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queers-gambit · 5 months

Text

Love What You've Done with the Place

song by Rascal Flatts

prompt: he's never been a man built for relationships, until you come into his life. now, the house feels like a home.

pairing: Tangerine x female!reader

fandom masterlist: Bullet Train

word count: 1.8k+

warnings: more brain rot rambles, probably cursing, NOT edited, very docile, fluff, romance, hardened men being simps.

It started with clothes. Just a few, here and there; left behind, forgotten, purposefully stuffed in his dresser for when you stayed the nights. He didn't mind, in fact, Tangerine encouraged you to bring whatever you felt comfortable with leaving since he hated how early you'd leave in the mornings to get ready for work. He found his mornings were peaceful when you were around; neither rushed, both content, starting your days on high notes with each other.

So, he made the decision and found an old sitting-vanity for you. He put it in his bedroom simply because he was fascinated with the hair and make-up process; thinking it was incredible that women had such skill. When he came home about 3 months ago, he noticed your vanity when he first got home from a particularly difficult mission. Your chair was draped in an old university tee shirt, and he smiled.

It was like watching your comfort grow and it warmed something deep in Tangerine's heart. Your make-up wasn't always in a neat array, sometimes just left from a quick touch-up; making the house feel more like a home.

Tangerine also bought a strainer for the shower's drain to catch your hair. He didn't get angry like previous boyfriends did when he found strands of your hair left behind - not on purpose or by some gross standard, but it was natural that hair shed in a shower and not every single strand could be picked up. So, to make life easier, he just quietly bought the hair trap, placed it, removed whatever empty bottles from the shower, and went about his day. But then he started to notice your hair left other places.

His counters, his sink, the floor, your vanity, his bed sheets and pillows.

Tangerine had his issues with possessiveness in the past, but this wasn't remotely similar. No, Tangerine found himself smiling when he would find your hair in his clothes; thinking it was funny, almost like a mark or badge of honor to designate him as yours. It was a brief thought, but Tangerine actually felt giddy by the idea of people just knowing he was off the market 'cause his lady's hair was clung to his suit jackets.

He liked it. He really did. He'd not admit it aloud, but he liked it.

Tangerine wasn't the most humble man in the world, but he certainly liked to flash what was his. Golden jewelry, expensive, tailored suits, shining Italian leather shoes. And now, you, the woman who invaded his heart and head - and now his home. He adored showing you off, feeling affirmed and invigorated by the longing glances men threw your way, and while he expected jealousy from other women, they seemed more impressed by your beauty and grace as well.

He remembers one night, after a several weeks long mission, he just wanted to hold you. His throat was a little choked up when he called you, knowing you were at home after reading an earlier text. So, you rushed over in the middle of the night and he'd yet to let you go home - three days later.

"You've gonna have to let me out of bed sometime," you smiled playfully. "I have work tomorrow - and no, I'm not calling out again."

"C'mon, love, don't leave me alone," he whispered, looking like a beaten down puppy. The mission was much harder than he'd let on, but Lemon usually always filled you in. He thought it was important for you to know certain details that Tangerine was sure to omit, knowing those were the details that haunted him.

"I'll be back after my shift," you promised, nuzzling his nose with your own. "I also need new panties and clean clothes."

He sighed, "Some in there," he pointed to his closet now.

"What?" You giggled.

"You've left enough behind, got a bit of a collection goin', yeah?" He smiled softly, wrapping you back up in his arms. With a sigh, he relented, "I'll let yah go to work, love, just... Need this a bit longer."

You obliged, but the next day, you were gone before he woke up. With a frown, Tangerine dropped back onto the bed - but inhaled deeply when his nose buried into your pillow. He hummed in pleasure, feeling himself brim with contentment, bringing the fluffy item to his chest and nuzzling it; your perfume left behind to soothe him.

Was Tangerine clingy? Oh, for sure! He didn't think so, but you knew better. The contract killer liked you close, liked his hands on you; even if it was just a hand on your waist or a nose near your neck. He missed you when gone, but he usually held himself back from texting you all day - wanting you to be able to focus on your job.

But that day? He was inept, just wanting you; wondering if he paid you the same salary, if you'd consider just staying home. So, he texted you several times.

This obviously threw you off a little, knowing him better than himself most days. But he just missed you, so, you sent a selfie - promising you missed him too and would be home right after work.

He saved the photo and tried not to dwell on how you said you'd "be home" and not "come to his place". He had to take a few moments to calm down, feeling his heart zing with unfamiliarity - but not being afraid of it like he had been when you first started dating. He could recognize he was happy, that he was excited to see you everyday, and that the idea of coming home to you was far too appealing to ignore any longer.

It seemed neither of you needed to actually have an official conversation about living together. Lemon didn't mind, in fact, he was the one who insisted you have your own key; adoring you and whatever affect you had on his emotionally constipated brother. So, some mornings, Tangerine wasn't surprised to find a slightly damp towel left hanging in the bathroom, nor by the make-up on his counter - you using that mirror because of the fluorescent lighting. He never put it back, he didn't move it - he liked seeing it. It meant you were still here, and the idea of it being gone made his stomach knot with anxiety. He also wasn't surprised when he went to use the shampoo you insisted would help his curls flourish (you were right), only to find it damn-near empty. His shower gel, too.

When you came home that evening, you had Target bags in hand; replacing whatever was empty, making Tangerine grin to himself by how in-sync he felt with you. He'd never had a connection such as this, only ever feeling close enough to Lemon, but you changed everything for them both.

How Tangerine ended up with someone courteous was truly beyond either of them. Someone kind, caring, adventurous, sweeter than pie - someone definitely out of Tangerine's league, something he never let himself forget. He adored you to your core - thinking someone such as you should never have gotten tangled up in someone like him, but he knew, if the time ever came, he'd never be able to let you go. In fact, most days, he had to convince himself not to just pick you up and carry you around while he did chores or ran errands.

The very idea of losing you sent his heart into his stomach; hallowing his chest in a harrowing fashion that made it hard to breathe. Just a week or two ago, Lemon found Tangerine in the kitchen, hand to his chest as if he couldn't catch his breath, heaving for air; his worry spiking, but quickly realizing what was wrong.

"Bruv, you've gotta breathe - calm down," he tried to coax. "You're having a panic attack, you've gotta just focus on breathing."

"Fuck off with that!"

"Seriously, man," Lemon insisted, catching Tangerine in a vulnerable state enough that he actually listened without much of a fight. When Tan seemed a little more under control of his own emotions, Lemon asked, "What the hell happened?"

Tangerine shook his head, "Nothing t'worry 'bout - "

"Bullshit," Lemon snapped. "I've never seen yah like that, mate, the fuck happened?"

It was embarrassing, but Tangerine managed to answer, "Just... Just started thinking that if she ever left me, I'd fucking crumble, mate."

This made Lemon frown, "She's not gonna leave you, man. You know that. The girl's madly in love with you, yeah? Like madly in love - like to a degree it makes her stupid in the head, all right? Obviously, you too," he chuckled, shaking his head as he affectionately ran a hand over the back of Tan's head. "You're workin' yourself up, 's all right. You don't have to think about that - ever - 'cause she's it for you, mate. Yeah? Hear me? She ain't goin' nowhere, not without you."

Tangerine needed the assurance. Being alone after having a taste of your love felt impossible to Tan now, something he was never bothered by before. Seriously, why give a fuck about a relationship when he had his brother? Someone who loved him unconditionally and wouldn't leave? And then he met you and understood why people gave fucks about relationships.

It was as if every room you ever entered was brightened up simply by your smile. Your laugh wasn't always the most ladylike, but it was genuine and true and always made Tangerine smile to himself. During any public outing, Tan was always close - we've established this - but he liked to play a small game. One of your love languages was physical touch, so, you liked kissing him if even just for a single second. He was aware of your lipstick, feeling the tacky substance stain his cheek, but he wouldn't wipe it off. His game was to see how long it'd take before someone would point it out; his reputation didn't always warrant others to feel secure enough to speak up. Some nights, Lemon would motion to his cheek, and other nights, you'd return home, remove your make-up, and swipe make-up remover over his cheek to clear the color away.

However, it wasn't often you ventured in public due to Tangerine's innate introverted nature. You went if The Agency made it mandatory or if you were feeling stir crazy, but majority nights, Lemon would find you both lounged on the couch in various positions.

Sometimes, you'd be watching a movie together or binging a show. Other times, you were reading a book while Tangerine poured over paperwork. And once or twice, Lemon's come home to find you belly laughing and playfully scolding Tangerine as he tried to paint your toe nails. It was a homey sight to Lemon: seeing his brother so in love and at ease, hearing your laughter, the entire flat filled with warm smells of burning candles and homemade meals.

It wasn't evident at first, but with you laying in Tangerine's arms, clothes left on the floor, bellies full of whatever meal you had prepared that evening, favorite show playing on the bedroom TV, he realized that he loved what you had done with the place.

requesting rules and masterlist

Bullet Train masterlist

#tangerine #tangerine bullet train #bullet train tangerine #tangerine imagine #tangerine oneshot #tangerine x you #tangerine x reader #tangerine x fem!reader #tangerine x f!reader #tangerine x female!reader #bullet train #bullet train movie #bullet train 2022 #tangerine atj #atj tangerine #atj #atj character

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auras-moonstone · 2 months

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Hiii! Can you do y/n as a beloved princess who meets Ethan and they fall in love but y/n is set to marry a neighbouring prince also could reference the song enchanted by Taylor ☺️

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅ putting roots in my dreamland — ethan landry

ᡣ𐭩 word count: 1.8K

ᡣ𐭩 pairing: florist!ethan landry x princess!fem!reader

ᡣ𐭩 summary: wanting to get away from the reminder of her upcoming marriage, y/n goes to the flower market where she meets a florist who charms her instantly.

ᡣ𐭩 contents/warnings: cheating (kind of.) forced marriage. affair. flowers. royalty. fluff.

ᡣ𐭩 author’s note: this is inspired by the song ivy by taylor swift!

ever since her father informed her of what awaited her, y/n felt like a whole other person. her body became just flesh and bones, it felt like her spirit and soul were sucked from within her. she felt completely empty from the inside. everything was ripped away from her—her power, her girlhood, her choices, her freedom, her future.

y/n was born with royal blood. she was created with the mere purpose of ruling the kingdom once the king—her father—left this world or decided he was no longer fit to fill that position. was she thrilled for taking the power? no, but it was her legacy, and she had accepted it a long time ago. in fact, she thought she would someday make a fair leader.

what she dreaded, though, was the marriage part. how she wished people could realize queens needed no man by their side. they could do everything on their own. but people loved the picture of a perfect family, even if it was all fake. so now y/n was doomed to a life of misery alongside a man who she felt nothing for.

prince james was attractive, and that’s where his positive traits started and ended. he was egoistical, vain, spoiled, a small man who believed he was big just because he belonged to one of the last great american dynasties. y/n hated men like him, and had known lots of them throughout her life. she was now going to share last names with him, and that repulsed her more than anything else.

“where are you going, sweetheart?” the voice of his father stopped her before she could reach the handle of the door.

“flower market, dad.” she said with a vacant stare.

her father sighed, he never understood her fascination with said place. but thankfully, he never prohibited her from going just with the condition that she would be careful not to let anyone recognize her.

y/n swallowed the knot she felt in her throat. “yes, father.”

the mention of that event felt like a stab through the chest, and everything in the castle reminded y/n of her faith, which was why she needed to get away from that overwhelming place as soon as possible.

walking through the beautiful market cleared her mind. how could it not? the flowers were so bright and full of life, it only fuelled her obsessions with them.

she stopped in front of the prettiest shop she had ever seen, it was called the ivy, and it was covered by said plant and small colourful flowers. “how would i love working here.” she whispered dreamily.

“wow, you aim pretty low in life.” a deep voice joked from inside the small shop.

the person caught her so off guard that she accidentally lifted her head too fast, making the hood of her cape fall down, uncovering her face. y/n heard the boy’s small gasp and dragged him inside the shop.

“you’re—i’m so sorry, your majesty.” he went to do a reverence but she stopped him.

“please don’t do that, and don’t call me that. y/n is just fine.” she smiled softly. the pretty boy just stood there in complete shock. “and your name, flower boy?”

“uh- e-ethan. landry. ethan landry.” his cheeks were practically on fire and y/n found that insanely cute. he was insanely cute.

ethan was very tall, had broad shoulders, biceps to drool for, adorable brunet curls and the prettiest brown eyes she had ever seen. the flower market had just gotten better.

“well, ethan landry, you have a breath-taking little shop.” she said, looking around the small place.

“thank you. it was my grandma’s.” he smiled melancholically. “what’s your favourite flower?”

y/n smiled widely, loving the question. “guess.”

“well, i think dahlias go really well with you.” flirting through flowers, that he could do. for a moment, he forgot he had a member of royalty standing in front of him.

[a/n: according to google, dahlias symbolise pride, inner strength, elegance, beauty, and creativity.]

y/n blushed beautifully and ethan’s heart did somersaults. “well, thank you. i’m glad that’s your impression of me because lately i’ve been more of a red carnation.”

ethan frowned. carnations were associated with death and sadness. “would i be too forward if i asked what’s wrong?”

y/n looked deep in thought. truth was, she shouldn’t spill her secrets to a stranger, no matter how kind and innocent he looked, but loneliness was the only thing y/n had know her whole life and ethan was opening a door that had always been closed. she just gave in.

“i’m getting married, and prince james is…”

“ugh.” ethan scrunched his nose in disgust.

the princess let out a small laugh. “my exact thoughts. and as you can tell, it’s not something i want. i know, you might say, that’s common in royalty, that’s your duty—“

“that’s not what i think at all. no one should be obligated to marry someone they don’t love.” he said softly, his heart hurting for the young girl. “i don’t know what to say so this is the best i can do.”

y/n attentively watched him as he prepared a bouquet of flowers. sunflowers—the symbol of vibrancy, of positive energy. the perfect selection if you wanted to cheer someone up. ethan wanted to cheer her—a girl who he had met ten minutes ago—, and suddenly her chest felt like exploding. for the first time in a while, she felt something other than negative feelings.

“for you, princess.” the word sounded beautiful coming from him. he had said it as more than to address her title, he said it as a nickname, all flirty and sweet.

“thank you, flower boy. but are you just going to gift them to me? i feel kind of bad, i’m disgustingly rich.”

ethan laughed. “don’t worry about it. it’s totally worth it if it helped you feel a bit better.”

“it did. thank you. they’re so beautiful.” she hugged them to her chest.

“so you two have something in common.” he blurted out. and then shook his head. “that was way out of line, i’m so sorry. please don’t cut my head off.”

“i’m not the red queen, you’re safe.” she laughed. “i better go… thanks for everything. you’ve made my day ten times better.”

“i’m glad to hear that… and, if you need some place to be free, you’re always welcome here.” what he also meant to say was i want to see you again.

“that’s a dangerous thing to offer. you might have me here everyday.” she joked, although it wasn’t really a joke.

ethan shrugged, a grin splashed on his face. “i wouldn’t be opposed to that. you can help me run the shop.”

y/n’s entire being lit up. “are you serious?!”

“of course.”

“see you tomorrow, pretty flower boy. it was enchanting to meet you.” she said as she walked out of the shop with such a grace that ethan was left hypnotised. he knew for certain that his thoughts would echo her name until he saw her again. he prayed that she would stay true to her words and come back. he hoped it had been the very first page, and not where the storyline ended.

ethan’s wishes came true. y/n went to meet the gorgeous flower boy every day. week after week they shared that little space together, getting to know each other deeply.

the flower shop became y/n’s happy and safe place, everything she needed was there—flowers, freedom, normalcy, ethan.

she couldn’t believe how much that boy had changed her for the better. he had brought forth a glow so incandescent to her life that she felt that her spirit and soul, which she thought were lost forever, returned to her bones. he now was all over her like ivy on a house of stones.

“wow, eth.” y/n said amazed.

“i know it’s not much…” he said embarassed.

“eth i’d exchanged my palace for this every time. it’s so cozy and… alive. just like you.” ethan gave her a sweet smile and hugged her. and against his chest, she murmured. “like me… when i’m with you.”

“you shouldn’t say things like that or…” he hesitated.

“or…?”

“or i might kiss you. and if i do, i might have to keep you forever.” his face, unlike other times they had flirted, was serious. there was no joking around now, he was speaking his truth.

“then you should kiss me right now. but just so you know, even if you don’t do it, i’m still keeping you forever.” y/n caressed his soft cheek. “you make me happy, eth.”

ethan pressed his lips against hers softly, carefully. it was a slow kiss, they took their time savouring the moment, the strong feelings that came with the connecting of their lips. it was nothing less than perfect.

ethan was the first to break the kiss, he needed to get the words out of his chest. “get away from that life, y/n. you could move here with me, work in the flower shop… maybe marry me? it doesn’t have to be now now, but in the future? i don’t see myself with anyone else. i’m only yours.” he let out a nervous chuckle.

hope filled her chest like spring breaking lose after a really cold winter. there were many reasons to say no, most of them regarding the fear of something happening to him if james found out. but, for the first time in a while, she felt fearless. “yes.”

“yes?” ethan asked surprised.

y/n nodded eagerly. “yes, yes, yes.” she hugged him tightly. “i want to do all of that. hell, i’ll marry you right now.”

“yes. yes, i don’t have a ring, but i’ll go get one right now.”

“stop stop.” she laughed. her smile fell softly, and ethan was scared for a moment, “i need you to know what you’re getting into. if we are together, i don’t want to be in the dark, okay?”

“i don’t want that, either.” he assured her.

“and to avoid that, i have to come clear to my dad. im calling the engagement off, and that means i’ll probably be disinherited.”

“if you’re worried about money and a place to stay, don’t. this house is ours, the flower shop is ours. you won’t need to worry about that.”

“it’s not that, although it’s nice to hear. i’m scared about our lives, your life.” she whispered. “i know my dad will be furious, but he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. james, on the other hand, i don’t know where his limits lay. if he even has limits.”

“princess, look at me.” he said softly, and she obeyed. “i don’t care. he could burn this house to the ground and i still wouldn’t care. you’re worth everything. what we have, could have, is worth everything.”

y/n hugged his neck, pulling him close until their foreheads touched. “i love you so much.”

“i love you, too. so fucking bad my chest hurts.”

and as he said those words, y/n knew she was ready to go through the fight of her goddamn life for him.

#ethan landry #ethan landry x reader #ethan landry fluff #ethan landry fic #ethan landry oneshot #ethan landry x y/n #jack champion #jack champion x reader #jack champion x y/n #jack champion oneshot #jack champion fluff #jack champion fanfic #jack champion imagine #ethan landry scream

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omgthatdress · 9 months

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Barbie made her debut in 1959. The way she was sold then is a little different than the way she's sold now. These days, individual Barbies come with their own unique looks & usually some kind of unique function or accessories. You can buy clothes separately, but those looks are still secondary to the expectation of buying a lot of Barbies. Back in the day, you bought the one Barbie and then bought her clothes separately. This is why back then Barbie came with a bunch of friends and always came wearing a swimsuit.

The oft-memed origin story for the classic Barbie is that she was modeled on a German sex doll named Lili, which is only partially true. In the 50s, most dolls available for girls were baby dolls that primed girls for being a wife and mother. Fashion dolls were a thing but they were generally more reserved for adults.

Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel with her husband and served as its president from 1945-1973 (#girlboss much?), got the idea of making an adult doll for girls when she'd see her daughters playing with paper dolls. Instead of playing with babies, they chose teen-aged and adult paper dolls and played fantasized versions of adulthood. Then, on a trip to Germany, Ruth saw a Lili doll in a store, and asked her daughters what they'd think of playing with a doll like that. Apparently, they liked the idea.

Lili the doll wasn't an inflatable fuck doll. She was based on a popular comic strip character Lili created by Reinhard Beuthien and published in the Hamburg-based Bild Zeitung. Lili was a buxom gold-digger seducing her way through the wealthy men of post-war West Germany.

The comic was definitely adult-oriented, and the doll it created was a popular bachelor party gag gift.

The introduction of a doll with breasts did cause *some* controversy, but it was more pearl-clutching rather than tremendous cultural outrage. Barbie was actually an immediate hit. She fit in very well to late 50s ideals of femininity. I've heard it said before that parents liked her because she helped little girls get into the beauty, fashion, and level of grooming that she would need to catch a husband. IDK if that was intentional, but it seems to fit very well.

I don't want to get into whether or not Barbie is this huge feminist icon or not because, well, she's a toy. I think Ruth Handler was an incredibly smart businesswoman who saw a market demand and met it. Barbie is about the power of fantasy and imagination, and anything that people see in her are the things they want to see in her.

In her incredible multitude of careers, she also holds up an impossible and toxic standard of beauty. Mattel has always been very aware of Barbie's image. I'm pretty sure that the reason Mattel hated "Barbie Girl" so much wasn't because it was wink-wink sexual, but because it nailed the popular stereotype of the time that Barbie was this fake, plastic bimbo who was an unhealthy role model for girls (go listen to Aquarium, now!).

youtube

The recent years of Barbie taking on a more empowering, feminist, and diverse lean is because Mattel is simply correcting course and keeping up with the times. Honestly, they've done a very good job of it, but I'm not going to kid myself into thinking they're doing anything other than maximizing profits.

I love me some Barbie but I was always an AG girl, ngl. However, I think Barbie and her cultural context are still incredibly fascinating and worth taking a look at.

#Youtube #Barbie

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

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Middlemen without enshittification

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me next in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

Enshittification describes how platforms go bad, which is also how the internet goes bad, because the internet is made of platforms, which is weird, because platforms are intermediaries and we were promised that the internet would disintermediate the world:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

The internet did disintermediate a hell of a lot of intermediaries – that is, "middlemen" – but then it created a bunch more of these middlemen, who coalesced into a handful of gatekeepers, or as the EU calls them "VLOPs" (Very Large Online Platforms, the most EU acronym ever).

Which raises two questions: first, why did so many of us end up flocking to these intermediaries' sites, and how did those sites end up with so much power?

To answer the first question, I want you to consider one of my favorite authors: Crad Kilodney (RIP):

https://archive.org/details/thecradkilodneypapers

When I was growing up, Crad was a fixture on the streets of Toronto. All through the day and late into the evening, winter or summer, Crad would stand on the street with a sign around his neck ("Very famous Canadian author, buy my books, $2" or sometimes just "Margaret Atwood, buy my books, $2"). He wrote these deeply weird, often very funny short stories, which he edited, typeset, printed, bound and sold himself, one at a time, to people who approached him on the street.

I had a lot of conversations with Crad – as an aspiring writer, I was endlessly fascinated by him and his books. He was funny, acerbic – and sneaky. Crad wore a wire: he kept a hidden tape recorder rolling in his coat and he secretly recorded conversations with people like me, and then released a series of home-duplicated tapes of the weirdest and funniest ones:

https://archive.org/details/on-the-street-crad-kilodney-vol-1

I love Crad. He deserves more recognition. There's an on-again/off-again documentary about his life and work that I hope gets made some day:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/09/free-sample/#putrid-scum

But – and this is the crucial part – there are writers out there I want to hear from who couldn't do what Crad did. Maybe they can write books, but not edit them. Or edit them, but not typeset them. Or typeset, but not print. Or print, but not spend the rest of their lives standing on a street-corner with a "PUTRID SCUM" sign around their neck.

Which is fine. That's why we have intermediaries. I like booksellers (I was one!). I like publishers. I like distributors. I like their salesforce, who go forth and convince the booksellers of the world to stock books like mine. I have ten million things I want to do before I die, and I'm already 52, and being a sales-rep for a publisher isn't on my bucket list. I am so thankful that someone else wants to do this for me.

That's why we have intermediaries, and why disintermediation always leads to some degree of re-intermediation. There's a lot of explicit and implicit knowledge and specialized skill required to connect buyers and sellers, creators and audiences, and other sides of two-sided markets. Some producers can do some of this stuff for themselves, and a very few – like Crad – can do it all, but most of us need some help, somewhere along the way. In the excellent 2022 book Direct, Kathryn Judge lays out a clear case for all the good that middlemen can do:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/direct-the-problem-of-middlemen/

So why were we all so anxious for disintermediation back in the late 1990s? Here's a hint: it wasn't because we hated intermediaries – it was because we hated powerful intermediaries.

The point of an intermediary is to serve as a conduit between producers and consumers, buyers and sellers, audiences and creators. When an intermediary gains power over the audience – say, by locking them inside a walled garden – and then uses that lock-in to screw producers and appropriate an ever larger share of the value going between them, that's when intermediaries become a problem.

The problem isn't that someone will handle ticketing for your gig. The problem is that Ticketmaster has locked down all the ticketing, and the venues, and the promotions, and it uses that power to gouge fans and rip off artists:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/20/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-will-eventually-stop/

The problem isn't that there's a well-made website that lets you shop for goods sold by many small merchants and producers. It's that Amazon has cornered this market, takes $0.51 out of every dollar you spend there, and clones and destroys any small merchant who succeeds on the platform:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

The problem isn't that there's a website where you can stream most of the music ever recorded. It's that Spotify colludes with the Big Three labels to rip off artists and sneaks crap you don't want to hear into your stream in order to collect payola:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/12/streaming-doesnt-pay/#stunt-publishing

The problem isn't that there's a website where you can buy any audiobook you want. It's that Amazon's Audible locks every book to its platform forever and steals hundreds of millions of dollars from creators:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

The problem, in other words, isn't intermediation – it's power. The thing that distinguishes a useful intermediary from an enshittified bully is power. Intermediaries gain power when our governments stop enforcing competition law. This lets intermediaries buy each other up and corner markets. Once they've formed cozy cartels, they can capture their regulators and commit rampant labor, privacy and consumer violations with impunity. That capture also lets them harness governments to punish smaller players that want to free workers, creators, audiences and customers from walled gardens. It also hands them a whip-hand over their workers, so that any worker who refuses to aid in these nefarious plans can be easily fired:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

A world with intermediaries is a better world. As much as I love Crad Kilodney's books, I wouldn't want to live in a world where the only books on my shelves came from people prepared to stand on a street-corner wearing a "FOUL PUS FROM DEAD DOGS" sign.

The problem isn't intermediaries – it's powerful intermediaries. That's why the world's surging antitrust movement is so exciting: by reinstating competition law, we can keep intermediaries small and comparatively weak, so that creators and audiences, drivers and riders, sellers and buyers, and other groups seeking to connect will not find themselves made subservient to middlemen.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

#pluralistic #intermediation #disintermediation #publishing #creative labor #middlemen #distributors #publishers #publicists #enshittification #monopoly #monopsony #crad kilodney #trustbusting #antitrust

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cosettepontmercys · 16 days

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I truly can’t pinpoint when/what exactly changed about Taylor’s fans/fandom but the last few years (especially the midnights release) has really soured things for me and it’s honestly quite disappointing as someone who genuinely enjoys her music and thinks she’s a great artists. how did we get to the point of not even being able to voice an opinion about taylor without being crucified online. or if heaven forbid you dislike a song/album or enjoy the work of one of her exes (john mayer, the 1975, calvin harris, etc)

i’ve always been very fascinated/intrigued by the relationship between celebrities and their fans. and i think it’s really interesting to look back and think about how taylor built her fanbase by making herself as palatable/relatable/approachable as possible. like secret sessions, t party/loft 89/rep room, swiftmas, lover diaries, etc — all of which allow for fan interaction — but also relies on people getting noticed which then in turn encourages people to be as vocal? extra? whatever it is. which then feeds into the "who is a bigger / better fan" competition. i'm speaking from personal experience here, as someone who has liked her since debut — but i think a lot of this is also rooted in how much of the world hated taylor swift prior to ... i want to say folklore, really — like it was deeply uncool to like taylor swift, to be a swiftie, etc. and because a lot of that early criticism was rooted so much in misogyny, i think fans felt the need to (over the years) defend her — and i was one of those! i still am, when i feel like people are criticizing her unfairly. but i think that lends into the "taylor swift has never done anything wrong, and she's perfect and if you disagree then you're against us and you're a fake fan" mentality.

and then i think there's an element of ... not necessarily a superiority complex, but a something among fans who have met taylor. it's a genius marketing move, intentions aside. taylor's music is very personal — and taylor's marketing, and persona is very personal, in a way that other artists prior to taylor weren't, i think. relatability sells. you can see it in the way that people talk about her, and her music. which is very different from the way people talk about other artists — and obviously there isn't anyone else out there with the amount of fame/popularity as her, but you don't see the same amount of fanfiction-writing personal-life-speculating-projection onto other artists' lyrics as you do with taylor. and i think that when someone is that vulnerable with their thoughts, it makes it easy for people to think that they know them personally.

and i think that — as much as i love taylor — it's important to talk about her white woman feminism mentality. and i think that also seeps into how her fanbase interacts with her. the ginny & georgia "joke" is what comes to mind the quickest, but there are countless instances of taylor's white woman feminism — and her benefiting from it. and obviously it was in her right to call out a misogynistic comment, especially one directed at her, but not saying anything when the actress got so much hate for a line she didn't write ... made me feel a bit 🥴. it's interesting to see who taylor will choose to align herself with, i guess is all i'm saying.

i've really taken a step back from taylor — not just because the fandom is exhausting ( the amount of things i've seen about her, joe, travis, etc. is ... something! it's all projection! we do not know anything about these people other than what they choose to show us! ) but also because of her saying that she wanted to be on the right side of history and then over and over again choosing to be increasingly passive and silent. she will call herself an ally but won’t even talk about queer rights; she won’t talk about the literal genocide that’s going on. gun control, abortion rights, anything at all. it's just "go vote" but even that is incredibly passive. but she will take time to remind us to buy new variants, and to stream her music, and that her ex sucks.

i think there was a huge shift that started with folklore/evermore, just given that there weren't a lot of albums being put out during that time, the overwhelming public reception to it — a lot of people who previously didn't care for (or disliked) taylor started to like her, to give her a second chance, etc. then we get into the rerecordings era/midnights/etc., which started off with fearless and nostalgia and then became "how quickly can i put out the next thing". and bailey @placeinthisworld posted this earlier, which i fully agree with. it's about the next award, the next milestone. it's just all quantity. it's overexposure.

and then we have the joe alwyn breakup and the public response to that was also ... interesting. like i saw people crying over it, or saying that love is a lie, removing things from their playlists, acting like they were the ones who had been broken up with. which is just ... odd, given that we aren't the ones in the relationship. and now there are all these comments about being a "joe defender". and then with taylor dating travis, it feels almost like some weird american pipe dream unfulfilled fantasy for so many people — the singer and the american football player. and obviously, i want her to be happy! i don't care who she dates! but i do think the public reception about her and travis has been ... incredibly odd, and i think that the way people talk about her and travis is just ... very ... off-putting and is very rooted in some weird ... stuff. "she finally gets to be small :(((((" is such a weird thing to say. it feels like there's even more projection and self-insert-y stuff with her dating travis, which is a level i did not think was possible from her fans (and more so, the general public).

i have not felt this ... detached and impassive about a taylor release, ever, and it just makes me incredibly sad because i love her music, and am excited about the work, just not excited about the public reception, the public autopsy of her and joe's relationship, or the noise, and i know that internet spaces (and spaces in general) are what we curate, but it's also difficult when she is everywhere.

#so sorry this took so long to reply to! i was out of town!#post: answered #ts critical

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queenmayor23 · 6 months

Text

How do we tell our son?

Y/N, Buck, and Eddie leaned on the kitchen island, watching Christopher play his video game.

"So, how are you two planning on telling him?"

"Yes, Eddie, how are you planning on telling your son?"

"Oh, so he's my son now."

"He's been your son since he was born. I inherited him just a year and some change ago."

"Yeah, this one's on you."

"Why don't you tell him?"

"And have him hate his favorite Uncle Buck? Not a chance. Have you even tested the waters on this conversation yet?"

"I asked him if he liked Y/N once."

"And?"

"And he asked if he could have his sleepover party at your place, and I had to tell him no because I was horny and we were fighting, and I didn't want him and his friends to wake up to us…. doing us. You know how much I love angry sex."

"Was that when you brought Chris to Maddie's, and we did that thing with the rope and the nipple clamp…"

Eddie stood behind Y/N, signaling Buck to stop, but it was too late.

"You what?"

"Bebe. I'm sorry-"

"Edmundo. Diaz."

"Somebody's in trouble."

"Not helping Buck."

"Are you serious? That was supposed to be our thing. The one thing that we didn't share with Buck. We share clothes, food, beds, but not that."

"I was upset, and I'm so sorry. Can you forgive me for the sake of our son?"

"Yes, just because you said "our son," and it sounds so nice when you say it."

"If you like that, you should hear me call my husband's name."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Eddie and Y/N were chest to chest. They would have burned down the building if their sexual tension were a fire.

"You mean we could live with Y/N forever? Awesome!"

Y/N and Eddie look at the sofa to Christopher and Buck looking back at them.

"I helped."

"Dad, when do we move to Papa's house?"

"I thought you liked living here."

"I do, but Papa has a park across the street, and last time, he told me that he would teach me how to play basketball so I could beat a meatball."

"A meatball?"

"You are looking a little beefier than usual."

"Me? You think you two can beat me?"

"You are a man of many talents, but basketball is not one of them."

Y/N pats Eddie on his shoulder, earning a disheartened frown. Chris turns around to resume his game, and Buck enters the kitchen to refill his water bottle.

"Great, now that's over. Now, all you have to do is tell the crew."

"You didn't tell the 118?"

"No, I thought you did."

"Why would I tell them you spend all day with them?"

"Who doesn't know? Hen knows that means Chim knows; therefore, Maddie knows."

"Buck knows."

"Ravi was your best man, so if he doesn't know, he's more of a himbo than me."

"Bobby knows from our anniversary dinner."

"Did you tell Athena?"

"No, she scares me. But she's not stupid she has to know."

"How about this? At the Halloween party, just announce it. You'll have everyone in the same room and only have to do it once."

"That's not a bad idea."

"Look at you, Buck-a-roo."

"I help."

Buck smiles like a puppy dog, receiving a cheek rub from Y/N as his face falls in thought.

"Same room?"

"What? What's wrong now?"

"The holidays. Last year, we were in Cancun with the crew for Thanksgiving, and-"

"You were in the hospital for Christmas."

"So, which family gets what holiday?"

"My family hates Thanksgiving, so we do Christmas in Texas."

"My family will kill me and send a search party for me if I miss a New York Christmas two years in a row."

"You are just adding to the headcannon."

"Here we go again."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Eddie thinks I'm in a mafia family just because I'm a New York Italian."

"Your father's name is Don. You have a weird fascination with gold chains and wearing sunglasses all day, you have a cousin named Vinny, you call people meatball, you said they called you Baby Gambino when you were a kid-"

"Because I was a chubby kid and snuck off to our family's bakery..."

"It's not just a bakery; it's bakeries, meat markets, pizzerias, wine shops, grocery stores, and that's just the stuff you've mentioned."

"... and I don't know how many times I have to tell you my father's name is John, but with his accent, it sounds like Don. You know what, how about you ask him? We do Thanksgiving in Texas and Christmas in New York, and when we're all at the table, you can ask him in front of my whole family."

"Maybe I will."

"If you want to die."

Y/N playfully nudges Buck into a light chuckle.

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deadpoolsoci3ty · 2 months

Text

so you're the a (alastor x reader) ch 2

summary: “Good head on your shoulders, don’t give anyone information you don’t need to.” He was proud of me, I could hear it in his voice, and that made me feel good. I was willing to do just about anything for him to talk to me like that again.

word count: 1093

warnings: still none!

masterlist

Chapter Two: see you soon

I didn’t grow the courage to tune back into Alastor’s station for a couple days, he was charming in a way that frightened me. I knew that if I let him get under my skin, there would be no going back. It’s not that I’m not smart, just a deeply flawed person with religious trauma. I have a sick desire to ask him what hell is like, like when you go no contact with someone and you still check their instagram. I wanted to know how bad it was because what if I ended up there one day? I felt like I should be prepared, even though my rational brain would have said it is going to drive you insane for your whole life, but still there was a good chance I was going to ask him about it.

Today my professor was out of town so no class for me, and my roommate is out of the apartment. So, I decided I would try to talk to Alastor again. In the back of my mind I was nervous that he was busy and I would never be brave enough to try again. I grabbed the radio from the shelf and sat it once again on the coffee table in front of the couch before I sat down. Taking a deep breath and attempting to calm my nerves before speaking to him. I turned the dial to his station and heard the familiar static from the last time. “Sweetheart!~” I heard his chirpy voice call from the radio. “It had been so long I was beginning to worry you weren't coming back to me!” Coming back to him? I hated that I liked the sound of that, cheeks becoming warmer and warmer by the second.

“Just needed some time to think.” I said not fully knowing what I meant by that, but I didn’t want him to know I was intimidated by him, but I am also sure he already knew this.

“What would you need to think about darling, I’ve only asked for you to read to me and I’ll answer any question you have!” I was scared he was already seeing through my facade. I want to hold myself back from telling him, because I know I shouldn’t. My brain is screaming at me to not tell him there are things I want from him, that I probably would make a deal with him if he caught me on the right day. As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, I am sure Alastor would use that against me.

“Well of course, but I’m still getting involved with a demon, that requires some pondering!” I was trying to be as enthusiastic as he was.

“Oh! Seems I have forgotten myself, I could imagine it's a scary idea!” His words made me feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of continuing these conversations, they made him seem reasonable.

“But I’m here now! And ready to ask and answer some questions!” I wasn’t lying, I was excited to ask him questions and pick his brain.

“I’ll let the lady go first!” I was glad he seemed just as excited as I was.

“Ever the gentleman I see…” I replied cheekily.

“For you, dear, of course!”

“Okay so, first question, when were you alive?” All I knew about him so far was that he is dead, lived in New Orleans, and his name is Alastor.

“Turn of the century, love, had the pleasure of witnessing the stock market crash of 1929,” he let out a happy sigh, “those were the days!”

“My grandma was born in the early thirties!” I wanted so badly to have something in common with him.

“Don't tell me that, darling.” His tone was more serious, and I was worried I had offended him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.” I realized I sounded more coy than I wanted.

“No, no, dear, you didn’t offend me, just don’t want you comparing me to your grandparents. That’s not exactly how I want you to think about me.” What exactly did he mean, how exactly did he want me to think about him? I was definitely going to daydream about that later. The fascination with this demon, and if he was going to keep flirting with me, it was going to get a lot worse. “Now…I do believe it’s my turn to ask you a question.”

“Go ahead be my guest, I'm an open book!”

“How old are you, dear?” seems like a simple question for a demon to ask. Maybe he’s playing the long game.

“Just turned twenty-two, ab-” I find myself about to give him more information about myself than he asked for, and I think he caught me cutting myself off abruptly.

“Good head on your shoulders, don’t give anyone information you don’t need to.” He was proud of me, I could hear it in his voice, and that made me feel good. I was willing to do just about anything for him to talk to me like that again.

“Thank you,” I said with heated cheeks, “okay, my next question: what did you do when you were alive?” I had assumed it had something to do with the radio, but I wanted to know more.

“I had the pleasure to host a local radio show! Was one of the joys of my life.” He seemed to be reminiscing on his past. “It seems it’s my turn once again. What are you studying in college?”

“The plan is to eventually have a doctorate in English literature.” I heard him let out a gleeful sigh.

“Ahh, good. Someone else who enjoys the finer things in life! Well, dear, it seems we’re reaching the end of our session, what have you chosen for our first read?” I start buzzing with joy, because I get to read him my favorite book.

“I’ve got Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte,” I jump off my couch over to my bookshelf and grab one of my many copies. I opened the book and read the first chapter to him. I was hoping he wasn’t thinking too much about the book I chose. Does my favorite book say something about me? Is he analyzing every word I’m saying? I push through these thoughts and finish the chapter.

“It has been an absolute pleasure speaking to you tonight, doll. I do hope we can speak again soon.”

“Goodbye, Alastor,” he tsked in response.

“See you soon, darling.”

It felt like the conversation was over as soon as it began. I was already missing his voice. Avoiding a deal with him was going to be so much harder than I thought.

#alastor #alastor the radio demon #hazbin hotel #alastor hazbin hotel #alastor x reader #alastor x you #alastor imagine #hazbin imagine #hazbin x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel imagine #alastor fic #hazbin fic #hazbin hotel fic

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charmedreincarnation · 1 year

Text

My shift to legend of Korra and astral projection story

As promised, I’m finally going to talk about one of my favorite places I’ve shifted to! my first ever shift (that I consider at least) was to here and I’ve found myself reminiscing about it and found some old journals about it. I’ll probably go there again soon but until then here was my experience:)! This is going to be very long so if you hate long posts just scroll past this!

Anyways Yall, The city was abuzz with activity, but the most impressive feature was the magnificent airships soaring above. I witnessed the incredible technology used to control those airships, and it was a sight to behold tbh.

Not only was I able to explore the physical wonders of Republic City, I also felt like I was living in the midst of a conflict. There were always whispers of trouble on the horizon, whether it was the power struggle between benders or the ongoing tension between the United Republic and the Fire Nation colonies. Everywhere I went, I encountered people talking and debating about the latest developments.

When I ventured outside of the city, I had the opportunity to witness and join in some of the great adventures that Team avater had gone on. I saw the Spirit World, (which very much resembles the astral realm in this reality) fought alongside her team against their toughest adversaries, and felt first-hand the strength and courage that each of them possessed.

I felt amazed and enlightened by my time here, Seeing such a harmonious society with so many different cultures living together in peace was eye-opening, and it left me with a newfound appreciation for humanity. The Avatar has a lot to teach us all.

One of the most exciting things I was ready to see was to explore the cities. Republic City is a remarkable place, full of possibility, opportunity, and sometimes danger.

the first things you’ll notice as you explore the metropolis is its diverse population of people from all nations, each with their own vibrant culture that contributes to the city’s ever-changing character. From Air Nomads to Earth Kingdom citizens, to Water Tribesmen, the city has something for everyone.

The city itself has been built on the pillars of modernity and traditionalism alike. As the cultural, economic and political hub of the United Republic of Nations, Republic City is bustling with activity. From the bustling Business District to the vibrant Pro-bending Arena, there’s something to do here for everyone.

If you’re looking for adventure, there’s really no better place than Republic City. its a host of powerful and mystical benders, brave police force aka The Metalbenders, and an active underworld made up of some of the most powerful crime lords in the world, there’s never a dull moment here.

And of course, no visit to Republic City would be complete without an exploration of its public places and parks. Take a stroll through lovely Centennial Park, or view the majestic statues of the city’s founding members in Chikara Plaza.

But above all else, Republic City is a living, breathing organism. Its unique mix of technology and tradition creates a fascinating environment that no other city can replicate. Explore its culture, people, and places. You wont be disappointed.

When I briefly visitied Ba sing se i was immediately taken aback by the sheer size of this city. Everywhere I looked, there was something new to discover. I felt like I could actually hear the city breathing alive and growing with every passing moment.

As I kept exploring, I was constantly amazed at the level of detail put into the city’s design. Everywhere you look, there’s something unique to explore – from the enormous street markets where you can shop for precious artifacts, to the magnificent gardens that are tucked away in the alleyways.

The most incredible thing about Ba Sing Se is its interconnectivity. Every part of the city comes together in a way that’s truly breathtaking. You can explore this amazing city via its intricate system of waterways, which are connected to each other by ancient bridges and tunnels.

But the best part about Ba Sing Se is the people that call it home. This city is filled with some of the friendliest and kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. They are all so welcoming and eager to share their culture and knowledge with anyone who’s willing to listen.

Exploring Ba Sing Se was truly a unique experience for me. It opened my eyes to different cultures and ways of life that I’d never encountered before. It has since become one of my favorite cities in The Legend of Korra, and I look forward to visiting it again someday soon.

But The most fun part was being apart of team avatar.

Being part of Team Avatar is not only about fighting for what is right, it’s also about making connections with others. We have many wonderful members who become close friends and confidants, providing support and guidance to one another.

The Avatar is the leader of our team (duh), Korra obviously. She is ultimately responsible for guiding us, teaching us, and keeping us all on the same page. Korra is brave and powerful, but also compassionate and humble. You can always count on her to listen to your concerns and provide thoughtful advice.

The rest of the team consists of myself,mako, bolin and asami. We are all loyal and devoted to Korra and Team Avatar. Everyone has their own talents and specialties, ranging from combat skills to earthbending. While we all have different strengths, we learn from each other, providing encouragement and support along the way.

Being part of Team Avatar is more than just fighting evil in the world; it’s also about being part of something bigger than yourself. We rely on each other to maintain a balance of peace and justice, while also learning and growing together. We may have different backgrounds, but we all share a common goal - to make the world a better place. This was my first real shift and experiencing this family like friendship was the best thing I could have asked for.

Also Harmonic convergence was insane 😭😭

For those who don’t know, Harmonic Convergence is an important event. It occurs every 10,000 years when the planets and stars align, allowing for a transfer of spiritual energy between the physical and spiritual realms. On this day, many people can receive spiritual gifts like airbending (I did! Before this event I was a non bender)

The process of getting airbending during Harmonic Convergence was both exciting and nerve-wracking. Tenzen told me I had to spend weeks mastering the basics of airbending, like how to move my hands and how to direct my breath. As well as spend days meditating and connecting with the spiritual realm.As of now I have no intentions doing this as I like my job and life, but I have always had an interest in the spiritual realm so maybe this journey tenzen wants me to take will help me with that.

I got mine a couple of days after harmonic convergence during my time at work with mako. I work with the police force under beifong and mako and I have always had a competitive nature. I was a non bender before this historic event, but I knew how to chi block which is essential. Now I have bending so I expect the competitive nature to increase and I can’t wait to utilize my new bending with chi blocking lol

The experience of getting my airbending during Harmonic Convergence was incredibly special and unique. I was able to witness a spiritual event as well as gain a new power and skill. If you ever visit, and end up gaining airbending during Harmonic Convergence, it’s important to be patient, practice mindful meditation, and create a sacred atmosphere on the day of convergence.

And as I mentioned before I am a chi blocker!

Chi blocking is actual super complicated and you need a lot of dedication & Precision to master it.

First, it’s important to understand where your attacker’s pressure points are located. The pressure points are located in the body’s meridians, which are the pathways used by the body to transfer energy. Here are a few of the main pressure points to keep in mind: the jugular vein, carotid artery, clavicle, forearm, and shin.

Once you’ve identified the pressure points, you can start working on your technique. The key to chi blocking is speed and precision. You want to be able to quickly and precisely target the pressure points to effectively stop your attacker.

To begin, you’ll need to know how to properly block the pressure points. To do this, use your palm, fingers, or knuckles to press firmly into the pressure point on your attacker’s body. Make sure you are using a flat strike in order to fully block the energy in your attacker’s body.

You can also use strikes or kicks to interrupt an attack. When striking an attacker, aim for vulnerable body parts such as their wrists, elbows, or throat. You want to avoid targeting sensitive areas like the eyes or groin.

In addition to blocking and striking, you can also use joint manipulation techniques to disrupt an attack. By using leverage and pressure, you can force your attacker’s limbs out of their fighting stance and disable their ability to fight back. chi blocking is all about speed and precision. I had to Train regularly as a child, use proper technique, and be aware of my environment so that i could safely and effectively defend yourself against attackers.

I also want to reminisce about Korra and asami 🥹

Being friends with Korra and Asami has been an incredible experience. Not only have we grown close over the years, but we’ve also shared some great life lessons along the way. I didn’t grow up with a lot of women because I spent a lot of time with my father and as he worked in politics i was always surrounded by old men, so their friendship means a lot to me.

Korra is the kind of friend who always has your back. She’s strong, brave and fiercely loyal; a true friend no matter what. Life’s lessons have been tough at times, but she’s been a support system through it all. Korra knows just what to say to motivate and inspire.

Asami is another great friend. She’s intelligent and driven, yet practical and empathetic. Together, we’ve worked through complex problems and made some difficult decisions. Asami has the unique ability to see the whole picture and to think objectively.

No matter what we’re dealing with, our friendship has been a cornerstone of our lives. We may not always agree with each other, but we’ve come to trust each other even with different opinions. We laugh together and are open with each other.

Of course, we’ve also gone through some tough times. We’ve had disagreements, said hurtful things to each other, but we’ve never failed to apologize and learn from our mistakes.

Korra and Asami are two of the strongest women I know. I’m proud to call them friends, and I wouldn’t change our friendship for the world. Life isn’t perfect, but it definitely is better with them in it.

Ok next, No one ever talks about the mundane stuff of their shifts but the religion aspect fascinated me about this reality.

there are several different religions, but some may stand out more than others. Regardless it’s nothing like current day religions in this reality. The primary religion is the cult of bending, which is mostly centered around reverence for the four main elements (fire, earth, air, and water). This religion is followed by most people including myself even when I was a non bender.

The second major religion is the spiritual order of the “White Lotus,” a secret society that is dedicated to preserving and passing on wisdom about the Avatar. It has members such as Iroh and Aang having significant roles. This is incorporated into the religion I follow as well

Thirdly, there is a mysterious element known as “energybending,” which is used by some of the larger spiritual beings in the series, such as Raava and Vaatu. This energybending allows one to transfer energy from one person to another and even manipulate matter in ways that bending cannot do. This power is seen as a sacred practice and only those truly enlightened can use it.

Finally, there are the various local religions that I have heard of but no one really practices on a global scales. Korra and I met a group of nomads who practiced a religion based on ancestor worship. There are also several mentions of various sects of Buddhism, as well as indigenous spiritual beliefs.

Overall, There are many different beliefs and traditions present throughout which add to the out societies diversity. As I continue to explore this universe, I expect to learn more about these faith systems and how they affect the people I am surrounded by.

No one really ever talks about this when they shift either,but I will be telling you guys my favorite dishes and general popular dishes as well because all i think about is food ;p

For those who want a taste of Republic City, a common food is tarragon glazed beef buns. This dish consists of beef strips cooked in a tarragon infused glaze, served in a steamed bun with various condiments. The variety and texture make this dish a favorite in my friend group.

Another popular dish is hot tofu salad. This traditional salad consists of diced tofu and vegetables, often served cold alongside various sauces and herbs. It makes for a filling and flavorful meal with a hint of tanginess.

If you’re looking for something spicy you will love Republic City’s version of fiery noodles. This dish contains a variety of vegetables, noodles, beef, and chili peppers served with a sesame or peanut sauce. The mix of textures and flavors makes this dish a great choice for when you’re looking for something flavorful and exciting.

No matter what type of food you prefer my city has something for everyone to enjoy. Whether you like sea creatures wrapped in seaweed or fiery noodle dishes, you can find all kinds of delicious dishes in Republic City. Whether you enjoy cooking them yourself or picking them up from a local cart, the options are endless lmfao.

Here are some of my fav restaurants:

First, let’s start with the classic Ba Sing Se Republic City’s oldest and most traditional restaurant. Here, you’ll find a variety of bao dishes, like pork-filled buns, vegetable dumplings and Tianjin Rice Porridge. The favored accompaniment to many of their dishes is their legendary tea-smoked duck.

The jianbing cart downtown is also worth a visit. It’s a one-stop spot for all your street food cravings. Their jianbing pancakes are hot and crispy, and loaded with egg, shallots and pickled veggies. Make sure to grab an iced tea after your meal for a sweet finish.

If you’re looking for something more adventurous, you can go to Republic City Fusion Cuisine. This restaurant has a unique spin on traditional dishes from around the world. Enjoy succulent pork-stuffed peppers from the Andes, Thai-style curries or Indian kebabs.

And of course No meal in Republic City is complete without dessert, and who better to satisfy your craving than Iroh’s? Iroh’s specializes in bubble tea of every flavor, chai tea lattes, and their signature treat, smooth yogurt topped with sweet honey glaze. It’s my favorite place to go for dates and group meet ups because of the ambiance and it’s history of its creation. Iroh is a greatly respected figure in history.

Now for the Random stuff

Some of my favorite things I did outside of hanging out with team avatar and work included: exploring the beauty of Republic City’s architecture. I love walking by the breathtaking skyscrapers and the majestic Tree of Time that stands proud in the center of the city. Not to forget taking strolls along the canal, and admiring the Spirit Wilds’ colorful gardens. Also watching a tournament at Pro-bending arena I think this is an obvious no brainer but it is the equivalent to this world’s sports! attending one of their many festivals was super cool. They have a bunch, From the music festival to the spirit festival, and these events offer a great chance to meet new people, discover new sounds and tastes, and learn more about the history behind Republic City. Lastly going over to Air Temple Island and soaring through the sky on an air scooter with Korra and tenzens kid. This is a great way to admire the city from above.

As a police officer, I have had the privilege of working directly with Chief Beifong to help keep Republic City safe.

I can honestly say that Chief Beifong is one of the best leaders I have ever had the pleasure of knowing in any reality. She is a focused, intelligent, and strong leader with an unwavering commitment to justice and protecting the citizens of Republic City.

Chief Beifong has always been incredibly supportive of the police officers who work for her. She’s always available to give encouragement, advice, or direction when needed. The chief encourages us to stay on top of suspicious activity and to be proactive in safeguarding the citizens of Republic City.

She also heavily values accountability and ethics for her police force. She believes strongly in the importance of doing the right thing and follows through with disciplinary actions if her officers get out of line.

Being a cop under Chief Beifong has taught me the valuable skills of dealing with difficult situations and the importance of keeping a cool head in tense situations. It has also instilled me with a strong sense of responsibility and ethical decision making.

Overall, being a cop under Chief Beifong has been an incredibly rewarding experience. She is an incredible leader and an amazing role model for her officers. We are all grateful to have her as our captain, and I know that I feel much more confident in my duties knowing that she is leading the Republic City Police Department.

One of the most impressive pieces of technology used in Legend of Korra is the power armor of Zaofu. This robotic suit was created by Suyin Beifong to protect her family from danger. It’s equipped with a multitude of weapons including a large drill and repelling cables. The power armor can also sense the presence of benders nearby, allowing Suyin to know when danger is coming.

Another fascinating piece of tech featured in the show is the radio controlled cars. These vehicles were built by Varrick and are capable of interacting with and carrying out complex commands. They’re powerful enough to outrun Korra’s airbending and can be used to transport people across long distances. By using a remote control, drivers can pilot these vehicles to strategic locations with ease.

In addition to vehicles and mechanized suits, it also featured a unique form of communication through holograms. This technology was used by Tenzin to contact other Airbenders and relay important updates. There was also a psychological application of this tech as Korra was able to gain insight into the Avatar state by taking part in a virtual Reality experience.

Lastly the interactive control panels used by Kya and Bumi. These panels gave access to a wide range of knowledge, including the locations of benders and the status of the world’s vital functions. The panels could also be used to trigger alarm systems, contact other benders, and carry out research.

Overall, technology played an important role in the Legend of Korra universe and complemented the power of bending in unique ways.

Bisons bro, I can’t believe they’re not in this reality 💔They’re one of the biggest aspects I miss about my legend of Korra homes they’re quite friendly and intelligent as you would assume. They have a strong bond with their airbenders, so they appreciate being handled with patience and gentleness.

When you interact with them, they seem to understand the feelings of those around them even those they are not quite familiar with. This makes them quite easy to get along with.The best way to describe the feeling of interacting with a sky bison is that it makes you feel calm and peaceful. They’re so big and gentle that you can really get lost in the moment and enjoy their majestic presence.They also are way bigger than I imagined. As for their size, sky bisons can reach up to 25 feet in length and have a wingspan between 12 and 20 feet. They’re impressive to look at, both from far away and up close. Almost seeming to almost take up the entire sky.

Now, Astral projection

after this shift, a week later I astral projected which is Insane considering it took about 1.5 years for me to initially shift. I’m combining these stories because the spiritual world and the astral realm are the same thing which is why I think it was so easy to do.

I got into astral projection after I started reading about other peoples out of body experiences..like meeting spirits, traveling the world in seconds, some even meeting what they presumed to be god, and got fascinated once again as it did not sound like the shifting I had been doing. I was so interested and did a little research to find out that once again this was astral projection and I decided this was going to be me.

Contrary to everything I was taught, I didn’t do much research like I did with shifting. My belief was if I shifted, then there’s no reason I should not be able to astral project tbh. it seemed easier on paper. I watched a video on how to do it, and it seemed simple enough. After three days of trying one day, while doing my method I felt myself rolling out of my body and when I “awoke” I saw my real body.

It was so amazing, I could not feel myself but i was aware of my own presence, and was on my floor even though I resembled what you would think is a ghost, at least matter wise. I didn’t really know where to go or what to do. I wasn’t using it to shift, and I didn’t have any goals or intentions but I was not going to waste a good spiritual moment. I told my subconscious to take me where I most need to go. Just Like that I started moving, but I was not moving? More like….My environment was changing at the same speed of light, but I could not feel it. Anyways I wasn’t in my room anymore.

I ended up in an abandoned house. I was just exploring it when I saw, what I didn’t know at the time were probably spirits. (Y’all do not be like me, do your research before you practice any out of body experience.) anyways, they looked liked live dolls, but they were asleep. I knew better than to mess with something I didn’t know of, so I let my curiosity die and I went outside. When I went out there, the sky was colors that did not exist on this earth, or at least we can’t see them. The weather was something I had never experienced and I felt the most euphoria and tranquillity that I doubt I could ever feel on this human plain of existence. I wanted to cry of happiness and just stay there forever. But moments later I saw a beautiful angel, and for some reason I knew her name before asking. It was Helen

After confirming her identity, it almost feels wrong to refer to it as a her. This was a godly being lol. I digress, but I asked her so many questions. Why I had to go through everything I did, what is shifting, how is it possible, did she hear my pain when I was asking for help from anyone, how is she real, who is god. I asked everything guys, and all the answers I received aligned with my beliefs. My final question was is she apart of my subconscious, because unless I’m the second coming of god how could a normal ass girl have the correct answer to everything unknown to man. She told me that was up to my interpretation and just smiled at me. I already knew the answers because, what we assume is true. If you were to ask the same questions to a godly being who knows all, we would all get different answers. Everything I had learned from shifting, all the questions I had came to the final conclusion and my journey was over from that point forward. I asked her to take me home as I was excited to wake up and tell my friends what I had learned. That is what happened and when I saw my body, I went back inside and I simply opened my eyes back to my room where I had fallen asleep

Basically,When I woke up from that moment my journey was over and I decided it was time to experience as much as I can. Everything changed. I had so many questions as to what to do to continue to shift forever.. how it works etc.. just so much questions and it’s like the following days everything just came to my knowledge at once.

Like I said before, I shifted to legend of Korra, and the spiritual essence in that reality was insane. Not to mention the astral world is quite literally the humans world version of the spiritual world in that reality. I do not know if that had to do with my success or if it was a coincidence (really doubt it) but astral projecting right after my first shifting experience was one of the best things that could happen to me. There’s not much to say but that journey was the peak culminating point of my Experience and I think about it often !

After that’s I wanted to be more apart of the astral projection community but my god they are such haters. They think shifters are mentally ill, and treat us worse than the lucid dreaming community. It doesn’t even make sense considering opening an awareness to a parallel universe sounds way more believable than leaving your body and traveling as a soul, but….whatever I suppose. They’re both very real and I have noticed anytime time a new community emerged it’s labeled as false. I mean decades ago even lucid dreaming was mere pseudoscience and people just thought lucid dreamers were insane. Astral projection followed and then lucid dreamers treated them the same. Now they do the same to shifters. As someone who has experienced all three phenomenons it’s insane how limiting they all can be. It doesn’t matter though. Anyone hating on your desires and are content with their limitations have nothing to do with your accomplishment and goals. Misery loves company so don’t falter to the hatred of others. Even here in my asks, void state anons and manifesters tell me I’m delusional for being a shifter and I have to cackle bc baby… to others you’re in the same boat 🫶 but it’s whatever, live your life and seriously don’t let anyone limit you. That universe is yours.

#astral projection #law of assumption #manifesation #reality shifting #shiftblr #astral realm

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borderlinebelle · 1 year

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I’m going to do something very very bad. 😈 My heart is racing because like what if everyone has the opposite reaction. What if they fucking hate me? It’s a rude thing to do… interrupt someone’s scroll… but isn’t it better than seeing an ad for like Walmart? Like damn, can I make better content then WALMART? I’m sweating. I’m just going to do it. It’ll be whatever the fuck it be. 🫦

#cheers #blaze posts #tumblr live #tumblr marketing #i’m terrified of how this ad will do but that’s marketing #i love and hate marketing but it’s fascinating #personal

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anangelwhodidntfall · 11 months

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said i'd have more to request and here's another one.

Prince Eric x Fem!Reader, we know Eric's love for the ocean.. so what if while he was a child around four. he saw a mermaid around the same age as him peek her head up from the ocean curiously.. to only quickly duck down when he saw them. the mermaid is y/n..

and a small friendship grew between the two in secret, eric promised to keep it a secret. eventually, y/n stopped appearing all of a sudden.. and eric eventually forgot about them.

until around the time the film takes place when he's 21..something seemed familiar about the girl who suddenly appeared and couldn't speak something about them just seemed so familiar.

A/N: I love your request much, thank you for sending them in, and sorry it took so long <3

His Little Mermaid : Prince Eric

*21 years ago*

The human world had always fascinated you even if your parents forbid you from going up there. You had found a spot semi-below the surface where you could watch the passing ships and see the humans. One night they had been shooting off fireworks which piqued your curiosity so you peeked your head out to watch not realizing someone had seen you.

"Whoa. You do exist." The voice said making you turn and see a boy about your age sitting there looking at you.

Panicked that you had been spotted after your parents told you not to be up here, you ducked your head back down and swam away much to his disappointment. The next few weeks you couldn't get him out of your mind....so the next time you saw a ship you swam to the surface and hopped into one of the lifeboats looking for him.

"You came back!" He said as he looked through the bars of the ship.

"I did. I'm sorry for running off like that last time, I'm not used to many humans." You said to him.

"It's alright. My name is Eric. What's yours?" He asked you.

"It's y/n but you can't tell anyone about me, I could get in trouble for being here." You said to him.

"As your friend, I promise not to tell a soul. Wait right here." He left there confused as he ran off but returned a few seconds later.

"I want you to have this as a symbol of our friendship and my promise." He said handing you a small mermaid figure.

"This is beautiful, thank you." You said as you placed it in your bag.

From that moment on you would always look for his ship and whenever you would see it, you would swim up to it and talk to him as the years went on you started to fall for him. But then one day when you went up to surface level and never went back to it again after what had happened, you had hated to just leave Eric like that but it hurt too much to go back up there.

Eric searched far and wide for you wondering why you had stopped coming to the surface level until one day he had just accepted that you were gone and weren't coming back and so he went on with his life.

*PRESENT DAY*

You still thought about Eric all the time wanting to see him again but could never bring yourself to go back to the surface level.

"I can help you my dear. To be with your human boy." She said as you looked at her confused.

"I whip up a little potion that gives you legs in exchange for your voice and then you'll have three days to kiss him to remain human or you'll be mine forever." She said.

"Okay." You said still not believing that you were agreeing to this over a boy you haven't seen in 20 years.

"3 days or you are mine forever!" Ursula said and the last thing you remember was barely making it to shore.

"The prince will be here soon." One of the maids said giving you a smile.

You smiled hoping that he would remember you and when he walked though those doors, he was even more dreamy than you remembered.

"You can't talk?" He asked sadly as you shook your head.

"I'm sorry you just remind me of someone I once knew." He said as you looked at him sadly.

"You're welcomed to stay here as long as you need." He said leaving you as the smile disappeared from your face.

The next day he took you through markets and for a boat ride where you guys laid looking at the stars.

"I still don't know your name." He said looking at you.

"It's begins with first letter of your name?" He asked you asked nodded your head.

"Y/n." He said after going through a few as you nodded your head

"Your name is y/n? I used to know someone with that name." He said sadly as you squeezed his hand.

"You remind me a lot of her." He said with a smile.

"I'm right here." You wanted to say to him.

"Goodnight y/n." He said with a smile.

You and Eric spent the next three days together constantly. He showed you his collection of things from his trips and it made you sad sometimes to realize how much you missed him growing up. You thought that today was gonna be the day you told Eric everything that was until you saw him and her together. You are so stupid to think he could fall in love with you, you were leaning over the balcony when you heard something break making you see the new girl's necklace break and an orb float towards you.

"Y/n." Eric said wrapping his arms around you.

"Eric there is something so much I need to tell you..." you said watching as the sunset.

"Y/n!" He said holding you to him as your legs were turned into a tail.

"You're too late!" Ursula said with a laugh before snatching you out of Eric's arms and diving into the ocean.

You guys fought Ursula, rescued the king and you got Eric back to shore. You laid there with him enjoying this moment with tears in your eyes as you knew this would be the last time you saw him.

"Goodbye Eric." You said sadly as you swam back into the water.

"Y/n! Y/N!" He screamed looking around for you not believing you were gone again.

You sighed as leaned up on the rock looking up at the castle and the fact that once again Eric was gone. You were foolish to even think that you could be a part of his world and hated that you were gonna have to leave and forget about him again.

"She really does love him huh?" King Triton asked Sebastian as they watched you leaning on the rock looking up at the castle.

"She does sir, I think after everything she's had to endure that maybe she should have a chance at happiness." He said.

King Triton agreed and pointed his staff towards you giving you legs, which made you turn and look at him as he nodded his head before you ran up to the castle hoping Eric would talk to you.

"Y/N?" He asked shocked as you handed him the figure he had given you when you were children.

"It's been me this entire time." You said to him.

"I never saw you again. What happened?" He asked you again.

"I had gone up to shore thinking it was you except it wasn't and I got my parents killed because of it. They hunted mermaids and they were gonna killed me until my parents came, they rescued me and they paid the ultimate price for it. After that I never returned to the surface, feeling guilty for what had happened. I'm sorry." You said to him.

"Oh my...y/n I didn't know. I'm so sorry I honestly thought you got bored of me and didn't want to be my friend anymore." He said.

"No, it's not that. I thought about you constantly but could never come to the surface after it. But then I saw you again and next thing I know I'm trading my voice for legs just to have a chance with the boy I fell in love with all those years ago." You said with a smile.

"He would like to have a chance with you as well especially now that you have a voice. He would like to explore the waters with you." He said looking at you with a smile.

You leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips, feeling him wrap his arms around you and pull you closer to him as he kissed you.

#prince eric fanfiction #prince eric x reader #prince eric x you #prince eric x y/n #prince eric #jonah hauer king fanfiction #jonah hauer king #jonah hauer king x reader #jonah hauer king x you #jonah hauer king x y/n #the little mermaid x reader #the little mermaid live action #the little mermaid 2023

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cabinofimagines · 5 months

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Last Christmas

First holiday fic coming up! Pairing: Platonic! Bianca and Nico di Angelo x reader Request: Reader showing Bianca and Nico their Christmas traditions? Also yes ik Bianca's not alive, but in this she is (if that's alright ofc) Warnings: None! Ig slight spoiler for the beginning of The Titan's Curse? Word Count: 1.2k - Asnyox

Ever since Bianca and Nico arrived at Westover Hall earlier this year, you’ve slowly been befriending them. Bianca was a little on guard at first, but as soon as you asked Nico to explain the rules of Mythomagic to you he loved you. And Bianca commended you for listening weekly to the multiple hours long explanations that Nico had. Eventually, she had let her guard down enough to talk about her and Nico’s past.

Whenever she brought up that they came from Italy (how cool is that?) Nico grew quiet. He once admitted he didn’t remember a lot from those times, and got fascinated with what Bianca had to say. It was sort of a story time, you learned more about the Di Angelo siblings as time went by, and sure, sometimes things didn’t line up (how could they not have known of the Cold War? The Berlin Wall? They have lived here for a few years now according to Bianca!), but that could not quell your fascination.

That’s why, on December 8th, Bianca sat both you and Nico down to talk about how Christmas in Italy used to go.

“Today is also known as Immacolata Concezione in Italy,” Bianca smiled, “Nico, do you know what that is in English?” Nico squinted his eyes, hesitating a little bit.

“Immaculate … conception?” He asked and Bianca nodded, a proud glean in her eyes.

“Exactly. It’s a celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary, without original sin.” Bianca nodded, “Normally this is when you would put up the Christmas Tree, and when the Christmas Markets would start.”

“Here some people put up their tree in November,” you sighed, “some even earlier. It’s kinda fun how Italy has a specific date for it.” You smiled, “Did you guys have a specific tradition while putting up the tree? Hot chocolate and peppermints?”

“I’ve never had Christmas peppermints.” Nico looked at you, “What else do you eat for Christmas? Can we get some?”

“I don’t think you need more sugar, Nico,” Bianca interrupted him.

“What do you guys mean? No Christmas crack? Reindeer Chow?” You asked exasperated, “You Christmas must have been subpar. I mean, you never made a gingerbread house? Do Italians hate architecture or something?” You sat up straighter, “That’s it, we’re going to have to break into the kitchen and bake you guys a Christmas.”

───────────

You thought it would be harder to get everything ready for baking. Heck, you even thought you would have to be sneaky about it! Instead, you mentioned it to Grover, a new boy, who had seemed intensely interested in Bianca and Nico, yet scared to approach them. Poor boy, you hoped he would gather the courage soon. As you asked his opinion on escape routes, so you could get the ingredients, he stood on helping instead. And so, two days later, Grover led you to the kitchen.

“How did you manage this?” You asked, amazed at all the ingredients that were present. You even spotted three ugly, holiday themed aprons amongst the food. “A favor here and there,” Grover nervously looked around, “Just try not to leave the building, it’s dangerous.” he looked at you pointedly, until you reluctantly nodded.

“Of course, uh,” You saw Nico and Bianca approach from the end of the hallway, “Do you want to join us?” You offered. Grover quickly shook his head.

“No I uuh-” he stammered, “I have duties- deadlines- uh, yes.” and he took off into the other direction.

“Who was that?” Nico asked, bouncing on his feet.

“Just a friend who helped set this up,” You opened the door and Bianca and Nico gasped.

“What is all this stuff?” Bianca looked at the table, slight wonder on her face.

“Hopefully enough to make gingerbread houses!” You smiled, elated to find pre-baked gingerbread house kits in the middle of the table, “Let’s get the holidays going!”

After you explained the steps of making a gingerbread house, and assuring Bianca that glue would not make the process easier (it would but where is the fun in that?), you got started on the houses. Throughout the decorating you would talk about different holiday traditions you used to have, elaborating there where it was necessary. You supposed they hadn’t celebrated Christmas after getting to the U.S.A., which was kinda weird but you shrugged it off and kept talking.

“I mean, Santa Claus delivers presents all over the world!” You announced giddy, only for Bianca’s eyes to widen as she quickly spoke up.

“Yes, but he gets help by La Befana in Italy, for example,” she laughed awkwardly, “Of course, the whole world by one person would be too much!” You eyed Bianca in surprise, but before you got interrupted before you could ask about it.

“That is so cool!” Nico jumped up, “I had never heard of Santa, but it makes sense!” He smiled widely. Ah, Nico must still believe in Santa, or whoever the Italian Santa Claus is. Nico turned around his gingerbread house, “(Y/n), I already made la Befana but can you make Santa too? I want them both in my house, so I get more presents!”

You looked at Nico’s house, noticing that he made a lady (?) with what is probably a broom. She was standing next to a snowman made out of icing, and there were the smallest penguin looking creatures too. The true stand-out creation was probably the guy, made fully out of yellow icing, holding a staff and having wings on his head. Nico saw you looking, and smiled.

“I also added Hermes! I mean, the messenger god must have been helping with delivering presents too, right?” His excitement was adorable, and you nodded in agreement.

“Of course, how else would anyone manage to deliver millions of presents?” You laughed. You grabbed a peppermint and red icing and went to work on adding Santa Claus to Nico’s house.

───────────

It was getting late, and Nico had already dozed off, half laying on the table. Bianca and you were quietly cleaning up the mess together. As you were leaving, Bianca carrying Nico on her back, Bianca turned to you.

“Thank you, (Y/n).” Her eyes looked sad, but she smiled, “Adjusting has been hard for us, and I’m really happy that we’re friends.” You smiled back at her.

“It’s a delight knowing you and Nico, Bianca.” You petted the boy on her back, “I hope we’ll be friends for many years more, maybe make some Christmas traditions ourselves!”

Bianca smiled, and Nico stirred a little on her back, urging you both to keep walking. Maybe, if things had turned out a little differently, you would have had traditions with the Di Angelo siblings, but as they disappeared from Westover Hall only a few days later, you would never know. You hoped they were alright.

#requests #request #xmas 2023 #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #x reader #readerinsert #gn reader #heroes of olympus #percy jackson #cabinofimagines #x you #platonic #nico x reader #the titan's curse #admin asja #admin asnyox

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blankvort · 11 days

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tangentially animal-related hcs 4 the mean girls crew bc i am now responsible for giving a goldfish daddy issues

cady

inexplicably allergic to dogs and always in the first four stages of grief about it. don’t @ me about the medical semantics i just want her to suffer a little

tried to get a job at petco the second she turned eighteen but learned of the above information in the most destructive job interview since janis’s application to be the local coffee shop’s cool gay barista (they were worried that she’d swear at fighter-jet-takeoff volumes if she touched hot coffee) (she did, but only because they started playing a shitty pop cover of one of damian’s fave show tunes) and came out of the building a puddle of mucous and tears

grossly fascinated by the grossest of primitive functions. her insta page is all dope and authentic until you find a selfie taken using the back camera 0.5x with the corpse of an effervescent snail and a bunch of reels telling you how to narrow down what bird species are destroying your garden by the splay of their shit

has a miniature aneurysm whenever movies get stuff wrong about animals. artistic liberties are granted to janis alone. like sure if she’s in the theater she’ll sit through the movie fisting popcorn down her throat but as soon as she gets out of there the entire mall becomes a soapbox for dissecting the bullshit sexual dimorphism of giving female animals eyeliner

thus while i know the headcanon of her loving the lion king is basically canon i think she’s absurdly secretive about it. like she’s burying her merchandise and blu-ray copies under her bed in the dead of night while secreting more sweat than should be possible. she could come out to her parents and elope to antarctica no problem but liking the lion king which implies that lighter manes = stronger lions is a death sentence

probably got banned from a bunch of zoos for interrupting field trips

janis

had one of those angel/wolf/dragon/whatever hybrid phases as a kid like all good artists. did those like. not quite furry but not quite human animal art commissions on twitter for a while for the funnies but discovered a lucrative market and never turned back

does not know how to hold human or animal babies. like she’s good at taking care of them in terms of general physical and intellectual nourishment but that limp wrist is not supporting any necks properly

mercilessly makes fun of the whole “would you love me if i was a worm” trend. she doesn’t even love most humans what makes you think she has any answer for you regarding that other than that she’d turn you into a super deep art piece museums would purchase for exorbitant amounts

that being said she feels like a vivarium girlie to me. she’s nocturnal like a pillbug and post-canon constantly tries to convince the plastics that her pacman frog is poisonous

feeds her meticulously decorated ant farm gourmet meals every day. anyone else gets microwavable mac and cheese at best

this one probably won’t make sense unless you’re a jenny nicholson fan but she has a fake id for buying wine and turning the corks into those hallmark craft animal sculptures (and selling the open wine bottle to mrs george in back alleys)

damian

his grandma owns the most omnicidal chihuahua in the state of chicago. it’s how he learned to dance with such mental and physical dexterity. how else would he have survived visits to the nursing home

^ attempted to adopt the chihuahua’s children to have his own bruiser woods moment. turns out, even with his classically trained tenor voice, puppies and janis respond to the “drop it” command much the same way. that is to say they do not drop it and the puppies ran away with ninety nine per cent of his anastasia-inspired music box memorabilia

has a love-hate relationship with cats the musical. like memory is one of his top ten karaoke songs but he’s not going to admit it until he’s several fruity seltzers into the night. wishes all the actors in the movie had been replaced with real cats picked off the street before anything else was approved

played milky white in a scammy local production of into the woods and so so so embarrassed about it. he had to be on stilts the whole show

stuck a fish in regina’s backpack sometime in sophomore year but found karen feeding it and talking to it about her worst fears and greatest dreams felt too guilty to continue with the next phase of his plan (sticking a very hot picture of janis in regina’s backpack) (karen probably would’ve tried to talk to the photo too)

regina

musical specific but i think she didn’t Exactly do a matching animal costume with gretch and karen because 1) what can you dress up as when your friends are going as a cat and a mouse. cheese? 2) had cady not moved into the neighborhood, she’d have gone as a sexy lion to ease into the prospect of. you know. with shane oman but going as a sexy lion when your shiny new homoerotic frenemy has a lion pin on half her clothing isn’t quite a non-questionable choice

had a warrior cats phase she keeps under lock and key in the very depths of her closet. her closet is an iceberg of issues that goes shein -> homosexuality -> warrior cats and climate change is doing a number on it

fried a couple of janis’s ants alive with a magnifying glass sometime before middle school. she’s never flirted normally in her life

the bulk of janis’s furry commission clientele. she has so many emails for alternate accounts that she could get every american president ever suspended from twitter if national security let her. that’s including the dead ones

remember the nigh-rabid chihuahuas damian had. yeah she’s been raising those in secret for a few years now. mrs george doesn’t notice because regina hides them in her hair and extensions are, like, totally in or whatever

had a horse girl phase. all her drawings of horses came out like this meme tho. the art freaks nickname was born out of jealousy

gretchen

chose to be a sexy cat for halloween to match with karen because she has no sense of identity. also because she remembers regina’s warrior cats phase

actually a guinea pig person. i’ve never met a guinea pig person but she feels like one. they’re both in dire need of daily interaction and likely polyamorous

but also peri-canon gretchen could not keep a pet alive she’d spend every cent of the wieners fortune on buying the animal’s love

speaking of. her family bought a stable to fuel “her” horse girl phase. she just wanted to make regina happy and couldn’t stay on a saddle if there was an escalator that plopped her right on the horse

cares about the puppy bowl more than she cares about the superbowl

instinctively pets cute animals. if they bite her then she deserved it

karen

chose to be a sexy mouse for halloween because tom and jerry was having a media marathon and she’s into that sort of power dynamic

believes in unicorns more than she believes in horses. this is because she had a horse girl phase for the hottest of seconds before realizing that none of the ponies at the apache trail sale had horns and thought they had their horns cut off for aesthetic reasons

animals love her so much. survived a jellyfish attack because the jellyfish sensed she just wanted to pet something shiny and absolutely respected that. pests of all shapes and sizes evict themselves stat when karen says her mom doesn’t appreciate her hundred thousand dollar lotions being invaded by peril-bringing insects. strays follow her 24/7. gretchen is jealous (of the animals)

thinks tigers are very sick zebras

thinks blobfish are cuter when they’re all flesh putty out of their natural habitats but would also break into a zoo if she thought the animals were being mistreated

was banned from australia at the age of eight because she tried to have a sleepover in a kangaroo’s pouch

aaron

mean girls insta described him as a golden retriever so i’m also hcing him as being allergic to dogs <3 equality

becomes deeply fearful of all fauna after falling into a research rabbit hole for the sake of connecting with cady. what do you mean buffalo are some of the deadliest beasts on the planet and not just a type of chicken wing

kevin g

a preteen vsco girl in her granola advocacy era stuck in a teenage boy’s body. he has saved more turtles than any natucate volunteer by repurposing his rejected business cards to make a selfie stick long enough to stick him in the same selfie as gretchen wieners. the selfie stick has been in progress since daycare. he has also gone to the hospital more than any natucate volunteer do not trust this man with shop class equipment

#mean girls #cady heron #janis sarkisian #janis ‘imi’ike #damian hubbard #regina george #gretchen wieners #karen smith #karen shetty #aaron samuels #kevin gnapoor #kevin ganatri #these r so long for no reason #who wants goldfish pics btw

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violetlunette · 3 months

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My Yuu's relationship with NRC Facility as requested by this ask;

Crowley: Dire Crowley is an irresponsible father figure who encourages Yuu’s “creativity” as long as he doesn’t get caught, and it can’t be blamed on him. The reason is that often Yuu's inventions benefit Crowley, such as the private bathroom until the ol’ faithful incident. He has Yuu handle any problems the school has.

Yuu—surprisingly—looks up to the guy despite knowing he’s a bit irresponsible due to Daddy issues. Also, he lets Yuu do whatever he wants, which is a bonus. Personality-wise, they get along great; however, Yuu tends to act like the straight man to him. (Ironic considering how gay Yuu is for Silver.)

Trien: The responsible uncle Yuu never listens to. He likes that Yuu is one of the few eager to learn in his class, as he sees it as a book club. (Yuu tends to critique history like it’s a book.)

“Yuu, you cannot critique history!” “I can if it’s stupid!"

He hates Lucifer on a primal level. (Other than Grim, Yuu doesn’t like cats. [Monster.])

Crewel: Often a disciplinarian to train the sick puppy that is Yuu. Yuu often gets smacked because he can’t hold back the sex jokes. (To be fair, when you carry a whip—ow!) He believes Yuu is determined to turn the rest of his hair white due to his antics in the lab. As of late, most of his lectures come with an intermission of, “Yuu no! Bad boy!”

Yuu likes his coat and thinks he should look into Dalmatian prints.

Vargas: Vargas thinks Yuu is in great shape, but he’s not; Yuu just often throws himself into situations that make his body go “shit!” and activates his adrenaline in hopes of survival. As such, Vargas pushes Yuu during gym, thinking the other’s holding back when he’s genuinely out of shape.

Yuu tries to avoid him and fails.

Sam: Sam values Yuu as a customer and has even offered the boy a tarot reading on his love life. (Yuu decides to pass this up, so he always has hope things may work.) Yuu finds all his items fascinating.

They do business under the table so often that Sam would own Yuu’s soul if either of them could find it. Trien is extremely annoyed by this. “You’re a fatality member! Stop getting our students involved in the black market!

They share a commonality with their ghost pals. (Though Sam’s are cooler.)

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blues-valentine · 6 months

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Honestly I think hsmtmts s1 started with very typical idea of Ricky and nini being the boy/girl next door, Childhood friends that date kind of thing. With Gina and ej being the mean, scheming counterparts. It was so obvious from the posters and their costumes. But I guess none of the writers anticipated what a force sofia Wylie would turn out to be. She has a presence that just demands attention. She's the best actress of them all, best Dancer and her chemistry with Joshua is on another level. Plus the character of Gina turned out to have fascinating layers. All this combination outshined nini. Nini and Ricky were originally supposed to be main characters and though Ricky stayed a main character throughout the show, nini, never felt like a main character to me, even in season 1. She was sweet and good and had a straightforward arc that wasn't nearly as interesting as other characters. Plus she had no flaws. Ricky had issues, he had flaws that made him interesting. Same with Gina and ej.

And I feel the same with rini. They were sweet but kinda bland. Portwell were much better, interesting and deserved better treatment from the writers. And rina is rina. Sizzling chemistry. Best ship.

This is no hate to olivia, my problem is with nini. Honestly I completely forgot she was part of this show in season 3 until she showed up in last episode.

I had this in my drafts and I remember responding to it but forgot to post it.

I think the show marketed themselves as very typical Disney in the way that you could kind of tell what narrative archetypes the original core 4 were supposed to be, especially if you relate it to the movies. Nini as the girl next door with so much talent but didn’t believe in herself until she’s suddenly the star of the show. Very girl underdog narrative. Ricky as being her first love and the cute dorky guy that doesn’t put effort but somehow is magically talented, plus the network promoted them as their “Troy and Gabriella” so the audience was supposed to believe they were their rightful successors. Even some of the posters promised that “love triangle” between EJ/Nini/Ricky as a relevant plot and we know that wasn’t the case. And just by the posters and trailer you could’ve guessed Gina and EJ were the “antagonists”. But as I said, it was a marketing tactic because tropes and love triangles sell, and I was also a bit too skeptical but ended up genuinely surprised.

I definitely agree Ricky and Nini’s romance was very bland and I was not rooting for them at all even on Season 1. I found them so cringy, very Disney cooking cutter and they were clearly not right for each other. I was attracted to Gina’s arc from the start so imagine my surprise when she went the opposite direction of what she was marketed as and then developed a way more interesting character arc. However, I do think the show failed Nini because she could’ve been more interesting. I liked her but I agree her arc was too straightforward and a bit too boring at times only saved by Olivia’s voice but there’s a lot of people that still don’t get her arc at all, which is why they still ship her with Ricky even if it was literally against Nini’s character growth.

Funny enough, when I watched 105 I ended up feeling like Ricky and Gina had so much potential and their chemistry was interesting but I wasn’t sure if the show was going to follow that up because it wasn’t very Disney like. Very rare do Disney shows follow the second lead romance pipeline. And I am so glad I was wrong because Ricky and Gina elevated the show by having them develop a very tension filled arc and it did felt very much 00’s coded so I ended Season 1 feeling like they had to go there at one point because it would be a wasted potential. By Season 2, I was sure they were endgame. No questions or doubts. The narrative made it very known and I never doubted that for a moment.

So, PW was just as bland to me, the narrative was forcing them badly with obvious and cringe dialogue. It lacked subtlety, it was very much in your face. As if they wanted you to ship them so hard and were overdoing it. But not even in a good way – there was not care or thought put into their scenes. The music, the implications. It was not done in a way that screamed endgame. And them also being a thing when Ricky and Gina were not speaking was a plot device to keep the endgame in the won’t they/will they situation-ship. I still believe it was a mistake to put them together because it was clear it wasn't going to last and their dynamic worked best as platonic. EJ worked better when he wasn’t put into a situation to be Gina’s plot device. PW was a mid-game ship and was treated as such. The narrative wasn’t hiding it. It was there for Gina to experience her first relationship before she gets with Ricky since their build in narrative has always been about second chances, the right timing and opportunities. I think they deserved a better closure on Season 3, but I am glad they eventually got it on Season 4. However, they were always meant to be a plot device and I didn’t expect anything else from it. The people convinced they were endgame clearly didn't want to see the show for what it was saying.

Rina just had the it factor to me. It was very reminiscent of the old ships in which their story line wasn’t too straightforward and it was told by the parallels and foreshadowing which is a huge factor as to why Ricky and Gina had such compelling arcs individually and together. Ricky being the stability Gina needs and Gina being the person that pushes Ricky forward by taking him out of his comfort zone. They give each other what the other needs and wants. That’s what their storyline has been about since Season 1 and nothing compares to their chemistry. It was undeniable since the start even when some people wanted to deny it.

#i know this is such an old ask #but better late than never #hsmtmts #hsmtmts season 4 #gina porter #rina #ricky bowen #hsmtmts rina #ricky x gina #asks

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