#i know i went off on this response; but theres just a long history on the moral debates surrounding Sade

[tabellae-rex-in-sui]

I read an article in the WSJ which said that some people were trying to rehabilitate Sade’s reputation (for context, this was mentioned in the same breath as Robespierre, Henry VIII, and some others being less vilified, and then mocked this supposed trend towards seeing hated historical figures more positively) - is this . . . True? Working? & to what extent?? Maybe I just live in a conservative town but no one seems to like him or is even willing to talk about him

I'm assuming you mean this article, which I'll link in case anyone wants to read it... Although it's less of an article and more of a stand-up comedy routine?

But about Sade, yes, definitely. In the 20th century, there were even people who considered him a progressive visionary; especially those in the surrealist movement, who considered Sade a pioneer of the style. A lot of famous surrealists loved him: Salvador Dalí used him as the inspiration for 25 works, there are quite a bit 'imaginary portraits' of Sade including one by Man Ray, Guillaume Appolinaire famously called Sade "the freest spirit that has ever existed" and wrote a book praising him, the final scene of Dalí and Luis Buñel's film L'Age D'or is a very obvious allusion to 120 Days of Sodom, and... who could forget Marquis (1989) [warning, that one's... disturbing. It's the one with the dick puppet. It used to be on YouTube in it's entirety with Eng subtitles, but it seems to have been removed. It's there with Spanish subtitles tho, so if you can understand French and/or read Spanish and want to be scarred for life, there you go]. Anyway, the surrealists are the ones who dubbed him the "Divine Marquis".

There are also other intellectuals who called for a rehabilitation of Sade's image. George Bataille's "The Use Value of D.A.F. de Sade", Angela Carter's "The Sadeian Woman" (which is a feminist reading of Sade), Simone Beauvoir's "Must We Burn Sade?" There are a lot others, but I'll stop there for brevity, cuz I can tell this is going to be a long answer.

Something else that helped the public image of Sade in the 20th century were his descendants, namely, one descendant, Comte Xavier de Sade, Donatien's great-great-grandson (who I posted about here). Xavier had discovered thousands of Donatien's letters and documents in a walled up family library. In 1947, he and poet Gilbert Lély begun the process of sorting through them. They were eventually published. Though Xavier himself is Catholic, found himself unable to read Donatien's books, and stayed out of the moral debates about him, his discovery led to more intimate biographies, keeping fascination in Donatien alive into this century (not to mention people now knew domestic details, which is always humanizing). While we're talking about descendants, and this is just a fun fact, Marie-Laure Noailles who was close personal friends of the surrealists including Ray, Buñel, and Dalí (and funded L'Age D'or), was a direct descendant of Sade. His great-great-great-granddaughter. She was interviewed by Francine du Plessix-Gray, she's quite the character.

Today, the wild praise for Sade has somewhat died down. I don't see much of it anymore, at least in academic spaces. I do think there are still echos of it though. Some modern bios I find a bit too sympathetic towards him (Du Plessix-Gray's bio and Lever's bio have their moments). His fictional portrayals are also generally kind, making him more of a Joker type character, but not the antagonist (Assassin's Creed is an obvious example, Quills (2000) too). Basically, any work where his inflammatory writing is mentioned, but not his actual crimes like, y'know, rape. He's often used as a martyr for anti-censorship/freedom of speech. Which is odd, cuz, you can morally defend his writing, whatever, it's fiction... but he's also a very real rapist. So, not sure how great a symbol he is on that front. Maybe use someone who isn't the human embodiment of the "slippery slope" argument conservatives love using. And then there's Assassin's Creed... I mean, you don't even have to play the game to see what they were doing. Just look at Sade's character design. The choice to make him younger and thinner says a lot about what audience reaction they were going for. And in gameplay, he's an ally. I think his role in Assassin's Creed is just a great indicator of public perception of him. Especially when compared to Robespierre's portrayal in game... Also a great indicator of public perception. So yeah, the pro-Sade sentiments of the 20th century have not entirely worn off.

I'll leave you with this 2015 review on a Musée d’Orsay exhibition on Sade where the reviewer calls Sade a "badass" in the first paragraph. I think it does a good job of showing how a lot of people view Sade as this anti-establishment, sly, smart, raunchy, rebel.

#if only people knew how traditional his political; familial; and economic beliefs really were #and that his philosophy was really not meant to apply to anyone but himself #and his actual crimes. not jist hos literary ones #i could give a shit what someone writes #but he acted on quite a bit #i dont think people know that #and yeah i know Quills (2000) mentions Sade's case history #but its said in passing by the hypocritical antagonist and Coulmier immediately states that Sade has changed #which was not true. and would have been obvious if they hadn't aged up Madeleine and aged down Sade dhdbdjdj #but i guess the teen/70yr old dynamic would have made our protagonist less sympathetic #i know ive said before im not bothered by Quills' historical inaccuracy since it doesn't aim to be accurate. and I'm not #but the whole 'Sade as a martyr of free speech' thing does bother me.. for all the reasons i just said #...theres so many other people to give that lable to; man #you could easily portray sade as a complicated character; protagonist (as in main character; not hero); human character #but the free-speech-martyr / Joker-archetype thing is tired #i know i went off on this response; but theres just a long history on the moral debates surrounding Sade #and a good chunk of time when defending Sade (person and philosophy) was the mainstream in liberal spaces #and ACU Sade is a great example of the lasting effects #tw: rape mention #ask #anon ask

[havin-a-wee]

Doctor's Orders

pairing: gynecologist!harry x reader/doctor!harry x reader

word count: 2.3k+

warnings: smut, fingering

this is so long overdue i apologize but this is a request! i kinda love this piece so i hope you guys do too!

PLEASE REBLOG IF YOU ENJOY

You sucked in a harsh breath as you heard your name being called from the front desk, the smiley old lady gesturing for you to follow her. You timidly walked behind her, your feet shuffling on the obnoxiously patterned carpet that lined the hallways.

You aren’t one to fear doctor’s appointments, in fact, you have never been apprehensive about going to one until right now. This appointment was something you’ve been avoiding for a while since you had moved to London, but there came a point where you couldn’t put it off for any longer. Back in the states, you were comfortable with your gynecologist, and you had no issue talking to her about problems you were having regarding your genitalia. But now that you were in a new city, you didn’t have the comfort that came with visiting a long-term doctor and faced new ones for the first time since you were a child. The rest of the doctor’s visits were pretty standard, but your private parts were something you struggled with understanding, Sure, you have seen porn and had sex, but it was never a fulfilling experience. In fact, you have never reached an orgasm. About a year ago you gave up on looking for men to help you and made it a mission to bring yourself to a climax. But alas, none of your efforts seemed to work. At this point, you were convinced that something was wrong with you, hence the gynecologist visit. Male gynecologist, that is.

Over the past month, you have spent a lot of time researching gynecologists in your area. The first one that came up was the one you are at now, but considering his gender you continued your hunt. But it kept leading you back to this one doctor, Dr. Styles, and that was why you are currently sitting in an exam room in his office.

You reassured yourself by looking up his name on your smartphone, scrolling through the 5-star reviews. The number of people who seemed to absolutely love this guy helped settle your nerves, so you read through them as you waited for a knock on the door.

That knock finally arrived a few minutes later, and you picked your head up and looked at the wooden door. “Come in!”

A head popped inside from behind the door as it was pushed open, and the doctor’s eyes found yours while he made his way into the small room. He’s tall, with a mop of chocolate brown curls on his head and bright green eyes accompanied by a friendly smile. He sat down, eyes never leaving yours until he placed his computer down and the screen lit up.

“‘Ello Darlin, m’Dr. Styles, but y’can call me Harry if you’d like.” He stuck out a hand, and your palm swiftly met his, the two of you looking at one another as you shook hands. His hands were enormous, and the rings placed on his fingers were cold to the touch. “Considering you’re a new patient, I took a peek at y’records and such, and I saw that y’ve always had a female gyno.”

You nodded your head slowly, opening your mouth to respond but getting cut off by Dr. Styles. “So I just wanted t’let y’know tha’ theres nothing t’be ashamed off, and I know what I’m doin’ so I promise you’re in expert hands.”

“Yeah, I was nervous, but I couldn’t ignore the amazing reviews people have given you, so I made an appointment.” You appreciated his reassurance a lot, and it really helped in the easing of your jitters. He turned back to his computer after nodding in response to you, clicking on a few keys before diverting his attention back to you.

“So what seems t’be the problem today Y/N?” An initial wave of shock hit you when he said your name, but it quickly dissolved when you remembered that he literally has access to all your medical information, so of course, he knows your name.

“This is a bit of an odd thing to come in for on my first appointment with you, but I think my vagina doesn’t work.” You let out a breathy chuckle at your own words. Dr. Styles seemed unphased by your forwardness, and you assumed he had heard a lot more abrasive things than that. “I’m a 22-year-old woman, but I’ve never had an orgasm. For the past year I’ve been focusing on doing it without a partner, but no matter how much time I spent or how many fancy toys I buy, I just end up feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.” He nodded along as you explained your issue, placing his chin in his hand while his elbow was placed on the desk.

“Have y’had any STD tests recently?”

“Yes, I had one last week, I’m clean and I’ve never had one in the past.”

“Is there any possibility tha’ you’re pregnant?”

“No, I haven’t slept with anyone in over a year.” You knew what questions he would ask, so to avoid wasting time you were giving him all the information he would need.

“When y’are sleeping with someone, do y’feel any sort of pleasure?”

“Yeah, but it’s just never enough, I guess.” His lips curled into an expression of concentration, and he pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. The room was silent for all of around 30 seconds, but soon enough Dr. Styles spoke up.

“Based on yeh’ history and what y’telling me, it seems that y’just haven’t found the right bloke.” Your eyebrows lifted in surprise at his simple answer. It couldn’t be that simple, could it? “M’guessing y’can’t get y’self off cause’ y’tense and not fully relaxed. And the guys y’ve been with ave’all been doin’ a rubbish job.” He chuckled along with you, and you couldn’t help but agree with him. There was no one you could think of that had actually made you feel good the entire time and had actually focused on your pleasure and theirs. Most of the hookups you took part in were with frat boys who would stick their dick into anything with a hole. “But just in case, lemme’ check y’out just to make sure.”

He stood up from his chair and you swung your legs up on the cot, laying down on it. While you had waited for the doctor, you changed into the gown you were provided with, so there was only a thin piece of fabric between you and the curly-headed man that had taken a seat at the end of the seat.

It was now that you were faced with a dilemma that your anxious brain hadn’t even thought of prior to the appointment.

Dr. Styles was attractive. Like, really, really attractive.

Dr. Styles was attractive. Like, really, really attractive. And probably because of the nature of your discussion (and the fact that your body is severely desperate for sexual release), your core had been heating up since he first stepped into the room. So now, he would lift the skirt of the gown and see a pool of velvety wetness coating the inside of your thighs.

The back of the seat was propped up, allowing you to see him. This was a good thing for him because he could talk to you while he does his job, but it means you will have to look at him after he sees the mess you’ve made.

“May I?” His fingers gripped onto the edges of the gown, and you swallowed hoarsely before nodding your approval. While you know that he probably has witnessed much more embarrassing situations than the one you were in right now, it didn’t make the predicament any better. As you suspected, he kept a straight face when he lifted the flimsy material from your legs. Without taking a second glance, he turned to a bottle on his desk and pumped a dollop of lube onto his glove-clad fingertips. He used his other gloved hand to spread the lubricant, only turning back to you when his two fingers were both well coated in the substance. “Y’alright?” Once again, you nodded at his question. “Tell me with words darlin’, wanna make sure y’comfortable.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. What kind of exam are you doing exactly?” That question popped into your mind right before it rolled off your tongue because you noticed he had never specified exactly what he was looking for.

“M’just gonna use m’finger,” he held his lube-covered fingers, “and feel around, just t’make sure everythins’ fine.”

“Ok, sounds good.”

“M’gonna start now, s’gonna be cold at first.”

You hissed when his fingers met your sopping hole, and you had to resist the urge to kick your legs while he slowly pushed his fingers inside of you. The feeling was strange, but definitely not unwelcome. The contrast from his icy fingers to your warm center was sending a tingling sensation down your spine. You could feel his fingers push around inside of you, caressing your walls. And you know you shouldn’t. But his fingers were hitting all the right nerves, and you couldn’t help but find the experience immensely pleasurable.

Despite your best efforts, a small moan of satisfaction escaped your lips. Immediately, you went stiff, and you could feel the heat rushing to your cheeks. You just moaned while your doctor had his fingers inside you. For a moment you thought he would ignore the sexual noise that you had just made. But he suddenly looked up at you, his eyes previously locked on his fingers.

“Well, if y’moanin’ just from that, y’more sexually deprived than I thought.” He chuckled, and you cracked a small smile, but that was before his words actually hit you.

Was he, hitting on you?

Maybe not flirting, but that definitely wasn’t something that doctors say to their patients very often. His smirk was also giving you the idea that he had certain intentions.

“Everything seem good down’ere, so I think tha’ problem is with the guys y’gettin with, not you. What type of people do y’usually sleep with.”

“When I was sexually active, it was usually frat boys, so I guess I should’ve known I wasn’t the problem.” You let out a small laugh, Dr. Styles seems to have found it much more amusing, as his chuckle came from deep within his chest. A small movement came with the laugh, which also reminded you that his fingers were still very much inside of you.

“It seems y’need someone who knows his way around,” he cleared his throat, and you smiled as you realized what he was hinting at. “and y’my last paitent of the day, so m’more than happy t’help y’out.” He looked down at his feet shyly, and you found it adorable how he was nervous about what he was proposing. But you were on the verge of tears from how hard it was to hold back your physical response to his touches. Your body relaxed when the words came out of his mouth, and you let out the whine that had been building up in your throat.

“Yes-Harry, god yes.” It was the first time you were using his first name, but the smirk on his face showed his approval.

He quickly removed his fingers from your heat, and you whined again, this time in frustration. Losing contact left you feeling cold, but that feeling only lasted a fleeting moment, as soon as he was pushing his fingers into you again, this time bare.

“Y’already so wet love, what got y’this worked up hmm?”

“Y-you, Harry, I want you.” You tripped over your words, but they came out clear enough for him to understand because he began moving his fingers at the encouragement. His fingers began to pump in and out of you, and you knew he must have been right about not being with the right guys before, because the simple movements left you as putty in his hands. You barely got any pleasure from fingering in your other sexual encounters, but you were already a moaning mess underneath the man. He lifted his other hand, which had also had the glove on it removed, and placed the pad of his finger on your puffy clit. You mewled loudly and his smirk widened.

“Any o’those boys ever make y’feel this good darlin’?” You shook your head furiously, and he smiled, rubbing circles on your sensitive bundle of nerves. You were already seeing stars, and you could feel an unfamiliar knot forming in your stomach. “Y’so pretty, did y’know tha’?”

You couldn’t muster up enough strength to respond to his second question, but the loud moan that you let out was enough of an answer for him. His movements sped up, fingers pumping in and out of you and his other thumb pressing circles on your button.

“Harry-”

“Think y’close darlin’? Ready t’come fo’ the first time?”

“Yes, yes..” Your voice trailed off when a guttural moan rumbled through your throat. Although you haven’t had one before, you were sure that he was about to bring you to an orgasm. There was a tight feeling in your stomach and you knew it was just about to burst.

“Fuck-”

The knot burst and your orgasm rolled through your body, reaching every nerve inside of you. The feeling was euphoric, and your senses were heightened as your body experienced this new feeling.

“Thas’ it, good girl,” he cooed, slowing his movements and removing his fingers from your now overly sensitive clit. He worked you through your orgasm until fully removing his fingers from you, and you let out a sigh as he did so. “Definitely not somethin’ wrong with ya’, I can tell y’that.”

He smiled up at you and you returned the gesture, your smile only faltering when he turned away to write something down. You took the opportunity to get up and change, quickly dressing while his back was turned.

He turned in his chair to face you once again, handing you a small piece of paper. You took it from between his fingers to see a phone number scribbled on it in black ink.

“Is Doctor Styles giving me his number?” You said it in a cheeky way, smirking back at him.

“Yes, and he’s telling you to text him when you get home. Doctor’s orders.”

#harry styles #harry styles smut #harry styles blurb #harry styles fanfiction #blurb #one shot #request #harrys styles request #harry styles fic #one direction #smut #fluff

[nctzenluvies]

not again...

𝖑𝖎𝖚 𝖞𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖞𝖆𝖓𝖌 𝖝 𝖋. 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘: 1.3k

𝖈𝖚𝖗𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌, 𝖘𝖒𝖚𝖙, 𝖏𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖞, 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖙𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖘𝖊𝖝

𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖇𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉, 𝖑𝖎𝖚 𝖞𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖞𝖆𝖓𝖌, 𝖎𝖘 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖌𝖎𝖗𝖑 𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗, 𝖔𝖗 𝖘𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙..

it was the middle of your summer break. you had just gotten back from a week long trip with some of your good friends. your roommate yangyang, was pretty jealous he didnt get to go as his two best friends did. but of course, becauce your best friend's ex was yangyang, she wasnt comfortable with him there.

you got out of your friends car, walked into your apartments elevator, and clicked on your floor. you walked to the end of the hall to your apartment, unlocked to door and went inside.

hearing a sudden noise, he peaked his head out of his bedroom to see you taking your shoes off. "dude! your finally back!" yangyang yelled. he ran out to hug you.

"woah, im holding bags here." you said.

"haha, sorry. let me help you."

he took your suitcase and a few of your bags to your room.

"there, i may or may not have ordered food."

"cmon, man! i told you to stop ordering food. theres plenty of food here! i literally ordered groceries to the house before i left!" you snapped.

"sorry, mommy"

"ew, dont do that."

"dont lie, you like it." he winked

"yeah! just not from you?"

"oh why not? ive known you since i was born, so technically ive known you the same amount as my mom."

"ok, no. that makes no sense."

"sure does!"

"whatever."

"anyway, can we play a game and eat?"

"fine."

you two played your normal pc games for about an hour, but you left to your room so you could unpack.

you threw your stuff on your bed and started separating everything. as you sorted your things, yangyang just started randomly poking you everywhere.

"cant you see im trying to do something?"

no response, he just continued.

"stop."

"why?"

"because."

"no."

"do you need something?"

"yes."

"ugh, what?"

"im having a chick over so you might wanna cover your ears.."

"bro! again? i just got back, and i didnt need to know that!"

"oh, so youre not jealous?"

"no? why would i be?" ,you were definitely jealous, but you didnt need him knowing that.

he put his hands around your waist, and hugged you, "you sure about that?"

god, you were blushing like crazy, but luckily you had a history of being good at hiding your feelings.

"uh yeah?"

"okay." he let go, and walked away.

you wanted to brush what just happened off, but you couldnt. i mean, your three year crush, called you mommy? and waist hugged you?! come on. but hes having a girl over, so whatever. you took your makeup off, changed into pajamas, and continued to unpack.

after about an hour of you watching videos, with your headphones of course, you went to the bathroom, expecting yangyang and his girl in his room.

oh my god. you look out your room to see your best friend jerking off and watching porn in the living room?!

"YAH! YANGYANG?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"GOD DAMN YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!"

"SO DID YOU! I DIDNT WALK OUT TO USE THE BATHROOM TO SEE YOUR DICK!"

"SORRY!"

"COVER UP DAMN IT!"

he scooted to the corner of the couch, covered himself up, and turned the tv off, while you went to the bathroom.

you walked out, and sat down at the other end of the couch.

"so, you want to explain?" you asked.

"sorry.. i just.."

"just what?"

"i was, you know, horny, and i lied to you about having a chick over so you would bother me."

"i thought you would have sex in your room!"

"yeah... but i expected you to stay in your bedroom."

"i mean yeah, but this is my house too."

"sorry."

"its fine just dont do it again."

"ok.... also youre blushing."

you opened your phone camera to see if he was right. he was.

"no im not! i just did a face mask, thats all!"

he got up and sat infront of you on the floor.

"why are you on the floor?"

"no reason. i just see you prepared for me, huh?"

"what?!"

it took you a second. you werent wearing pants. thats what he was talking about. as soon as you realized that. you blushed even more, and just decided to leave to your room, until he grabbed your thighs and pulled you back on the couch.

"let me leave yangya-"

he put a finger over your mouth.

"not yet. just wait."

he was about to sneak his head under your oversized t-shirt, but he stopped.

"y/n.. consent?" he asked.

"i- uhm- i-"

"im guessing thats a yes."

he spread your legs, put his head in between your thighs, and ate you out like there was no tomorrow. he had you grabbing onto anything within your reach, and making a bunch of noise.

yangyang stopped, took the towel off of his waist. when you werent even looking, he put a condom on. he started kissing your neck, while he lined his member with your body.

he let go, asking you if you were ready. you nodded, and let him enter your heat. he continued at a normal pace, running his hands across your covered body. thinking your shirt was in the way, you began to take it off, but he stopped you.

"keep your shirt on."

"no, its fine. if you want to see me you can take it off."

"no. i know your not comfortable with that."

"are you sure?"

"yes."

everyone, including yourself, thought he was just a player, and that he wouldnt be this sweet in bed.

after a few minutes, he had sped up the pace, and gave you a few hickeys on your neck.

suddenly, you heard a knock at your door, it was one of your friends.you looked at each other, and ran to the bathroom. you told yangyang to get his hair wet and run to his room in a towel, while you showered.

he was wetting his hair, when you heard what sounded like your friend.

"dang it, i forgot i gave her a key." you said to yourself.

"yangyang, i need you to just play along ok?"

"alright."

you hopped in the shower, and you were peeking out of the shower door with your eyes closed.

"yangyang! are you done peeing yet?"

"god! sorry! let me wash my hands!"

"not in here! your going to make the water cold!"

"fine! ill go to the kitchen! damn!"

"thank you! now get out! wait close the door!"

"okay! no need to yell!"

he walked out and shut the door behind him to see your other best friend standing there watching him.

"uh hi?"

"hi? what just happened?"

"i was in the shower when she get home, so she forced me out of the bathroom so she could shower. but i needed to pee and get my hair product out of there."

"oh, so you two didnt shower together?"

"ew no, she has a boyfriend."

"she does?"

"i think?"

"oh.."

"anyway, she will be out soon, so just sit tight."

"alright."

your friend sat down on the couch, and saw a condom wrapper on the table, a towel with wet marks on it, and a pair of boxers on the floor.

"oh my god. they hooked up."

she got up and went to the bathroom where you were showering.

"hey y/n, im leaving, so you can get out and continue your fun time with yangyang. bye!"

"what?! what do you mean?"

"bye!"

she just walked out of your apartment. yangyang listened, so he went to the bathroom and told you she left.

"i know! whatever. im tired i wanna do this tomorrow please."

"of course. do you want to lay down while i put away your stuff? i know where everything goes so it should be fine."

"okay."

he picked you up and set you on your bed. you told him what was clean and what was dirty while you lay there telling him about your trip until you fell asleep.

he shook your shoulder to ask you if he could lay with you, and of course, you said yes.

the two of you finished what you had started in the morning, causing the people next door to complain.

-----end-----

#smut #nct #wayv #nctdream #nct127 #liuyangyang #yangyang #yangyangnct #yangyangwayv #y/n #nctsmut #yangyang smut

[obsessive-ego]

Sneaky but not really

Musical beetlejuice x reader

Beetlejuice first sleepover with you

Soft, lewd jokes warning, sort of, you know how bj is

Love at first strike was the perfect way to describe your relationship, well at least to beetlejuice. After a scare gone wrong the ghoul was head over heals for you, long story short you were Delia's niece, after a few moments upon meeting lydia, the kid tricked and locked you in the basement, where said ghoul was waiting to 'introduce' himself to you. When he jumped out from the darkness you reacted poorly and sucker punched him in the jaw, with a hard thump the demon hits the floor, of course you felt awful about the whole thing, hitting someone you didnt even know, but as you went to help the poor man up his only response was "damn sugar, hit me again".

The rest was history, you visited lydia and beetlejuice like clockwork, you enjoyed them both, having a similar sense of humor really helped, hell you even joined in on Beetlejuice's lewd humor when lydia was out of ear shot, the ghoul adored this, you were perfect for him, funny and had the balls big enough to hit him, no one's ever done that before.

...

"Please please please, come on baby, dont you trust me?~" beetlejuice pleaded clinging to your leg like a child

"Beej, no, it's not that I dont trust you its just-" you trail off glancing to lydia for some help, the kid just stifles a laugh at you.

"What's wrong y/n? He'd be the perfect little house guest, you live alone right? What's the issue?" She shrugs

You sigh, beetlejuice has been begging you forever to let him sleepover and looks like he roped lydia into it, or she just thought it was funny to watch you flail.

"Come on babes, itll be great, we'll watch movies, order take out, suck face-"

"What?"

"Nothing"

You scowl, and pinch the bridge of your nose, taking a deep breath, then a long sigh

"Fine"

The weight from you leg was lifted in a flash and the ghoul was right in your face "REALLY?! Great choice, you are never gonna regret this sweet stuff" the ghouls cups your face and gives you a quick kiss before disappearing leaving you dazed and confused, what have you done.

...

As you walked home you couldnt help bit feel dread creeping up on you, hoping you never reach your destination, it's not like you didnt want beetlejuice to come to your little home, it's more of you were nervous being alone with the demon in such a personal space, you liked him yeah, more then you're will to admit, this whole 'sleepover' is gonna be more then awkward. The dread sinks in when you stand infront if your little apartment building, you sigh and head inside, at your door your hands tremble with the keys, your nerves reaching new heights, you wanted to vomit, you wanted this whole thing to be done and over, stupid undead bastard who wormed his way into your heart.

Home sweet home, you toss your belongings aside and shamble your way to the living room, plopping down on the couch you swallow hard, as the conversation you and beej had before leaving the Deetz house flood back into your mind

'Now all you gotta do to get me into your little home is say my name 3 times, 3 times in a row spoken, unbroken, okay? I'll be waiting sugar~"

You knew he was teasing you, the ghoul could probably tell how the whole pet name thing effected you, since no ones ever done that to you before. Taking a deep breath of air and jumping up from the couch you decided it's now or never, and you knew if you didnt summon him he'll be twice as annoying the next time you saw him.

"BEETLEJUICE"

You could feel the air get heavier

"BEETLEJUICE"

The temperature around your body drops, you take a deep breath trying to steady yourself

"Beetlejuice" you clamp your eyes shut, not really sure what's gonna happen next, since you weren't exactly told much past the whole how to thing.

"Its showtime~" a gravely voice purrs in your ear and you nearly jump out of your skin, you curse and turn to the culprit, beetlejuice, he was here, it was really that simple.

"You came-" you stutter in disbelief

"Oh doll, your sweet voice would make anyone cum as fast as I did~" the ghoul coos as he cups your face, you flinch at the joke, yes you sure walked into it, giving the demon a perfect set up, beetlejuice howls with laughter at your reaction.

"Babes you make this too easy, but ya know I like easy gals" he gives you a wink followed by a loud cackle.

You regain your composure and clear your throat "well this is it, my home" you give a half hearted gesture, the ghoul whistles in response as if he was impressed by your little home.

"So babes, how bout you show old mr beebleboose where the magic happens~" the demon coos wiggling his eyebrows, you couldnt help but snort a laugh, as you give the demon a soft shove.

"All right sugar, what's the plan tonight? Shitty horror? Take out? Tonsil hockey?" Tips of pink gracing the demons hair as he purrs that last part.

Again a you snort out a laugh "2 out of 3 there beej"

"Sucking face while watching bad movies? You really know how to spoil a ghost" beetlejuice cackles, leaning in close as he makes kissing sounds.

You push the ghoul off, as you chuckle, embarrassed, yet amused at your pal's constant jokes.

You pull out your phone to order a pizza for the two of you, you knew the demon can and will eat anything so you knew he wouldnt really care WHAT you ordered. Beetlejuice perks up at your actions, he wasnt a fan of cell phones, he hated when your attention wasnt fully on him, but after some trial and error he learned to adapt to subtlety messing with you in that state of distraction.

The ghoul places his arm around you shoulder and leans in to you, watching you tap away on your phone, he never really got the whole technical thing, the ghoul was more into making you nervous, in his current position, pressed up against you, he could feel your warmth, he could hear your heart pounding, and he could see your fingers fumble as you try to type, the ghoul huffs out a small chuckle when he sees you puff out your cheeks as you try to focus and steady your hands to finish what you were doing.

...

The two of you chatted and joked about as beetlejuice told you stories of scares he pulled off with lydia, he was practically glowing green with excitement as he told you in great detailed of how amazing and scary he was and how you need to see him in action more often, the demons mood was contagious you couldnt help but laugh and hang on practically every word. The two of you are interrupted with a knock on your door,

You get up from the couch without much thought, beetlejuice jumps up quickly after you, and pulls you to the front door, you make a noise of surprise at the sudden action.

"Watch and be amazed sweet stuff, its show time" the ghoul swings open the door to see the delivery guy.

"Pizza for l/n"

"Thanks man" the ghoul takes the pizza and hands it to you.

"Oh! Babes what did you order anyway?" The ghoul asks before snapping his fingers, a familiar tingle goes through your body, you go stiff as beetlejuice puppets your words

"Oh you know honey, the usual, pepperoni, bacon, and tarantulas" you say in a cheery tone.

"Tarantulas?" The delivery guys asks

"You never tried one? They crunch real nice" the ghoul goes to pull out a live rather large tarantula from his coat pocket, you flinch at the sight, not being a fan of bugs. Beetlejuice, without hesitation drops the spider into his mouth, the crunching noise alone made the colour drain from your face, but your reaction was nothing in comparison to pizza guy. The poor guy looked like he was gonna vomit, frozen in place with the scene in front of him.

"Where are my manners? Want one?" Beetlejuice leans forward into his victim dangling a new larger tarantula in the poor man's face.

"Open wide~" he coos

At that The pizza guy's legs finally give out, causing him to drop to his ass, the man screams and scrambles to his feet, stumbling and fumbling all the while getting away from your home.

"Such a beautiful sound~" beetlejuice sighs, as he slides the spider into his coat pocket "save him for later" he mumbles before turning to you

"So? How was I sugar?" The ghoul was beaming at you with a big toothy grin, desperate for your approval.

You snort out a hard laugh "you're disgusting beej, amazingly disgusting" you cackle

The ghoul bows at your praise "thank you doll, you are too kind~"

God did beetlejuice live for your praise, the attention you gave him, he wanted you so badly, he wanted you to say 'beetlejuice, I see you, I accept you, I fear for my safety around you'. But you were dense and a coward, and he sure as hell didnt want to make the first move, so this, this was fine for now, you praising him and spending time with him, will just have to do until you proclaim your undying love for him.

..

The two of you hang out on the couch, you in your pajamas, beetlejuice leaning into you with an arm around you, you never really fought this, beej was the touchy feely type and he claims how he just likes how warm you are, so you just went with it. As your movie marathon runs late you begin to nod off, you finally commit to bed time when you nudge Beetlejuice's arm off and stand up, the ghoul makes a noise of annoyance at your absence.

"I'm going to bed" you yawn out "night beej" you wave goodnight before heading to you room, the ghoul growls at this, he didnt really want to stop hanging out with you, but unfortunately breather need sleep, the demon flows you to your room.

As you climb into bed beetlejuice phases through the bedroom door

"Oh no!" His voice alerts you to his presence

"Theres only one bed" he continues in a false worried tone, you know your brows together

"Beetlejuice I can make up the couch for you if you like, I know you dont sleep-"

"OH NO THERE'S ONLY ONE BED AND ITS A SINGLE" he repeats as if a louder volume will change anything.

"Bee-"

"I guess we'll just have to share y/n, please be gentle with me~" the demon coos as he slumps onto the bed

You give him a soft smile at this awful little show, but as nice and warm as the idea of sharing your bed with him would make you feel, you weren't exactly ready to agree to that, anxiety and nerves beat away any romantic thought.

"Beej, come on-"

"Cum on what?"

You snort out a soft laugh, you always walked into a set up for him without a second thought.

"Beetlejuice, no offense, but I dont feel comfortable with that, you know, sharing a bed with you, I mean, like, you know" your voice shrank as you spoke, you didnt want to sound rude, not that hed ever mind, the ghoul sits up and stares back at you with a wide toothy grin.

"I getcha sweets, not till marriage, right? You never struck me as the old fashioned type, but I can wait till we tie the knot~" he winks that last part, you can feel you ears burn with embarrassment, all of his flirting jokes did make you blush, but the marriage jokes were the big guns, you adored the demon, and the idea of being married to him made your heart want to rip it's way out of your chest.

Without another word beetlejuice vanishes before your eyes, and a soft "goodnight" is whispered in you ear, causing you to shiver.

...

Finally after all that time begging you finally let beetlejuice into your home, just you and him, such a high level of trust you have in him, the ghoul himself is filled with delight at the thought, here he was floating next to your bed, watching you slept so peacefully, completely unaware of the dead man watching you.

"Ya know sweet stuff, you look real cute when you sleep~" he purrs, pink hue gracing his hair in streaks.

It goes without saying the demon was a creep, so it was no surprise he would watch you sleep. The ghoul stares at you for hours, taking in all the little things about you, the little things of being alive, how your chest slowly moved up and down as you slept, how you're lips were slightly parted, those sweet little sounds you'd make during your slumber.

As the time went by the ghoul's mind began to wander.

"Bet it's real warm under those covers huh?" He mused

"Y/n is such an oblivious little breather, they probably wouldnt even notice little old me sliding in next to that soft, warm, body of theirs" he whispered to himself, the thought alone of pressing himself up against your warm body was enough to get the demon drooling.

That was all the convincing he needed, slip in to cuddle for a bit, then slip out before you wake, easy.

With a snap of his fingers the ghoul's trade mark striped suit disappears leaving him in a pair of striped boxers, with another snap beetlejuice reappears next to you in bed, the wave of warm washing over him was delightful, so toasty warm, so soft and comfy, he could get used to this, with a soft sigh the ghoul cuddled up to you, without a second thought he gets carried away, wrapping him arms around your body, you respond with some unintelligible noise as the demon pulls you into him.

Beetlejuice, now completely pink, gives your forehead a kiss before whispering a soft

"goodnight y/n"

This was heaven, or as close as a born dead demon straight from hell was gonna get at least, everything felt so good, your soft body in his arms, your warmth, your scent, your soft comfy bed, he could really get used to this. Beetlejuice didnt have to sleep, but did to pass the time when bored, but tonight he fell asleep for a more soft reason, yes the ghoul has had more flings and one night stands then he could remember, but this, he never spent the night in another's arms, someone who genuinely liked him and wanted him around, the ghoul couldnt help but doze off with this level of comfort, as cheesy as it sounded, it was true.

...

Unfortunately him dozing off was a less then great idea, beetlejuice was a heavy sleeper, more so then you were.

"BEETLEJUICE!"

The ghoul shoots up at your rather loud call, beetlejuice looks up at you to see a rather embarrassed, confused you, clenching the blanket to your chest, though you were full clothed.

"Morning sweetheart, you sleep well in daddy's arms?" He purrs, busted the demon Hope's to flirt his way out of getting trouble.

"What are you doing?!" Your voice trembles as you're pretty sure the ghoul can hear your heart pounding like a jackhammer.

"I couldnt help myself it's so chilly at night, and you're so warm" the ghoul shrugs "Oh! Right I forgot my little y/n is an old fashioned little breather, guess we gotta get hitched now huh?" The ghoul winks at you.

You felt like your heart was gonna explode, you just woke up and he's pulling this? Honestly part of you wasnt surprised he'd worm his way into your bed, and tease the hell out of you, then it hits you. You stare at the ghoul, his torso exposed, completely bare, revealing a rather hairy, scared up upper half, while his waist was hidden below the covers.

"Beetlejuice, please, please tell me you're wearing something below the waist" you turn your head away not wanting to look at him, you knew beej is a creepy pervert, but he wouldnt sneak into your bed completely naked, would he?

Beetlejuice let's out his awful cackle, causing you to flinch.

"Babes do you really think, I'd slip in next to you in bed balls out? Please, I am a perfect gentleman, I already vowed to marry you after I slept with you" he snorts out a laugh.

You return your gaze to the ghoul to see he has removed the covers to reveal a pair of boxers resembling his suit. You sigh in relief, the demon only smirks at your reaction.

"Like what you see?~" he wiggles his eyebrows and bites his lip while giving his hips a quick jerk upwards.

"Beej please, i guess it's fine if you want to sleep with me, as long as you're respectful, I mean you're gonna do it anyways so" you trail off clearly embarrassed at his lewd motions, but finding it easier to ignore them and continue on with what had transpired.

"Whoa, you mean it?" The ghoul sits up, wide eyed and pink at your words

"Yes, as long as you're not gonna be gross about it- FUCK"

Beetlejuice lunges at you, pulling you into a tight hug, this was all too much for first thing in the morning, yes it felt nice to be held, but youd be lying if waking up next to beetlejuice didnt scare the shit out of you, but sleeping together, as warm as it made you feel, its gonna take some getting used too.

"How bout we get some coffee?" You ask timidly.

Beetlejuice pulls away, a big dopey grin plastered across his face, patches of pink slowly taking over his scratchy facial hair.

"You read my mind doll".

One of these days, you should really ask him what pink ment for him, maybe comfort? Really happy? Who knows

Bonus

After a rather embarrassing morning for you, the two of you make your way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Beetlejuice didnt exactly drink coffee, just really milk and sugar with coffee in it, not that you minded

The two of you sat in silence at your little kitchen table, you scrolled through your phone checking weather and other nonsense as you take a sip of your coffee the ghoul cuts the silence

"You think Adam will be my best man at our wedding?"

You nearly choke on your drink.

#beetlejuice x reader #muscial beetlejuice x reader #rambling

[blee-bloop-im-a-bee]

a scuffed scuffed podcast summary/liveblogging?

(mostly focused on dream, quotes might be off but its the general gist, timestamps not exact to second lol)

- Praise and congratulations all around for Sapnap and Punz’s valorant skills 

- Dream: “well I woke up this morning and I found out I was a racist soo..” (context: Someone asked Jack how he felt about the Queen being racist and he replied that doesn’t really know anything about that and that he didn’t really care)

- They didn’t get into it though, Train said he was never going to get into Dream’s drama on this podcast (which he remarks is because it gives him anxiety, but I appreciate him for doing it nonetheless)

- on Tubbo joining in: Train confirming he would need a different cast because he’s concerned about Tubbo’s audience (& parents) and wants to set up another podcast properly where it would be more appropriate for them, to which Dream comments is respectable.  

- Dream mentioned geoguessr

- after Train’s weird (/lh) intro for dream 1:22:00---

     Dream: “You didn’t mention--oh nevermind it’s fine” 

     (Me, wondering if he was talking about his drama still)

     Train: “OH YEAH, AND ONE OF THE FATTEST C**** IN  HISTORY”

     Dream laughing and going “you didn’t mention it, you mentioned it for everyone else..” 

- Ludwig on having to limit his subs: yeah I’ve had to limit them but I found that some people have still managed to get around that

     “I don’t think anybody would try to get around that”- Dream

- They talked about the david dobrik drama, I didn’t care so much for the topic so I spaced out but Dream put in some thoughts about someone’s apology it seemed like he wasn’t on board with it (sorry I wasn’t paying attention)

- Dream, was that you that mentioned jenna marbles? (1:41:35) crumbs of my favorite ccs colliding??

- Dream: acknowledging the difficulty of females coming forward to speak out against creators for fear of being lashed out at by the fanbase (1:42:00)

- Abdou: Do you think big creators actually don’t realize the power they have?          Will: I think it’s more that they start forgetting that their fanbase are still real people... (neat food for thought, they were still talking in the context of david dobrik but because they were also mentioning how he achieved fame at a young age, i couldn’t help but think about dream)---- dream said nothing during this part

- topic on among us, Dream chiming in at 1:51:00 (spaced out didn’t listen)

- spaced out more, dream’s face reveal went trending on twitter apparently just cause of an earlier mixup when punz’s face showed up in the box where dream’s name was 

- in the background, dream was also on his private twt to reassure a fan commenting on how moe brought up dream’s fans negatively (i remember moe bringing us up but i didn’t catch the context)

- ~2:10:00 ish?? Youtube talk, dream didn’t say much :(

- Dream once again declaring that Ludwig will definitely keep streaming until the end of the month and that he’ll make sure of it

- Ludwig saying Dweam

- Ludwig not leaving until he heard Dream say goodbye which dream claims he did, and that Ludwig couldn’t pick and choose his goodbyes. Ludwig threatened to ban Dream’s alt to which Dream was like “NO no no don’t i want to be able to read your chat”

- Dream, loudly: “I have never had sushi” (not unprompted, they were talking about sushi, but I just liked how he said it-- he used the voice)

- Dream lore: He had walmart sushi. He got roasted for it (deserved)

- Talking about cancel culture:: ~~2:53:00        2:57:30 Dream brings up his drama and summarizes it but does agree that if he those videos about him been true, he should be cancelled (I think that was his gist?)

      Train’s point is that there is too many people who are quick to cancel, but when they are wrong, do nothing to make things right ie. Johnny Depp situation

      Moe acknowledging that theres a culture of bandwagoning on hating on popular creators

       3:01:00 Will bringing together all the points & mentioning Kacey and kpop stans bringing up the time they bought out trumps speech tickets- and hopes that all of the stans (kpop, minecraft) continue to have this passion when they turn 18 to affect the ballots

- Train talking about weebs and about to go a buck fifty, dream and karl were warning him to “be careful” lmao (i think train said something about how its always the ones with anime pfps saying the weirdest shit)

- I wonder what dream is doing while they’re all talking about manga/comics- I’m waiting for him to come in and say: I have never watched anime in that voice he didn’t end up saying this

Dream: “Gorillas are really strong..” King kong vs. Godzilla convo

Dream saying something about spiderman, then Train calling spiderman a pussy and like wtf man I was starting to think you were alright, and then talking over dream?? unforgiveable. /j

-oop they’re going back into cancel culture when Train reads out a tweet: ~3:34:00     I can’t summarize this, this is a little too deep for my sleepy brain, but I feel like train is talking about how quick to judge people are almost being ready to jump the gun just to cancel someone thinking that that person wanted to cancel him, but Dream is pointing out that both sides don’t really understand each other and that person probably wasn’t trying to cancel Train. Jack also spoke up to help clarify to which you could hear Dream agreeing.

     Dream acknowledges that there is a need for creators to make an effort to understand discussion that goes around and to be respectful at the same time, admitting that he’s reacted in anger in the past and disregarded discussions. 

     ^ There were a lot of points made, and I didn’t get all of dream’s responses. It was interesting conversation because we have Train being honest and venting his frustrations about cancel culture which I can sympathize with.  Dream (and Jack) spoke up a lot during the whole thing to try to shift Train’s point of view and the things he said were really admirable 

     Dream brings up the thing that happened with charlie a while back and said he dm’d charlie about that misunderstanding as dream puts it- and says that they are good now and saying something along the lines of open communication being so important

- Someone: “the only thing that matters is that my wife doesn’t cancel me.”      Dream: “that’s really sweet”  <- no u

-  “Would you let your kids watch on Twitch” Dream: As long as you’re aware and know about Twitch and Youtube, and as long as you teach your kids internet safety it should be fine

- Dream, on Train saying he hopes everyone will still be friends with him after this: “I actually hate you now” (in a joking tone). Dream wants to play among us with Train.     Dream, prompted to say one nice thing about Train and also the last words he said on the podcast: “An attractive motherfucker.”

#this is a really scuffed summary #idk i just felt like using this podcast to practice my listening skills #dreamwastaken #i have zero opinion about all this #all i know is listen to dream voice

[bestworstcase]

Hey, me and my friend are developing our own Tangled History Lore the involves the Saporians, and in our instance, Demanitus helps Corona take over Saporia by stealing Zhan Tiri’s created memory wand and wiping their memories of the invasion except for the Saporians who helped Corona.

Now, Saporians have grown up with no history of the past other than small events, barely care about their heritage, and are still somewhat against Corona.

So what would happen to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, who may have been previously allied with Saporia, if they found out Corona and Saporian treasonists took over and wiped their memories

so if i'm following, corona rapunzel's returned the entire nation of saporia and all of saporia's allies ~two thousand years ago when demanitus and zhan tiri were still kicking around and this massive magical conspiracy then went undiscovered for however long—i assume until around the time of the series itself?

which. hm

backtracking a little from your actual question i think it would be worth taking into consideration the limitations of the wand of oblivium—bc in rapunzel's return it's shown that the wand is powerful but can't really be used on a wide scale: the saporians managed to wipe the memories of the coronan king and queen, and being generous perhaps a handful of other aristocrats and important courtiers whom we just don't see on screen bc they're not necessary to the story, and then just relied on the coronan culture of absolute obedience to the king to control the rest of the populace while waiting for varian to figure out a potion that could... either directly reproduce the effect of the wand on a dramatically larger scale or else somehow serve as a conduit for disseminating the wand's magic to many people at once. (personally i think the latter solution was more likely what the goal was, i.e., clementine uses the wand to curse batches of varian's potion and then they suffuse the water supply with the potion or start gassing people with it or whatever the method of distribution ended up being and the curse is transmitted through the material of the potion—but that's a tangent)

so

the question is how did demanitus and his coronan conspirators get around the problem of the wand needing to—as rapunzel's return implies—individually curse every single person whose memories the caster wants to alter? conquest by brainwashing is arduous to the point of impossibility if you're trying to do it one person at a time, esp. when it's possible for cursed people to fight off the magical amnesia with support from loved ones whose memories are intact. and then add to that it being a wand he stole from zhan tiri and his own self-admitted unfamiliarity with magic—this is the man who shoved his soul into a monkey with a spell he knew he barely understood after all—and theres the additional problem of did the coronans even know what they were doing the way a real witch like clementine or zhan tiri would?

and then all magical considerations aside you have the further complication that massive conspiracies are difficult to pull off simply because they require a lot of people to be in the know to make things happen, and you start running into the two-can-keep-a-secret-if-one-is-dead principle. stuff gets out

ANYWAY

this is cynical but assuming there is indeed a two thousand year gap between the memory wiping and then modern day corona, in line with the canonical timeline of tts—which i recognize is not necessarily a reliable assumption with an au but you didn't specify—i honestly dont think a lot would necessarily change if the brainwashing was retroactively discovered somehow. bc by now the hegemony of the seven kingdoms in a world where saporia doesn't exist is well established and... people in power cleave to the status quo. what's going to happen to this sprawling trading alliance if we take corona to task for this enormous violation of human rights that happened literal thousands of years ago? when saporian culture was eradicated so thoroughly that it might as well not ever have existed? who benefits from tearing this system apart now, and who benefits from leaving things as they are and shrugging at past wrongs? (it's so much easier to just say well... that was a long time ago... oh well.)

except for, of course, the saporians themselves, because it was their identity and their home and their culture that was utterly stripped from them—they lost everything, and even the knowledge that they'd lost anything at all was stolen from them too, like, it's hard to fathom a scenario where this information comes out and doesn't lead directly to outrage and unrest from whatever saporian communities are still left—how else can one even respond to something like that?

and from there i mean. it depends on where you want to take the story and how you want to handle it, like, theres a lot of variables beyond "corona did this horrific thing x centuries ago and now we know about it" that could or would shape the direction of events subsequent to the conspiracy being broken up to—like assuming all other things being equal how do zhan tiri and cassandra and the moonstone fit into this, with zhan tiri being (i assume) a saporian sorceress whose work was stolen and then used to eradicate her home? how does varian's partnership with the saporian separatists go when theres this underlying element of them just doing to corona what was done to their ancestors in a desperate bid to maybe scrape back together some semblance of a cultural identity for themselves? how does rapunzel—who has herself run afoul of saporian memory magic, albeit accidentally—feel when she learns this about her nation's history and what does she do about it? etc etc etc and then all these individual character decisions have ripple effects that shape the broader societal and political responses there's not a one size fits all answer, here. it's dependent on the specific shape and structure of the story itself

#but also i would think abt maybe workshopping that conquest idea more #to either nail down the exact details of HOW such an enormous conspiracy could even work or #like refine it away from 'and then they brainwashed the entire continent'

[glutenfree-rootbeer]

Fun Fact about me:

I was raised in a 100% non-religious home. My grandparents on my dads side come from a long line of doctors and agnostics. My moms parents especially agnostic but her grandparents were very quiet about their beliefs.

When I was in elementary school I remember on the playground everyone started to talk about what church they went to, because obviously some kids went to the same church as eachother and some dont. Also of course they all are taught from a very young age that their religion is more correct and valid. When it came around to me i said ‘my family doesnt go to church’ and so all the kids wanted to know if i believed in god, a concept at that point, I had never heard *explained to me*. By the end of it, I remember all the kids telling me I had to believe in god or my parents and I would go to hell.

When I got home, I remember telling my mom about what happened, and I remember her response being something along the lines of ‘your father and I dont believe in any type of god. Theres many different kinds, when youre older you can choose which one you believe in, you can always change your mind. And your father and i cant go to Hell because we simply dont believe its there. We also believe when we die, thats it, so please dont worry about us’

Throughout elementary school through peer pressure i would just say ‘i believe in god!’ But i never felt right about it. In middle school I definitely decided to just be myself, and stopped pretending, but i was still feeling mostly agnostic. When my dad got sick— i tried to pray to god, i tried all the desperate things you do as a impressionable teenager to try to fix the things i couldnt. I remember one of my close friends saying to me ‘Don’t you think your dad is sick because he never believed in god? Hes being punished. My family prays for you every day’ and let me tell you, as a teenager grappling with her father dying, trying to rationalize teenagehood, feelings of abandonment and no one understanding me, hearing someone say that triggered that deep anger. Through highschool i would tell you ‘im a hardcore atheist and dont come to me with any of your god bullshit, dont pray for my family, if your god would do THIS to my family (“everything happens for a reason”. “This is just a test from god.” “Its a test of strength.”), you and your god can fuck right off.’

In community college I took world religions and history of religion classes, because i truly didn’t understand any of it or why so many people identified as a faith. I held such an anger for it actually. I visited/wrote reports on a local Mosque, a local variant of Hinduism and i interviewed an ex-cult member. I gained much respect for the ancient religions of this world, the more modern ones are… still hateful in my eyes. These days i would probably identify closer to an agnostic leaning mostly atheist. I like to entertain the idea of energy bouncing around randomly rather than any type of conscious omnipotent omnipresent being.

Bonus: relatable arrested development scene

“Across from where?”

#personal #about me #me #everyones got their own religious journey #and as my mom would say ‘its never over’ #funny side note; you have to understand the hilarity of the fact that ive never heard a bible story so i thought #supernatural was just a super badass scifi show…. someone had to explain to me how they were based around religion lmao #my mind was blown lmao #i was like wait kane and able isnt just two random names huh what do you mean #‘and that was the moment she realized she got tricked into watching religious content and it wouldnt be the first time’

[gracehcreates-bct]

W8 Studio - Project into the public

X-Challenge

I entered my team into X-Challenge, but unfortunately our group was too big to do the whole project so we split ourselves into two and did the app and boot cleaner as seperate ideas.

Boot Cleaner Prototype

Kent made a boot cleaner prototype over the weekend, using cardboard and pvc pipes. Not included is the spray, which would be situated underneath the boot.

Survey Results

I sent out the survey on facebook, first to the Creative Technologies Year 3 page and then my neighbourhood community’s page. So far there are 62 responses.

1. How often do you go on walking trails?

Once a week - 11 people Once fortnightly - 7 people Once a month - 23 people Once a year - 18 people Never - 3 people

2. Who would you usually take with you? (pick between 1 - 2)

Family - 46 people Friends - 19 people Dogs - 12 people No-one - 11 people

3. Have you heard of the Kauri Dieback Disease?

61/62 people have heard of Kauri Dieback.

4. If yes, how do you think preventing it is to New Zealand’s forests in the future? (on a scale of 1 - 10)

Average is 9.1, with 6 out of 60 people who answered this question ranking it below 8.

5. What would make the boot cleaner more convienent?

About 17 out of 62 thought that the boot cleaner was fine as it is. Two people answered there should be more of them.

Answers about the station itself: - Maybe if it was longer so you can keep moving as you clean. So others don’t get held up behind you. - If more people could use it at the same time. - Maybe a larger, flatter station - Proper set up like your picture - as some are only a mat and can easily be avoided - A seat to sit on when spraying shoes with the stuff. Very hard to work hose on one foot with a pack on - Regular servicing - I guess it's a bit of a bottle neck, depending on the popularity of the trial maybe it holds people up? - Have more of an obstacle that makes it so you get in slower. Therefore, making you clean your shoes more thoroughly? :D - Better maintenance sometimes they are worn out - Clearer instructions Easier to use Maybe a video

Answers about boot cleaner: - I guess if it rotated it might get more sit out from the grooves? Also, with covid I try to avoid touching anything and this this old style and the spray gun you have to touch - Have a cleaner for jandals. This one doesn’t work so well - Foot activated sprays. Physical barriers that force people to activate the spray to get thru the barrier. - Weight based means children and lighter people don't activate it so perhaps something that doesn't get activated by weight that you walk through. Shallow enough to just cover sole of shes/boots - Maybe some foot level spray system. Sometimes balancing on one foot to spray is tricky - the spray trigger should have a novel so that it covers each shoe in one spray - Fixed brushes as shown here. The hand squirter and hand brush combination is too difficult to manage. Lose balance and give up - A hand held brush to scrub the side of shoes. - No spray, just scrub and step - A device to clamp around shoes and spray all around - Rotating brushes - Making the brushes not worn down. Last bush walk I went on the brushes for your feet were too worn down and didn’t work very well - Bending down is tricky so a system that doesn’t make you bend over is good - If it always had disinfectant in it. - It having the spray stuff in it and not be empty - Not have to use the hand spray bottle that is found on some stations. - Find it ok as it is, but prefer the one that sprays your shoes when you stand on it to the hand held one - Automatic - probably some type of automated boot cleaner - I am liking the new "hop on to spray" pads

Other: - It’s fine but something to keep the spray from coming up and wetting your shoes and ankles would be good-keep it to the soles - designing something the birds might use, as it's far more likely to be transmitted by them. - An agent that actually is proven as working on phytophthora - I think the boots cleaners are possibly okay, it's the dogs i always think , might be more carriers especially as often off lead when they shouldn't be. - Nothing. I think it’s clearly marked with instructions and you can’t miss them at the beginning and end of tracks. One time there was a DOC guy there educating people how to clean boots properly which was helpful cos I had actually been doing the process the wrong way around prior to that! - RGB LEDs, to attract the kids - maybe having someone employed by like doc or something to make sure there are ppl washing their shoee

6. How effective do you think the covid tracer app was in preventing the spread of covid-19? (on a scale of 1 - 10)

Average is 7.3, with only 5 people out of 62 ranking it below a 5.

7.  We are designing an app and deciding on the content, what is most appealing to you?

Treasure Hunt - #1.82 average Augmented Reality boot cleaner - #2.06 average Running statistics tracker - #2.11 average

8.  Why did you choose the previous answer? Otherwise, give us an example of something you’d like to see on it.

About 5/46 people answered that they couldn’t see the image I had used, which is my own fault but the survey website is difficult to understand. 4/46 directly said “Treasure Hunts are fun”. Two people said it didn’t matter as long as it was simple to use.

- Statistics can drive behaviour - Treasure hunt appeals to families using tracks - There is a general lack of information about Kauri Dieback at the boot cleaning stations especially Tane Mahuta - information would result in adherence - The question wasn’t clear to me so I chose the fun option. No idea what AR boot cleaner is - maybe I didn’t click on something? - Seemed the most applicable (Augmented Reality) - Didn’t really have a view. Not sure what the point of the treasure hunt and A4 - I just think the treasure hunt idea has more appeal. Not clear how it works - A map of dieback - Information on Kauri on the area you are about to walk in, how many, if have any signs of disease - Definitely make it fun to use, stats make it interesting - learn with play: Tree/ nature trivia, e.g. like: what tree is this? (photo) - Sounds more fun (Treasure Hunt) - Fun makes things engaging. Also, running is boring. - Treasure hunt might make it more interesting for the grandchildren I take hiking. I know what AR is but I cannot imaging it being useful for book cleaning. - Links with GPS - Easy to find information for the novice /infrequent tramper - I didn't see how the answers linked to the app. What's the purpose of the app? If it's just to track like the covid app it doesn't need anything else on it. Most people who run in the bush would use another app already. - if i got it my main , objective would be to help with Die-back .Stats would be interesting so No.2,Treasure hunt No.3 , as kids grown up , but even if younger i might have put 3 , but would be good for younsters - I may take my child if there is a treasure hunt as part of the app/walk - The AR boot cleaner would encourage people to clean their shoes properly because it would make cleaning more fun and accurate. - I like stats - and I like the new aspect of the covid app where you get a little sticker icon when you get 14 days diary entry. - Got to be something interesting and fun. Maybe as an incentive add in spot prizes provided by possible sponsors.. - NZ health statistics - Interactive is fun and makes you feel involved - More visually appealing (Treasure Hunt) - More fun makes people more likely to use. - Don't understand what the boot one is - Routes recommendation, especially secret/not popular spots. Treasure hunting is a bit like that - Treasure hunt seems rewarding. AR seems interactive. Statistics sound boring - I think that if you make it a sort of game it will encourage people to get into the nitty gritty parts of shoe! - Not sure why I'd want a virtual boot cleaner tbh. Other content could be birds to look out for.. bit of history, exercise tips - Helps me know which parts of my boots are clean :)

9.  Thank you for taking the time to do this. Any other ideas/feedback for us?

- Anything to help contain the spread and educate people is good-Tane Mahuta was our first experience and there was no information and no reception to be able to Google it. - Would love people to be encouraged to use the boot wash more. - Good idea to encourage behaviours that will stop the spread. Well done - no, its communist propaganda - I develop apps myself, but I am doubtful about their applicability to Kauri Dieback reduction - An alarm when boots are not cleaned properly. - Still not sure what your app will do. - Good luck , please put a reminder if possible the importance of dogs on leads in areas where needed.PS We do own a dog! - Thank you for your work - I put 10 as meaning it is very important. You don’t say how the scale works though - Kauri Dieback poses a serious issue and I'm glad theres a project looking at this!! 🙌 - I would just try to be really focused on the problem you want to solve. Is it boot cleaning, is it awareness, is it history, is it fitness

Additionally Miles emailed Dr Gerth, so we have an interview with her on May 27th.

#CTEC708

[dog-teeth]

Hi! I love your comics but this is actually somehow art history related, but also imposter syndrome. I just took a massive test involving analysis of images, that I had no idea how to answer. I might have analyzed them and formed my own conclusions and connections instead of repeating someone else’s but I’m terrified I was just bs-ing the whole thing. Does this ever happen to you or do you have any advice?

hi king/queen im an art history major and i can confirm that a lot of the time writing about art history is complete bullshit, i had to write a bunch of various visual analyses at the end of this semester and a lot of it was vague bullshit tbh. honestly? dont worry about it! its fine to bullshit stuff i promise. as long as u cite your sources / back up the claims you make, its Fine dude ive written so many. so . many . fucking pages of art history analyses that i thought have been largely bullshit its Okay. just chill my friend, have some faith in yourself, dont let imposter syndrome get to u.

a big part of art history writing is being able to look at an image you dont know about and write something about it. if your claims are reasonable and justifiable, youre fine. if you wrote something, even if it felt like u didnt know what to say, its fine. it can feel like bs and sometimes it is but my guess is youre being overly self conscious and you actually did alright.

i often go thru this when im writing esp on tests cuz it really does feel like im writing absolute bs sometimes BUT ive learned to have faith in myself, and you should too! even if its bullshit thats fine it really is. also, im sure youve gotten grades back for your writing in the class you had this test for, so you can use that as a reference for your ability. its a safe assumption that your grade/ability isnt too far off from how youve done in the rest of the class. just trust yourself. what i love about art history is you Can bullshit your way through writing if you vaguely know what youre doing.

but yeah its like 2am so this is really ranty but the point is you should trust yourself, if you feel imposter syndrome look at the grades u got for past similar assignments to contextualize ur abilities, and in the art history field you really have to bullshit stuff sometimes as a student and thats just how it is.

i went thru this when i took my midterms, i thought i didnt know anything and i would do terribly and everything i wrote was complete bullshit, but turns out i did pretty well on them. and i just took my finals a week and a half ago and once again im really worried its all bullshit and i did terribly BUT im trying not to freak out and im rationalizing the probability that i did fine on them bc i can look at my past grades to tell me im good at the type of writing i had to do even tho i do Not trust past ezra and all the bullshit they probably wrote during finals.

since youve already taken the test id suggest not worrying abt it as much as possible bc theres nothing u can do now, though im anxiously awaiting my grades thatll come back at the end of the month........

i might edit and add to this tomorrow when im coherent so check again on this response later ok?

#ez answers #i really need to not answer asks past 1am i have no idea if this is coherent

[firaknight]

Make note that this is a GIANT post and is a culmination of me trying to explain my thoughts in a comprehensible manner. Some of this might not make a whole lot of sense, and I apologize if it doesn’t dhdjsjksjwnsnsnen /lh

On a small island, there sits a little port town (no name yet. May change later) (if you want a visual, think of the port town from Super Kirby Clash). This port town sits in the middle of Gamble Ocean, a strange ocean that houses odd creatures known as merfolk. Nobody knows why they’re there, but they exist. Little is known about these merfolk, as they try to avoid humans as much as possible, or at least, they try to avoid curious divers who poke their noses into the shipwrecks and ruins they live around. However, despite their supposed shyness, they’ve been known to save drowning sailors who get thrown off their ships. Very few ever meet the merfolk, and the few that have are old, many of them having passed long ago, with only a select few still around to tell the tales...

Among the island residents lives a 16 year old girl named Adeleine, a talented artist and quite the good swimmer and diver, she’s a girl of many talents. She lives with her mother, who simply goes by Ado. Adeleine has a love for the sea, and while her mother doesn’t share the same ideas, she supports the energy her daughter has for the ocean. Adeleine comes from an... odd history. She knows nothing about her past other than what her grandmother and mother have told her. Adeleine’s got some strange features, too... Oddly sharp teeth, strange glowing markings that sometimes appear in the darkest of nights, nails that grow unbelievably fast and sharp, and even a longer breathholding time than anyone else shes met. She’s chalked it up to be part of her bloodline, as her grandma has similar traits, even though her mom doesn’t have any of these traits.

Adeleines grandmother is one of the few people who’s met those merfolk. In fact, shes bonded and interacted with them. She’s told Adeleine all her stories and passed on her legacy. After her passing, she gifted Adeleine her shell necklace and a slew of gifts she’d been given by the merfolk, all of which Adeleine still cherishes to this day. Before her grandmother died, she instructed that, when Adeleine received her necklace, that she is to wear it no matter the weather whilst out at sea. While Adeleine has the seas blessing, having been left unscathed by the waters, she shouldn’t take her chances, and the necklace would keep her safe. Adeleine wears that necklace no matter what, going as far as to bathe and sleep with it on. It’s one of the last things shes got from her grandmother...

Fast forward to many many years later when Adeleine is 16 (current day in the story). She decides to take a trip to the neighboring island with some other sailors, but she’s been warned of supposedly nasty weather that’s going to come. The trip takes almost 2 days round trip, and Adeleine is determined to take that trip. She’s been on big trips across the ocean before! She can handle this! After a bit of back and forth, the captain of the ship reluctantly agrees to take her along with, and she’s thrilled. Skip ahead to over halfway through the trip to the island, a nasty storm rolls in. Adeleine is advised to take shelter under the deck, where a small escape boat is, but she’s adamant on staying on the deck. It’s just a storm! She’ll be fine! Suddenly, theres a flash of lightning that strikes the sail mast, breaking it and causing it to crash onto the deck. Adeleine, realizing she should’ve moved under the deck when she was told, gets up and tries to make a break for the lower deck, only to slip and get knocked off by the mast crashing onto the deck. She’s thrown into the sea and the current yanks her under without warning. Struggling, she swims against the current to try and keep her head above water, but gets pulled under again. She surfaces again and swims with the current, hoping that might help her stay afloat, but gets pulled under again. As she tries to resurface, she’s pulled under once more and the current throws her straight into a rock. Her head slams into it and knocks the air straight out of her, her consciousness slipping. As her consciousness fades, she faintly notices something start to glow around her neck, and as she slips unconscious, the water around her head seems to drain away...

~~~{+}~~~

Far from the ship, a pink haired girl watches the storm ravage the sea. She can see the ship get struck, and watches someone get tossed into the sea. She spots the light from that same person pierce the waters surface before the current pulls the person under. The pink haired girl turns to the ship one last time before she swims back towards home...

Some time passes, and the pink haired girl returns with a few others, all sporting pastel colored hair like her own. She tells them to split up and look for anyone that may have survived the mess and to get them out of the water. If they’re alive, get the water out of them ASAP. The girls she brought along all mod and swim off to look for any survivors. The pink haired girl swims off as well, headed for where she thinks the current dragged that person, and is quick to find them, led by the glow coming from their necklace. She finds that person is a young girl, no older than 16. With haste, she drags the girl out of the water and swims her over to a flat rock jutting out of the sea. She lays the girl on it facedown, checking to see if she’s still alive. Miraculously, the girl is somehow still breathing! The pink haired girl breathes a sigh of relief, noticing a tiny amount of water trickling out of the girls mouth. She swims over to her side, and reels back...

~~~{+}~~~

Adeleine wakes up to a something slamming into her back, causing her to cough, water sputtering up as she coughed. The coughing fit went on for a couple minutes before she was able to finally breathe. She takes some time to catch her breath and figure out how the heck she’s even alive at this point. As shes wracking her brain to figure out how she’s alive, she hears a splash coming from behind her. She whips around only to see something pink zip away. She tries to keep track of it, but it’s too quick. She loses sight of it, but keeps an eye out, only to spot it again! This time, whatever it was emerges from the water, their webbed fingers grabbing onto the edge of the rock to pull them up. In front of her was a pink haired girl with a bright red ribbon tied in a bow on the top of her head. Glowing, crystal shaped markings glittered near her eyes. She wore a red dress with 2 yellow buttons and sported gills that glowed a neon pink. Her blue eyes stared at Adeleine, curious. The girl asked if Adeleine was ok, and she responded that she was somewhat fine (but hid the fact that she was more than a little shaken). The girl introduces herself, saying her name is Ribbon and that she found Adeleine unconscious underwater, and that it’s a miracle shes alive. Adeleine introduces herself in response and explains that a storm hit and she was thrown off the ship. She was sure she’d die down there, but was amazed she was alive. Ribbon points to the shell necklace Adeleines wearing and says it was glowing when she went to get her out of the water. At that moment, Adeleine remembers her grandma explaining the abilities the necklace seemingly had, one of them being that it would glow to create a beacon for merfolk to find in order to help save the wearer. She also remembers that her grandma somehow never ran out of air while underwater, and that a bubble would form if she started to drown, surrounding her head and providing a temporary air source while she got to the surface. She concludes that her grandmas necklace was the only reason she survived long enough for Ribbon to find her. Ribbon pauses like shes thinking about something and changes the subject. She states that she can swim Adeleine back to the mainland, but she can’t do it by herself, as she’s so much smaller than Adeleine that it would take hours to swim back, but if she got help, it might be an easier swim! She mentions that she doesn’t want to leave Adeleine alone, as she’s worried that some of the “less friendly” beings in Gamble Ocean might pick her as a target, and asks that Adeleine come with her. Adeleine agrees and Ribbon explains that Adeleine will have to swim alongside her. Knowing Adeleine can’t breathe underwater, Ribbon creates a temporary air bubble that’ll give her air for a short amount of time, allowing Adeleine to follow her into the ocean depths. Adeleine dives back into the ocean, her head slipping straight into the bubble. She realizes that, now finally able to see Ribbons entire body, that Ribbons one of the merfolk. Adeleine is mesmerized by the fact that sHE JUST MET A MERMAID!!!!!!! She hides her excitement and the two swim into this beautiful underwater city (I don’t have a design yet :( I might soon tho). Adeleine is in awe of the sights and is constantly lagging behind, being dragged along by Ribbon when she gets fed up with shouting back to make sure Adeleine doesn’t lose track of her. The two make it to a small house tucked in the back of a coral forest. Ribbon knocks on the door, expecting to have the person inside to come to the door, and pouts when they don’t. She finds the door to be unlocked and peeks her head in, spotting the resident of the home fast asleep on the floor. She motions for Adeleine to stay put as she zips into the house. Adeleine just kinda floats there, confused. A minute or two passes and Ribbon returns with the merfolk in the home. They’re around the same height as Ribbon, if not a bit taller than her. (I’m sorry I don’t have a design for them yet if I did I’d explain their looks ;n;)

#fira screeches about the kirby mer!au #fira screeches about the kirby mer!au plot #long post #<- block that if you don’t wanna clog your dash with this rjfjjejdjd #HERE IT IS!!!! #second half coming momentarily!!

[whirlybirdwhat]

Oh I wonder how Katsuki would react to them! If it was an op au he would probably have Zoro's role (wants to be the best and doesn't care about what people think) but I don't know if he would like Zoro if he met him (and I really don't know what he would think of Luffy)

OKAY SO REALLY TINY ANSWER TO YOUR ACTUAL ASK AND THEN UNDER MY CUT MY FEELINGS ABOUT THAT KASUKI AND ZORO OPINION BECAUSE BOY. DID I FIND OUT I HAD EMOTIONS!

So! Kastuki be enraged. here are people who give no fucks about heroes, if bakugo’s better than him, have a drive he can’t match and the ability to cause bigger explosions than he could ever hope (Three Thousand worlds, red hawk, fire bird star... i can go on.) They aren’t bound by science like he is. And they don’t care about heroes, or the government, things that validate Bakugo.

So he’d be enraged. and then maybe ave a lil bit of respect? Because they are, sorry, stronger than bakugo in an objective sense and would wipe the floor with him. Especially since Bakugo wouldn’t have haki. And More, they wouldn’t care about what bakugo thought of them and would just do their thing. I think bakugo would want to be them. And He’d be 100% baffled by luffy who would just think his explosions were cool then show him his red hawk attack lmao.

NOW. Onto my very strong opinions underneath the cut. 

gonna be honest i havent watch bnha since i watched one piece, so its been awhile, but i also feel that Bakugo and Zoro are just. very different characters. especially due to the extremely different themes both medias have. Zoro has a goal, an unbeatable, impossible goal that he will sacrifice anything but his friends to get - and in the beginning, when we first meet luffy, he would have sacrificed him if he got in his way. Zoro, however, supports others - he believes, no, knows that luffy will be the next pirate king. He’s the first mate and steps up when the captain can’t (water 7) and knows what need to be done and what he won’t sacrifice (which quite frankly is only his crew mr “chopping my legs off to win a battle is a good idea” fucking dumbass ily). 

Bakugo, to my understanding as i stopped watching when Bakugo got captured, is literally. Not that. He has a goal yes, but its a goal shared by several other characters - deku, and i believe todoroki wants to be the number one, etc - and we also don’t know why beyond he wants to be the best. Its a baseless goal, as of right now, one that can only be given meaning through fan speculation. Which is in comparison to Zoro, whose goal to be the best is through a promise to a dead sister-figure and for his need not to be weak and to be strong enough for his captain - his crew - not himself, like Bakugo presumably. Additionally, Bakugo has literally stepped on others in a malicious way to get to the top, and while Zoro has done so, it is simply because he doesn’t care; he’s better than them in skill, and in the one piece world its a dog eat dog world. Zoro is staying true to the values he as a swordsman has. Bakugo wants to be a hero. Bakugo has less compassion for citizens than Zoro has, a world class criminal. Who has destroyed several towns and taken down several kings, tyrants, and government officials. 

Too my last point, Bakugo... isn’t really a leader. Zoro isn’t either but Zoro steps up and people listen. Bakugo steps up and yells, and people listen. Its different. 

And Bakugo does cares about what people think - he wouldn’t yell, proclaim he’s the best, be as competitive as he is, bully children, or anything if didn’t. He wouldn’t want to be the best with seemingly no motivation if he didn’t care what people thought.

Zoro has quite literally said that it doesn’t matter if he’s a pirate or a marine, or what people think of him - as long as his name rings across the land as the best swordsman, fufilling his promise to Kuina, he has achieved his dream.  (Chapter 5 -6 I believe.) 

This difference is of course to the themes of both manga. To my Understanding, BNHA is all about being a hero - what does it take to become a hero, what makes a hero, do not give up without trying, help others before yourself, theres a solution to every problem, etc. I looked most of these up because the only one I could think up off the top of my head is what makes a hero/ is it ability or your actions because how bnha handled it esp with its opening line pissed me off but!! thats a story for another time! 

One Piece’s themes disregard heroes. One piece’s themes are first and foremost - dreams, the romantic view of the world,  sticking to your ideals, being selfish, and freedom. I could go on for hours about it. In fact, I have. 

The One Piece world is a lawless place. the government is corrupt, slavery exists, and its heroes are either pirates who saved you only because you were their friend (strawhats, despite not wanting to be called heroes) or marine heroes who are chained to the concept of a ruthless justice and have to let family members die for it (garp). Everything is weird, but only one character in the entire history of one piece has been alienated for being weird - Katakuri, for his mouth, which is fucking absurd considering his brother literally has an oven on his head and his mother is a soul sucking cannibal who wears a polka dot dress.  In one piece your ‘quirks’ aren’t celebrated - its just normal. Fun even. Especially on. the Grand Line where the rule is anything can happen, from rubber boys fighting God or islands made out of food.

The world of BNHA is the exact opposite. While they have “quirks” which can be anything, its not something anybody can obtain, unlike one piece, where only Conquerors Haki is an unobtainable skill unless you are born with it. BNHA is a world buried deep in laws, heroes, and villains - black and white for the most part to my understanding. It is a world where if you are villain, you are pretty much expected to be evil or out for blood, and if you are a hero, you are generally expected to help people, even if you might be doing it for money or fame. Unlike one piece where each and every character has a dfiferent moral compass. BNHA is also a realistic world in terms of quirks - you won’t be finding islands of candy or the like, and it is pretty much contained in one setting, which shifts characters characterizations a lot. 

How does this affect Bakugo and Zoro?

Well. In a world where dreams and selfishness are valued, you would think Bakugo would flourish. I think he would falter, because of what you pointed out - his willingness to be the best. In BNHA, theres a structure for how you become the best, through school and a career, an official ranking. There’s nothing like that in One Piece, as bounties have been shown to be absolutely fucking worthless, and literally all the top bounties are just puns. fucking puns. I love it. 

If Bakugo went around as he does in BNHA, in one piece, a world where he doesn’t have people protecting him from his actions or not hurting him because he’s a kid, bakugo would honestly probably die. Bakugo’s drive to be the  best and his normality as typically being the best in BNHA would not translate over well.

In One Piece rookies get knocked the fuck out unless you have plot armor which honestly doesn’t always protect you. See the Baratie. Saboady. Fucking Marine Ford. Wano. Big Mom. Fucking FOXY. You can surrvive by staying lucky - Buggy, but it isn’t often.

What would Bakugo even be the best of? The Marines where he has to listen to the Five Elders? He’d be a less hateful Akainu (because no one can be as bad as Akainu) 

In a world without structure, Bakugo would fucking die. 

In comparison, in a BNHA au, Zoro has drive and would probably just be like an accidental villain like I have in my au. 

In the End, Zoro is a pirate, and Bakugo is a hero in training. Bakugo relies on organizations to help him reach the top while Zoro actively destroys them. Bakugo wants to lead but can’t (as of right now) and Zoro can lead but loves his captain, so won’t. Zoro’s goals are seated in concrete ideals, concrete promises that he has to keep. Idek why Bakugo wants to be a hero beyond being the best. 

BNHA could not work in a one piece right down to the fucking morals. Pirates Vs Heroes. The pirates could maybe be the heroes, but could the heroes ever set out to purposefully take down others, obtain land, and be free from responsibility?

Thats just a portion of my thoughts on it. BNHA characters are just... so incompatible with any world that isn’t theirs because their lives revolve around fitting the algorithm of UA and the Hero Career. OP, in its focus on selfishness and disregarding the rules of any place and bringing chaos anywhere, can pretty much go anywhere without being odd because even in their own world they ruin every thing.

Okay. Im done now. Sorry anon you opened a can of worms i didn’t think i  had thoughts on!! guess i do!!

#Anonymous #FUCK DID NOT KNOW I HAD THOSE EMOTIONS #op #one piece #bnha #whirlywhat #whirlywrites #zoro #whirlyrambles #roronoa zoro #disc horse> #bakugou katsuki #bakugou #op meta #mha #my hero academia #boko no hero academia

[sqviidboy]

⧼   michael cimino, demi male, he/his & they/them   /   kodachrome - paul simon + a CAMERA. it’s owner’s prized possession, carefully tucked away amongst the plushest of sweaters. a CAMERA that’s owner will never again hold it. a CAMERA destined to be forgotten until a boy, desperate to hold on to the brother he lost finds it. the same CAMERA now the prized possession of another boy, just as eager to capture the world around him. a broken BOY, unsure if he’ll ever manage to put himself together again. the same BOY, persevering against all of the odds. and that BOY who is slowly but surely becoming the MAN he was destined to be. nervous HANDS of a nervous boy, picking at the frayed edges of worn-out sweater sleeves, almost always tapping, turning a scrap of paper over and over. angry HANDS slowly clenching and unclenching behind the back, shaking at the sky as a string of expletives leave the mouth. gentle HANDS tenderly holding a camera, taking all precautions to insure it won't be dropped. steady HANDS, strong, confident, capable of taking on the world. ⧽   ━━   hey, isn’t that DENNIS CREEVEY? i read a daily prophet article on them, once ; the TWENTY year old muggle born WIZARD is a GRYFFINDOR  alumnus who has gone on to be an PHOTOGRAPHER FOR THE DAILY PROPHET / PODCAST HOST. i’ve heard they can be quite ASSIDUOUS & STEADFAST, but i don’t know… they came off very CREDULOUS & FALLACIOUS in that interview. it really is hard to know what to believe these days though, isn’t it?  

meet dennis patrick creevey,

about:

dennis is the second of three children born to shane creevey and marisol santos-creevey, and the second of the couples two magical children. needless to say, live in the creevey household was often chaotic. but shane and marisol loved their children, doing everything they could to provide for their children. and when the rumors surrounding the unusual creevey children began to circulate through their community, they relocated to london when dennis was five.

shortly after the family’s move, marisol gave birth to the couples third and only non-magical child a little girl who they named bridget. 

the next four years were fairly normal, with the exception of a few strange occurrences like lights magically turning on when they were definitely off, the baby sitter finding colin and dennis playing in the backyard even though she swore they were in bed, just your standard stories of magical children.

and then colin turned eleven- and suddenly the lives of the creevey family were changed forever. he was a wizard, and suddenly all of the strange occurances made sense. and their parents, though they didn’t fully understand, couldn’t have been more proud. dennis shared his brother’s excitement more than anyone, for he knew that soon it would be his turn to go off to hogwarts. 

it took a while for the family to adjust to colin being away, but they got used to the weekly owls. and eventually, they even figured out how to send a response- granted they all received several pecks in the process. dennis loved to hear his brothers stories, eagerly awaiting his eleventh birthday. 

but unlike colin’s eleventh birthday, dennis’ was almost uneventful. he woke early, wanting to make sure he looked presentable for professor mcgongall’s arrival. but she never came. instead, an extra letter arrived with his birthday letter from colin. he was a wizard after all! but it seemed, that after your first child- hogwarts didn’t see the need to sent a representative.

but he didn’t let that keep him down, he began to eagerly count down the days until he would accompany colin to hogwarts. he even went through colin’s old books- learning everything he could. and when it came time to visit diagon alley, well, he couldn’t contain his enthusiasm as he visited the various shops. he even insisted on wearing his robes home, marisol had to wrestle him to take them off.

and then, before he knew it, he was off to hogwarts, nervously trailing behind his brother as colin insisted on introducing him to everyone on the train. and eventually, he found himself unable to contain his excitement- and he fell into the lake. and the giant squid rescued him- something that he still considers to be the coolest and most frightening moment of his life!

his first year went by relatively uneventful after such an exciting start, it would have been harry’s fourth year so he watched all of the tasks alongside his peers- loudly cheering for harry.

dennis was one of the students who believed harry, joining the d.a. alongside his brother and classmates, despite some concerns that he might be too young. but it didn’t matter, dennis was eager and willing to fight. thankfully, he didn’t have to. 

dennis’ third year was spent eagerly watching his coin, waiting for the numbers to change. and despite the fact that they never did, he never lost hope. he remained optimistic. he tried to answer the call to the astronomy tower, but he was told to stay in bed and he did.

it was after the death of albus dumbledore, that dennis’ life was really changed. suddenly being muggleborn was a crime, and returning to hogwarts was no longer a viable option. and soon- staying at home became too dangerous. the ministry was rounding up muggleborns and forcing them to undergo questioning, and though their parents didn’t really understand, they knew they didn’t want their children to go through that. so colin and dennis were sent to ireland, to stay with some relatives. 

colin tried to shelter dennis from the truth, but the younger male wasn’t a fool, he knew what was going on. and he was terrified. but he tried his best to remain strong, and then, they got the call about the battle. which led to about the only real fight he and colin ever had, and before he knew it dennis was being left behind. 

underaged, stubborn, and wanting to help, dennis set out to reach hogwarts. and eventually he made it, but by then it was over. and by then, colin was dead. and harry was dead. and so many people were dead, and suddenly dennis collapsed- overcome with grief.

what happened next was a complete blur, but he found his way home and broke the news to his parents. and they grieved for colin, and dennis felt like his life was over. colin was dead- his brother, his best friend, the most important person in his life was dead. 

but with the encouragement of his parents, he was able to return to hogwarts where he was allowed to continue with his classmates, as long as he studied the previous years material in his free time. and suddenly, his life became studying. all he did was study

and then, one of his dorm mates suggested that he take his camera to the quidditch match. and despite every bone in his body telling him not to, he did it. and to his surprise, dennis discovered that he loved photography. and while he had a ways to go, he was slowly on the way to recovery.

sometime around the end of his fifth year, dennis allowed himself to begin moving on and he found a new group of friends and he even started dating someone (wc below). and things were great.

and when time came for dennis to finish hogwarts, he left happy, and ready to take on the world. he accepted a position at the daily prophet and he’s loved every moment of it. 

sometime in here he came up with the idea for his podcast titled a new history of magic in which he talks about figures of the second wizarding war alongside his co-host hazel graves. it’s his pride and joy, he devotes hours to researching his subjects.

and for a while, everything was great. but then the rumors of war started to spread, and dennis found himself returning to the darkest period in his life. but unlike before, he didn’t fall apart. he stood tall, and he told himself that he was ready to fight alongside his fellow D.A. members.

and then he was attacked on halloween, and subsequently cursed with lycanthropy. this is a relatively new thing, he hasn’t even had his first full moon. needless to say, he’s having a crisis. it’ll be a while before he learns to accept this new reality. 

this is a mess and i will hopefully edit it later to make everything more concise/write a more detailed background but for now, enjoy dennis !!

fun facts:

dennis has always had a big sweet tooth, but it grew larger once he heard about all the magical sweets the wizarding world had to offer. he bought one of everything on the hogwarts express and spent a good part of the ride trying each one, even going as far as ranking them. his favorite being bertie bott’s every flavor beans, theres just something about them that never fails to make him smile. he has also kept every chocolate frog card he’s ever received.

during his time at hogwarts, dennis was a very dedicated student- earning top marks in nearly every subject. yet, people always seemed to think he wasn’t that bright, it didn’t help that he never bothered to correct them. in fact, it wasn’t until his fifth year that he finally learned that he didn’t need to hide how smart he was. 

before colin’s death, dennis had never tried to take a picture. he had always considered photography to be colin’s thing. but he soon discovered a love for it, and a natural talent as many would claim. he even decided to pursue it as a career.

he has a podcast alongside hazel graves called a new history of magic, which talks about various figures of the second wizarding war as well as some favorites like moaning myrtle. it’s his pride and joy, and he spends a lot of time researching his subjects. 

he has always maintained a strong love of muggle culture- in particular music and movies. he will take an opportunity he gets to share it with his friends that grew up in the wizarding world. he especially loves showing the star wars movies to people. he also owns a record player that he uses frequently. 

while his father taught him to drive and he does hold a license, his preferred method of transportation is the bicycle that he uses to get around muggle london. when he’s in the wizarding world, he uses the standard means of transporation.

he has a tik tok, which he made to watch content. but somewhere along the line he started to create his own content and i like to think he has a somewhat decent sized following, despite his odd content. 

he loves loves loves comic books and he has often thought about why there aren’t any wizarding comic books, he thinks that should change asap!! his favorite comics are the spider-man ones.

pinterest board: (x)

playlist: kodachrome - paul simon, thistle & weeds - mumford & sons, go your own way - fleetwood mac, losing my religion - r.e.m., i’m just a kid - simple plan, hold on - wilson philips, carry on wayward son - kansas, 

wanted connections: 

DENNIS CREEVEY ( michael cimino ) is looking for their EX-BOYFRIEND who resembles LUCAS WONG, FROY GUTIERREZ, OMAR AYUSO, DIEGO TINOCO, KHYLIN RHAMBO, QUINCY FOUSE, VERNON, OTTO FARRANT, ANY MALE OR MALE ALIGNED NB FC and should be 19-21. applicants do have to contact MAEVE to talk over the details before applying.   (   dennis has had one serious relationship in his life- during his sixth and seventh years of hogwarts (the exact time can be discussed). he was still struggling to find himself, to put together the pieces. but things were looking up, and for the first time he was feeling like himself again. and he opened up, he allowed himself to love. and while it lasted- it was great, amazing really. he forgot how to breathe. and then it was over, and dennis found himself struggling to cope. how the relationship ended, is the reason i’m requesting to be contacted! my thoughts are they broke up amicably because their post-hogwarts plans were taking them in opposite directions and dennis just wasn’t able to handle it. or maybe they had a falling out, truly, i’m open for anything and that’s why i think this needs some discussion! as well as discussing what things are like for them now.    )

DENNIS CREEVEY ( michael cimino ) is looking for their WORK PARTNER who resembles UTP and should be UTP. applicants  do not have to contact MAEVE to talk over the details before applying.   (   dennis is a photographer for the daily prophet, meaning your character would be a reporter. essentially i was thinking they could often be paired on work assignments since they work well together. i don’t have much past that, but i think it could be fun if they didn’t get along whatsoever or they could be friends! really i’m not picky, i just thought this would be fun.  )

DENNIS CREEVEY ( michael cimino ) is looking for their OLDEST FRIEND who resembles SHAMIR BAILEY, CENGIZ AL, ASA BUTTERFIELD, JADEN SMITH, KIERNAN SHIPKA, ANYA CHALOTRA, CHINA ANNE MCCLAIN, UTP and should be 19-21. applicants do not have to contact MAEVE to talk over the details before applying.   (   this one is pretty straight forward- your character is dennis’ longest and oldest friend- apart from colin. i have this idea of them meeting on the train and immediately clicking- perhaps they could’ve alerted hagrid to dennis falling in the lake! what matters is they’re thick and thieves, and dennis would have clung to them after colin’s death. their current dynamic is completely up for discussion, i just think this would be fun! )

DENNIS CREEVEY ( michael cimino ) is looking for their FLINGS (PAST & CURRENT) who resembles FROY GUTIERREZ, LUCAS WONG, OMAR AYUSO, JUSTICE SMITH, SURAJ SHARMA, TOM HOLLAND, MIGUEL BERNARDEAU, ANY MALE OR MALE ALIGNED NB FC  and should be 19-24. applicants do not have to contact MAEVE to talk over the details before applying.   ( i couldn’t write up wanted connections without including some sort of fling. dennis has had one serious relationship, and he’s never been anxious to get into another. so instead he’s turned to flings to fill his need for emotional and physical support. depending on how he’s feeling i could see these lasting from a few days to upwards of a month?? and maybe it’s reoccuring i don’t know !! let’s go wild )

DENNIS CREEVEY ( michael cimino ) is looking for their WILL THEY WON’T THEY who resembles JUSTICE SMITH, FROY GUTIERREZ, DIEGO TINOCO,  LUKA SABBAT, RYAN POTTER, OTTO FARRANT, ANY MALE OR MALE ALIGNED NB FC, and should be 19-24. applicants do have to contact MAEVE to talk over the details before applying.   ( okay, i did hesitate to write this up but ultimately i decided that dennis deserves love !! however- he’s been hurt before and he’s very against forming any sort of attachment. this person would be the one exception, which is p cute in my opinion. i really have a lot of ideas as to how this could go which is why i think discussing it is best ! but think a pair of close friends that everyone assumes are a couple and they’re like no !! but then they’re like “what if” or one of them is so hopelessly in love and the other doesn’t realize. really so much potential for this !! )

#❝ ᴅᴏɴ·ᴛ ᴄᴀʀʀʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅᴇʀs — ⟪ dennis patrick creevey ⟫ #this is kind of a mess but like i needed to get this posted #nox.intro

[all-hail-the-witcher]

every book i had to read for english and why i didn't like any of them

i woke up thinking about this and decided to make this post. for context, i went to public school and was on the honors/ap track for english. i am a firm believer that english teachers ruin books for their students inadvertently. this is my experience:

6th grade language arts

we read three books during 6th grade, bridge to terabithia, the cay, and where the red fern grows. and i had to read a wrinkle in time over the summer which i didn't understand like at all so I'm just gonna skip that one honors english was not a thing until 8th grade where i went to middle school so this was a regular english class and i hated it. it was also a double period class for some reason, so i had an hour and a half of language arts every day. 

it took us half the year to read bridge to terabithia. i am not kidding. that book is like maybe 100 pages and it took us a good 4-5 months. this is because our teacher stopped us every time we got to a pice of figurative language and made us analyze it. every. single. piece. i got so bored that i read ahead and then got in trouble for reading ahead. needless to say, i absolutely detested bridge to terabithia and would not touch it to this day if my life depended on it. 

after bridge to terabithia we read the cay. this took us the rest of the year. the cay is a relatively short book as well so i got bored with this one quickly as well. i really dont remember much about the discussions, but i remember a long one about how the cover was “inaccurate,” which, yes, it was but i dont know if a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds need to spend a week debating that. i think i hated it mostly because, again, we read it for 5 months. 

the last three weeks of the school year, our teacher gave us a book and said “here read this before school ends because we have to read three books a year and we only read 2″ (for context, the other language arts class had read about 5-7 books that year and found it insane that we were “still reading bridge to terabithia”) so i read where the red fern grows. all in all it wasn't a bad book, i did kind of enjoy it, but since i was rushed reading it on top of all my other homework and because it was definitely ahead of my reading comprehension level, it wasn't my favorite.

7th grade language arts

now, a bit of a disclaimer here, this was the year that i was in language arts with the guy i had a crush on and one of my close friends at the time. so, i didn't really pay that much attention to begin with. we read quite a few books in this class, but I'm not sure if i remember all of them. again, this was a double period. 

i think the first book we read was freak the mighty. i remember not liking this book because i felt like i was missing something. there was definitely some kind of metaphor or something in there that i was supposed to get but because i was literally twelve i didn't get it and i didn't find the meaning in it. theres nothing more frustrating than reading a book that you dont understand.

after that I'm pretty sure we read the wave. it was explained to us that the wave is supposed to symbolize how the n*zis came to power and all that stuff, and while we all knew this, i dont think we really Understood it. (probably because we were 12). we all kinda saw it as a joke and thought it was funny. i think that if i read it now i would be like. “well shit this is really interesting” but 12 year old me wanted to make fun of it with the rest of my class. 

i think we read seed folks next. this was another book that just went over all of our heads. its about how a garden changes a whole bunch of peoples lives which is like, super interesting. but none of us got it and were like “lol this is stupid” so much so that we actually stopped reading it. like my teacher stopped having us read it.

I'm fairly certain the last book we read was the miracle worker. a lot of us had had to read parts of it before that class so we were all kinda familiar with it already. i vaguely remember some kind of obnoxious class joke about the book that was probably rude. i remember finding it interesting, but there were so many activities we did about the book that i lost interest. 

8th grade honors reading

this class was A Trip. i liked the teacher, but she was a little out there. its unclear whether she got fired or just didn't come back after that year. i had a lot of fun in her class but it was usually because we all bonded over hating the assigned reading.

i dont remember what order we read the books in and i dont remember if this was all of them, but to the best of my recollection this is what we read

we definitely read romeo and juliet. by the time you're in 8th grade, everyone knows the story of romeo and juliet, so it wasn't like that suspenseful or a surprise or anything. but we had to act the reading out. yes we had to act out romeo and juliet. with burger king crowns. and wrapping paper swords. clearly the teacher was trying to have fun with us, and it was fun fun for awhile but it got old. especially when you got participation points taken off your grade if you didn't read for once of the characters (which is massively unfair because not everyone wants to get up in front of a class in a paper crown holding a wrapping paper tube and read in old english when you're 13 but whatever). 

we also definitely read animal farm. it was another book that went right over our heads (or, mine at least). i didn't actually really understand it until i had to read the communist manifesto for ap euro senior year. and our teacher talked in a bad russain accent the entire time? i could barely keep the characters straight, let alone analyze the underlying message and all that. now i might actually like it since I'm a history major and have a decent background on the russian revolution, but at 13? no thanks.

the one book that everyone hated (including the teacher herself) was farewell to manzanar. it was a memoir about a young girl growing up in the japanese internment camps and looking back on her life and stuff like that. the story itself was very interesting and we all learned a lot from it. but the person who wrote it did not know how to write. it was confusing, some chapters made no sense, and none of us generally knew what was going on. we had to finish the book because we were the honors class, but the regular class got to stop after chapter 6. 

i think we only read 4 books that year and the fourth one was the outsiders. this was one of two books that i actually liked the entirely of my public school education. i kinda vibed with it when we were reading it and then i vibes with it more once i got to high school and rediscovered it. it was just a good book, pretty solid, good themes, fantastic. 

9th grade honors english

i absolutely hated this class. hands down the worst teacher i ever had. she was one of those that should have retired 20 years ago but was still teaching for some reason. and she hated kids. legitimately. that was the first time i got a c and it took my parents a long time to realize that it wasn't because of me, it was because the teacher was absolute shit. the only thing that made that class bearable was the fact that my friend was in there and so was this guy that totally like her so he would flirt with her pretty incessantly and it was Hilarious. 

we read so many books that year and i hated all of them. a lot of them were like greek dramas and plays? like we read oedipus rex and julius caesar and antigone. and i hated all of them because the teacher made me hate reading and made it seem like a chore. 

by far the worst was the old man and the sea. i hated that book, hemingway was terrible. i struggled to find any kind of meaning in it and connected all of my responses to the bible because my teacher loved it when people did that.

we read inherit the wind and to kill a mockingbird and all quiet on the western front which were the only books i found remotely interesting. but i still hated them because i knew that we would have to do her reading quizzes which were impossible so it was pointless to read the book anyway. 

and we also read a raisin in the sun. i dont remember what this was even about except that there was some kind of insurance money involved. but by this point we were all really done with our teachers shit and my one friend legitimately said during class “but, ms. [name] if you put a raisin in the sun, doesn't it just get more raisiny?”

10th grade ap english language and composition (american lit)

i loved this class and the teacher but i hated all the assigned reading because we read it for the ap test. everything you read was in the context of having to find themes and shit to write about on the ap. so i didn't really get any of the books for that reason. i think we only read three and they were the scarlet letter, the crucible, and the great gatsby. i kind wish i paid more attention to gatsby and i think i would like it more now but at the time i detested it. we also had to read grapes of wrath over the summer and i hated that. i wanna read books to read them, not to come into school and write essays on them. also the ending was weird and i hated it.

11th grade honors (british lit)

another bad year of english, not quite as bad as freshman year, but still bad. still hated it. i outlined many fics in that class. the teacher did not like me and i did not like her. she also talked in this weird fake almost british but not quite accent that sometimes still haunts my nightmares. she was also one of those backwards feminists who claims they're a feminist but still was sexist in her favorites and the way that she treated people in the class?? after english i had math and my friend (the same girl who said the thing about raisins freshman year) and some others would complain to our math teacher about our english teacher. math was essentially a support group for english where we would discuss answers to reading checks. 

over the summer we read 1984, which, cool concept (esp right now) but i hated knowing that i had to find some kind of deep meaning in it because i was going to have to write an essay on it as soon as i came back to school.

from there i think we read beowulf which was interesting. i dont know if we actually read the whole thing or just excerpts but again, i hated looking for meaning.

we read a tale of two cities which was like the one book i actually wanted to read because i am a huge fan of the shadow hunters book serieses and will and tessa quote that book all the time. i think if i had read it to read it it would have been better but first, dickens is wordy and weird and second i dont really wanna have to search out symbolism while I'm reading because its required.

we read macbeth, which i just didn't like. idk why. i just kinda thought it was stupid. i dont really have an explanation for this one. i think it was because we read it in the old english and that confused me a lot of the time.

and we read jane eyre. the only thing i remember from jane eyre was “pathetic fallacy” which is where the mood of the scene is reflected in the weather. i dont wanna dissect a book like that. and also my teacher referred to the book as “jane” but she said it “jAAYYneeE” which was annoying. 

12th grade ap lit

dear god. this class. i had issues with this class. our teacher was something. everyone was afraid of him. e v e r y o n e. he ran detention and didn't know how to match his clothes and wore skinny ties. he had three swell bottles the he would bring with him to school every day. people claimed he used to be in a rock band and that was why his voice was so high pitched and weird. some said his wife left him, others said he had a kid. we were genuinely confused by him. he didn't teach, he yelled at you for doing things wrong without giving any instructions on how he actually wanted it done. he made college out to be some big scary thing where we would all be trampled. but mostly, he was an existentialist. 

we had to read song of solomon over the summer. i hated it. i didn't hate it because of the messages and all that stuff, no the book itself was good and toni morrison is a great author. i just hated the fact that there was graphic description of incest, necrophilia, or sex at least once every 5-10 pages. i didn't wanna read that. and it turned me off the book. so when he asked us if we liked the book when the year started i said no and i argued with him about it. and he hated me for the entire year. 

next i think we read waiting for godot. which was absolutely terrible. its literally a play where nothing happens. it would have been funny except that i knew i was gonna have to write an essay on it. how do you write an essay on a play where nothing happens? literally all of our discussions about it were about existentialism and it was terrible. 

we read the metamorphosis, which everyone hated cause it could have been written in like 4 sentences. and our teacher thought he was So Clever for assigning it to us. he thought it was the biggest joke. and he went on and on about how its about existentialism and blah blah. the book would have been funny had he not only discussed it in regards to existentialism. 

i think next was hamlet. i would have like hamlet had we not discussed it only through the lens of existentialism. its a good play, but i hated it because of the way he talked about it. even now, i only like it to make fun of the way he liked it. my friend and i send hamlet memes to each other all the time but only cause they remind us of our teacher.

one flew over the cuckoos nest. the second and final book that i actually liked my entirety of school. i dont know why i liked it, but it was just a good book. our teacher also had some kind of weird cowboy trope thing that he thought mcmurphy fell under which i thought was hilarious. the essay i wrote on that book was the only one he wrote “nice job” on and i still have it somewhere

my friend claims that we also read the stranger. i dont really remember what that book was about except some guy shot some people. there was definitely something in it that i didnt get. 

anyway in conclusion required reading ruins books. when i told my creative writing advisor that i out of all the books i read for school i only like the outsiders and one flew over the cuckoos nest she was like “yeah, english teachers really ruin books for students”

#this is a very long post #saph screams #english #books n shit #english teachers are so hit or miss #and even if they're good teachers #that doesn't mean that you'll like the books

[emmerrr]

heyyyy if you wanna write a pynch vday fic, how about one where they're like... both trying to be sneaky about planning sth for valentines day and so both think the other has forgotten about it and they're both like ://// but it all uhh works out in the end?? x

what a top notch suggestion, absoLUTELY i can write that 💕💕 (uhh heads up this got kinda long, i’ll put it on ao3 too and reblog with a link later)

-

Adam sat alone in a corner booth of Nino’s, History notes open on the table before him. He’d written VALENTINE’S DAY?? in the margin, underlined three times. He frowned at the words, wondering why he was fixating on them, and turned his head to stare listlessly out of the window instead.

Blue was there working, but she’d been too busy to come and say hello so far, simply offering him a harried wave when she spotted him walk in, pointing him towards the table he was now seated at. The other staff at Nino’s never bothered them anymore, knowing Blue would cover their table. Adam had heard them being referred to as “Blue’s Boys” on more than one occasion.

He was currently the only one there, having beaten Henry and Gansey out of the school gates. He assumed they’d got held up by a traffic light or two, and Ronan had further to drive than the rest of them so would likely arrive last anyway.

Thinking of Ronan immediately returned Adam’s thoughts to the words written in his notes and he scowled at the parking lot. On the surface, Valentine’s Day didn’t seem like it would be Ronan’s thing. Adam wasn’t even particularly sure it was his thing. But the fact remained that Valentine’s Day was a week away, and Adam didn’t know what, if anything, he was expected to do for it.

He tried to think back to previous years and remembered receiving an anonymous card from someone back in the seventh grade; a generic heart-shaped thing that simply said ‘Will you be my Valentine? x’ inside. He was fairly certain the sender was a girl in his English class who had never said a word to him but blushed every time she caught his eye. Adam didn’t see how he was supposed to answer whether or not he’d be her Valentine if she never told him she had sent it. And of course, she never owned up, and he didn’t want to suggest it was her in case he was wrong, and he didn’t actually want to be her Valentine anyway. So it was never mentioned again.

The difference here was that Ronan was his actual boyfriend. Didn’t that mean that they were each other’s Valentines by default, then?

Adam didn’t know. He’d never navigated Valentine’s Day before. Not like this.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t hear Henry and Gansey approach until they were right there.

“Oh, History notes,” Henry exclaimed. “Can I borrow them?”

Adam turned his head to see Henry already sliding the notebook towards him. “Your notes are always make more sense than mi—” Henry cut himself off, eyes widening at something on the page. Too late Adam remembered the VALENTINE’S DAY?? in the margin and slapped his hand over it, snatching back his notebook.

Henry was grinning at him. “Big plans?”

“No,” Adam muttered. “No plans at all.” He stuffed the notebook into his messenger bag.

Gansey had slid into the booth opposite Adam and watched the exchange with raised eyebrows. “What have I missed?”

“Nothing, apparently,” Henry said easily. Adam was grateful that Henry clearly wasn’t going to push it (at least not with an audience), but reasoned he could perhaps use some advice.

“So,” he started. “Valentine’s Day. Thoughts?”

“I’m glad you asked, Parrish,” Gansey said. “It was originally a Western Christian feast day honouring a couple of early saints called Valentinius—”

“Yes, thank you, Captain Wikipedia,” Henry cut in. “I’m not entirely sure that’s what he meant.”

A jug of Iced Tea was plonked onto the table without ceremony and they all looked up to Blue Sargent as she handed out glasses.

“It’s a dumb holiday invented by Hallmark to sell more cards,” she said, obviously having heard the tail-end of the conversation.

“Well, obviously there’s that too,” Gansey said, beaming at her. 

Adam sighed. They were all monumentally unhelpful. 

“Why the interest, Adam?” Blue asked, a knowing glint in her eye.

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “I’m just…okay, with Ronan, do I just treat it like any other day? Do I get him a card? Will he think it’s stupid? Do I think it’s stupid?”

There was a short silence as the three of them blinked back at him, and then Blue carefully said, “Do you think it’s stupid?” 

Adam wasn’t sure how to answer that. The truth was that he sort of did think it was stupid, but he also thought he wanted to acknowledge it anyway. He thought doing nothing at all kind of made him look like an asshole.

In the end, it all circled back to Ronan, and whether he would care. Did he have anything planned? Was he having an internal crisis over it as well?

In lieu of an answer, Adam shrugged again.

“Speak of the devil,” Henry said, and nodded towards the entrance.

Ronan, dressed all in black (of course), had just stepped inside. He scanned the restaurant without turning his head but when he spotted Adam, his shoulders relaxed, and he smiled just a little.

Adam didn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing that.

“Oh god, you two are the worst,” Blue scoffed as Ronan started to make his way over.

“What?” Adam said without looking at her.

“You know exactly what, Adam Parrish. You and Ronan with the googly eyes. Jesus Christ, you’re in public. Tone it down.”

“You tone it down,” Ronan said jovially, hip-checking Blue as he drew level. “What are we talking about?”

“The origins of Valentine’s Day,” Gansey said delicately.

Ronan snorted derisively. “Valentine’s Day,” he said with as much scorn as he could muster, “is capitalistic bullshit invented to sell cards and flowers and chocolate.”

“Hey man, that’s exactly what I said,” Blue said, sounding pleased, and she and Ronan fist-bumped. Adam rolled his eyes. They really were two sides of the same coin.

“You’re in my seat, Cheng,” Ronan said.

“Sit by Gansey, I was here first.”

Ronan shrugged. “Fair’s fair.” He stepped up onto the seat and over Henry and squeezed into the spot between him and Adam.

“Ronan Lynch,” Gansey hissed. “You’ll get us kicked out!”

“Calm down, Dick, no one noticed,” Ronan said. He had both arms stretched out across the back of the booth, and Adam and Henry were both leaning into him a little thanks to the lack of space.

“This is cozy,” Henry said cheerfully.

It was Blue’s turn to roll her eyes and she pulled her little notepad out of her apron pocket. “Alright, I have to actually do my job now, what do you want? Gansey, I’m assuming you want your usual half-avocado monstrosity?”

“You’re a millennial, Blue, you’re supposed to like avocados.”

Her disgusted expression was answer enough. The rest of them rattled off their food order and then Blue went off to put it through.

“Doesn’t anyone want to come and sit by me?” Gansey asked. “It’s lonely over here.”

“Oh, don’t pull that face, Gansey, you’re making me sad,” Henry said, swapping sides. He scooched right the way over to Gansey and draped an arm around his shoulder before sighing loftily. “It’s hard being this popular.”

“But someone has to do it,” Adam said drily, earning him a quicksilver smile.

“And I do it so well.”

Ronan was stopping at Adam’s for the night, but they had each come to Nino’s in their own cars so separated in the parking lot to drive over to St Agnes in a convoy.

Ronan was already peeling out of the lot by the time Adam reached his shitbox, and he was held up further by Henry calling his name. He turned and Henry jogged over, Gansey nowhere to be seen and most likely still inside saying goodbye to Blue.

“Oh, sorry,” Adam said. “You wanted my History notes, right?”

“No, that’s not — well, yeah, actually, thank you,” he said, taking them when Adam handed them over. “I actually came over here to give you some unsolicited advice.”

“About the Valentine’s Day thing?”

“That’s the one.”

Adam shrugged. “It’s not entirely unsolicited. But anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore. You heard him.”

“Yeah, I heard him. Sounds like posturing to me.”

Adam tilted his head to the side. “You think?” Ronan certainly was prone to posturing.

“Sure. I mean, I have no doubt that he really does think Valentine’s Day is what he said in there, but I wouldn’t let that put you off doing something, if you wanted to.” Henry waited for a response, and when Adam didn’t offer one, he prompted, “You do want to, don’t you?”

Adam smiled wryly. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only if you know what to look for,” Henry said, but before Adam could think on that too much, he continued. “Look, I don’t know Ronan as well as you do, but even from the outside, it’s clear how he feels about you.”

Feeling himself blush, Adam immediately looked down at the ground. He did know how Ronan felt about him. It was often whispered to him in the middle of the night when it felt like they were the only two people in the world. It just took him off guard to hear it so plainly from someone else.

“Think about it, Adam. Regardless of how Ronan personally feels about what Valentine’s Day stands for, do you really think he’s going to let a day when he’s practically green-lit to be as obnoxious as possible about you just pass him by?” Henry shook his head. “Not the Ronan Lynch I know.”

Well, when it was put that way. “Did he say something to you? Do you know something?”

“Not a thing,” Henry said, and Adam believed him. “It’s just an observation and an educated guess.”

“Huh,” Adam said thoughtfully. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and tossed them in the air, catching them again, ideas already forming in his head. If Ronan was going to be obnoxious, Adam could be obnoxious too. “Thanks, Henry. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t lose my notes.”

“I will try my level best.”

Adam gave himself three rules for Ronan’s Valentine’s gift:

1) It had to be heartfelt.

2) It also had to be in good humour and not take itself too seriously.

3) It had to be cheap.

He was too sensible to spend money he didn’t have on some arbitrary gift Ronan wouldn’t appreciate. Not to mention that Ronan was impossible enough to buy for as it was; firstly he was rich enough to buy himself pretty much anything he might want, and secondly he could literally manifest his dreams. It was going to make future birthdays and Christmas’s an absolute nightmare.

(But what a wonderful problem to have.)

What it all basically meant was that Adam had to go homemade, and given that he had school and work (and Ronan) to work around, he didn’t have a whole lot of time to do it.

He borrowed Gansey’s laptop during lunch-break on Monday at Aglionby and made Ronan a mix-CD of the cheesiest love songs he could think of. It featured such classics as You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oates, Heaven by Bryan Adams, True by Spandau Ballet, and many, many more. It wasn’t even remotely Ronan’s kind of music which made it funny, but as embarrassing as some of the songs might have been, they did actually somewhat echo Adam’s own feelings. He got to be a sap in the guise of it being a joke, and Ronan would get a kick out of it.

Obviously, he also added the Murder Squash Song for good measure.

Next up was a card. He could have bought one — his budget would have allowed it — but all the store ones were godawful and Adam couldn’t even imagine giving one of them to Ronan ironically.

Luckily he had an ace up his sleeve.

The first time that Ronan had stayed over at Adam’s after they were together in the very early days of their relationship, Adam had woken up to a frozen Ronan with a handful of strangely lovely flowers, the exact shade of blue as Adam’s eyes.

Adam had kept them in a cheap vase on the windowsill until they died, but unbeknownst to Ronan, he’d also taken one and pressed it to make a little print; his own private memento.

He was obviously keeping the original for himself, but he took it into the school library a couple of days before Valentine’s Day and scanned it, printing it out on some high quality photo card he’d ‘acquired’ from one of the Art rooms.

Once the ink was dry, he folded it down the middle as carefully as possible and put it inside his heaviest textbook to keep it folded and flat until he got it home.

He spent longer than probably necessary trying to decide what to write, but in the end, he went with:

Ronan,

I think maybe it was always you. I think it always will be. Happy Valentine’s Day (gross).

Love, Adam x

He didn’t have a nice envelope to put it in, so it had to go in a bigger manila one that Adam still had lying around. He slipped both the card and the CD inside, and wrote Ronan’s name in capitals on the outside.

He looked at his offering. It somehow didn’t seem enough.

Valentine’s Day was on Thursday, so on Wednesday— after school but before a shift at Boyd’s— Adam found himself in the kitchen of 300 Fox Way. He’d bought everything he needed to make chocolate brownies before he’d realised he didn’t have a tin in which to cook them in. He was also severely lacking in several other kitchen utensils, to be honest. One panicked phone-call to Blue later, and he had everything he needed and a helping hand.

Well, ‘helping’ was a strong word.

“Why brownies?” Blue asked from where she sat perched on the kitchen table.

“Because brownies are the best,” Adam said, frowning at the recipe he had printed out.

“Alright, can’t argue with that,” Blue said reasonably.

Adam was aware of her watching him while he slowly got out everything he needed and started weighing out ingredients. He felt unreasonably nervous about it, even though he knew that provided he followed the recipe, everything would be fine. Baking was a science, after all, and Adam was good at science.

But looking at it all now with Blue scrutinising his every move, he felt flustered and unmoored.

“I thought you were going to help,” he said pointedly.

“I am helping. I’m supervising,” Blue said.

Adam smiled at that. “I see. Are you the kind of supervisor who can grease this tin for me?”

“I suppose so,” Blue said loftily as she launched herself off the table.

Blue started chattering away after that which helped Adam calm down and focus on what he was doing, and it didn’t take long to make the mixture after that. Adam tilted the pan while Blue used a wooden spoon to scrape the mixture out and into the brownie tin.

After that, they just had to put it in the oven and wait.

Blue brewed up some of Maura’s least offensive tea as they sat and waited, and Adam finally asked what he’d been dying to all week.

“Do you know if Ronan has anything planned?”

Blue smiled and shook her head. “Honestly, Adam, I have absolutely no idea. He hasn’t said a word. I’ve barely seen him though, and never really without you there.” She shrugged. “If he’s got a plan he’s keeping it close to his chest.”

Adam nodded; he’d assumed as much. “I just want to know if I’m doing too much, or not doing enough? I dunno, it’s stupid. It’s only Valentine’s Day.”

“Yeah, but it’s your first Valentine’s Day together,” Blue said, not unkindly. “I get it.”

“What are you and Gansey doing?” 

“I made him a card and found him a couple of ‘slovenly’ t-shirts at the thrift store. I’m gonna hazard a guess that he’s getting me flowers, and he told me to keep the evening free so he’s probably taking me somewhere. Wherever it is, it better not be expensive.”

Adam grinned. “Maybe it’s Nino’s.”

“God, don’t even joke, I’d murder him. Again.”

He started to laugh, and after a couple of seconds Blue joined in. When it died down, Blue put her hand on his arm.

“Don’t overthink it, Adam. Ronan will love whatever you give him, because you’re the one it’s coming from. It’s not about the gifts you get or the meal you have or how much money you spend. I think it’s more about the gesture. That’s what’ll mean the most to Ronan.”

Adam managed a small smile. “I hope you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” Blue opened a drawer and gasped, then pulled out a heart-shaped cookie cutter. “Oh my God, Adam, you have to.”

She held out the cookie-cutter towards him and he took it, sighing. “Really?”

“Yes! This way, they’ll all be exactly the same size and I get to eat all the cut-offs. Y’know, as my fee for helping.”

And that’s how Adam ended up with nine perfect little heart-shaped brownies.

Adam didn’t see Ronan that night, thanks to finishing late at Boyd’s and then having homework after. 

When he woke up in the morning, he was hit by the realisation that he and Ronan hadn’t even arranged to see each other that day at all.

He half expected Ronan to show up at St Agnes unannounced with a bouquet of dream flowers and some donuts or something. But that didn’t happen, and Adam slowly packed his messenger bag for school, remembering to include the Tupperware of Valentine’s brownies and the envelope with its enclosed card and CD.

He wasn’t sure when he’d be able to give them to Ronan, but it was better to be prepared.

Adam walked down to his car, scanning the parking lot and the street to see if there was any sign of a shark-nosed BMW. But there was nothing, and there was nothing on the way to school, and Adam made it all the way through to lunch without seeing or hearing from Ronan.

Obviously, he had no phone, and Ronan hated his own phone. But Gansey had a phone, and Ronan could have got in touch that way if he had felt so inclined.

Adam didn’t know what he’d been expecting; that Ronan would show up at the Aglionby gates with a boombox over his head blasting out Lionel Richie songs? That he’d get back to his car after school and find out his favourite hooligan had broken in and left him a giant teddy bear and a box of chocolates?

It all seemed stupid now, and Valentine’s Day was stupid, and Adam was irritated that he’d let the pressures of the day get to him. It didn’t matter. It was a meaningless day.

So why did he feel so deflated?

At the end of the day, he caved and asked to borrow Gansey’s phone.

First, he sent a text that said: it’s adam, i’m about to call you so answer the phone

He gave it a minute until he’d seen that Ronan had read the message, and then pressed the call button.

“Parrish,” Ronan said in lieu of a hello.

All at once, like always, Adam was happy to hear Ronan’s voice. And yet he still couldn’t quite shake his irritation, even though the one who’d got his hopes up was himself.

“Hey,” he replied. “Listen, were you planning on coming over tonight?”

“Nope.” It was a little difficult to tell, but Adam thought Ronan’s tone was just a little off. “You come here.”

Adam sighed. “Ronan, I have school tomorrow so I wouldn’t even be able to stay that late. Can’t you just come here?”

There was a long pause. “Opal wants to see you.”

“So bring her with you.”

“Are you kidding, Parrish, she’s filthy. She’ll mess up the interior.”

The BMW wasn’t exactly spotless inside so this seemed a flimsy excuse. Adam started to wonder whether Ronan even wanted to see him at all.

“If you don’t want to see me today that’s fine,” he said, tone clipped.

“I didn’t say that,” Ronan said, tone just as clipped.

It felt like they were heading for a fight. Adam didn’t want to fight. He wanted to give Ronan the stupid sentimental CD he’d made. He wanted Ronan to make fun of him for the brownies. He wanted a hug.

Adam was abruptly exhausted, and it didn’t matter that he’d gone to the effort and Ronan hadn’t. He just wanted to see him.

“Okay,” he said. “I’m gonna go home and shower but then I’ll head over to you.”

“Okay, good. See you in a bit,” Ronan said, and hung up.

The sun was down by the time Adam pulled up at the Barns. The heating in Adam’s car was dodgy enough on a good today, and today wasn’t a good day. It had barely come on, so his hands were like ice as he got out of the car.

He walked straight in when he got there and made his way to the kitchen. He hovered in the doorway; Ronan’s back was to him, a tea towel strewn over one shoulder, straining pasta over the sink.

Adam rapped his knuckles against the door-frame and Ronan turned around.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Adam replied. “You cooked?”

Ronan shrugged. “It’s just spaghetti.” He gestured to Adam’s messenger bag. “You brought homework with you?”

All that was in the bag was the Valentine’s gifts for Ronan, and he shook his head. “Nope.”

“Okay,” Ronan said with another shrug. “Sit. Let’s eat, I’m starving.”

Adam pulled himself a chair out, and it scraped against the floor noisily in the otherwise quiet. He waited for Ronan to finish serving up and then asked, “Where’s Opal?”

“No idea. Haven’t seen her since this afternoon.”

Adam took a bite of his food. It was good. “I thought you said she wanted to see me.”

“She always wants to see you,” Ronan said smoothly. “I’m sure she’ll turn up when she spots your car.”

They finished eating in near silence, Adam waiting for Ronan to say something— anything— to acknowledge the day. But he didn’t, and the longer the silence dragged, the harder it seemed to break it.

Adam started towards the sink to do the washing up afterwards, but Ronan stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Just leave it, Parrish.”

“But—”

“Leave them. I’ll do them in the morning.” 

Adam sighed, uncomfortable in the tension. He didn’t know what to do now. Did Ronan just want him to leave? And if so, why had he told him to come in the first place?

“Look, do you know what day it is?” Adam asked, unable to take it any longer.

“It’s Thursday,” Ronan said, chin jutted out, arms crossed. Adam glared; Ronan clearly knew exactly what day it was.

“Okay, great,” Adam said tiredly. He opened his bag and pulled out the Tupperware and the envelope. “Happy Valentine’s Day, I guess.”

He put them on the table and stepped away, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. He watched Ronan’s face, the expression on which had softened immediately. He looked to Adam, stricken.

“Parrish, I—”

“It’s fine, Ronan, just open them.”

Ronan snapped his mouth shut, and pulled the envelope over to him. Adam immediately felt self-conscious about his meagre homemade gifts.

“It’s not much,” he said quickly.

Ronan’s only response to this was a slight furrow in his brow. Then he took the CD out, quirking a smile at Adam’s inscription: LYNCH’S CHEESY LOVE SONG SINGALONG. It was surrounded by lots of hand drawn love-hearts that Adam now thought seemed excessive.

Ronan looked up and raised an eyebrow at Adam, a half-smirk on his face. “No track-list, Parrish?”

“It’s a surprise,” Adam said, smiling weakly, but relieved. “You’ll have to play it to find out.”

“I’ll do that,” he said with a sage nod. He put the CD down and reached for the Tupperware, pulling the lid off and tossing it aside. He looked inside and snorted. “You’ve really stuck with a theme here, huh, Parrish?”

“Hey, Valentine’s Day is all about the hearts, apparently. And to be fair, the heart-shaped brownies are Blue’s fault. She found a cookie-cutter and insisted.”

“She knew about this?” Ronan said.

“Yeah, she helped me make them.”

“That little sneak...” Ronan trailed off and let out a sharp laugh. “I asked her if she knew whether or not you were doing something, and she swore blind she had no idea.”

Adam thought about asking why Ronan had even wanted to know, but instead he pointed at the envelope. “There’s a card in there, as well.”

“In here?” Ronan turned the envelope upside down and the card slipped out into his hand. Adam watched as he took in the flower on the front, smiled a little, then did a double-take, glancing at Adam. “Hold on. Is this what I think it is?”

Adam rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. I, uh, I pressed one, before they all died. I wanted to keep it, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Ronan said, something akin to awe in his voice. “I dream about them all the time.” He opened the card and read what Adam had written there, then dropped his face into his hands. 

“Parrish...” he mumbled. “I feel like a fucking asshole.”

Adam went over and gently pulled the card out of Ronan’s hand, sitting down on Ronan’s lap. Ronan’s arms circled his waist automatically and he tucked his face into Adam’s neck.

“You are a fucking asshole, Lynch. I love you anyway.”

Ronan grumbled something incoherently against Adam’s skin, and Adam smiled. “What was that?”

Ronan lifted his head so he could be heard. “I said I love you right back.”

“Good,” Adam said.

“I thought you’d forgotten. And I didn’t...I didn’t want a big deal, and this day is a fucking joke or whatever, but you didn’t mention anything. And I even thought you might borrow Gansey’s phone and like, text me or something this morning? But then you didn’t and when you finally called me you sounded annoyed and I didn’t know why, and I didn’t even think you wanted to come over. So then you finally got here and you seemed mad, and so I was mad and...I’m sorry. I was here thinking you didn’t give a shit and you made stuff for me?” He hung his head, penitent. “I love my gifts. These lame brownies smell great. I’m fucking sorry, Parrish.”

“Hey.” Adam cupped Ronan’s head in his hands. “It’s fine that you didn’t get me anything. Honestly I think I just let this whole day get into my head as having to mean something when it doesn’t. I don’t need a special day to let you know how I feel. And I’m sorry if I seemed mad. I just didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t mean to make it weird.”

He leaned in and kissed Ronan briefly. “And Lynch, you cooked for me. You made me a whole meal. I’m pretty sure we’re even.” He kissed him again, until Ronan pulled back and covered Adam’s hands with his own.

“Um...you should come with me,” Ronan said, and he almost sounded sheepish.

They stood up and Ronan swiped the mix CD off the table and shoved it in the pocket of his hoodie, before taking Adam’s hand and leading him out the back door.

Confused but intrigued, Adam followed closely behind, clutching tight to Ronan’s fingers. It was cold outside and neither of them had their coats on, which Adam was about to point out when they walked around the corner of the nearest barn and he was rendered speechless by the sight before him.

In the middle of the grass was a small gazebo tent, the base of which was covered in luxurious looking blankets. There was a laptop in the middle of the floor, hooked up to a projector which was pointing at the outer-wall of the barn. A precarious tower of DVDs was piled up next to the laptop; Adam couldn’t see the titles from here but imagined Ronan had assembled a variety of choices. There was a big thermos, contents unknown (coffee? Hot chocolate?), and various other treats; big bags of marshmallows and Hershey’s Kisses and Reese’s Mini Peanut-Butter Cups.

And everywhere, there was light. Ronan’s twinkling little dream lights, some in jars under the gazebo, others hanging in the air, changing colour, like little fireflies.

“Ronan,” Adam finally managed hoarsely. “What the fuck?”

Ronan smirked. “You thought I hadn’t done anything.”

“Uh, yeah, because you let me think that!” Adam said. He was struggling to process how cosy and romantic it all looked. Let it never be said that Ronan Lynch wasn’t an absolute sap.

“I didn’t let you think anything, you jumped to that conclusion all on your own.”

Adam scowled. “Now I feel like a fucking asshole.”

“Don’t,” Ronan said, pressing a kiss to Adam’s temple. “Anyway, this is nothing.”

“It is so far from nothing,” Adam said. He stepped forward and took a turn around, taking everything in as he walked in a slow circle, stopping when he was facing Ronan again. “I thought Valentine’s Day was capitalistic bullshit?”

“Oh, it is,” Ronan said happily. “But for one, I didn’t spend a penny. And two, a whole day where I can spoil you as much as I want to and you don’t get to complain about it? Sign me the fuck up for that.”

Adam burst out laughing. “You’ve just reminded me of something Henry said.”

“What did he say?”

“I told him that I wasn’t sure whether or not you’d do anything because we hadn’t talked about it, and he said, and I quote: ‘do you really think he’s going to let a day when he’s practically green-lit to be as obnoxious as possible about you just pass him by?’”

Ronan was grinning now. “Cheng’s pretty smart.” 

“Yeah,” Adam said. He caught one of the floating lights in his hand and then let it go again. “Just for the record, I think your dreaming abilities give you an unfair advantage when it comes to stuff like this.”

“Excuse you, Parrish, the only thing I dreamt up was the blankets because they’re heated. Oh, and the projector. And the gazebo. But that’s it.”

“‘That’s it’, he says.” Adam rolled his eyes, then accusingly added, “You dreamt up the lights.”

“Well, yeah, but not for this. I already had those. And the food was stuff I already had in the house, and the DVDs are ones I already own. I didn’t want to go overboard.”

Adam stared. “You are ridiculous,” he said, shaking his head. “Come here.”

Ronan went, without question or hesitation, and Adam wrapped his arms around his neck.

“This is the sweetest thing anybody’s ever done for me,” he said softly. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Ronan whispered, kissing a line up Adam’s neck and across his face, the tip of his nose, his forehead, “for the brownies, for what you wrote in the card...Jesus, Adam. It’s the same for me. You know that, right? It’s always you.”  

Adam squeezed tighter, feeling dangerously overcome. He breathed in the familiar, comforting smell of Ronan, and then released his grip. “And for the CD, obviously,” he said.

“Of course,” Ronan said, and smiled sharply. “Speaking of...” He pulled it out of his pocket and walked over to his laptop. “I’ll let you pick a movie in a bit, but first, I wanna listen to my present.”

He popped the CD into the drive and pressed a couple of buttons on the mouse, and a moment later the opening track started to play: I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston.

Ronan laughed, once, soundlessly, then came back over to Adam and held his hand out. 

“Well?” he said when Adam didn’t move. “Are you dancing?”

Adam grinned. “Are you asking?”

“I’m asking.”

“Then I’m dancing.” He took Ronan’s hand and together they swayed, far too slowly for a song this upbeat, but Ronan didn’t seem to mind, and Adam certainly didn’t.

They didn’t speak while they were dancing, both perhaps a little shaken at the near-miss of an argument, both relieved they hadn’t let it get that far. Both content to be in each other’s company, away from prying eyes and expectations.

It was still early days. They were still learning how to do this, navigating firsts and futures and each other, but they were both quick studies, and Adam couldn’t think of anything more worthwhile than building a foundation— and a life— with Ronan.

There were trickier days to come, but for now, they’d survived their first Valentine’s Day as a couple. As they lay curled together in a blanket watching The Princess Bride projected onto the side of a barn, Adam thought he’d have to mark this one down as a win.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Parrish,” Ronan whispered into Adam’s hair.

“Ugh,” Adam said, and kissed him. “Happy Thursday.”

#the raven cycle #pynch #tumblr prompts #lesbianparrish #adamparrishes #trc

[okie-loki-artichoki]

So what's on angsting menu todae?

Can I have permission to angst about Solid Snake today please?? Because I have a delicious all you can eat buffet available about Solid Snake.

A man who was made for no reason other then to fight and fight well and kill without mercy?? Who let that all define him for a while. Who excelled in Foxhound and destroyed Outer Heaven because he was asked and Zanzibar Land because he was asked and then got completely consumed with the pressing and horrible reality of what he was literally made to do. Kill and kill efficiently. He had to be dragged away from his pit of despair to infiltrate shadow moses. But not only was he able to overcome this mindset, i mean granted with alot of okay like admittedly, he spent a good however many years coping POORLY with the weight of what being himself meant, but then he turned all those skills into a force of good. He escaped Shadow Moses. He turned his skills to work for his terms and for goals he believed in.

When he and Otacon found each other (No i wont cry about this right now) they were both absolutely broken people brought together by a completely overwhelming amount of guilt for things neither were responsible for. But they set about fixing it together for the future. Solid snake put himself through literal hell for a future he wouldn’t even get to take part in. By putting trust not only in Otacon, and his empathy and ability to see and do good and force of positive, if not slightly self-deprecating energy,(again not angsting about Hal right now). As his partner and friend. His best friend. His literal only friend? They spent canon nine years together just doing good and doing it together. Solid Snake who was lied to and betrayed by everyone he ever  knew (except Kaz who seems to have been nothing but supportive and honest with him until he was murdered in cold blood, which is something we’ll have to angst about another time also omg) Despite this though, Dave is still able to overcome all of it to put his entire trust in not only Hal but in Philanthropy and a shared and combined want to right the wrongs that their shared history with Metal Gear had caused.

Anon, let me just tell you that when i say Dave deserves the world that is my inner Otacon screaming about how good that he is. How much good he did. How much he cares about the people around him, the things he says to raiden about making your own future and choosing your own identity? The things like that that give you these little glimpses into his hardened heart that show just what an emotional person he is?? That’s Solid Snake. 

Oh god and it breaks my heart when people headcanon him as an unrelenting tough guy?? Like closed off and super macho and like, i dont know. Again maybe this is just my inner Hal crying about it all but like the way i see solid snake, is just David. You know? Sure he may be reserved and quiet but that doesnt mean he isnt an emotional person. He has a huge heart and a huge ability to care and feel emotion and has felt all of it. Like high highs and rock bottom lows and like, we may not see it onscreen but we hear bits and pieces of it all. He drank alot to cope, he was alone for a long time, he has a hard time letting people close and trusting. But he had dogs so he has to be a good person. Like we see it all through the games too like the whole love blooming on the battlefield scene he’s reassuring Hal things will be okay after this. Yes things are dark now, we’re stuck in a government base and things might be falling apart but we have eachother and we’re gonna make it out. Love can bloom even here on the battlefield and youre gonna be okay after this. Hes constantly asking if people are okay. The way he looks after raiden and Hal too in mgs2, like sure he keeps things from Raiden near the end of the game, but i truly belie he wouldn’t have let anything happen to him like he was there two seconds later to give him his things and help him escape. And he went out of his way to see the hostages, and Hal, got off big shell before anything goes down. The entirety of what hes doing to himself in mgs 4 just so no one else has to do it?? To ensure his Philanthropy family his safe? Wow.

The ansgt about Master Miller and Otacon can be on the menu this week, but today we think about solid snake. About everything he went through and how just purely good he is. and in this house we also believe he and Hal healed his broken genes and are living happy on a little farm somewhere or something. Holding hands and just like finally happy and relaxed and theres no more killing just like.. I dont know bad action movies.

#asks #were talking about dave and true love today i hope thats okay #solid snake is one of my absolute faves #solid snake #i made myself sad

[satoshi-mochida]

Some thoughts on my last Gamefly rental, Our World is Ended.

One way you pick choices is interesting. Sometimes it’s like a normal visual novel, but the game also has another way to do it, called ‘Selection of Soul’(SOS), that has the choices go across the screen like NicoNico comments do on videos. For the latter, the game will continue whether you pick any or not, and both kinds increase or decrease character affection with Reiji and the others. Also, not picking a choice for every SOS is required for the trophy that needs you to pick all choices in the game.

Some moments have them do clever things with the character portraits, like when attacking Velovelos, their’s are placed around or behind it to seem like they’re attacking from all sides. It’s not done too often, though.

At times, mainly the early chapters, I felt like I was forcing myself through it because of how annoyed the characters were making me, with the large amount of dumb sexual jokes making it a chore. When things actually starts happening and the dumb ecchi-comedy stuff takes a backseat, it gets better. Especially after a certain, rather intense, event. Chapter 13 brings it back to the forefront, annoyingly, but only for that one.

The story is fairly long, and more like a kinetic novel, and each character has their own ending, including someone not listed here(though their’s is more of a bad ending), but you can’t get them or the True Ending on your first run, since the Normal Ending stops you, making you start from the beginning again(though you can just skip read text at that point to go through faster). Here’s a guide for getting each of their endings.

The game’s artstyle is very good and nice to look at, and each character looks distinctive from each other. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it looks like theres...particles(?) around the character portraits, making anyone who wears black look like they have some kind of spacial effect on their clothes(it’s most noticeable on Deguchi).

Thoughts on the characters:

Reiji, the MC, is tolerable, but still has dumb, pervy thoughts often that hurt the mood, and ends up saying really stupid things, even unprompted. His mouth sometimes starts moving before his brain. He gets better and comes into his own as the game goes on.

Owari is an unashamed perv, though does have times when he acts responsible and respectable...and usually ruins that a few lines later. His ending may rub some people the wrong way.

Iruka can be a loud, annoying chunni, which made me usually skip his dialogue when he makes strange yells, but he means well, and is pretty likable.

Natsumi is just fairly hostile to everyone early on, but does gradually get nicer. Might be a tsundere. Became my favorite after a lot of nice moments with her and...well, read below.

Tatiana can be annoying, but she’s a kid, so it’s mostly tolerable, although she acts younger than a 13 year old. The game likes making annoying lolicon jokes with her, though they’re usually spread out. Her ending, on the other hand, goes all in on them, and is just awful to sit through. It would have been nice if they went for a brother/sister thing with more of their events together, and it would have fit pretty well with her character, but it feels like they had to shoehorn those kinds of jokes in, which ruins some possible good moments like that, but at least there’s a few that aren’t(also, all the male members of J7 are confirmed to not be into that...I think. Knowing Owari, he could just be screwing around).

Yuno is the most immediately likable of J7 and can be an airhead, but there’s more to her than just that that we see later on.

Asano is the butt of a lot of jokes in the game because, unlike her airhead sister and Natsumi, she’s flat, and the game won’t let you forget it. Also, she has a similar hairstyle to Yuno, but with the artstyle and the way it’s drawn, I thought she had a small ponytail until one CG showed that she didn’t.

There’s a bunch of small typos scattered around the game, but they aren’t too distracting.

Early on, the game was very obnoxious with the pervy jokes and constant sexual remarks about the girls, which made going through the dialogue a chore, but once the story actually kicks in, that happens less(though doesn’t go away), and I started to really care about what was happening. If you think you can deal with that for a while to get to the good parts, it might be worth a try. ...I will also admit that, in retrospect, I may have been tired when starting the game, making me get annoyed at it easier. ^^;

I’ve been hinting at it, but before renting this, I had heard about it having a lot of dumb pervy humor, among other things, but where I had heard it from has a history of being...dubious(my phone has that “article recommendation” thing, and it gave me that one). I decided to rent it to see for myself, plus I was already a bit interested, anyway. And it was somewhat accurate, more or less(though I didn’t agree with everything they said, especially some parts that felt like it was intentionally trying to get a reaction from some people). I almost wrote it off and sent it back after seeing those annoying parts in the early chapters, but I’m glad I forced myself through them, since the rest of it was pretty good(aside from most of Chapter 13 and something with Asano, mentioned below). Wish it didn’t feel like a slog getting there, though.

...you’ve probably put 2 and 2 together that I think ecchi humor is annoying and dumb, hurts the mood, ruins potentially good moments, and is not for me by now. I know, I’ve been incredibly subtle about it. =P 

Before sending it back, I listened to the very nice sounding True Ending song, Eternal Days(Working Title) a few times. With the lyrics and context, the song is sad, too. Can’t find a transcript of the lyrics online in English, though.

Next game being sent is: 7′scarlet.

Some spoilers below when I talk about one of the characters, and something about them I really didn’t think worked. Might want to skip if you plan on playing it to form your own opinion on it:

Asano was one of the characters I liked the most for a while...until it gets revealed that she’s a shotacon, and that’s not hyperbole. The game tries to explain and downplay it after a section where she opens up a lot, saying it’s from not feeling safe around adult men because of a creeper relative and former boss, and her line of “it’s less that I like little boys, and more that I’m just not good with adult men”, but yeah...no. Her reactions with Nichol, the character that brings this out in her, are not portrayed that way, from how I saw it. There’s probably a way they could have written her similarly while dropping the shotacon thing, but nope, that’s what we got, greatly hurting her likability for me, though the game does somewhat salvage her for me by the end. It all feels like they just shoehorned in the shotacon parts as a joke(like the lolicon ones weren’t bad enough).

#Our World is Ended #Our World is Ended. #Thoughts on my rentals. #I have a feeling I'll catch some heat for part(s) of this. ^^; #This went through a LOT of rewrites since I started the game.