Cattle World!” She continues crying. Kensi and Deeks step out of the room. Kensi says, “Well that seems like a dead end unless we can get more on those burners. This whole thing is kind of crazy, don’t you think?” Deeks says, “Tell me about it. No one will ever be the Chip and Joanna Gaines of anything other than Chip and Joanna Gaines.” Kensi just smirks at him. “So you don’t want to be the Chip and Joanna Gaines of our field?” Deeks, “Oh, oh. Ohhh. I love that you speak my language and know exactly what to say at all times. I’m going to remember this after work.” 

Kensi shoots him bedroom eyes, and they’re interrupted with the sound of someone clearing his throat. They turn and it’s Callen and Sam in Ops, staring at them. Kensi asks how long they’ve been listening. Callen replies, “Long enough to wonder if that makes us the Property Brothers.” Deeks just says, “I KNEW you loved those shows, man. I KNEW it.” Sam just shakes his head. “You all need to get out more.” On this, Kilbride enters Ops. “I believe we are in agreement on that, Agent Hanna. I would also suggest that you all need to get to solving this case more. I take it from the lack of arrests and lack of a chicken, our main lead did not pan out.” Callen says he’s right. They’ve hit a dead end. Kilbride says, “Well I hope you are able to revive that dead end because this is the Office of Special Projects, and I expect you all not to get stuck. Especially on this case.” Sam adds, “We always do, Admiral. We always do.” Kilbride nods and says, “Carry on.” Then leaves. Deeks asks, “Is it clear?” Callen and Sam say it is. Deeks says, “Do you guys ever feel like he uses whatever bugs Hetty had in Ops to perfectly time coming in to insult us?” 

Rountree and Fatima are with High Ranking Chicken Guy. They explain to him about the burner phone caller offering to pay for intel gotten from the chicken ransom. Does he know anyone, an enemy, who would benefit from info he had? Who also knows about Good Queen Bess? High Ranking Chicken Guy asks if they think she’s already dead. Rountree and Fatima explain that two things work in her favor: 1. she’s worth more as a ransom and 2. She’s a chicken, so she can’t identify her kidnappers to the cops. High Ranking Chicken Guy is like “Well there is This Criminal Guy we’ve been after for a while but could never get enough to bring him in. We’re closing in on him, but only a few people know what we have. I did hear that the fact that we’re close may have made it past the designated personnel.” Rountree and Fatima immediately phone this in. Callen and Sam thank them and pull up info. Sam wonders why High Ranking Guy didn’t mention this enemy when they first asked. Fatima hand waves it and says he seems so distraught. 

Kensi and Deeks go back into the room. “We have a video we want to show you.” They show FM lady a video from YouTube of a guy unboxing a shop vac. FM lady asks why they’re showing her this. “We just want to know if it means anything to you.” “Like what?” “If we tell you, that might influence you and you misremember.” “I don’t have that model of shop vac, I know that.” Kensi and Deeks just look at each other, debating on stopping the video. Then FM lady says, “Oh, wait. Do a quick jump back, so I can hear him say that again.” They do. “That’s it! That’s the voice!” 

Cut to Criminal Guy’s warehouse location — because that is a shady person’s base. Both duos are on the ground in their tiny ass vests ready to go in and take Criminal Guy down. If they didn’t have him on international drug smuggling, they’ll definitely have him on chicken napping and coercion with cow threats — which Deeks dubs “cow-ercion.”  They go in and take down Criminal Guy. Kensi asks, “Where’s Good Queen Bess?” Criminal Guy asks, “I don’t know. Maybe take a time machine and go to England in the past.” Deeks says, “First off. That’s not even a good joke. You kidnapped a chicken, and you can’t afford to look any lamer. Second, we know you have her. Where is she?” Callen contacts Rountree on comms, “You guys have any luck yet?” Rountree says, “No.” Fatima is also searching, “Is there anything that would make a chicken squawk so we can find her?” “Are you saying we go around bocking?”  Kensi says, “Maybe something to freak her out. Chickens don’t get quiet when they’re scared.” Deeks says, “Look at you, Wikipedia.” Fatima is like, “Oh, hey, I got it!” She starts tapping her phone and asks Rountree for his. She works on his and then holds up both. Rountree asks what she’s doing. Fatima says, “What we always do.” She plays the most blaring, annoying alarm sound on both phones at the same time, creating an echo and extending everywhere. Rountree covers up his ears quickly, and so do Kensi and Deeks. Callen and Sam do the same. Sam says, “You couldn’t have told us to cover our ears before in case it blasted through all the comms?” Fatima says, “Sorry, I-“ Then they hear it. They hear Good Queen Bess clucking loudly. Rountree looks over impressed. “How’d you think to do that?” Fatima simply says, “Like I said. What we always do. A little chaos A little shock and awe.” Deeks throws in, “Or bock and awe, in this case.” 

#z rambles on #ncisla spec #part three #finale but really funale #did i take a joke i made offhand and in the moment in part two and turn it into a full post #that's just the same joke going on and on? #yes #but look #one joke on repeat is how some eps go anyway #so...

[dmclemblems]

real talk this save screen is the absolute most haunting save screen of any game i’ve ever played

dead silence and a black background and after everything that just happened

it’s like the final nail in the coffin to really get across how terrible it all was

#see? im still having a crisis. i had to put the game down for a bit EVEN THO I'VE FULLY BEATEN IT SIXTEEN TIMES #shit like this makes me wish fe4 would get a gen 1 only pair/shipless anime #that being so that nobody can complain about ships and blah blah #or a full anime with both gens with zero indication of the fathers bc nobody needs that drama for an fe4 anime #but since ofc it was an snes game i get why it doesn't show how horrible it was #but i feel like just with what it did give it still gets the whole point across both with the roll call and the save screen #and like yeah I had to put the game down for a bit but I feel like in a sense that's the best way to play it #particularly for first timers tho bc I feel like this part needs a bit to sink in before you continue with gen 2 #You basically just witnessed the worst moment in Jugdral's history and the beginning of societal collapse #and then you get to gen 2 which is almost two decades later showing you just how horrendous the world became after that #to the point that even Alvis' best intentions couldn't fix everything forever #It's stated that things were working out and all under his rule for a while so like... for the most part in general #things were going okay for Jugdral aside from Manfloy behind the scenes doing shit #but then it all comes out and Alvis can only do his best to save things from the inside and not the outside anymore #He loses his influence on the outside world and everything goes to shit so all he can do is save the few people he's able from the inside #You literally go from seeing the worst event happen to seeing the world in post and being told through character dialogue #how bad everything is now two decades later and how horrible the place is to live in #I love Three Houses so much but there's no way it captured that and I say that because #the devs have stated FE4 was a direct influence for TH but even with the timeskip and how bad things got due to the war #was nothing compared to the state Jugdral was in and the events of chapter twelve were nowhere as #devastating as what happened in chapter five of FE4 #I wish FE4 had a little bit more in between the gens just to give you time to let it all sink in because it's so much in hindsight #Even the stuff at Yied went a little too fast sometimes imo #Everything gets progressively worse during the whole of gen 1 and I would've loved for chapter five to be like that too in its own chapter #anyway most influential save screen in gaming history thanks have a nice day/night #DCB Comments

[star--anon]

Anon Friend I'm so sorry I answered your ask, put it in my queue, and then proceeded to lose it

I have. no idea where it is

#did I post it???? #it's not in my queue #I don't see it on my blog #it's not in my drafts #wtf- #this is annoying #I'm so sorry my beloved anonymous fren #also since I can't answer the ask because Tumblr lost it #if you're still looking for music #K/DA is a nice k-pop girl band. It's an animated one. all the singers are characters from League of Legends #Villain and POP/STARS and The Baddest are great #not sure about the other songs #but those three fucking slap #unless you don't like K-Pop #although I will say Villain is pure English so there's that #but the other two have Korean parts so idk #I'm not good at music my apologies- #Drum go dum is good too #listen my music taste is.... an acquired taste

[indefiniteavatar]

So basically, in a case about him shoving money at someone so they shut up about him. . .he can’t shut the fuck up himself. I would say something clever and funny here, except the sad part is that this is just so normal in current politics that it’s just. . .not hilariously absurd behavior anymore? Not to say that it’s not absurd - it is beyond such, but it is just. . . predictable, I suppose.

I guess this is how I feel about politics lately? Either I get mad at everything or I try to laugh at everything and normally that works because politicians usually aren’t so tragically stupid so very often, but now I just kinda have to chuckle at the particularly eyeroll worthy things like this, and try to ignore everything else or my brain will explode.

#maybe that’s my biggest pet peeve about the current state of politics #Normally I like having discussions with people #of various mindsets and lifestyles and backgrounds #while my personal standpoint about many if not most political things is pretty solid. I also enjoy finding out more about things. #It’s always nice to learn more about things. #when it gets to a point like this or let’s be real-a point like where it got a few months ago when. More like a couple years ago honestly #There’s just so much. Too much. And two try to process all of it especially in a way such that one keeps up with useful discussion? oof. #I know I meant to do something else in these tags – something more specific – but at least on mobile #I just lost like three tags because the one I was working on hit 140 but when I was warned #I didn’t get to backspace or anything. I just kind of deleted the whole thing. #And in my confusion and attempt to undo what I had done #I managed to backspace a couple times and lose the finish tag above that one #and of course my first attempt at explaining that I had lost two tags turned into three tags because #I lost the first attempts that said two tags because it went over and yet again my attempt of not backspace this time #I just lost another two tags and then at this point I don’t even remember where I was going with this train of thought either #tl;dr: I wish I could take as much amusement from this as I want to but I can’t because shit like this is just so fucking normal #but hey it’s better than January 6 or trying to nuke a hurricane so I suppose I can live with it #right so I realize that I got to read all of the things I just typed in the page before this #so I did and while I have a laughable amount of nowhere near the fuck enough spoons #there’s a very good chance I am going to come back to this when I get on my iPad or PC #There’s also a very good chance I’m going to completely forget this post exists if not the app entirely #but given that I finally downloaded this on my actual phone instead of my tablet for the first time in years #And I just lost another fucking tag #this time naturally it had to be one with Contant that I remember as semantically important #but similarly naturally of course I don’t bloody well remember #right so I am going to go back to the stuff I was doing now cause I was doing stuff before I saw a Tumblr notification #which I didn’t actually look at at the time but but I can absolutely be sure that it was a hefty part of the reason why #when I found something that I wanted to post about and a context that had a larger audience and not just individuals #didn’t have FB/Reddit (tho lbr I would probably have a 6 foot nose if I tried to imply they were great social networks) #which goes back to seeing the tumblr notif & still having a big Nostalgia so. hi here i am

[dmdumouchel]

I just think it's funny how my coworker including me in both her post and IG stories made it look like I was way more included than I actually was in the ski trip

#if I hit my head and got amnesia and forgot the ski trip then looked at her post/stories #I would think I had a great time and was really included in the group #which is so far from the case #I felt so excluded on that trip #the first thing I did when we got to the cabin was go in the bathroom and cry #I stayed alone upstairs on my bed reading my book while everyone else socialized downstairs by the fireplace #the main thing is confusion #like I am just so confused why I felt like part of my work friend group in the past like on staff retreats and when we hang out outside of #*work #but then all of a sudden on this ski trip we no longer felt like a trio #it was my work friends being a duo and me on my own #they were attached at the freaking hip #there was even a point where my work friend was gonna go to the ski resort with our manager #and she suggested her friend/my other work friend and I go in the other car #and just as I predicted...I get to the other car and turn around #and there's my other work friend with my work friend about to get in my manager's vehicle #so I was gonna go alone in the other car with these two other pple #and they might've noticed I was feeling some type of way #cuz they asked if I was sure #and ofc I was like yeah it's fine #but dude how attached at the hip do you have to be.... #and they're roommates so they already see each other every day #it's just so........ #anyway #I've got very mixed feelings about this trip #and it's weird how she included me so much in the post like the very first photo is us three #but majority of the time it was them two #taking pictures of each other in the snow...walking together....meanwhile I'm behind on my own #personal

[niennanir]

Listen to your elders

So last week I posted abut the importance of downloading your fic. And then three days later AO3 went down for 24 hours. No one was more weirded out by this than I was. But while y’all were acting like the library at Alexandria was on fire I was reading my download fic and editing chapter eight of Buck, Rogers, and the 21st Century. And also thinking about what I could do to be helpful when the crisis was actually over.

So first off, I’m going to repeat that if you’re going to bookmark a fic, you really need to also download the fic and back it up in a safe place. I just do it automatically now and it’s a good habit to get into.

But let’s talk about some other scenarios. Last October I lost power for over a week after hurricane Ian. Apart from not having internet or A/C I did find plenty to do, I collect books so I had plenty to read, but maybe, unlike me, your favorite comfort reads aren’t sitting on a bookshelf. So let’s do something about that, shall we?

In olden times many long years ago around 1995 we printed off a lot of fic. It was mostly SOP to print a fic you planned to reread and stick it in a three ring binder. And that’s totally valid today too, but you can also make a very nice paperback with a minimum amount of skill and materials.

Let’s start with the download; Go to Ao3 and select your fic, we’ll be working with one of mine. This method works best with one shots, long fic tends to need a more complicated approach. Get yourself an HTML download

Open up the HTML download and select all then copy paste into any word processor. Set the page to landscape and two columns, then change the font to something you find easy to read, this is your book, no judgement. This is all you have to do for layout but I like to play a little bit. I move all the meta, summary, notes to the end and pick out a fun font for the title: 

No time like the present to do a quick proofread. Congratulations, you’ve just created your first typeset. On to the fun part.

Now you’re going to need some materials:  8.5x11in paper ruler one sheet of 12x12 medium card stock (60-80lb) scissors pencil pen or fine tip marker sheet of wax paper white glue two binder clips 2 heavy books or 1 brick butter knife

You’ll also need a printer, if you’re in the US there is almost a 100% chance your local library has a printer you can use if you don’t have your own. None of these materials are expensive and you can literally use cheap copy paper and Elmers glue.

Print your text block, one page per side. Fold the first page in half so that the blank side is inside and the printed side out:

use the butter knife to crease the edge. Repeat on all the sheets. When you’ve finished, stack them up with the raw edge on the left and the folded edge on the right. I used standard copy paper, because you’re only printing on one side there’s no bleed to worry about. Take the text block and line everything up. Use the binder clips to hold the raw edge in place.

Wrap the text block in the wax paper so that the raw edge and binder clips are facing out. I’m going to use my home built book press but you don’t need one, a brick or a couple of books or anything else heavy will work fine.

Once the text block is anchored down, take off he binder clips and get out the glue.

You can use a brush but you don’t need one, smear some glue on that raw edge.

Go make a margarita, watch The Mandalorian, call your mother. Don’t come back for at least an hour

In an hour smear some more glue on there and shift your brick forward so that the whole book is covered. This keeps the paper from warping. While glue part 2 is drying we’ll do the cover. Get out your 12x12 cardstock

Mark the cardstock off at 8.5 inches and cut it. Measure in 5.5 inches from the left and put in a score line with the butter knife (the back edge not the sharp edge)

Carefully fold the score line, this is your front cover. You have some options for the cover title, you can use a cutting machine like a cricut if you have one, you can print out a title on the computer and use carbon paper to transfer the text to the cardstock. I was in a mood so I just freehanded that beoch. Pencil first then in pen.

Take your text block out from under your brick. Line it up against the score mark and mark the second score on the other side of the spine

Fold the score and glue the textblock into the cover at the spine. Once the glue dries up mark the back cover with the pencil and then trim the back cover to fit with your scissors.

Voila:

I’m going to put this baby on the shelf next to the Silmarillion.

The whole process, not counting drying time, took less than an hour.

If you want to make a book of a longer fic, I recommend Renegade Publishing, they have a ton of resources for fan-binders. 

#fanbinding #fanfiction #Nir paperback

[tender-rosiey]

“GOOD! NOW PUNCH HIS FACE!”

— when your baby and gojo, geto, nanami, toji, and sukuna get protective over you (f!reader)

a/n: I am alive!! as an apology here is a multi-character post 🙏 btw in toji's part, you're megumi's mom

GOJO SATORU:

two peas in a pod, twins, copies: these are all things people have called your husband and son.

honestly, they’re not wrong. your son has his father’s looks—satoru swears he has your nose and ears but anyway—and he carries the same protectiveness and love he holds for you, if not amplified.

you can’t count on one hand the amount of times the house has been turned upside down because of their fights for a cuddle session with you.

of course, you have always tried suggesting them simply sharing you, but these problem children would rather eat raw zucchini than ever share the cuddle time.

so while your son is barely six, you can still count on him to team up with satoru against anyone who wrongs you in anyway like what’s happening right now for example.

you’re out with your lovely family to buy some groceries, and since they both were whining about getting some sweets, you allowed them to go and snatch a couple from the next aisle.

on the other hand, you stayed to look for another type of detergent to clean the floor—especially since satoru got this new type of paint for s/n and it’s quite an endeavor to remove it with a regular detergent.

however, being in the cleaning supplies section never guaranteed the lack of filthy men who can’t take no for an answer. this one man approaches you, smug grin on his face as he leans on the wall, “what’s a pretty lady like you doing alone?”

“buying groceries like a normal person; now please leave me alone.”

he quickly frowns, “don’t be so stingy doll,” his hand extends towards your arm, “I can show you a good time; I promise—“

the man is swiftly smacked with an egg on his face, and he is left with the egg dripping down his face, “what’s your wrong with your kid, man?!” he yells at the person behind you.

he then grumbles, “ruined a potential good night.”

“my kid was absolutely right in what he did,” you hear satoru’s voice. you then feel a hand on your shoulder, and you’re pulled into a chest you’re all too familiar with, “’toru—“

your husband shoots a small smile your way, pressing a quick kiss to your lips, before looking at his son, “that last throw was very good, s/n! throw another one but just below his stomach."

a cheshire cat-like grin is plastered on your husband’s face as s/n prepares to launch another egg at the man.

there is a very evident scowl on your son’s face as he yells, “don’t you ever bother mama again, you stinky bum crumb!”

the man gasps and tries to make a run for it, but your son wouldn’t be the son of gojo satoru if he doesn’t manage to land the hit exactly where he wants.

the man quickly crumbles to the ground screaming and alerting literally everyone in the store.

so satoru picks both you and s/n and makes a run for it.

you hold tightly onto him, “wait, ‘toru, the groceries!”

“we can always order! saving my princess and son is more important!”

your son grumbles, “but I want to hit the rude man!”

“me too, champ, but—“ satoru sweat-drops and glances behind him, “I doubt the angry security guards would like that!”

GETO SUGURU:

your twin girls are one of the sassiest to exist.

in a way, they take after their father who is also pretty sassy but very low-key.

the sass of all three combined is terrible to be the victim of. luckily for you, they don’t dare direct their triple ray towards you, especially—in any argument—at least one will try to win you over.

if it’s suguru trying to stay on your good side, then he is hugging you from behind, pressing feather-like kisses on your shoulder and whispering about how sweet you are. if it’s the girls, then they cling to your legs and keep yelling about how much they love you.

so it is safe to say that you have a small squad to protect you from any potential “danger”.

“oh my, dear shouldn’t you focus on refining yourself a bit more?” you hear a woman say beside you.

you turn towards her, offended, “excuse me?”

“I mean,” her eyes scan you, disapprovingly, “you look average at best, and with that you won’t be able to find yourself a husband, let alone have children.”

you’re still processing her audacity as she continues, “but then again, it’s probably for the better that you don’t have children; you can barely take care of yourself.”

“can I help you?” your husband says as he approaches the woman.

she smiles condescendingly before chuckling, “I was simply telling this lady to take care of herself more; she hardly looks presentable.”

geto’s smiles tenses up as he is about to give the woman a calm peace of his mind, but his daughters beat him to it.

your older twin stands in front of the woman, scanning her with pure disgust in her eyes.

she grimaces and voices out her thoughts, “you are like a crunchy lizard.”

the woman gasps, “how dare you—!”

you cut off the woman, curious about your daughter’s conclusion, “why a crunchy lizard, sweetheart?”

your daughter looks at you with a small frown, shaking her head, “a crunchy lizard is an ugly sad lizard.”

a snort escapes your husband, and you’re barely able to contain your smile.

your other daughter follows up, looking at her twin sister, “the lady looks like that one green thingy we saw yesterday,” she taps her little foot, trying to remember and beams at the woman, “shrek! you look like shrek!”

then they both glare at her, frowning, “you’re a monkey!”

your husband doesn’t let it go as he deals the final—subtle—blow, “come on now girls; we shouldn’t bully the lady with the mcdonald’s like hairline anymore.”

it seems like the woman can’t take it anymore as she starts sobbing and running to the hills.

a moment of silence is shared across the four of you, before you carry both of your girls in your arms and start tickling them, “I don’t know whether to be proud of you or scold you, little evil girls!”

they squeal, trying to escape your hold and calling for their father.

geto chuckles and wraps his arms around the three of you, “let them have it for tonight, y/n,” he ruffles their hair, “they were brave and defended their mom, after all.”

“yeah, papa is right!”

“yes mama, please!”

you pout then smirk at geto, “well I don’t mind, and since papa is also very proud of you girls, he will buy any toy that you guys want today!”

the color drains from your husband’s face, and he watches motionlessly as his girls latch onto him, screaming about the toys they want.

you giggle at his expression and blow him a kiss. he reluctantly blows you one back, while the girls excitedly pull him towards the toy store.

NANAMI KENTO:

you and your husband were blessed with the sweetest girl as your daughter, and she was just recently joined by another sweet girl.

you can never forget the happiness on your daughter’s face when she saw her baby sister.

it also seems that no matter how many times you give birth, your husband can’t help but get emotional when he holds your baby. his hands are forever delicate as he cradles her to his chest.

you remember what he said during the birth of your first daughter.

“I feel like a piece of heaven has been plucked and placed in my arms.”

the way he always goes soft for the three of you is honestly adorable.

today, you were going on an outing with your—now 6 months old—baby and your older daughter who is almost six.

your husband never brags about his muscular form, but he never misses a chance to carry the baby or the baby supplies.

you have offered to at least carry the bag, but he always refuses, stating that ‘you already carried the baby for nine entire months in your belly; this is the least I can do.’

so yeah, sometimes you wish to smooch your husband till forever, but that’s not the point.

you’re walking hand in hand with your daughter as she sings her favorite song. you hear someone click their tongue, so you look to the side and lock eyes with an old lady. she takes the opportunity and approaches you.

“you should be ashamed of yourself!” she yells pointing at you, “your husband shouldn’t be carrying the baby supplies nor the baby itself for the matter,” she scowls, “that’s your job!”

“with all due respect ma’am, but that isn’t her job, and taking care of the baby should be something we are both responsible for.”

“yeah!” your daughter huffs, “and don’t take out your sad life on my mama!”

your eyes widen as you stare at your daughter.

on the other side, your husband is just as speechless. your daughter pays no one any mind as she continues, “mama works hard every day! you wouldn’t know that! you immature nugget!”

nanami frowns lightly, “d/n, that’s not nice—“

and for the cherry on top, your baby daughter throws the bottle cap she was playing with at the old lady, and frowns at her.

she starts babbling some nonsense that you're pretty sure are curse words in baby language.

having had enough, the old lady huffs, “the utter disrespect,” and starts walking away.

the rest of the spectators’ eyes follow her till she is out of sight. finally then, people start minding their own business, and you and your little family are left to the aftermath.

you giggle, “that was funny.”

“really?!” your daughter beams.

nanami cuts her off, “no,” he then looks at you with a small frown, a sigh escaping his lips, “y/n don’t encourage them—“

your baby daughter screams happily when she sees her sister smile. she starts kicking her feet with the biggest smile on her own face.

your older daughter starts laughing with her and tries to make her little sister laugh more—she was successful.

meanwhile, you chuckle, leaning on your husband’s shoulder, “admit it, kento; it was kind of funny.”

his resolve softens at the sound of laughter from all three of his girls, “okay, maybe a little, but—“

“yay!!”

ladies: 1

kento: 0

FUSHIGURO TOJI:

your husband and son are so alike, save for the part that your husband is a bit more shameless, and your son is more on the shy side.

however, they both have the same bluntness and the tendency to give anyone who they don’t like attitude.

for example, today, you were walking in the park with the both of them to unwind a bit.

not to mention that megumi wanted to walk his dogs which was a plus, since you would be able to watch your dear son play around with them.

it was all going great until you saw an old ‘friend’ who came running at the sight of you. he was someone who has always been way too touchy and in your personal bubble.

you have tried talking to him about it, but you’re confident that he does it to somehow force you into reciprocating the intimacy.

even if you’re a married woman with a freaking kid.

he giddily clasps your hand, “y/n, ‘been a long time!”

“h-hey,” you smile awkwardly.

he laughs, “I was passing by when I saw your figure, and I couldn’t help but come and say hi.”

you nod, “that’s great, but I am busy, so maybe later?—“

“you’ve gotten even prettier!” he exclaims, “I wish you would finally take me out on a—“

“can’t you see that she is uncomfortable?” your son retorts, “also, you should step back; you shouldn’t touch someone like this without asking them.”

megumi squeezes himself between the both you and glares at the man.

the guy was about to reply to your son, but toji pushes him back with ease, pulling you beside him and hand resting on your waist almost by instinct, “kid is right,” he tilts his head a bit, “ever been taught manners or do I have to do the teaching for you?”

the guy is taken back; offended, he snaps “you can’t speak to me like that!”

“and you can’t hold my mom’s hands like that, but here we are,” your son cleverly sasses him.

on the other hand, your—shameless—husband pulls you into one scandalous kiss and smirks at the guy when he pulls back, “and you can’t hit on a married woman, by the way.”

you hear your son gag in disgust at his dad’s actions, but you’re too busy burying your face in your husband’s chest, hoping that the guy disappears before toji makes even more of a bigger scene.

you also hope that the ground would swallow you, but that’s the alternative option.

the guy clutches his fist, before walking away, spewing insults at the sky—since he is too scared to cuss out your buff husband. once the man is out of sight, toji ruffles megumi’s hair, chuckling, “good job, kid.”

your shy bean’s cheeks redden slightly as he looks away, “…thanks.”

you’re still thinking about what just happened when you slap your husband’s chest, “toji, literally why?” you grumble, patting megumi who started holding onto your leg the moment you hugged toji.

“why not,” your husband shrugs with a small smile, taking pride in your flustered form.

“dad, I want ice cream.”

“no, you just want me to let go your mom, so you can hog her for yourself,” toji grumbles, staring down at megumi.

unfaltering, megumi looks up at him ,“dad, I want ice cream.”

“god damn it, listen here you—“

“divine dogs.”

RYOMEN SUKUNA:

there is no denying that both your son and your husband care for you very much, and they both—very aggressively—compete for your attention.

I am talking he literally throws the kid across the room kind of aggressive, and your son, in turn, throws whatever he has at him.

it’s eventful, but you would be lying if you said that it wasn’t one of the reasons why you will get grey hair earlier than everyone else.

so their very aggressive nature is also shown in their protectiveness over you.

a person doesn’t need to insult or even dare flirt with you for your devil duo to make their life a living hell; your husband and son don’t tolerate someone speaking to you if it causes you to ignore both of them.

for example, this one new servant was clueless to where the broom is, and unluckily for him, he saw you sitting with your husband and son in the gardens. he humbly approached you, “excuse me, m’lady.”

you turn to look at him with a smile, “yes?”

he clears throat, a bit flustered by the attention, “I—I wanted to ask where the—“

“up your ass, you disgusting fiend,” your son sneers followed by his father’s ever-permanent scowl.

“who gave you the permission to come and speak to her so casually?” sukuna presses, and the servant quickly falls to his knees.

“m-my apologies, my lord! I did not mean to disturb you!”

sukuna crosses his arms, “well, you did, and you also disturbed your queen and prince,” his eyes narrow at the servant, “what do you have to say for yourself?”

meanwhile, you’re watching all of that, mouth agape and trying to articulate anything to save the poor guy. you finally find your voice, “sukuna, it’s okay; he didn’t mean—“

your son hugs you tightly and glares at the servant, “to think he would so brazenly speak to you like you’re old friends is terrible, mother.”

you can almost see your son’s cursed energy flaring, and you can spot the small smirk on your husband’s face as he watches his son.

before it escalates any further and you find yet another dead corpse in your palace, you pick up your son, kissing his cheek which makes him flustered and causing him to bury his face in your neck.

you look at the servant, “you’re dismissed, and you can ask the head maid about anything you need, okay?”

“y-yes, m’lady!” he, however, stays glued to the ground, “may I have the permission to lift my head?”

sukuna grunts, “sure.”

“thank you, m’lord,” the servant says, before scurrying towards the gate, having secured his freedom after his little mistake.

or at least, that’s what he thought.

your husband slices his legs off with a flick of a finger, and your son, who has inherited his father’s technique, slices the head off.

and so the body falls to the ground, and the other servants hurriedly start cleaning up the mess.

you frown at your husband, “sukuna! he apologized!”

he rolls his eyes, and pulls you by the waist, “do I look like I care? he shouldn’t have interrupted our time together.”

“aww, you’re jealous!”

“no, I am not—“

“hands off, old man!”

taglist: @magenta-cat-drawingss @pompompurin1028 @scul-pted @requiem626k @nameless-shrimp @sonder-paradise @jessbeinme15s-notebook @todorokichills @ginneko @missrown @shrynkk @simplyxsinned @beautiful-is-boring @starlostlaiba @izukus-gf @irethepotato @thekaylahub @dazaisbloodybandages @aeanya @sweetcloudsimp @moon-catto @the-midnightskies@pianopuppygirl @gojosblackqueen @kryscent @kunikida-simp @whoami-72 @mx-0-child @fiona782 @kisakitwister @imjustasimpxd @psychopotatomeme @dreamcastgirl99 @watyousayin @doobiebochana @laylasbunbunny @hojicha-expresso @4sat0ruu @nineooooo @chuuyasboots @alekssashka7 @rieejjyubi02 @satoryaa @nothisispatrick300 @fallencrescentmoon @etheviese @ho34gojo @the-mom-friend-dot-com @the-weeping-author @stray-npc @libbyistired @anon1412 @anakalana @maehemthemisfit @satorustar @b4nka1 @sad-darksoul @ko-fi-heart @pumpkindudeishere @suyaaachin

copyright © tender-rosiey

do not copy or plagiarize or you will be reported

#gojo satoru x reader #gojo x reader #jjk x reader #jjk x you #geto x reader #geto suguru x reader #geto x you #nanami x reader #nanami x you #nanami kento x reader #toji x reader #toji x you #toji x y/n #sukuna x reader #sukuna x you #sukuna x y/n #gojo x you #gojo x y/n #geto x y/n #nanami x y/n

[arolesbianism]

Y'know there already is such a nonexistent market for oni art in general so the fact that I wanna draw more au art is killing me. Like I draw for fun and don't need notes to be happy with a piece but also I need ppl to view my art and be curious and ask questions because while I may not desperately need approval I do desperately need excuses to gush abt the things I like

#rat rambles #oni posting #Im thinking abt the rabbit au clones again #in particular the two main nails clones I love them sm theyre so silly #we have guy shaking and crying while internally actually being rly relieved and guy smiling and laughing while being plagued by the Horrors #I should probably give them nicknames but idk what would work best #but yeah the older one is the one whos chip got damaged and is stuck pumping them full of stimulants and hasnt slept in 3 months #and the younger one has been spending the past three months spending day and night at gravitas working their ass off #it wasnt until they got hit by a rly intense wave of fatigue that they were finally pushed into actually going home to rest #at which point the older one was like yo whats up I didnt expect that to actually work lol #things are initially very chaotic after that since younger nails just found out a Lot and older nails didnt rly have a plan for this #they were basically just finishing up a project a past nails clone started since they had nothing better to do #at first it was because they were hoping it could maybe disable their own malfunctioning chip but as the days turned into weeks they #swiftly realized that even if it could disable their chip its probably already far too late for that to save them #and even if the months of no sleep didnt basically instantly take them out there would still be a half broken neural chip in their brain #which likely already had caused complications that they just havent noticed because of the everything else going on #so while they still finished up the project it became a much more half hearted ordeal that they honestly werent expecting to work #but evidently it did leading to the awkward experience of explaining to someone that they're a clone #younger nails hadnt necessarily suspected anything to that degree but they had noticed that smth was off #which is part of the reason they spent so much time working in an attempt to ignore it #so the revelation actually helped somw things click into place and while it wasnt good news by any means it was kind of a relief in a way #not in the sense that now they are in active danger of dying at any time but yknow #they both die eventually ofc but yknow at least they get to be povs of sorts #I mean not much they could do to do anything abt their situation even if one of them wasnt basically doomed to slowly die already

[autismserenity]

know someone who enjoys horror stories? share this one! it's true!

hahahahahahahahahaha aarrggghhhhhhhhhh 3,000,000 deaths due to COVID-19 last year. Globally. Three million. Case rates higher than 90% of the rest of the pandemic. The reason people are still worried about COVID is because it has a way of quietly fucking up your body. And the risk is cumulative.

I'm going to say that again: the risk is cumulative.

It's not just that a lot of people get bad long-term effects from it. One in seven or so? Enough that it's kind of the Russian Roulette of diseases. It's also that the more times you get it, the higher that risk becomes. Like if each time you survived Russian Roulette, the empty chamber was removed from the gun entirely. The worst part is that, psychologically, we have the absolute opposite reaction. If we survive something with no ill effects, we assume it's pretty safe. It is really, really hard to override that sense of, "Ok, well, I got it and now I probably have a lot of immunity and also it wasn't that bad." It is not a respiratory disease. Airborne, yes. Respiratory disease, no: not a cold, not a flu, not RSV.

Like measles (or maybe chickenpox?), it starts with respiratory symptoms. And then it moves to other parts of your body. It seems to target the lungs, the digestive system, the heart, and the brain the most.

It also hits the immune system really hard - a lot of people are suddenly more susceptible to completely unrelated viruses. People get brain fog, migraines, forget things they used to know.

(I really, really hate that it can cross the blood-brain barrier. NOTHING SHOULD EVER CROSS THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER IT IS THERE FOR A REASON.) Anecdotal examples of this shit are horrifying. I've seen people talk about coworkers who've had COVID five or more times, and now their work... just often doesn't make sense? They send emails that say things like, "Sorry, I didn't mean Los Angeles, I meant Los Angeles."

Or they insist they've never heard of some project that they were actually in charge of a year or two before.

Or their work is just kind of falling apart, and they don't seem to be aware of it.

People talk about how they don't want to get the person in trouble, so their team just works around it. Or they describe neighbors and relatives who had COVID repeatedly, were nearly hospitalized, talked about how incredibly sick they felt at the time... and now swear they've only had it once and it wasn't bad, they barely even noticed it.

(As someone who lived with severe dissociation for most of my life, this is a genuinely terrifying idea to me. I've already spent my whole life being like, "but what if I told them that already? but what if I did do that? what if that did happen to me and I just don't remember?") One of its known effects in the brain is to increase impulsivity and risk-taking, which is real fucking convenient honestly. What a fantastic fucking mutation. So happy for it on that one. Yes, please make it seem less important to wear a mask and get vaccinated. I'm not screaming internally at all now.

I saw a tweet from someone last year whose family hadn't had COVID yet, who were still masking in public, including school.

She said that her son was no kind of an athlete. Solidly bottom middle of the pack in gym.

And suddenly, this year, he was absolutely blowing past all the other kids who had to run the mile. He wasn't running any faster. His times weren't fantastic or anything. It's just that the rest of the kids were worse than him now. For some reason. I think about that a lot. (Like my incredibly active six-year-old getting a cold, and suddenly developing post-viral asthma that looked like pneumonia.

He went back to school the day before yesterday, after being home for a month and using preventative inhalers for almost week.

He told me that it was GREAT - except that he couldn't run as much at recess, because he immediately got really tired. Like how I went outside with him to do some yard work and felt like my body couldn't figure out how to increase breathing and heart rate.

I wasn't physically out of breath, but I felt like I was out of breath. That COVID feeling people describe, of "I'm not getting enough air." Except that I didn't have that problem when I had COVID.) Some people don't observe any long (or medium) term side effects after they have it.

But researchers have found viral reservoirs of COVID-19 in everyone they've studied who had it.

It just seems to hang out, dormant, for... well, longer than we've had an opportunity to observe it, so far.

(I definitely watched that literal horror movie. I think that's an entire genre. The alien dormant under ice in the Arctic.)

(oh hey I don't like that either!!!!!!!!!) All of which is to explain why we should still care about avoiding it, and how it manages to still cause excess deaths. Measuring excess deaths has been a standard tool in public health for a long time.

We know how many people usually die from all different causes, every year. So we can tell if, for example, deaths from heart disease have gone way up in the past three years, and look for reasons. Those are excess deaths: deaths that, four years ago, would not have happened. During the pandemic, excess death rates have been a really important tool. For all sorts of reasons. Like, sometimes people die from COVID without ever getting tested, and the official cause is listed as something else because nobody knows they had COVID. But also, people are dying from cardiovascular illness much younger now.

People are having strokes and heart attacks younger, and more often, than they did before the pandemic started. COVID causes a lot of problems. And some of those problems kill people. And some of them make it easier for other things to kill us. Lung damage from COVID leading to lungs collapsing, or to pneumonia, or to a pulmonary embolism, for example. The Economist built a machine-learning model with a 95% confidence interval that gauges excess death statistics around the world, to tell them what the true toll of the ongoing COVID pandemic has been so far.

Total excess deaths globally in 2023: Three million.

3,000,000.

Official COVID-19 deaths globally so far: Seven million. 7,000,000. Total excess deaths during COVID so far: Thirty-five point two million. 35,200,000.

Five times as many.

That's bad. I don't like that at all. I'm glad last year was less than a tenth of that. I'm not particularly confident about that continuing, though, because last year we started a period of really high COVID transmission. Case rates higher than 90% of the rest of the pandemic. Here's their data, and charts you can play with, and links to detailed information on how they did all of this:

Here's a non-paywalled link to it:

https://archive.vn/2024.01.26-012536/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates

Oh: here's a link to where you can buy comfy, effective N95 masks in all sizes:

Those ones are about a buck each after shipping - about $30 for a box of 30. They also have sample packs for a dollar, so you can try a couple of different sizes and styles.

You can wear an N95 mask for about 40 total hours before the effectiveness really drops, so that's like a dollar for a week of wear.

They're also family-owned and have cat-shaped masks and I really love them. These ones are cuter and in a much wider range of colors, prints, and styles, but they're also more expensive; they range from $1.80 to $3 for a mask. ($18-$30 for a box of ten.)

#covid isn't over #covid 19 #disability rights #disability advocacy #wear a mask #covid conscious #covid cautious #mask up #wall of words #public health #health care

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

You don’t understand, when I was at my worst with my depression, and every time I looked up at the night sky and grew scared of how small we are, how alone we might be, how short our time is, how I couldn’t comprehend infinity, how everything will end eventually, how everything I see way out there is long gone, I would panic. I would break down. The stars themselves scared me. But one day doctor who was put on Netflix and a comment on a deviant post reminded me of a deal I made with another user. If I watch doctor who they’ll watch the time travel show I thought was cool. I watched it on a whim, I’m not sure I’d even encountered it much on tumblr yet. But it made me feel less small. I began to actually look at the night sky without abject terror. I thought about how if you looked at it more like, idk, a learning adventure? When you heard new things about it, it wasn’t as scary. Something that could inspire writers to create such adventures and have normal people characters tag along… I got less scared. When everything started being galaxy print I thought it was pretty and not horrifying. It’s long been a trendy pattern of the last decade or so, perhaps a bit less, but I still see cool looking art inspired by images from space telescopes that were made to have different colors for invisible wavelengths so that humans could see… idk. It makes me happy. It’s like I’m less scared, and now I don’t even feel like I need there to be life on other planets for me to stop feeling alone, because there is so much life on this one! Even if I was the only human on earth, I still wouldn’t be alone just from being on this life filled planet. And I’m not the only human.

That’s not an experience I’ve had from many stories, it was one of those things that you encounter at just the right time for your view of the world to be changed for the better. Something that lodges itself inside of you and makes you better than you were before. I’ll always remember it fondly because of that. I know there is a lot I never watched and maybe one day I’ll catch up, but the fact is that what I DID see was enough to change me as a person. To make my existential dread just a little bit less all encompassing and inspire more curiosity in me.

#emma posts #definitely not an experience I had with the other parts of ‘superwholock’ back in the day #and I actually watched those two because people in the doctor who fandom were talking about them a lot #definitely got more out of doctor who than either of those in the long run #I did make friends through the other fandoms though #i just don’t look back at the other two fondly in any way even remotely like this #I was a very cringe teen. I did get into all three because I was on tumblr and liked doctor who #plenty of us here been there #this one was just different #it’s not the ONLY media that made my life better #but the others that come to mind don’t really have notorious or even big fandoms #one of them was just me and four other kids hanging out on deviantart in 2010 or 11 #very different atmosphere #but important to me nonetheless #I kinda feel like it gets an unfairly cheongsam label just for its proximity to the other two #I’m not saying it’s a masterpiece but I am saying it more fun and iconic #I could go on but I should really try going to sleep now #long post #unfairly cringe I mean. wtf did spellcheck do to that tag? #just me doing my randomly promoted rambling about how doctor who made my life better #I think the last time I did this was at least a year ago

[a-b-riddle]

Part Three

Warning: If you don't like Taylor Swift, you're not gonna like this chapter that much, homie. But So Long, London is so fitting for this drabble series. (I guess a series since it's longer than a drabble at this point)

Can’t stop thinking about reader just trying to move on

You had to remind yourself several times not to check in with the guys. It had almost become second nature doing something big like this. But going to another country…

Not that they would care. You told yourself. It was for the best that way.

The expo went better than you expected. You didn’t believe that there would be a line out the door of eager readers wanting to read your book, but you got a decent amount. More than a few told you they couldn’t wait to read it. Several asking for photos and asking questions on any future books, a spin-off or even continuing the series.

When one a particular large group of girls your age asked for a group photo, you could have cried. They were had found each other in an online book club. You had given them your book several months ago. All copies signed with a note thanking them for taking the time to read what you had poured your heart into.

You had spent a large chunk of your free time talking to them. Bonding more so as women than over your book.

"Have you listened to Taylor's new album?"

It had only been out for two days and you had been able to avoid it like the plague. You didn't need to even listen to 'So Long, London' to know it would fucking gut you. So you would enjoy your time in the states. Save the listening experience for when you were packing up their stuff.

They had posted and tagged you before continuing on with the rest of the expo. You had reposted the photo to your own social media. Or at least one attached to the pen name you had crafted. You only had twelve thousand instagram followers, but it was something.

The first day was much like the second. You had attended several Q & A sessions with a panel of more experienced authors and managed to go to a few meet and greets. Before you knew it, it was time to pack up shop.

The agent the publishing house had assigned to you had stuck with you for most of the day. You were able to pick her brain a bit about new ideas for possible future plot lines and her thoughts. Overall, the trip was great.

Not only were you able to make great connections and take a lot back home with you to reference, but for a few days you forgot what waited for you back home. Or rather what wasn't waiting for you.

By the time your plane landed back in London you could barely hold yourself up. You left the expo, went straight to the hotel to shower, pack and head to the airport.

Your flight was delayed. Your luggage was taking forever to get onto the belt. It was only seven, but fuck if you weren’t ready to just call it a day. Tomorrow you would have to start again. Opening up the shop. Coming back to an empty flat. Maybe start gathering up the items the boys had left behind.

Should you give them in separate boxes or just one giant one and let them sort it out themselves? It was easy to discern whose sweatshirt and t-shirts belonged to who, but when it got to things like socks and chargers...

Yeah.

They could sort it themselves.

You could drop it off at Kyle's when you knew he would be at the gym. He was good at avoiding you anyway.

It wasn't until you stood in your apartment did it hit you.

You were alone.

For the first time in over a year you couldn't call one of them over to soothe that ache of loneliness.

For the first time in over a year, you had to relearn how to handle just being alone.

You usually showered at night. Washing away the grime of the day before settling into bed. But today was a new chapter. You woke up wanting to start it on a good note. Plus you went straight to bed after getting home so you still had a bit of airport funk on you.

It had been a week. One official since you had sent that text nailing the coffin shut. You had touched base with your friends who didn't bat an eye at you dating four men at once. They liked them, even if Simon scared them. You didn't give them the details of the breakup or the cause. You were pretty private in your problems and if you wanted relationship advice, you would seek an unbiased unopinion.

You had a good group of friends, but the moment you told them that you were well and truly heartbroken, they would insist the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. Something you were nowhere near ready for.

So you needed to look like you had your shit together. You put on a dress that was feminine and, most importantly, comfy as fuck. An A-line floral frock paired with a light sweater and some white trainers. You knew a few of your friends would be stopping by for tea so you need to look like you were taking the separation well. Even if you were barely holding it together.

With makeup and perfume on, you started the early morning stroll to your shop.

You loved openings. Starting up the register and selecting the playlist for today. Picking out the essential oil to put in the diffuser even though you mostly stuck with a lavender and vanilla blend during the spring months.

For the morning you stuck with a Taylor Swift Instrumental playlist you had found initially for studying, but you liked the peaceful feeling it brought. Even when it covered the most gut wrenching songs.

You had started to collect the online orders that had accumulated over the last week. Sending out the e-mails alerting to your patrons that their orders were ready for pick up. Luckily you weren't set to receive a delivery until tomorrow.

It was eight and everything was set. Although not many people came to a bookstore at eight in the morning, it really didn't bother you opening up that early considering you were the only employee that was on the payroll. It gave you the possibility of making money, but mostly you spent the morning reading or writing.

You flipped the sign over from CLOSED to OPEN. Ready to start take on the day.

You had turned the kettle on in the back room when your friends had stopped by around lunch. You always said it was just tea, but you always had an array of snacks on standby for you all to munch on.

Meredith was complaining about what a dick the new client at the law firm was being. An absolute slime who had been married to his wife for almost twenty-five years before he decided to fuck his twenty-two year old assistant.

Tabitha didn't want to talk about work. To her, her career in tech was just a paycheck. She did what she needed to do and left when she was done.

You talked about the expo and how your book. Although neither of them really read, they had promised that they would read your book. You didn't hold your breath. They had reposted your posts as well as making ones of their owns in celebration of you. Words of praise about your dedication and hard work.

You realized that even though they couldn't give you the support you needed as readers, they supported you blindly. You could have written absolute garbage, but they would still support you.

You talked about how many people liked your book and wanted pictures and to sign their copies.

Then came the question you had been rehearsing since you had texted them a week ago. They both shared a look before Meredith finally asked.

"How are you holding up?" You gave a half-smile and a shrug. So perfectly rehearsed in your head you were ready to deliver your lies lines.

"I'm fine," you lied. "It was just fading so there isn't much of a difference, I guess." Not necessarily a lie. "We just wanted different things and were on different paths in life." Not a lie. "It's for the best." You weren't sure if that last one was a lie or not just yet.

They both shared a passing look before returning their gazes back to you. "You know you can come to us about this stuff." Tabitha's hand reached across the table, placing a hand on top of yours.

"It wasn't going to work out." You added. "Situations like that don't and I should have known better."

"A situation?" Meredith asked. "When have you ever called it a situation?"

"It always was one."

"I love you enough to call bullshit." She raised her eyebrow at you, crossing her arms over her chest. "You loved them and you need to stop pretending this is easy."

"You're a divorce lawyer, Mere," You reminded. "You see marriages fall apart every day."

"I do. I get to see from across the table how a woman is still willing to take her cheating arse of a husband back. So the fact that you went from on cloud nine with all of them to not even talking about the break up is concerning to say the least."

"Tabitha," you looked at your only ally left. "A little back up would be nice."

"I'm with her on this one." She confirmed. "You loved them. Not that I cared, but if you weren't talking about books or the shop, you were talking about them. What you did, where you went. How they fucked you."

"I think I'll miss that part the most." Mere sighed. "I lived vicariously through you."

"You know you could actually date people." Tabitha suggested.

"I'd rather live with chronic carpal tunnel than a man." You almost choked on your tea. If you were wearing pearls you would have used the comedic relief of clutching them to break the awkwardness of the current topic of conversation.

"That should be put on a t-shirt." You suggested

"I wouldn't mind it on a welcome mat to be honest." Tabitha added.

"But in all seriousness, cut this bullshit." Meredith gave you an sympathetic smile. "We're here. Good, bad and ugly."

You returned her smile. "I know."

You had closed up shop for the evening. Your lunch had gone longer than expected so now you were left doing the dishes and clean up during closing. You were setting the last cup on the drying rack when you heard the front door chime.

Shit.

You must have forgotten to lock the door when you turned the sign.

“I’m sorry!” You apologized, making your way out of the back break area and to the front of the store. “We’re-”

“Closed.” He said, locking the door behind him. “I saw the sign.”

#captain john price #kyle gaz garrick #simon ghost riley #call of duty #angst #angst with a happy ending #john soap mactavish